Mortal Crimes 1

by Various Authors

  He shoved her in the passenger seat beside him and buckled her up. “Don’t even try to escape.” He sneered in her face before he closed the door and ran around the front of the car to get in the driver’s seat. “We’re going on a nice ride out in the country, where no one can find us.”

  Ellen closed her eyes briefly, to ask for help from above, as the car left the car park. On the way out of town, she recognised the route Fallon was taking.

  If only I had access to my phone. She clung to the hope that Jim would try to contact either her or the hospital if she didn’t check in with him soon. He would probably be too distracted at the pool with the kids to realise how long she had been at the hospital. Her heart sank a little further. She wanted to keep the communication going with Fallon, but she struggled to find the right words. She was fearful of saying the wrong thing and winding up in a ditch.

  He turned on the car stereo and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, bizarrely acting as though they had ventured out for a pleasure drive. The roads narrowed the farther they went out into the countryside, then Fallon slowed down to guide the car up a dirt track in the middle of nowhere. Damn! Jim will never find me out here. It’s far too remote for the nearest neighbours to hear anything.

  “Where are we?”

  “Shut up! Did I tell you to speak?”

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered, sensing he would beat her if she continued asking questions. He was definitely in control of this situation, unlike back in his mother’s office. The farm was his domain, where he ruled the girls and punished them if they got out of line. She swallowed the lump of fear that had seized and was squeezing her throat.

  The large barn stood tall ahead of them. The property had no house, just a large solitary barn set on acres of open farmland. Fallon turned off the engine and pulled her out of the car. Her only advantage was that he hadn’t tied her up—yet. Should I run? She reconsidered her escape, thinking that he would punish her more fiercely once he caught up with her. Anyway, they were out in the middle of nowhere. Where could I possibly run to for help?

  He opened the tall barn door and shoved her inside, towards one of the stables. Ellen cocked her head to listen for any form of life in the other stables, but she heard nothing. His hand settled in the middle of her back, and he propelled her onto the bed of straw. “Stay there, bitch,” he demanded before turning on his heel and leaving the stable. Ellen surveyed her surroundings, which held a straw bed and very little else. If a pitchfork or shovel had been in the corner, she would have pounced on it and armed herself for Fallon’s return. Stay calm and wait for the right moment to arise.

  She heard a rustle and wondered if the sound had come from the stable next door or if Fallon was on his way back. His return answered her question. In front of him, he was pushing a metal frame similar to the ones used by hospitals to administer drugs to patients through IV. Shit! I can’t allow him to control me like that, like he controlled Sandy.

  The closer he came, the farther back Ellen moved, until the wall of the stable prevented her fleeing his advancement. She held her arms up in front of herself. “Please, don’t do this. I can help you get away, Fallon. It’s only a matter of time before the police turn up.”

  He laughed and continued invading her personal space. “Don’t make me laugh. You’re full of bullshit, woman. Now relax. You won’t feel a thing.”

  He picked up a needle and aimed it at the top of her arm. She thrashed out at him, bashing him on the head several times. His lip curled, and his eyes widened in rage. Tucking the needle into his back pocket, he sprang and landed on top of her. His fingers dug into her arms as he gathered both of her hands in one of his. With the other hand, he withdrew the needle and punctured her forearm with its tip. Instantly, Ellen felt the effects of the needle’s contents seep into her veins. Dizziness quickly followed. Fallon tugged at her clothes. In her dazed state, she tried to fight him off. However, it didn’t take long for her limbs to become uncontrollable. Trying to fight him was pointless. Her mind turned to jelly, and she had no control over her thoughts, either. She slumped against him and drifted off to sleep.

  ________

  Jim glanced at his watch. “Where the hell is she?”

  “Who?” Suzie asked, not taking her eyes off the twins while they frolicked in the pool.

  “Ellie. It’s been two hours since she went to the hospital. She should’ve checked in by now. I’m worried about her.”

  “Then go. The kids and I will be fine.” Suzie leaned over and kissed his cheek.

