Behind Closed Doors (Season One: Book 7) (Jessica Daniel) (12 page)

‘I’m not sure that’s for me, either.’

Another nod.

‘There are other things. We have our crafters, of course. The people who make the clothes, bedding, tablecloths and most of the other things you see around here. That’s one of
Zip’s things. It’s where Heather works too. If not that, we have the team that works outdoors. They help to keep the gardens tidy and grow our food. It’s hard manual work but
I’m sure Glenn wouldn’t mind another body to help out. We also have our recruiting team; people who write our flyers ahead of the weekends.’

‘Why do you recruit?’

Moses blinked quickly, the question taking him by surprise. His thick eyebrows arched downwards but quickly returned to normal. ‘We’re always looking for lost souls. We think we have
something special here.’

‘But after dinner, you told us all to be wary of the outside world and yet people here go out there, where it’s dangerous.’

Moses nodded, apparently enjoying the challenge, however gentle. ‘You’re absolutely right. It is why I only permit certain people to go with Zip on those afternoons. People have to
be strong, to be able to face what may happen out there. I believe you saw an example of that the other day.’

‘With Heather’s dad?’

‘Exactly. I’m told that our people were calm and worked together to defuse the situation. It’s that type of thing that makes me proud of what we have achieved here – but
not everyone would be able to cope with such confrontation. That’s not even talking about the sheer number of people who cannot cope with us being on the street. We are shouted at, sworn at,
spat at. Persecuted. It takes a strong mind.’

‘Not me?’

Moses leant forward again, touching Jessica’s knee. ‘Not yet, Jessica. Maybe at a later time if that’s what you wanted to do. For now I can see how unhappy and unfulfilled you
are. You’re crying out for a figure to take the place of your father.’

I’m not.

‘How about we place you outside for now? The weather’s still holding up, except for that rain yesterday, and I sense it would be useful to have a female influence in such a
male-dominated area. It is physical though.’ He ran his hand up Jessica’s leg, then her stomach, brushing her breast, before putting it back by his side. ‘Do you think
you’re up to it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay then, let’s introduce you.’

Jessica breathed a sigh of relief as he crossed the room, opening the door. It may have been a perfectly normal thing to do but it signalled the end of her ordeal, at least for now. His back was
to her, his wandering hands by his side.

Jessica followed him to the door but he didn’t turn. She knew enough about how to look after herself that she could do him some serious damage before he touched another vulnerable girl
again. He wouldn’t even know it had happened.

In the fraction of a second that she flirted with the idea, the moment was lost. Moses ushered her out of his office, locking the door behind them, as she suspected he would.

He led her through the corridors, which were slowly becoming familiar, until they reached the front door. He unbolted it and led her around to the rear of the house.

Glenn was on the far side of the patch of land, his stocky figure unmistakeable, even from a distance. Closer there were two men digging enthusiastically, tossing mounds of dirt to the side.

‘Good morning,’ Moses called as they neared. Both workers stopped, looking up as Jessica glanced from one to the other. It was only when the second man continued staring that Jessica
gave him a second look, realising with a horrifying sinking feeling that she knew him.

Jessica felt her stomach lurch. All of the effort that had been put in, Charley’s plans, Cole coming to see her, was all going to come crashing down because of something
they couldn’t have envisaged. Out in the middle of nowhere, the now-recognisable face stared at Jessica as she tried quickly to look away.

It wasn’t fast enough to escape Moses’s attention as he glanced from Jessica to the man and back again.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Do you know each other?’

Jessica shook her head.

Moses turned back to the man. ‘What’s wrong, Wayne?’

His words slurred slightly into each other. ‘Nothing, Sir.’

‘I’ve told you before, you don’t have to call me “Sir”. I’m Moses, please use my name.’

‘Yes, Sir . . . Moses.’

He turned away from Jessica, concentrating on digging as the second man followed suit.

Moses led Jessica away, heading across the field towards Glenn. ‘I’m sorry about that,’ he said. ‘Wayne is one of the more complicated characters we’ve taken
in.’

