Missing Believed Dead (21 page)

Chapter Forty-One

Kate thought she’d never get the picture of that grinning skull and skeletal frame out of her mind. She swallowed hard before she said, ‘Well it’s not Megan Fraser, that’s for sure.’

‘No, ma’am, but I think she might have been here.’ The officer held up a piece of material that looked like a rosette.

‘What is it?’

Sue peered at it. ‘It looks like a ponytail scrunchie, one of those fancy ones with frills. I think Megan was wearing one when she disappeared.’

‘You’d better bag it,’ Kate said.

‘Try not to handle it too much, while I pop back to the car to fetch an evidence bag,’ Sue said.

She was back in moments, Kate reckoned she must have run all the way there and back, and the scrunchie was safely bagged.

Sue handed one of the officers a roll of blue and white tape. ‘I brought this as well,’ she said, ‘we can get this taped off as a crime scene. One of you will have to stand guard until we can get the SOCOs here.’

Kate backed out of the shed. ‘We’ll need dogs,’ she said, ‘because if she’s not here, she must be out in the wood somewhere.’ Or dead and buried, Kate thought, although she didn’t say it.

Kate plodded back to the house over the sodden ground. She could see the glimmer of light from the windows, and behind her lights flashed between the trees, as the searchers moved deeper into the wood.

Inspector Mason stood by the bonnet of his car instructing a new batch of searchers. Kate beckoned to him and he finished what he was saying before turning his attention to her.

‘We’ve found evidence Megan was held in a shed which is a few yards inside the wood. I thought we might get the dogs involved in the search.’

‘I’ll get on to it right away,’ Mason said. ‘I’ll get someone to contact her mother for a piece of clothing as well.’

Behind her, Kate heard Sue give a muffled laugh that was quickly turned into a cough.

The inspector looked at her but didn’t say anything. He was already talking into his airwave set while they walked towards the house.

Kate hid a smile. The inspector’s beat covered the Greenfield estate, so no doubt he knew May Fraser better than they did.

‘Come on, Sue,’ she said, increasing her pace, ‘we need to have another word with Mrs Carnegie. That lady has some explaining to do.’

Patricia Carnegie sprawled on the white leather sofa in the lounge, a glass in her hand. She looked up when Kate and Sue entered the room. ‘Well, what is it now? Don’t you think you’ve upset me enough?’

‘We’ve found the shed,’ Kate said in a grim voice.

‘Well what of it? It’s only a garden shed. It’s where Paul keeps . . . kept his tools.’ She sipped her drink.

‘I think it’s more than that.’ Kate marched over to the sofa and looked down on Patricia. The woman pulled back as if she felt threatened.

‘What do you mean?’

‘We opened the wooden chest in the shed and found skeletal remains inside.’

Patricia’s eyes widened. ‘You’re lying.’

‘No, and what’s more we found evidence Megan Fraser had been there, but she’s not there now.’

‘That’s impossible.’ Patricia laid her glass on the coffee table. ‘I would have known about it.’

‘We think you did know about it. And I want to know where Megan is now.’

‘Well, she’s not here, you’ve searched.’

‘But you know where she is.’

‘How would I know that, when I didn’t even know she was there?’

Kate turned to Sue. ‘This is getting us nowhere. We’re going to have to take her into custody.’

‘You can’t do that, I don’t know anything. Maybe she is in the wood, but you’re searching there, so you’re bound to find her.’ Patricia smirked. It was as if she were taunting them.

‘Where does the wood lead?’ Kate demanded, and turning to Sue, she added. ‘We can start searching from the other side. That way we’re bound to find her.’

Patricia picked up her glass again. ‘That might be difficult. You see there’s a large, water-filled quarry at the far side of the wood. Anyone approaching it in the dark might not even see it until it was too late.’

Kate had never felt more like hitting someone than she did now, but she bit her lip, and glared at Patricia who studied her drink as if she’d never seen it before.

