CRIME ON THE FENS a gripping detective thriller full of suspense (7 page)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Nikki had only managed to snatch a few minutes sleep in between tossing and turning uncomfortably on her sofa. Earlier, when she had finally arrived home, she had felt better. It always helped to talk to her daughter. And she was sure that she’d seen signs of improvement in Hannah. The nurses had not agreed, but then they wouldn’t. It wasn’t up to them to give what may be false hope. But a mother knew best, didn’t she?

She had curled up under her blanket believing, as she always did, that one day she would get her beautiful daughter back.

But then the dark thoughts had descended. Thoughts about Kerry Anderson. Would her parents ever get
their
beautiful daughter back? The clock was ticking, and they still had nothing to go on.

And then there were the other disturbing thoughts about Joseph Easter. Since the fight on the Carborough Estate, she had been seeing flashes of how her new sergeant had conducted himself. Those lightning fast moves were not right. And those later comments about being a squaddie? No squaddie she’d ever met had that kind of reflexes. And they were always proud of their regiment, far more so than their place in the police force. That was why they were often disliked, because their allegiance was always, first and foremost, the army. And Joseph wasn’t like that at all.

As Nikki locked her front door and stepped out into the early morning air, she wondered if she should talk to Rick Bainbridge about him. After all, the super had made some comment about there being more to Joseph Easter than met the eye. Perhaps he knew something she didn’t. She shook her head and carefully stepped around a torn rubbish bag that had deposited its stinking contents across her path. She really couldn’t afford all this, she needed to keep her whole focus on Kerry Anderson, not pondering about her sergeant’s dubious origins. With a grunt of irritation, she quickened her step and headed towards the police station.

* * *

As Nikki headed for work, Marcus and Mickey slipped quietly away from the Carborough.

‘Usual drop?’ asked Mickey as he struggled to keep up with Marcus’ long-legged stride.

‘Not this time. Things are heating up, so they’ve changed the location.’ The older boy looked almost haggard in the early morning light. ‘And you’re dead certain that your mum and dad don’t suspect anything?’

Mickey frowned. ‘They don’t give a shit what I do.’

‘You know what I mean, muppet! You are being careful, aren’t you?’

Mickey pulled his hood further over his face. ‘Don’t worry! Dad’s back on the bottle. He was drinking until three, and me mum’s buggered off until he sobers up, so everything’s cool.’

‘It better be. We can’t afford the slightest slip.’ Marcus lowered his voice. ‘Especially now the war has started.’

‘Mask Wars! Yeah!’ Mickey did a little skip and punched the air with his fist.

‘Shut up, you stupid little shit!’ He lifted his hand to his forehead and glowered at the younger boy. ‘I’ve had it up to here with you! You’re a fucking liability, you know that? Why the hell did I pick you, of all the kids on the ’Borough?’

‘Cos no one gives a flying fuck about me. And I’ve got the face of an angel, which always helps.’

Marcus gave a hopeless sigh. ‘Yeah, I guess. But will you please keep your voice down. In fact, just shut it until we get there.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘I told you to shut up! You’ll know soon enough. And hurry up, we only have fifteen minutes to get there.’

They walked the next half mile in silence, then Marcus slowed his pace, and looked around. Ahead of them was a narrow walk down to the river bank. Not the popular bit, where joggers fought for breath and early-bird commuters took a short cut to the station, but a dingy, shadowy track that ran beneath a railway bridge and stopped at the back of a disused bedding factory.

‘Neat,’ whispered Mickey. ‘No one goes down here, except for a piss.’

Marcus ignored him and strode off towards the dark tunnel. He had almost disappeared before Mickey chased after him.

‘Can you see anything?’

‘Yeah, they’re here. Shift your arse and come and help me.’ Marcus had pulled an Adidas Sports bag from his shoulder and was ripping open a large cardboard box. He removed a fat plain envelope, then grabbed a handful of the familiar rubber masks. ‘Here, get these into your rucksack! We don’t have long.’

