Missing Believed Dead

by Chris Longmuir

  Men, they were all the same, preying on women and girls for their own needs. They needed to be punished.

  She stepped onto the grassy area where her mother hung the washing to dry. She was in the open here, and she glanced around to ensure no prying eyes peered out of any of the windows. The ankle length grass was wet from the earlier rainfall and by the time she reached the bushes her feet were soaked. Pushing aside the wet branches to reach the fence, the smell of wet foliage and loamy earth increased. Beyond the bushes was the boundary fence and more back gardens. It wasn’t the easiest of routes but it was safer than being recognized leaving the house.

  It was time for her to go into hiding again. It wasn’t yet time to reveal herself.

  * * * *

  Diane huddled into a seat at the rear of the bus. She had been on the point of ending it all when she’d looked up from the water and saw, over to her right, a children’s playground. It had brought back pleasant memories of an earlier time when she’d taken all three children for a day’s outing to this place which she now realized was Broughty Ferry. Why she hadn’t recognized the place earlier, was beyond her. Maybe it was because she’d been so tied into her misery it obliterated everything else.

  Now she knew where she was, she walked to the beach beyond the castle and remembered the happier times. Running on the sand, throwing sticks for the dog, and Jade whooping with delight. Even Emma had seemed to enjoy herself.

  It was then she knew she owed it to Jade to be there for her when she was ready to come home. And she wouldn’t let her down.

  She walked back to the main street to catch the bus home, not noticing the rain, nor how wet she was.

  The bus was empty but she continued down the aisle to a seat at the back. She sat down, scrunching herself into the corner, ignoring the dampness round her legs where the edges of the coat touched, and pushing her hair back, over her collar to prevent drips rolling down her neck. Most people chose the front seats so she hoped she’d be left in peace. It would give her time to reflect on her life and what was happening to her, and why she’d nearly ended it all. Of course it was all tied up with Jade’s reappearance, she knew that. But finding Jade had become such an obsession with her, and now when Jade seemed so near, she couldn’t understand why she was unreachable.

  Maybe Jade’s reappearance was only in her mind, a figment of her imagination fuelled by her obsession. Maybe the family were right. Maybe it was time to consult the doctor again.

  It seemed no time before the bus arrived in Caird Avenue, pulling up behind another one. Diane got off, almost colliding with Emma who must have been on the bus in front.

  ‘Mum!’ Emma frowned at her. ‘You’re sopping wet. Where’s the car?’

  ‘I wasn’t in the mood for working, and I left it for Ryan.’ Diane felt a slight irritation at Emma’s concern. It felt as if her daughter were keeping tabs on her.

  ‘But you wouldn’t have got as wet as that just coming home in the bus.’

  ‘No!’ Diane’s irritation increased. ‘I guess not. But I needed time to think.’

  ‘Where have you been?’

  ‘Broughty Ferry. I used to take you all there when you were little.’ Diane looked at Emma and sighed. Why did Emma always have this effect on her. After all, Emma was her daughter as well, and she was so like Jade, yet could never take her place. Emma didn’t have that extra spark of life Jade had. But that didn’t excuse her rejection of her daughter. The only daughter she had left, unless of course, Jade really had returned.

  ‘In this weather?’ Emma frowned, and seemed about to say something else, but instead compressed her lips and shook her head.

  ‘Let’s go home, Emma.’ Diane forced an unnatural warmth into her voice, and she smiled at her daughter. She had the feeling they’d been on the point of an argument and didn’t feel up to it.

  * * * *

  As soon as he reached his bedroom, Ryan tore his clothes off and heaved them into the corner. He turned his face away from them unable to bear looking at what had once been his favourite shirt, jacket and trousers. It had taken him a long time, saving every spare pound he had, before he was able to afford to buy them at Harvey Nick’s in Edinburgh. But now, after what had happened he would never wear them again and would get rid of them at the first opportunity.

