Mortal Crimes 1

by Various Authors

  “I didn’t mean to cause offence. It’s just that I prefer to deal with the authorities. That’s all.”

  “I can understand that. The thing is that the few cases which have come to light haven’t left many clues. Therefore, the police aren’t that interested in them. Hence my ‘two-bit outfit’ taking them on.”

  Jenkinson had the decency to look slightly embarrassed by his unwarranted dismissal of her firm. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Although, I have to say that I don’t appreciate the inference you made connecting my club to these disappearances.”

  “It’s a fact. It’s hard to argue with the evidence we’ve uncovered. It might be a bizarre coincidence in a few of the cases, but when all the cases lead back to this club, it would be foolish of my partner and me to look the other way. You’d have to agree with that, surely?”

  His gaze swept the club, and Ellen could tell by the way his jaw was clenching and unclenching that he had trouble disagreeing, given the proof. She could also tell that he was struggling to admit openly that she had made a valid point.

  Before he could respond, she added, “All we’re asking is to view your CCTV footage from the specific dates on which these girls disappeared. I don’t work with the newspapers or anything like that, if that’s what you’re concerned about. Any proof I find will remain confidential. If at a later date, I have to inform the police of my findings, then things might alter. However, you have my word that neither I, nor my partner will say or do anything that will show your club in a bad light. On that, you have my word.”

  He thought over her words for a minute or two before reluctantly throwing his arms out to the side. “Okay, I’ll give you the discs. How far back do you need?”

  “Two weeks should do. Thank you.”

  He left his stool and went to an office on the other side of the dance floor. He returned a few minutes later with several disc cases in his hand. “Fifteen discs. Return them to me as soon as you can, please?”

  “Of course. I’d like to thank you on behalf of all the girls’ families. I’ll get these back to you within the next day or two.”

  She left the club on a cushion of air, triumphant about her afternoon’s work.

  She pulled out her mobile to call the office. “Brian, get the kettle on. We’re going to the movies.”

  “Huh? Are you mad? It’s the middle of the day.”

  She shook her head as if he were in the car with her. “Just do it! I’ll be back in a short while.”

  ________

  Brian still had a perplexed expression on his face when she stepped through the office doorway minutes later. Two steaming-hot coffees sat on each desk. Ellen picked up her mug, dropped the file on her desk, and dragged her chair over to Brian’s desk.

  She handed him the pile of plastic cases containing the nightclub’s CCTV discs. “I think we’ll start with the earliest date first, yes?”

  “Ah, now I get it. I see your womanly charms worked a treat again.” His eyes twinkled as he smiled.

  Ellen shrugged. “What can I say? Some of us have it, and some of us don’t. Come on. I’m eager to see what we have here.”

  They searched through the video, easily spotting each of the girls and their friends, but very little else in the earlier discs warranted further investigation. Things changed when they reached the most recent ones, though.

  “There.” On the edge of the screen, Brian pointed out a figure lurking in the shadows, looking as if he were spying on a group of girls. “What do you think?”

  Ellen squinted, placed her hands on the desk, and eased out of her chair to get a better look. Her head twisted this way and that, until her mouth dropped open and she slumped back into her chair.

  “What? Who is it?”

  “I can’t be definite, but I think I know him. Can you tweak the picture? Get closer, maybe?”

  “I can try.” Brian frantically pounded the keys, and inch by inch, the picture grew larger. However, as the person in the picture became bigger, the clarity got worse.

  “Damn!” She took a sip of coffee, and her focus remained on the screen. “Okay, I’m just going to go with my first instinct and say who I think it is.”

  “Get on with it, then. The bloody suspense is killing me.”

  Brian was still trying to improve the image, and Ellen could tell his frustration was growing because the way he’d snapped at her was totally out of character for him.

  “You remember when I went to the gym to speak to Will the other day? I said he was with two men who were giving me the creeps. I think one of them is that guy there.” She pointed at the screen.

  “Whoa! Really?”

  “Really. It would tie in with what we’ve assumed already. The connections we’ve stumbled across. I think, looking at that image, we’ve just joined another dot in our case. Hang on a minute. I have his name here somewhere. The receptionist gave it to me along with all the dates the girls joined as members. This guy was down there with Will. I took the liberty of asking the receptionist for his info also.”

  “Good girl. I’m impressed.”

  Ellen flicked open the file on her desk and handed the sheet of paper to Brian.

  “Okay, let’s see what we can find out about one, Mr. Mike Fallon.”

  Excitement blazed across her partner’s face. Ellen sat back in her chair as she watched him work wonders on his computer, and she thought back to her encounters with Fallon. She shuddered, the way she had done a couple of times already under his watchful gaze. Why had she dismissed her first instincts about the man? She wondered how much her awkward relationship with her stepfather affected the way she reacted to the men she met. It has to somehow, doesn’t it?

  “Here we go. Mike Fallon. He’s got a slight record, nothing major. Attempted robbery in his teens, that’s all.”

  “It might be how Will Endersbe met him. By his own admission, he’s been a naughty boy in the past. What else have you got?”

