Echoes of the Past

by Mailer, Deborah

  Tom could not understand why Matt would not tell him his father was still alive. He had been led to believe that he had passed away when Tom was training with the police. A few years where he and Matt had lost touch simply because life was getting in the way.

  Tom drove back to the village and pulled up outside the police station. Danny was standing behind the desk filling out a form.

  “Problem.”

  “Not really, Patrick Goyl thinks someone has been siphoning off his diesel, I have got to fill in a report on it.”

  Tom went through the back and made coffee. A few minutes later Danny joined him.

  “Do me a favour, Danny, get those magic fingers of yours on that keyboard and find out all you can about Duncan Ingles.”

  “Who’s that?” he asked pulling out the chair.

  “Matt’s Dad. He was questioned in the disappearance of three hikers; I just want to know what happened to him.”

  Danny sat at the computer punching keys. “No driving license, not even a TV license. Maybe you should just ask Matt.” Tom did not answer. “Here it is. He lives in a private care home in Edinburgh. God, he has been there since 1985. He is seventy-eight now. No criminal record.”

  “Give me the address would you. I’m going to see if Lee can keep an eye on Jess for me tonight. I think I will go down to Edinburgh today and stay over. I could see the DI today and meet with Eva Brook in the morning.”

  “What do you want to see the DI for? I thought you had until Monday”

  “Yes, I do, but I think this case is starting to warm up, Danny, I want to see if there is anyway I can stay on to see it through.”

  Danny laughed. “I knew you wouldn’t cut retirement. Although I did think that you would actually manage the first few days.”

  “Oh, I still intend to retire, I just want to finish this first.” Tom swallowed his coffee and left.

  *****

  When Tom got back to Hill House, Lee was sitting in the kitchen with her head resting in her hands looking slightly hung over.

  “Good, your back, I wanted to talk to you about Jess.”

  “What about her?” Tom asked.

  “Remember, Tom, open mind. Last night Sara came through. That’s how I found out about the box, and that paid off right?”

  Tom reluctantly nodded in agreement. “Well, she sends her love to you, but she was worried about Jess, the woman kept saying she was getting close to danger.” Tom could feel the hairs on his arm stand. He straightened up from the worktop he was leaning against.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. She just said to listen to her and not to dismiss what she is saying and to protect her.”

  “I always protect her. Last night we talked about her dreams and about how she felt scared here. In fact she is planning on moving into your room tomorrow night when I get back.” He smiled.

  “Great, that means I get the creepy one. Wait a minute. Back from where?”

  “I’m supposed to be going to Edinburgh tomorrow to meet with the flat mate of Jill Paterson. But I was thinking of going down today to see the DI.”

  “And you want me to look after Jess? Not a problem. But I was worried about what that woman said to me last night.”

  Tom shook his head. “That’s what I mean, the messages are always to vague to be sure of anything. She’s going up to muck out the horses on Saturday and straight from school today, once she gets home just get her to stay in and watch a movie or something with you. Lee, do you know what happened to Matt’s Dad?”

  “Yeah, he died of a stroke I think years ago. Tom there was something else. Last night when Sara came through, she brought Olivia with her.”

  Tom sighed and hung his head. “Well, to be honest with you, Lee. The chances of Olivia being alive after all this time are slim. And if there really is something on the other side as you believe, then it’s nice to think that Sara is taking care of her; she was a lovely kid.” The silence hung heavy in the air over the kitchen. “I’ll go pack an overnight bag.” He left Lee sitting in the kitchen wondering if he was open enough to hear about Sara’s death not being an accident. She decided that baby steps were the best way to go. That would keep until he got back from Edinburgh.

  *****

  Tom lifted the file from his desk. It contained the story Eva had written for his wife. He had also completed a rough profile of the man they were looking for; he slipped them both into his bag.

  Tom!

  TOM!

  TAKE JESS!

