The Doctor

by Lisa Stone

  ‘Have you seen the child?’ Beth asked.

  ‘No. Neither has Ben. But it seems Emily used to visit her and her mother. Did you get the message Ben left for you?’

  ‘I did, thank you.’

  ‘Have you seen their CCTV?’

  ‘Not yet. That’s one of the reasons I need to speak to Dr Burman.’

  Beth tried the bell again, but there was no response. David was looking at her expectantly. ‘We’re sure they’re in,’ he said. ‘Burman is in his shed. Has been all night.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ she asked, surprised.

  ‘There’s a light on.’

  ‘He might have left it on by accident.’

  ‘And they’ve all gone out without their car?’ David asked sceptically.

  ‘It’s possible. They might have walked.’

  ‘Mrs Burman is terminally ill and they have a disabled daughter. Ben told you all that in his message. They never leave the house.’

  ‘All right, David, I’m going to make a phone call from my car. It would be helpful if you went back inside your house for now. Once I’ve finished here I’ll come in and bring you up to date. I’ll need to speak to Ben too.’

  ‘Why don’t you force the front door?’ he asked, testing it.

  ‘There’s no justification for that yet,’ Beth said and waited for him to move away and leave the property. He was clearly anxious, understandably, but being arrested for criminal damage wouldn’t help.

  She watched David return indoors before she got into the police car and phoned Matt. ‘Is the DCI still in the office?’

  ‘Yes. Do you want to speak to her?’

  ‘Please.’

  She heard Matt say, ‘Ma’am, Beth Mayes.’

  DCI Aileen Peters came on the line. ‘Yes, Beth?’

  ‘Ma’am, I’m outside Dr Burman’s house. No one is answering and the place looks shut up, but Emily’s father who is staying next door with Ben thinks they are in. Their car is in the garage and there’s a light on in an outbuilding at the bottom of the garden. There’s a possibility there could be a child in the house, although no child is registered as living at this address.’

  There was a short pause before DCI Aileen Peters replied, ‘Drugs and children don’t mix. Go in, but wait for backup. I’ll authorize it now.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  David King and Ben Johnston appeared on the driveway next door. Beth got out of the car and went over.

  ‘I’m waiting for assistance and then I’ll go in. But you will need to stay here. You won’t have any right to enter their property and you could be done for trespassing, apart from the danger involved. Understood?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ben said. David gave a half-hearted nod and followed Ben back inside their house. Beth had little doubt that as soon as the backup arrived they’d be out again.

  Beth returned to the car to wait. It could all turn out to be nothing, she thought as she looked at the Burmans’ house, in which case the police would be billed for a new front door. She’d seen the drug squad in action before and they didn’t hang around. There was still no sign of any movement in the house. The blacked-out windows, high security and secrecy surrounding those living there was in keeping with a drug’s den. We’d no idea. They were polite but kept themselves to themselves, was the usual reaction from neighbours in a nice street like this when a house was busted for drugs. Yet Emily appeared to have forged a friendship with Mrs Burman. Could that be why she’d disappeared? Was it possible that Emily wasn’t part of the actual drug running, as Beth had first thought, but had stumbled upon it while visiting Alisha? It would make more sense, fit in with what she knew of Emily. In which case it was highly likely she was dead.

  Fifteen minutes later, Beth saw the police van enter the road in her rear-view mirror. It parked further back, out of sight of the Burmans’ house. Beth got out and walked towards it, adrenalin kicking in. She knew her role and what to do; she’d been part of similar raids before. Often, the squad raided a suspect’s home in the early morning when they were still in bed, the element of surprise giving them the advantage, but because a child could be in the house, the DCI had wasted no time. Four helmeted officers jumped out of the van, one holding the battering ram they’d use to break down the door.

  Beth quickly introduced herself to the lead officer.

  ‘How many inside the house?’ he asked.

  ‘We think at least two adults and possibly a child.’

  ‘Ready, lads,’ he said, addressing the other officers. ‘We all know what we’re doing.’