Mickey jammed the masks into his bag, then hoisted it over his back while Marcus zipped up his own, then returned to dispose of the box. He tore the cardboard into pieces and dunked it into the sluggish river water. When it was well soaked, he screwed it up some more, then stuffed it under some straggly brambly bushes on the edge of the river. ‘Let’s go.’

Pushing the smaller boy ahead of him, Marcus headed back up to the road. ‘Now, we have another change of plan, Muppet-face. Come with me, and don’t ask any questions.’ He pulled Mickey roughly around by the shoulders, and glared at him. ‘Or this really will be your last job, understand?’

Mickey saw the cool stare and understood perfectly.

* * *

When Nikki arrived at the station, the car park was heaving with vehicles, police officers and volunteers, all heading out to the marshes and the places that were impossible to search at night.

‘Nothing yet?’ she asked a weary looking Dave Harris.

‘No, ma’am. The second wave is just moving out now, they are still concentrating on the campus and the marshlands around the seabank, where her phone was found.’ Dave yawned. ‘Now you’re back, guv, I’ll take a bit of a break, if that’s okay?’

Nikki pushed her way between a group of searchers in high-vis jackets, and into the foyer. ‘Have you been here all night?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘But what about . . . ?’ Nikki frowned and lowered her voice. ‘Sorry, but shouldn’t you have gone home long before this?’

‘She’s okay ma’am, but thanks for thinking of us.’ He gave her a tired smile. ‘I’ve arranged a carer, just to cover me, short-term like.’

‘Surely there’s enough bodies here to comb the Fens, without you.’

‘Can’t dodge the issue when there’s a kid missing, can I, guv? And I wouldn’t want to either.’

Nikki lightly touched the big man’s arm. ‘I know, but you have your own problems, and they don’t go away because something big is going down here. You go get some sleep, and look after yourself, you hear?’

Nikki watched him go, his shoulders sloping down and his step more a shuffle than a stride. She was the only one who knew about his home life, and she really felt for him.

‘Ma’am?’ Joseph was striding up the corridor. ‘Got you a coffee.’

‘What the hell time did you get in?’ she asked with something like annoyance.

‘Ten minutes ago.’ He balanced the mugs in one hand and held the office door open for her with the other. ‘Did you sleep?’

‘No,’ she said sharply, wishing she could tell him that he was partly to blame for her insomnia. ‘I’ve sent Dave home. Is Cat still here?’

‘Yup. She’s onto something regarding the components required to make rubber masks. She’s found a wholesaler of the raw materials.’

‘Good, and what did you find out from the victim of yesterday’s knife attack?’

Joseph stared at her thoughtfully for a moment, then flopped into a chair. ‘Well, the masks really do just turn up. Dumped around the estate or in schools or recreation grounds. Callum swears that no one knows where they come from.’

‘And you believe him?’

‘No reason not to.’ Joseph sipped his coffee. ‘He started off all tough, then when he realised I was prepared to take residence beside his bed, he started talking, probably just to get rid of me.’

Nikki gave a long sigh. ‘So he’s told you nothing that we didn’t already know.’

‘Not quite. He gave me a name.’

‘What?’ She leant forward eagerly.

‘Well, a street tag. I haven’t had a chance to run a check yet.’

‘And? What the hell is it?’

‘Fluke.’

Nikki choked back a gasp.

‘You know him?’ It was Joseph’s turn to look surprised.

‘I know enough to say don’t bother running that check. You won’t find anything.’

The sergeant jutted his jaw forward. ‘So you’ve already had a lead on him?’

Nikki leaned back in her chair. ‘With regard to this case, no. And sadly I don’t know a damn thing about him.’

‘Then maybe I should get down to the Carborough and make a few enquiries?’

‘And you think they’ll talk to you?’ She gave a short laugh. ‘I don’t think so!’

‘Someone may. One of the mothers perhaps.’ He shrugged. ‘They will have been pretty shaken up by a young kid getting stabbed.’

‘Oh get real, Sergeant. On the Carborough, it’s a common occurrence. And right now, we have to concentrate on Kerry Anderson.’

