The Girl in the Rug

by K Leitch

  The bathroom door flew open and a gloriously naked Maggie, still wet and covered in bubbles threw herself into Duncan’s arms. Duncan, who wasn’t one to pass up such an opportunity, gathered her to him and kissed her passionately.

  ‘Oh god Maggie I love you so much,’ he gasped when they came up for air a few minutes later, ‘do you think you could get used to a disfigured old bastard like me?’ He added looking her over appreciatively, ‘because you are so very beautiful…too, too beautiful…’

  ‘Oh don’t start all that rubbish again,’ giggled Maggie pulling him into her room and towards the bed, ‘you’ve said it now Duncan and you can’t take it back…’ she said removing his shirt. Duncan winced slightly as his scars came into view, but Maggie just put her lips to them, kissing them better and making him gasp with pleasure.

  Kissing him and soothing him as she went, Maggie soon had Duncan as naked as she was. She knelt back on the bed looking him over…ignoring his self consciousness she ran her fingers over every hurt that Kerry Webb had inflicted on him in her madness. ‘You are magnificent my love…’ she told him with tears in her eyes, ‘even that cruel bitch couldn’t take away your beauty and I am going to love every little inch of you.’

  And with that she set to work proving beyond any little nagging doubts that Duncan may have still had at the back of his mind that she loved him and, despite what the silly old fool might think, she fancied the pants off him.

  CHAPTER 51 - HELEN

  ‘He just seems to have taken a few steps backward,’ Maya was saying to Helen as they were getting ready for bed, ‘gone inside himself again…hiding something maybe.’

  Helen was ready to drop, she had been in Redbank with Maggie all day asking people if they had seen Tracy, then had gone back to help Simon with the children. She hadn’t got home until after Abby had been put to bed by Nonna, she had been fast asleep when Helen had looked in on her. Helen had stayed beside her for a while just looking at her, how scared Tracy must be right now wherever she was, worrying about her children and Simon. Helen said a silent prayer that she would be found safe and well…and soon.

  She looked at Maya, whose face was a picture of concern for Andy. ‘Well why not bring him over again, and let’s try and get him to talk about what’s bothering him…you never know he might find it easier to talk here than at the home or at school.’

  ‘Yes, maybe you right Helen…he did seem to relax here…yes I will ask, see if he wants to come.’

  ‘Bring him for tea again tomorrow,’ Helen said dozily,’ I will be out most of the day, but I should be back by about four…we’ll get the kids to bed early and have a talk to him.’

  ‘Please be careful tomorrow love, I don’t like that you will be walking round ‘Buttercup,’ there are some nasty people there,’ Maya said flinging her arm round Helen.

  ‘Don’t worry honey,’ Helen said sleepily, ‘there will be quite a few of us…I’ll be fine…’ she yawned again, ‘oh…night love…sorry so sleepy,’ she mumbled closing her eyes.

  Maya lay awake listening to Helen’s gentle snores, poor Helen she was so worried for her friend and with good reason. Maya was seriously beginning to think that the police would be finding a body, if she didn’t turn up within the next day or so. Oh god she hoped not, she couldn’t imagine how Helen would deal with Tracy’s death…or indeed how any of the witches would deal with it. She shook her head trying to dispel those awful fears. Her thoughts, as always lately, turned back to Andy, she was sure that something had happened to the boy. Once again he had retreated into his shell; maybe she should speak to that lady again, the one that ran the house…Miss Taylor that was her name. Well she would, but she’d try Andy again first…maybe Helen was right, he might relax enough here to talk to them.

  So the next afternoon, Andy once again came over to Helen’s house for tea. As soon as he came in Helen knew that Maya was right to be worried. There was a sort of stiffness about the boy that hadn’t been there before. He was still just as polite and chatted to the children, but he had shied away when Helen had gone to give him a hug, pulling his little arms to his side as if he didn’t want any human contact…that was new.

  So after tea and a rowdy game of Hungry Hippo’s, Lena took the little ones, kicking and screaming, up to bed, Maya made Andy a cup of hot chocolate, and they all sat at the kitchen table.

