by M A Comley
“Crap. All right. There’s no point beating yourself up. Karen, have you got an address for him?”
“I have indeed.” Karen handed the details to Katy as she passed.
Katy joined Lorne at the board. “Okay, I’ll ask the obvious question. Why, after six months, do you think he returned to the scene?”
Lorne leaned in so the rest of the team couldn’t hear. “Maybe Noelle worked her magic.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Lorne tutted. “Perhaps her spirit in some way affected his conscience.”
Katy pulled back and stared at her. “Lorne, over the years you’ve said some bizarre things, but that has to be the craziest.”
It was Lorne’s turn to be surprised. “What? How can you question what I’m saying after what we both witnessed this morning?”
“Easily. It just doesn’t add up.” Katy raised a finger and, in slow motion, pointed out a word on the whiteboard. She circled it with her finger. “There you go. Nothing suspicious about it. Pure fact.”
“Crimewatch?” Lorne’s mouth twisted as she thought over her partner’s suggestion. “What? You think he saw the show the other night, and it pricked his guilty conscience into turning up there today?”
“Why not?” Katy folded her arms and tapped her foot.
“Because if that were to happen logically, wouldn’t he have shown up at the scene the following day, you know, the day after the reconstruction aired? That was three days ago, wasn’t it? I’m not saying you’re wrong by any means. However, I do think the timing is off by more than a little.”
“Maybe this was the first opportunity he’s had since the show aired. I don’t know—I’m surmising that’s what has taken place. We won’t know for sure until we bring him in for questioning, if we can track the bugger down. My take is he’ll go underground again after almost being caught.”
Lorne kicked the table leg again. “Damn! Why wasn’t I quicker to react?”
“Stop it, woman. It’s about time we started thinking about the positives to the case and not the negatives. Things are certainly looking up from where I’m standing.”
Lorne pulled a face. “I would hold back on ringing the parents with any good news just yet, until they uncover Noelle’s body.”
“I have no intention of ringing them until the end of the week. Fancy a trip out to see if we can track down Smalling?”
Lorne heaved a long sigh. “To be honest, I’m chilled to the bone and would find it hard to accept another disappointment today. Why don’t you send Graham and Stephen after him?”
“This isn’t like you, Lorne. What’s really going on?”
Lorne shrugged. “If I could tell you, I would. I’ve just got such a negative vibe running through me at the moment, I have a feeling it’s going to be difficult to shake off. Maybe I just need to warm up first.”
“All right. I’ll accept your rejection this once. Never again, though. Got that?” Katy retorted more sternly than Lorne had anticipated.
She kicked herself for the way she was reacting. It was totally out of character for her, and she found the feeling very unsettling. Maybe her experience with Noelle’s spirit was having more effect on her than she’d realised. Katy drifted away and left Lorne staring at the information on the board. She picked up the marker pen and wrote: “Possible burial site found for Noelle Chesterfield.” Then she returned to her desk and rang the forensics lab to see if there was any news regarding the DNA samples from Noelle’s car and handbag. The negative response only added to her despondent mood.
Lorne, Katy, and the team spent the rest of the afternoon checking and rechecking the information they had gathered so far. Finally, the call they’d been waiting for came in at around five thirty. Katy took the call, but Lorne could tell the news wasn’t good. Lorne’s gut feeling was apparently still in full working order.
Katy hung up and called the team to attention. “Listen up, people. Our job is far from over on this case. The site turned out to be a false alarm. After extensive digging by the two teams at the site, they’ve managed to find nothing linking it to Noelle Chesterfield.”
“Crap. I had a feeling the results would come back negative,” Lorne grumbled.
Katy shrugged. “Well, we did our best. We just have to hope that Stephen and Graham come up with the goods. If not, we’ve got no other option except to put this down as another wasted day. I’m really not sure how many more of those we can take. Okay, let’s wind things up for the evening, folks. Go home, get some rest, and start anew in the morning.”
