SHADOW OVER THE FENS a gripping crime thriller full of suspense

by Joy Ellis

  ‘Mr Cavendish-Small, what can I do for you?’

  The man sounded on edge, which Nikki thought to be quite understandable considering what he’d been through.

  ‘I just keep feeling that it was all my fault, Inspector, but I was terrified that my sightseer’s may rush for the stairs, you see. And that would have been a terrible disaster, and there were children to consider.’

  ‘How could it possibly have been your fault?’

  ‘Because I reached out to him. And he recoiled, as if I were the devil incarnate.’ The man paused, then said, ‘One of the kiddies said the man was afraid of me, and I believe the boy was right, but what could I have done to scare him so badly that he . . .’

  ‘Listen to me, Mr Cavendish-Small. It was absolutely nothing to do with you. We don’t know what upset the balance of his mind, but I assure you, it happened to him long before he ever got near that viewing platform.’

  ‘Common sense says that you are right, Inspector Galena, but you didn’t see his eyes! I’ll never forget them. They looked like the sort of thing you see in horror films, not in your own parish church.’

  Nikki felt desperately sorry but could not console him. How could she? It must have been quite horrific. ‘All I can say is that it wasn’t your fault, sir. That poor man was just very sick. Beyond anyone’s help. The most important thing is that no one else was hurt, and that was down to you. You did very well under dreadful circumstances, sir.’

  The man’s voice seemed to lack all power, and he said, ‘Thank you, Inspector, it’s kind of you to say that, but I still believe I may have been to blame.’

  Before Nikki could reply, she realised that Charles Cavendish-Small had hung up. She replaced her phone, stared at the old photograph propped up against her monitor screen and thought, Oh Martin, what have you done?

  * * *

  Joseph was having trouble concentrating. For some reason, every time he found himself with a few moments to himself, his mind wandered to the woman from the pool. Bryony, she had called herself. He didn’t think he’d ever met anyone with that name before. He wondered what she did for a living, and he also wondered if she were married. Because that would be where his fantasy ended. He didn’t do married. In fact it had been years since he did anything that involved a relationship of any kind. He had one failed marriage of his own, and one difficult daughter living in another country. And it still hurt, so . . .

  He picked up his mobile phone from the desk and went to find the boss. He needed some work to keep his mind from straying.

  In the corridor he was practically leapt on by Cat Cullen and Dave Harris. He knew from their beaming faces that they had just had a really good result.

  ‘Wacky baccy farm all sorted?’ he asked.

  ‘Not just one! Three of them, Sarge!’ Cat’s eyes sparkled.

  ‘And we got all but one of the little scrotes who were running them,’ added Dave.

  ‘Drinks are on us tonight, Sarge, over in the Hammer at seven. Can you make it?’

  ‘I’ll be there, and good work. The guv’nor will be well pleased.’

  ‘We’ll just need to get the paperwork done, and we are free to help you out, Sarge.’ Dave gave him a shrewd look. ‘I hear not everything in the garden is blooming?’

  ‘And that the guv took a beating?’ added Cat in little more than a whisper.

  Joseph nodded. ‘There’s a bad feeling about this enquiry all right. Even I’m unsettled by it, and I never knew the poor guy who topped himself.’

  ‘Well, as from tomorrow we are all yours. Maybe four heads will be better than two.’ Cat skipped off like a little kid going to a party. ‘Don’t forget! Seven o’clock at the Hammer!’

  ‘Is the guv’nor okay, Sarge?’ Dave had real concern in his voice.

  ‘Very sore, in more ways than one. The bruises she can handle, but she’s far from happy that the assailant decked her.’

  Dave smiled. ‘Ah yes, that would smart. But as long as she’s not badly hurt.’ He moved off down the corridor. ‘See you later, Sarge.’

  The DI wasn’t in her office, and Joseph really didn’t feel like going back to the suspicious death reports, so he headed for the vending machine outside the mess room. The guv’nor’s sandwich had worked at the time, but he felt a strong desire for a chocolate boost.

  As he strolled along the window-lined corridor, he thought about her home on the fen. It was the kind of house he would have loved to have brought up lots of kids in; and at least three dogs and a cat. She’d always referred to it as a cottage, but it was a proper family farmhouse, and it seemed all wrong for her to live there alone.