‘
She
came from that estate,’ said Joseph pensively. ‘Do you think there may be a connection?’

‘I can’t make one, personally.’ The thought had already crossed Nikki’s mind. ‘Kerry comes from the northern side, not an area known for trouble, well, not anywhere near on the scale of that around the flats or the south side.’ She pulled a face. ‘And how would a hard-working young student possibly be connected to a spate of petty crimes committed by a load of masked yobs? It doesn’t make sense.’

‘Oh, that’s another thing that Callum said. He overheard this Fluke mention something called ‘Mask Wars.’ He doesn’t know what it means, and it’s only the intensity of that fight yesterday that made him think about it.’

‘Mask Wars?’ repeated Nikki softly. ‘They’d risk their lives for a crappy piece of rubber? Hell, I know some of these kids have had half their brain cells devoured by alcohol and crack, but this is plain insanity.’

‘I agree,’ sighed Joseph, ‘But as you said, we have Kerry to worry about, so what now?’

Nikki finished her coffee and stood up. ‘Back to the university, I want to get up close and personal with her friends. Someone knows more about her relationship with ‘Kris with a K’ than they’ve let on.’

‘You really don’t trust him, do you?’ Joseph grinned at her.

‘He’s a weirdo. And I don’t trust weirdos.’

* * *

As they arrived at the University of the Fens, the sun was just coming up. A green-gold glow suffused the glorious old trees that were a legacy of days gone by, with an almost magical luminescence.

‘This is really beautiful,’ mused Joseph. ‘My university was an inner city, concrete monstrosity.’

Nikki swung the car into a tight parking space and killed the engine. ‘My heart bleeds for you.’ She slammed the door. ‘Didn’t quite get that sort of education myself. Had to work for a living.’ She marched on ahead of him, but couldn’t help but wonder how many squaddies had ever gone to uni. ‘We’ll split up. You take the students to the right of her pod, I’ll take the left, and anything you think may be useful, call me. With luck, they’ll still be half asleep and easier to interview.’ The door to the Hub swung soundlessly open. ‘See you back here in half an hour, Sergeant, and we’ll re-assess.’

* * *

‘Nothing much, ma’am.’ Joseph perched on a high stool and looked across the Hub. ‘They all know Kris Brown by sight, and one or two have seen his astro-photographs, which I’m told are ‘Awesome!’ But no one believes that Kerry and Kris are an item. In fact most of them laughed at the notion.’

‘Same damn thing with the ones I spoke to,’ grumbled Nikki.

‘One point, though,’ said Joseph. ‘A guy called Lewis, who was organising this field trip with Kerry, mentioned that Kris had been mugged recently.’ He rubbed his chin with his forefinger. ‘Probably not connected, but worth asking Mr Brown about it, don’t you think?’

‘As good a reason as any for taking another trip out to Mr Weirdo’s place.’ Nikki stared around at the small clusters of students gathered in the meeting place. ‘He’s still my number one, even if his mother believes he’s a modern day saint.’ She looked back at Joseph. ‘Anything else?’

Joseph pulled a face. ‘Nothing specific. I just get the feeling that no one here really
knows
Kerry,’ he paused, then said, ‘and how many girls do you know who have no close girly mates to gossip with?’

Nikki nodded. She understood exactly what her sergeant meant. The kids were shocked by Kerry’s disappearance, but their reaction had been more detached than she would have expected. If Hannah had disappeared, Nikki was pretty sure that her girlfriends would have been distraught, throwing every kind of teenage histrionic known to man. ‘If she’s a Top Swat, perhaps her contemporaries don’t like her? Maybe they’re jealous of her good grades or the attention she gets from the tutors?’

‘Could be, but it didn’t seem that way. There was no animosity there, I just didn’t get the reaction I was expecting.’ Joseph shrugged. ‘Maybe I’m just out of touch with youngsters these days.’

There was a strange wistfulness to his voice that was not lost on Nikki, but now was not the time to wonder on the enigma that was Joseph Easter.

‘Right, then it’s back to the station.’

As they reached the car, Nikki’s phone rang. After a few curt words she hung up.