The Girl in the Rug (20 page)

‘That seems a bit over the top Tracy,’ said Tim, running his
hand through his hair in a distracted way, ‘after all no crime has been
committed has it?’

‘Well no I suppose…’ Tracy faltered.

‘You will only be making a fool of yourself you know…better
just let it lie,’ Tim said with a smile, ‘I tell you what, I’ll have a word
with Freddy Robinson, tell him he shouldn’t use those particular caterers again
if that would make you feel easier.’

Tracy thought about it, ‘Well yes I suppose that would make
me feel better…but tell him to let them know why he won’t be using them
again…otherwise they’ll just keep on doing it elsewhere won’t they?’

Tim seemed to heave a sigh, ‘I will Tracy don’t worry about
it…anyway I must dash, loads to do and all that.’

‘Oh god sorry Tim, I’ll let you go…see you when you get
back…’

Tracy walked back home slowly. ‘Well that was bloody weird,’
she thought as she went, Tim had seemed desperate for her not to talk to Carla
about those kids, which just made her more determined to mention it to Carla.
But what was even weirder was, if Louisa was in Amsterdam… why had Tracy seen
her empty wheelchair in her kitchen in England.

‘Why do these places always smell the same?’ said Frank as
he walked up and down the tiny room impatiently.

‘I suppose they all use the same disinfectant…’ said Carla
casually pondering the question, ‘let’s face it, it must be a major headache
keeping a place of this size clean and fresh, especially when you’ve got a few
thousand inmates all living together in close proximity.

‘Well it makes my stomach turn…bloody hell how much longer
are we going to have to wait?’

Carla shook her head; Frank had been in such a funny mood
just lately. He was usually such a laid back person, no matter what the
situation but these days he’d become snappy and impatient, with a complete
sense of humour failure…it was becoming a pain to work with him.

They had driven over to Sutton, HMP Highfields to be
precise, to interview Kathy Hunt again. Since speaking to Turk, it had become
obvious that there were serious doubts about who actually killed Lucy Hunt.
Carla was convinced that Kathy knew who had done it, but for some reason it
seemed she would rather take the blame for it herself than implicate the real
killer. Probably because she was terrified of what would happen to her if she
talked to the police…with good reason if Turk was anything to go by. He was
still in a critical condition in hospital but Frank had managed to get a signed
statement from him by asking questions, for which he would nod once for yes and
two for no. He had put the blame for Lucy’s death firmly at the feet of Nellie,
but it was still unclear as to how it had happened. He of course denied that he
had played any part in it, and also denied that he had helped to dispose of her
body…becoming quite upset when Frank had mentioned the sexual interference, so
upset in fact that the nurse had asked Frank to leave at that point. So they
were back again trying to get some answers from Kathy…at least she should be
sober this time.

Carla was interrupted from her thoughts by the door opening
and Kathy herself being ushered into the room by a guard. She looked even
smaller than Carla had remembered and sort of hunched over as if she was
shrinking into herself. She sat on the chair opposite Carla and Frank and the
guard left the room.

‘Well I didn’t expect to see you lot no more,’ Kathy said
before Carla could speak, ‘what you trying to do me for this time…some old lady
get mugged did she? Or was it a drive by shooting? Sorry love it weren’t me…I
got a water tight alibi this time don’t I?’ she finished with a cackle.

Carla gave a faint smile at her sarcasm, ‘Kathy we’d like to
talk to you again about what happened to Lucy,’ she began.

‘Oh ‘ere we go…what more do you want, you’ve arrested me
ain’t you?’

‘Well as to that, we have new evidence that points to
someone else being Lucy’s killer…’

‘Well I could have told you that…I didn’t kill her; I don’t
know who did…how many times do I have to say it?’ interrupted Kathy.

‘Look cut the crap Kathy,’ Frank said impatiently, ‘we’ve
got better things to do with our time than to sit in this stinking prison and
listen to your lies okay? We know you know who killed Lucy…it was Nellie wasn’t
it?’

Kathy looked startled for a moment but then started shaking
her head, ‘I already told you I don’t know who done it right…look why don’t you
just leave me alone, you got me don’t you…why are you still looking for someone
else.’

It was obvious that Kathy had been shaken by the mention of
Nellie’s name; she started digging her nails into her hands, and nervously
rocking in her chair.

