The Blackness (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 4)

by Patrick C Walsh

  ‘I remember pretty much all of it for some reason, even though it was all those years ago. A young girl disappears without a trace, it’s not right, is it? It would have been better if she’d turned up dead, at least her poor mother could have buried her and grieved for her properly.’

  Yes that was it. The blonde woman had been Jessica’s mother.

  ‘What happened to her?’ Mac asked.

  ‘The mother? She died a few years later, from what I heard she drank herself to death.’

  Mac looked through the file and then stopped dead. He’d found a photo of Jessica. He sat down and looked at it closely.

  So that’s what this is all about, he said to himself.

  Without a word he passed the photo to Tommy. He could see the effect it had.

  ‘God, she and Natasha could almost be sisters!’ Tommy said. He also saw the dawning in Tommy’s eyes as to what this implied.

  ‘Fourteen years ago!’ Tommy said with some wonder.

  ‘What?’ Charlie asked. ‘Who’s this Natasha?’

  Tommy got his phone out and found the news story on the BBC. It had a photo of Natasha.

  ‘Yes, I can see the resemblance. This girl’s gone missing too then?’ Charlie asked.

  ‘Yes, it’s been all over the news,’ Mac replied.

  ‘I honestly hadn’t heard. I don’t spend much time indoors now I’m retired.’

  ‘Oh that’s right, you breed roses don’t you? I remember now.’

  ‘Two seconds and a third this year, still waiting for a first prize though. Mac, do you honestly think that these two cases are connected, even though there’s fourteen years between them?’ Charlie asked

  ‘I do,’ Mac said with complete certainty.

  Charlie thought about this for a moment and then nodded his head.

  ‘Okay, what do you want to do?’

  ‘Can you take us to her house? I’d just like to have another look around the area that she disappeared from.’

  ‘Sure,’ Charlie replied.

  Charlie climbed into the back seat and directed Tommy towards a small estate on the outskirts of Barnet. To get to it they drove down a stretch of road that had houses on one side and a high fence on the other. Beyond the fence several railway lines glinted in the morning sun.

  At the end of the road they turned left and then left again before they pulled up outside a semi-detached house.

  Mac got out and looked at number ninety three. He remembered it all now.

  ‘How come you were on this case in the first place?’ Tommy asked. ‘Barnet wouldn’t have been in your normal area, would it?’

  ‘I was doing Charlie a favour or, I should say, returning one, or several if I’m being honest.’

  ‘Yes I must admit that this one got under my skin for some reason,’ Charlie said. ‘I kept going over and over it in my head and it was driving me right up the wall. I was so sure that I must have missed something that I asked Mac to come in and do a case review. I was really hoping that he’d find something that we hadn’t, something that would give us a clue.’

  ‘It must have been about three weeks after Jessica had disappeared that I came down,’ Mac explained. ‘I did the review and couldn’t find a single thing that had been overlooked. Charlie’s team had, in my opinion, done everything they could do and more. Before I went back to London we came here and we interviewed Jessica’s mother again. That’s what I remembered this morning, Jessica’s mother. She said ‘My Jessie, she wouldn’t do that’.’

  ‘Yes I remember,’ Charlie said. ‘You asked if it was possible that she might have gone off with a boyfriend.’

  ‘Who lives here now?’ Mac asked, looking at the house.

  Charlie shrugged.

  ‘No idea.’

  ‘Let’s find out then,’ Mac said.

  He looked at his watch. It was now just before eight. He rang the bell and waited. A woman in her late twenties opened the door, a woman who bore quite a resemblance to Jessica. Mac showed her his warrant card.

  ‘We’re looking again at the Jessica Watson case. She lived here fourteen years ago. Did you know her or her family?’ Mac asked.

  The woman showed some surprise at his question. She didn’t reply, she just gestured at the three men to follow her inside into the living room. She stood by the fireplace and pointed at a picture.

  ‘That’s Jessie,’ she said.

