by K Leitch
Carla thought for a moment, ‘Mandy, in your report on the missing girls you mentioned the Freeman’s, parents of Precious Freeman. They actually came to take their daughter away from the hotel, what prompted them to do that? I mean how did they know that she might have been in danger?’
‘Well as far as I can tell, she wrote to her sister telling her that some man at the hotel was hurting her and that she was scared of him. I think it was a while before the sister showed her mum the letters though, because obviously by the time they finally came and took her she was already pregnant, Silco’s child no doubt. Luckily for her she had a good family behind her and they took care of her and the child until she married….’
Carla was reading through Mandy’s report, ‘It says here that they tried to take action against the hotel….’
‘Oh my God the poor things, they must have been so frustrated,’ Mandy went on, ‘they went to the police first and accused Jonas Silco of raping their daughter. Which, when you think that it had only been a few months before that Jacob Gattoré had made a similar complaint, you’d have thought the police would have taken it seriously. Oh no apparently they visited the hotel and spoke to the owner, who vouched for Silco saying that he was a good upstanding citizen as opposed to Precious Freeman who had been caught with her hands in the till…’
‘Wait, are you telling me Precious Freeman stole money from the hotel…why wasn’t she sacked then, I thought she went home because her parents came and got her?’ Carla interjected.
‘Yes, but as soon as the Freemans accused Silco of rape, Oliver Hanley or Albie Wiseman if you prefer, said that they were going to sack her anyway because Silco had caught her stealing. Precious denied it till she was blue in the face, but it effectively squashed the other charge made against Silco, the police washed their hands of it and the Freemans went home with their tails between their legs.’
‘Well, maybe they didn’t,’ Carla said looking round at her team. ‘Maybe they were the ones that set fire to the Linden and maybe they would bear closer scrutiny. It could be that our accomplice is one of them, what d’ya reckon?’
Frank looked unsure, ‘I don’t know Carla, I mean all that stuff that happened with the girls it’s a long time ago, would they really hold a grudge that long. I mean it’s not as if anything really bad happened to this Precious is it?’ he held his hands up as Carla and Mandy gasped in indignation. ‘Oh I know, I know she was raped and had an illegitimate child…but it all came good for her, she got married had other children…why would she want to be part of this sort of vigilante crusade after all these years?’
Carla tutted and shook her head, ‘No you may be right Frank, but there are some people that just can’t get over something like that happening to them, it damages them, changes them for life. Maybe that’s what happened to Precious…maybe her experiences at the Linden destroyed her and that affected the people around her.’
Frank still looked dubious but he said, ‘Well there’s no harm in checking them out I suppose….’
‘Do we know where they are now Mandy?’ Carla asked, ‘Is Precious still alive?’
‘I haven’t had any luck in tracing her yet Ma’am,’ Mandy said. ‘Her parents died a while ago and at that time they were still living in Peckham so it may be that she is still living in that area, leave it with me.’
‘Thanks love,’ Carla said, ‘Frank tell me about John Sheenan, what did he have to say for himself?’
Frank smiled, ‘Oh he was very helpful, told us about how Jonas died, throat cut and sodomised as Dorothy said. And, same as Rebecca, he claimed that he was the murderer, Rebecca didn’t actually kill anyone according to him, he planned and executed it all by himself. But then he slipped up when he was talking about Silco’s murder, he said that as soon as they received the information on where he lived they went to his house. So I asked him who had provided the information, he realised then that he had slipped up and he started getting really agitated, saying that I was putting words into his mouth, and the sign language interpreter had got it wrong. Other than that though, he basically confessed to all three killings and to a few more actually.’
‘Bloody hell you have been busy little bees haven’t you?’ Carla said, ‘Let me guess, Alfred Sheenan, Sister Frances and who else?’
