The shutters opened again. The light was less now, as if it were dusk. He couldn’t make out anything. He wondered if his eyes were failing.
‘Where are you going?’ he asked.
‘Logistics, dear,’ said Richie.
‘What?’
‘It ain’t safe here. Not for long anyway. I need a new lock up.’
Dave had images of himself rolling to safety like Houdini. He pulled at the rope again. No give.
‘Hey, honey,’ said Richie. ‘What do you want for supper?’ He laughed. ‘Meat and two veg? Or are they a bit sore? I’ll be back with Vindaloo.’
‘Please,’ said Dave. ‘Feed Stephen too.’
‘What are you on about?’ said Richie.
Dave didn’t reply. He didn’t have much of a chance. The shutters went down and the dim light disappeared.
‘Hello?’ he called.
Then he gagged. He knew why he could smell death. There were dead bodies in here. He didn’t know how many. They were all around him. He breathed through his mouth. Images of looking at corpses came into his mind. But why? Why would he have stood next to corpses on metal slabs and been talked through their injuries? Perhaps he was the bad guy.
‘Stephen!’ he called.
‘I’m here,’ came his voice.
‘I asked him for food for you,’ said Dave.
‘Thank you.’
‘Am I the bad guy?’
‘Have you killed anyone?’
Dave had images of himself with guns. He could see the gun in his hand. But he was at a rifle range. He wasn’t in battle.
He couldn’t imagine himself wanting to kill someone. He wanted to see Richie die. He’d do it if he could. But not collecting victims in a lock up or whatever he called it.
‘I don’t think this is a cell,’ said Dave.
‘What is it?’ asked Stephen.
‘A garage of some sort.’
‘Probably you’re right. You’d know better than me.’
‘Why? Because I’m older? How old are you?’
‘I’m nineteen,’ said Stephen.
‘But you were always nineteen.’
‘No I wasn’t.’
Dave thought for a minute. He had a memory of playing with cars as a child, making a zooming noise as he ran the toy car over Stephen’s head.
‘If you’re nineteen,’ he said. ‘I must be twenty three.’
Stephen said nothing.
‘But you died, Stephen,’ said Dave.
It was coming back to him now.
‘You said I was good for nothing,’ said Stephen. ‘You didn’t even come to my funeral.’
‘I’m in the army,’ said Dave. ‘I didn’t come to your funeral because I was in the army. Yes I remember. How come we thought you’d died when you were here? Didn’t anyone look for you?’
Stephen didn’t reply.
Dave smiled to himself. He had remembered. Now maybe he could remember his name. And if he was in the army, surely he could get out of here. He just needed to play it right.
He sat in silence and listened to the room.
Could he hear breathing? It was like a wheezing.
‘Stephen are you wheezing?’ he asked.
He heard a groaning noise, as if someone was waking up.
‘Wait,’ he said. ‘Who is that?’
He turned his ear towards the noise.
‘Alive.’
Dave was sure he heard it softly said.
‘Alive? Is someone here alive? Hello?’
‘Help me,’ said a voice.
It was the elderly lady from before.
‘You’re alive!’ said Dave.
‘Help me. I can’t move,’ she said.
Dave felt himself start to cry. Big teardrops made his bandage wet. He felt colder. He felt like a new-born baby.
‘I can’t help,’ he said.
It seemed the most awful thing that had happened to him.
‘I always help,’ he said. ‘But I can’t move. I’m tied with rope. But I’m in the army.’
‘You’re a soldier?’ The woman’s voice was high, he heard the hope in her voice.
‘I’m a soldier,’ he said. ‘With your help, we can both escape.’
Chapter 6
Shirley collected the empty cups from every table in the open plan office. She spoke to no one. She willed anyone to say something. She needed to snap, to shout, to cry.
‘Thanks,’ said an officer.
She glared at him.