  Mac picked up the framed photo. It showed two young girls, one about fifteen the other around ten or eleven.

  ‘Is that you?’ Mac asked, pointing to the younger girl.

  She nodded.

  ‘Yes that’s me. We used to play a lot together when we were kids. She was older than me but we still got on really well.’

  ‘And your name is?’ Mac asked.

  ‘Gemma, Gemma Greenwood. Jessie was my cousin.’

  ‘How come you’re living here?’

  ‘Auntie Brenda left the house to me when she died. She didn’t last all that long after Jessie disappeared. It broke her heart, she just didn’t want to live without her. I had some great times in this house when I was a kid but now it just seems a bit sad.’

  ‘Did you talk to the police around the time Jessica disappeared?’

  ‘Yes, to this man here if I remember right,’ she replied, waving towards Charlie.

  ‘If you don’t mind could you tell us again what happened the evening Jessica disappeared?’

  ‘Sure,’ she said sitting down on an armchair. She pointed to the sofa which was a tight squeeze for the three of them but they managed it.

  ‘I was in this house the evening she disappeared. I watched her while she got herself dressed and she let me help her a bit with her make-up. She was going into London for an all-nighter, she said. Auntie Brenda was dead set against it and they had a big row. There was nothing unusual in that, they were always arguing about something or other. She called for a taxi and then walked me home. She left me outside my door and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She never came back.’

  Gemma’s face puckered up as she fought to keep the tears back.

  ‘That’s right she didn’t catch the taxi outside her house did she? Why was that?’ Mac asked.

  ‘It saves some money if you catch the taxi on the main road. People still do it now. Otherwise the taxis have to go a good bit up the road to get onto the estate and then turn back on themselves.’

  ‘I take it that there’s some sort of shortcut?’ Mac asked getting more interested.

  ‘Yes it’s about a hundred yards or so down the road on the opposite side. Mum’s house is almost opposite.’

  ‘Show us.’

  Gemma took them outside and pointed to some houses just down the street.

  ‘That’s it there, just between those two houses. Can I ask a question?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Why are you asking me about Jessica after all this time? Are you re-opening the case or something?’

  Mac looked at Tommy and Charlie and thought of what to say.

  ‘I’m sorry but I can’t be too specific at the moment. It just might be that Jessica’s disappearance could have some connection to a case we’re currently investigating.’

  ‘He’s done it again, hasn’t he?’ she said. It wasn’t a question. ‘Is it that girl from Hitchin?’

  ‘What makes you ask?’

  ‘I couldn’t help noticing that she looks very like Jessie and she’s near enough the same age too.’

  ‘Why did you say ‘he’s done it again’?’ Mac asked.

  ‘I always knew she’d been taken by someone. Jessica and Auntie Brenda fought a lot but they really loved each other. There’s no way she would have left, especially not without saying a single word to anyone. Someone took her, someone killed her. I just know it.’

  She looked bleakly towards the entryway.

  ‘I watched her as she walked down there. She looked back at me and smiled. That was the very last time I saw her.’

  A tear ran down her c
heek.

  ‘I’m glad you’re investigating her case again. Just do me a big favour and find the bastard who took our Jessie away from us.’

  As they walked towards the entryway Tommy asked, ‘Do you really think that the same man who abducted Natasha also abducted Jessica Watson fourteen years ago?’

  ‘Yes that’s exactly what I’m thinking.’

  They turned left and into the short cut. The brick end walls of the houses on either side made the entryway dark until they came to some head high wooden fences on the other side of which Mac presumed were the back gardens belonging to the houses. They came to a sort of junction as another walkway cut across at ninety degrees. To the right the walkway was narrow and all along it at regular intervals were the back entrances to the houses on either side. It was overgrown and didn’t look like it was used much. To the left the walkway was also narrow but it opened out after fifty yards or so. Mac walked down that way.

  The reason it opened out was because there was a row of six garages and a driveway that looked like it curved right back onto the main road. Mac stood there for a while.

