Spiritwalker (16 page)

His mobile rang, he looked at the caller I D; if it was someone of no importance he was going to ignore it. He recognised the name and pressed the answer button. He listened carefully as the man on the other end explained what had happened. Naizi agreed to come immediately. He hung up and quickly gathered together his medical bag and other supplies that he knew he would need. He sighed as he thought of his peaceful evening shattered, but the money he would get for this house visit was a greater lure and he smiled as he drove quickly to his new patient. He had a lucrative practice above board in the city but he also had his side line. It had begun about six months after he had set-up on his own. The practice was taking longer than he expected to attract new patients and he was beginning to wonder if he had been too hasty in trying to set up on his own. Money was tight and his wife’s considerable dowry was almost all used up. Then one day, a woman had entered his office, a woman who was used to getting her way. A haughty aristocratic looking woman. A horsey looking woman with a beak of a nose and a nasally high voice. She was dressed in tweeds with sensible low-heeled shoes on her feet, she looked like someone straight out of “
Horse and Hound
” She asked him straight out if he would consider preforming an abortion procedure on a young woman. When he had enquired why she didn't just go to an abortion clinic, she had looked horrified. She told him that she couldn't go to a clinic that it had to be done discreetly. She told him it was delicate matter and the woman had pulled out her cheque book and written out a cheque there and then. The amount was so large he couldn't refuse. His morals and ethics went out the window as soon as he accepted that cheque. All he had to do in return was promise total and absolute secrecy. The young woman was due to marry in a few months’ time and had got herself pregnant, unfortunately the baby was not the child of her future husband, and if he or his family were to discover this pregnancy the wedding would be cancelled. That day was the beginning, from then on he had many patients who paid over the odds because they didn't want the public or the press to know of their addictions of follies. He had many famous clients, some from the pop world some from the film industry, others were members of very respectable families. They all had one thing in common. They had a secret they didn't want anyone to find out about. Many had tried to take their own lives and had to have their stomachs pumped. Two had tried to take the lives of another, and the victims had been brought to him to receive medical attention. Both of those had to be paid off very generously to keep their mouths shut. He didn't care who his clients were, all he cared about was the money.

This guy was beginning to worry him though, he had been called out to his estate before on numerous occasions.

He was into pain. S & M. Both having it inflicted on himself and on his sexual partners. He had caused horrific injuries to one prostitute. Nazir was uneasy about going to his place. He was sure that it wouldn't be long before he killed someone, or injured someone so severely that they wouldn't want to accept any amount of money. He planned to tell him that this would be his last visit. He didn't want to take the chance of the authorities finding out about his involvement if anything went wrong, it would mean the end of his career and he loved his lifestyle. He loved the finer things in life. He reached the estate gates and phoned ahead to let Richard know of his arrival, he was a lazy man and couldn't be bothered to get out of his car to press the intercom, besides he thought to himself its pouring outside. The gates opened and he drove up to the house. His client was waiting at the front door and he hurriedly explained to Naizi what had happened as he showed him into the room Jane was in. He omitted the fact that she wasn’t here of her own free will. He knew that Naizi would never question him as to the origins of his new patient. He had washed her and dressed her carefully before moving her to a different room.

Jane's eyes flickered open briefly when she heard the doctor's voice. She tried to focus on his face but couldn't. He looked a bit like that famous painting...
The scream
... the way his face kept weaving in and out of shape.

“Help me please.” She pleaded, barely able to get her voice above a whisper.

“You’re going to be fine” Naizi reassured her.

He carefully examined her, he un-bandaged her wrists and examined the cuts carefully before re-bandaging them. He noted the bruising on her frail body and the paleness almost translucent quality of her skin.

“I'm going to have to put her on a drip, she's very dehydrated you will have to change it yourself when it needs replacing. Do you think you can manage that?”

“Yes, I think I can manage that.” Richard answered. “Will she be alright?”

