SHADOW OVER THE FENS a gripping crime thriller full of suspense

by Joy Ellis

  ‘I keep thinking that I know something else about it, but it escapes me.’

  Nikki took a mouthful of wine. ‘Can’t help you there, I’m afraid. I never needed to go there as a child, and I’ve kind of grown up with Greenborough General.’

  ‘It’ll come to me, no doubt. So? Was it really as bad as it sounded at work today? You seemed hairspring taut, when I spoke to you.’

  Nikki sat back and held out her glass for a top-up. ‘It was about as shitty as it gets. Victim number three was so freaked out about what had nearly happened that he was all but useless. He’d spent time with sodding Snaz, but his description was rubbish. Then he begged us to let him stay in the cells, just in case his attacker was waiting to finish him off.’

  ‘I bet the custody sergeant liked that.’

  ‘We found an out of town relative that was prepared to take him, until it’s safe to go home.’

  ‘And I wonder when that will be?’ muttered Joseph morosely.

  For a moment Nikki felt angry, then sadness took over. For all his brave front, his fancy cooking, and his commitment to finding out what had happened to Martin, Joseph was hurting. Hurting and scared about what was going to happen next.

  ‘I’m doing my best, honestly, Joseph.’

  ‘I know. And don’t think I don’t appreciate it,’ he said miserably. He ran his hand through his hair. ‘It’s just that I’ve never felt so frustrated, so totally helpless.’ He gave her a dark look. ‘Well, actually I have, just once, and that was all to do with Billy Sweet. He really does have a knack for screwing up my life.’

  Nikki didn’t like his sombre mood and decided to change the subject. ‘Have you spoken to Bryony today?’

  ‘Not yet.’ He drank his wine and stared into the glass. ‘I tried earlier but her phone was switched off. Busy at work I guess. I’ll ring her later.’

  Nikki hoped that Bryony would do as she’d said and tell Joseph that she hadn’t seen his stalker. She frowned to herself when she considered how Joseph would take that news. He was hanging onto Bryony’s status as an eyewitness to keep himself sane. She sipped her drink and thought it best not to predict his reaction but just to deal with it when it happened. ‘So, I guess it’s time to discuss where we go next with Martin Durham.’ She looked across at Joseph and raised her glass. ‘Well done, by the way. That was astute of you to spot that medication box in the forensic photo of Amelia.’ ‘Thanks. Oh, but you must look at this.’ Joseph got up and left the room, returning a few moments later with a photograph.

  Nikki stared at it, then smiled when she saw a grinning and happy young Martin Durham. ‘Just look at you, not a care in the world,’ she whispered.

  Joseph leaned over her shoulder and pointed to the sign. ‘And this has to be what links them, Nikki. The hospital. Those tablets must have originated from there.’

  ‘But the hospital has long gone, so who is sending them out now?’

  ‘That is going to be my next line of enquiry. There has to be a paper chain, and if I can trace it back, I’ll find the source.’ Joseph bit his lip anxiously. ‘As long as my recently imposed civilian capacity allows me to.’

  Nikki stared at him. ‘So what if I allocated you some help? In the form of either Niall or Yvonne?’

  Joseph straightened up. ‘Would you? That would be great!’

  ‘Well, let’s face it, if we weren’t hunting down our killer, Martin’s case would be active. It would have a whole team of officers asking questions, not just one constable.’ She smiled at him. ‘Yes, I’ll sort that. We just have to keep shtum over precisely what they are doing, okay?’

  Joseph grinned. ‘Well, I’d be the last one to argue with that.’ His face grew serious. ‘But please don’t put your neck too far onto the block for me, Nikki. I know how close to the wind you’re sailing by even letting me proceed with this investigation, no matter how covertly.’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry too much on that score. I’ll be discreet, but with my reputation, it’s pretty well expected of me!’ She leaned back in her chair and stared at the photograph. ‘Are there any more like this?’

  Joseph shrugged. ‘I’ll get the box. Some of them may mean more to you than me.’

  For half an hour they sorted through the old pictures. Some of the ones taken on Cloud Fen made Nikki feel quite nostalgic.

  ‘Look at this.’ Joseph brought her back to the present. ‘Tell me what you see.’

