Where Wolves Fear to Prey (Manor Park Thrillers Book 1)

by G H Mockford

  I turned my attention to the body beside me. Looking at it, I knew it was James even before I saw his face. He was wearing the same shoes, trousers and shirt that he had been wearing that morning. I reached down and took hold of the stiff fabric which was like a flattened rope around his neck. I slid it loose and, as gently as I could, opened it up. I then slowly removed it and the black fabric sack that covered the head and regretted it instantly.

  It was James, but his face was a mess. He had a nasty cut above his left eye and blood quickly and rhythmically pumped out of the torn skin as it stretched over the egg that was forming below the surface.

  My mobile phone was in my hand in seconds, and I called the police and ambulance. I asked for DS Rees and DC Stokes by name though I wasn’t sure if the operator would pass the message on. They seemed more interested in who I was and my address, rather than getting to us promptly.

  I made James as comfortable as I could, and then went out into the garden. I walked down to the fence and looked over into the twitchell behind it. There was no sign of Paul or the attacker. We were obviously wrong about James, which left us with several big questions, the main one being, where was Charlie?

  I went back into the house and checked on James. He was still bleeding profusely. Grabbing a tea towel from the kitchen, I placed it on his forehead as hard as I dared. I had already moved him about and might have caused even more damage. Bernie and Chris had been so careful when they moved Sarah.

  I heard the sound of running footsteps and heavy breathing and turned to see Paul join me. He had come back in through the front door.

  ‘The bastard got away,’ he said as he bent over and put both hands on his knees so he could get his breath back.

  ‘Who was it?’ I asked.

  ‘Sorry Alex, not a clue.’

  ‘Shit!’

  ‘Is that James?’ he asked and I nodded an answer. ‘Is he okay? I can’t believe it. I was convinced it was him,’ Paul said between breaths.

  ‘I’ve called for an ambulance and asked them to send Rees and Stokes.’

  Paul suddenly straightened up. ‘What? I’m sorry mate, but I’m not getting involved with the police,’ he said.

  ‘You can’t leave a crime scene.’

  ‘I can and I will,’ Paul said as he started to move toward the door. ‘If I stay they’ll be interviewing me for hours. I’ve got to get out looking. I need to find out where Charlie is.’

  ‘What you need to do is tell the police, they’re your only hope. First there was Sarah, now James. Do you want Charlie to be next?’

  ‘The police are useless, Alex. I’m off. Don’t tell them about Charlie.’ It almost sounded like a threat. He must have seen the look on my face because he added a ‘Please.’

  ‘I’m not sure I can. Please don’t ask me to do that,’ I pleaded. The distant sound of sirens began to fill the air. Paul looked at me with a fierce gaze and then disappeared out the door.

  As soon as he was gone it occurred to me that Charlie could be upstairs. If she were, the police would find her, so all I had to do was wait.

  Sixty-Seven

  The ambulance crew arrived first and asked me what happened. I lied. I told them I had popped round. If I hadn’t given my name over the phone, I was beginning to think I should have run off like Paul.

  ‘Well, well, well,’ came a rumbling Welsh accent. ‘If it isn’t our favourite teacher. I’m beginning to feel like a teacher’s pet. I should have brought you an apple. This another date of yours? I don’t see any flowers?’

  I took the comments on the chin. I’m not easily riled and I could tell that was what he was after. ‘I asked for you to attend,’ I said, trying to sound unafraid and with nothing to hide, even though I had plenty of both.

  ‘We’re well aware of that fact, Mr Freeman,’ said Stokes. ‘I’d like to ask you to accompany us to the station for a formal interview.’ I nodded and before I could say anything else I was put into the back of their car. At least they didn’t cuff me.

  I was there for three hours. The questions went round and round, but I stuck to my story. I had gone to James’ house to give him an update on Sarah and was shocked to find him on the floor in his living room. There was a man who jumped over the fence and into the twitchell behind the row of terrace houses.

  They were very suspicious of me now.

