Doors Without Numbers (46 page)

“By selling children?”

For a split second, Goodchild’s body tensed, she recovered quickly but it was enough for Hammond to have noticed. He was encouraged, it meant she was surprised by how much he knew.

“In order to create a culture of like minded people, it is necessary to work together, to do what we can to finance ourselves. In that sense, I am a business woman and as such I accept business deals wherever I can find them. There has, and always will be, a market for sex, drugs and cheap labour. I simply act as the distributor, providing what is wanted to the highest bidder. It is often the parents who sell their unwanted daughters or sons. They cannot afford to keep them. They do what they can to survive and I enable that.”

Her articulated speech was too controlled, the woman was deranged. It wouldn’t take much to provoke her. The fear started to creep in and spread over Hammond’s body as if poison had been injected into his veins and was slowing paralysing him. He knew he had to play for time, to keep her talking. There was still so much that he didn’t know. “You enable the violation of innocent people and condemn them to a living hell.”

“What happens to the children before or after the sale is not my concern.”

“You are not human, you are a sick and perverted bitch!”

Goodchild crouched down to face Hammond. “You call me perverted yet you didn’t pass the opportunity to use my daughter to satisfy your own urges. You used her to get what you wanted, a cheap thrill. Although I expect you were disappointed. Kathleen has always been frigid. She has the beauty but not the intelligence to know what to do with it.”

“You prostituted your own daughter just like you did Salima.”

“Salima wanted a lifestyle of glamour and luxury. Such things have to be earned one way or another.”

“By sacrificing her life?”

“I was not responsible for her murder. No, I am afraid that Theresa’s jealousy was the instigator. She told the client that Salima liked autoerotic-asphyxia. A lie of course. Salima panicked, struggled and it went wrong.”

“How was Lloyd involved?”

Goodchild’s eyes narrowed, She straightened her back in a defensive stance.

“It was he who recommended Salima’s services to the client, therefore it was seen to be Lloyd’s responsibility when it went wrong.”

“So he framed an innocent man for her murder?”

She opened her arms wide. “Of course. The client was extremely influential. To expose him would be catastrophic for everyone concerned.”

“You mean for yourself?”

“Inspector. I do not believe you are so naive as to think that this is all about me. I offer an exclusive service. There are many that appreciate my discretion. If it wasn’t profitable, I wouldn’t be doing it, yet business is booming. That should tell you something.”

Hammond was distracted by Kelsey venturing further into the room, the man stood by Hammond’s feet, his eyes rested on Hammond’s plastered ankle. The smile that played around his lips caused Hammond to feel under threat of considerable pain. He used his hands to slide his body further away from Kelsey and tried to play for more time by asking questions.

“What about Rachel Turner? Did you send your boyfriend to kill her like you did with Cheryl?”

Goodchild looked at Kelsey for several moments. She began to smile, but this time her smile looked as if she were genuinely amused.

“Bradley does what I ask him to do, just like I do what is asked of me. Like I said Inspector, I have very influential clients who do not want their private lives made public. Some will do anything to prevent that from happening. Rachel proved she couldn’t be trusted and that made people nervous. As for Cheryl, I admit that that wasn’t planned, but it seemed the best way to get rid of two nuisances, especially as the first attempt to get rid of you failed miserably.”

Goodchild’s eyes had stayed on Kelsey as she spoke but now she turned her gaze back towards Hammond. “You must excuse Bradley, he is keen to show me that he has no intention of making the same mistake again. Personally I abhor violence, but I have to admit that it can serve a purpose.”

Hammond knew she intended him to die, that she wanted him to beg for his life. The panic began to seep into his heart, ballooning it against his ribs. He was finding it hard to breathe. Desperately he tried to think, to keep Goodchild there for as long as he could. he was playing for time that he knew he had little of.

“But you destroyed what you created. Your culture, as you call it, now ceases to exist.”

Goodchild looked bewildered, her features arranged themselves to look at him with wide eyed mysticism. She raised a hand to Kelsey and he took a step back from Hammond but his eyes stayed focused on his prey at his feet.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Mark and the others, they killed themselves to get away from you.”