‘Father Seamus Leary,’ Frank said, Carla raised her brows. ‘Apparently,’ Frank went on, ‘he raped Rebecca’s mother impregnating her when she was only just fourteen. She was disgraced and abandoned by her family and killed herself after giving birth to Rebecca. Rebecca was then given to the Sheenans; this was a few years before John came along. According to everyone I’ve spoken to about the Sheenans, the father Alfred Sheenan was the worst sort of monster, and the mother wasn’t much better, a sort of religious nut, so anyway Father Leary’s name went on the list.’
Carla sat down and put her head in her hands. ‘Fucking hell, I am going to thank my lucky stars every day of my life for my lovely Mum and Dad. Oh my God, how do these kids survive, and why do we as a society let these things happen….’
‘To be fair Ma’am, this was a long time ago. We’ve got much better, much more aware,’ Sam said.
‘Still not good enough Sam,’ Carla said shaking her head, ‘remember last year, the children’s homes, the parties?’
‘Well, all we can do is our best,’ Frank said trying to lighten the mood. ‘Let’s try and find the third member of this little gang before we try and mend the world shall we?’
The little meeting broke up and Frank followed Carla back into her office.
‘How did it go with David Wiseman Frank?’ Carla asked as soon as she was sat down.
‘Well there wasn’t much he could say in his defence really. He’d brought this expensive lawyer with him, but when I showed him all that we had, even he was advising that he pleaded guilty, which he did. Ranted on for ages about Brenda Marsh though, from the sounds of it she was not the “butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth” defenceless little woman that she pretended to be. She’d been blackmailing Wiseman for months, telling him that she’d give the letters and documents to his father if he didn’t cough up, she even threatened to give them to his mother once Albie had been killed. According to Wiseman he’s paid her close to a million, and she was asking for even more now she knew he was going to inherit. I think he just finally snapped, he got really emotional when he spoke about his half brother Gavin though, he just kept saying, “please tell him I’m sorry, so very sorry”. Seems he had a lot of time for him, no matter what he felt about Brenda. Anyway he’s pleaded guilty, he’s in custody in Redbank till the trial.’
Carla tutted, ‘What a bloody family, and now there’s only that knob Luke and I suppose Gavin left. I wonder how they’ll deal together,’ she said not looking up from Mandy’s report which she had started reading again.
‘Did anyone try and interview Agnes Cray?’ she asked a moment later.
Frank laughed, ‘Oh yes, I did,’ he said smiling at the memory. ‘That woman is completely gaga, she kept on going on about ‘not telling anyone’ and ‘Miss Ingrid’ oh loads of stuff, none of it made any sense though.’
‘Did you tape it?’ Carla said looking up with interest.
‘Yes, of course…it’s all babble Carla, you can barely make out what she’s saying,’ Frank said rummaging through Carla’s desk drawers and producing his recorder.
‘Er…what’s that doing in my draw?’ Carla asked pulling the draw open again and pulling out several kit kat wrappers and a magazine about fly fishing. She raised her eyebrows at Frank, who had the grace to look embarrassed.
‘Oh…yes sorry about that, it just seemed more convenient to work in here while you were away so…’ he trailed off under her stern gaze.
‘Ha, would you jump in my grave as fast…and be careful how you answer that Frank, remember I’ve actually been in my grave.’
Frank laughed and threw Carla the recorder, before leaving the office. Carla pressed the play button and listened to
Agnes Cray.
Frank was right; there was a lot of mindless chatter about people whose names Carla didn’t recognise. But when Frank asked her about Jonas Silco, Agnes got really upset and started wailing and babbling. ‘Oh we mustn’t tell…Silco says we mustn’t. They were dirty little whores; dirty filthy sluts…have to hide them… NO!... no one must ever know…you mustn’t say that, Miss Ingrid says to get them out of the house…out of the house she says…burn the sluts…burn them all up…’
She went on like this for ages no matter how hard Frank tried to turn the subject back, in the end he obviously just gave up. Carla sat for ages thinking about what she’d just heard, until a dreadful suspicion entered her head and she grabbed Una’s diaries again and started to read. At the same time she fired up her PC and began to find out all she could on the Linden Hotel.