  ‘Funny how you keep ending up at these violent crime scenes, Alex,’ Rees said several times. I repeated that I wanted to help the police in any way I could. In the end they let me go and the lady behind the enquiries counter was nice enough to call me a taxi.

  I didn’t stay at home long. I spent just enough time to check Paul was at home and tell him I was coming over. A quick shower and I was soon knocking at his door.

  ‘How’d you get on?’ he asked as he let me in.

  ‘I’m in the shit, Paul. Do you realize what you’ve asked me to do? I hardly know you, in fact the only reason I know you is because of what you did to me a week ago.’

  ‘Then sod off! Leave me be! I’ll find her myself. These things have to be connected. They have to be. Why else attack James? He was the last person to see her alive, wasn’t he? So, assuming he’s innocent, and just because he’s been attacked doesn’t mean he is, he knows something.’

  ‘That’s logical,’ I said. ‘But what’s more logical is going to the police. Come on Paul, this is bloody serious. The longer you leave it, the more you're going to have to try and explain your delay.’

  ‘No!’ he roared. ‘I can’t. It’s complicated. Just …’

  ‘Paul, whatever it is, is it worth losing Charlie over? What if Wolf-Man has her? It seems likely, don’t you think? Two teachers from our school have been attacked. We've got one missing teacher and one missing girl. The police are going to put this all together. Maybe they already have. Maybe Arnold told them about Charlie’s absences when they visited earlier.’

  ‘Did they ask you about her?’ I shook my head. ‘The police don’t know who he is. They’re no further forward than we are.’ I nodded. I had to concede that point to him. ‘Look, let’s have a coffee and a think.’

  I grunted a response and wandered over to the living room window as Paul disappeared into the kitchen. It was dark outside now. The only light came from the orange street lights – from the ones that hadn’t been broken anyway. Across the road, a man was coming out of his house. He was supporting his drunk girlfriend as he put her into the back of the car, a little roughly I thought. After opening the boot and quickly looking inside, he shut it again and then climbed into the driver’s seat before driving off.

  ‘Here you go,’ Paul said as he reappeared holding two cups. I took one and sat on the sofa. ‘I know I’m putting you in an awkward position, Alex, but you’re all I have. I can’t go to the police. I don’t trust them. Never have. Not after what happened in Northern Ireland.’ He didn’t offer any more of an explanation and I wasn’t going to ask. I had to either stick with Paul and the decisions I had made so far or go to Stokes and Rees, admit to everything and face the interrogation. It was a catch twenty-two position. I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t.

  ‘Look, I’ve made a few phone calls. I went to Mrs Goodhand’s while you were at the police station. I’ve got people looking for her,’ Paul said trying to justify himself.

  I just nodded. There was nothing I could say. I just didn’t understand what was driving the man. It seemed at complete odds with his reaction to me a week ago. Maybe that was it. Maybe he was afraid of losing it again and hurting someone, even killing someone this time. ‘Paul, have you tried ringing her?’

  He nodded. ‘Again, while you were with the police.’

  ‘Aren’t you worried she’d not answered?’

  ‘Of course I am, but what can I do?’

  ‘Why don’t you hit the streets, visit her friends. Have you rung the QMC? Maybe she’s in hospital?’ I said. Thinking of the idea reminded me painfully that I didn't know what was happening to Sarah.


  ‘Let’s go to the hospital then,’ he said. ‘I can ask around and then hit the streets, and you can go and see Miss Alec.’ At the mention of her name I brightened up and for a brief moment I forgot the predicament Paul was placing me in. Then I remembered what she would look like when I would get there.

  Sixty-Eight

  Getting into ICU was like getting into Fort Knox, but the staff eventually allowed me to sit with Sarah for a while. If I’m honest, I found it all a bit distressing. I sat there stroking her hand and whispering to her. I’d been there about an hour when Dr Howell came and spoke to me.

  ‘She’s a real fighter,’ he said with a smile, designed to give me hope, but not too much. ‘Things are improving. The blood pressure’s almost back to normal. We gave her a last dose of antibiotics shortly before you came. We intend to remove the tube helping her to breath in the morning.’ I listened to him, but nothing he said was really going in. ‘I want to remind you that I shouldn’t really be telling you anything as you aren’t next of kin, but…’ He didn’t have to say anymore.