Goodchild stepped back sharply, the heel of her shoe made a cracking sound on the tile.

“No, you got that wrong. It was Fiona’s decision. A client wanted to ensure his stay in Britain would not be questioned and I obliged by providing him a wife for which he paid good money. Unfortunately Fiona took exception to his methods and decided to leave him stranded. It caused the client and I a great deal of embarrassment. Bradley followed her to Dover where he intended to remind her of her obligations. She chose another alternative, one that I didn’t expect.”

“You gave her no choice but to kill herself.”

“She chose freedom when she knew there was no going back. You cannot undo a mistake in this business. Compliance is paramount. When Fiona left, she unsettled the others, they started to question their own choices and it caused disruption. Clients became nervous, and when that happens it is necessary to regain control by making the workforce redundant, by making them understand that unless they are willing to commit, they have only one choice open to them. It became necessary for me to start afresh.”

The woman is mad, Hammond thought.

“I can see you judging me, but really I think you understand. If you do not play by the rules, your society will reject you. It is necessary to have order. When rules are not respected, it is necessary to abandon those that do not adhere. Lucas understood this better than anyone. He knew his role was to ensure safe delivery of the merchandise, instead he stole and sampled the goods. His love of drugs superseded his respect for the rules and I couldn’t trust him, he wasn’t useful anymore. Theresa’s loyalty was unquestionable yet she was a nuisance. She was manipulative and insecure and believed that she could belong to both societies at the same time. Her desire to belong was her weakness. In the end she realised that she did not belong to either world. I simply suggested going to another place where we all go eventually.”

“But they all died within months of each other.”

Goodchild sighed as if she were now bored with explaining. “That was more to do with convenience. I intended moving the business elsewhere but as with any business, it takes time to organise and I wanted to start with a clean slate, get rid of any ties that could weigh me down.”

“And the notes? Who were they left for?”

“I would have thought that was pretty obvious, they were persuaded to write the notes so that their predecessors would learn if they did not comply, the same would be expected of them.”

Hammond was appalled by her cold-blooded indifference. The woman was a sociopath, she had no empathy for anyone. Human life is insignificant to her thought Hammond.

“You speak of death as if it is part of a game.”

“Because that is exactly what it is. We all die. It never ceases to amaze me of how surprised people are when they are reminded that death is inevitable. Yet even though they can see there is no way out, they cling to the hope that somehow their fate will be spared. I have no doubt that you will do the same.” Goodchild circled around Hammond’s slumped body on the floor. “Originally we intended this room to be a vault. It was designed to be air tight and sound proof. When Bradley has satisfied his primitive urges, he will lock this door and when that happens the lights and the air supply will be switched off. You will have several hours alone to reflect on what we have discussed. I am confident that when you have mulled over what I have told you, you will realise that you and I share similar beliefs. You intend to punish me by incarcerating me. I am doing the same to you, only I am ensuring that your prison sentence is limited.”

She crouched down behind Hammond’s head and gently rested her hands on either side of his face. “I bid you good-bye Inspector. We have played a fair game and I commend your efforts, but I cannot stay any longer. There are people expecting me.”

“I should warn you, it is unlikely you will get far Ms Gutkin.” Hammond’ s attempt to un-nerve her with his knowledge did not have the effect he had hoped for. Instead she simply raised her eyebrows in surprise and drew herself up to a standing position. Kelsey moved back into position at Hammond’s feet. “You have made Bradley jealous, he hates other men having my attention.”

As she headed towards the door, Hammond knew that the second she disappeared, he was going to experience pain. He swallowed and began to shuffle backwards, a hopeless gesture he knew, but his survival instinct wasn’t exhausted. As Kelsey followed Hammond’s slow progress, Hammond realised that Goodchild was right. Despite the hopelessness of his situation, he still hoped that he could fight his way out of there. Kelsey smiled as Hammond backed against the wall, there was no-where to go. Hammond closed his eyes and held his breath waiting for the impact and at that moment his fear dissipated into resignation. The panic subsided as rapidly as it had risen, and it gave him strength. Hammond’s leg shot forward and impacted on Kelsey’s right knee. It caused the man to fall forward. Hammond rolled his body to the side and expected retaliation but nothing happened. He rolled back and was astonished to see Kelsey lying on the floor. He wasn’t moving. Galvin hauled Hammond to his feet.