  “That’s me set, Lee, if you need anything you can get me on my mobile or call Danny.” The lights in the kitchen began to flicker. Tom saw Lee flick her eyes up to the ceiling. “Before you say a word, Lee, it is an old house; the lights do that all the time here.”

  “I know, I was brought up here remember.”

  BANG. The bulb shattered and fell to the floor. Lee let out a scream. Topaz jumped from her bed and puffed.

  Tom stood looking for a second. He too jumped at the loud bang.

  “That also happens a lot,” he said as he walked to cupboard and fetched a new bulb.

  Take her.

  Tom changed the light. “See. It’s fine. Now you call Danny if you have any problems.”

  Tom climbed into the Jeep and drove to Ingaldean estate. When he arrived, he saw a tall slim woman getting in to a taxi and leaving. Matt was standing at the door with a case at his feet.

  “Who’s that?” Tom asked as he walked up the front steps.

  “That was Isabella, a very interesting and energetic business woman.” Matt smiled.

  “Going somewhere?”

  “Yes, just a day or two, some thing to sort out in one of the border branches. I should be back at some point over the weekend, why?”

  “No reason, just Jess said she was coming up.”

  Matt lifted his case and loaded it in to his car. “Yeah, she’s going to keep an eye on the horses for me while I’m gone.”

  “Matt, I want to ask you something.”

  Matt closed the boot and looked at him. “Sounds serious, go ahead.”

  “You told me your father had died …”

  Matt, held his hand up to stop Tom and began to walk back to the house.

  “I told you he had a massive stroke. You made the assumption, Tom.”

  “Why did you never correct me on it.?” Tom asked following him back inside.

  “What would you have done? Gone and paid him a visit? The man spends his day drooling into his food. He would not want anyone to see him like that. To be honest it would have been kinder if it had killed him. I made the decision not to put anyone straight; if people assumed he had passed away then so be it. The fact that he was in a coma for weeks after it meant that most people did assume that he was gone. I left it like that. Anyway, why are you asking about him now?”

  “No reason, I just found out by chance and I wondered why you hadn’t told me. I’m not exactly just people. I practically grew up around your place.”

  Matt nodded his head. “Your right. I’m sorry. I should have told you. Well, there it is. Sorry, I have to go, mate.” Matt flashed a smile at Tom telling him there were no hard feelings. Tom walked out of the house and Matt lifted his brief case and pulled the door closed.

  “Remember when I get back, we are supposed to be having a barbeque.”

  Tom laughed. The weather never stopped Matt from doing anything he wanted. He stood in the drive and watched as he drove away.

  *****

  Tom started the drive down to Edinburgh. It was now after 12pm, his appointment with the DI was at 4.00. He was hoping he could put forward a good enough case that they would keep him on it and give him more resources.

  Gradually the surroundings changed from hillsides and mountains to buildings and flats. He pulled into the police car park and walked round to a little café on the corner and ordered something to eat before going up to meet Scott Kerr, Tom’s DI. He felt a little better after his sandwich and a decent
coffee. At quarter to four, he went back round to the station to see the DI.

  “How was your seminar?” Tom asked shaking Scott’s hand.

  “You don’t want to know.” Scott shook his head. “So, have you solved it yet?” He laughed as he sat down behind his desk.

  “No, I want to ask for an extension. I want to see this through.”

  “Tom, your medicals have all been carried out, I don’t think you have any option but to retire. The only reason you are still on the force is to cross the Ts and dot the Is, and of course to settle Danny in. The whole idea of putting you up in Coppersfield was to let you take it easy while all the paper work went through. Thought to be an easy stress free job,” he added sardonically.

  “I want to see it through, Scott.”

  The man rubbed his chin. “See it through, Tom it could take years to close this, it’s going back what, over forty years. Surely you don’t think it’s going to be closed in a couple of weeks.”

  “It’s only gone on this long because no one connected the abductions. Now that we are on to him there is a better chance.”

