The Eyes of the Accused: A dark disturbing mystery thriller (The Ben Whittle Investigation Series Book 2) (4 page)

‘And who’s paying for that?’ Ben asked. ‘I’m skint.’

‘It’s on the company. But make sure you don’t use Faretrip; they’d charge a blind man for his stick.’

‘Your generosity knows no bounds,’ Ben said.

‘Every penny counts. Especially now we have an extra body on the payroll. Right, anyone got any other suggestions regarding Hannah Heath?’

‘I reckon she’s dead,’ Ben said. ‘Pregnant women don’t just vanish and turn up alive months later.’

Anne Whittle walked into the office. ‘Pregnant women do all sorts of funny things.’

Geoff studied his wife. ‘Women don’t need pregnancy to do funny things.’

‘Men don’t understand,’ Anne continued. ‘They think being pregnant is a walk in the park. But it’s not. It can be a really difficult time, what with prenatal depression and hormone imbalances.’

‘Did you want something?’ Geoff asked. ‘Or are you training to be a midwife?’

‘I wondered if you wanted a pot of tea?’

Ben jumped in before his father had a chance to say anything sarcastic. ‘Tea would be lovely, mum.’

‘Aunt Mary slapped Uncle John once when she was pregnant,’ Anne said. ‘I don’t blame her. He can be such a—’

‘Will you stop prattling on about your sister?’ Geoff said. ‘We’re trying to have a serious discussion about a missing girl here.’

Anne walked out of the office. ‘Pardon me for breathing.’

‘You’re pardoned.’ Geoff turned his attention back to the case. ‘Don’t forget to use a dictaphone when you speak to the boyfriend. You can learn a lot from listening back to an interview. Andy said the guy seemed genuine enough, but from my experience, criminals are all worthy of Oscars.’

Maddie asked Geoff who actually reported Hannah missing.

‘Andy said the mother called it in at half nine. The boyfriend phoned her when Hannah failed to show up from work.’

‘Why didn’t Hannah just call her boyfriend and ask for a lift home?’ Maddie wondered.

‘He was working late. Andy said everything checked out. But it wouldn’t hurt to go over it again and establish an exact timeline of events for that day.’

‘I know one thing,’ Ben said. ‘A pregnant girl suffering severe stomach pain wouldn’t try to walk all the way home to Feelham.’

Geoff agreed. ‘Andy said the bus through Tadmarsh stops running at six, so that rules that one out if she left work at seven.’

‘Maybe she called a cab?’ Maddie suggested.

‘They checked the local cab companies. Nothing. No one picked up any fares from Sunnyside Nursing Home that day.’

Ben took a deep breath. Without Hannah, dead or alive, no one would ever know what had happened to her. If assumption was the best friend of error, then speculation was the best friend of the bookmaker. And right now, the odds were well and truly stacked against them.

Ben parked at the Paddocks – a large empty field on the edge of Feelham that used to stable horses and offer riding lessons before the business went bust – and switched off the engine. ‘What did you make of Robert?’

Maddie thought for a few moments. ‘I think he loves Hannah very much.’

‘Seems to.’

‘Anyway, your dad says he checked out with the cops. And he was working late the night Hannah went missing.’

‘People can cover for you.’

Maddie opened the door and invited an icy blast of wind into the car. ‘I think we need to focus on Crowley for now.’

‘Just because a few women say he’s a creep?’

‘And he flashed to a schoolgirl.’

‘Twenty years ago. There hasn’t been anything since.’

‘Still shows what he’s capable of.’

‘All the more reason to stay away from him.’

‘I’ll be careful.’

‘I wonder how many women have said that before and ended up dead?’

Maddie stepped out of the car and shivered. She buttoned her coat up to the neck and thrust her hands deep into her pockets. ‘At the moment, Crowley’s all we’ve got.’

Ben looked about to say something else, but Maddie closed the door and walked off towards Tadmarsh. She didn’t want to get drawn into an argument about the rights and wrongs of going after Frank Crowley. As her father would say: ‘Never try, never know’.