  “Thanks, sweetheart. I’m probably worrying over nothing. I’ll ring you later.” He left his seat and swiftly made his way past the other parents keeping watchful eyes over their own children splashing around in the pool. Instinct told Jim to give Brian a ring before he got in his car. “Brian, it’s Jim, Ellen’s brother.”

  “Uh oh! What’s she done now?”

  “Could be nothing, but I’m on my way to the hospital where Fallon works. Ellen went there a couple of hours ago. I told her to report in when she left, but I’ve heard nothing since.”

  “Have you tried ringing her?”

  “Of course. Her phone keeps going directly into answerphone.”

  “Maybe the reception isn’t very good where she is.”

  “I’m on my way over there now. Any chance you can join me?” Jim turned the key in the ignition and selected first gear.

  “Sure. Turn up in force. I’m all for that. I’ll leave now. Be there in fifteen minutes.”

  “Great. See you there.” Jim felt relieved that Brian had jumped at the chance to accompany him, because a bad feeling was attacking his gut right then.

  ________

  Brian was waiting in the car park when Jim arrived. They shook hands. “Her car is still here,” Brian said, pointing at her vehicle.

  “Let’s go.” The pair stormed into reception and stood side by side in front of the receptionist. Jim showed his ID to the scowling woman behind the desk. “I’m here to see Dr. Nixon.”

  She wriggled uncomfortably in her chair. “May I ask why?”

  “No. Just take me to her. Now.”

  The receptionist leapt out of her chair as if it had just burst into flames beneath her. “I tried knocking on the doctor’s door about an hour ago, but got no reply. I know she had a meeting with a young lady a while back, but I haven’t seen either of them since.”

  “Do you have a spare key for the office door?”

  The receptionist’s eyes rolled up to the ceiling. “Why didn’t I think of that?” She ran back behind her desk and pulled a clump of keys from a hook in the small cupboard beside her chair.

  Jim and Brian followed the receptionist down the hallway. She knocked on the door and again, received no response, so she unlocked it and pushed the door open. Something was stopping the door from opening fully.

  “Let me try.” Jim shouldered the door, and it opened another few inches, enough for him to poke his head through the gap. “Jesus, call an ambulance. Brian, help me ease it open, nice and gently now.”

  The door gradually opened thanks to their joint efforts. “Is she dead?” Brian asked breathlessly.

  Jim dropped to the floor and raised the doctor’s left wrist. “No, she’s alive. Her pulse is faint, though. The window—whoever did this got out that way and locked the door from the inside.”

  “Fallon?”

  “I’m guessing it was. If Ellie’s car is still in the car park—shit! He’s probably taken her.” Jim turned his attention back to the doctor and shook her shoulder gently, trying to rouse her. After several attempts, the woman stirred. He and Brian helped the doctor into a sitting position and supported her against the wall.

  “What happened? Who are you?”

  “I’m with the police. I’m also Ellen Brazil’s brother. Where is she?”

  “I have no idea,” the doctor replied, her voice faltering.

  The doctor looked confused, but Jim thought she was avoiding his eyes
too much and suspected she wasn’t telling him the truth. “There’s no point denying that Ellen was here, Doctor. Her car is still in the car park, and your receptionist told us you had a meeting. Now where is she?”

  The doctor’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “I don’t know. An employee of mine came in and interrupted our meeting, and—”

  “Cut the crap, Doctor. My sister’s life is in danger. By ‘employee,’ you mean your son, don’t you?”

  The doctor’s mouth dropped open, and it took her a few seconds to recover. She sighed. “Yes, my son came in. I wasn’t expecting him. He was angry, struck me in the head. I genuinely don’t know what happened to your sister.”

  Jim’s legs became numb, so he stood up and started to walk around the room, sliding his hand through his hair as he thought.

  “Jim.” Brian pointed at Ellen’s handbag lying against the bookshelf. “Damn.”

  “Ellen’s?”

