CRIME ON THE FENS a gripping detective thriller full of suspense (17 page)

Nikki’s shoulder’s tensed. ‘Why?’

‘Gut feeling, ma’am.’

‘Right. That’s good enough for me. Get his name changed on the hospital records, and talk to his doctor, in the strictest confidence, understand? There must be no reports to the press on his progress. As far as the media are concerned, he’s still in a serious life-threatening condition, and we have
no
name for him. It must be believed that we do not know who he is, that’s vital.’ She paused, ‘and Joseph, I know you feel something of a personal responsibility for this boy, but you
have
to get some sleep yourself. We’d like to believe otherwise, but we’re only human.’

‘Speak for yourself, ma’am. I’m off to find his doctor.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Nikki took the information that Joseph had given her, and went directly to the CID room. Within minutes the officers on duty had identified the correct property.

It was time to go visiting.

‘This is the description of your target, Sergeant. We have no name, just the tag of Fluke. We know the property is let, but the agency is closed and we can’t locate anyone to give us the name of the tenant.’

The uniformed sergeant nodded. ‘The armed unit should be with us in minutes, then we go in. I’ve held off scrambling the chopper, I think we’ll have enough personnel covering back and front, don’t you, ma’am?’

‘Yes. If this turns out to be bad information, the powers that be would probably hang me out to dry for wasting money on the helicopter, as well as the firearms boys. We’ll rely on your troops on the ground, Sergeant.’

‘Very well, ma’am. Are you coming along?’

‘Try and stop me! I’ve been waiting to see this elusive villain for too long to miss out on this.’

* * *

It had only taken one swing of the heavy metal enforcer to shatter the front door of 9 Carson Villas.

‘Front room, clear, sir!’

‘Kitchen, clear!’

Men stormed through the property checking room after room, and as each call of ‘clear’ came back, Nikki’s hopes of finding Fluke sunk further and further.

‘Sir! Back bedroom! We have a white male, not responding!’

Nikki ran up the stairs two at a time.

In the small room, huddled on his side on the floor was a dark-haired youth. Drying blood was caked around his ear and in his hair, and had soaked down into the soft material of his hooded jacket.

She dropped down beside him and felt the side of his neck with her fingers. ‘Get an ambulance! Quickly! There’s a faint pulse, but he needs help, and fast!’

From what she had seen on the police computer, the teenager oozing his life-blood into the cheap nylon carpet was Marcus Lee.

‘Hold on there, son. Help’s on the way. Can you hear me, Marcus?’ There was no answer and although Nikki was pretty sure they were going to be too late, she continued to talk to the boy.

Calls were still being shouted from around the house, but after checking the loft space and the cellar, the place was declared safe. Nikki still sat on the worn carpet with her hand across the boy’s shoulder, and cursed the day she had ever heard the name of Fluke. The raid may have been a success from the point of ascertaining the whereabouts of Marcus Lee, but they had lost their main man.

She looked around the filthy room. Well, at least, if Marcus had been brought here, then Fluke must have been here too, and forensics would have a good chance of picking up some DNA, once they had managed to discount twenty sets of policemen’s boots that had stamped all over the place.

‘Paramedics, ma’am.’ A PC looked over her shoulder at Marcus’ still form. ‘Are they too late?’

Nikki shrugged. ‘I’m no expert, but I hope the Ambulance Service have sent their best team, because this kid is going to need them.’

Half an hour later the ambulance pulled away. There were no sirens or blue lights. The crew had fought to stabilise him, but Marcus Lee had sustained a catastrophic head injury from which there was no coming back.

Nikki closed up the house, saw it was cordoned off and arranged with the sergeant to organise a police watch.

‘No one goes in or out. I’ve already sent for the scene-of-crime officers, and until they are through, this is off-limits to absolutely everyone.’

She walked back out into the night, and to her car. She felt tired, no, she felt exhausted, and for a moment she wondered how Joseph kept going. She just
had
to get her head down, if only for a few hours. She turned on the ignition and looked at the time. Two o’bloody clock!