  ‘What do you think?’ Tommy asked eventually.

  ‘Remember when I said that our man had had some practice? I think that this was part of that practice. It was dark out when Jessica disappeared and the lighting here looks pretty scant even now. So she walks down this way and perhaps our man is hiding around the corner here. He hits her then tapes her up and rolls her quickly into the suitcase. He could have parked his car there by the garages so he only has to wheel her a short distance, roll the case into the boot and off.’

  Tommy looked about him.

  ‘Make sense to me,’ he said.

  ‘What do you think Charlie?’ Mac asked.

  ‘Makes sense to me too now I think about it. The driver who’d been given the job of picking her up was over five minutes late so we always thought that she might have been picked up by someone she knew or an illegal taxi driver. We never got anywhere with that line of enquiry though. If you’re right then she never even made it to the main road.’

  ‘Is that taxi driver still around?’ Mac asked.

  ‘Yes, yes he is. As a matter of fact I saw him the other day in the garden centre and it immediately brought Jessica back into my mind. Coincidence or what? Anyway his name’s Gwyn Davies. He’s still with the same firm he was working for fourteen years ago.’

  ‘Think you could ring him and get him to meet us on the main road?’ Mac asked.

  While Charlie was ringing the taxi firm Tommy asked, ‘What do you think we can learn from the taxi driver?’

  Mac shrugged.

  ‘No idea, just thought as he arrived only five minutes or so after Jessica was taken that he might be worth talking to, not only that taxi drivers really know their patches. I’m just wondering if he saw something that might be relevant and perhaps he doesn’t even realise it.’

  They strolled down to the main road and a few minutes later a car with a taxi sign on the roof pulled up. A short stocky man with black hair going grey at the sides climbed out of the driver’s seat. He slowly walked towards the three policemen, all the time looking at them closely, as though he might be able to make out what it was all about just from their expressions.

  ‘You wanted to see me?’ he asked in the sing song accent of the Welsh valleys.

  He looked a little anxious.

  ‘It’s Gwyn, isn’t it?’ Mac said. ‘Look don’t worry, we’re not here because of you. We’re reviewing the Jessica Watson case. Do you remember her?’

  The taxi driver visibly relaxed. He sat on the bonnet of his car and crossed his arms.

  ‘Good God, how could I ever forget? I’ve thought about her a lot over the years. Girls never go missing around here, never. Only her.’

  ‘I believe you were a few minutes late?’

  Gwyn scowled.

  ‘The missus asked me to pick up some milk and I nearly forgot. There’s a little shop on the way here and I thought it wouldn’t take a second to pop in and buy a bottle. When I got in there was some guy having a row with the shopkeeper and it took me ages to get served. I wasn’t helped either by those bloody lights they had just up there by where the site entrance was. Even so I was surprised when she wasn’t there when I arrived. I waited for nearly ten minutes and then I guessed that someone else must have picked her up or maybe she’d changed her mind. I never thought much of it until I heard the news the day after.’

  He looked at the three men.

  ‘Are you opening the case up again or something?’

  ‘We’re not sure yet,’ Mac replied. ‘As I’ve said we’re just reviewing it. Is there anything that you might have remembered later that you might have forgotten to tell us at the time?’

  ‘No I told Mr. Booker here everything I knew. I wanted you lot to find Jessica, I really did. I often wondered if my being late…well you know.’

  He gave the policeman a sad look.

  ‘Well, if it’s any consolation we think it’s possible that Jessica might never have even made it this far. We think that she might have been abducted where the walkways cross up there,’ Mac said pointing up the entryway.

  ‘You’re not just saying that are you?’ he asked as he stood up.

  ‘No, we really think that’s what might have happened,’ Mac replied.

  The taxi driver turned away and looked up the entryway.

  ‘You know for fourteen years I’ve wondered whether me stopping for that sodding bottle of milk might have been the difference between that little girl disappearing or being alive today. Fourteen bloody years!’

