The Blackness (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 4) Read online

  Patrick C. Walsh

  The Blackness

  The fourth ‘Mac’ Maguire mystery

  Garden City Ink

  A Garden City Ink ebook

  www.gardencityink.com

  First published in Great Britain in 2016

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2016 Patrick C. Walsh

  The right of Patrick C. Walsh to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

  All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely co-incidental.

  A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978-0-9932800-4-7

  Cover art © Patrick S. Walsh 2016

  Sole Novum Design

  “All I want is blackness. Blackness and silence”

  Sylvia Plath

  For Mick for a thousand kindnesses

  The Night Before

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  The Night Before

  She was still fizzing as she got into the taxi. She’d been so looking forward to her Saturday night out but it had turned out to be something of a disaster. She was absolutely, one hundred percent, certain that it was all Julie’s fault. Why did she have to tell her that when she knew it would only upset her? In her anger she even started wondering if she should drop Julie and get another best friend.

  She told the driver to drop her near the Millstream pub. She’d been intending to meet up with some friends from college and, perhaps, one friend in particular. However, as she climbed out of the taxi she realised that she wouldn’t be good company that night, so she decided that she might as well go home. She couldn’t go back while she was still feeling this angry, one look at her face and her mother would know. Her mother always worried when she and Julie had a falling out and she decided that she’d probably upset enough people for one night.

  The evening was relatively warm so she sat on a nearby wall and thought for a while. Thankfully there was no-one around and the solitude helped to calm her down. It didn’t take long for her to come to the conclusion that tonight’s mess was as much her fault as Julie’s, probably more so. Once she got angry that was that, she was always one hundred percent right and everyone else just had to be wrong.

  She sighed. Why did she always have to have such a short fuse? The only anger she felt now was directed solely at herself.

  She’d known Julie since they were four years old. She loved her friend and the last thing in the world she wanted was for anything to come between them, least of all a stupid boy. She reckoned that some of her mum’s hot chocolate and a hug would put her right. She set off towards home in anticipation.

  As she walked home she resolved to ring her friend as soon as she got back. Perhaps Julie would drop in before she went to bed and they could make it up properly.

  Her head was full of these thoughts as she made her way back down the familiar dark and empty streets. She took the short cut as she wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Unthinkingly she almost bumped into someone and fear ran though her for a moment. Then she relaxed.

  ‘Hello,’ she smiled at the figure in front of her. ‘What are you doing here?’

  A bright pain in her jaw was followed by blackness.

  When she awoke she was in complete darkness. She was naked and lying on the floor. She felt her jaw, it was very tender, and her tongue told her the corner of one of her front teeth had gone. She felt extremely woozy as though she’d drunk too many shots or something. She sat up and heard the rattle of a chain. Something was around her neck, a metal collar. The chain was attached to the collar. She followed the chain with her hands. It was attached to a solid metal ring screwed into a wall. To her horror she found that was chained up like a dog.

  The room felt strange, the floor and walls were smooth and sort of soft. The darkness was so complete that she wondered if she’d gone blind. She screwed her knuckles into her eyes and saw colours.

  What had happened to her? She couldn’t help feeling that this must be a weird dream. Perhaps someone had put something in one of her drinks? She thought back. She remembered her argument with Julie and her going home early. The last thing she remembered was walking home, looking forward to being with her mum and hot chocolate and then? She couldn’t remember.

  A surge of panic rose in her.

  She shouted. There was no echo, the walls seemed to soak up the sound of her voice.

  She shouted again. Nothing.

  Since she’d been a child she’d been afraid of the dark and the terrors that it might conceal. It was always there somewhere in her worst dreams. She prayed with all her might that this might just be a nightmare and that she’d wake up soon. She followed a wall until she came to a corner. She sat down in the corner and hugged herself.

  She cried as she called for her mother.

  ‘Mum, mum help me. Help me please.’

  No-one heard her. Her words were swallowed up by the blackness.

  Chapter One

  First day missing

  Mac had been having problems sleeping. After a couple of hours of tossing and turning he finally gave up and got out of bed. He sat up carefully and stood up even more carefully. The pain levels were just about bearable.

  So here he was at five thirty on a Sunday morning making coffee and toast. Not that the fact it was Sunday really meant that much to him anymore. When he was working the week had a definite structure. He would look forward to the weekends and holidays but now, when he worked so little, he found that it was the workdays that he appreciated the most. He just wished he could get more of them. Work was definitely the best pain killer for him.

  His wishes were answered when he heard a knock on the door just before seven o’clock.

  It was Detective Constable Tommy Nugent.

  On seeing his face Mac felt a sudden stab of fear.

  ‘Is Bridget alright?’ he asked urgently.

