Lost Girls

by K Leitch

  ‘I didn’t realise you were at home today,’ Maggie began. ‘Where’s Maylee?’

  Dom shook his head and didn’t answer her for a moment. ‘Truth is Mum I don’t really know. Jukie had a day off from school today and she asked if I could stay at home with him, she had a couple of hair appointments that she couldn’t cancel apparently.’ He stopped and took a breath, Maggie waited. ‘Only I just spoke to one of her “appointments” and apparently Maylee had cancelled her last week, told her that she had to take Jukie to the dentist, so I checked with the other ladies and got the same story. So your guess is as good as mine I’m afraid,’ he finished bitterly.

  Maggie squeezed his hand, ‘I’m sorry sweetheart,’ she said feeling useless, ‘try not to jump to conclusions though, there may be a perfectly good explanation.’

  Dom nodded and took a gulp of his beer.

  ‘I’m making some lunch, can I get you something?’ Maggie asked.

  Dom shook his head, ‘No I’m fine thanks Mum…but Jukie might need something.’

  Maggie stood up. ‘Right come on Juke let’s find something yummy for lunch, and then you can help me make the pavlova, would you like that?’

  Juke jumped up eagerly, and ran back into the kitchen; Maggie smiled after him as Dom took her hand. ‘Thank you Mum,’ he said again.

  ‘Oh I haven’t done anything,’ smiled Maggie.

  ‘Thank you for not making a big deal out of this,’ he said standing and giving her a hug. ‘I know you’ve never been Maylee’s biggest fan and you could have had a field day slagging her off right now but you haven’t. I have to think how best to handle this…I need to do it my way, in my own time ok?’

  Maggie returned his hug, ‘Of course darling…whatever you do it will always be alright with me. Just remember I love you and I’m here for you whenever you need me.’

  With that she followed Jukie inside and spent the rest of the day happily cooking and baking and of course making a worm house with Jukie.

  Maylee came home later in the afternoon and Dom disappeared with her into their apartment. Maggie heard raised voices a while later and not long after Maylee came running down the stairs and out of the front door. She hadn’t once looked in on Jukie to make sure he was OK, as it was he was fine and after a long bubbly bath he went to bed, exhausted by his adventurous day.

  Dom made his excuses from the meal that Maggie had prepared and she stopped Jed from going up to drag him down. ‘Leave him darling,’ she said shaking her head, ‘he needs to be on his own, he’s a bit upset.’

  Jed pestered to know what the problem was although he could guess. ‘What the fuck’s she done now, the selfish cow?’ he asked. But Maggie just shook her head, if Dom wanted them to know he’d tell them.

  Duncan turned up later than expected and still laughing at something that Martha had told him.

  ‘She cooked up this money making scheme, her and the Major. It’s called “Nan-o-grams”, apparently it’s like stripper grams only there’s no stripping. A little old lady will just turn up on your doorstep and make you a nice cup of tea while telling you stories about the war. I think it’s a winner don’t you?’

  Maggie had to laugh, ‘I’m surprised about the no stripping bit though,’ she said a moment later, ‘I would have thought Martha would have been well up for that.’

  ‘Ah no,’ said Duncan with a smile, ‘she thought it would be more practical not to, what with the three cardigans and then the thermal tights…it would take far too long to get naked and she thought the punters might get a bit bored with waiting.’

  They all burst out laughing and the evening progressed happily. It wasn’t till much later that Dom finally put in an appearance, he looked pale and tired and very unhappy. Maggie’s heart broke to see the pain on his face.

  Jed took one look at him and dragged him off into the living room. Maggie let them go, she had a feeling her son needed Jed more than anyone else at the moment.

  CHAPTER 50 - CARLA

  ‘How the hell did they miss that first time round?’ Carla was saying irritably into her phone. ‘Oh well I suppose that’s some excuse, but really I wish we’d had this a couple of weeks ago Dorothy, we’ve been getting nowhere fast with this at least we’ve got something with which to eliminate suspects…yes I know and I’m sure it was a perfectly innocent mistake…ok…ok love well thanks for letting me know anyway.’

  Carla ended her call and turned to Frank, ‘You are not going to believe this,’ she began.