  “Yep, I put a tracking device in her bag. She didn’t know that, of course.”

  “Great! How the hell are we going to find her now?” Jim wracked his brains for the answer while he walked in a circle around the small room. He snapped his finger and thumb together. “I know.”

  “What?” Brian asked, frustrated.

  “Sandy Cox said that Fallon kept them in a barn somewhere,” Jim said, eyeing the doctor to see if she had any kind of reaction. She glanced up at him, her eyes suddenly wider and more alert.

  “You know where he’s holding them, don’t you?”

  She shook her head.

  “We’ll tear this county apart until we find him. If you don’t tell us where he is, I’ll arrest you for being an accessory.”

  The doctor vehemently shook her head in defiance. “You can’t do that. I didn’t know what he was up to. I swear it. He’s always been a wayward child, unpredictable at the best of times.”

  “Not what I wanted to hear, Doctor. You must have some idea. Has he got a relative or friend out in the country somewhere?” He bent down and shook her shoulders.

  She thought long and hard before answering. “Wait a minute. My brother died a few years back. We weren’t that close. I believe he left something in his will for Mike.”

  “Something as in a barn or farm?” Jim asked, hopeful that they were at last getting somewhere.

  “I don’t know the particulars. Like I said, we weren’t that close, so I wasn’t really interested in the details.”

  “Where?”

  “Out the other side of town, past Martley, I believe. I have no idea of the address. I went there as a youngster, but couldn’t tell you the exact route. All I remember is that it’s down a long dirt track.”

  Jim eyed her questioningly.

  “You have to believe me,” she pleaded.

  “Can you call another family member to get an address?” Brian asked.

  “There isn’t anyone else. They’re all dead. That’s why the place was left to Mike. It came as a surprise to us both when the will was read out.”

  “We’re wasting time,” Jim said. “Brian, we need to head out that way.”

  Brian nodded. “I agree, but we can’t leave her here unattended. She might ring him, warn him that we’re on to him.”

  The doctor was quick to reply. “I won’t. I promise. I want those girls released safely as much as you do. He needs help, desperately.”

  That really wasn’t what Jim wanted to hear, knowing that Ellen was in Fallon’s grasp. “I don’t think we have any option other than to believe you, Doctor. I need to try and find my sister before…”

  “Yes, please go. Now. You have my word that I won’t warn him. Enough people have been hurt because of him already. It’s my fault he’s turned out the way he has. He told me so earlier. I’m riddled with guilt as it is. I promise I won’t do anything to stand in your way of getting your sister back.”

  Jim issued a final word of warning to the doctor. “You better not, or I’ll make sure we throw the book at you.”

  The doctor nodded and dropped her head to her chest. “You have my word.”

  “Come on, we’re wasting time.” Brian pulled Jim’s arm, then they ran to the car park. “We’ll go in your car. It’s faster.”

  Jim agreed, and they jumped in his Astra. Before he started the engine, he reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a map of Worcester, which he tossed into Brian’s lap.

  Unfolding the map, Brian pointed out the area where they should be heading. Jim’s eyes creased up at the sides as he mentally planned out the quickest route.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Within twenty minutes, they had successfully skirted the edge of town, avoiding all the Saturday-morning shoppers driving en masse into the centre to start their Christmas shopping. They were roughly in the area where their search could begin.

  “Damn, every road we come across could be a possible.”

  Jim glanced sideways at him. “We need a more in-depth map, something that tells us about properties in the area.”

  Brian pulled out his iPhone. “Christ, I should have thought about that earlier. I’ll see what Google Earth can come up with.”

  Jim bit back the expletive that had settled on his tongue. No wonder he was a hopeless copper. “I’ll keep driving around. From what I can remember of that app, it can be bloody frustrating, the length of time it takes to find what you’re looking for.”

  “Have faith, Jimbo. I might be rusty on the investigative side of things, but I’m shit hot on the tech side to make up for it.”

