Tell Tale (30 page)

‘I’ll clean up. I’ve got a garage. Tools. I like to shut myself away in there. Just me and her. That car is my pride and joy. The thing I love the most. After my family, of course.’

Jesus, Savage thought. Fox really had gone crazy.

‘Families are important,’ Savage said, aware her only chance was to keep Fox talking. ‘I know mine is to me. That’s why I’ve never given up in my hunt for the driver who killed Clarissa. Don’t get me wrong, over the years I’ve dreamed of what I would do to him, but after confronting Owen that’s gone now.’

‘I know you, Savage. You wouldn’t set something like this aside, you’re not the type of person to forgive or forget. Which means I simply don’t believe you.’

‘Whether you believe me or not, it’s the truth. I—’

‘Shut up!’ Fox shouted from behind and Savage felt a push in her back. ‘You went to visit Owen, along with a certain well-known Plymouth criminal. Now why would you need Kenny Fallon along on your visit to see Owen? Only one reason. To provide the muscle in case you couldn’t hack it on your own. And you couldn’t, could you? Owen managed to get away before you could kill him.’

‘Kenny Fallon helped me track down Owen. He gave information to DS Riley about the panel shop that repaired Owen’s Impreza. That’s all.’ Savage kept walking, knowing Fox wouldn’t want to go much farther. He’d have to carry her body back to the car. ‘We visited Owen and he pleaded with me and in the end I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him.’

‘Bollocks. You hit him. You would have done more if you hadn’t been interrupted.’

‘Owen wasn’t driving the car.’ Savage stopped and turned. Now was the time. ‘He told me it was Lauren, sir. Lauren was the one who killed Clarissa.’

‘Hey?’ Fox stood a couple of paces away, the gun and torch pointing at Savage.

‘Your son took the rap for Lauren. He may have been an errant youth at the time but you must have taught him something.’

‘Owen …’ Fox stood open-mouthed. ‘All this time …’

‘You’ve been covering up for Milner. I bet he knew. Lauren would have told him.’

‘So you know he’s Owen’s father-in-law?’ Fox’s hand wavered and he began to lower it, the gun now pointing down at Savage’s feet. ‘You’re saying Charles knew all along?’

‘I can help you, Simon,’ Savage said carefully. ‘Help you rescue Owen.’

‘I …’ Fox’s arm swung down, the gun loose in his hand. He turned his head and stared back in the direction of the car.

Savage slipped the cable tie from her hands and reached behind her for the wheel brace.

‘No. I can’t risk it.’ The gun came up, Fox adopting a shooter’s stance, arm locked, finger squeezing the trigger.

But Savage had already lunged forward, bringing the wheel brace around from behind her in a wide arc. The brace smashed into Fox’s forearm, causing him to spin and fall to the ground. Savage darted away into the darkness, running ten metres and then changing direction. She ran for a few seconds and then dropped to the ground. Fox was climbing to his feet, waving his torch in all directions. The other hand held the gun.

‘Savage!’ Fox yelled out as he whirled around. ‘Savage!’

Fox stumbled this way and that for a moment and then set off at a jog, continuing along the sheep track and moving away from her.

Savage wondered about returning to Fox’s car. Could he have left his keys there? Could she manage to find her daughter’s phone? In the darkness she could see the light from Fox’s torch swathing around, hear him still shouting her name. No, it was best she put as much distance between the CC and herself. Savage looked to the sky, where a few stars twinkled through a thin blanket of cloud. She picked the brightest one and began to walk towards it.

A pale tinge began to eat away at the black night, and before long a near full moon appeared from behind dark clouds. East, Savage thought. For the previous hour she’d stumbled around, trying to head in a straight line in the darkness, pretty sure from the occasional glimpse of the stars she was walking south. The moon confirmed it. As her eyes had got used to the night the landscape of the moor had revealed itself. Clumps of heather and boulders, the jagged horizon of nearby tors, an orange glow far off. The glow might have been Plymouth, but she wasn’t sure.

