by M A Comley
“I ain’t one of them, bitch, and you’ve got nothing in the way of evidence to prove that either.”
Kayli smiled. “You keep believing that, sonny, and they’ll bang you up in an asylum where you belong. Of course, the beating I foresee you having in a few minutes and the time you’re going to serve behind bars could be decreased if you admit your role.”
“Making false statements like that ain’t gonna change my mind, lady.”
Kayli shrugged and shook her head. “You had your chance. Guys, I’ll give you five minutes with the little shit. Why these perverts insist on resisting arrest truly is beyond my comprehension. I’ll be over there speaking to the other suspect. Let me know when you think he’s ready to talk.”
Dave laughed. “If he’s able to talk, you mean. Leave him to us, boss. Right, guys, who wants to be first?”
“Fuck off! I’m warning you, lay one finger on me—”
“Fond of repeating yourself, ain’t you? You’ve had your chance, and time is getting on.” Dave started laughing, making all his colleagues wonder what he was up to, including Kayli, who had stopped mid-stride on her way to question Michele in the back of the car. “I’ve just had a thought, guys. If he thinks us beating the crap out of him for resisting arrest will be bad, I wonder what his take will be when he gets transferred to prison. You know how the other crims love to punish paedos. Last one I heard about, three inmates strapped a paedo down and performed surgery on him without the assistance of anaesthetic.”
“Wow, I didn’t hear about that. What happened?” the constable holding Freeman’s right arm asked, playing along with Dave’s scare tactics.
Freeman’s gaze darted between the two men.
Dave pointed down at his crotch and crossed his legs. “They cut his meat and two veg off, boiled it up, and forced him to eat them for his supper.”
“What the fuck! You lot are sick if you think I’m going to fall for this shit,” Freeman blustered, his eyes wide with fear in spite of his bravado.
“You needn’t worry about that, though. We’re going to give you the pasting of your life, and it’ll be touch and go if you serve time anyway. Take him off the road over there, guys.”
The constables pulled Freeman in the direction of a small wooded area.
The criminal dug his feet into the ground and leaned back. “You can’t do this.”
Dave shoved his hand in the youth’s back, forcing him to stand upright, and whispered in his ear, “We can, and we will. And don’t bother praying, either. God appreciates us carrying out a bit of discipline when it comes to scum like you.”
Kayli watched the four men move slowly towards the wooded area. Then she turned and opened the back door of the car and slid in beside the girl. She winked at Graeme, who was listening to the feedback from the circulating chopper over the car radio. “Hello, Michele, I’ve been hearing an awful lot about you from the Watsons and the Halls, and I have to say, what they told me will be quite damning in the case against you when it reaches court.” Michele’s head sank onto her chest, and Kayli saw droplets fall from her eyes. “Crocodile tears don’t wash with me, girl. If you want to redeem yourself, you’re going to have to tell me where the children are and the names of the other people involved.”
“I didn’t mean to do it. It seemed like fun at the time, an easy way to earn some money.”
“Fun! Terrorising the crap out of little girls? Murdering them? Are you as sick as you sound right now? Don’t bother answering that—it was a rhetorical question.”
“I didn’t want to kill the girls. I was against that. Karl did it. I’m not going to have that charge laid at my door.”
“Okay, I’ll take that into consideration once we’re back at the station. Something that will go in your favour also is if you tell us where the kids are being held. We know it’s around here somewhere. It’s only a matter of time before the chopper locates them. Tell us now, and I’ll make sure the CPS know how much you’ve cooperated with us.”
Michele wiped her cheeks then her dripping nose with her sleeve as she contemplated Kayli’s deal. Then she shook her head. “Karl said you’d try to bargain with us if ever we got caught and then back down on that deal. I’m not falling for that trick.”
“Hey, it suits me...” Kayli stopped talking and listened to the crackling coming through the radio. “Turn it up, Graeme. Did he just say what I thought he did?”
“Sounds like they located a cottage, boss.”