  Brian scrolled down the screen. “He works in a care home of sorts. It actually states that it’s a private hospital, but reading the blurb about it, it sounds more like a care home to me.”

  “That’s interesting. Not a role I can imagine him filling, to be honest.”

  “Have you got an address for that?”

  “I have, but I insist, you’re not going there alone.”

  “Brian… we’ve had this conversation before. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

  “I know, but if this guy is the one abducting these women, I don’t want your name being added to the list. Call me stupid for caring about what happens to you.”

  Ellen brushed her hand down his forearm. “I know you care. On the other hand, I’m a big girl now, Brian. You’re always on the end of the phone. We set things up so that I would ring you between visits specifically so that you wouldn’t worry while I’m out there. Let’s be fair, up until now, the cases we’ve dealt with have been simple compared to this one.”

  He sat back in his chair and stared at her. “Even more reason for me to be concerned about you. I appreciate you can look after yourself, Ellie. We don’t have to take that risk though, do we?”

  “For a start, one of us has to stay here to man the phones. No point us advertising ourselves as a hotline if there’s no one here to answer the phone. Right?”

  Brian tutted. “Yeah, you’re right, as usual.

  “That’s settled then.” Ellen glanced at her watch. At approaching four o’clock, she thought it was too late to visit the private hospital and decided first thing in the morning would be better. “I’ll pop in on the way to work.”

  “That’s probably best. Do you know what time this Fallon goes down the gym to train?”

  “No idea. He was there today before lunch, but it could have been his day off.” She lifted the phone, reconsidered her actions, and replaced it in its docking station.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I was going to ring the hospital to see what time Fallon’s
shift was. But then thought it would be silly to pre-warn them of my visit.”

  “Yeah, not one of your brightest ideas. Why don’t we do another half an hour and then call it a day? We can start on the different angle tomorrow, eh?”

  “You know what? You can be very wise when you want to be. Shame it doesn’t happen more often.” She leapt out of her chair before he could slap her.

  ________

  The new girl was stirring. A couple of the other girls had complained they were cold, so his heart had softened momentarily, and he had covered them with the few grain sacks that he’d found at the back of the barn. He hadn’t really thought things through that well. He hadn’t anticipated the girls feeling the cold in the barn because despite it being December, the weather had been mild. Anyway, he liked staring at their naked flesh—their curvaceous breasts and shapely thighs.

  That evening, he’d arrived at eight, to watch each girl in the dull moonlight entering the barn from the half-moon in the clear night sky.

  Inching nearer, he could hear the girl’s teeth chattering and see the goose pimples protruding on her flesh. He would have loved to run his fingers across her skin, to draw an invisible line to join the swollen dots on her flesh. She started sniffling as she became aware of her surroundings, the coldness, and the awkward way she was trussed up.

  “Help me. Please, help me, someone?”

  He tilted his head and angled his ear to see if the others had the courage to answer the new girl’s cry for help. Straw rustled in the stall next door. Diane was awake.

  “I’m here. But I can’t help you. None of us can.”

  Sandy Cox gasped at the sound of the other girl’s voice. “How many? How many others are here?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe three or four. It depends how they respond to the meds he gives us. Some don’t do so well.”

  “How long have you been here?” Sandy whispered.

  “I’m not sure. I have no concept of time. I see light under the blindfold sometimes, but not always. Depends if my eyes are sore or not.”

  “Why are we here? Do you know what he intends doing with us?”

  “He never really says much. He takes what he wants and then leaves.”

  Sandy began to sob.

  Diane tried to comfort her. “It’s not so bad. Just lie there, do nothing, when it happens. Thankfully, he never lasts long.”

  His eyes screwed up with hatred as Diane mocked him. She would be first in line for her punishment that night. He always lasted longest with the first one he screwed.

  Sandy’s breath came short and sharp. “I don’t want him touching me or giving me medication. I feel sick.”

  “None of us do, sweetheart. But what can we do about it? Take a couple of deep breaths.”

  Sandy’s sobbing increased, and her rounded breasts rose and fell with her stuttering breath.

  “But… but… I’m pregnant.”

  Several gasps sounded in the barn, including his. Pregnant! Shit! Panicked, he ran outside and flung himself against the side of the barn, trying hard to hold back the acid burning his throat. Through the open barn door, he could hear all the girls crying in sympathy with Sandy. Shit! What do I do now? Get rid of her and the baby? Set her free? The dilemma continued to fire possible solutions through his mind, but none of the answers grabbed him enough to act upon them. Everything had been going so well, to plan. Until this!

  Normally, he would have hung around for a few hours after enjoying the girls. But right then, all he wanted to do was get out of there. He kicked at the side of the barn behind him and, with his shoulders slumped, moved towards his car. His mind a blur of what-ifs. All his plans had been destroyed by those two mind-numbing words—“I’m pregnant.” Anger fuelled his next move. He turned around and stormed back into the barn, shouting, “It changes nothing. Her being pregnant, it changes nothing. You hear me?”

  The girls’ crying ceased. Not a whimper, not a single breath, filled his ears. Regaining control was important. And, boy, had he done that. Determined that the girls should know who the boss was, he entered the first stable. Her head tilted his way as she heard the crunching straw move beneath his feet.