  “When you say ‘on to him’ what exactly have you got.”

  Tom pulled the profile from his bag and handed it to him.

  “You’ve not done one of these since you lost Sara. I am impressed.”

  “Well, Sara was the brains behind them; this one is not so impressive.”

  Scott looked over the paper. “Do you think I didn’t know that Sara had an input? Why do you think we begged her to consult?”

  Tom smiled at the flattery for his late wife.

  “So you think he is an organized non-social offender. Power control. How did you get to this without the bodies?”

  “He keeps control of them even after they’re dead, other wise we would have found them. If he does not want them to be found then he is not putting on a show. This is all for himself. If he wanted credit or publicity for what he has done, he would have been dropping bodies all over the place. But he has complete control, there is never a witness, nothing is ever left to chance, he knows what he’s doing and he’s good.”

  “So what exactly do you think we should be looking for?”

  “He’s intelligent, competent. He has somewhere secluded to carryout what ever he chooses. He has also somewhere to hide them, I think he has land. He is geographically mobile, and he has a home base. I think when we find him, and we will find him, he will be a charming charismatic, pleasant and very arrogant old man.”

  “You think he’s still doing this in his 70s?”

  “I think he has help.”

  “Do you have any idea as to where to begin looking?”

  Tom shuffled in his seat. “I have to meet with the flatmate of one of the victims Tomorrow, I feel very sure that by then I will have a good idea of where to start looking, Scott.”

  Scott placed the profile on his desk. “Come Monday I will have to take it to the Superintendent. As far as retirement goes. That’s out of my hands, Tom, you’ll just have to wait and see what the report is we get back, but I think we both know what it will recommend.”

  After his meeting Tom climbed back into his Jeep. He was driving across to the other end of the city to Acorn Nursing Home. He wanted to be sure that Duncan Ingles was a dribbling wreck.

  A chill was setting in by the time Tom had reached the nursing home. He checked his mobile to see if he had any messages. The fact that there were not any, was good, it meant that there were no problems back at Hill House. He climbed out of the jeep and walked up to the front door and rang the bell. A young care assistant answered.

  “I am DS Hunter; I would like to see the nurse in charge please.”

  A small grey haired woman appeared wearing a blue nursing dress.

  “I’m Staff Nurse Jones, Can I help you?”

  “I wonder what information you can give me about Duncan Ingles. I’m a family friend and I would like to see him.” Tom flashed his warrant card for the woman.

  “Mr Ingles has been with us for many, many years. He suffered a stroke over twenty years ago; he has regained some function but not all. You may find it difficult to speak with him, he rarely speaks, in fact, he rarely acknowledges that you’re even there. I can take you round to his room if you like.” Tom followed the woman down a long corridor lined with dark wood doors. At room five, she stopped and knocked before entering.

  “Duncan, you have a visitor, isn’t that nice.” The woman turned the volume of his television down. “Do you need anything, Duncan?” He did not respond. “I’ll leave you to it; if you need anything just press the red buzzer.”

  Tom looked around the room. It was very different from the place Jimmy was staying. It might cost three times as much but it certainly did not feel homely. A single bed was in the middle of the room with a small lamp table at the side. There was one chair beside the bed and another in the corner for visitors. A chest of drawers sat at the bottom of the bed with a small television on top of it. Duncan Ingles sat slouched in the armchair beside the bed. A pile of tissues where screwed up on the table, that he used to clean the constant drool he had. He had once been an extremely large man; Tom remembered how intimidating he had seemed when he was a boy. He had been a highly respected lawyer once, now his frame seemed to have shrunk and the skin hung loosely on the bones. Long bony fingers extruded like twigs from painfully thin hands. Tom could understand why Matt had kept his pitiful existence from as many people as possible. He was barely a shadow of his former self.

  Tom felt as though he was intruding, as though he was violating his right to privacy in some way by seeing him like this.