  Frank raised his eyebrows, ‘Hester Binworthy has been caught leaving Tesco with a whole roasted chicken and a French stick tucked down her knickers…it’s always the quiet ones,’ he quipped.

  Carla ignored him, ‘Forensics have found blood and some black fibres on a nail just inside the window, looks pretty fresh so it could be the killer’s.’

  ‘For crying out loud,’ Frank cried, ‘how did they miss that first time round? Are they sure there’s nothing else they’ve overlooked, like a photograph of the murderer maybe or a signed confession?’

  ‘I know, it’s bloody irritating…but I suppose Dorothy is right, they are so understaffed at the moment and what with that and the skeleton…’

  Frank played an imaginary violin, ‘It’s their bloody job Carla, we rely on them giving us all the evidence, how can we do our jobs properly if we don’t have all the facts?’

  Carla didn’t say anything, Frank was right, and it was bloody frustrating. ‘Well anyway,’ she said after a moment, ‘I’m not sure whether any of it is going to be of any help other than eliminating people from our enquiries, we don’t know whose blood is going to be on the nail, that could have happened any time I suppose and…’ she broke off as Mandy put her head round the door.

  ‘Ma’am we’ve had a call in from a woman who is worried that something might have happened to her neighbour. She’s called round a few times yesterday and this morning and she’s not getting any answer, but she’s sure the woman was home, she heard noises a couple of nights ago which got her worried…’

  ‘Can’t uniform deal with this Mandy?’ Carla asked wearily.

  ‘I thought it might be something you’d be interested in Ma’am, the missing woman is Brenda Marsh and I know you interviewed her the other day so…’

  ‘Brenda Marsh?’ Carla and Frank exchanged a look, ‘Right, well done Mandy we’ll get over there. What’s the neighbour’s name?’

  ‘Hillary Vaughn Ma’am…Mrs, she lives at Number 6, the house next door.’

  ‘Great, thanks love,’ Carla said as they rushed out of the building.

  Mrs Vaughn had obviously been on the lookout for them as no sooner had Frank parked the car then the door to the house next to Brenda’s opened and a tiny little grey haired lady, with a very anxious look on her face, almost ran down the steps to meet them.

  ‘Mrs Vaughn?’ Carla asked holding up her warrant card to identify herself. ‘I’m DI Right and this is DS Hill, would you mind telling us why you called us…you were worried about your neighbour Ms Marsh you said?’

  ‘Yes that’s right,’ Mrs Vaughn began in a tremulous voice. ‘I heard noises you see, lots of crashing and thumping…’

  ‘And when was that?’ Carla asked.

  ‘Oh well that was on Tuesday evening, I’d seen her come home at about seven, I always take Gregory out at that time you see, for our evening walk…’

  ‘Gregory?’ Frank said, ‘Is that your husband?’

  Mrs Vaughn let out a peel of laughter, ‘Oh no dear, Gregory is my dog, he’s a Pug you know and although you wouldn’t think it because they are so small, they actually need a lot of exercise, so I always take him round the close at about seven so he can do his business and stretch his legs.’

  ‘And you saw Ms Marsh then?’ Carla persisted.

  ‘Yes dear as I said, I spoke to her actually. I was concerned that she hadn’t yet taken her bin inside, and it doesn’t do to leave them out you know it attracts foxes and all sorts of vermin. Anyway I reminded
her to take it in…actually she was quite short with me, which was not like her at all…’

  By this time Frank had been up to Brenda Marsh’s front door and rung the bell, it all seemed quiet. The curtains were closed though, which was a bit strange at two thirty in the afternoon. Frank indicated to Carla that he was going round to the back to check there, she gave him the thumbs up and carried on with Mrs Vaughn.

  ‘So when was it that you heard these noises?’ she asked.

  ‘Well as I said it was on Tuesday, pretty late I was getting ready for bed when Gregory started barking at something outside, I looked out but I couldn’t see anything, it was probably a fox. Anyway I was just getting myself a cup of warm milk, I always have warm milk before I go to bed, my mother used to give it to me as a child and I just haven’t got out of the habit I suppose…’

  ‘So you heard the noises when you were getting the warm milk?’ Carla encouraged her.