The grass verges along the edge of the road gave way to a ditch about three feet deep, with tall hedgerows separating it from the fields beyond. Snow frosted the naked trees. Maddie’s lips already felt numb. The cold penetrated her thin woollen coat. A vision of Hannah popped into her mind: a corpse at the bottom of the ditch, mouth frozen into a wide rictus grin. Maggots using her eye sockets as a macabre playground.

‘Hannah won’t be here,’ she told the empty road. ‘Someone would have found her by now. Someone walking a dog. Kids playing.’

Unless she’s been covered over with leaves and dirt in the bottom of the ditch.

Maddie shuddered. She walked along the edge of the road for almost two miles scanning the grass verges. It was a pointless exercise. She wouldn’t find anything. She had more chance of finding a book on the occult in her father’s study.

She stopped and stamped her feet. She took her hands out of her pockets and blew onto them. Warm breath for temporary relief. Her fur-lined boots were hurting the soles of her feet. It had been quite some time since she’d walked this far. And she was marching on an empty stomach. She’d managed a slice of burnt toast with a thin spread of orange marmalade for breakfast. Her father had told her she was thinner than a hanky in a steam press, but he was only saying that to be kind. Anyone could see she was carrying too much weight. She’d been comfort eating a fair bit since events at Penghilly’s Farm. Maybe next year she could afford to take up exercise classes. Lose weight naturally, instead of skipping meals.

You need to eat something.

Her mother’s voice. The one she’d made when she was scared of the witch under the bed. Other kids had imaginary friends; Maddie had to make do with an imaginary mother. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a Snickers bar. Her stomach growled. It looked so good. So tempting. Perhaps one bite. A sugar rush to kick her brain into gear. She would keel over soon if she didn’t eat something.

No! Her mind was playing tricks on her. Coercing her to do something she would later regret.

You can always purge.

‘I don’t want to purge. I haven’t purged since…’

Since the last time?

Since school. She wasn’t going down that road again. So what if she was carrying a few extra pounds? It was nothing a baggy jumper couldn’t hide. She was getting stressed about the job. Hannah Heath’s photograph had just reminded her of school. Took her back to that unhappy hunting ground where the kids had spiteful tongues.

She needed to focus. She put the Snickers bar back in her pocket, but kept her hand wrapped around it. It felt somehow reassuring. Comforting. Like holding hands with an old friend. She looked up the road. It looked as if a vampire had sucked all the colour out of the world. She imagined Hannah walking along here. Did someone stop and offer her a lift? Would Hannah have been naïve enough to accept a ride from a complete stranger?

Would you?

Not a chance.

What if you were in agony? What if you believed you were all right to walk, and then, BAM! Imagine period pain and multiply it by a gazillion.

Maddie still didn’t think she’d get into a car with a complete stranger.

You might trust someone like Crowley if you were in agony. If you worked with him. The mask of familiarity. Particularly if your natural defence mechanism was out of action.

She imagined Crowley pulling up at the side of the road and offering Hannah a lift. Hannah desperate. Crowley promising to take her home. Convincing her that he was there to help. And then driving off into the middle of nowhere. Perhaps to an old abandoned farm. One like Penghilly’s Farm. A place where no one could hear you scream. Somewhere a sexual predator could act out his twisted fantasies time and time again.

‘Shut up,’ Maddie told her imagination.

Do you want to be his next victim?

‘I’m not going to be anyone’s victim.’

If you say so.

‘Ben and Geoff will know where I am.’

Will they? Are they going to put a tracker on Crowley’s car?

‘They’ll put a wire on me.’

A wire? Hah! This isn’t the movies. What if Crowley finds it?

‘He won’t.’

How do you know? Can you see into the future?

‘I’ll be careful.’

Madeline White being careful? There’s a first. Next you’ll be telling me you’ll be patient.

‘I want to do this. For Hannah.’

Why? She’s neither friend nor a relative.

‘She’s an innocent woman. She needs me.’

Not if she’s dead! Anyway, your father needs you. Needs you much more than he lets on.

‘He understands.’

What happens if you die and no one ever finds you? No grave. No headstone. Nowhere to pay respects and lay flowers. All because you fancied an adventure.

‘I want to do something useful. I’m fed up with just going through the motions at the church.’

Is that what you thought when you were handcuffed to the bed at Penghilly’s Farm? Yay, this sure beats lighting candles and handing out pamphlets?