  The memory of what Phil and Gus had done to him, flooded back. He shuddered. The smell of puke, urine and shit, mixed in with disinfectant, would never leave him. It was stamped on his body for all time and he was sure it would be obvious to anyone who looked at him.

  He listened for a moment in case his mother was coming upstairs to check on him, but when he heard no sound he bolted for the bathroom, locked himself in and set the shower to hot. Standing under the shower head, he let the water stream over his head and body. Then, grabbing a coarse, exfoliating sponge, he rubbed and scrubbed at every area of his flesh.

  Ryan wasn’t sure how long he was under the shower, scrubbing himself, before he heard the front door open and someone come in. But still he didn’t get out from under the hot water. He wasn’t clean yet.

  It was the scream reverberating through the house that finally made him screw off the water, jump out of the shower, grab a towel, and hurry downstairs.

  * * * *

  Emma’s thoughts were in turmoil as she walked up the street with her mother. She wanted to say so much but choked it back. It wouldn’t help, and she feared her mother was on the point of a breakdown.

  She didn’t believe for one moment Jade had returned. There were too many unexplained factors. Like where Jade had been for five years. A thirteen year old couldn’t vanish and live another life somewhere else. Someone would have noticed. It would have been different if Jade had been an adult, then it might have been feasible, but not a thirteen year old, it simply wasn’t possible.

  Emma glanced at her mother, but Diane’s face gave nothing away, and she seemed intent on reaching the house.

  They turned the corner from Caird Avenue into Johnstone Avenue. Home was within sight, and she could see a light on in Ryan’s room. Good, she would talk to Ryan about her concerns. Maybe if they presented a unified front to Diane they would be able to persuade her to go for treatment.

  ‘I’ll use my key,’ she said, ‘it’ll save you hunting for yours.’ But when she placed her key in the lock the door swung open. That wasn’t like Ryan. He was usually fastidious about locking the front door.

  She hesitated on the doorstep. There had been a lot of burglaries in the surrounding area over the past few months. If it was a burglar he might be violent, and her mother was in no state to handle a confrontation, but neither was she. However, someone had to investigate and she was younger and fitter than Diane.

  ‘You wait here,’ she said to Diane. ‘I want to have a look around first.’

  ‘Why?’ Diane shrugged her coat off.

  ‘The door is open, that’s why. We don’t know who might be here.’

  ‘I don’t know why you’re fussing. It’ll only be Ryan.’

  ‘Ryan would have locked the door after he came in.’ Emma struggled to hide her exasperation. ‘Wait here and I’ll have a look around. Better safe than sorry.’

  The stair light was on, as well as the kitchen light. She stood for a moment considering her options. If she investigated upstairs first that would leave Diane vulnerable if the burglar was downstairs, but the same applied to a downstairs search. Making her mind up she tiptoed up the hall passage towards the kitchen light. She pushed the door with the tips of her fingers, slowly opening it.

  The kitchen was empty, except for the body of a man slumped over the kitchen table.

  Emma didn’t know what she’d expected, but certainly not this. She stood looking at him and was vaguely aware of Diane padding along the hall to join her. Her mother’s scream jolted her into action, and she walked over to the table to examine the body.

  Footsteps thudded down the stairs.

  ‘What’s up?’ Ryan stood in the ki
tchen doorway. He was barefoot and had a bath towel tied round his middle.

  ‘What does it look like,’ Emma snapped.

  ‘Shit, he’s not dead, is he?’

  ‘He’s lying here with a dirty big syringe stuck in his arm, and he’s not moving. What do you think?’

  ‘Who is it?’

  ‘You tell me, you were in the house with him.’

  ‘I went straight upstairs when I came in. I thought Mum was in the kitchen.’

  Diane walked over to Emma. ‘Who is it?’

  Emma tried to block her view. ‘It’s that copper. The one you said was helping you find Jade.’

  Diane pushed past her. ‘Oh, no! It can’t be.’

  ‘What’s he doing here?’ Ryan adjusted the towel round his middle.

  ‘I don’t know, but we’ve got to do something. Phone the police, I suppose, they’ll have to be informed.’