‘We need to alert the searchers,’ Kate said to Sue, turning her back on Patricia. She marched to the door, opened it and shouted to the constable outside. ‘I want you to stay on guard at this door,’ she said, when he hurried over to her, ‘and don’t let Mrs Carnegie out of your sight.’ And without a backward glance at Patricia Carnegie, she marched down the hallway to the front door.

Kate and Sue stood on the doorstep. Over in the wood, flickering lights relieved the darkness, pinpointing where the searchers were. The rain had turned sleety, and the chill in the air was reminiscent of winter, rather than the approach of spring. Kate pulled her collar up, but it didn’t relieve the chill that had swept over her when she heard about the quarry.

‘If I find out Patricia Carnegie sent that child in the direction of the quarry, I’ll have her guts for garters,’ she hissed.

Sue said nothing, but the expression on her face indicated she felt the same.

Kate gave herself a shake. Standing here brooding about what she might or might not do wasn’t helping to find Megan. She had to alert Inspector Mason to the dangers the quarry represented to both Megan and the searchers.

Inspector Mason stood at the edge of the wood, his point to point airwave set in his hand. He turned at Kate’s approach. ‘A dog is on its way, in fact, I think the dog van’s arrived.’

Kate followed the line of his eyes and watched a police van crunch to a halt in a space that looked hardly big enough to take it. The police handler got out, opened the rear door of the van, and after reaching in to grab the dog’s leash, a large German Shepherd, jumped to the ground.

Inspector Mason turned away from Kate to walk over to the handler.

She grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. ‘The searchers need to be alerted . . . ’ Kate kept watching the dog.

Mason stopped and turned.

‘There’s a quarry at the far side of the wood and it’s not visible in the dark. The searchers need to be aware it’s there.’

‘Damn!’ He marched over to the dog handler. ‘The child’s mother is in that car.’ He pointed to the far side of the semi-circular area in front of the house. ‘She’s got an item of clothing for the dog to get the scent.’

He turned abruptly, and with his airwave set at his ear, he strode into the wood.

Kate watched him until the trees swallowed him up, then she turned her attention to the dog handler who was now at the far side of the parking area. A woman got out of the police car and handed him something, and even from where she stood, Kate recognized the bulky form and wild hair of May Fraser.

She groaned. ‘That’s all we need,’ she said to Sue, who stood beside her. ‘Try to keep her away from the searchers.’

The gravel crunched beneath her feet as she strode over to join them. She forced a smile to her lips, and said, ‘There was no need for you to come here, Mrs Fraser. You might have been better to wait at home.’

May Fraser snorted. ‘It’s my lassie out there,’ she said, ‘and what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t come along to help.’

The dog handler knelt beside the dog to allow him to sniff the blouse Mrs Fraser had handed him.

‘He’s got the scent.’ He stood up and allowed the dog to sniff around the area, but after a few minutes it was obvious, even to Kate, the dog had not picked up the scent.

‘He might have carried her to the hut,’ she said, ‘maybe we should start there.’

‘Right, where is this hut?’

‘Follow me,’ she said.

May Fraser tagged on behind.

‘Sue, maybe you could take a statement from Mrs Fraser,’ Kate said. ‘There’s no need for her to come into the wood, it’s not the nicest place, and she’ll be far warmer in the car.’

Sue led a reluctant May Fraser to the car while Kate accompanied the dog handler and his dog to the hut in the wood.

Kate watched the dog pick up the scent. At least that confirmed Megan had been here. But where was she now? She could only hope the dog would track her down before she reached the quarry. A cold shiver of fear engulfed her.

* * * *

Megan stopped to catch her breath. It rasped from her chest and up through her throat, sounding like a death rattle. She was so cold and so wet, she thought she’d never be warm again.

Her head was swimming now and she kept thinking of her mum, aching to be enclosed in her arms. She wouldn’t even mind the swearing she would get for not coming home.

She slid down the tree she was leaning on, and sat on the damp moss at its base. If only she could go to sleep and wake up back home, but that was a dream, and her life had become a nightmare.