To compound everyone’s negativity, Stephen and Graham entered the incident room.
Graham shook his head. “Nothing. Sorry, boss.”
“What? He wasn’t there? Or he doesn’t live at that address?” Katy queried.
“He lives there, all right. The thing is, none of his neighbours have seen him at the property lately,” Graham replied, dropping his weary frame into the chair at his desk.
Katy puffed out her cheeks and slapped her hands against her thighs. “Could this day really get any bloody worse? Where’s he hiding out? We’ll look into that in the morning. Okay, let’s call it a day, peeps.”
Chairs scraped on the floor, and the sound of computers being put into hibernation filled the incident room. With slouched shoulders, Lorne left the station.
When she arrived home, she found Charlie sitting at the kitchen table, talking on the phone. “Hold on, Carol. She’s just walked in now.”
Lorne waved her hands and shook her head. It proved to be pointless, though.
Charlie urged her to take the phone she was thrusting at her.
“Thanks, Charlie.” She tried to sound chirpier than she felt when she spoke to Carol, “Hi, Carol. How are things?”
“Less of the small talk, Lorne. I can sense when something is wrong.”
Lorne eased herself into the chair and petted Henry on the head. “Not good news, I’m afraid, sweetie. Looks like our little adventure this morning was for nothing. The teams haven’t found anything relating to Noelle at all. No clues and certainly no sign of her body. Is there any way Noelle might have taken us to the wrong place?”
“Nope. She was adamant about that. Crikey, I don’t believe it. You saw her reactions at that place. She was more animated than I’ve ever seen her before. It’s incredible they haven’t found anything.”
“Yep, especially considering what occurred after you left the scene.” Lorne cringed, wishing she hadn’t opened her mouth.
“Go on. What happened? You’re going to have to tell me now, Lorne.”
Under Charlie’s watchful eye, Lorne admitted, “We have reason to believe that Noelle’s boyfriend pulled up at the location.”
Charlie sat bolt upright in her chair. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
Lorne nodded.
“Really? Did you speak to him?” Carol asked, sounding surprised by the revelation.
“Hardly. He drove into the car park and was acting suspiciously, so I approached the car. He took off before I could talk to him.”
“Well, that is odd. Don’t you think?”
“It is. One piece of good news is that we traced his number plate and discovered his address.”
“I sense a but coming soon,” Carol said.
“Yeah, we sent a couple of officers out to the address, but the neighbours said they hadn’t seen him for months.”
“Okay, let me see what I can do this evening. I’m dying to ask what the gentleman’s name is, but don’t tell me. Maybe Noelle will pay me a visit this evening. My thoughts are that she’ll be too exhausted to show up. Fingers crossed, eh?”
“I seem to be doing that a lot lately with this one. I better go and throw some dinner together before Tony gets home. I’ll call you tomorrow, Carol. Good luck.”
“Thanks. Hey, at least one of us has had a good day today. Be proud of your hubby, Lorne. That’s all I’m prepared to say.”
“Wait! You can’
t leave me up in the air like that, you tease!”
Carol laughed. “Can’t I?”
“All right, speak soon.” Lorne disconnected the call and glared at her daughter. “Thanks for the support. I’ll think carefully the next time you want your arse covered, young lady.”
“Whatever, Mum. I could hear the desperation in Carol’s voice. You would have done the same in my position.”
“Probably. Has Tony rung?”
“Nope, not today. He should be home soon,” Charlie said, rising from her chair and flicking the switch on the kettle.
Lorne and Katy almost jumped out of their skins when the back door flew open and Tony marched in.
He punched the air a few times and shouted, “Incredible! We knew there was something amiss with that guy. I’m so pleased you encouraged us to stick with him today. Bloody hell, the audacity of the bloke.”
“Do we have to take it in turns, trying to guess what your client did? I take it that’s who you’re talking about?”