  He pushed some coins into the machine, pressed a button and waited. At least it would be better bet than the slum of a town flat she’d rented, in order to be closer to the drug dealers. Cloud Cottage Farm was a lovely old place, and he sincerely hoped she’d be happy back there. If he were honest, he’d never really felt comfortable on the wide open flatlands, but seeing Cloud Fen today, he had to admit that there was an airy kind of magic to it, and it was slowly winning him over.

  He picked up his Snickers, peeled off the wrapper and balled it up. The bin was a little further along the corridor, and he aimed, threw, and missed. With a snort of disgust he picked it up and placed it inside, glancing out of the big picture window as he did. There was not much to see. Just a narrow lane that ran along the side of the station and down towards the river. It was fairly regularly used, but right now there was only a dog walker and a couple of old men, deep in conversation.

  He bit into the chocolate, and thought about Bryony. Maybe he should ask her to go for a drink with him. It couldn’t hurt, and if she said no, well at least he’d tried.

  Joseph sighed, and watched as the dog walker disappeared, and a woman with a shopping trolley took his place.

  With something of a shock, he suddenly realised that he didn’t want Bryony to say no. Since his last case his priorities had changed. He thought of the Nikki Galena, all alone in that big house, and he knew that he didn’t want to be like that. He wanted someone to share his life with. He didn’t want to just exist and work, he wanted to live.

  He straightened up, and smiled to himself. He’d go to the pool tomorrow and he’d sound her out. Then if she happened to be unattached, well, just a drink, no one could take offence at that, now could they?

  The thought had barely had time to compute though his brain, when everything froze. He was no longer aware of anything going on around him. He heard nothing, and saw nothing, other than the man who was standing down in the lane, staring up at him, his right hand touching his forehead in a smart salute.

  Joseph almost gagged on the chocolate.

  It was him. Not a double, not a figment of his imagination. It was Billy Sweet.

  * * *

  ‘Joseph? You okay?’ Nikki stood just metres away from him, but he didn’t seem to notice her. For a moment she thought he was ill, then she saw his expression. She tried to read what she saw, but it was difficult. Confusion, disbelief, and what looked like fear, all clouded his handsome face.

  ‘I . . . I thought . . .’ He turned to the window and stared anxiously out.

  ‘What, Joseph? What’s wrong?’

  ‘There was man in the, uh, lane.’ His speech was stilted. ‘Someone I once knew.’

  Nikki raised her eyebrows. ‘And presumably someone you didn’t like very much?’

  Joseph’s expression hardened. ‘I hated him.’ He suddenly leant back against the wall and shook his head. ‘That’s a word I never wanted to hear myself say again. I thought I’d learnt all about forgiveness. But then I never thought I’d see him again.’

  ‘Who is he?’ asked Nikki.

  ‘A bad man,’ answered Joseph slowly. ‘A very bad man.’

  Nikki walked over to the window and looked down into the empty lane. ‘And you are sure it was him?’

  ‘It was him.’

  ‘Where was he?’

  ‘Directly below us. Sta
ring up here. At me.’ His face screwed up. ‘But how would he know I was here?’

  Nikki frowned. ‘With all this glass, if he kept watch on the station for a while he’d spot you sooner or later. Let’s check out the CCTV. What’s his name, by the way?’

  For a moment Nikki thought that Joseph was not going to be able to speak. He was certainly having trouble naming the devil.

  ‘Billy Sweet,’ he murmured. ‘But don’t be fooled by the name. He’s pure evil.’

  ‘Come on. Let’s go to the control room. See if we can find him.’ Nikki led the way, and having told the civilian in charge what area they wanted to trace, sat down in front of the computer screens and waited.

  ‘Two old gits having a barney, and some old biddy with a shopper, now where is our man?’ She stared at the monitors. ‘Ah, there, is that . . . ? No, it’s a bloke and a dog.’

  ‘Where did you say he stood?’ asked the CCTV operator. Nikki looked at Joseph, who explained again.

  ‘Then he must have got into the blind spot, Sergeant. There’s one area where the cameras aren’t aligned properly. I’ve been asking maintenance to sort it for weeks.’