After another thirty minutes she recognised the distinctive outline of the city, the lights stopping abruptly as they met the water of the Sound. Nearer and off to her left was a lesser glow. Ivybridge, a small town a few miles from Plymouth, she guessed. She came to a wide track and followed it off the moor, coming to the outskirts of the town a while later. A phone box stood at a junction of two roads. Savage went inside and dialled 101. She told the operator who she was and asked for her call to be transferred.

Half an hour later Riley’s car appeared. He parked beside the phone box and got out.

‘What’s going on, ma’am?’ Riley said. ‘Something about the Chief Constable, is that right?’

‘You don’t want to know, Darius.’

‘Where is he?’

‘He’s up on the moor somewhere.’

‘You’ve killed him?’

‘No. It was the other way around, actually. He came to my house and attacked me. He took me up on the moor and was going to kill me.’

‘Bloody hell.’ Riley shook his head. ‘He knows we’re on to him then?’

‘Yes, but that’s not the reason he tried to kill me. Milner and the Satanists have taken Owen. They’re using him as a hostage. Fox was to bring me to them in exchange for Owen.’

‘Dead?’

‘I’m not sure, but if Fox had killed me then they’d have had something over him. They could’ve persuaded him to cover everything up.’

‘It wouldn’t have worked.’

‘Of course not.’ Savage sighed. ‘But they’re deluded, beyond reason.’

‘I don’t suppose he told you where he was supposed to meet them?’

‘No, but I reckon Falk might know.’

‘Falk.’ Riley looked downhearted. ‘I’ve been thinking, ma’am. Thor Wodan. I might well have inadvertently tipped off the Satanists. You see, I told Falk that we had found a connection between Hedford and Avalon Books. He must’ve put two and two together. I don’t think there was an informer. Falk told the group and they acted on the information.’

‘Shit.’ Savage thought of Wodan’s heart sitting in the Tupperware box swimming in blood. She didn’t know what to say. She tapped Riley on the shoulder and gestured at the car. ‘Come on, I’ve spoken to Collier and he’s calling in as many bodies as he can. We’ll get to the station, run a briefing and see if anybody’s managed to find Falk.’

‘And Fox?’ Riley got in and started the car. Looked across at Savage. ‘He tried to kill you, shouldn’t we bring him in?’

‘We’ve got to find him first. And my hunch is he’ll be with Milner. Now, I’ll work the phone on the way in, you concentrate on driving, OK?’

Riley grinned, floored the accelerator and the car lurched forward.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said.

By the time Savage and Riley got to at the station most of the regulars had arrived, summoned from parties, nightclubs or their beds.

‘The DSupt told me to pull out all the stops,’ Collier said as Savage came into the crime suite. ‘He’s headed up to the moor with the mobile incident room vehicle. Hard to credit what he told me is true.’

‘It is, I’m afraid,’ Savage said. ‘The Satanists have got Owen Fox.’

‘Action points?’ Collier had his ubiquitous black marker pen in his hand and he moved to the whiteboard, the pen poised.

‘We need to research possible sites where they may have taken Owen. We also need to track down and arrest Professor Falk, Helen Peacock and Charles Milner.’

‘Falk?’

‘He’s either one of the group or complicit. Darius reckons he tipped them off about Thor Wodan.’

‘Right. Any ideas on those sites?’ Collier scribbled on the board and then pointed at the map of Dartmoor. A thick red line ran diagonally across the map. St Michael’s Ley. Collier’s finger traced the line. ‘Somewhere along there?’

‘Fuck knows.’ Savage looked across to the far side of the room to where Layton stood briefing a group of CSIs. ‘John?’

Layton nodded and a minute later he came over. ‘No sign of Falk at his place. I’m preparing to go over there and take the place apart.’

‘Those ley lines you were on about,’ Savage said, pointing at the map. ‘Is it as simple as looking at points of interest on the lines?’

Layton shook his head. There were spurs, he said. Offshoots, branch lines, diverging and converging paths. The Satanists would want somewhere meaningful, but the site didn’t have to be on a ley, nor did it have to be on Dartmoor. In fact the ceremony could take place just about anywhere.