‘I survived.’

By the skin of your teeth. How much luck do you think you’ve got?

Maddie shuddered. How much further was it to the nursing home? It seemed as if she’d been walking forever. There was a niggling pain just below her ribs. She looked at the ground and took several deep breaths. The grass verge seemed to lurch. She gave in to temptation and pulled the Snickers bar out of her pocket. She removed the wrapper and wolfed it down in several large gulps. She then bent over and rested her palms on her knees as a sudden sugar rush attacked her body.

Better?

Maddie swallowed hard. It felt as if there was a peanut lodged in her throat. She coughed. A single hack.

You’ll make yourself ill again.

She was going to throw up and rid her body of the only sustenance it had. Maybe she should call Ben as soon as the dizzy spell passed. Tell him to come and pick her up and take her home. She could have a nice long soak in the bath before helping out at youth club tonight. Do what she was supposed to do. What God had intended, if you like.

She waited several minutes for the sickie spell to pass. Every time she swallowed, the chocolate felt thick and clammy in her throat. She would never eat chocolate again. Once she got her life back to normal, she would take the time to prepare healthy meals with a proper nutritional value. No more pizzas. No more cakes out of Dalton’s bakery. No more picking between meals. No more looking at the disappointment in her father’s eyes as she pushed another barely touched meal away.

Just as Maddie thought it was safe to start walking again, she bent over and threw up. Bile burned the back of her throat. She hacked several times and spat out a regurgitated peanut. She fished her mobile phone out of her jeans’ pocket. Enough was enough. Ben could come and get her. The voice in her head was right. Her father needed her. The church needed her.

She was about to call Ben when something caught her attention. Something glinting in a shaft of winter sunlight near a large grey stone. A broken bottle, perhaps? She moved closer. But it wasn’t a broken bottle. It was the pin on a name badge. Maddie picked it up. Her heart fell into her stomach. Four simple words embossed on the face of the badge: Hannah Heath. Care Assistant.

Suddenly, the air felt thin, almost non-existent. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. Surely she was seeing things. But the badge still read the same. She turned it over in her hand, studying it as if it might be a new species of life. She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket and called Ben.

Ben answered on the first ring. ‘I’m about to leave Sunnyside. Where are you?’

‘I’ve found Hannah’s name badge.’

A lengthy silence. Maddie thought for a moment they’d lost reception. And then: ‘I’ll be right there.’

Maddie disconnected the call. ‘What happened to you, Hannah? What in God’s name happened to you?’

Geoff studied the badge for a few moments, and then put it down on the office desk. ‘You say this was just lying on the grass verge?’

‘I stopped to rest,’ Maddie said, neglecting to tell Geoff about her dizzy spell and sickness. ‘Then I saw it. The sun was shining on it.’

‘What a stroke of luck. Almost as if God pointed it out.’

‘Since when have you believed in God?’ Ben asked. ‘I seem to remember you saying that God’s nothing more than a character in a fairy story.’

‘God. Lady Luck. The Finger of Fate. Who cares? Now we know we can definitely place Hannah Heath on that stretch of road.’

‘What do we do?’ ben asked. ‘Hand it in to the police?’

Geoff looked at Ben as if he’d just admitted to the abduction himself. ‘Police, be buggered. We’ll hang on to it for now. Anyway, they wouldn’t do much with it. It only proves that Hannah was along that stretch of road. It was hardly pinned to a corpse, was it?’

Maddie shuddered. ‘Thank God.’

‘But it’s evidence,’ Ben persisted. ‘Surely the police need to know.’

Geoff didn’t agree. ‘It’s just a name badge. It doesn’t prove diddly-squat.’

‘It proves Hannah was there,’ Ben said.

‘I know that, Sherlock. Now we just need to establish how it got there. Where exactly did you find it?’

‘About four miles away from Sunnyside,’ Ben said. ‘Right on the bend where the road straightens up near the airfield.’

Geoff’s eyes widened. ‘That far away?’

‘I’m struggling to understand how Hannah walked all that way,’ Maddie said. ‘I get stomach cramps sometimes, and I can barely get out of bed.’