Everyone was watching her. Several days had passed and there had been no progress in finding Dave or his kidnapper. Their faces showed sympathy, pity. She drew in breath and almost growled as she breathed out. No one made eye contact. She stomped into the kitchen area. She pulled the dishwasher door and it thumped on its hinges. She crashed the cups onto the shelves. Then she washed out a cloth and cleaned the kitchen.
She had lied.
She scrubbed at the surfaces, then washed down the side of the cupboards, she swept the floor.
She had lied to the police. If she was discovered, there would be disciplinaries and potentially dismissal. She was a bad police officer. If only she had gone with Dave to the door. If only she had followed procedure. Now Dave was missing, most likely dead. All because she was too lazy to get out of the car.
Her lie was to save her own back. There was no point saying it was Dave’s idea that she stay in the car. The rules said don’t go alone. Now she knew the rules were there for a reason. She scrubbed at a coffee stain on the counter.
‘Hi.’
Shirley turned around to see Jayne standing by the entrance with a mug in her hand.
‘You can come in,’ said Shirley. ‘Make yourself a tea. Don’t mind me.’
‘Are you OK?’ said Jayne.
‘What do you think?’ said Shirley.
Jayne looked at the ground.
Shirley realised she’d been sent over to talk to her. Probably the lads said she should go as the only other female in the team. Woman to woman or some such nonsense.
‘I’m fine,’ said Shirley. ‘You don’t need to worry. In fact I’ll send a memo round to the whole team. I’ll say “Shirley is fine. Dave is not. Shall we get off our arses and find him or what!” What do you think Jayne? Is that a good idea?’
‘I’m sorry. Dave was a great police officer. I know you two were good friends. We are all going to miss him.’
Shirley didn’t have anything left to clean.
‘OK. I’m done with the kitchen. What do we do to find Dave? Come on Jayne, you’ve been sent here to talk to me. What is our plan of action?’
Jayne looked away.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry. You witnessed him being hit in the head. You witnessed him being abducted. I was told to say about seeing the counsellor.’
Shirley licked her front teeth.
‘No thanks. I am fine.’
‘Just asking,’ said Jayne.
Shirley shook her head and walked straight toward Jayne. Jayne stood to one side and Shirley marched to her desk and sat down.
As she sat, the Chief came in.
‘Team meeting!’ he called.
They all got up and stood by the interactive white board.
Shirley held her breath. This could be news about Dave.
‘I’m sorry to say that one of our best officers is missing,’ he said.
Shirley tutted. She hoped no one heard.
‘I need to be kept updated. This is important. It could affect our ratings as a police force if we do not find the culprit. It is our funding. It is our jobs.’
‘It is also our friend,’ said Geoff.
The team clapped.
‘Update me please, Sergeant,’ said the Chief.
Geoff rolled his eyes.
‘We have an address being searched right now,’ he said. ‘We have a van containing finger prints. We do not know where the hide out is. We need to find out. There are elderly people missing. They or their bodies mu
st be somewhere.’
‘OK everyone,’ said the Chief. ‘It seems morale is low. We need to find DI McDonald before anyone else does. I’m not having some poor dog walker finding our police officer. We find him. We find him now.’
Shirley stopped listening. She couldn’t believe it. How could an entire police force lose a car in this city with all the CCTV and all the helicopters. It was a joke. A joke she would have laughed at with Dave.
She went to sit at her desk. She couldn’t be bothered with this meeting. They would discover nothing and the killer would kill again. There was no point.
The Chief watched her sit down and nodded. When he’d finished his talk, he came over to her. He patted her shoulder gently.
‘You did your best,’ he said.
Shirley shook his hand off.
‘We failed him,’ she said. ‘We, his team, failed him.’
‘You know the statistics. It is unlikely we’ll find him alive. But for our sake and the sake of his family, who I have spoken to myself, we will find his killer and we will have justice.’
Shirley smiled and nodded. She thought of his mother, who had now lost two sons. What Shirley was going through was nothing. She folded her arms.
