Death and Deception (29 page)

Tom Garrett was a father of three, all teenagers now, but he couldn’t even begin to imagine how he would feel if a police officer had knocked on his door with the news that one of his kids had been involved in this kind of abuse. It was going to be a long hard night for some families.

He nudged Oliver who followed the children’s progress up the drive, and they got their first view of Irina Akis as she opened the front door.

‘Sniper One, close up on the suspect’s face, now.’

Garrett turned towards the seated officer and stared at the screen. A blurred picture was instantly relayed. She refined the picture and a coldly beautiful, Slavic blonde stared out at them, smiling for the children. As the woman ushered them in, she cast a quick glance around the garden, and shut the door behind them.

Within thirty minutes, he watched the men arrive who paid for the opportunity to abuse children. Three cars, five men. They drove around to the back of the house, parked and got out. They were carrying cans and bottles. Sniper Two, lying flat on top of the milking parlour got clear pictures of three of the men, which he sent back to headquarters so they could be checked against the Sex Offenders’ Register. Garrett’s heart thudded against his ribs. Got the bastards.

The voice of Carl Manley, the Vice Squad Officer, came over the speaker.

‘I recognise one of the men, Ma’am. Andrew Falkirk. I arrested him last June but he got off with a warning. Kid’s family wouldn’t go to court. Got the bastard now, though.’

Oliver sniffed, ‘Yes, we have, Sergeant Manley, but don’t go jumping in there too soon. We want all of them, preferably alive so they can face prosecution. I don’t think they’re going to wriggle out of this one.’

She glanced at Tom Garrett. She didn’t know him very well, but she was just about to put her team’s safety into his hands. She hoped his reputation was justified. Before she could speak, however, her phone rang. Garrett watched her face change from incredulity to horror as she listened to her Sergeant. Her hand shook as she put the phone down.

‘Are you alright, Ma’am?’ he asked.

‘No, Tom, I’m not.’ She looked over his shoulder at the farmhouse behind him. ‘The taller, fair-haired girl who has just walked through that door is the sister of our murdered girl, Carly Braithwaite. And if that’s not a sick enough coincidence for you, it looks like she might also be her sister’s murderer.’

Oliver experienced a series of almost physical jolts as several pieces of this frustrating mess fell into place. Jed Abrams was the key to all of this. Dan’s hunch was right. Abrams was the one who linked it all together. The one responsible for Ian’s death. And he must have recruited Jenna. When or how, she would work out later. For now, she was glad they had him safely in custody.

She focussed on the hands of her watch, willing the agreed fifteen minutes to pass.

Then, ‘Go, Tom. Go now. Get the sick bastards.’ Eyes clear now, breathing under control, she moved to the window and stared through her binoculars as her colleague assumed command.

The sun had retreated behind the trees at the front of the house, throwing the backyard into shadow. Team 1, led by Duncan Lake, rolled over the hedge and scrambled in silence towards the back door. Lake pushed at the door and it fell open an inch.

Team 2 followed Carl Manley at a low run along the nearside of the stone wall separating the two farmhouses, and waited for the signal to cross the wall and enter at the front door.

Team 3 moved into position at the rear of the house, ready to capture anybody trying to escape.

On the ‘go’ signal, Lake pushed the door wide, swept a glance round the kitchen and slipped into the hallway. Pelakais was waiting in the hall as instructed. Lake gestured at him to get down on the floor, left one of his team to cuff him and opened the front door to admit Team 2. They could hear laughing and the noise of a television coming from the living room to their right.

Team 2 positioned themselves at the door and waited for the signal to go in. Manley could hear at least four voices. They were watching the football. Manley flexed his fingers around the gun, and wiped sweat from his top lip with his free hand. Lake nodded to him, raised his hand in a “wait until I give the order” motion, and waved his own team onward.

Team 1 ascended the stairs. As Lake paused to work out which bedroom the others were in, the bedroom door to his left opened, and out walked a little boy. He stood at the top of the stairs and looked down. He didn’t seem to know what to do about a group of armed men pressing themselves to the wall. Lake smiled and made a ‘shushing’ motion, placing a finger to his lips. The little boy smiled back, and waved. Calmly, he wandered back inside the room where he let out a huge wail, and called for his mum.