Kayli punched the air and smiled at Michele’s petrified expression. “Looks like all the deals are off the table for you and your fella. The pair of you, and anyone else involved in this, are going to get what’s coming to you after all.”
Michele hitched up a shoulder and sneered. “Whatever, like I give a shit!” The meek and mild tone she’d been using moments earlier had turned harsh and full of anger.
“Maybe I should follow my colleague’s stance and take you into the wooded area, as well, and make out you resisted arrest at the same time.”
Michele’s eyes widened in fear.
“Nah, you know what? On second thought, I’d rather not dirty my hands on filth like you. You’ll get what you deserve from your fellow inmates soon enough.” Turning to Graeme she said, “Take the two suspects back to the station with the other officers. Get them signed in and banged up in a cell. I’ll question them tomorrow.”
“With pleasure, boss.”
Kayli left the vehicle and walked towards the group of four men coming out of the woods. Karl had blood dripping from one of his nostrils and a cut above his right eye. “We’ve located the cottage, guys. Can you do the honours and return to base with Graeme while Dave and I meet up with the chopper team?”
“Okay, ma’am.”
“You ain’t found nothing. This is just another ploy to get info out of me. Well, I ain’t falling for it.” Freeman smirked defiantly.
“Get him out of my sight before I do something I’ll regret.”
Kayli and Dave rushed to the car. Dave slipped behind the steering wheel and turned to face her. “Where is it?”
She pointed at the lane where the van had been disabled. “Can we squeeze past it? Looks like the cottage is up here after all.”
“I’ll do my best.”
In the end, Dave went closer to the hedgerow to get past the vehicle and immediately put his foot down. Within seconds, Kayli saw the chopper circling overhead. Dave flashed his lights, letting them know he was on his way.
Kayli had an idea and fished her mobile out of her coat pocket. “Donna, it’s me. We’ve got Freeman and Granger. Graeme is ferrying them back to the station to process them now. We’re approaching a cottage where we believe the kids are being held. I need you to find out who owns this cottage. It’s on Chancery Lane. Should be easy enough, looks like it’s the only cottage out here.”
“Leave it with me, boss. I’ll get back to you ASAP.”
Kayli ended the call. “What if it turns out to be the wrong location?”
“I hope to Christ it isn’t. I fear what’s going to happen to the kids if the main two looking after them are banged up in our cells.”
“What about requesting an armed response team?” Dave suggested as he slung the car round a sharp corner.
“Steady, Dave. I want to get there in one piece. My gut is telling me that we won’t need a team. Let’s assess the situation when we get there and then decide.”
The chopper seemed to be virtually overhead now. “Here it is.”
Kayli opened the door and was running towards the cottage before Dave had even drawn to a halt. “Wait for me, boss.”
The front of the cottage was overgrown. It didn’t take a genius to work out that the gang had used the rear to access the building. She tore through the gate at the side and arrived at the back door. It was locked. She shoulder-charged it but immediately rebounded off the wood.
“Damn. Hurry up, Dave. I need your brute strength,” she shouted.
Da
ve came to a screeching halt beside her, took a few steps back, and charged at the door. It gave under his combined strength and weight.
The kitchen was a tip and smelt of takeaways. Something caught her eye that made her heart skip several beats. Temporarily unable to speak, she pointed at a door off to the right.
Dave nodded. “It’s a cellar. Want me to go first?”
Kayli fought hard to keep her emotions in check. Her eagerness to see if the children were down there and safe was constricted by the thought of finding a bunch of dead bodies lying in the creepy room beneath the house. Her phobia of confined spaces was also playing a part in her mind’s decision-making process. “Yes, you go first.”
Dave rubbed her arm and squeezed it gently. “Now don’t you go breaking down on me.”
“Ignore me. Go, Dave.”
The door wasn’t even locked. No light turned on when Dave flicked the light switch. He used the torch on his mobile to guide his descension into the smelly abyss. He stormed down the stairs and shouted, “Kayli, I’ve got them. They’re all alive.”