‘Let’s get this fucker,’ she said.
‘Now go home,’ said the Chief. ‘We’re going to be under scrutiny. I can’t have officers working over their overtime. Regulations need to be adhered to.’
‘But I can’t,’ said Shirley.
‘You’ve been working too long.’
‘But I had a break. I had to go to the hospital to get my stomach checked.’
‘That’s not a break. Go home and sleep. I want you back fresh in six hours.’
Shirley sighed. It was true, the rules said she had to. She had already broken one rule. She needed to keep to procedure.
Shirley got in her car. It felt like ages since she’d sat in a car that wasn’t a police car. She turned her Nina Simone CD up loud and drove to her parents’ house. She arrived with her head clearer for singing in the car. She yawned. She had worked a long shift, an emotional shift. She found her keys and shouted hello as she opened the door.
‘Hush,’ said her mother. ‘Your Granny is asleep in the sitting room.’
‘Granny!’ said Shirley.
She had forgotten.
‘How is she?’ she asked.
‘She’s tired. She’s sleeping all the time,’ said her mother.
‘Oh Mama, it’s been such a day.’
‘I heard on the news. A police officer is missing. Did you know him?’
‘Mum that was Dave! Dave my boss! I was with him when it happened. God Mama I did wrong you know. I let him go up to the door alone and that’s not allowed. I haven’t told anyone. I don’t want to lose my job.’
Shirley burst into tears. Her mother hugged her tight.
‘We’ll get you some food,’ she said. ‘You haven’t eaten I know.’
‘Thanks,’ said Shirley.
‘And don’t worry, my dear. I know you. You would not have let him go alone to that door if he hadn’t insisted.’
‘How do you know that? Was it on the news?’
‘Shirley, I’ve never known you break a rule in your life. You’re one of God’s good children. Now here, eat.’
Her mother put chicken and rice on a plate.
Shirley ate.
‘You know when you don’t realise how hungry you are until you start eating?’ said Shirley.
‘I’m glad, my dear. You have a good appetite. It’s a good sign. Not like your poor grandmother in there.’
‘She’s not eating?’
‘Nothing but sleeping. Lord!’
‘Well, she’s not on the streets. That is good right now. We have had missing elderly people. That’s what we were investigating. I really don’t understand. At least with Dave, he picked on someone his own strength. An elderly lady! It’s crazy.’
‘There’s wicked people in this world. I’m sorry about Dave. I know you liked him.’
‘Yeah,’ said Shirley. ‘Best boss I ever had. We were partners really. I’ll miss him.’
‘Were you an item?’
‘Mum! No! We were working partners.’
‘I wish you’d find yourself someone.’
Shirley scratched her back with her fork. If there was one subject she would spend her whole life avoiding, it was this one.
‘Can I crash here tonight?’ said Shirley.
‘Bed’s ready as always,’ said her mother.
Shirley went up to her room. She lay on the bed, on top of the covers. She was too tired to undress. She closed her eyes. She felt herself begin to drift. It felt peaceful and nice, and then her phone rang.
She sighed and pulled it from her pocket. She answered lying down.
‘We think we’ve got another victim,’ said the officer.
Shirley sat up.
‘Are you kidding me?’
‘Another elderly lady missing from the same area.’
‘Is Chief letting me in?’
‘Er, he said to call you. We, er, well, we need everyone in.’
Shirley smiled. It was OK for the Chief to break the rules. She shook her head from side to side to shake away the tiredness. She ran down the stairs.
‘Mum!’ she called. ‘Got to go. Emergency. Say hello to Granny when she wakes up.’
She didn’t give her mother the chance to say goodbye. She ran to the car. She drove to the station. She was going to be pushy. Dave was her best ever work colleague and she would find him.
As she walked into the office, she saw the new map. She looked at the four dots denoting the abduction sites.
‘Do you think the killer hides inside the dots?’ she said.