She heard a dog in the distance, and saw a flickering light. He was looking for her. But he mustn’t find her.

Grasping the tree trunk, she hauled herself up onto her feet and stumbled on.

Chapter Forty-Two

Jenny stared at the silent phone and bit her lip. She was near to tears. She liked Bill, and the caller’s information was vague about whether Bill had survived the overdose.

Someone would have to attend the scene but there was no one in the office except for herself, and she’d never attended a crime scene on her own before. But first things first, she would have to let her DI know. Kate wouldn’t be pleased if she wasn’t kept informed.

Kate answered the phone immediately. ‘What is it?’ She sounded testy.

Jenny struggled to keep her voice steady. ‘It’s DS Murphy, ma’am.’

‘Oh, he’s turned up has he. It’s not before time.’

‘No, ma’am. It’s a lot more serious than that.’ Jenny tightened her grip on the phone. She had difficulty controlling her hand as well as her voice. She explained the situation while Kate listened.

‘Right,’ Kate said. ‘You need to refer this to the SOCOs and get over to the Carnegie house. Make sure the scene is protected until they get there, gather the family together, and I’ll join you as soon as I can get away.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Hold it together until I arrive.’

Jenny laid the phone on the desk, aware she’d given Kate a garbled account of the situation. She cursed herself for allowing Kate’s terse reply to throw her. Oh well, it couldn’t be helped. She hoped Kate wouldn’t think she was an idiot.

* * * *

Kate kept walking out of the wood towards the large semi-circular area outside the house, where all the cars were parked. She could no longer feel the fingers holding the phone to her ear, and as she listened to the voice, her eyes grew bleaker, and the feeling of despair that had swept over her when Patricia Carnegie told her about the quarry, intensified a hundredfold.

She had never felt so alone as she did now, walking through the trees with their waving branches scattering rain over everything. The darkness was intense, although the flickering lights from the torches behind her pierced the darkness like stars in an overcast sky. She could only imagine what Megan must be feeling if she was out there.

Reaching the parked cars, she thrust the phone into her pocket and scanned the area, looking for Sue. She located her at the far side and approached her. ‘We’ve got a situation, I’m going to have to attend another scene. I’ll leave you in charge here. I’ll be on the end of my phone if you need me,’ she hesitated, ‘or if you find anything.’

‘What is it?’ Sue’s face showed concern.

‘Bill’s on his way to hospital, apparently he’s in a bad way.’ Kate looked out into the darkness. ‘Tell me something, did Bill ever take drugs?’

‘No, he didn’t even dabble.’

‘I thought not.’

Sue gave Kate’s arm a shake. ‘What’s happened?’

‘He was found in the Carnegie family’s kitchen with a needle in his arm. It’s an overdose.’

‘An overdose of what?’

‘I don’t know but I fear our killer may have got to him.’

‘Why would the killer target him?’

‘Maybe he was getting too near the truth. But I have to see for myself before I decide. You’ll have to hold things together here while I go and investigate what’s happened.’

‘Keep me posted.’ Sue wrapped her arms round her body. She looked as miserable as Kate felt.

‘Of course.’ Kate headed for the car. It was squeezed between two police cars and it took all of Kate’s driving skills to extricate it from the space. But at last she was free and had it facing the right way, but she still had to drive carefully down the drive which was lined with police cars and vans. One large van forced her onto the grass verge and she prayed it wasn’t bordered by a ditch. But once she reached the main road she put her foot down, anxious to get to the Carnegie house as soon as possible.

* * * *

Sue watched Kate drive off until the car was out of sight. She could hear the searchers beating their slow way through the wood. A search was always slow because it had to be thorough, no bush or thicket could be ignored and it all took time. Maybe the dog would speed things up, provided it retained the scent of the missing girl.

The thought of a water-filled quarry, somewhere out there at the end of the tree line, nagged at Sue, and she knew time was running out. She stared into the wood, imagining Megan running between the trees, while the searchers moved forward at a snails pace.

