Sorcerer (24 page)

‘We’re following up on a couple of possibilities but they don’t seem to offer much’ Jeff confessed.

‘So no clue as to the identity of the mysterious stranger who rescued Gabby?’

Jeff paused before answering that one. He still hadn’t followed up on the fairly outrageous hunch he’d been nursing these past few days but the longer they went without getting any closer to what might be considered the plausible truth, the more he felt the pressure to follow up on his theory.

‘No’ she answered. ‘So are you moving back home now?’

‘Yes’ said Jack. ‘I think the threat has passed’.

‘How do you?’

‘Well the stranger who let Gabby go must have it in for Mary and George and must have them somewhere. That makes me feel safer in my bed at night’.

‘So you don’t think they might have it in for you? After all, we are working on the assumption that the stranger is a former victim of the Griffins paedophilia and you kept quiet about all that for years’.

‘With good reason’.

‘That’s what you say, others might feel differently’.

‘And what do you think, detective?’

‘What do I think? I think it’s all a little convenient that some stranger has given you the confidence to move back to your house’.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Well you take the rather dramatic step of moving out of your own home when you know George Griffin has skipped bail because you fear for your safety and on the evidence that someone may or may not be holding them now you decide to move back in again. From some angles that might make you look guilty of something, that’s all I’m saying’.

‘I’m not guilty of anything here, detective. I’m only going on the instincts that spring out of what I know’.

‘But you’ve got to admit that it does seem a bit too convenient?’

Jack was furious at what he was suggesting. ‘You think I’ve got something to do with Mary and George disappearing and Gabby being rescued? You think I’m behind it all in some way and that I used the move out of my house to cover all that?’

‘I know you’ve got more than enough cash to throw at these kind of games, Mr. White, and you’ve got to admit it is plausible from an outsider’s perspective’.

Jack leaned forward. ‘The only plausible thing here, detective, is your sheer incompetence at not being able to find a couple in their sixties who’ve disappeared under your very nose and who aren’t exactly Bonnie and flaming Clyde. I thought you were one of the better police officers but now I see that if you screw up and feel like you’re cornered then you turn into someone who’s just like the rest’.

Barely a couple of hours later Jeff and Rebecca were called to the Lowry hotel and the room where Anne Griffin had been staying. The pathologist June Hawkins was in the middle of the cordoned off area but it was pretty clear what had happened.

‘June?’ said Jeff.

‘Well as you can see she slashed her wrists’ June answered as the three of them surveyed the scene on the bed. The sheets were covered in blood. ‘And she knew what she was doing. She slashed them vertically in line with the veins. Most people make the mistake of slashing them across which means a much smaller cut in the vein and a much longer time to die. That’s why there’s so much blood here. She lost it all very quickly’.

‘She was so thin as well’ Jeff remarked.

‘She was, Jeff’ June agreed. ‘That would’ve helped for sure’.

‘I want this room combed from top to bottom for clues’ said Jeff. ‘I want nothing left untouched. If there is something in here I want it found’.

‘What do you think we might be looking for?’ asked Rebecca.

‘I don’t know, Becky’ Jeff replied. ‘But it could prove to have been worth a try’.

‘I doubt if Jack White would agree with you’ said June. ‘He found her’.

Jeff was quiet as Rebecca drove them back to the station.

‘You didn’t do much to fight your corner with Jack White’ said Rebecca.

‘He wanted to hit out at someone and it was me’.

‘Jeff, he accused you of not reassuring Anne Griffin enough and that’s what led to her taking her own life. That was out of order, Jeff, and it was wrong’.

‘I know it was wrong’ said Jeff. ‘But I wasn’t going to get into a slanging match with him about it when earlier they’d taken a dead body from the room next door.

‘Well you showed a great deal more self-restraint than I would’ve done’.

‘It wasn’t about me, Becky. It was about him and his feelings over the suicide of his niece. I can put myself and my own feelings above that’.