  Nikki stared at the dog-eared picture. Once again the five friends hung around the old car, and initially Nikki thought they were consecutive shots, then she noticed subtle differences.

  ‘There are fewer leaves on that tree, and the girls have light jackets on. This was taken at the same spot, close the hospital, but at a different time of year.’

  ‘So they met there, or drove there on a regular basis.’ Joseph frowned. ‘But why?’

  ‘A sick friend?’ Nikki ventured. ‘When Hannah was first ill, I practically lived at the hospital.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Joseph didn’t look convinced. ‘Would you have any objections if I gave Martin’s sister a ring?’

  ‘None at all. She’s bound to recall what they were doing.’

  While Joseph was in the study, Nikki piled up the plates and began to load the dishwasher. Thunder was rumbling ominously over the marsh, and the lights suddenly flickered a few times.

  ‘Oh great,’ she muttered, and began to rummage around in the cupboard beneath the sink. Power cuts were not unusual on the fen and she always kept a couple of battery-powered storm lanterns at the ready. ‘The perfect end to a sodding awful day.’

  Nikki checked the lanterns were working, then went through to the study to close the computer down. Joseph sat at her desk, staring thoughtfully at the photo. ‘Any joy?’

  ‘Oh, I think so,’ said Joseph softly. ‘In fact we may have just stumbled on a real lead.’ He looked up at her. ‘Elizabeth said that as students they were all feeling the pinch financially.’

  ‘Nothing new there then.’

  Joseph raised his eyebrows. ‘Just remember the timescale. We are talking about the early seventies. To get some extra cash, Martin, Elizabeth and their friends signed up with a clinic run by the hospital.’

  ‘What sort of clinic?’

  ‘Common cold cure trials and sleep studies, apparently.’

  Nikki let out a low whistle.

  ‘And that is why the Gordon Peace Memorial rang bells. Do you ever recall reading about the Porton Down experiments?’

  Nikki frowned and tried to think. All she could recall was that Porton Down had been, and probably still was, a government and military research centre testing biological and chemical weapons. ‘Nerve gas, wasn’t it? Sarin and CS gas were developed there, weren’t they?’

  ‘They certainly were, but I was thinking about the allegations made about unethical human experimentation.’ Joseph’s voice had taken on a very different timbre, and it was one that Nikki recognised from when they first met. He sounded enthusiastic and eager to get to the truth. ‘The thing was, Porton Down worked loosely in collaboration with a CCU that was located at Harvard Hospital to the west of Salisbury. But they weren’t the only ones experimenting. There was another centre in the east of England. Here to be precise, at the Gordon Peace Common Cold Unit!’ He looked at her intently. ‘That’s why the name rang a bell! They were investigated way back in the 50s, but whatever went wrong was overshadowed by the more documented one about Porton Down and the national servicemen who had been conned into taking part in something that they didn’t understand. You remember? They were given extra pay and extra days leave if they volunteered for testing drugs for the common cold, except some of them were tested with nerve agents.’

  ‘And one died, didn’t he?’ Vague memories were returning to Nikki. Her face screwed up in confusion. ‘But surely you’re not suggesting that those kids were caught up in some dreadful experiment right here in Greenborough? This was years later.’

  ‘The trials didn’t stop. Eli
zabeth Durham has just told me that lots of the students went through them in the 70s, but some, Martin and Amelia included, volunteered for several, and whatever tests they were, they had nothing to do with colds.’

  ‘And she didn’t?’

  ‘No, she said that some of her friends felt quite strongly about doing their bit for medical science, but she wasn’t comfortable in the role of a guinea-pig.’

  ‘Did she say what the other trials were about?’

  ‘She has no idea. Apparently Martin and Amelia were really cagey about what it involved. Then her brother was diagnosed with cancer and they forgot all about the trials.’

  Nikki took a long shaky breath. ‘I don’t like where this is going.’

  ‘Nor do I if we find ourselves up against the MOD.’ Joseph set his jaw. ‘We just have to hope there’s no connection to the military and whatever was going on in that unit was a privately funded trial.’