‘It does seem odd,’ Geoff agreed. ‘I reckon Crowley watched her leave and then let her get a good distance away from Sunnyside before he pounced.’

‘I still don’t understand why she didn’t just call a cab,’ Ben said. ‘It makes no sense that she’d walk.’

Geoff didn’t seem to hear him. ‘Crowley stopped and offered her a lift and she said no. Then he forced her into his car. That’s when she lost the badge.’

‘I agree she
might
have lost the badge in a struggle,’ Ben said. ‘But that doesn’t mean it was Crowley, does it? It could have been anyone.’

‘Crowley has a direct link to Hannah, though,’ Geoff said. ‘That’s more than the rest of the male population has.’

Ben reminded his father that assumption was the best friend of error.

‘But this is based on likelihood. The sooner we check Crowley out, the better.’

‘You mean, the sooner
Maddie
checks Crowley out.’

Maddie felt better now she was back in the warm with a cup of hot sweet tea inside her. Her earlier doubts had vanished. ‘It’s okay, Ben. I want to help.’

‘I’m glad someone has enthusiasm for the case,’ Geoff said. He turned to Ben. ‘What did you find out at Sunnyside?’

Ben didn’t answer.

Maddie thought he was sulking. She reached out and touched his arm. ‘Don’t worry about me. The important thing is we find Hannah, right?’

‘I suppose.’

‘You talked to the care manager?’ Geoff prompted. ‘What did she say?’

A slight pause. And then: ‘She said Hannah had been complaining of stomach pains all day. At tea time, she excused Hannah her duties and let her lie down in the medical room next to her office. She said Hannah stayed there until around seven and then went home.’

‘Didn’t she try to arrange transport?’

‘No. To be honest, she looked more pissed off that Hannah had gone sick. Said they were already two staff short.’

‘She sounds all heart,’ Maddie said. ‘I’m glad I don’t work for her.’

‘It must be difficult juggling staff around in a twenty-four-seven operation,’ Geoff said. ‘Especially when half of them are skiving.’

Maddie was intrigued to know how Geoff
knew
they were skiving. There was such a thing as genuine illness. She didn’t voice her opinion.

Ben finished the last dregs of his tea and put the mug down on the desk. ‘Anyway, that’s all Connie Sykes said. She never saw Hannah again after that.’

‘What about Crowley?’ Geoff asked. ‘Did she say anything about him?’

‘Not much. I asked her if he was at work when Hannah left, and she said that he works nine-to-five. He’s meant to be on call if anything breaks down out of hours, but she said he switches his phone off. She called him a bone-idle swine, or words to that effect. I asked how the other members of staff got on with him. She said she didn’t know and she didn’t care. As long as they all did their jobs, she wasn’t interested in what they thought about one another.’

‘She sounds a right bundle of joy,’ Geoff said. ‘A proper caring nature.’

‘Oh, by the way, she’s blind in one eye,’ Ben said. ‘She has a glass eye that stares over your shoulder all the time. Kind of blows your theory about left and right thinking out the water, doesn’t it?’

Geoff grinned. ‘Maybe we should buy her a patch and a parrot for Christmas. Right, that’s both the care manager and the police who think Crowley’s a bad apple.’

‘Connie Sykes said he’s lazy,’ Ben said. ‘That doesn’t make him a sexual predator, does it?’

‘No,’ Geoff agreed. ‘But don’t forget he’s flashed to a kid. He’s just the sort of filthy swine you’d find lurking around schools masquerading as caretakers.’

‘He hasn’t been charged with anything since the flashing, though, has he?’ Ben said. ‘It’s not like he’s got a string of convictions.’

‘Doesn’t mean a thing. Just that he’s been more careful since he got his fingers burnt. Anyway, a lot of those perverts get their rocks off on the internet these days. They don’t even need to leave home. The sooner we get inside that bastard’s lair, the better.’

‘By using Maddie as bait?’

‘We’re doing no such thing. Maddie will always be within touching distance.’

‘I wish you two would stop talking about me as if I’m not here. It’s up to me whether I want to do it or not.’

Geoff stretched. ‘Exactly. Maddie has her own mind.’

‘You’ve changed your tune. It’s only five minutes ago you said Maddie was a silly girl who might chip a nail.’