Ceremony? Savage wanted to know more.

‘You said they’ve threatened to kill Owen Fox, right? Well, they won’t just slot him. There’ll be ritual and theatre. We’re talking about a sacrifice, after all.’

‘You think they’ll do that to Owen?’

‘Yes, I do.’ Layton shrugged an apology and returned to his team. Collier looked at Savage, expectant.

‘Sorry, Gareth, you’re on your own. I’m off to the moor.’ Savage waved at Calter and Enders to accompany her and moved towards the exit. ‘Try to find Falk, Peacock and the others.’

‘Sure.’ Collier’s hand went to the top of his head and scratched the stubble. ‘One other thing, where’s the Chief Constable? According to PC Narry the CC came to visit you. Is that right?’

‘It’s a long story,’ Savage said, crashing through the double doors into the corridor before Collier could enquire further.

The mobile incident room van stood in a car park on the edge of Princetown. Light spilt from the open door and as Enders pulled the car over Savage could see the bear-like figure of DSupt Hardin hunched over a laptop inside.

Savage left Calter and Enders in the car, got out and went across.

‘Sir,’ she said as she clambered up into the vehicle. ‘Any luck?’

‘I don’t want to sound unwelcoming, Charlotte,’ Hardin said, pointing at the screen where a map of Dartmoor floated in a window. ‘But I could have done with you being John Layton. I’m here on my own and I can’t make head nor tail of these maps and coordinates. I’ve got teams all over Dartmoor, Frey up in the chopper, and the Assistant Chief Constable is on the phone every five minutes wanting an update.’ Hardin paused and blew out a long breath. ‘This is a bloody nightmare. Where the hell is Fox? You’d think he’d be concerned for his son.’

‘I think he is, sir. He’s gone in search of the Satanists.’

‘What, on his own?’

‘Yes, sir. I’ll explain later. Have you thought about calling in the rescue group to help?’

‘Can’t risk it. These Satanists are too dangerous. We’ve got four armed response vehicles covering the entire moor and I’ve also got some military bods on standby back in Plymouth. Marines. I hope it doesn’t come to that.’

‘Can you assign us something?’ Savage gestured over her shoulder to the car. Calter sat in the rear while Enders stood next to the open driver’s door already kitted up in his mountain gear, a GPS unit in his hand. ‘I’ve got DC Enders and DC Calter with me.’

‘Enders?’ Hardin looked out through the door. ‘Thinks he’s Edmund Hillary, doesn’t he?’

‘Who?’

‘Never mind.’ Hardin peered at his laptop. ‘Merrivale. Where Hedford was found. We’ve done one pass an hour ago, but it needs rechecking. I expect young Patrick will know how to get there.’

‘I’m sure he will,’ Savage said. ‘Good luck, sir.’

Enders nodded when Savage told him where they were off to and ten minutes later they were pulling off the road, the headlights piercing the night, the grey shapes of the stone circle visible in the beams.

‘No one here,’ Savage said. ‘Too easy.’

‘Too obvious more like, ma’am,’ Enders said. ‘Who’s going to frolic stark naked this close to the road? Even in the wee small hours.’

‘Idiot,’ Calter said. ‘They’re not frolicking naked. This isn’t some New Age lovey-dovey thing. These people are murderers.’

‘Quiet, you two,’ Savage said. ‘Let me think.’

The two DCs shut up, the only sound the engine ticking over. Savage peered through the windscreen. Beyond the headlights she could see nothing but blackness. She shivered, remembering how she had run from Fox after escaping from him.

Savage clicked open the door of the car and got out. She was missing something here. Something to do with Fox and his car. She went to the front and placed her hand on the bonnet, feeling the warmth from the engine. No, not here. She walked to the rear of the car and stared at the taillights glowing red. Remembered clambering from the boot, Fox with the gun trained on her. She shook her head. The niggle in her memory was just that, a niggle. She couldn’t dig deep enough to recall what was important.