  An ominous rumble of thunder added gravity to his words, and Nikki shivered. Martin Durham, Amelia Reed, Paul Cousins, and who else? Three known deaths, all fairly recent, and connected by sinister medication and an experiment that took place decades ago. She struggled to get her head around it. ‘We need to know everything we can about those trials. We should go see Elizabeth Durham.’ Nikki regarded Joseph seriously. ‘Tonight.’

  ‘In this?’ Joseph’s eyes were wide. ‘We’ll be lucky to get as far as the main road without calling the coastguard!’

  Lightning flickered around the room and a deafening crack of thunder made Nikki jump. ‘Jesus! It’s right overhead.’ She leaned across the desk and pulled one of the storm lanterns closer. ‘If this keeps up, ten to one we lose the bloody power.’ She thumped her fist down and cursed. ‘Damn it! I really need to talk to Martin’s sister. She’s our only link to what happened to him.’

  ‘Talk to her on the phone.’ Joseph lifted the handset and offered it to her. ‘Ask her to dig out everything she can about the CCU, and I’ll go out there first thing in the morning and see her.’

  ‘I suppose.’ Nikki sighed and took the phone from him. She tapped the button a couple of times, then rolled her eyes and slammed it back in its cradle. ‘Great! Now the lines are down.’

  ‘Mobile?’

  Nikki shook her head. ‘And get a signal out here in the middle of a bloody storm? I don’t think so.’

  ‘How long do these summer storms last?’ asked Joseph.

  Nikki glanced at the clock. ‘It should move away when the tide turns, which is in about an hour, or it could rumble around all night long.’

  ‘Well, if you are really worried, I’ll wait until it subsides a bit then I’ll drive up to Old Bolingbroke and talk to her tonight.’

  ‘I’ll come with you.’

  ‘No.’ Joseph stared at her. Concern played across his face. ‘You need some rest. You’ve got a murder enquiry hanging over you, and Billy Sweet is still out there somewhere.’ He leaned across and squeezed her shoulder gently. ‘Listen, I know Martin Durham is important to you, but catching Billy is important to me, and to anyone else who accidentally crosses his murdering path, and there’s sod all I can do about him right now. It’s all down to you and the team, Nikki.’ He let his arm fall but still looked her full in the face. ‘I’ll do this for you, if you keep focussed on catching that murdering bastard for me.’

  Nikki swallowed. Billy Sweet was dead, but how could she tell Joseph? And even if his name was not Sweet, there still a killer wandering the streets of Greenborough.

  ‘Okay. But go careful, these lanes are treacherous at the best of times.’

  ‘I’ll be back before you know it.’ He paused just long enough to pick up the two old photos and push them into his pocket. ‘Just get some sleep. And don’t you dare wait up. You look shattered. I’ll fill you in on everything tomorrow.’

  Maybe it was the wine, or the weight of so many deaths draped around her shoulders, but Nikki suddenly felt mind-numbingly tired. Exhaustion swept over her, and she felt herself nodding. ‘Okay, okay. I get the message. Just watch those bloody roads, you hear?’

  ‘Loud and clear, ma’am.’

  As Nikki forced herself to stand, she heard him pulling a waterproof jacket from the coat cupboard, and then the front door clicked shut. She yawned. He hadn’t even waited for the rain to ease. For a moment she felt guilty. Elizabeth may know nothing more than she’d already told him, and frankly, whatever she did know could have waited until the morning. Hell, he was going to have one awful drive, and maybe a fruitless one, but for some reason Martin seemed to be calling out to her, and she had no wish to ignore him. They were onto something; she felt that in her heart. And because of everything else she had on her plate right now, it would have to be down to Joseph to prove it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  As Joseph drove away from the coast, the rain slackened. He could still hear the thunder rumbling in the distance but he could tell from the condition of the roads that the worst of the storm had been confined to the marshes. By the time he reached Elizabeth’s home he could see clear dark skies and twinkling stars.

  The downstairs lights in the big lodge house were still on and he felt a rush of relief that the two women had not turned in for the night.

  Janna opened the door and beckoned him inside. She smiled wanly at him. ‘We had a feeling we might see you tonight. It’s about the clinical trials, isn’t it? You think Martin’s death is connected?’ She suddenly gathered herself. ‘I’m sorry. Look at you, you’re soaked! Let me take your jacket.’