“Too right. I’ll have a coffee, Charlie, if you don’t mind. It’s been a long day. Sorry to be so overexcited. How was your day, love?”
“Not half as exciting as yours, obviously. I insist, you go first.”
Tony dropped into the chair next to hers and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Well, this is how my day panned out. Did I mention that it was incredible?”
She chortled. “Yes, you did.”
“Well, Joe and I turned up at the client’s house this morning at eight thirty, as usual. His wife normally leaves for work around five minutes after we arrive. This morning, however, she didn’t. There was no sign of either of them up until midday. So I persuaded Joe to stay at the house while I went to the wife’s workplace. I thought it would be better to turn up in person rather than make a phone call to see if she was at work.”
“And? Was she?” Lorne asked, her interest rising.
“Nope. There’s a surprise, eh? She’s as regular as clockwork. He fires us one day, and the very next day, her routine changes. Very dubious, eh?”
“Wow, so what did you do? Tackle him about it?”
“No. I returned to the car, and Joe and I decided to sit and observe the house for the rest of the day. We saw no evidence of anyone being inside the house until around five o’clock.”
“Until dusk?”
“Yep, even then the house was only lit by a dull light. The front door opened, and out sneaks our client, looking very shifty. Thank goodness we had the foresight to change vehicles this morning. Anyway, we tailed him to some kind of storage area. There were row upon row of garages. Joe and I got out of the car and followed him on foot. He went inside one of the garages. We seized the opportunity to get closer.”
Lorne eased forward to the edge of her chair. “Go on.”
“He stayed inside the garage for around ten minutes, locked it up using a padlock, and left the area.”
Lorne nodded excitedly. “Carol mentioned a garage, didn’t she?”
“So she did. Maybe she was getting confused between the two cases.”
“More than likely.”
“When we thought the coast was clear, we ran up to the garage and listened for any possible noise coming from inside. Joe tapped on the door, and we heard something move inside.”
“No! What was it? A person? Or an animal?”
“Patience, wifey dearest, I’m coming to that.”
“I called out. At first, we heard nothing. Then I thought I heard a faint muffled noise. I asked Joe if he heard anything, but he hadn’t caught it. It was barely audible, though. I knocked again, and, thankfully, Joe heard the response this time. He ran and grabbed a hacksaw from the car. When we finally opened the door, there was Mrs. Dixon, tape across her mouth, blindfolded, with rope tied around her ankles and wrists.”
“Oh my God, that poor woman. Why?”
“Which was the first thing I asked her once I’d released her of her bindings. The poor woman was so shaken up, it took her ages to calm down enough to tell us.”
“Did you take her to the police station?”
“Eventually, yes. Although I thought she should get checked out at the hospital first. She said apart from being shaken up, physically, she felt fine.”
“So, what was his motivation?” Lorne asked, shaking her head in disgust. The woman could have died all manner of deaths in that space: hypothermia, suffocation, anything.
“He had accused her of having an affair. She knew that Joe and I had been employed to watch her every move, and she was appalled by his distrust and swore that she had never given him a reason to question her faithfulness.”
“That’s strange. What makes a person think like that without a genuine reason then?”
“She also said that he’d been under a lot of stress since losing his job. Even though she’d tried several times to persuade him to see the doctor for what she perceived to be depression, he refused. Instead, he turned the tables on her, got it into his head that she was trying to drive him mad, and decided to put a stop to it. Then she broke down in tears.”
“Who can blame her? What a traumatic time for the poor woman. The man must be deemed criminally insane to do such a thing to his wife.”
“You haven’t heard the best part yet. Apparently, up until a few months ago—” Tony paused and reached for Lorne’s hand. “They had a dog, which she idolised. One day, she came home from work and found the dog lying on the kitchen floor, having convulsions. She rushed it to the vet. Sadly, the poodle died before the vet had a chance to try and save it.”
“Oh no, the poor thing. What on earth was wrong with it?”