“I'm going to give her a sedative that should knock her out for the night. I'll leave you some more to give her when it wears off. She should be fine the cuts aren't too deep, they don't need stitches. Look, Richard this is awkward... I don't want you to call me again. It’s too risky. You're going to have to reign in your behaviour. If you don't, one day it’s all going to get on top of you. I have a young family I can't take the chance any more, you're out of control.” He nervously looked at the other man's face, the only emotion he could detect was a slight hardening of the jaw-line and a narrowing of the eyes. He had expected an onslaught of abuse, but none came. “I can't keep coming out here to your prostitutes.”

“Yes, yes, you could be right.” He agreed, hiding his fury at the doctor’s comments. His Jane... a prostitute. He felt the rage build up inside and barely managed to keep it in check. How could anyone mistake her for a prostitute? Naizi is right, he thought to himself. This will be your last visit here.

Nazir bade him goodbye, unaware that he had just sealed his own faith. He hadn't recognised the woman in the bed. Even if he had seen the news reports with her face all over them, it wouldn't have crossed his mind that this was the same woman. So unrecognisable was she.

Richard to settled Jane, and as he watched her sleep, he fantasised about different ways of killing Naizi, but in the end he decided on one. It had to be quick and simple and more importantly....It would look suicide.

Chapter twenty two

It was raining heavy by the time DCI Carter pulled into the public car-park of the hospital. What had started as a light dewy rain was now bucketing down in torrents. She had just left Morley at the police station. He had filled her in on his investigation into Jane Turner's disappearance and they had discussed at length the connections between the dead woman and her missing friend. Morley had promised to return the following day with copies of all the files and statements he had on the case. They both agreed that it was too much of a coincidence for the two cases not to be connected.

Carter stepped out of her car, pulling her raincoat over her head, she rushed towards the entrance almost colliding with a man who was in an equal hurry to get to his car. She side-stepped, landing one foot squarely into a large puddle, cursing she hurried in, her shoe making squelching noises with each step. At the Information desk she showed her ID and asked for directions to Anna Cotter's room. At the nurses’ station, she asked to see Anna. With a disapproving look from the sister on duty she was led to the private room. The PC on duty outside Anna's room stood up quickly when he saw Carter approaching. After a brief conversation with him, she knocked gently and entered the room.

Anna had been dozing and was momentarily startled by the sudden appearance of Carter.

“Miss Cotter, I'm sorry to disturb you so late, I'm DCI Carter. I'm in charge of the case involving the death of Ms Cavendish. I was wondering if you could answer just a few questions.”

“Hi, yeah sure, though I've told Inspector Morley everything I know.” Anna said raising herself into a sitting position and wedging the pillows behind her back.

“I promise not to keep you too long. I can see you've had a nasty ordeal, the bruising on your neck looks quiet bad. How are you feeling?”

“It looks worse than it is, I'm a bit hoarse, and my head hurt like crazy before they gave me the pain-killers.” Anna smiled at her. She had been expecting a dragon of a woman from the description Morley had given of her.

“I just want you to go over what happened when you got to the apartment.”

Anna sighed, she was tired of reliving it. It brought back with too much clarity that she had almost died.

Carter noticing her distress felt sorry for her and apologised. “I just need to ask for my own records” she explained.

“Okay, I went to see Sylvia yesterday. I went with Molly Turner, Jane Turner's daughter. Anyway Sylvia told us that Jane had gone to Scotland with a friend and that she didn't know what all the fuss was about. She said that Jane had sent her an email, she told Molly not to worry that her mother would be back in one piece. I'm pretty sure up until that point she herself was convinced that Jane was just away for a few weeks break.”

“What makes you say that?” Carter asked.

“Well, when Molly told her about a party that her mother had gone to a few months back and how her mother had brought a man home that night. Sylvia's expression changed slightly. Molly told her that when she called out to her mother to see if everything was okay, that she saw a man leave, slamming the door behind him. She told us that when she asked her mother about it that she just brushed the incident off. Telling Molly that it was nothing and not to worry. Anyway soon after her mother began to get a lot of texts and phone calls, some of which Molly herself had answered, when she answered there hadn’t been anybody on the line. Soon after that Jane changed her phone number and the calls stopped.”