‘Let’s call in,’ she said as she returned to the car and got in. ‘See if the DSupt has any better suggestions.’

She reached for her phone but the reassuring slab of screen and electronics wasn’t there. Then she had it.

‘The Chief Constable’s car. I know how to find it.’

‘You do, ma’am?’ Enders leaned over, head cocked, eyes narrowing. ‘How exactly?’

‘Have either of you got a signal on your mobiles?’

‘Yes,’ Calter said, her phone already in her hand. ‘A weak one.’

‘Internet?’

‘Up here?’ Calter stared at the screen. ‘It’s a stretch, but you can try.’

‘Hand it over then.’ Savage took the phone, brought up a browser and entered a web address. The site slowly came up, one graphic at a time. She tapped in a username and password and waited. The response seemed to be an age coming but eventually a new page displayed. She tapped once and waited again and then handed the phone back to Calter. ‘There. That’s where Fox’s car is. Call in the latitude and longitude to Hardin and get him to send Frey in the helicopter. Patrick? We’ll go by car. To the west of Fernworthy. As fast as you can.’

Enders rammed the car into gear and they slewed round on the grass before ripping back onto the road. Calter was on the phone to Hardin, reading the figures slowly and then repeating them.

‘How did you do that, ma’am?’ Calter said as she hung up. ‘Assuming it wasn’t telepathy?’

‘It’s a long story but my daughter’s phone is in the boot of Fox’s car. You see she wanted a phone, so the deal was we’d pay the bills as long as she installed a tracker app. She gets the phone and we know where she is. It means I don’t have to worry as much as I might.’

‘Isn’t that a bit creepy? I mean keeping tabs on your—’ Calter stopped halfway through her sentence. ‘Sorry, ma’am. I guess I understand.’

‘Clever,’ Enders said. ‘But what I’d like is an app that would allow me to escape from my kids. Maybe some kind of invisibility cloak?’

‘You don’t mean that, Patrick?’ Savage said.

‘You haven’t met my lot, have you, ma’am?’ Enders grinned, but kept his eyes focused on the slither of road winding into the darkness. ‘Ten minutes to Fernworthy I reckon, but we won’t beat Frey in the helicopter.’

‘Good. Fox is armed and the Satanists may well be too. I’d prefer the lads from D Section dealt with them.’

A few minutes later Enders pulled the car off the road once again. The main route into Fernworthy Forest lay up ahead but the phone tracker had indicated Fox was on the western edge somewhere.

‘Looks like he’s gone cross-country,’ Enders said, pointing through the windscreen at a stony track leading away from the road. ‘Shall we follow?’

‘Yes.’ Savage wound her window down and craned her head out, searching the sky for any sign of the Air Operations helicopter. ‘Turn your headlights off though. Sidelights only.’

Enders crawled the car forward, swerving this way and that to avoid potholes and large rocks. After half a mile or so, they came upon Fox’s car. The Jaguar was on a grassy rise, long dark streaks in the grass where the wheels had ripped through to the peat.

‘Don’t think we’ll get up there either, ma’am,’ Enders said as he stopped the car and pulled on the handbrake. ‘Do we still wait for Frey and the helicopter to turn up or do we go in on foot?’

‘We go on foot. If we find the Satanists then we call in one of the armed response units.’

Enders killed the engine and they got out of the car. With the lights extinguished the night seemed absolute, just a smudge of grey sky showing them where the horizon was. Savage went to the boot of the Jaguar. It was unlocked and in seconds she’d reached in and found Samantha’s phone wedged down behind the rear seat. She pocketed the phone and then the three of them began to walk along the track, feeling their way at first. As their eyes became accustomed to the dark, nearby features sprang up. A large boulder, a patch of bog, a lone tree. The track followed the easiest route across the contours, but led inexorably towards Fernworthy Forest. At first the woodland loomed as a mass of blackness, but soon the individual trees began to reveal themselves, the jagged edges of the pines silhouetted against the dark sky.