Turning her collar up and digging her hands into her pockets, she strode towards the trees. She couldn’t remain back from the search while a child was missing.

It was darker underneath the dripping branches, the torch lights were further away, and she felt as if she were being swallowed up. She soon reached the hut which was now cordoned off by a ribbon of blue police tape. She nodded at the officer left guarding it until the SOCOs arrived, and continued to plunge further into the wood.

The ground beneath her feet was soggy, The tree branches swayed, and an unending pelt of rain battered through the foliage. The damp and the wet seeped through her clothes, chilling her. It would be easy to get lost here.

Up ahead she heard the searchers, and she was glad of the odd flicker of light piercing the darkness. But she couldn’t see or hear the dog and his handler. She hoped the dog would produce results.

She stopped, and stared ahead, trying to put herself in Megan’s shoes. What would the girl be likely to do? She wouldn’t know the searchers were police and it would be safe to be found by them. She might think it was her captor pursuing her. But what would she do? Would she hide? Or would she run? And if she ran, sooner or later she would reach the quarry.

Sue shivered, and started to walk in the direction of the flickering lights, hoping they would find Megan before the child plunged over the edge of the quarry.

* * * *

Emma glanced at the clock on the mantel. They seemed to have been sitting in the living room for hours, but it was only 20 minutes since she’d last looked at it. Thoughts whizzed round her head, questions which had no answers. The mystery of why the detective had been in their house. Who had let him in? Why had he overdosed here? If he intended to overdose why not do it somewhere else? She glanced over at Ryan, sitting in a brooding silence in one of the armchairs. Was Ryan involved in this? And if he was, why?

She grasped her mother’s hand. It was cold and still, no longer twisting frantically at the material of her skirt, nor rubbing the arm of the settee. It wasn’t like Diane. She was too calm, almost as if she were in a trance.

‘You feeling OK, Mum?’

Diane’s gaze was fixed on the doorway where the policewoman stood guard, and she gave no indication she’d heard Emma.

Ryan shifted uneasily in the armchair at the other side of the room. He had a look on his face Emma had never seen before. Was it fear? Or was it embarrassment? Emma wondered again if he’d had a hand in what had happened to the detective.

The front door opened and a cold breeze wafted round the room. A white clad man walked past the living room door. He looked like something out of a science fiction film, or an operating theatre.

Emma rose and walked over to the policewoman, reaching her in time to see another white suited man walk up the hallway.

‘Who are they?’ She stared after the man – at least she thought it was a man – watching as he vanished out of sight into the kitchen.

The trace of a smile hovered on the policewoman’s lips as she said, ‘They’re SOCO.’

‘What the heck’s SOCO?’ It seemed to Emma the policewoman was talking a different language.

‘Sorry, I should have explained. They’re the scene of the crime officers. They need to examine the kitchen where the body was found.’

Emma shuddered. Body? Did that mean the detective was dead? But she was afraid to ask.

‘Why do they have to do that?’

‘Forensics,’ the policewoman said. ‘They always do that when a crime’s been committed.’

Emma stared at her. She felt her chest tighten and it was difficult to breathe. ‘So it’s a crime. I thought he’d overdosed.’ Her voice sounded strange, even to her.

‘That’s what we’re trying to find out.’ The policewoman looked embarrassed. She was probably wondering if she’d said too much.

‘What happens now?’ Emma wasn’t sure why she felt scared.

‘CID will want to question you. We’re waiting for them to get here.’

‘But we’ve told you all we know already.’ Emma took a deep breath. There was no reason for her to feel scared, so she pushed the feeling away, replacing it with annoyance.

‘Well you’re going to have to tell them as well.’

‘I see.’ Emma walked back to the settee, subsiding into it with a disgusted sigh. What a damn pain in the neck. All this bloody hassle because that damned detective decided to overdose in their kitchen. She grasped her mother’s hand again, stroking it, and wondering how Diane would survive all the upheaval.