“Mrs. Dixon said the vet told her the dog had been poisoned. At the time, she put it down to something the dog had picked up in the park on one of his walks. However, yesterday, before he trussed her up and shoved her in the garage, her husband admitted that he’d poisoned the dog himself.”
“How dreadful. I’d like to get my hands on the bastard and shove some poison down his neck, see how he effing likes it.”
“Yeah, I thought you’d say that. I felt the same way once I heard what he’d done. Sick shit! Anyway, Mrs. Dixon also told us that she was very relieved that we had discovered her before it was too late. When I asked her what she meant by that, apart from the obvious of course, she said that her husband had told her every detail about how he intended to end her life.”
“Goodness me. Tony, before you go on, please tell me you’ve got the police to arrest this bastard?”
“No fear of that. We dropped Mrs. Dixon off at the police station and left her there to be seen by the police doctor while we accompanied a couple of officers back to the house to arrest him. He was absolutely livid, especially as we caught him in the act of gathering together all the torture instruments he could lay his hands on in his garage. He had saws, bolt cutters, rope, a blowtorch—you name it, he’d loaded it into a holdall, ready for the next day’s activities.”
“Jesus, and you thought the PI business was going to be boring!”
“Yeah, how wrong can a man be? Anyway, Mrs. Dixon said he’d taunted her, his face barely inches from hers, about where he intended to kill her.”
Lorne gasped. “That’s bloody torture in itself, doing that. Where?”
“He had hired a boat and was intending taking her aboard. He was going to take the boat out into the channel to give her a burial at sea—after he’d cut her up into tiny pieces. Then he was going to sail away and live it up on the life insurance money.”
“Oh my goodness. The disgusting plans people create. He had it all figured out. Thank God you and Joe managed to prevent him carrying out his warped proposal, Tony.” She leaned over and kissed his lips. “My hero.”
His cheeks coloured up, and he waved his hand in front of him. “Stop it. If you hadn’t pushed me into going back there today, this bastard would have carried out his intentions and probably got away with it. Maybe it was your gut instinct working its magic on my case. Talkin
g of cases, how has yours progressed today?”
“Slowly. Actually, that’s not quite true. This morning, everything looked hunky-dory, but our elation was doused with cold water this afternoon.”
“I’m not with you. Start from the beginning.”
By the end of Lorne’s story, Tony was sitting in his chair, staring at her open-mouthed. “Damn, and there was me, thinking that my eventful day would top yours by a country mile. How wrong was I?”
“It’s not a competition, love. It just shows what a crazy world we live in. Why on earth people insist on hurting each other is a constant cause of concern for me. Anyway, do you have any other jobs lined up?”
“Not yet, no. Not unless you need a helping hand tracking down your bastard, that is?” Tony winked at her.
“Hmm… you’re not joking, either, are you? Well, I could have a word with Katy tomorrow if you like? She’s made the mistake of telling the parents that she intends wrapping the case up by the end of the week; something I wouldn’t have done when I was an inspector. The problem is, we’ve become reliant on a spirit to solve the case. You should have witnessed what Katy and I saw today, Tony. It was unbelievable.”
“I’m sure it was. It’s giving me the creeps just thinking about it. Look, I think working together is doable. But then, I don’t want to put pressure on you. Have a talk to Katy and get back to me tomorrow. No offence taken if the answer is no, okay?”
They shook hands and left the table. “Help me organise dinner?” Lorne asked.
“Of course. What did you have in mind?”
“Charlie? What do you fancy for dinner?”
“Pizza, chips, and beans will do me, Mum.”
Lorne smiled. “There we go—junk food it is then. You put the fryer on, and I’ll start chopping up the onions and peppers to go on the top. They never put enough topping on for me.”
Tony shook his head and mumbled, “No one is ever capable of doing things to your standard, Lorne. Ever.”
“I’m glad you’ve finally realised that, love.” She kissed him again then removed the ingredients she needed from the fridge and started to prepare them.