  Diane reached out and removed the syringe from Bill’s arm. ‘We have to help him. He might not be dead.’

  ‘I’ll call an ambulance, although it’s probably a waste of time.’ Emma walked back to the hall to get the phone. ‘Then I’ll call the police.’

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  It was a mess. Kate sat at her desk and stared into space. Two dead bodies, a missing schoolgirl, a dysfunctional family she desperately wanted to pull in, and no evidence to support it. And where was bloody Bill Murphy? Her first impressions had been right, the man was a walking disaster and nobody ever seemed to know where he was or what he was doing. And if all that wasn’t enough she’d managed to annoy the procurator fiscal, and the super was probably convinced he’d made a mistake appointing her to this job.

  She tightened her lips and frowned. Doing things by the book wasn’t working. The longer she sat here twiddling her thumbs, the longer that child remained at risk, wherever she was. At least she could restart the search for her.

  Standing up and thrusting her chair back with such force it clattered off the filing cabinets behind her, she strode to her office door.

  ‘Sue! Who was that inspector in the Greenfield office the one Murphy was working with on the door to doors?’

  Sue, who had been looking over Jenny’s shoulder as she scrolled through the computer, looked up. ‘Inspector Mason, ma’am.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Kate hurried back into her office, checked the list of office numbers, lifted the phone and dialled.

  ‘Inspector Mason’s not available,’ the voice said. ‘Can I put you through to Sergeant Forbes instead?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Detective Inspector Rawlings, it’s Sergeant Forbes here, what can I help you with?’

  ‘It’s in relation to the incident in your area today. The murder. We have reason to believe the victim abducted a child, Megan Fraser, before he was killed and I need you to organize a search party in your area. We need to find her before she comes to further harm.’

  ‘Ah, yes. I remember Megan, we’ve had search parties out for her in the past, but she always turns up.’

  ‘This time it’s different,’ Kate snapped. ‘We have evidence that Paul Carnegie was involved in Megan’s disappearance, and it would appear it’s not the first time this man’s done something like this.’

  ‘Evidence, you say?’

  ‘Yes, we’re examining his computer and there’s definitely evidence he was involved.’ Kate crossed her fingers, they hadn’t found the images yet.

  ‘I’ll get the search organized right away, ma’am.’

  Kate detected a note of reluctance in his voice but she didn’t care.

  She’d just hung the phone up when Sue popped her head round the door. ‘We’ve found the photos of Megan, ma’am.’

  Kate joined her at Jenny’s desk.

  ‘They took a bit of finding,’ the detective constable said. ‘They were in hidden files buried deep in the computer, and there’s more girls than Megan in the files. I’ve also found a file named Jade. DS Murphy asked me to look out for her name as well.’

  ‘Let’s concentrate on Megan for the time being.’ Kate’s finger itched to grab the mouse and scroll through the photos faster, but she restrained herself. ‘There’s a lot. He must have been watching her for some time.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. But here’s where it gets interesting.’

  Kate hissed breath through her lips. These photos were different. They were of a girl lying in the corner of what looked like a shed or outhouse, with her hands tied in front of her. The girl’s eyes were closed and Kate couldn’t decide whether she was looking at a drugged girl, or whether it was a body.

  ‘Right, that’s it. We need to search Patricia Carnegie’s house and grounds. Get that organized, Sue.’

  Sue turned away from the monitor and looked at Kate. ‘I’ve met Patricia Carnegie and I’d think there’s no way she’ll allow us to search her property without a warrant?’

  ‘Well, we can’t waste any time. You look up the list of sheriffs, and justices of the peace. See who’s on call and I’ll get the forms filled in.’

  Kate stamped off to her office. Blasted forms, blasted paperwork. It always got in the way.

  * * * *

  Sue became increasingly frustrated as she worked through the list of sheriffs, phoning each one in turn. Either there was no answer, or an apologetic voice at the end of the phone explaining why he wasn’t available.