“What did Sylvia say to that?” Carter asked.

“She didn’t say anything. At least not verbally, but I could see that she had thought of something. I asked her if she knew who the man was, but she said she didn't. I could tell she was lying but I didn't want to press her too much in front of Molly. I had planned to talk to her again. Then last night I got a text from her, asking me to meet her at her place today.”

“What happened when you got there?” Carter was sitting on the edge of her chair, taking notes in a small black notebook.

“I rang the buzzer outside, but she didn't answer. A young couple were on their way out so I slipped in the door as they exited. When I got to Sylvia's apartment I rang the bell, there was no answer so I knocked on the door and it opened slightly. I could hear music inside and I thought that was the reason that Sylvia hadn't heard me. I entered the apartment and called out to her. When I got no reply I followed the music it was coming from her bedroom. I saw her, as I thought, asleep in her bed and I went over to wake her. It was then that I noticed that she was dead. Her skin was cold to the touch and her face and lips looked blue. I started to ring for an ambulance, that's when I heard a sound behind me. I turned for a second and he hit me over the head with something and pressed a cloth over my mouth I must have passed out, cause next thing I know Inspector Morley is leaning over me and a paramedic is checking my blood pressure.” Anna hoped that Carter wouldn't see through her white lie about getting a glimpse of her assailant. She had decided to take the inspector's advice and not to mention her abilities.

“Can you describe the man who attacked you? Did you get a good look at him?”

Anna could feel Carters shrewd eyes bore into her and felt sure that she would know if she lied. So she said. “I didn't really get a good look at his face, but there was something about him that seemed familiar, I just can't put my finger on it. He was tallish about five ten, I'd say he was in his late thirties or early forties. He was wearing a hoodie and dark track suit pants and I got the impression that he had short dark hair.”

“Would you know him again if you saw him?” Carter asked.

“It all happened so fast, I'm not sure, maybe.” Anna lay back against her pillows, the pain in her head eased a little when she closed her eyes against the glare of the bulb. To her relief Carter didn’t question her further. She seemed satisfied with Anna’s account.

“I'll leave you alone for now, try and get some sleep. The guard will be outside all night.” Carter got up to leave replacing the chair back against the wall.

“Chief Inspector.” Anna asked,” Why do you think he killed Sylvia? I've been thinking about it and I'm pretty sure that it was he who sent me that text from Sylvia's phone.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. But I do think that Sylvia knew something and I'm damn sure going to find out what. I do know this, he is a very dangerous man and I think you're correct when you say he lured you there. Be very careful and watch your back. He might think you know more about him than you do.” Carter looked quizzically at Anna, wondering if indeed she might be holding something back. “You have told us everything I hope?”

“Yes I have, believe me I've told both you Morley everything I know.”

Carter left her and returned to her car, the rain had eased and the night felt damp and chilly. She headed back to her apartment, poured herself a glass of Rioja and lowered herself gratefully into the steamy hot bath her partner, Julianna had filled for her. Tomorrow was going to be a long day she thought and I'm getting too old for this.

Chapter twenty three

There were pages of phone numbers to go through, so Carter delegated the tedious task of matching numbers to names on the list to one of her subordinates. She had requested all the records for Jane Turner's old mobile number and her home phone no. She was amazed that anyone could send and make so many texts and calls and still have time to do anything else. Morley has arrived early with copies of his case notes into Jane's disappearance and Carter spent most of the morning reading statements. She knew she was driving Morley crazy, as every time something in a particular report didn't make sense or hadn't been followed up, she rang him to see if he could shed light on the matter. Morley was following up on interviews that he had conducted at the time of her disappearance. He had so far managed to re-interview three of her closest friends, they had been playing tennis together and were happy to meet him after their game, in the club house bar. They had nothing new to add, they hadn't heard anything from Jane since she disappeared and Morley thought they didn't look too perturbed by her absence either. He was just leaving the club when his mobile went off again.