Kayli buried her head in her hands and openly sobbed, thankful that someone—or something—had guided them to the location before it was too late. “Thank God, Dave. I’ll ring for back-up.” Before she had a chance to make the call, her mobile rang. “Donna, Donna, we’ve got the children,” she shouted emotionally.
“That’s excellent news, boss! What a bloody relief.”
“Get back-up over here right away. Call an ambulance, as well. They’ve been kept in a cellar. I have no idea if any of them are injured at this point.”
“I’ll do it right away, boss. I have some good news that I hope will be the icing on the cake.”
Kayli’s breath caught. “You’ve got the name of the person who owns the cottage?”
“I have.”
Donna revealed the name. Shit! Shit! Shit! “Okay, Dave and I will shoot over there as soon as we’re finished here.”
“Don’t you want me to send someone to pick up the suspect?”
“No. I want that satisfaction myself, Donna. Good work.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
When the girls all surfaced from the cellar, Kayli hugged them one by one. “You’re safe now, sweethearts. You’ll be reunited with your parents shortly, I promise you.”
The three girls were dumbstruck, squinting from the brightness of the daylight emerging through the window and back door. One of the girls ran to the window and looked out. There was nothing to see but an overgrown wilderness of a back garden, but Kayli knew the girl was embracing her freedom.
Kayli walked towards her and placed a gentle arm around her shoulder. The girl flinched at her touch. “It’s all right, little one. No one will ever harm you again.”
The girl turned and buried her head in Kayli’s stomach. “I thought we’d never hear the birds or see the sun ever again.” She started to sob.
Kayli looked over her head at Dave, and the pair of them wiped away their own tears.
The back-up team of Social Services, the paramedics and a team of uniformed officers arrived at the cottage within twenty minutes.
“We need to get out of here.” Kayli pulled Dave’s arm, but he was reluctant to leave the girls. “Dave, nothing is going to happen to them. Come on, we need to go.”
“Where? You haven’t told me where?”
Kayli held her hands out for the keys to the car. “Get in. You’ll see soon enough.”
Dave growled. “I hate it when you do that.”
Kayli chuckled, which helped to relieve the tension in her shoulders. “I know you do. That’s why I said it.”
As they drove back through the country lane, she sucked in a breath and leaned over the steering wheel as she squeezed past the van blocking the route, clipping the bumper on the van’s wheel arch in her haste. “Get onto the SOCO recovery service and tell them to get their arses into gear to shift that damn vehicle.”
“Women drivers,” Dave muttered before placing the call.
His dig earned him a thump on the thigh. Kayli impatiently flicked on the siren, eager to reach their destination swiftly. She switched it off when they were a few minutes away from their destination.
Dave’s face was a picture when they arrived. He turned to her with an eyebrow raised.
She tapped the side of her nose. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
“Good.”
Kayli spoke into the intercom system to gain access to the property then marched through the entrance and up the narrow corridor. She threw open the door, and a startled gaze met hers. “Dave, arrest him. Mr. Briggs, you really shouldn’t have made that call dobbing in your associates.”
Kayli heard the click-clack of heels come to a stop in the hallway behind her.
“What’s the meaning of this intrusion, Inspector? You can’t just march in here willy-nilly. We have a school to run.”
“Do you want to tell her, Mr. Briggs? Or shall I?”
He had the decency to hang his head in shame. “I think we should all take this conversation elsewhere. My office perhaps?”
The head turned on her heel, expecting the three of them to follow her. Kayli motioned for Briggs to go ahead of her and Dave.
Dave leaned over and whispered, “He fooled me.”
“Me too, but no longer.”
The head disappeared in her office, but instead of Briggs turning into the office, he bolted for the main entrance. “Another paedo who chooses to resist arrest,” Dave shouted as he gave chase.
Kayli ran after the two men. Dave caught up with Briggs in the playground and held his head under his arm. Briggs tried to strike out at Dave, but the sergeant bopped him twice on the nose.