  Diane screamed as his hand grazed her skin at the ankle and blazed a trail up her shaking leg. He unzipped his jeans, and despite her objections to his intrusion, he took her, pounding her with the speed of an express train. Spent, he moved on to the next girl, Tina. She lay motionless, recognising that fighting the inevitable was pointless. He grinned, knowing his determination would conquer all.

  He entered the stable in which Sandy was trussed up like the others and hesitated in the doorway. He took a step towards her, then stepped back. An invisible wall had just been erected, and he found it impossible to surmount. Several times, he attempted to get near the girl, but an impenetrable force kept him at bay. Eventually, he left the barn and got back in his car. Slamming the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, he selected first gear and drove away. He was overcome with defeat instead of his usual euphoria.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Ellen wrapped up warm that morning. Frost-etched lawns made her shiver as she passed by them on her way to the hospital. She put the heater on full blast and hoped she wasn’t coming down with a chill. Her body’s weird way of dealing with stress was flu-like symptoms at the most inopportune times. Think positive, girl. You’re not coming down with anything. Another few months, and you’ll be sitting by the pool on a Greek island. The heat from the heater began to warm her, and soon, she was holding the collar of her jumper away from her neck to try to cool down. You’re never satisfied, are you? Maybe early menopause is setting in! She found herself chuckling and hoped the old adage, “Many a true word spoken in jest,” didn’t come true.

  The hospital was situated on Wylds Lane, close to the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce factory. It was a turreted building that Ellen imagined had been used in the many battles associated with the county over the centuries.

  At eight forty-five in the morning, only a few cars were parked in the car park. Ellen assumed they were the remnants of the night shift before the day shift arrived. As she left the car and entered the stone building, the smell of commercial cleaner hit her.

  She approached the receptionist, a woman wearing a light-green uniform. “Hello. Is it possible to speak to the person in charge?” Ellen asked brightly, with one of her best smiles fixed in position.

  “I’m afraid Dr. Nixon isn’t in yet.” The woman looked at her watch. “She should be here any minute if you care to take a seat. May I ask what it’s about? Only, we’re pretty full at the moment.”

  “It’s a personal matter, really. I’ll wait over here, if that’s okay?”

  “Certainly. I’ll let Dr. Nixon know that you’re here to see her the minute she walks in, she’s usually very prompt so she shouldn’t be too long.”

  Ellen nodded and walked over to a section off to the left, where chairs surrounded a small coffee table. Before sitting down, she selected a Homes and Gardens magazine off the table and started flicking through it. A few pages in, Ellen glanced up to see a tall, elegant woman having a chat with the receptionist, then both of them looked her way.

  The woman walked over to greet her. “I’m Dr. Nixon. You wanted to see me?”

  “Only if you have the time, Doctor.”

  “I can spare you five minutes if you come through to the office now. How’s that?”

  Ellen stood up and offered her hand. “Ellen Brazil from the Worcester Missing Persons Hotline. Pleased to meet you.”

  The woman’s brow furrowed for a second or two before she turned and headed down the hallway. Ellen had to trot to keep up with her very long strides.

  “How may I be of assistance, Ms. Brazil?” the doctor asked once they were seated at the oak-veneered desk that dominated the compact, dreary-grey room.

  Ellen cleared her throat and looked the woman directly in the eye. “I was wondering if you could tell me something about an employee
of the clinic.”

  “For what reason, may I ask?”

  “I’m just following up on an enquiry,” Ellen replied, trying to be as evasive as possible.

  “What sort of enquiry? A missing person one?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  The doctor’s brow furrowed again, and she looked agitated by Ellen’s unwillingness to elucidate fully her reason for being there. “You’ll forgive me for not completely understanding any of this. If you’re dealing with a missing person, I really don’t understand why you would come here in search of an employee. Unless the employee is using a false name. Is that it?”

  “Not exactly, no.” Ellen wiped a hand across her face as she thought about how best to proceed.

  “Maybe if you tell me the employee’s name, that might help?”

  “Mike Fallon.”

  The woman’s reaction was confusing. At first, her eyes bulged with recognition and possible disbelief before she quickly recovered her composure. Her hands clenched in front of her on the desk, hard enough to make her knuckles go white with the strain.

  Hmm, that’s interesting. Now what do I do?

  Since the doctor didn’t respond, Ellen asked her, “Do you know him?”

  “Yes, I’ve heard of him. However, I’m still at a loss as to know how I can help.”

  “I wondered if you could tell me what sort of character he is, for a start?”

  The doctor gracefully shrugged and looked off to the left as she spoke. “A very conscientious employee. Never had any trouble from him, as far as I can remember.”

  “I see. What shift does he work? Days or nights? Can you tell me how long he has worked for the clinic?”

  “Days, I believe. A ten-till-six shift, I think it is. Without looking at his personnel file, I can’t really give you a definite answer as to how long he’s worked here.”

  “Roughly will do.” Ellen noted the way the doctor was still avoiding eye contact. There’s definitely more to this than meets the eye.