  ‘Oh no dear I heard them once I’d got into bed. I always read before I go to sleep, I’m reading a very interesting book at the moment about the life of Katherine of Aragon, such a time of it she had poor woman…’

  Carla was beginning to lose the will to live, when Frank shouted over to her from the side of the house.

  ‘Oh excuse me for a moment will you Mrs Vaughn,’ she said with relief, ‘we‘ll come round and talk to you in a while if that’s ok.’

  ‘Oh yes of course dear,’ the little woman said, with a look of worry on her face she added, ‘I do hope she’s alright, I’ll just be in here whenever you need me.’

  Carla thanked her and made her way round to where Frank was at the back of the house. The place seemed shut tight, apart from a window on the first floor which was wide open. It would have been easy for someone to climb in that way as there was a flat roof extension to the kitchen just below it, and from the scuff marks on the side of the walls it looked like that was just what someone had done.

  ‘Right, we need to get inside,’ Carla said looking at Frank and then at the roof pointedly.

  Frank heaved a sigh, ‘I bloody well better not ruin these trousers, they were flaming expensive,’ he grumbled as he used the guttering to pull himself up onto the roof.

  ‘Someone’s definitely been up here recently,’ he called down to Carla, ‘they’ve left some pretty good prints, it’s quite muddy up here.’

  ‘Well try not to mess them up, hurry up and let me in will you?’ Carla called back, watching as Frank disappeared head first through the bedroom window.

  A couple of minutes later she could hear the bolts being pulled back on the kitchen door. Frank opened the door, grim faced, and shook his head at Carla.

  ‘She’s in the living room,’ was all he said before turning and leading the way.

  Carla’s nostrils were immediately assailed by the all too familiar sickly sweet smell of death as she entered the living room.

  The room was in chaos, chairs overturned and whole shelves of books from the bookcase scattered all over the floor along with ornaments and photo frames.

  Brenda Marsh was behind the sofa curled into a foetal position, her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped round her body. Her face was a bloody mess of cuts and swellings, her hair was matted with dried blood from a nasty wound near her temple, her eyes were wide open and staring up at them, although they had long lost the ability to see.

  Carla sighed heavily, ‘Call it in Frank will you? We’ll need forensics here as soon as possible.’ She looked round the once comfortable living room, drawers were pulled out and even a couple of pictures had been taken down from the walls…someone had obviously been pretty desperate to find something. It didn’t feel like a robbery, Brenda was still wearing a huge diamond ring on her left hand and a Cartier watch on her wrist, so what had they been looking for…and did they find it?

  She made her way upstairs; there were three bedrooms one of which was obviously Brenda’s son Gavin’s. That one seemed untouched, not so Brenda’s room which once again had had all of the drawers and cupboards thoroughly riffled through. Carla carefully looked through the debris that was scattered around the room but she couldn’t see anything that might help her to figure out who’d killed Brenda.

  She heard the forensics team arriving and headed back downstairs; it was a testament to Dorothy’s exasperation that it was her new deputy Elaine Dewar that had been sent to this crime scene, rather than taking the time from her ongoing investigations to come herself. Carla smiled her welcome and showed the rather shy girl where the body was.

  ‘Can you let me know time of death as soon as possible?’ she said. ‘I’ll be next door interviewing the neighbour if you need me.’

  Elaine nodded at her nervously and went through to the living room.

  Mrs Vaughn was distraught. ‘Oh no…oh that poor woman who would do such a thing, oh officer you don’t think it’s somebody targeting homes in this area do you?’ she thought suddenly her hand flying to her mouth in horror. ‘Maybe he’s after single women living on their own…oh no…’

  Carla tried to reassure her. ‘We don’t think it was a robbery Mrs Vaughn,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t look like anything of value was taken, it seems more like that the killer was looking for something specific, something that Ms Marsh had. Did Ms Marsh have many visitors Mrs Vaughn?’

  Mrs Vaughn let out an embarrassed titter, ‘Oh I suppose you mean her fancy man, Albie his name is, lovely man, always has a kind word if ever I meet him…oh poor, poor man,’ she exclaimed suddenly as she remembered Brenda was dead. ‘Oh and poor Gavin, he’ll be devastated…oh detective he’ll need to be told, he was so close to his mother, oh the poor boy….’ she broke off tearfully.