‘Kathy don’t you want the person who killed your daughter to
be punished for it?’ Carla said, ‘Don’t you want the man who sexually abused
her little dead body to be brought to account for his actions…’

‘What you talking about?’ said Kathy looking back and forth
from Carla to Frank, ‘What d’you mean sexually abused her body…no one said
anything about that to me…what did he do to ‘er?’ she started to cry, ‘what did
that fucking monster do to ‘er?’ Real tears were flowing down Kathy’s face; it
seemed that Carla had finally struck a nerve.

‘Who ever dumped Lucy’s body had a bit of fun with her
first,’ Frank said bluntly, he pulled out a sheath of papers sorting through
them until he found the one he wanted, ‘tearing to the anus wall, tearing of
the vagina and the labia, her hymen was ruptured…’ he read from his copy of the
post mortem report.

Carla sorted through her pile of grim photographs, some
showing Lucy wrapped in the rug and some others clearly showing the damage to
her body.

Kathy was really sobbing now, looking at the photos of her
little girl with wild eyes, ‘What’s ‘e fucking done to her…why would ‘e do
that, she was dead for Christ’s sake…fucking animal…’

Carla let her rant for a moment or two, but she needed to
get something from her now.

‘Who’s he, Kathy…who are you talking about?’

‘Fucking Nellie…that sick fuck!’ Kathy shouted at them,
‘they turned up didn’t they…after you lot came round about old Amish. They saw
you…and they thought we’d talked to you. I told them we hadn’t…I tried to stop
them…but Nellie…he grabbed me didn’t ‘e, said he needed to show Andy what
happens if you talk…’ she stopped talking and cried as she remembered.

‘Then what happened Kathy,’ Carla prompted gently.

‘He cut me,’ she said simply, her hand going to the long scar
on her cheek, ‘then he brought the knife up to my eye and I thought he was
going to cut my eyes out so I punched him hard in the balls,’ she gave a smile
of satisfaction, ‘he went down like a ton of bricks he did…holding ‘is gonads
and groaning. But then Turk starts on me…beating me round the head and then I
don’t know what happened…there was a lot of shouting and screaming and the next
thing I know Lucy’s dead…big gash in her head.’ Kathy looked up at Carla with
tearful eyes, ‘I don’t know how it happened I swear, but Andy must have seen it
because he rushes at Nellie beating him and shouting that he’d killed Lucy.’
She stopped then, her eyes roaming over the awful pictures on the table in
front of her, ‘I was pretty out of it by then…but I think they took my hall rug
and wrapped her up in it…I just remember Nellie saying that they had to get rid
of it…her…Lucy I mean…so they just took her,’ she paused again, and sank back
in her chair folding her arms over her chest. ‘That was the last I saw of her,’
she finished shaking her head.

‘Thank you Kathy,’ said Carla at last, ‘that must have been
hard for you.’

Kathy didn’t say anything, just sat in her chair her head
bowed as she took in the enormity of what she had just done.

‘It’ll be Turk that touched her up though,’ she said quietly
a moment later.

‘Why do you say that Kathy?’ asked Carla surprised, ‘I got
the impression that it was Nellie that liked young girls?’

‘Nah,’ Kathy said with a shake of her head, ‘he only wanted
them to make some money…he knew this fella who would buy them from ‘im. Not
just girls neither…he was always after the kids…you know pimping them out to
this guy. But everybody knew what Turk was like, dirty fucker…he liked then
young…and I mean really young.’

‘You don’t know the name of this fella do you, the one you
say Nellie was working for?’ asked Frank shaking his head in disgust.

‘Nah,’ Kathy shook her head, ‘he wouldn’t tell me stuff like
that would he…but he was always after my Lucy…offering me money for her you
know…I never let him take her though,’ she finished almost proudly.

Her face turned fearful again a moment later, ‘You mustn’t
let Nellie know I talked to you,’ she pleaded in a low voice, ‘please…you don’t
know what he’s like…’

‘He won’t hear it from us Kathy…’ Carla began.

‘And Andy,’ Kathy said urgently, ‘you have to keep him away
from Andy…he might try and hurt him. Andy knows you see…Andy saw everything,
you must protect him…promise me!’