  ‘So how are you doing Andy?’ Helen began, ‘How are things at the home?’

  Andy sipped his drink and answered all their questions politely without giving anything away except that is for the fact that Daniel his roommate had disappeared.

  ‘When did he go Andy?’ Maya said.

  ‘Dunno,’ said Andy not meeting their eyes, ‘about a week or so I suppose.’

  ‘Wasn’t that when that man was stabbed?’ Helen asked, ‘Did Daniel have anything to do with that do you think…’

  ‘NO,’ shouted Andy making Helen and Maya jump, ‘It wasn’t his fault, he was trying to protect me wasn’t he…and anyway old Tutt had it coming he was horrible…’

  Maya stood and put her arms round Andy. ‘Is ok Andy…is ok sweetheart, we are not accusing Daniel of anything…we are just worried for you. Why was Daniel protecting you from Mr Tutt, was he hurting you?’

  Andy put his head down and Helen could see tears rolling down his face, ‘Andy you can tell us anything you want to ok, we are not going to push you to talk to us, but we would like to help you if we can. We have both seen that you are worried about something, and I think it has to do with this Mr Tutt…am I right?’

  The little boy still kept his head down, but he nodded.

  ‘Why don’t you tell us what happened Andy…we might be able to help,’ Helen said gently.

  Andy said nothing, just sat with his head bowed but it was obvious that he was seriously upset about something…Helen and Maya waited for him to break the silence.

  ‘He was hurting this boy,’ Andy whispered at last, ‘in the shed…I followed him out there to tell him that I didn’t want to do anymore parties…but when I got to the shed…I saw,’ Andy lifted a tear stained face to the two women. ‘He was hurting him…you know, doing things to him…bad things,’ he finished on a whisper.

  Maya looked at Helen shocked to the core, ‘Do you mean he was hitting him Andy?’ Maya asked needing to hear it from him.

  Andy shook his head, ‘He had his trousers down,’ he said his face flaming, ‘he was doing stuff…you know…dirty stuff.’

  Helen’s face took on an almost purple hue she was so shocked and angry. ‘That bastard!’ she swore, ‘well he definitely deserved all he got…but hang on a minute Andy you said Daniel was protecting you…did that awful man touch you?’

  ‘No…yes, but Daniel stopped him; Tutt saw me looking through the window and he chased me, and when he got me he tried to…you know. But then Daniel stabbed him so he couldn’t…he saved me, and now he’s run away,’ Andy finished on a sob.

  Maya held Andy closer to her, ‘Oh you poor boy…I am so glad that Daniel stabbed this man…I would stab him too if I could. Well he will not be hurting you anymore Andy I promise, we will tell the police and…’

  ‘NO,’ Andy shouted again, ‘no I can’t tell them anything…’ he was sobbing now, ‘I mustn’t tell…he’ll come and get Mum if I tell…cut her eyes out…please don’t make me tell them.’ He was pulling at Maya’s hands pleading with her, Maya who was crying herself by now shrugged her shoulders at Helen, she didn’t know what to do.

  Helen came and took hold of Andy’s hands and looked him in the eye, ‘Andy who is going to come and get you…Mr Tutt will be in jail, he won’t be able to hurt you or your mum…’

  ‘Nooo not him…Nellie, Nellie said if ever I told, he would come back and cut Mum’s eyes out…so I haven’t said anything…ever.’

  Helen was looking bewildered now, ‘Hang on, so was this Nellie hurting you as well darling…does he work at the home too?’

  Andy shook his head, ‘No he used to come to see
Mum…we always hated it when he came cus he was horrible to Mum. Then he killed Amish and we saw it…and then he thought I’d told the police...but I never, I swear I never said a word.’ Andy’s look of desperation was awful to see, ‘But it didn’t matter he still came…and he cut Mum’s face, there was blood everywhere and then I don’t know what happened but he threw Lucy and she must have hit her head or something…cus she was dead.’ Andy really broke down at this point and sobbed in Maya’s arms. Helen and Maya shared a shocked look over his head.