When they got back to the station Jeff looked at his watch and saw that it was just before eleven. ‘So it’ll be about ten over there’ he said, thinking aloud.

‘What did you say?’

‘I’m going to make a phone call’ said Jeff, scuttling off to his office. ‘I think it’s a twelve hour time change down there so I’ll just have to hope they don’t go to bed early’

‘Who? And where?’

‘If I get anywhere you’ll be the first to know’.

Jeff got himself a coffee and sat down in his office with the door closed. He rang the number which was on the file and after only a couple of rings it was picked up. The female voice had a strong New Zealand accent.

‘Hello? Sheila Fitzgerald here?’

‘Hello, Mrs. Fitzgerald, this is Detective Superintendent Jack Barton of the Greater Manchester police in the UK calling. We haven’t spoken before but you have spoken to one of my officers?’

‘Yes, that’s right about Dominic and the awful things he went through’.

‘That’s it, yes’ said Jeff. ‘I’m sorry to bother you when it’s so late down there’.

‘Well that’s okay’ said Sheila, cautiously. Why would the police be ringing her all the way from Manchester at this time? ‘I think. What is it exactly?’

‘I just wondered if Dominic was there and if I could speak to him?’

‘Dominic? Well no he isn’t here. As a matter of fact he’s on holidays in Bali with some friends. They went over there a week ago and I’m not expecting him back until the middle of next week’.

‘Mrs. Fitzgerald, could you give me the number of the hotel where he’s staying?’

‘Why do you want that?’

‘I just want to ask him a few questions about the past’.

‘Well surely it can wait? He’s on holiday for God’s sake and he works very hard. He deserves some down time’.

‘I’m sure he does, Mrs. Fitzgerald, but as I’m sure you can appreciate my investigations here are very fast moving and I don’t think it’s possible for me to wait’.

Jeff heard Sheila Fitzgerald sigh impatiently ‘Oh very well, just a minute. Dominic wrote the name and number down for me and pinned it to the kitchen notice board. Here it is. It’s called the Golden Temple hotel. Are you ready for its number?’

Jeff wrote down the number and then asked Sheila for the date Dominic left for Bali. After Sheila had given him the date Jeff thanked her and went into the squad room to put his theory to the troops. And when he did their jaws dropped at the insanity of it but also at the realization that it might just be true.

SORCERER NINETEEN

DC Oliver Wright knocked on the door and then went in.

‘What have you got for me, Ollie?’ asked Jeff.

‘Sir, Dominic Power entered Bali at the Denpasar airport on Friday 14
th
. A couple of hours later he checked into the Golden Temple hotel accompanied by four friends. There’s no record of him leaving the country since then’.

‘So have we tried to get in touch with any of his friends?’

‘Yes, sir. A Mr. Mike Hancock, New Zealand citizen, 44 years old, said that Dominic went walkabout in the jungle on 17
th
and they haven’t seen him since. But he said they were well used to that. Dom is a great guy and all that but he likes to go off on his own whilst the rest of them chill out by the pool. He said that they’d had a couple of text messages from him letting them know he was okay and that he’d be back a couple of days before they’re all due to fly home to New Zealand’.

‘When was the 17
th
?’ said Jeff looking at the calendar on his desk.

‘Six days ago, sir’.

‘And what date are they due back home?’

‘On the 3rd, sir, which is in five days time’.

‘So they’ll be expecting Dominic Power back at the hotel any day now?’

‘Yes, sir’.

‘Right’ said Jeff. ‘Did we get this Mike Hancock’s mobile number?’

‘Oh yes, sir, and I’ve asked his service provider in New Zealand for a record of his incoming texts since he arrived in Bali’.

‘What did you say for a reason why we needed to contact Power?’

‘I just said it was a family matter to do with his relatives back in the UK. The Balinese authorities seemed happy with the same answer too’.