They half dragged Kelsey from the basement up into the main body of the house. In the kitchen they seated him on a wooden chair and stood over him, waiting for the patrol cars to arrive. Galvin updated the station whilst Hammond observed Kelsey. He was conscious, his eyes were open but he was silent and still, his hands restrained in handcuffs behind his back.

“A move like that, you could have rendered him brain dead.” Hammond gazed at the angry red weal on the side of Kelsey’s neck.

“It was a three second squeeze. Anyway, the man was about to kill you. I had to stop him.”

Hammond nodded his appreciation, he felt as if words were insufficient somehow. The adrenaline was still pumping throughout his body but despite the sense of urgency, Hammond knew that it was pointless looking outside for Goodchild. She had no intention of waiting for Kelsey to join her. A woman that cunning would have known that Kelsey would have wanted to prove himself to her at the last minute and she had used the opportunity to get away. Hammond looked down at Kelsey and spoke to him for the first time.

“You do realise that she had no intention of taking you with her? She didn’t wait for you.”

Kelsey said nothing, his stare communicated his hate and defiance but Hammond was pleased with the response. He knew he had planted a seed in the man’s mind that could only flourish into all consuming doubt.

Hammond allowed the man to stew over the thought as he ventured outside to wave to the patrol cars. From where he stood, he could see the blue lights flashing through the darkness and wondered how far Goodchild would get before she was apprehended. He hoped that he would have the opportunity to see her again. She had been so sure that Hammond will no longer be a nuisance that he could imagine the exhilaration he would feel proving her wrong.

He heard the sound almost instinctively. They had been awaiting the call for so long that when it came, he knew instantly what it meant. He turned to go back indoors, and saw Galvin approach him halfway, his face was flushed, his eyes large, he shone with jubilance. “I’m about to be a Dad!” he said.

The moment of excitement was shattered in an instant. Galvin, lost in his euphoria, had turned his back on Kelsey. It was a mistake. As Hammond saw what was about to happen, he lost all speech. As if in slow motion, Hammond flung his body forward in an attempt to shield Galvin from the force of the attack. Galvin’s expression turned from joy into confusion before the back of his skull shattered and he fell forwards.

“
The more rapidly a civilisation progresses, the sooner it dies for another to rise in its place.”
Henry Havelock Ellis. The Dance of Life.1923

There are some images that once seen, cannot be unseen. No matter how much effort is spent to cover the sight with imaginings, the condemned vision remains fixed, it burns holes through the pages of memories so that whenever the eyes close, all that is seen is the scalding moment that wants to be forgotten. The event repeats itself in slow motion on perpetual playback with agonising precision. This is how Hammond would remember Galvin.

Galvin had fallen seconds before the officers rushed into the house and had tackled Kelsey to the ground. Suddenly the house was filled with the sound of shouting but Hammond was lost in a silent world. He turned Galvin over gently and cradled Galvin’s shattered head, attempting to plug the holes that seeped blood and brain matter, but it wouldn’t stop, the stream spilled through his fingers, onto his lap soaking the floor. Galvin’s eyes were glazed, the breath that lingered between his lips frothed into oblivion. Hammond rocked him, desperate to circulate the life force that was leaking so forcefully. He shouted Galvin’s name repeatedly, telling him not to give up, to hold on, but even as he expelled his appeal, he knew that there was no life left for Galvin to cling to. From somewhere behind him, he heard a scream, then felt hands pulling at his back and shoulders, trying to tear him from his task. Hammond felt Dunn, rather than saw her. She had fallen onto her knees beside him, grasping at Galvin’s body. With frantic desperation, she pulled at his listless hands as if to make him acknowledge her, but Galvin was silent and still. Hammond looked up at Dunn, the tears that coursed down his cheeks mingled with the spilt blood on his lap.