  ‘But surely we’d see him walking into the lane?’ asked Nikki.

  ‘Not if he came up Hour Glass Alley. It converges into the area with no coverage.’

  ‘Fat lot of bloody good that is!’ growled Nikki. ‘These really are sodding useless! When you need one, they are either vandalised or there’s no one available to watch them.’ She turned to Joseph. ‘Sorry, Sergeant. But your man got lucky.’

  Joseph exhaled. ‘Maybe. Or . . .’

  Nikki observed him carefully. Whatever this Sweet character had done in the past, it was having one hell of an impact right now, and she didn’t like it. She had never seen him so rattled, and the last thing Joseph needed was some creepy blast from the past ruining the life he was just getting back together.

  She stood up and walked to the door. ‘Coffee, in my office. We need to talk.’

  In the short time that Nikki had known Joseph Easter, he had demonstrated incredible self-control. Being an impatient person herself, there had been times when his laid-back approach had made her want to tear his head off his shoulders. And he never talked about himself. The tiny pieces of his life that she was acquainted with had not been shared without considerable pain. The one thing she did know was that he had once been a soldier, a special forces operative. And she had the distinct idea that Billy Sweet came from that area of his past.

  She stirred her coffee thoughtfully and contemplated the word eggshells. ‘Right. Before you tell me to butt out, my friend, I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. What I say may not be my true opinion, but hear me out.’

  Joseph looked at her over the top of his coffee mug, and nodded silently.

  ‘Clearly you haven’t seen this person for years. Could you possibly be mistaken?’

  ‘He looked exactly the same as I remember him, and his face is etched on my memory for reasons that I’d prefer not to discuss, ma’am,’ said Joseph stonily.

  ‘Well, that’s odd for starters. He should have aged.’

  ‘Maybe he had. I didn’t see him for more than a second or two.’

  Nikki decided not to press the point that if he’d only seen him fleetingly, he could well have been wrong. ‘Moving on. Is it probable that this man should turn up in Greenborough?’

  ‘No. Highly improbable.’ Joseph ran a hand through his hair and shook his head slowly. ‘I thought about that the last time I saw him and . . .’

  ‘You’ve seen him before?’ she exclaimed. ‘You never said!’

  ‘It was when I was driving out to see Dr Latimer.’

  ‘I knew you were troubled by something when you came back! I thought Helen had upset you.’

  Joseph told her about his encounter, then sat back and shrugged. ‘I’d convinced myself that it was just some guy that reminded me of Billy Sweet. But now, I’m sure it was him, ma’am. Dead certain.’

  ‘Does he have some sort of unfinished business with you, Joseph?’

  Joseph’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t know. Maybe he knew that I suspected him of some terrible things, maybe not. The other men he served with didn’t want him near them either. He was fearless, but he was a psycho, ma’am. And a loose cannon like that could cost you your life, or that of your comrades. But no, the last I heard he had shipped out and joined a private security force, by that time I was in Civvy Street. End of story, or so I thought.’

  ‘You once told me you had a bad mission, was he part of it?’

  Joseph closed his eyes. ‘I can’t go there right now, ma’am.’

  Nikki knew the answer. ‘Okay. So what do we do next?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ He scratched his head. ‘Why on earth would he be here?’

  ‘I suggest we ask him.’

  His eyes widened. ‘And how are we going to do that? He’s like a will-o'-the-wisp. Here one moment and gone the next.’

  ‘Well, did you notice his clothes?’

  Joseph thought for a minute. ‘Dark zipper jacket, thin nylon material, black jeans and a T-shirt. Pale, dirty white or grey, maybe. Shoes were some kind of suede trainers, really grubby.’

  Nikki nodded. ‘Good. Excellent, in fact. Let’s go back to the control room and get them to track him. Hopefully there’s more than one camera in this town that is actually working, so they should have a good chance of spotting him. Especially if he decided to play chicken in the middle of the Greenborough High Road yesterday, don’t you think?’

  ‘Good point, ma’am. And I appreciate your concern, but this is hardly a police matter. We’ve got a lot of work to do on Martin’s case.’

  ‘Naturally the investigation comes first, but I don’t want some creepy shit freaking out my detectives! So we deal with him, then get on with our own work, okay?’