With a long, noisy yawn, she pulled out of Carson Villas and headed for the station. She would write a swift report for the superintendent, then ring him early morning. He had asked to be kept updated, but as there was nothing he, or anyone else, could do right now for Marcus Lee, she’d allow him a few more hours of precious sleep.

She parked badly, cursed, then locked the car anyway. Just a few more minutes work and she could go home. Young Mickey was safe with his own personal and very professional bodyguard, and her energy levels had just plummeted to rock bottom. She craved sleep. Joseph Easter may be supercop, but she really was only human.

* * *

Nikki awoke at five, with her alarm clock beeping in ever increasing volume close to her ear. For the first time in years, she had slept soundly and dreamlessly.

She switched off the alarm and lurched unsteadily to the kitchen. Two and a half hours solid sleep should have refreshed her, but she felt like shit. All she could think about was that Kerry had now been missing for three days and four nights, and that was not good.

As she automatically made coffee, she went over the happening of the day before, and briefly wondered how old the cornflakes were. She tried to concentrate, but her mind felt fuzzy and her head ached as if she had a god-awful hangover.

We have to be sharp
, she heard herself saying, and this morning she felt anything but. She ate a few spoonfuls of the stale cereal, then threw the rest in the bin. She’d call in and get a Danish on her way to the station. Or maybe . . . ? What had she said to Joseph on their trip to Barnby Eaudyke?
When I’d had a bad shift, I would go up to the seabank, be on my own, and get my head back together.
If ever there was a time for that, it was now. She showered and dressed hurriedly, then locked the front door and headed for the station, and her badly parked car.

In twenty minutes, she was standing on the high bank that looked across the marsh to the Wash. For once there was little wind, just a light warm breeze, and apart from the call of a skylark above her, it was completely silent.

She walked along the uneven track and down a narrow path to a spot where she knew there was an old wooden seat. It was a little known place, rarely used even by birdwatchers, and being some way down the bank, it was partially hidden by weather-beaten shrubby bushes.

Nikki sat down and gazed out across the salt marsh. It looked deserted, almost like a still photograph, until you really studied it. Then you realised it was teeming with life. A water bird dipped its beak in a shallow lagoon of brackish water. A hare stretched up, sniffed the morning air, then sprang off in search of breakfast. A heron, grey and prehistoric, flapped its great wings and rose laboriously into the air, only to be chased by a pair of rooks that had materialised out of nowhere. And all around, the song of the skylark rose and fell, like an anthem to the dawn.

She breathed in the salty ozone and closed her eyes for a moment. It was so peaceful, and she knew that when she opened them, she would see only nature surrounding her. No police uniforms, no decomposing bodies, no masks and no dying teenagers.

A sharp bark brought her from her reveries, and when she looked, she saw the shape of a small dog, nose to the ground, running sure-footed across the marsh paths. Caught the scent of a hare, she thought. Which is more than we seem to be able to do.

Nikki stayed for another fifteen minutes, then as she walked back to her car, she realised that the seabank had worked its wonders. She felt calmer and far more in control of her thoughts. Before she started the engine, she took out her phone and rang the super. She told him there was a report on his desk that he should look at before anything else. She didn’t go into detail, there would be time for that when he’d read it.

With one last look across the marsh to the silver-grey horizon, Nikki started the car and went back to face the music of another day at Greenborough nick.

* * *

Joseph rang her at seven thirty. She needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. His expression, “There are things I’d rather not talk about on the phone.” had her gulping back her coffee and heading for the door with a half-eaten Danish still gripped between her teeth.

He met her in the corridor outside the surgical ward. His hair was ruffled and dishevelled, but his eyes were bright, and she wondered again how he managed to keep going.

‘There are two officers in his room with him, and they won’t budge until I get back, ma’am. Would you mind if we talk in my car?’

‘No problem.’ She turned back and headed for the lifts. ‘How is the lad this morning?’

‘I think the gravity of what almost happened to him has hit home, ma’am, and he’s in a lot of pain, poor kid.’ The lift doors closed, and Joseph said, ‘Between short bouts of sleep, he’s talked off and on all night long. He knows more about mask war than you would believe!’