  Poor Sarah. Maybe that was why she hadn’t told anyone at school. She was strong and didn’t want or need our pity.

  ‘You can stay a little longer, Alex, but I suggest you go home and get a good night’s sleep. We’ll ring as soon as there’s anything to say.’

  ‘I’d like to stay.’

  ‘You can’t Alex,’ he said. ‘There really isn’t anything you can do. You should go home and get some rest.’

  ‘Then I’ll stay in the relatives room,’ I said matter-of-factly. I was beginning to feel stubborn. Maybe I was tired of being pushed from pillar to post and having no control over my own destiny, or, maybe, Paul was rubbing off on me. More importantly, Sarah needed me. I had to stay.

  ‘We won’t stop you, Alex, but if the room is needed by another family…’ He left the sentence unsaid and I nodded my understanding. Dr Howell left me to it.

  An hour later, I was politely told to go home by a nurse. I left the ward but knew I was going to stay in the relatives room.

  My stomach suddenly rumbled. I didn’t have a clue when I had eaten last. All the shops in the hospital were shut now, it was gone eight, so I had to settle for several packets of crisps, a snickers bar and two cans of Lilt from a vending machine. I returned to the relatives room and moved the furniture around to make some semblance of a bed.

  I was tucking into my food when my Blackberry chimed. It was Paul. Charlie had text him. She was staying at Jackie’s. It was like a weight off my shoulders. I finished my food and despite being uncomfortable, I fell asleep almost instantly.

  Sixty-Nine

  DS Rees sat in his chair and looked around the office, which had now been turned into a Major Incident Room. He gratefully received the mug of hot coffee that Stokes handed him. Being the youngest member of the team it was his job.

  Unknown to Alex Freeman, they were in the school car park when they had rung him at school. As soon as they saw him leave, they went in and interviewed Miss Arnold. After visiting Alex they returned to school and interviewed the staff of the English and Drama Departments. They had agreed to return in a couple of hours so Miss Arnold could arrange the cover for the teachers they would need to see. Then they dealt with the incident at James Harrington’s home, the follow-up interview with Alex Freeman, and lastly they had come up to the office and set up the MIR.

  Stokes sat down at his desk, took a sip of his coffee and put his feet up onto the neat and ordered surface.

  ‘There’s something wrong with this brew,’ Rees said.

  ‘That’ll be because it’s coffee, not tea,’ Stokes said, stifling a yawn.

  ‘I mean the evidence, the picture it’s giving us.’

  ‘What do you think’s going on then?’

  Rees shrugged his shoulders. ‘We’ve got a briefing in the morning with the new team. Let’s see what ideas they have. There's going to be twelve of them! I’ve never been in charge of that many before. To be honest, I’m surprised DCI Carson hasn’t told Dykes to take over, what with the way this is all going.’

  ‘Maybe they’re grooming you for promotion,’ Stokes suggested.

  ‘Nah; never wanted it, and besides, you’ve not seen my Personal Development Review. I couldn’t do all that studying you did.’

  ‘You mentioned the briefing?’

  ‘Let’s review what we know so far so we can at least look like we know what we’re doing in front of the team tomorrow,’ Rees said.

  ‘So, what do we know?’ Stokes crossed over to the whiteboard that was now in the corner of the MIR. He picked up a photograph, put it on the board and held it in place with a magnet, and said, ‘Sarah Alec, first vic.’

  ‘That we know of,’ Rees interrupted. ‘ABC, remember. Assume nothing.’

  Stokes nodded, added another picture and wrote their names below the two photos. ‘Looking at the victimology, the obvious link is they both work not only at the same school, but also the same department. Maybe they saw something? Heard something? Or were a part of something – a group or a secret?’

  ‘All possible, I suppose. Any other links?’