‘Good, because I don’t want him held there or else it’ll take us years to get him back. This is good work, Ollie. Thank you’.

‘He would’ve had time, sir’.

‘So you don’t believe I’ve lost the plot?’

‘I thought it a bit incredulous at first, sir, I must admit. But the more we look into it, the more I think you may be onto something’

Rebecca then came rushing in. ‘Sir, two bodies have been found in a house in East Didsbury. Their descriptions match those of George and Mary Griffin’.

Jeff and Rebecca went to meet June Hawkins once again at a crime scene.

‘Well it looks like they committed suicide’ said June. ‘They’ve taken a bunch of pills washed down with a bottle of scotch. The liver would’ve gone first and then the rest of their organs would’ve fallen like dominoes. My only reservation against an entirely suicide verdict would be the slight cuff marks on their wrists and ankles. They’ve obviously been restrained at some point recently although because the marks are only slight I would suggest that the cuffs were covered in some kind of material to minimize their potential for leaving a mark’.

‘Somebody was careful about what they were doing’ said Rebecca.

‘Yes, they were’ June concluded. ‘We’re combing the place for DNA. We’ll see what we can find. They did leave these though which you might find interesting’.

June handed Jeff two signed confessions from George and Mary Griffin.

‘My God’ said Jeff as he read. ‘They’re confessing to absolutely everything. As far as I can see at first glance they haven’t left out one name or one crime we’ve been investigating them for. Then there’s everything about Dr. Josef Smets in Belgium and the whole continental picture. There’s so much detail in all of this that it has to be real’.

‘So who would restrain them, get them to sign detailed confessions, and then get them to commit suicide?’ June wondered.

‘I don’t know for sure yet, June’ said Jeff. ‘But I’ve got a bloody good idea’.  

When they got back to the station, Gabby Lake was waiting to speak to Jeff. They sat down together in a hallway just off the main reception area.

‘I wanted to tell you there are no hard feelings on my part’ said Gabby.

‘Is your Uncle Jack still angry with me?’

‘Well I’m only just getting to know him but he has calmed down a lot’ said Gabby. ‘He’s way too proud to tell you that though’.

‘And how are you all getting on?’

‘Amazingly well considering how we’ve all been thrown together. Jack is a real case but he’s been fantastic with me and Owen and I know he feels genuinely bad about what happened and what didn’t happen. But he’s started to build bridges with my Dad too which is the main thing. The hardest part for me to be honest is trying to make things up with my Mum and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully forgive her for going off with George and leaving my Dad like that. But I’m going to try. My Dad is out of hospital and living with Aunt Jocelyn and she’s made it up with Uncle Jack too which means that things are getting mended slowly but surely’.

‘I’m really pleased for you, Gabby. For all of you. It can’t have been easy for any of you to come to terms with the past’.

‘No, but I think the biggest shame was for poor Anne. I wish she could’ve held on and let us all help her. But it wasn’t to be’.

‘No’ said Jeff. ‘It wasn’t’.

‘And I’m not blaming you for that. You had your job to do and it was just one of those things’.

‘Thank you’.

‘So how’s the investigation going now?’

‘Well you’ve heard about your grandparents?’

‘Yes and I can’t say I’m sorry. I just wish we’d been able to make them pay but I suppose they have in some twisted kind of way. You know?’

‘Yes. I think I do’.

‘Oh and remember I said the guy who saved me had a strange accent that I couldn’t place?’

‘Yes?’

‘Well I figured it out. It was when I was talking to my friend Cameron who runs a café in Chorlton’.

‘The one whose baby was taken by Anne Griffin?’

‘Yes. Those few hours he was missing were like Hell for Cameron and his wife but they’re getting over it now. Anyway, Cameron of course is Australian and has a strong Australian accent which I’m always taking the piss out of him about. It just struck me when I was talking to him yesterday afternoon that the accent of the guy was similar to Cameron’s?’