Carla and Frank did their best to reassure Kathy that Andy
was safe from Nellie, despite their own anxieties about that…let’s face it they
didn’t have a clue where Nellie was. As Kathy was no longer in the frame for
Lucy’s murder she would be charged with the lesser crimes of concealing a crime
and withholding information and would in all probability be let out on bail.
Although that didn’t seem to be much of a comfort to her…she seemed to feel a
lot safer where she was and with Nellie still on the loose Carla could see why.

‘Right well thank you for all your help Kathy…’ Carla said
as they rose to leave, ‘and please if you do remember anything else call us, we
are doing everything we can to find Nellie and get him off the streets, but we
need your help, ok.’

Kathy just raised her eyebrows, they wouldn’t be getting
anymore from her Carla knew but what they had learnt today only made her more
determined to find Elliot ‘Nellie’ Dentch as soon as they could…the man was a
monster and needed to be stopped.

Linda Connelly raised her telescopic lens above the foliage
and homed in on her target. She had been following Clive Tutt for a few days
now…well maybe not days, she did have a job to go to but as long as she sent in
a decent amount of copy each week, her editor wasn’t too fussy on how she spent
her days. And let’s face it she reasoned with herself he would be jumping up
and down with glee if she managed to get this story.

The more she watched Tutt the more she believed that her dad
had been on to something big, he was definitely up to something, and whatever
it was he was earning big bucks from it. For a council home caretaker he seemed
to live pretty well. It hadn’t been too hard for her to find out that his
cottage in Whitefield was bought and paid for, so was his car. He took regular
holidays to Thailand and was a member of the local golf club. Maybe that was
where he met all his illustrious friends Linda thought; she had a whole batch
of photos she had taken of him with various councilmen, leading businessmen and
even a high court judge. Tonight had been quiet so far; she had followed him
back to Marshall Street and was watching him from the garden, he had been
mending the swing in the front garden and was now talking to one of the bigger
boys…the boy seemed vaguely familiar to Linda so she took a couple of pictures
of the two together. They seemed to be deep in discussion about something, the
boy was walking up and down flinging his arms about while Tutt seemed to be
mocking him somewhat. All of a sudden the boy got angry and started shouting at
Tutt…Linda strained to hear what was being said she thought she heard, ‘What if
I don’t do it anymore…wouldn’t be laughing then would you…’

This obviously got to Tutt because he reared up in front of
the boy and took him angrily by the arm, slapping him round the head.

He was shouting too now something like… ‘You’re in it up to
your ears…if I go down, so do you boy.’

Linda snapped away getting as many pictures as she could
completely oblivious of anything around her. So when a hand grabbed her round
the waist and another covered her mouth she fought like the devil kicking and
squirming, until she was dumped down on the ground and she looked up into the
laughing face of Frank.

‘What the hell do you think you are doing?’ she hissed,
brushing herself down and punching him in the arm. ‘You could have blown the
whole thing if he’d heard you.’

‘Well you’d better keep your voice down then hadn’t you,’
Frank whispered laughing at her fury.

Linda couldn’t speak she was so incensed at his lack of
consideration.

‘Anyway no harm done,’ went on Frank, ‘no one heard us…look
they’re going in.’

Linda looked quickly to where Tutt and the boy were standing
and sure enough they were both making their way back inside the house, Linda
fought down her frustration.

‘Do you know how long I have been sitting here waiting for
him to do something and just when I think something interesting is happening
you ambush me…what are you doing here anyway?’

‘Oh I just thought I’d see how you were getting along…offer
you my professional advice where needed. For instance why oh why are you
carrying that enormous camera around with you, there are some great pocket
sized ones available on the market, that will do the job just as well…quite
reasonable too some of them,’ Frank said ignoring her look of utter disbelief.

Linda controlled her temper, ‘I have been managing quite
well up to now without your professional advice thank you. I am a reporter you
know I do know how to follow a story,’ she added conveniently forgetting that
she had only been on the crime desk for a few weeks. ‘And as for this
camera…well it belonged to my dad, and if it was good enough for him…well
enough said.’

Frank nodded and helped her to pack away the camera and
lenses, and soon they were walking along Marshall Street to where Linda had
parked her car.

‘What have you got so far anyway?’ Frank asked after a
while.