  ‘She was dead…I tried to make her wake up, I thought if I shook her…but she didn’t ever wake up, and Turk he wrapped her up in the old rug,’ Andy gulped down another sob, ‘and they took her away…I never saw her again after that…’ his little shoulders were shaking as he wept.

  ‘Oh poor baby…poor baby,’ Maya cooed rocking him in her arms. ‘Is alright now darling…is alright Maya is not going to let anything bad happen to you ever again…I promise you…I promise you.’

  It took a while before Andy was calm enough to continue. ‘And Nellie, he said before they took her that if I ever told anyone he’d come back and cut Mum…so you mustn’t tell anyone,’ he turned to Maya desperately, ‘promise…promise me please.’

  Maya didn’t know what to say, she knew that she had to tell someone about what was going on at the home, and if this Nellie was threatening Andy’s mum then the police should be told about that as well surely. She looked at Helen who shook her head and took Andy’s hands once more.

  ‘Sweetheart we have to tell someone don’t you see…’ she broke of as Andy let out a great wail of misery. ‘Andy calm down…listen to me for a moment darling, I have a friend who is a policewoman and if you tell her what you’ve just told us then I promise…I promise Andy that she will make sure your mum is kept safe. She is a nice kind lady and she wouldn’t want to see anyone get hurt ok?’

  Andy didn’t answer, just sat and sniffed for a few minutes then he said, ‘Ok…but she must promise to keep Mum safe too…or I won’t tell her anything.’

  ‘Good boy Andy,’ Helen said squeezing his hand, but something was still puzzling her. ‘Andy,’ she began again, ‘what did you mean you didn’t want to go to anymore of Mr Tutt’s parties?’

  For a minute Andy looked scared again and Helen wasn’t sure if he was going to tell her, but then he seemed to make up his mind, and little bit by little bit he told them everything. About going in the van with Mr Tutt late at night, the big room with all the food and sweets and the men and what they had done.

  Helen and Maya found it hard to listen to what Andy was telling them and not to react. They found it hard to believe that such things had been going on right under Miss Taylor’s nose without her knowing anything about it and their first instinct was to go round to Marshall Street and have it out with the woman. But after a while common sense prevailed and they decided instead to phone Carla and let the police deal with it. It was hard when the time came to drop Andy back at the home, Maya particularly would have preferred to have kept him with them but they had no choice, he was still in the care of the state and Marshall Street was his home for the time being. But Maya made Andy promise that if anything else happened he was to ring her immediately and she would come and get him. He wasn’t worried he had said, Mr Tutt was in hospital and anyway mum would be getting him any day to take him home to live with her, and then everything would be fine.

  Maya felt heartbroken for the little boy, she had heard from Brenda Massey that Kathy Hunt had disappeared off the radar…no one had seen her for days despite that fact that she was meant to report to the police station once a day as part of her bail conditions. It seemed that she had decided to get as far away as she could, without a thought for Andy or the charges hanging over her head. Poor little Andy was in for another huge disappointment if he was relying on his mum to rescue him.

  CHAPTER 52 - CARLA

  ‘Ok people listen up,’ Carla said to the group of officers gathered in the incident room, ‘We now have two women that have disappeared within the last three days, Linda Connelly, some of you might recognise her, she is Ted’s daughter, and now works as a reporter for the South East Gazette. She was watching a house in Smithem Lane, which incidentally belongs to the Robinson brothers, her car has been found and so has her camera so we can only assume that she was disturbed whilst on the job so to speak. The last message on her phone was to DS Hill, telling him that she was at the house. We have sent the film from her camera to forensics and Frank should be back soon with that so maybe we will find out why she was taken.

  ‘Tracy Burton has been missing now for over seventy two hours, there has been no activity on her credit cards or ATM machines and she didn’t have her mobile with her. The white van that was spotted on the CCTV footage driving slowly past the common at the approximate time of her disappearance, has been traced back to…guess who…the Robinson’s, and of course we also now know that the man driving the van was none other than our friend Elliot Dentch or Nellie as he likes to be known. So today as soon as I get a call from DCI Riley with a warrant we will be searching the house and the builder’s yard for any signs of the girls.