Before long they’d reached the woodland. The pines stood thick, an inky blackness seeming to float beneath their foliage. Finding anything beyond the tree line was going to be near impossible.

‘Ma’am, there!’ Enders grabbed Savage and pushed her down. ‘Flames!’

Savage stared into the darkness. Enders was right. A flickering light came from deep within the forest, the black shadows momentarily banished by tendrils of golden light.

‘Bloody hell,’ Savage said. ‘That must be them. Where the hell is Frey? Patrick, give Hardin a call.’

‘No signal, ma’am.’ Enders was glaring down at the screen on his phone. ‘Back near Princetown there wasn’t a problem, but out here …’

Enders’ words trailed off, despondency evident in his tone. Calter said nothing. Savage had to remind herself she was the senior officer, she was in charge. It was up to her to make a decision.

‘We get closer. See what’s going on, OK?’

Both the DCs murmured an affirmative and then the three of them began to move forward and into the woodland, Savage indicating they should crawl on their hands and knees. Beneath the trees pine needles littered the forest floor, but the surface gave way to soft soil. Before long their clothes were wet and heavy with dirt. They crawled for perhaps fifty metres until the flames were larger, great fingers reaching into a black sky. The wind was increasing, sweeping the fingers back and forth and, high above, air whooshed in the treetops.

Ahead they could see a large clearing, perhaps a hundred metres across. Huge trees circled the perimeter, their boughs painted gold by the glow from the fire, which sat to one side of a large stone in the centre. The fire was piled with branches and the wood crackled and spat as the flames grew higher. Six figures clustered around the stone, faces cowled by the hoods of the dark robes they wore. One of the figures had a headdress topped with a deer’s skull, polished antlers gleaming in the firelight. In his right hand he held a wooden staff topped with gold.

‘Bloody hell!’ Calter said. ‘On the stone.’

Savage stared past the group. There were two people sitting back to back on the stone, ropes binding them together. One was a man and the other, a woman.

Owen Fox and Irina Kryukov.

‘To the left,’ Calter said. ‘The Chief Constable! What the heck is he doing? Doesn’t he know how dangerous they are?’

He’d been partly shielded by the flames, but now Simon Fox walked into view. Some sort of conversation was going on, an argument. Fox raised his fist at the man with the headdress and then shouted at another of the figures. The second figure threw his hood back.

Charles Milner.

‘Where’s DI Savage?’ Milner bellowed at Fox. ‘She was part of the agreement. No Savage, no deal.’

‘Let Owen go, Charles,’ Fox said. ‘He’s done nothing wrong.’

‘Wrong hasn’t got anything to do with it. Quite the opposite in fact.’ Milner turned his head towards the man with the antlers and then gestured at Owen and Irina. ‘Tonight we need two souls to send to our Lord. You were to provide one of them in a trade for your son. You failed.’

‘Take me then. Release Owen and I’ll go in his place.’

‘Oh no, Simon, we need you.’

‘If you think I’m going to help you then you’re wrong.’

‘I am thinking. I’m thinking of your wife.’

Calter prodded Savage. ‘Ma’am, we’ve got to stop this.’ She began to rise from her prone position but Savage reached out and pushed her down.

‘No. There’s only three of us. We wouldn’t stand a chance, look.’ The man with the antlers had drawn a huge curved dagger. ‘Patrick, fix our position with that GPS of yours and then get back to where we last had a phone signal and call it in. Go!’

‘Yes, ma’am!’ Enders rolled on his back for a moment and pressed a button on his GPS. The unit beeped and then the DC was turning and scrabbling away across the ground, disappearing into the black of the woodland.

‘Come on,’ Savage said. ‘We need to get closer.’

‘They’ll see us,’ Calter said.

‘No. The fire is so bright it will have ruined their night vision. They won’t be able to see into the trees.’

Within a couple of minutes they were at the edge of the clearing. A clump of bracken provided cover and they hunkered down behind the fronds. Fox was still pleading with Milner but now the man with the antlers had moved nearer to Owen and Irina. The dagger flashed orange in the light from the flames.