Jessica thought he didn’t know the half of it. She must have missed Wayne at dinner and breakfast, most likely because they sat in lines. If he was on the same side of the table as her,
the only way she’d have spotted him other than as a head to count would have been by crossing the room. He hadn’t said anything about recognising her either at her assessment, or now.
The way he had looked at her was with familiarity but perhaps not recognition of exactly who she was.

Wayne Howson was a well-known drug user from the streets of Manchester. When she was in uniform, she would pick him up once or twice a fortnight, usually for begging or causing a public
disturbance. One time, someone had reported him for urinating outside a pub on Deansgate in the middle of the afternoon. That brought him a public indecency charge. He’d also been caught for
theft a dozen times and any number of other public nuisance incidents. He had been in and out of prison, living on and off the streets, over and over. One of the benefits of moving into CID was
that the day-in, day-out pain in the necks were passed onto someone else. Of course, you lumbered yourself with far more dangerous characters too but Jessica hadn’t missed Wayne Howson.

The last time she had seen him was in court. He had tried defending himself against a shoplifting charge, even though it was captured on CCTV. His argument had been that it must have been
someone who looked like him. When he was asked if he had a twin, he answered, ‘Possibly’. Proceedings had been adjourned for an hour as the prosecution frantically scrambled to get a
copy of the records to prove he was an only child.

Unsurprisingly, he had been found guilty, with the magistrate particularly unhappy at the amount of time wasted. Because of his lengthy record, he’d been given three months in prison. As
far as Jessica knew, he’d been released after half of his sentence. She hadn’t bothered to follow his progress since then but now, years later, here he was staring, not quite able to
place her.

For now, she’d have to hope things stayed that way.

Glenn didn’t exactly seem pleased to see her, a scowl apparently a permanent feature of his face. Moses introduced them, waiting expectantly as they shook hands. Glenn’s hands were
rough and dirty, the skin of someone familiar with manual labour.

‘What are you good for?’ Glenn asked Jessica abruptly.

‘I’m stronger than I look.’

‘You’re not going to be stronger than the six men I already have.’

Moses stepped in. ‘Glenn . . .’

Glenn shook his head, obviously not happy at being talked down to in front of her. ‘Do you know much about the seasons and planting?’

‘I can learn.’

‘Fine.’

Glenn turned to Moses, lowering his voice. ‘Is everything else in hand?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. I’ll visit you later.’

Moses turned to leave, resting a hand on Jessica’s shoulder. ‘Remember what I told you. I’m always available if you need me – for anything.’

‘I’ll remember.’

Jessica had no intention of going to him about anything, other than to pin him to the floor and tell him he was nicked when the time came.

Moses walked away, waving to the other workers as he headed back to the house.

‘Whose idea was it for you to come out here?’ Glenn asked as Jessica was facing away from him.

‘Moses said it might help to have me out here for a while.’

Glenn snorted, showing he might be Moses’s right-hand man but that they certainly didn’t agree on everything.

‘It’s going to be hard work, sometimes in the rain and wind, sometimes in the blazing sun.’

‘I know.’

‘And you’re happy being out here?’

‘I come from the north – rain is like a family member.’

Another snort and a mumbled, ‘We’ll see’, which Jessica wasn’t sure she was meant to hear.

‘We’ll start you off with something simple,’ Glenn added, hurrying past her towards the house.

For someone with short legs, he certainly moved quickly, his thick shoulders and hunched frame bustling away so fast that Jessica again had to run to keep up. He stopped when he reached a spot
just past where Wayne had been digging.

‘What do you know about potatoes?’ he asked. ‘And I don’t mean that’s where chips come from.’

‘I’m not sure . . . they grow in the ground?’

‘Exactly. And now’s the time of year to put them there.’ He twisted around, showing Jessica a long line of soil. ‘I need you to dig a trench along there. Go down about a
foot. You do know what a foot is, don’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good, all this metric stuff nowadays just confuses everyone. Anyway, once you’ve dug the full trench, come and find me.’