  ‘Of course we will tell him Mrs Vaughn, don’t worry. Do you happen to know which university he’s at?’ Carla asked gently.

  ‘University of Sussex,’ Mrs Vaughn said immediately, ‘he was so proud of the fact that he’d got in, he’s studying Art History you know, he is very creative…lovely boy, so sensitive and kind.’

  Carla made a note of the university, ‘Can you think of anyone else that may have visited Brenda recently, in the last day or so maybe?’ she asked.

  ‘I did happen to notice one man, but he was only there for a few minutes. He knocked at her door but she obviously wasn’t at home so he went away again.’

  ‘When was this?’

  ‘Last weekend, Sunday I think…yes it was definitely Sunday, because I’d just switched on songs of praise, I may not attend church regularly but I never miss songs of praise if I can help it…’

  ‘So you saw this man,’ Carla prompted.

  ‘Oh yes, like I said he knocked on the door, and of course Gregory barked so I had a quick look out of the window and he was just standing there. But as I said she must have been out…’

  ‘Can you describe him Mrs Vaughn?’ Carla asked.

  ‘Oh very handsome he was, tall and blond and very well dressed, smart you know, looked expensive if you know what I mean.’

  ‘Did you happen to notice his car?’

  ‘No sorry dear, I only looked out for a moment, didn’t want to miss songs of praise.’

  Carla took her leave of Mrs Vaughn a few minutes later and went back round to Brenda’s house.

  Frank was talking to Elaine in the kitchen; he turned to Carla when she walked in.

  ‘She’s been dead about thirty six hours and according to Elaine here,’ he smiled at the young pathologist who was looking up at him in admiration, ‘she could have been lying there for a few hours before her injuries killed her, so that would fit in with the noises that Mrs Vaughn heard on Tuesday night.’

  Elaine smiled shyly at Carla, ‘She’s taken a terrible beating about 80% of her body is covered with bruises, this was a frenzied attack. But it was the blunt force trauma to the side of her head that did the final damage and it looks like we have a murder weapon.’ She held up a heavy glass ashtray, which was covered with blood and other brain tissue.

  ‘Any defence in
juries?’ Carla asked.

  Elaine nodded, ‘Looks like it, a couple of her finger nails are broken and there is some bruising and scratches on her hands, we’ve bagged them so I’ll be able to let you know once I do the PM. We’ve made some casts of the footprints on the roof as well and we’ve found loads of fingerprints, which we will need to identify….’

  ‘Ok good, thanks Elaine,’ Carla said looking round the living room again.

  Frank had disappeared upstairs to have a look through the bedrooms and bathroom; he came down a moment later carrying a photo album.

  ‘Well it seems Brenda wasn’t completely honest about her relationship with Albie’s children,’ he said holding a picture up for Carla to see. Albie and Brenda were obviously at some sort of function judging from their formal dress. They were seated on a table of about eight people, a couple of seats away from them were two men, their blond heads close together as if in deep conversation…David and Luke Wiseman.

  CHAPTER 51 - 1972 Exerts from the diary of Una Flannery

  …They wake us at five thirty in the morning for morning prayers. We have to kneel on a freezing concrete floor for hours while the prayers are repeated over and over by Father Doran. Even the girls that are about to drop have to kneel along with the rest of us. Mary Keely’s waters broke halfway through the other morning; Sister Frances didn’t let her up mind, held her down on her knees the whole time. Sure we could hardly hear the prayers for Mary’s moans of pain. Once the Father had finished Sister Frances pulled her up and took her off somewhere. She was in agony the poor thing… we heard her screams for the rest of the day and into the night, she had a girl I think, I don’t know for sure because as soon as she’d had her babe she was on her way back home, we never saw her again.

  It hadn’t taken long for Mammy to spot my belly. I had tried everything to get rid of the thing but it was a real fighter. Even after I’d pushed a knitting needle up me and bled all over the place, that tough little babe just kicked me harder, telling me that it was going nowhere… and now I feel a love so fierce for it…I won’t let any harm come to it…and so help me I will not let them take it from me.