  Tommy was also his only child’s boyfriend. He looked a bit puzzled.

  ‘Yes, she’s fine, at least she was when I saw her yesterday morning. No, Dan Carter’s sent me. We’ve got a case and he wanted me to ask if you could help. He told me to apologise for the early call but he said that it couldn’t be more urgent.’

  A case! Mac’s spirits immediately rose.

  ‘Come in. There’s coffee in the kitchen. Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be with you.’

  He was washed, shaved and dressed in a little less. He was so excited that he almost left the house without his
crutch.

  ‘How’s the back?’ Tommy asked as they walked towards his car.

  ‘Oh you know…’ Mac replied with a smile.

  The truth was that the pain had been quite bad recently and that’s why he’d been having problems sleeping. However, with a real case now in the offing, he wasn’t going to admit this to anyone.

  Five minutes later they were entering Letchworth Police Station. There were few people around. The sound of Mac’s crutch hitting the floor echoed down the hallway. The team had a large room near the rear of the station on the ground floor. Desks and chairs were still stacked high along one wall. A good third of the remaining floor space was covered in plastic and cardboard boxes. The team were crowded around a whiteboard in front of which stood Detective Superintendent Dan Carter. Dan, although now promoted, looked exactly the same as he had the last time Mac had seen him, late thirties, rumpled and gruff. He always looked like he needed a shave.

  ‘Mac!’ he shouted, ‘Come and meet the rest of the team.’

  ‘The rest of the team’ were words that made Mac smile. This meant he was a part of the team and that there was work to be done.

  ‘Mac you already know Adil,’ Mac shook his hand firmly.

  DS Adil Thakkar was a short and stocky man in his thirties and he’d been Dan’s sergeant when Mac had worked with the Bedfordshire detectives on his first ever case as a private detective. Mac had found out later that he was a prop forward and one of the stars of the British Police Rugby team.

  ‘…and Andy Reid of course…’

  They both smiled as they shook hands. Andy Reid had worked for Mac’s murder team in London as a Detective Constable some time ago. He was now a Detective Inspector with Hertfordshire Police and he’d allowed Mac to help him out with a couple of recent cases.

  ‘..and DC Leigh Marston…’

  Leigh gave Mac a quick hug. They’d recently worked together on a case that had become known as ‘The Letchworth Poisoning’. Mac noticed that she’d had her hair done a bit differently. It suited her.

  ‘…also from Hertfordshire is DS Jo Thibonais…’

  A large woman in her early forties gave him a very wide smile and a very firm handshake.

  ‘Now for the Cambridgeshire contingent. This is DI Chris Skorupski…’

  A very tall serious looking man with a shaven head offered a very large hand. His handshake was surprisingly gentle.

  ‘…and this is DS Martina McEwan…’

  A blonde woman in her forties waved at him from the other side of the crowd.

  ‘…and finally DC Gerry Dugdale,’ Dan concluded.

  Gerry nodded at Mac. Mac reckoned that he was in his late forties, his face was starting to get lined and his hair was beginning to grey at the sides.

  Mac smiled back. He’d had a couple of coppers on his team who’d looked just like Gerry. They were still Detective Constables after many years in the police and quite happy to be so. After all, Mac thought, every army needs its foot soldiers as well as its generals.

  ‘For those of you who haven’t met him before this is Mac Maguire.’ Dan looked around the team. ‘He’ll be acting as a consultant to the team. I take it you’ve all heard of Mac?’

  All of the team nodded and looked at Mac in unison.

  ‘Good let’s cut to the chase then,’ Dan said. ‘Yesterday evening around nine fifteen Natasha Barker, who is eighteen years old, had an argument with her friend Julie Waddington. They were in the Hen and Chickens pub in Hitchin town centre. During the argument Natasha walked out on her friend who assumed she’d gone to a pub near where they live called The Millstream. When Julie popped in to see Natasha at her house around eleven thirty she was surprised to find that she wasn’t there. Julie knew that the pub shuts at eleven. When she got to the Millstream they were closing up and, although some of the staff knew Natasha, none of them could remember seeing her that evening. As she walked back Julie rang Corinne Obiah, the friend that Natasha said she was going to see. She confirmed that Natasha hadn’t turned up at the pub. Julie and Mrs. Barker then spent the next hour or so calling everyone that Natasha knew. No-one had seen her. Mrs. Barker called us at twelve fifty five this morning to report her daughter missing.’

  ‘She’s not been gone that long though has she?’ Gerry pointed out. ‘It’s just a matter of hours really.’