  He turned around and Mac could see tears in his eyes. They somehow looked out of place on the man’s face. For a second he got a glimpse of the burden the taxi driver had been carrying for all this time.

  He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

  ‘Big baby, aren’t I?’ he said, trying to smile.

  ‘No, no you’re not,’ Mac stated. ‘If you do remember anything else please ring me.’

  He gave the taxi driver his number who then climbed into his car. He was just about to shut his door when Mac shouted.

  ‘Stop! Gwyn, stop!’

  ‘What is it?’ the taxi driver asked as he got out of his car again.

  ‘You said something about traffic lights and a site entrance. What did you mean by that?’ Mac asked with some urgency.

  ‘It was just down there,’ he replied pointing down the road. ‘About four lamp posts down if I remember right.’

  ‘What was?’

  ‘The entrance to the site. God the amount of earth they moved out of there was amazing, only problem was I used to have to get the car washed regularly as they seemed to drop most of it on the road.’

  Mac thought he had it now. He just needed one answer more.

  ‘What were they doing on the site?’

  ‘They were putting an extra set of tracks in, weren’t they? Massive job it was too, they were here for ages.’

  Mac looked beyond the fence on the other side of the street to the shining steel tracks that lay beyond. In his mind’s eye he could see the traffic lights on his hill that had annoyed him so much and the massive rail works that they were cutting into the hillside.

  ‘So that’s how he did it,’ Mac intoned softly.

  Tommy got a glimpse of the far away eyes again as Mac stood and gazed at the train tracks. He suddenly stirred himself.

  ‘Come on Tommy we’ve got work to do. Thanks very much Mr. Davies. Okay if we drop you back at the station Charlie?’

  ‘Fine by me,’ Charlie replied.

  Mac got out at the station too and shook his colleague’s hand again.

  ‘It’s been so good to see you again Charlie,’ Mac said with complete sincerity.

  ‘You too Mac. Can you do me a favour though?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘When you get him come and see me afterwards and I’ll buy you a pint. You can tell me all about it.’


  ‘I wish I had your confidence but yes, I’ll definitely do that,’ Mac replied.

  Mac never said a word to Tommy as they drove down the motorway and back into Hertfordshire. He was too busy on his phone. They were just passing Stevenage when he finished talking.

  Tommy looked over at him with a question in his eyes.

  ‘Oh I’m sorry Tommy but I needed to make those calls.’

  ‘I guess that the first one was to Dan. Who was the second one to if you don’t mind me asking?’

  ‘An old friend and colleague of mine who works with the Transport Police. He’s going to send Martin some details of the company who worked on both the Barnet and Hitchin jobs.’

  ‘So you think our man is someone who’s employed on the rail works?’

  ‘I do,’ Mac replied with some certainty. ‘He’s very clever too.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘Say the rail works last a year or so. While he’s in the area he abducts a girl and does whatever he does to her. Just the one though. Then they move to the next job which might be over the other side of the country and again he takes just the one girl. Who’d be able to put the two crimes together? No-one because the two crimes have happened in different patches and even now we’re not all that good at talking to other forces. Years ago we were bloody terrible.’

  Tommy thought about what Mac had said.

  ‘So you think there are more girls involved? It’s not just Jessica and Natasha?’

  ‘I’d be amazed if that was the case. If I had to bet I’d say there’s definitely more, perhaps a lot more. A man can do a lot in fourteen years.’

  Dan and Adil were waiting for them when they returned to the incident room. Amanda was at her post by the door and Martin was glued to his laptop screen.

  There was a sort of grim smile of Dan’s face as he asked, ‘Do you really think you’ve got something?’

  ‘I do,’ Mac replied, ‘but it would be nice to have some hard evidence to back it up. That’s what we need to work on now.’

  He went over to Martin’s desk.

  ‘Has anything come?’ he asked, feeling a little flutter of nervousness.

  ‘Yes an email and attachment from the Transport Police. I’ve printed them off for you. Here.’