  A murmur of agreement and they snapped shut their visors. They went swiftly along the pavement two abreast, with Beth following close behind. Up to the front door, then the cry of, ‘Police! This is a raid!’ The battering ram hit the door once, twice and it sprang open.

  They poured in ahead of her, immediately dispersing to check the rooms, two straight ahead into the living room, one to the right in to the kitchen and one upstairs. All the while shouting. ‘Police! Get on the ground now! Do it now! Down now!’ Then as they checked each room and found that nobody was there they shouted, ‘Clear!’

  Beth felt her heart thumping wildly; she knew to stay in the hall until the house was made safe when she’d be asked to search any females present. Upstairs, she could hear doors being flung open to the shout of, ‘Police. Get down!’ Then, ‘Clear.’

  ‘Clear,’ ‘clear,’ ‘clear,’ was shouted three times then a pause and another shout from the landing. ‘Bolted door! Up here! Going in!’

  Beth stood back as the officers downstairs rushed past her, their heavily booted feet thumping up the stairs and onto the landing.

  ‘Police! Get down. Now!’ They burst into the room. ‘Down now! Do it!’

  Then complete and utter silence, and Beth knew that whatever they’d found was shocking.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Senses tingling, on full alert, and fearing the worst, Beth waited at the foot of the stairs for one of the officers to call down that the room was safe and she should go up. Sometimes, thankfully not often, rooms were booby-trapped in drug dens. She could hear the officers moving around and then one appeared at the top of the stairs.

  ‘You’d better come up now,’ he said sombrely. ‘There’s a woman and child in here and they’re in a bad way. We’ve called for an ambulance.’

  Beth went steadily upstairs. So Ben and David had been right when they’d said someone was in and that there could be a child. She’d phone social services just as soon as she’d searched them to make sure they weren’t concealing any drugs or weapons. Dealers sometimes hid drugs and weapons on the children or in their bedroom, in the belief that the police wouldn’t search them.

  As Beth entered the room, she noted the bolt was on the outside of the door. The smell of vomit, faeces and urine was overpowering and she instinctively breathed through her nose. The room was large and with a sofa, television and two single beds. She took in the broken furniture – possible signs of a fight – the dark stain on the wall that could be old blood and the brighter red stain on the floor that was almost certainly fresh blood.

  The lead officer was standing on the far side of the room keeping watch over a woman and child. They were huddled together on the edge of the bed, a duvet around their shoulders. The room was freezing, just like the rest of the house. Why wasn’t the heating on in winter? Other officers were searching the room.

  Beth went over and exchanged a look with the lead officer.

  ‘I’m DC Beth Mayes,’ she said gently to the woman, who was trembling violently. She looked emaciated, with hollow cheeks and dark circles under her eyes. Old and new cuts and bruises were clearly visible on her face and neck. The child was close beside her and partly concealed, but it was still obvious she was severely disabled, just as Ben had said. Surely this couldn’t be Dr Burman’s wife and child? How did they get in this state when he was a doctor? ‘Medical help is on its way,’ she said. ‘But first I need to check
neither of you are concealing any drugs or weapons. Can you stand up for me please?’

  The woman shook as Beth helped her ease the duvet from her shoulders and then drew her to her feet. She could barely stand, she was so weak. The child began to cry. Quickly patting Mrs Burman down, Beth helped her sit again.

  ‘I need to check the child too,’ she said.

  ‘She can’t stand unaided,’ the woman said and drew her protectively to her, like a mother guarding its cub.

  ‘Let me check her over where she is then,’ Beth said. It had to be done. She eased the child into a more upright position, away from her mother, and removed the duvet from around her. The smell of stale urine hit her.

  ‘I’ve run out of pads,’ the woman said, almost apologetically. ‘And I’m not well enough now to clean her up.’