‘Are you going to still be out here?’

‘Where else would I be?’

Glenn was standing with his legs apart, knees slightly bent as if about to launch into a scrap, even though Jessica didn’t realise she’d said anything wrong. ‘Nowhere, I
don’t know. Sorry.’

He shook his head dismissively. ‘Just get on with it. It shouldn’t take you much past lunchtime.’

As Jessica reached for the nearby spade, Glenn stomped away. She wondered which part of what had just happened would inspire anyone who had come to the house to escape their demons. Glenn
certainly didn’t have the soft exterior that Zipporah did, let alone the charisma of Moses. Still, he hadn’t tried to touch her either, which immediately placed him above Moses in
Jessica’s estimation.

She began to dig, the first manual labour she had done in a long while. Running the vacuum around the house once or twice wasn’t in the same league as digging a long trench. She had
thought that a foot didn’t sound like much but the ground was like clay, thick and sludgy and hard to remove. She didn’t know the time but it felt as if she had barely moved a dozen
steps before her shoulders and back ached from the work.

She paused for a few moments, leaning on the spade and staring towards the house. It was the first time she had properly seen the rear. There was definitely a door off to the left, although she
had no idea where it led into, let alone if it was unlocked. The faint tint of the glass made it impossible to see anything inside but then Jessica noticed one of the windows was a slightly
different shade. It was only when she stepped to the side that she realised it was because it was open and was reflecting the sun at a different angle to the others.

Jessica dug a little more, making sure not to attract attention, as she tried to work out which part of the house it must be. She eventually deduced that the wider windows next to it were beside
the staircase and that the open window was in Moses’s office. Inside, she had been so disconcerted by the way he was touching her that she hadn’t noticed. She hadn’t even felt
cool in there, the way his fingers scraped along her skin making her hot, but not in a good way.

With every other window locked, Jessica did at least have a second way to get out if necessary, assuming there was a time that the office was left open. She tried to think of a reason why it had
to be locked. Aside from the clock, there was nothing obvious but then she didn’t know what was in the row of cabinets, or the cupboard. Sooner or later, she was going to have to find a way
into that room.

‘Do you need a hand?’

Jessica had been so lost in trying to figure out which room the window belonged to that she’d failed to notice Wayne sidling close to her. His words sounded pained and merged into one
another.

‘I’m fine,’ she replied, not necessarily to keep up appearances, but more because she wanted to prove to Glenn that she was capable. It was then it dawned on her that perhaps
his aggressive brand of motivation did work. Whereas Zip killed you with kindness, he made you want to prove him wrong.

What a dick.

Wayne sounded hesitant. ‘Are you sure? It’s a lot of hard work for one . . . person . . . by themselves.’

‘You can say “girl”.’

Jessica tried not to face him, hoping he wouldn’t recognise her. Wayne mumbled something under his breath which she didn’t catch as she continued digging, facing the house, away from
him.

‘I said I know who you are.’

Jessica breathed in sharply, continuing to dig. ‘I think you must have me mistaken for someone else.’

‘I remember you from the streets. You were younger then but I wouldn’t forget that uniform you used to wear. Whenever they came for me, I always hoped it was you who was going to be
there. It was always disappointing when they sent the men, or one of the fat ones.’

Jessica sighed, turning. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I worked in a post office.’

Wayne screwed up his eyes, looking at her closely but Jessica couldn’t hold his gaze, returning to digging with a grunt of exertion. She could hear him shuffling nervously behind her. Then
the breeze changed and she could smell the alcohol on his breath. It was only faint but explained why his words were slurred. She wondered how he had possibly got it into the house. She
didn’t know how long he had been staying there but it seemed unlikely he would have smuggled something in weeks or months earlier and drunk it only now. Besides, she had struggled to get a
phone in. If he had got some alcohol in, it couldn’t have been very much.

‘I think you should return to work, Wayne,’ Jessica said, hoping he would listen. He had seemingly been working without a problem, despite his state. The more he talked, the more
likely he was to get himself found out.