Lake whispered a command and Manley and his team burst into the living room. Two of the men were up and out of their chairs in seconds, scrabbling to get away from the machine guns and the copper with the mad glint in his eye. The other two couldn’t move, rooted to the sofa, mouths slack with fear.

Manley dragged them to the middle of the room, cuffed them with relish and laughed as the men began their protests. He laughed again when he realised that Andrew Falkirk must be upstairs, being filmed.

‘Got you now, Falkirk,’ he yelled at the ceiling, spinning the last one around and pushing him to the end of the line. ‘You won’t get a clever barrister to overturn this conviction.’ He grinned, ‘You won’t terrify the witness into withdrawing their statement this time, you sick shit.’ He stopped and eyed all four men, now standing silent in a terrified row. He realised that the other members of his team were uncomfortable with his outburst, but he didn’t care. He felt jubilant.

‘You couldn’t pick this lot out in a paedo parade, could you?’ He looked at the PC guarding the door. ‘They look so normal. Makes it worse, somehow, that they could be someone’s dad or husband. Let’s get the bastards locked up. Collect all their belongings.’

He turned to the other officer. ‘PC Salter,’ he said, ‘call for one of the vans. It’ll be a long night in the cells for this lot, and then a nice stretch at Her Majesty’s pleasure.’

In the upstairs bedroom, the situation was different. Lake peered through the narrow gap the boy had left. A little girl was on the bed with a large, jowly man whom they took to be Andrew Falkirk. The blonde woman, Irina Akis, was leaning over the side of the bed, holding the naked child still. A film camera was balanced on a tripod next to her. He could just see the bare leg of one of the older girls, perched on a tapestry cushion, and in front of her, the wailing boy. Irina shouted over her shoulder for Grigor, but her voice died in her throat as the door slammed open and the barrel of a gun came through it. The man on the bed cowered away, covering his nakedness and shrivelling erection with a lace cushion.

Irina acted instantly, and in her own interest. She dropped the little girl, picked up the movie camera and threw it as hard as she could at the door, crashing it shut onto Lake’s hand. Then she slipped into the bathroom and out through the casement window onto the eaves. Pressing herself flat, she slid down through the shadows at the rear of the house.

In the yard, DC Sam Knowles had jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine of the Mercedes van, intending to drive it to the Station for forensic examination. He was trying to put it into reverse when his door was wrenched open and he was dragged by his hair from the seat. Irina was in the car and had slammed the door shut before he could even raise a shout.

Sam scrambled to his feet and ran to stand in front of the van, waving his arms and yelling to attract attention.

‘Stop!’ he yelled at Irina. Then, wildly, ‘Someone stop her. She can’t get away!’

In the attic bedroom, Garrett barked orders at Team 3.

Officers ran from the fields towards the revving Mercedes.

‘What the hell is she trying to do?’ Sam screamed.

What Irina was doing was taking the initiative, thought Garrett, as he saw her make a tight reversing left turn that took the front side panel off the Mercedes on the rear bumper of a parked car. She drove straight through the hedge, scattering Team 3 and forcing the van into a sharp left as she bumped her way over the ploughed field towards the lane. Sam could hear the DVDs sliding around in the back of the van and slamming against the sides.

‘She’s getting away,’ he wailed, his anguish clear in his voice.

Garrett barked at sniper Two, ‘Suspect escaping in black van. Take out her tyres. I repeat, disable the vehicle. DC Knowles, get a grip, man. You’re not helping by stating the obvious.’

Irina judged the low stone wall in front of her. If she could smash her way through it, she could be gone before they were even in their cars. She accelerated towards the wall and was thrown hard against the steering wheel as the front of the van buckled against the ancient granite. She reversed and went again, and again. After the third ramming, enough wall collapsed to let her roll over the top of the rubble, engine roaring. She turned a crazily sharp left and felt the back tyre blow as she straightened up. She fought to control the steering as the DVDs and the loose recorders smashed against the van wall. She wasn’t stopping for anybody. This was her last trip. She was going to Sweden to be with her child. She renewed her efforts to control the veering van and get out onto the lane.

Stuck in the small attic bedroom, Oliver remembered that Dan and Sally were on their way.