‘Oh just a lot of questions really,’ said Linda getting out
her keys, ‘like what business does Mr Tutt have with the Mayor of Redbank, or
the CEO of Tonbridge Marketing, or even Judge Henry Uckbridge…and how does the
same Mr Tutt afford to live mortgage free, in a quaint cottage in Whitefield?
Just questions like those really…but something happened before you jumped me…’
she gave Frank a stern look, he smiled blandly back at her, ‘he was having some
sort of argument with one of the older boys; funnily enough the boy looked sort
of familiar to me…’

‘Let’s have a look I might recognise him,’ said Frank,
reaching for the camera.

Linda pulled away, ‘No you can’t I’m afraid…I um have to
develop the film.’

‘What!’ Frank said with a laugh, ‘no…don’t tell me that’s
not a digital camera…oh my god Linda, how the hell do you manage?’

‘Quite well actually,’ said Linda miffed. ‘Dad had a
darkroom made in his shed, so I use that…and I’ll have you know that the
quality is amazing…well you’ll see when I show you the pictures at Carla’s
tomorrow. But if you’ll excuse me now I have some work to do…’

Frank’s mobile started trilling, it was Carla.

‘Frank I’ve just heard from the hospital, Turk died earlier
this evening…so that’s another murder we can put down to Nellie. Thank goodness
you got that statement from him, as long as it holds up in court of course. The
other thing,’ she went on, ‘is that Maggie phoned me apparently Tracy was woken
by a party at the big house at the rear of her garden the other night…’

‘Oh for god’s sake Carla I know they’re friends of yours but
we can’t go knocking on doors just because of a noisy party…’

‘Um…if you’ll just let me finish,’ Carla said with a deep
sigh, ‘as I was saying she was woken up in the night and she happened to watch
as the party was breaking up…watching them all leave you know. When she saw a
group of children being put into the back of a white van that was at the back
of the house.’ Frank gasped. ‘She thought they were children belonging to the
catering staff,’ Carla went on, ‘but since then she’s been worrying about it so
she told me…or rather she told Maggie and Maggie told me.’

‘Wow,’ Frank said, ‘do we know who this house belongs to?’

‘Yes…apparently it is owned by the Robinson building group.
And these parties seem to be a regular thing to grease the palms of local
businessmen etc…’

‘Bloody hell Carla we need to keep an eye on this house
don’t we?’ said Frank, shaking his head at Linda who was mouthing something at
him.

‘Well I suppose it could be that they really are just the
children of the kitchen staff…but it does seem a bit odd doesn’t it, let’s talk
about it tomorrow I might give Linda a ring see if she’s found out anymore…’

‘Well actually I’m with Linda at the moment,’ Frank said
blushing for some strange reason.

‘Ooh are you now,’ Carla teased as he had known she would,
‘well can you pass on what I’ve just told you and we’ll talk it through
tomorrow…have a good night…don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’

‘Oh, so that just leaves bestiality then does it…’ Frank
laughed, ‘although I have seen the way you look at Buster.’

‘Give over…Buster indeed…he’s much too fluffy for me,’ said
Carla before she rang off.

Frank was still laughing as he put his phone away, he saw
Linda watching him.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘Oh it’s just that I haven’t seen you smile much lately,’
Linda began then realised that maybe that was a bit too personal. ‘Not that
I’ve been watching you or anything,’ she added hastily.

Frank smiled again, ‘Well who could blame you if you had,’
he said spreading his arms wide, ‘people would pay good money to look at this
I’ll have you know.’

Linda giggled, ‘Ahh sweet, have you been soliciting at the
old people’s home again Frank…I thought Carla would have cured you of that, I
know you must need the extra money love but surely there’s got to be a better
way…’ She broke off giggling and ran behind the car as he came after her.

‘No violence now Frank,’ Linda said teasingly, ‘or I might
have to report you.’

Frank stood in front of her with a smile on his face, he put
his hands on the car one either side of her effectively imprisoning her against
the car.

‘You’ve turned into a bit of a handful since I last knew you
Connelly,’ he said looking into her eyes.

‘Oh really,’ Linda said matching his stare, ‘and is that a
bad thing would you say?’

Frank slowly looked her up and down, a smile playing round
his lips, ‘I haven’t decided yet…why don’t you let me take you to dinner and
then I’ll see.’

‘Well that’s an invitation designed to set a girls heart
thumping isn’t,’ laughed Linda, ‘so how can I resist…that would be lovely Frank
thank you.’ She finished with a sweet smile that sent Frank’s heart racing,
much to his surprise and consternation!