An hour later she went over to Frank’s desk. ‘I’ve been checking out the Linden Hotel,’ she said to him without preamble.
Frank didn’t look up from what he was doing, ‘Oh yeh?’ he said absently.
‘Yes,’ Carla replied, ‘It seems that the hotel was one of the first in London to install central heating, hot water and radiators in every room, it was one of its selling points.’
Frank still didn’t look up but Carla could tell that he was listening.
‘The heating worked by pumping hot water through a series of pipes, much as our modern systems work today. The difference at the Linden was that the whole thing was powered by an enormous furnace which was situated in the basement of the building.’ Frank was listening now. ‘I think I know where those lost girls ended up Frank,’ Carla said.
‘Shit,’ Frank said quietly closing his eyes. ‘In the bloody furnace…of course, no wonder they were never heard of again…shit…shit,’ Frank said again, running his hands through his hair.
‘And that’s what Agnes was trying to tell us,’ Carla went on, ‘burn them up…burn the sluts get them out of the house, she said it over and over. I think that’s what she was talking about, getting rid of the bodies.’
They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. ‘Of course we have absolutely no proof that any of that happened,’ Carla said eventually.
‘No…not a sausage,’ agreed Frank. ‘But I’d bet my mortgage that it did, what a fucking horror story…it’s the sort of thing you might see in a film…it would make a great film actually, if it weren’t for the fact that it really happened, those girls really did end up dead, their bodies thrown into a furnace…oh God it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.’
Mandy came over excitedly waving a piece of paper in her hand. ‘I have traced Precious Freeman; she is still alive and lives in Thornton Heath, which is just passed Croydon apparently.’
‘Well done love,’ Carla said taking the paper from her and looking it over, ‘what’s the other address on here?’
‘Oh that’s one of her son’s, he lives in Godstone…what …Carla what have I said?’
Carla had slammed her hand against her forehead, she’d just realised what it had been that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Oh my God it all made sense now.
‘Sorry love I’ll explain later, right now I have to be somewhere,’ she said and raced out of the room, leaving Frank and Mandy staring after her.
The front door of the pretty ivy clad semi-detached house was opened before Carla had time to knock.
‘Carla…I was just leaving… did you come to say goodbye?’ Livy said, nervously indicating the suitcases that were waiting in the hallway.
‘Can I come in Livy?’ Carla said walking past her in to the house. Livy closed the door behind her and followed her through to the sitting room; Carla turned and looked at her…just looked at her, not saying a word.
Livy sighed heavily and sat down, ‘How long have you known?’ she asked quietly a moment later, her eyes filling up.
‘I only figured it out today,’ Carla said. ‘I remembered that your maiden name had been Rose, and then we found out that one of Precious’s sons lived in Godstone. You’d mentioned staying with your brother in Godstone….why Livy…why would you involve yourself with such people…?.’
‘Oh I don’t expect you to understand,’ Livy said, angrily wiping the tears from her cheeks. ‘You didn’t have to grow up with a mother who constantly reminded you that you were the result of a violent rape, a rape that left her mutilated and disfigured. And with a stepfather that constantly reminded you that you were worth less than nothing, just a burden that he had to put up with, the spawn of a rapist…’
‘How the hell did you ever meet them, the Sheenan’s I mean?’ Carla interrupted
‘They contacted me,’ Livy said quietly, ‘or rather Rebecca did. First she sent an anonymous letter, all cut out from a magazine, really dramatic like on the telly, saying that ‘Justice had been done’ or something like that…anyway my mum tore it up but she got all bitter and twisted again after that letter, I suppose it brought it all back up. She started asking me if I could track down any of the other girls, ‘cus I was on the force I suppose, anyway I refused but she must have somehow got hold of the Sheenan’s because then one day I got a call, and it was Rebecca. She asked if we could meet, she was bloody freaked out when I turned up in my uniform let me tell you,’ Livy chuckled.