  ‘I know but if Natasha has been abducted or murdered then the quicker we act the better chance we have. According to her mother Natasha has never spent a night away from home other than when she was on holiday with her mother or having a sleepover at her friend Julie’s. Natasha’s father died when she was young and it seems that she and her mother are very close. Mrs. Barker was adamant that there was no way that Natasha would have stayed out all night without letting her know. So, while I’m still hoping that she has a secret boyfriend and that they’ve run off to Paris or something, I think we have to assume the worst.’

  Gerry nodded in agreement.

  Dan continued, ‘So we don’t waste any time I’ve already gotten the ball rolling with forensics. They’ll be visiting Natasha’s house this morning to have a look around and get some DNA samples just in case. Now I know we originally had some time pencilled in to move into our new office and start discussing how best we can organise the team but I’m afraid that we’re being thrown in at the deep end with this one. For the duration of the investigation we’ll work together in teams of two. So it will be Chris and Martina, Andy and Leigh, Jo and Gerry, Mac and Tommy and Adil and myself.’

  Tommy gave Mac the thumbs up. They would be working together again. Mac smiled back.

  ‘This arrangement is just for now. I’ve tried to ensure that you’re working with someone you know so you can hit the ground running, except for Jo and Gerry of course, but I’m sure you two will get to know each other quickly enough.’

  Jo gave Gerry a hugely sceptical look.

  Dan turned to the blank whiteboard.

  ‘I’ve already spoken to Mrs. Barker earlier this morning, to see if there was any news and to get a photo of Natasha, however, we still need to do a proper interview with her and with Julie Waddington. As they already know me it would probably be best if Adil and I did that. Andy and Leigh, can you come with us as well? We’ll hopefully be able to get the names of Natasha’s other friends. You’ll need to go round them all and see if they know anything. Chris and Martina can you start looking at any known sex offenders living in the area and follow that line of enquiry up? This will be your main responsibility during the investigation.’

  Chris and Martina nodded.

  ‘Mac and Tommy, Natasha must have tried to get home can you see if you can track down any taxi driver who may have given her a lift or who may have seen her? Also see if you can track down everyone working at the Hen and Chickens pub in the town centre and also the Millstream last night, they might have seen or heard something.’

  Mac and Tommy nodded.

  ‘That leaves Jo and Gerry. Sorry but you’ve drawn the short straw. Firstly can you organise the Family Liaison Officer for Mrs. Barker. Andy here informs me that there’s a uniformed officer called Stella Ajunwa who’s highly thought of, try her first. Next I need you to get onto all the local estate agents and see if they have a shop or property free that we can use for a while as an incident room. Try and get somewhere in the town as close to the Hen and Chickens pub as possible. You’ll also need to find a way of moving everything across that we might need. Also arrange for some uniforms to help us with the house to house enquiries. Ring me when they’re ready and I’ll let you know where I want them to go. I want to have a look at the area in daylight first.’

  Jo and Gerry looked at each other and glumly nodded.

  ‘Everyone before you go make sure that you pull out any boxes that need to go to the incident room and Jo will arrange for someone to get them over later. Essential stuff only though. You’ll find photos of Natasha and all the other information we’ve got so far on that table over in the corner.
Make sure that Jo has all of your mobile numbers, everything goes through her for now. She’ll call you all when we’re ready for a debriefing, hopefully sometime early this afternoon.’

  The team all nodded.

  ‘Okay what are you all looking at me for? Come on let’s get going!’ Dan urged.

  Tommy got a clip board and loaded it with a copy of each piece of information and two photos. He passed it to Mac as they walked to the car. Dan had managed to get the landlord of the Hen and Chickens home phone number from Julie Waddington. Before he started the car Tommy rang him. From what Mac could hear he didn’t seem all that happy at being woken up this early on a Sunday morning. However he agreed to meet them at the pub as soon as he could get there.

  As they drove to Hitchin town centre Mac studied Natasha’s photo. It was a good headshot. She was smiling and in the background there was a Christmas tree with bright shiny red balls. She had black hair, cut a couple of inches above the shoulder, and large expressive eyes. Mac wouldn’t have used the word ‘pretty’ to describe her, she was much more attractive than that anodyne word might suggest. She looked out at him as though issuing a challenge. It was the look of a young independent woman who didn’t seem to be suffering from any lack of confidence. He looked at the photo for some time. He was certain he’d never seen this girl before but there was something familiar about her. Now what was it?

  ‘So what do you think?’ Tommy asked.

  Mac looked over at Tommy.

  ‘Sorry, think about what?’

  ‘Has she gone to Paris or somewhere as Dan suggested?’

  Mac frowned.

  ‘I very much doubt it.’

  ‘You’re that sure?’

  ‘I have a daughter who loved her mother. When Bridget was at home she always made sure her mother knew what she was doing, even when she was going to be a couple of hours late back from college. She knew her mother would be worried otherwise. No I agree with Dan, I think something’s happened to Natasha.’