“Please, not in front of the children,” Mrs. Laughlin shouted from the main entrance.
“She’s right, Dave. Not here. We’ll get our chance to avenge the children back at the station.”
“I don’t know what this is all about, but you’re mistaken.” Briggs desperately tried to protest his innocence, but it fell on deaf ears.
Dave hauled him back to the main entrance and forced him to stand in front of Mrs. Laughlin. “Tell her.”
Briggs’s lips remained tightly shut.
“What are they talking about, John? I demand to know.”
Kayli stood alongside Briggs and Dave. “This man has been running a paedophile ring, Mrs. Laughlin. He’s behind the abduction of Jamillia Watson and quite a few other children in the area. How many? I fear we will never know the exact number.”
Eyes blazing and her fists clenched, Mrs. Laughlin stepped closer to the teacher. “Is this true?”
His chin dropped onto his chest. It was all the response the headmistress needed. Her hand flattened, and she slapped him hard around the face. “You, despicable excuse for a human being. How could you? May God strike you down for what you’ve done to those children.” She looked at Kayli. “You should have told me. I wouldn’t have stopped your partner had I known. May you rot in hell, you bastard.” She ran through the hallway, then a door slammed.
“I think you’ve pissed her off, don’t you? We’ve got the children, by the way. They’re all safe. We’ve also got your accomplices in this heinous crime. I’m going to make sure you all go down for a very long time. You have my word on that. My team have worked tirelessly to hunt you down, but in the end, it was your stupidity that led us to your cottage. Did you really think we wouldn’t be able to trace the deeds back to you?”
“I have friends in high places. You have no idea how far this goes, Inspector. I’ll be walking the streets within a few weeks.”
“Still talking bullshit, Briggs. Not with a couple of murder charges against you.”
“I had nothing to do with the murders. That was down to Freeman.”
“Tell it to someone who cares, arsehole. It’s one of many charges we’ll be filing against you. Put him in the car, Dave.”
Kayli watched
her partner tuck the paedophile into the back of the car. Someone knocked on a window nearby. Kayli looked to see who it was and saw dozens of relieved faces smiling at her. Briggs’s pupils. They raised their thumbs and mouthed “thank you” in unison. That one satisfying gesture would stay with her for the rest of her life. Over the coming weeks, she sensed all his pupils would come forward to share their experience of abuse at the hands of their teacher, putting an extra nail in the evil man’s coffin.
EPILOGUE
Over the next few days, interviewing all the suspects remained Kayli’s priority. To her delight, having the three of them in custody worked in the team’s favour as Briggs, Freeman and Granger were all keen to inform on their partners in crime, showing very little loyalty towards each other.
Each suspect’s home was searched, and their computers were sent to the forensic lab to be examined. Naomi had discovered numerous files with names and addresses and several emails to one particular person that referred to the transportation of the girls out of the country in a week’s time. Kayli felt relieved that things had slotted into place before the girls had left British shores. Briggs’s contact was known to Vice for suspected prostitution and human trafficking, but they had yet to find the evidence to present to arrest the man. Kayli passed on the information Naomi had uncovered, and Jordan Somers was immediately arrested.
Kayli had a feeling she would be dealing with the case for a few more weeks in light of the names found on Briggs’s computer. There were some pretty influential people on the fringes of the crime that she and her team would enjoy bringing to justice. One thing Kayli couldn’t figure out was why Freeman had killed the children. After hours of interrogation he finally admitted that every time he looked at Jamillia he saw Michele having sex with Kelvin Watson, he needed to rid himself of that image. As to killing Sophie, his logic was unbelievable, he said he didn’t like the way the girl looked at him, so punished her. Proving what a sick, twisted individual he really was. Another snippet of information came via Marcia Watson, who had confided in her parents that Michele Granger had abused both her and her sister. She had revealed that when Michele used to babysit them, she often gave them cold baths and frequently struck the soles of their feet with a wooden spoon.