The lift sighed to a halt and the doors opened. They hurried from the building and across to where Joseph’s car was parked.

When the doors were shut, Joseph sank back in his seat and exhaled loudly.

‘You need some rest, Sergeant.’ She looked at him severely. ‘But I get the idea that if I stuck an SAS squad in there with him, you’d still not be happy.’

‘I’m glad I stayed.’ He smiled at her. ‘And so will you be, ma’am. But first, let me tell you what his doctor said. Doctor Langley is a smart guy, he won’t compromise his patient’s health, but he understands fully the danger he’s in, so,’ he stretched, then went on, ‘Langley is on the board of a small private hospital here in Greenborough. It’s about a half mile from the nick, so it couldn’t be more convenient. He’s prepared to ‘leak’ the news that their unknown young victim is being transferred to a city hospital, where they have better facilities. They do have patients legitimately being transferred to both Nottingham and Leicester later today, so ambulances will actually be leaving on transfer runs.’

‘While our boy is sneakily moved to his private facility?’

‘Absolutely. He’ll go under a pseudonym, into a carefully designated private room.’ Joseph smiled. ‘Langley’s used to rich people needing to maintain their privacy, you know, celebrities, politicians etc.’

‘That is perfect!’ Her elation suddenly cooled. ‘But there’s something I have to tell you before we go on. Mickey’s friend, Marcus? He’s dead. And I don’t think the lad should be told, do you?’

‘Damn it! No, I certainly don’t.’ Joseph’s face creased into worry lines. ‘There’s only so much a kid can take on board without lasting damage.’

Nikki quickly explained what had happened the night before in Carson Villas.

Joseph’s expression softened when she told him about Marcus’ death. ‘Tough on you, ma’am. All things considered.’

‘A lot tougher on Marcus and his family, Sergeant.’ She threw him a weak smile.

‘And I was fine, thank you. Different situation, different altogether. It was just another gruesome aspect to police work, and one I can handle.’ Nikki turned towards him. ‘Now, what does this boy know that we don’t?’

‘Phew, where do I start?’ He pushed his floppy fringe of dark blond hair from his eyes. ‘Most importantly, he knows all about the masks, well, pretty well all about them. Marcus and Mickey were the distributors of the damn things! And Mickey, who is slightly hyperactive, didn’t just do as he was told and get on with the job, he nosed around, trying to discover what was going on.’

Nikki rubbed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. ‘I now see why you are practically phobic about him. Keeping him safe is absolutely vital.’ She looked up. ‘But getting everything he’s told you recorded is almost as critical.’

Joseph reached into his inside jacket pocket and handed her a folded sheaf of papers. ‘While he slept, I got it all down, ma’am. It makes interesting reading. And I’ve also written down the address and contact number for Dr Langley’s clinic.’

‘Excellent. Now, I just need to decide what to do about his loving parents.’

Joseph pulled a face. ‘Loving mother left home the night before last, for good. No forwarding address. Doting father went banzai, tore up the house, then went on yet another bender. Mickey has no idea, or gives a toss, where he is.’

Nikki shook her head. ‘Archie said he wasn’t the luckiest kid on the block. But this makes things easier for us, at least temporarily. They’ll have to be found, but frankly they’re the least of my worries right now.’

‘And I’d better get back in there.’

‘
You
need a break, Sergeant.’

‘Once we’ve got him to safety, ma’am. Let me stick it out until then?’ He looked at her with those infuriatingly sincere dark eyes, then added. ‘I’d never be able to rest, now would I?’

‘Okay, have it your way, but the moment he’s settled in, you go home, understood?’

‘Perfectly, ma’am.’ Joseph opened the door and stepped out. ‘And thank you. I appreciate it.’

* * *

Nikki was met in the CID room by Cat, who was remarkably, an hour early.

‘Something’s bugging me, guv.’ She ran her hand through her spiked up hair and looked earnestly at Nikki. ‘I want permission to go back to the home of Terry James, the web designer, with a search warrant.’

‘What have you found on his computer, Cat?’

‘It’s what I’ve
not
found, guv. Something isn’t right and I’ve got a hunch that all is not what it seems in Rydell Street.’