  Beth nodded. She could see that the child’s pad was overflowing and her pyjamas and the bed were soaked. As Beth lightly patted her down, another officer checked that the duvet and pillows weren’t concealing any drugs or weapons and gave them the all-clear. Satisfied the woman and child were both clear too, Beth draped the duvet around their shoulders, but it was no match for the icy cold in the room. It was the middle of winter and they’d been left in this state, locked in a room and with no heating. Beth was quickly forming the opinion this wasn’t a straightforward drug cartel but something far worse.

  ‘Are you Alisha Burman?’ she asked as the lead officer stood beside her.

  The woman stared back petrified, but managed a small nod.

  ‘Is this your daughter, Eva?’

  Another small nod and she drew the child closer.

  ‘You both appear ill and neglected, an ambulance is on its way and I’ll phone social services.’

  ‘No.’ Alisha clung desperately to her daughter.

  ‘You need help, Alisha,’ Beth said, touching her arm reassuringly. ‘How long have you been in this room?’

  She shook her head, either not knowing or not able to say. Officers could be heard in other rooms as they now searched the house more thoroughly.

  ‘Why was the door to this room bolted on the outside?’ the lead officer asked her.

  Alisha shook her head again and clung to her daughter.

  ‘Has someone been keeping you here against your will?’ Beth tried.

  Alisha’s eyes widened in terror, saying what she could not.

  ‘Where is your husband, Amit Burman?’ Beth asked.

  Alisha continued to stare at her, panic-stricken.

  ‘OK,’ Beth said and patted her arm again. She wasn’t going to get anything out of her now. She was too frightened. They’d try once she was away from here and in hospital.

  Straightening, she took the few steps to the window and looked out. There were signs there’d been film covering the glass here too, as with all the other windows in the house, but most of it had been removed. She could see the outbuilding David had spoken of and the light was still on, just visible around the edges of the blinds.

  ‘Have you searched that building?’ she asked the lead officer.

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘Can we do so now? There’s a chance Amit Burman might be in there.’

  The lead officer called to the other officers working upstairs. ‘Search the building at the bottom of the garden now and take the ram.’

  But as Beth turned from the window, she saw David and Ben appear in the Burmans’ garden. ‘How the hell did they get in?’

  Leaving the room, she hurried downstairs with the two officers assigned to search the building and ran out of the back door.

  ‘Leave it, David!’ she cried, rushing down the path. He was pulling on the door to the outbuilding, trying to force it open. Apart from causing criminal damage, he could be contaminating what might be a crime scene if drugs were found there.

  David stopped.

  ‘Stand further back,’ the officer carrying the battering ram told him. David and Ben moved away and waited beside Beth.

  The door to the outbuilding sprung open on the second blow and the officers burst in and stopped dead.

  ‘Stay there,’ Beth told David and Ben and took a step in. For a second she couldn’t understand what she was seeing, then the horror hit her. They were in what looked like a laboratory and there were two bodies, both apparently dead. The clothed body of a man on the floor and the naked body of a woman strapped to what looked like an operating table.

  ‘What the fuck?’ one of the officers said. Kneeling beside the man, he searched for a pulse.

  ‘That could be Dr Amit Burman,’ Beth said.

  Her gaze shifted to the deathly white corpse of the woman on the table. Emily King? Please no. A tube ran from her arm to a bottle containing what looked like blood. Electrodes were attached to her head and chest with wires running to a monitor.

  ‘Stay outside,’ she ordered Ben and David and made her way carefully around the equipment to the table. The woman’s eyes were closed, her lips were blue, and her face was swollen from what could have been a beating. She was just about recognizable from the photograph Ben had given her. ‘I’m almost certain this is Emily King,’ Beth said. ‘Our missing person.’

  ‘I’ve found a pulse,’ the officer kneeling beside the man said. ‘But it’s very weak. I’ll phone for another ambulance.’

  Beth picked up Emily’s lifeless wrist; her skin was cold. She felt for a pulse. Nothing. She hadn’t expected to find one. Emily looked as though she’d been dead for a while. Laying her arm beside her on the table, Beth took a step back. She needed air. ‘I’ll go outside and phone forensics,’ she said.