  “If only you had bothered to tell Ellen that there was a tracking device in her bag…”

  “All right, mate. I feel guilty enough already. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.”

  As Jim drove past several possible roads and lanes they should be trying out, Brian tapped his phone, mumbling under his breath. “Hurry up, Brian. I’m losing the will to live, mate.”

  “Two more seconds. Eureka!”

  “What?”

  “I’ve got a barn in the middle of fields. No farmhouse in sight and no other neighbours for miles. Looks an ideal place to start, don’t you think?”

  “Just give me the location and less of the self-praising shit. That can come later, after we find her.”

  “Okay. Let’s see.” He compared the map on his phone to the ordinance survey map sitting in his lap. “If I zoom out like this… bingo! I think it’s about half a mile away back there.”

  “Are you sure about that, Brian?”

  “Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

  Jim reversed into a junction just ahead of them and turned back the way they’d come. The car fell silent as each of them got lost in his own thoughts.

  Brian pointed to a track up ahead, and Jim drove slowly down it.

  “I wouldn’t drive all the way down if I were you.”

  Jim shook his head. “No shit, Sherlock. Just leave this part to me, all right?”

  Luckily, a high hedgerow shielded the bumpy track from view. Seeing the track open up in front of them, Jim stopped the car and turned off the engine. “We’ll leave it here. If this is the only road out, at least his escape route will be blocked.”

  “There is that. Going in on foot makes sense. Shame it’s the middle of the day and not nighttime.”

  “Yeah, but we have to go with the cards we’ve been dealt.”

  Before they set off, Jim opened his boot to look for anything they could use as weapons. A tyre lever and one of the boys’ cricket bats were all he could come up with.

  “This will have to suffice.” He handed the bat to Brian, and they snuck along the hedge towards the barn. As they neared the clearing around the barn, they crouched down, one behind the other, and listened. Jim heard nothing but the odd bird or two singing.

  Jim poked his head around the end of the hedge. The barn door was open, and a car he presumed to be Fallon’s was parked outside on the gravel area dotted with large tufts of weeds. He turned back to Brian. “Try not to wa
lk on the gravel. We don’t want to alert him. Keep to the grassy parts close to the edge until we get alongside the barn. We’ll take it from there.”

  Brian nodded. “You think they’re inside the barn?”

  “There’s a car outside. I’m taking a chance that it’s his. Are you ready for this?”

  Brian swallowed hard before he nodded.

  “I’ll charge him when I get the chance. You’re just there for backup, all right?”

  “Yeah, okay. But if Ellie’s in need of help, I’ll be there for her.”

  Jim squeezed his shoulder. “She’s going to need us both to be strong in there, Bri. There’s no telling what we might find when we get in there. Stay strong and focused.”

  “You’ve got it, mate. I’m ready to teach this guy a lesson he’ll never forget.”

  Jim laughed at Brian’s bravado, but he knew that the other man would overcome any of his fear for Ellen’s sake. They edged towards the barn, stopping now and then to listen for movement coming from inside the building. Once or twice, Jim heard a clanking sound as if metal were connecting with metal.

  Jim carefully looked around the edge of the barn door. He heard talking inside, but couldn’t make out if the voices were male or female. “On the count of three, we go in, right?”

  Brian nodded, appearing doubtful that was the right action to take.

  “Trust me. We can do this.”

  Brian gave Jim the thumbs-up, and the countdown began. A woman’s faint cry for help made them charge into the building.

  “Leave her alone. Step away from her now!” Jim had the tyre lever in his hand, ready to attack Fallon, who was leaning over Ellen, removing her clothes.

  Fallon didn’t seem too surprised by their arrival. “Not going to happen, chaps. Run along now, unless you want a lesson in how to treat a woman properly.”

  Jim took a step forward.

  Fallon’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned closer to Ellen’s face and sneered. “Tell them to piss off, or you’ll suffer the consequences.”

  Jim noted how dazed and confused his sister appeared to be. She turned her head away from Fallon, but he gripped her chin and forced her to face him.