  ‘None that we’re aware of at this time, and, sadly, we’re unlikely to find out anything else directly from them for the time being. As far as we’ve been able to establish, the last person to see Sarah Alec was…’ Stokes referred to his notepad, ‘James Harrington, and ironically I was the last person to see James before he was attacked. He wasn’t able to provide any information that seemed useful. That might be different now, of course. We’ll have to wait until he wakes up.’

  Rees grunted and said, ‘Then there’s Richard Rollins. Is he the attacker like Alex Freeman believes or another victim?’ Rees took a long slurp of his coffee.

  ‘It could be either. No one’s seen him since Wednesday afternoon, from about two o’clock. The last known people to have seen him alive were, again ironically, Sarah Alec and Gil Beresford. Rollins has no previous.’

  ‘What about Rollins and this girl, Charlie Blackmore?’

  ‘I don’t understand why Miss Arnold didn’t tell us about that when we spoke to her this morning. Why tell us when we went back the second time?’ Stokes said.

  ‘Child Protection?’

  ‘Maybe. I’ve checked and the CP unit are already investigating the allegations. Both parties have denied anything It’s likely that the CPU officers were the last people to see Rollins. They’d also discovered he was missing when they returned for a follow-up interview, it’s a shame we didn’t know they were investigating too as we could have saved some time. Oh, I forgot, they requested a member of their team to join us for the briefing.’

  ‘Might be useful,’ Rees said even though he wasn’t sure if it would be. ‘Do you think there’s a connection?’

  ‘Between the Charlie Blackmore thing and the vics?’

  ‘Yes, aside from Rollins, I mean?’

  ‘Maybe. Both Miss Arnold and Alex told us that Sarah Alec had witnessed Richard Rollins threatening the girl. That sounds like a motive to get rid of her to me.’

  ‘So where does James fit into all this, then?’

  ‘Perhaps he witnessed the argument too, or was somehow privy to the information about the alleged rape.’

  ‘That makes sense. Let’s go back to Alex Freeman,’ Rees said. ‘I don’t know about you, but I feel like he’s holding back on us.’

  Stokes shook his head. ‘I’d like to think he was telling us the truth, Alun. He seems a good man. Maybe he's holding back, but I’d bet there’s a good reason.’

  ‘There’s never a good reason to withhold information from the police.’

  Stokes went quiet for a few moments. Rees took another mouthful of his coffee. ‘I think we should check out…’ Stokes paused as he consulted his notepad. ‘Paul Blackmore, Charlie’s father. Shall we pay him a visit in the morning and find out more about this alleged rape?’

  ‘Good idea, Stokes. Now we better get home. You look like sh
it, and my wife’s going to kill me.

  Seventy

  Andrew and Tracy Johnson were busy. Their guests would arrive any minute, in fact, they should have arrived a while back, but people were often late depending on where they were coming from.

  Andrew put the finishing touches to the roaring fire in the living room in a way that only a man knew how. His wife, Tracy, said all he did was poke it, but he knew it was so much more than that – that’s what he told her, anyway. Tracy had gone around the bedrooms one more time, making sure that the soaps, towels, and everything else was ready.

  For years they had watched Escape to the Country, and when Andrew’s childless aunt died, leaving him a large amount of money, and he was laid off with a generous redundancy package, the pair had decided to go for it.

  They had fallen in love with this part of Staffordshire – the moors just outside Leek – a few years back when they had got into hill walking. It was on one of these visits that they came across a group of climbers tackling the local crag called Devil’s Brow. Some were staying in tents, some just sleeping in bivy bags, and that was when they had the idea.

  There was an old run down house for sale at the bottom of the hill and it came with a sizeable amount of land. Why not buy it, do it up and run it as a Bed and Breakfast? They could cater for walkers and, more specifically, climbers as it was so close to the rock face. Maybe offer camping too.

  It had taken almost a year and all their money to set up the business, and so far they had been open a month. They'd missed the peak period of the summer but decided that it was all right as they could ease themselves into the new business. So far, however, they hadn’t had much. They’d got too carried away with their own dreams and not really researched their intended client group. It turned out climbers liked tents and bivy bags.