She rang Sally.

‘Yes Ma’am?’ came the calm voice.

‘Where are you?’ Oliver shook. She could see the Merc breaking through the wall and turning onto the lane.

‘Almost there, I can see the Farmer’s place. What’s happening?’

‘Sally,’ Oliver shouted. ‘Get out of the car, now!’ Sally stared at the phone and up the lane. Dan looked over at her.

‘What?’

‘Oliver says we have to...’

At that moment the battered van came barrelling towards them, swerving across the lane on blown tyres and smacking into the hedges like a drunk in a pub toilet. Dan reacted on impulse. He braked, slapped the seatbelt holders and pushed Sally out of her door. Then, he slewed the car sideways across the lane and threw himself out of the passenger door as the Mercedes ploughed into the driver’s side of the Audi.

Oliver watched from the window. She screamed a helpless ‘No!’ as she saw what Hellier had done.

Garrett didn’t react. He was still watching the van. He saw the door open and a slight figure stagger out and limp off across the field. ‘She’s still alive, Ma’am. She’s going to try to run for it. Just give the order.’

Oliver didn’t hesitate. How could this foreign bitch come into her city and hurt children and hurt her people?

‘Shoot her, Tom.’

Sniper One took two shots to bring her down. One to the thigh, and one to the shoulder. She limped another six feet before her knees buckled and she dropped.

Garrett yelled. ‘Get out there and arrest her, Team 3. Don’t hang about for Christ’s sake!’

Bennett and Larcombe were first on the lane. They abandoned their patrol cars and ran. When they reached the crash site there was nowhere to pass. The wreckage of the van and the destroyed Audi filled the entire lane. Bennett picked up a piece of the Mercedes’ offside panel and used it to break open a hole in the hedge large enough to let them squeeze through. The scene on the other side was a disaster.

Bill Larcombe would say later he felt his heart stop when he saw Sally Ellis lying on the ground a few metres away.

He groaned, ‘No, not Sally. Not her as well.’

He knelt beside her and felt for a pulse. To his relief it was strong, but she was bleeding from a wound on the back of her head. Had probably knocked herself out. He took off his jacket and used it to cradle her head. Sally opened her eyes slowly.

‘I’ve been having such a weird dream,’ she said to him, her voice high and shaky. ‘Why am I lying on the ground?’

‘You’ve just had a little car accident. Don’t worry, soon get you sorted out.’ He rang Oliver and gave her the good news before he rang 999. Then he stood and looked round for Ben. And where was the Boss?

The force of the Mercedes hitting the Audi had not been so very great. The van was hardly under control and could not have accelerated much. However, it had been moving fast enough to destroy the driver’s side of the car and shunt it into the hedge.

Dan was lying at the side of the road, his legs trapped under the passenger-side door. He hadn’t quite made it. He was stroking what was left of the bonnet. His beautiful car, ruined. Ben Bennett was standing next to him, watching the tears slip down his boss’s face.

‘I think you might have a bit of concussion, Boss,’ he was saying, ‘it’s only a car.’

Date: Wednesday 25
^th
April Time: 22.13 Exeter Road Police Station

DC Sam Knowles sat on a chair in the corner, watching the Sergeant processing the men arrested at the scene. Superintendent Oliver had asked him to oversee the process, and to come back up to the main office once they were all safely locked up for the night. It was too late to do anything other than charge them and put them in a cell, but Sam was happy with that.

Colin White had agreed to take an extra shift to charge the men and sent one of the night-shift boys to the Hospital to guard the woman.

‘How you doing, Sam?’ he asked.

Sam winced. He was in quite a lot of pain where the Latvian mad woman had yanked out a lump of hair and some of his scalp, but he was bearing his injuries stoically.

‘I’m alright, Sarge, thanks for asking.’

‘Only you’re looking a bit peaky, lad. Were you OK out there?’

Sam nodded. ‘Yeah, it was quite exciting, actually. 'Specially when the Snipers took out the foreign woman - hoo wee!’

He’d been out in the field and done well, apart from the embarrassing bit where he may have got a bit upset.

Lizzie popped down with a mug of tea and smiled at him.

‘You’ll need to be de-briefed before you go home, Sam,’ she said. That felt good, too.