  ‘DC Hopkins, DC Gamble and WPC Perkins I want you to carry on with the door to door on ‘Buttercup’, if Nellie is involved he may well have talked to some of his old mates. Garth Hungerford might be worth a visit, he used to hang around with Nellie and Turk…and Turk’s girlfriend…what’s her name…’

  ‘Paula Crocker Ma’am,’ said Mandy.

  ‘Yeh Paula Crocker…she might be willing to talk after what Nellie did to her boyfriend so…’

  Carla broke off as Frank came into the room, he was carrying a large brown envelope and gave Carla such an intense look that she frowned questioningly at him, but he just jerked his head towards her office and then made his way there.

  ‘Right…so we all know what we’re doing…those not going to ‘Buttercup’ be prepared to move…as soon as I hear from DCI Riley we will be heading out ok…oh except you Wendy,’ Carla turned to WPC Hailsham with an apologetic smile, ‘can you give Sheila a hand to go through all the reported sightings…we’ve been inundated with them since DCI Riley went on the radio…sorry love,’ Carla finished as Wendy’s shoulders sank with disappointment. ‘But it’s just as important as door to door and there may be something there that will help us find these girls, and let’s face it we need as much help as we can get ,’ she quipped as she followed Frank into the office.

  Frank was sitting at her desk; in front of him spread out all over the desk were the photos from Linda’s camera. Carla picked up one; it showed a little girl of about four or five, in just her knickers, bending over and touching her toes whilst a man, whom Carla recognised as a leading light in the local government, took a picture of her from behind. Carla shook her head as she picked up another, this time a man had a naked child bent over his knee his hands were on the little boy’s bottom. One by one each picture told a story; silently, grimly, Carla looked at them all. She recognised many of the men in the pictures, there were several so called upstanding members of the community including a local magistrate and the Mayor. But then she came to a photograph that made her gasp with shock, it was a man with a little girl on his lap, she must have been about five or six, she was naked and the man had his fingers between her legs. The girl’s face was a picture of confused misery but that wasn’t what had made Carla gasp, she had been shocked to the core because the man in the picture was none other than DCI Riley!

  ‘Oh my god…that fucking prick…fucking hell…what the hell do we do now Frank?’ Carla whispered.

  ‘We arrest the bastard for child molestation that’s what,’ said Frank fiercely. ‘We arrest all of them…and we make them tell us where Linda is…because one of these fucking perverts knows what’s happened to her…and to Tracy probably.’ He got up and walked round the office running his hands through his hair distractedly. ‘This is all linked Carla…it’s got to be, we bring these men in and we
won’t even need a bloody warrant to search the house or whereever we want…’

  ‘Yes but what about Riley…what do we do about him…I can’t just go and arrest him…’

  ‘Why the fuck not!’ Frank shouted, ‘we have all the evidence we need don’t we? I’d like to see him try and get out of this one; Linda’s got him as clear as day fingering that little girl, he may have got away with it years ago, but not this time…’

  ‘What do you mean…did you know he’d done it before, why didn’t you tell someone?’

  Frank realised he’d said too much, ‘Oh it was years ago…I was just a little lad, I didn’t even know it was him really until I saw this picture, then it all came back to me. Anyway that’s neither here nor there, we need to be acting on this Carla and fast, every moment we stand around talking about it Linda and Tracy are god knows where…we have to find them!’

  Carla thought for a moment, wanting to press Frank further but knowing he was right, they needed to act fast. ‘I’m going to take these to Rebecca Drew; she’s in the building today for a press conference…she’ll know what to do.’ And with that she gathered up all the pictures and as fast as she could, made her way up to the next floor, where she knew Detective Superintendant Drew was waiting to do a press conference.

  Embarrassingly the Superintendant was talking to DCI Riley when Carla arrived at the press room, but she smiled when she saw Carla and made her way over to her.