Mark Sennen - Touch

‘Yes?’

A male voice and in the gap a pale face with jet black hair.

‘Detective Inspector Charlotte Savage and Detective Constable Jane Calter. May we have a word please, sir?’

The door closed and the chain rattled off, before swinging wide and revealing a man dressed in a grubby blue boiler suit which he appeared to be wearing over a shirt and tie.

‘Matthew?’

‘Yes, yes, yes. Of course. I recognise you from the other day. What do you want?’

‘We would like to ask you some questions. Perhaps we could come inside?’

Harrison’s mouth dropped open. He clasped his hands together and then raised them to his forehead before sliding them backwards over lank hair the colour of waste oil. In contrast to his hair the skin on Harrison’s face was pale, almost translucent, resembling quartz in the way it shone. In sunken sockets his eyes appeared devoid of any colouring, the white sclera merging into dark pupils with no iris. The pupils moved in circles as Harrison brought his hands down in front of him, wringing them over and over each other, the fingers dancing like spiders legs. On his neck a huge adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and gulped. His breathing had quickened and his eyes brimmed with moisture.

‘Is this about the girls? Which one? Trinny or Lucy? Or both of them? Lord knows I have had some trouble with them. And Emma. Oh dear. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Isn’t that what they say?’

Savage and Calter looked at each other and the man’s eyes darted between the pair of them, his head twitching back and forth as if he had some sort of nervous affliction.

‘Please, Matthew.’ Savage gestured inside with her hand.

Harrison retreated into the house. Savage turned and she could see Enders at the ford now, inching his way across. She and Calter followed the man into the house.

Once inside he seemed a little less agitated and a sense of calm descended.

‘Oh yes. Yes, yes. The girls. Of course you have come about the girls. THE GIRLS!’ He stopped for a moment and made a sort of huffing, sighing noise and his voice dropped to a whisper. ‘I think I need to show you something. Here.’

Harrison opened a door straight ahead of them. Steps led downward into some sort of cellar. Harrison reached in and touched a switch. There was a flickering and then a hum before a fluorescent white bathed the area below.

‘Ma’am?’ Calter sounding nervous.

Savage peered through the door and then turned to Harrison. He looked at both of them in turn again.

‘Of course. How silly, how silly. Please follow me.’ Harrison moved downward.

Savage followed, taking care on the steps which were rough and uneven, almost as if they had been cut from the bedrock. To one side a couple of ropes acted as some kind of handrail, although Savage doubted if they would hold her weight if she grabbed them. Calter hesitated and glanced back through the doorway.

‘Enders, he’s on his way now,’ she said and started to descend as well.

Harrison stood at the bottom and he turned back towards Savage, his mouth opening into a smile and his tongue flicking a wad of spittle onto his lips. Suddenly he moved forward and grabbed one of the hand ropes, snatching it with a sharp tug. Behind Calter the door to the cellar slammed shut and at the same time Harrison made a dive for a switch on the wall and the lights went out.

Black. Pitch black. Savage’s heart thumping.

‘Stay where you are, Matthew.’

From below came a scuffling sound, something moving away from her, a metallic click that sounded like a door latch and then nothing.

‘Jane?’

‘Ma’am, I am here. Trying to find the bloody door handle.

Savage stayed still. Some distance away a chink of pale light shone out for a couple of seconds and then black again.

‘Shit, he’s out of here. Jane, for God’s sake hurry up.’

‘Got it, ma’am.’ There was a creak and a rectangle of light appeared above, Enders’s beaming face right in the middle.

‘Stop grinning you idiot,’ Savage said. ‘Make sure he doesn’t go off in the car. Calter, come with me.’

Savage found the switch at the bottom and turned the lights back on. Now she could see the ropes were not designed as a handrail, but rather they linked up to some sort of pulley mechanism that had allowed Harrison to close the door from the foot of the steps.

She looked around, amazed at the sheer size of the cellar. The space must have been the same dimensions as the cottage. Dotted everywhere brick supporting pillars held up RSJs and they appeared to be newish, like the cellar had been dug out and the pillars had been necessary to prevent the cottage above collapsing. A door in one wall stood ajar and must have been where Harrison had disappeared to. Savage walked over to investigate.

It seemed to be some sort of bathroom because tiles covered the floor. Savage reached in and searched for the light switch.

White. Bright white light, shiny white tiles not only on the floor but the walls too. Spotless.

Jesus!

What was that in the centre of the room? A chair? Or maybe a bed? Except the thing wasn’t full length. The monstrosity resembled something from a hospital. A reclining, adjustable bed with… leg stirrups.

Savage remembered the picture of Simone Ashton and a sickening feeling spread in her stomach. At the head end of the chair a set of padded restraints didn’t look like anything you would purchase in an Anne Summers shop, nor did the piece of leather with a rubber ball spliced into the middle of it. More like a dog toy or something.

‘Jane! Get in here!’

‘Ma’am?’

Savage jumped. Calter was right beside her. Savage nodded into the room and Calter peered past her, drawing breath at the sight of the bed.

‘Cosy.’

Savage pointed over to a steel wheeled table next to the bed. On a tray lay a weird metal device like a beak from a large seabird, about six inches long and with a sort of trigger grip at the bigger end. The stainless steel glinted under the harsh lights.

‘What the hell is that thing? A medieval torture device?’ Calter said.

‘A speculum.’

‘Ma’am, you know we shouldn’t be in here? Forensics.’

‘I want to follow Harrison.’ Savage pointed to the door on the other side of the room.

‘Ma’am, shouldn’t we wait for back up?’

‘What’s got into you, I thought you had a black belt in Jujitsu?’

‘I am giving it back. This just doesn’t feel right.’

‘Two words: Alice Nash.’

‘Bugger.’

Savage moved forward and reached the door. An inch open, a thin line of black revealing nothing about what lay on the other side. She pushed with her foot and the door swung wide. A humming filled the air now and some flickering neon lights glowed green, orange and red. Savage fumbled for a light switch.

The square room measured about four metres a side. Around the edge of the room several chest freezers stood against the walls and snake-like tails led from each to a jumble of adapters plugged into a socket on one wall. The freezers didn’t look like the sort you would have at home, they were bigger, more industrial, more clinical. One, two, three… six.

‘Bloody hell, ma’am,’ Calter whispered. ‘Are you thinking what I am thinking?’

‘I am thinking how many mispers we have who had connections to nurseries or were au pairs or childminders or babysitters.’

‘Exactly.’

Savage stepped over to the nearest of the freezers. A green neon light shone out from the handle. It was the locking type but the key was in the lock. She turned the key and the latch slid back. She grabbed the handle and heaved the lid up until it opened on the built-in springs. What the unit contained was unexpected and brought a gasp from Calter.