  Joseph stood up, looking slightly less harassed. ‘Let’s do it.’

  * * *

  ‘What do you mean, inconclusive?’ Nikki felt her temperature begin to rise.

  ‘Sorry ma’am, we found the incident that Sergeant Easter described, but the footage is too grainy to identify anyone specific. It’s certainly not clear enough to lift an image.’

  ‘Oh great! Okay, let me have a tape of it anyway. Thanks for trying.’

  The woman left and Nikki sank down in her chair. If they had managed to get a mugshot of the man, she could circulate it and get him brought in. Joseph could then have looked at him close up, and that would have been that. Either a simple case of mistaken identity or Joseph would have to take an unwanted trip down memory lane.

  She gnawed on the inside of her cheek. Just say Joseph was correct and this Billy Sweet really was rampaging down a Lincolnshire High Street. What the hell did he want? It had to be something to do with Joseph. She wondered what Billy Sweet had done. If the whole unit despised him, it had to be something pretty grim.

  ‘Ma’am? You wanted me?’ Cat Cullen leant around the door. Her recently emerald green striped hairstyle was now reduced to just white blond spikes.

  Nikki grinned at her. ‘Very good work with the cannabis farms, Detective. An excellent result.’

  ‘Ta, guv. Dave and me are pretty chuffed with ourselves.’

  ‘You have every right to be.’ Nikki jabbed her thumb in the direction of a chair.

  ‘I want you to do me a little favour before we discuss your next investigation. You’ve spent a lot of time on the streets recently, would this man mean anything to you?’ She handed Cat, Joseph’s written description of Billy Sweet.

  ‘Phew, that could be half the guys that I’ve been hanging out with, but it really doesn’t sound like anyone I could name. Want me to make enquiries, guv?’

  Nikki nodded, then looked up as the CCTV operator appeared in the doorway and handed her a CD.

  ‘Stick this in the machine, Cat. It may help, although I’m told the quality is crap.’

  Cat took the CD and switched on the viewer. Aft
er a few moments they were watching three lanes of painfully slow moving traffic.

  ‘This will never make the Cannes Film Festival, ma’am. When does the action start?’

  ‘About now I should think. There’s Joseph’s Ford, at a standstill in the middle lane.’

  ‘And what are those yobs doing?’

  ‘They are the ones that we are interested in. Watch Joseph’s vehicle. One of those men apparently hammered on his windscreen, then ran away.’

  ‘Wow!’ said Cat. ‘If that’s their idea of fun, they really need to get out more.’

  As Joseph had described, the group of men ran in and out of the traffic, dodging and weaving as the vehicles moved forward or stopped. Then one of them broke away and dived in front of Joseph’s Ford.

  ‘The quality is crap. You’re right.’ Cat leaned in closer. ‘What’s he doing?’

  ‘Looks like he’s slapping the windscreen. Now he’s leaning over the bonnet and staring inside.’

  ‘What an arsehole,’ Cat frowned. ‘And now he’s off.’

  Nikki stared at the screen. No question, the man was unidentifiable. But now she looked at Joseph. He had jumped out of his car and was staring around anxiously, trying to see where the man had gone.

  ‘The sarge overreacted a bit, didn’t he, guv?’ asked Cat. ‘It was only some prat, doing what prats do.’

  Nikki didn’t answer. She’d been thinking exactly the same thing, and whether the man was Billy Sweet or Lord Lucan, Joseph clearly believed he had seen a ghost.

  ‘Go out for the afternoon, Cat. Ask around. See if this description rings any bells with anyone, and concentrate on the West Street Quarter, those other men were apparently foreign.’

  ‘Sure. No problem. And if I find him?’

  ‘Ring me, and steer well clear. Understand? No contact with him. He maybe an innocent party, but just as easily, he may be very unpleasant.’

  As Cat stood up to leave, Nikki added, ‘And keep this just between us for the present, okay?’

  Cat tapped the side of her nose. ‘Got it, ma’am. I’ll be silent as the grave.’

  As the young detective closed the door, Nikki looked back to the photograph of Martin Durham. She was getting sidetracked by Joseph’s problems, but Martin was dead, and Joseph was alive and troubled.