‘I haven’t changed my tune; I’ve just go to know Maddie a bit better, that’s all.’

Maddie turned to Ben. ‘I know you’re only looking out for me. And I appreciate it. But I just want to help.’

Ben looked away. ‘If you say so.’

‘Did Connie Sykes say anything else?’ Geoff asked.

Ben shook his head. ‘No. She seemed impatient, as if I was keeping her from her duties or something. She kept saying she’d already told the police everything she knew. I did manage to get a word with Seb Smith on the way out. He’s the guy that Hannah got a lift to work with.’

‘And?’

‘He said that he waited in reception for a while after his shift ended to give Hannah a lift. He didn’t know she’d already gone.’

‘Didn’t Connie tell him?’

‘Nope. Said she’s a sour old bat who wouldn’t tell the staff if the building was on fire. He can’t believe Hannah walked home. Can’t understand why she didn’t just wait for him to finish his shift? I agree with him.’

‘It does seem odd,’ Maddie agreed. ‘She didn’t wait. She didn’t call a cab. It’s almost as if she
wanted
to walk.’

Geoff asked if Seb had mentioned Crowley.

‘Nothing new. Said a few of the girls reckon Crowley’s a creep. Spends a lot of time fixing toilets that don’t need fixing.’

‘Another red flag,’ Geoff said. ‘That’s three by my reckoning.’

‘He is a maintenance man,’ Ben said. ‘It’s his job to fix things.’

‘Or pretend to,’ Maddie said. ‘I don’t like the sound of him one bit.’

‘Anything else?’ Geoff asked.

‘Seb said there’s CCTV in operation.’

‘That’s good news. We should be able to see Hannah leaving work.’

‘We won’t,’ Ben said. ‘Connie only switches it on when she leaves work at eight. She switches it back off when she gets in the following morning. Apparently, she doesn’t see the point in running it when she’s on the premises.’

‘Bugger it! Why doesn’t the stupid woman just keep it running?’

‘Seb reckons she’s obsessed with saving money. She’s forever moaning about lights being left on, windows open in the winter, that sort of thing. She probably doesn’t want to waste film.’

‘It costs next to nowt to run. Anyway, what’s she got her knickers in a twist for? It’s not her own money, is it? She’s only the care manager.’

Ben shrugged. ‘I’m just saying. Anyway, Seb was on nights a few days after Hannah went missing. Said he saw Crowley’s car in the courtyard in the early hours of the morning.’

Geoff perked up. ‘Really? And is this the same lazy bugger who switches his phone off when he’s on callout?’

‘How long was his car in the courtyard for?’ Maddie asked.

‘Seb doesn’t know. He was busy. The car was gone next time he looked.’

‘Sounds bloody suspicious to me,’ Geoff mused. ‘What would he be doing there at that time of night?’

‘Maybe he was looking for something,’ Maddie tried. ‘Something that ties him to Hannah’s abduction.’

‘I don’t buy it,’ Ben said. ‘Anyway, if Hannah was abducted where we found the name badge, there won’t be any incriminating evidence in Sunnyside will there? He was probably nicking something.’

‘Like what?’ Geoff said. ‘Water pipes? No, you mark my words, the bugger was up to something. You can hang your hat on it.’

‘Seb said he’d have a look through the CCTV footage when he’s next on nights. See if he can spot anything.’

Geoff nodded. ‘Okay. That might be useful. Any questions?’

Maddie had one. ‘When are we going to start the plan to get close to Crowley?’

‘As soon as we can. I think we should pay The Three Horseshoes a visit on Sunday evening.’

Maddie’s heart missed a beat. That only gave her two days to prepare. And tell her father of the plan. After Penghilly’s Farm, it would be an uphill battle to get his blessing for such a risky plan.

‘I don’t like this,’ Ben said. ‘It just seems wrong on so many levels.’

Geoff laughed; a dry, humourless laugh. ‘It’s the best we’ve got. We can hardly send you into the pub dressed in a wig and a frock, can we?’

Maddie laughed.

Ben didn’t. ‘I just hope this doesn’t end up being a complete disaster.’

‘It’ll be what we make it,’ Geoff assured him, unaware exactly how prophetic Ben’s words would turn out to be.