  But as she passed the heart monitor something caught her eye. She stopped and looked at it, concentrated on the continuous black line that showed Emily’s heart was no longer beating and she was dead. Then suddenly there it was again – a tiny spike in the line as she thought she’d seen before. It disappeared and was followed by another long continuous black line. It must be the machine malfunctioning. It couldn’t be a heartbeat, not with the two spikes that far apart. But there it was again.

  ‘Come here and look at this,’ she said to the other officer. ‘Is it me?’ She pointed to the continuous black line on the screen and it remained flat. Twenty seconds or more passed, then suddenly another small spike appeared.

  ‘Jesus!’ the officer exclaimed. ‘Is she still alive?’

  Beth looked at Emily’s body. It was impossible. The woman was icy cold and there was no sign she was breathing, yet there was the spike again. She took off her jacket and lay in over her. ‘Update the ambulance crew please.’

  ‘Em!’ Ben suddenly screamed, appearing at the door. The officer closest grabbed him. ‘Let me come in! Em!’ His cries continued as he was removed.

  ‘Take them indoors,’ Beth said. It was better Ben and David didn’t see this. It would haunt them forever, just as it would her.

  Beth remained standing beside Emily’s cold, lifeless body and waited for the ambulance. Her eyes remained closed and her body corpse-still. Only the occasional tiny spike on the heart monitor showed any different. Perhaps it was an unusual cadaveric spasm, but not like any she’d ever seen before and not this long after death. It would surely stop any moment now. She watched the monitor and another spike appeared.

  What was this place? She glanced around but didn’t touch anything. It was a crime scene now. It looked like a cross between Frankenstein’s laboratory and an operating room. Rows of shelves lined two walls on which stood dozens of glass bottles containing organs suspended in formaldehyde. Were they human organs? They certainly could be. What the hell had Burman been doing here? It wasn’t just drugs. The place was full of medical equipment and they hadn’t even searched the cabinets yet.

  She looked again at Emily’s swollen lifeless face. The poor woman. What had he done to her? Was it possible she’d been here – next door – since she’d gone missing on 27 December, only yards from Ben and her father frantically searching for her? If she’d listed Emily’s d
isappearance as high priority or had returned to the Burmans’ to view their CCTV, she might have prevented this. But there’d been no reason to raise the priority. If the monster lived, she’d make sure he paid for all his crimes for the sake of Emily’s family.

  Sirens sounded in the distance. The line on the heart monitor showed another small spike, then went completely flat. Beth began CPR. Never had a body felt so cold.

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  A week later, Beth made her way to Interview Room 3, feeling she was as prepared as she was going to be. Burman had been discharged from hospital and was now in custody. Matt was with her, but they’d agreed she would lead the questioning. She’d been up most of the night running through the evidence against Burman, preparing her questions and imagining his responses and her replies. It was possible he might give a ‘no comment’ interview which was his right, but she doubted it. Arrogant and cocksure, he’d want to be heard. She knew she was going to have to be sharp and on her wits if she was going to obtain a confession. Amit Burman was intelligent and unrepentant. The worst kind of criminal. He was probably also delusional, a sociopath and psychotic, but that was for the psychiatrist to decide.

  Beth opened the door and Matt followed her into the interview room. Burman was already there, sitting beside his solicitor. Dressed smartly, he looked every bit the doctor; someone you could trust and rely on. She nodded stiffly to them and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the table to Burman. Matt took the chair beside her. First, the formalities that preceded every police interview.

  ‘Dr Amit Burman,’ she began, ‘this interview is being recorded and may be given in evidence if your case is brought to trial. We are in an interview room at Coleshaw police station. The date is the tenth of January two thousand and nineteen and the time by my watch is 11.15 a.m. I am Detective Constable Beth Mayes and the other police officer present is Detective Constable Mathew Davis. Please state your full name and date of birth.’

  His solicitor, writing pad open on his lap, glanced at him to answer. Amit sighed as if answering was an imposition. ‘Dr Amit Burman, my date of birth is the thirty-first of October nineteen seventy-eight.’