Lee Weeks - Frozen Grave

‘I’m inviting you to Devon to meet some of the women who have been having a relationship with your husband.’

‘I don’t get it. Why would I want to do that? It sounds like a sick joke. Don’t call me again. Leave me alone.’

‘No – Dee, please don’t hang up; just hear me out… we are all in this together. Even you. We can help one another. Come and meet us.’

‘Everyone will hate me. I’m the reason why you all can’t have JJ. Everyone will wonder why I don’t just leave him. They will hate me.’

‘No one has the right to judge you. We all just blame JJ. We know he’s a past master at lying. I’ve invited him down here, Dee. He has no idea that there will be other women here. He thinks I never got the letter. I think you should come – we will all support you. We are all in this together after all.’

‘How many of you will be there?’

‘About four of us.’

‘I can’t possibly come. I can’t do that. I won’t tell him that I know where he’s going and I wish you luck in confronting him but I can’t do it, sorry.’

‘All right, I understand it must be worse for you than anybody. If you change your mind you know where we are.’

Dee walked back into the house and heard Ellerman still hard at it. She went upstairs and stood in Craig’s doorway. Her husband stopped work and looked at her in amazement. He shook his head in disbelief but he didn’t look pleased. That night he tried to make love to her. She went to sleep in the spare room.

Carter and Willis drove straight to the hospital to check on Toffee. Zoe was working on her laptop outside his room. She closed it and stood as they approached.

‘Any change?’ asked Carter.

‘Very slight improvement, sir.’

Carter looked through the window at Toffee. He was sleeping, but he was no longer encased in a tangle of wires and tubes. He was breathing on his own. ‘Have you managed to get near him?’

‘Yes. I went in there with Simon Smith. He seemed to respond to his voice well.’

‘What did Smith ask him?’

‘He just asked him if he remembered what happened. Toffee just shook his head. We have to presume he doesn’t know where he is right now.’

‘Did he say anything at all?’

‘He said something about loving Mimi. I asked Smith who that was and he said it was his sister.’

‘Who’s taking over for you tonight?’

‘Gardner, sir. I’m going to pick up my mum from the hostel.’

‘Any sign of Mahmet Balik?’

‘We got an address for him; he’s on one of the blocks towards the other end of the estate.’

‘We’ll get a search warrant issued tonight and get in there.’

‘Okay, sir. I’ll wait for your instructions and I’d like to come in with you.’

‘We’ll phone you when we have it.’

Zoe Blackman waited for Gardner to come and relieve her, then she drove to the hostel and parked up on the road outside. She was early but she wanted to go inside tonight and see how things were. Diane had said that particular clients were missing the PCs. Zoe wanted to see who she meant. As she walked across towards the hostel, she heard the sound of a chain dropping on tarmac. She stopped to listen and, instead of going inside the building, she followed the path around the church to the back, where the commercial buildings were. She saw Simon stepping into one of the buildings. He didn’t see her as he flicked on the light switch and was about to close the door behind him when she managed to sprint the last few steps and catch it before it closed.

‘Hello. Is everything all right?’

‘Yes.’ He tried to step back out quickly.

‘What are all these?’

‘My family’s business, not mine. Nothing to do with me.’

Zoe took a few paces inside.

‘Do you mind if I take a look?’ Inside the building were ten cars under insulated covers.

‘Well, yes – I was just checking that their battery leads were still okay.’ Zoe lifted the corner of the cover nearest to them. A red Ferrari was beneath.

‘What is this place?’

‘It’s just a storage facility for luxury cars. It means people who haven’t the space or right conditions to take care of their cars leave them here under heated covers and I make sure they are kept ticking over.’

‘You get to drive them?’

‘I start them up. Shall we go?’

Zoe walked further into the facility. ‘Do you mind if I take a look at some of the other cars? I find it really fascinating.’

‘Maybe another time. I’m going to shut up here for the night.’

Zoe ignored him and lifted the cover of another car – an Aston Martin. She moved round the front to see the number plate: MER 100.

‘I think I know this number plate – it belongs to a man named Ellerman, Mermaid Yachts. Do you know him?’

‘I’ve heard of him. I’ve never met him.’

‘Where do they come from, these cars?’

‘Different owners. I have very little to do with it. It’s a family concern. I just make sure they’re all in working order.’

‘Ready to use?’

‘Yes, that’s it. We finished?’

They walked outside. ‘Have you had any more trouble from the gangs?’

‘Not for a couple of days.’

‘You haven’t seen Mahmet Balik?’

‘No.’

‘Simon, the other day, when they were in the car park, I saw you give something to him; what was it?’

‘I don’t recall giving him anything. Excuse me, I’d better go and check that your mum is okay.’

‘Why wouldn’t she be?’

‘Well, we have to watch the clients sometimes. Gangs get in and cause problems, injuries, people get hurt.’

Zoe phoned Carter from the car after she dropped her mother home.

‘Ellerman’s car is in the building at the back of the church. It’s being looked after there. Smith gets cagier by the minute.’

‘Okay, we’ll bring him in after we search Balik’s place. Get some rest and then join us at five in the morning. We’ll catch him asleep hopefully.’

At 4.30 in the morning the police van parked at the entrance to Hannover Estate and Carter briefed the officers inside.

‘This is Mahmet’s address,’ said Carter. ‘It’s the one he is said to use most. Now that his grandfather is dead, we may have a chance of finding him at home. If not him, then one or two of his deputies. We are looking for weapons. We are looking for a connection to the crime scenes. A tool provided by Fiat, a jack with a bolt opener on the end, was used to assault and kill Olivia Grantham and used at the time that Lolly was killed in the lorry park. If you find it then handle it as little as possible; we want prints. Gloves also used during the attack. We are looking for drugs, at least we can take the occupants in for questioning – find me something to arrest Balik for.’

‘ It’s the middle of the night for Christ’s sake! ’

The sound of the door being bashed in woke the neighbours, most of whom cared more about the early hour than helping the police to make an arrest.

Carter went inside with Blackman. Willis watched from outside to make sure no one got out.

Blackman had Balik dragged out of bed, face down on the floor and handcuffed before he even had a chance to object. He wasn’t alone in bed. The young woman with him tried to brave it out but she looked terrified.

‘What’s your name, miss?’ Blackman asked.

‘Rochelle.’

‘How old are you, Rochelle?’

‘Eighteen.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes.’

‘We will check, you know.’

‘She better be eighteen. She told me she was.’ Balik’s face was pressed against the carpet.

‘Quiet.’

‘I’m fifteen. I don’t want to be here. They forced me to stay.’