‘We don’t know he’s a killer,’ said Sergeant Geoff Bowden. ‘We know he’s violent and we know he’s taken four people. We haven’t found their bodies. We assume nothing.’
‘Sorry,’ said Shirley. She tried to imagine Dave still alive. She dismissed the thought. It was wishful thinking. She would just get her hopes up.
‘We don’t know about his hideout. What do you think?’
‘It’s a small area. It seems strange,’ said Shirley.
‘When we got the details back from the van, we did find Dave’s blood.’ Geoff looked at her carefully.
Shirley showed no emotion.
‘However, we did not find blood from the other victims.’
‘But we know they were in the van, don’t we?’
‘We think Mr Thompson was because there was nowhere else for him to go. We don’t have evidence.’
‘There must be evidence,’ said Shirley.
‘We know he padded the van so that it was soundproof.’
‘What do you think he did to them in there?’
‘The van and the house were rented. Under the name of Mr Conville.’
‘Yeah, that’s a fake name. We should have realised at the time.’
‘But from the photographs from the CCTV, it seems he is of a considerable size and very strong. Can you look into his history?’
Shirley was pleased they hadn’t taken her off the case. She went back to her desk.
‘You’ve got your walk back,’ said Geoff.
‘What’s my walk, Geoff?’
He imitated her, strutting across the room.
Shirley laughed.
‘You look like a gangster doing that,’ she said.
‘That’s because I’m a man. When you do it, you look like a lesbian.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ she said. ‘Keeps the creeps away.’
‘Any action lately? In the bed I mean. You can always call me you know. I’ll come and watch.’
Shirley frowned.
‘Joke’s over,’ she said. ‘I don’t like that kind of talk. Do I ask to come and watch you and your missus in bed? No I don’t. So don’t do the same back.’
Geoff laughed.
‘Good to have you back,’ he said.
&nbs
p; ‘I’m not here for your entertainment.’
‘No,’ he said, sobering up. ‘We all loved Dave you know. We all did.’
Shirley nodded.
‘What have we got on the suspect?’ she said.
‘Well, we’ve narrowed it down to these five. Take a look. You saw him in the flesh.’
‘At night, and briefly,’ said Shirley.
She looked at the mug shots.
‘Him,’ she said.
‘You sure?’ he said.
‘Ninety-nine percent. Remember I spent the whole day looking at him on CCTV. When was this taken?’
‘Six months ago. He robbed an old lady. It was the lady herself who called in and said it was him. He is supposed to be on parole now but guess what, parole lost him.’
‘Again?’
‘They thought he wasn’t a priority to find.’
‘That’s why he changed his name,’ said Shirley. ‘Where did the crime take place?’
‘Norbury,’ he said.
‘Out of the area.’
‘Still south London though. Not far.’
Shirley scrolled through the report on the guy. Richard Henders. 27 years old. He had a long history of crimes, both robbery and violence. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
‘Great, he’s a nutter,’ said Shirley. ‘Is he under a mental health team?’
She scrolled for more details then rang them.
‘I’m looking for Richard Henders,’ she said.
‘We haven’t seen him for over a month now. We went round to his flat and he had gone. We did inform the parole officer. They said they’d look for him.’
‘Is he on any medication?’
‘He is not compliant. We were giving him an injection every month of paliperidone, an anti-psychotic drug but we’ve not seen him.’
Shirley looked at the file on him. He had been taken into care at the age of seven when his mother died. He was covered in burns.
‘How does anyone do that to a child,’ she said.
‘Sounds like she was mentally ill too,’ said Geoff. ‘She was diagnosed schizophrenic. She killed herself and he got caught in the fire. I’m not being funny but I blame the social workers for not taking him away before.’
‘Whatever. This boy went on to be violent in every care home he went to. Assaults on staff, assaults on other children. She must have done something to mess him up royally,’ said Shirley.
Only the Good Die Young Page 5