  “Duncan, I’m Tom Hunter. Do you remember me? I’m friends with Matt.”

  The man stared blankly at the silent television.

  “I just thought I would pop in and see how you were doing.”

  Still there was no reply.

  “I saw Matt this morning, your son. He’s doing well, you must be proud of him.”

  A smile came across one side of the mans face. His eyes flicked over to Tom. “Did you bring me pictures?” he crooned in a dry voice.

  “Pictures? No, I didn’t know if you would need anything.”

  The smile faded and the eyes when back to the television. After a short time Tom realized that, he was not going to get any conversation from the old man.

  “Well, I will be going now, Duncan. It was good to see you.”

  Tom stood up and left the room. A nurse caught up with him at the door as he was leaving.

  “Mr Hunter? It was nice of you to come in, Duncan doesn’t get many visitors.”

  “His son, Matt, does he not visit?”

  “Yes, he comes for his birthday in September, and again at Christmas. But in-between times, Duncan sees no one outside the home.”

  “I take it Duncan can’t get out on his own?”

  “No, he can’t even get out of his chair. He has paralysis on one side of his body, he can’t walk at all, he needs a lot of assistance.”

  Tom thanked the nurse for her help.

  As he drove back to his hotel he could not help but feel a sense of urgency. He was worried about Jess. He did not understand why, he suspected it was what Lee had said that morning, it was praying on his mind. As soon as he got back to his room, he called her.

  *****

  It was still light outside when Jess arrived home from Ingaldean.

  Lee had spent the day worried and feeling ill at ease. She was going to sit down and have a talk with Jess, find out what was going on in her life. Maybe she could spot something that could be potentially dangerous. She had been saying silent prayers all day for Sara to guide her. A wave of relief washed over her when she heard the front door open at 6pm, that evening and Jess appeared, she seemed to be back to her usual happy self.

  “Hi, Aunt Lee, where’s Dad?”

  Lee gave her a peck on the head. “He’s gone down to Edinburgh. He won’t be back till tomorrow, late afternoon.”

&nbs
p; “Why?”

  “He had to meet with his boss, and then he was seeing a witness or something on Saturday morning.” Lee was setting the table for dinner as she spoke and did not see the disappointment on her face.

  “He said we would swap my room around tomorrow.”

  “Don’t worry, love; he’ll be back in time for that, he won’t forget. So what’s new with you? Have you been up to anything lately?”

  Jess shook her head giving nothing away, much like any other teenager.

  “Still having bad dreams?” Lee said.

  The telephone rang, interrupting the conversation.

  Jess lifted the phone to her ear. “It’s Dad,” she said with a smile.

  “Every thing is fine? You don’t need to worry, why didn’t you tell me you were going down to Edinburgh?”

  Lee could only hear one side of the conversation. After a minute Jess passed her the phone and went upstairs to change.

  “Hi, Tom.”

  “You’ve got me worried with what you said this morning, thought I would just check in. Do you think you can talk her out of going out tomorrow, just do something together instead?”

  “I can try, but I don’t fancy my chances. Why? Are you worried about her being up at Matt’s?”

  Tom laughed. “No, I’m more concerned about the horses she’s around. Accidents happen and I was wondering if that was what you were being warned against.”

  “Ah,” Lee could understand his point. She herself had been thrown from a horse before, although it wasn’t serious, it can be. “Do I sense the prospect of conversion in you?”

  “No, I simply don’t want to leave anything to chance.”

  “How did it go with your boss?”

  “Oh, pretty much what I expected. If you need me you know to call my mobile, and remember Danny is just along the road if there are any problems.”

  “I know. I should never have mentioned anything to you; it’s just made you worry. To be honest I didn’t think you would listen, let alone take it on board.” Tom didn’t reply, he knew himself he would normally have completely ignored anything that Lee had told him about the psychic night, but there was something eating at him. He wasn’t sure what, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming. He didn’t like it.