‘Why did you not just report them, they’d killed Jonas Silco…your father…’
‘He was no father of mine,’ Livy shouted, ‘my God Carla the man was evil…I mean he was real evil…anyway I talked with Rebecca for ages and I started to agree with what she said, and I was so disgusted at the way these girls had been ignored…well that’s why I left the force…’
‘But you were doing so well Livy, weren’t you, had the makings of a brilliant police woman. When I knew you in Birmingham, you were getting on with your life, making a fresh start you said…what changed, how do you go from that to planning murder….’
‘It wasn’t murder…it was justice, they deserved to die a million times over for what they did to those girls. Do you know what my mum suffered…do you?’ she asked Carla wildly.
Carla tried to calm her, ‘I do have an idea Livy, and I know that Jonas Silco was an animal that deserved to have been brought to justice for what he did….’
‘He cut her breasts Carla, he burnt her face, he sodomised her over and over. It wasn’t just the rape, Silco was a sadist, he got off on the terror and pain that he inflicted on those girls.’
Carla didn’t know what to say, she shook her head in horror.
‘My mum was one of the lucky ones; she had a family that cared enough to take her away from that place. Do you know that my grandfather went to the police to try and get Silco arrested? They did nothing, Carla…nothing! Oliver Hanley had the police in his pocket; he even tried to accuse my mum of theft! He deserved everything he got believe me.’
‘Was that why your grandfather torched the hotel?’ Carla asked.
Livy gave her a wry smile, ‘You figured that out as well…I always knew you’d end up a bloody good detective Carla, you’re like a dog with a bone once you get your teeth into something, you won’t let it go will you? He had to make them pay Carla, they had destroyed his daughter don’t you see that?’
Carla ignored the question. ‘So how did it work Livy?’ she said, ‘you’d locate the victims, maybe tail them for a while so you knew their comings and goings, pinpoint the times when they’d be at their most vulnerable and then send in the terrible twins to do their worst…is that how it happened? Or did you take part in the actual planning of the murders….’
‘They weren’t murders Carla,’ Livy said again wearily, ‘we were just making sure that those girls got the justice that they deserved, all the people that we executed were guilty of the most heinous crimes, they deserved to die….’
‘And what about me Livy, did I deserve to die…what was my crime?’ Carla asked looking at her friend sadly.
‘Oh god Carla, that was never meant to happen,’ Livy reto
rted, getting up and walking around the room in an agitated way. ‘You have to believe me, we would never hurt anyone that didn’t deserve it, we had a list, it was only ever those people on the list that were meant to be dealt with…you…you just got in the way….’
‘And what about Helen, she got in the way too did she?’
‘I’m sorry about Helen,’ Livy said wearily, ‘I like Helen; I wouldn’t have hurt her for the world. John can sometimes be a little panicky, a little heavy handed…he doesn’t mean anything by it.’
Carla smiled and shook her head, she was glad to hear that John hadn’t meant anything personal against her when he’d buried her alive.
Out of the front window Carla noticed Frank getting out of his car, he had Sam with him. They’d obviously figured out where she’d run off to. Livy noticed them as well.
She turned pleading eyes to Carla, ‘It’s only you that knows that I’ve been involved…please Carla you don’t have to say anything. You could say you’ve made a mistake…this will kill my mum Carla…please for old times’ sake…I’m begging you,’ she finished desperately clinging on to Carla’s arm.
Carla disengaged herself and sadly shook her head, ‘I’m sorry love…I can’t do that.’ She walked past Livy and into the hall to open the front door.
Frank gave her a look and Carla nodded at him, jerking her head towards the living room, but as they turned to go through into the room a loud BANG came from the room. Carla and Frank threw themselves onto the floor and shouted at Sam to get down.
They lay there for a couple of seconds trying to get their breath back.
‘Oh NO…NO, NO LIVY!’ Carla shrieked a moment later, she jumped up and ran into the room. Livy lay crumpled on the floor in the centre of the room; half her head had been blown off by the gun that she was still holding in her hand.