  Joseph took off his wet coat and handed it to her. ‘I should have phoned ahead, but the storm on the coast took out the phone lines. I hope this isn’t an imposition?’

  ‘Not at all. Go on down to the garden room. Elizabeth is there. I’ll go make us all hot drinks.’

  Elizabeth Durham was standing staring out of the great picture window into the night. On hearing him enter she turned, and he thought that she might have been crying.

  ‘Am I intruding, Ms Durham?’ he asked softly.

  ‘Ah, Detective Sergeant Easter. No, of course not. Please, have a seat, I was just being silly and selfish, and feeling horribly sorry for myself.’ She gave him a rueful look. ‘And I was wondering how much I really knew about my beloved brother.’

  ‘When something like this happens, I think we are made very much aware of just how much we humans hold back from sharing what is going on deep inside. Even from those closest to us.’

  ‘I need to know what happened, Sergeant. If I don’t, it’ll eat and eat away and drive me mad.’

  Joseph nodded. He thought about Billy Sweet and knew exactly how she felt. ‘We’ll find your answers, I promise.’ He took the two photos from his pocket, stood up and walked across to Elizabeth. ‘I know it was a very long while ago but I really need you to tell me everything you can remember about those trials and the people in the pictures.’

  Elizabeth stared at each photo in turn. ‘From the moment we spoke, I’ve thought about nothing else.’ She blinked slowly. ‘I’m just not sure what I can tell.’

  ‘Did you know who actually ran the Common Cold Unit?’

  ‘Not at the time. We believed it was just a research side to the hospital itself, but then rumour had it that it may be a government run organisation.’

  Joseph’s heart sank. That was not the kind of thing he wanted to hear.

  ‘But later still Martin told me that it was privately funded by a pharmaceutical organisation.’

  His spirit lifted. ‘Did he mention a name?’

  Elizabeth shook her head. ‘He just said it was massive, based abroad and encompassed a lot of smaller companies. I don’t think he knew any more than that.’

  ‘So you and your friends in those photos all took part in the same studies?’

  ‘Initially, yes. It was Martin, Amelia, Barry Smith, John Goring and myself, we were part of a larger group that was split in two. The procedure was nasal drops of cold virus, then half the group given placebos an
d the other half cold cures.’

  ‘Were you ill afterwards?’

  ‘Not really. A few developed assorted cold-like symptoms. Just coughs, sneezes, raised temperatures. One girl I remember was rather poorly, but nothing major.’

  Joseph frowned. ‘And this Barry Smith and John Goring? Are you still in touch with them?’

  ‘Barry died young. Killed in a car smash not long after he left university, and I lost contact with John. He went abroad to work years ago.’

  Janna appeared with a tray of hot drinks and placed them on a low table. As she handed them around, she paused and took the picture from her partner. ‘I’ve been wondering something, Liz? If your little group of the famous five were all grinning happily here, who took the photograph?’

  It was Elizabeth’s turn to frown. ‘I can’t remember.’

  ‘And the second one was taken at a different time of the year,’ added Joseph, ‘but it’s still the five of you. Maybe the same person took that one too?’

  Elizabeth rubbed her temples as if trying to coax back an old memory. ‘I can see him, just vaguely. A friend of Martin’s. He had long wavy untidy hair and shabby clothes. But what the hell was his name?’

  ‘Was he in your group?’

  ‘No. He was one of the few kids who did the sleep studies. He was with us because Martin used to give him a lift into the hospital from the village. Davey! That’s it! Davey Kowalski! Lord, I haven’t thought about him in years.’

  Joseph checked the spelling and wrote the name in his notebook. He’d get a check run on both Goring and Kowalski first thing in the morning. He drew in a long breath. ‘I hate to ask this, but did you ever think the trials and Martin’s illness might have been connected?’

  ‘No, never.’ She shook her head emphatically. ‘He assured me that he had the medical team at the trials to thank for his life. He would have died had they not made the diagnosis and acted so swiftly in getting him the right treatment. I know it sounds like a medical disaster. You do hear of terrible cases where clinical trials go badly wrong, but I’m certain that wasn’t it. My brother wasn’t a very good actor, and he really wouldn’t have a word said against the team of researchers. If something had gone wrong, I think I’d have known, Detective Easter, really I do.’