  ‘Damn,’ said Sue to no one in particular, ‘you’d think at least one sheriff would be available to grant a warrant.’

  Blair grinned at her from his position, perched on the edge of her desk. ‘What about the JPs, any of them available?’

  ‘I’m about to start working down the list,’ Sue snapped. Did he think she was an idiot?

  Several phone calls later she manage to locate one justice of the peace who was available and she made arrangements to take the warrant out to her immediately.

  The JP, Mrs Barrington, lived in a bungalow in Cairnie Street. Sue parked at the kerb and, followed by Blair, walked up the path to the door. It was opened at her first knock by a little grey-haired lady.

  ‘Come in, my dears,’ she said. She led them into a living room with chintz-covered chairs. ‘Now sit down and tell me all about it.’

  Sue perched on the edge of an armchair, while Blair stood in the doorway.

  The woman sat down and smiled at Sue. ‘You are sure I can do this,’ she said, ‘it’s been a few years since I presided over a District Court.’

  ‘Your name’s on the list of available JPs, ma’am.’ Sue wasn’t entirely sure herself, the woman looked old and not her idea of what a justice of the peace should look like. But her name was on the list of approved JPs.

  ‘Oh well, I suppose you’d better explain it all to me before I decide whether to sign your warrant.’

  Sue explained the case in detail, before saying, ‘You can see how important it is for us to find this girl, and we have reason to suspect she might be hidden on Mrs Carnegie’s estate.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ Mrs Barrington said, ‘I can quite see that. Let me borrow your pen and I’ll sign the warrant.’

  Sue handed her the pen and the form to sign.

  ‘I do hope you find her,’ Mrs Barrington said as they left.

  Sue strode to the car, closely followed by Blair.

  ‘Are you sure the warrant the old biddy signed will be OK?’ Blair subsided into the passenger seat.

  Sue switched on the ignition and pressed hard on the accelerator. ‘I don’t give a damn how old she was or whether or not she’s still practising as a JP. Her name was on the list and that’s all that matters.’

  * * * *

  Kate breathed a sigh of relief when Sue returned, waving the warrant in the air.

  ‘Right, Sue, you’re with me. Jenny, you stay here and keep digging into that computer.’ Kate grabbed her jacket and shoulder bag. ‘I’ve got a police search party lined up. They’re waiting for us to serve the warrant and give them the nod to get started. Let’s go
.’

  The rush hour was over but it still took them 20 minutes to reach Patricia Carnegie’s house. Police cars lined the road outside the gates and Kate swung past them giving a flash of her lights and a toot on the horn when she entered the tree-lined drive. The cars followed her in.

  ‘This is it,’ she said to Sue as the car crunched to a halt in front of the door and, taking a deep breath to quell the fluttering feeling in her chest, she got out, marched up to the door and raised her hand to knock.

  The door opened before her fist struck the wood. Patricia Carnegie peered out at them.

  ‘I heard you coming,’ she said, her eyes flicking over the line of police cars in the driveway. ‘What’s all this about?’

  ‘We have a warrant to search your property, ma’am.’ Kate showed her the document.

  Patricia Carnegie took it but her eyes didn’t move away from the cars.

  ‘Why would you want to do that? And what are you looking for?’ She sounded genuinely puzzled.

  ‘We have reason to believe a child may be hidden on your property.’ Kate kept her voice official with a tone of severity.

  ‘You won’t find any children here.’ Mrs Carnegie’s voice was strident. ‘What on earth made you think you would?’ She turned away from them and made a vain attempt to close the door.

  ‘We have the warrant, ma’am.’ Kate’s foot was firmly in place so the door couldn’t close. ‘You are legally bound to allow the search.’

  ‘Oh, well, if you insist, but you’ll find no child here so you’re wasting your time.’ Patricia Carnegie gave them a thin-lipped smile.

  Kate beckoned to the police sergeant who had emerged from the first car. ‘Get two of your men to search the house,’ she said. ‘The rest of them can start with the grounds.’