“Everything all right, Lorne?”
She waved her hand at him, released Denis, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her protective suit. “We’ll be fine. Won’t we, Denis?”
He nodded and gave Sean a thumbs-up. Reluctantly, Lorne’s temporary partner left them to it and descended the ladder again.
Lorne held Denis by the shoulders. “Okay, we’re going to force ourselves to do this. Or would you rather I looked through it myself?”
“No. We’ll do this together. I can do this. I will confront what they’ve hidden from us all for years.”
“Good man.” She returned to the chore of sifting through the contents once more. She gathered all the photos of the children and placed them on the floor to the side of her. After Lorne removed the picture of the last child, what she revealed next, made Lorne want to vomit a second time. “Holy shit! Sick effing bastards!” Dozens and dozens of Kodak pictures of both Platts holding up dead animals filled her vision. It was Lorne’s turn to look up at the roof and call out in a heart rendering cry, “Why?”
Denis gasped and ran his fingers over the pictures. “All my pets over the years. They killed them. Every time one went missing, they said that they’d visited the vets to put the animals to sleep, or in some cases said that the animals had run off. Nothing could be further from the truth. They killed them all.”
“I run a rescue centre with my husband and daughter. I despise any form of animal abuse. You know what they say about serial killers, don’t you?”
“I heard it on
CSI: Miami
the other night. Most of them begin by practising on animals.”
Lorne picked up the photos and placed them in another pile beside her, wondering what their removal from the case would reveal next. Thankfully, beneath lay piles of documents. At first glance, Lorne could tell that most of the paperwork was to do with the couple’s fostering obligations. “Birth certificates.” She handed those to Denis.
“These are of my siblings. My sister Jill had the sense to get out when she was sixteen. Strange that she hasn’t taken her birth certificate with her, don’t you think?”
“Yes, she would have needed that to get on in life. When did she leave? Do you remember?”
He contemplated her question for a few seconds. “Around ten years ago.”
“Has she been in touch since her departure?”
“No. I always thought it was because I had remained in contact with my parents and she disapproved of that.”
“I’ll see if we can track her down for you.”
“That would be wonderful to be reunited with her. She suffered the most at
his
hands. He raped her constantly. I used to lay there every night, listening out for her muffled screams. There wasn’t a night I didn’t hear them.”
“What happened the day she left?”
“Nothing. She packed a bag without saying anything to any of us and just left.”
“Who could blame her after going through that ordeal? I think I would have done the same, given the circumstances.”
Denis nodded and looked down at the certificates again. He paused and took a closer look at the next one in the pile. “It’s mine.” His gaze met Lorne’s, his eyes the size of dinner plates. “I don’t have the same name as my parents.”
“What?” Lorne snatched the cream-coloured sheet from his hand and looked for herself.
“What does this mean? That I’m adopted?”
“I have no idea. Now we have this, we can do some digging. Tell me if the other certificates seem in order?”
Denis quickly riffled through the rest of them then placed them in his lap. “They appear to be okay.”
“Good, at least that’s some good news.” Lorne searched the case again and pulled out a small hard-backed notebook. “What’s this?”
Denis shrugged. “Open it and see.”
Lorne flipped open the first page. It seemed to be in date order. There were names and addresses, although the addresses appeared to be shortened, as if they were in code. She would have to delve into that once she was back at the station. The dates ran from 1995. Lorne flicked through the sheets to the end of the book and almost dropped it when she saw the previous week’s date. She had already guessed what she was witnessing. This was a record of abuse.
Denis grabbed the book from her hand and turned to the front of it again. He prodded at a name on the page. “I know him… he was a frequent visitor to the house.”
Lorne swallowed before she asked, “Did he abuse you, Denis?”
“Yes. He raped all of us at one time or another.”
Lorne gently relieved him of the book again. “This is all the evidence we need to literally throw the book at them. We’ve got it. Be happy in the knowledge that they will never see the light of day again, Denis. Never.”
Denis shook his head. “But you haven’t got Platt, Lorne. Look at that book, the names, the contacts he has. One or all of those people listed will hide him if he asked them to. You’ll never find him.” He ran a distraught gloved hand through his hair, wincing as the plastic pulled some hair from the roots.
“Nonsense. We’re so close to him right now. Please, Denis, don’t give up on us. Everyone tracking him is aware of how dangerous he is. They’ll do everything they can to prevent him from escaping a second time.”
“I hope you’re right, Lorne. I dread to think of the consequences if he does manage to get away.”
Lorne nodded solemnly. “Let’s gather this lot together and get out of here, yes?”
Denis’s gaze homed in on another suitcase, and he pointed at it. “Can we look in here first?”
“Of course.” Lorne shuffled across the boards on her knees and flicked a similar catch on the second suitcase. “
Shit
!” She shouted as she revealed the contents and stumbled backwards.
“Shit!” Denis mumbled as he caught her.
Chapter Eighteen
Neither Lorne nor Denis could hold back the vomit when they realised what they’d stumbled across. The skeleton had belonged to an infant child. Anyone would be able to work that out without the need of a pathologist’s expert view.
Sean rushed up the ladder again and entered the attic space. He peered over Lorne’s shoulder and gasped. “Jesus!”
“We need to get out of here, Sean. Leave everything as it is and call Patti up here.”
The three of them climbed back down the ladder, each visibly shaking from head to toe.
“What is it? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost,” Sam said, throwing an arm around Denis’s waist to support him.
Denis buried his head in his hands, and muffled words tumbled out of his mouth, “It’s all up there, even the remains of one of the children.”
“No! Oh, Denis, I’m so sorry.” Sam kissed his cheek.
Lorne and Sean left the couple and ran down the stairs and into the basement. “Patti. Sorry to interrupt, but you’ll want to hear this.”
Patti groaned as she stood and marched over to them. “I am busy here, Lorne, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I know, I know! You need to do a thorough search of the loft, too.”
Patti tilted her head. “Enlighten me? Not that I wasn’t going to do that anyway.”
“We just found an infant’s skeleton shoved in a suitcase. There could be more. I didn’t get a chance to search everywhere. I thought it imperative to get everyone out of there ASAP.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Damn, how many frigging more are we going to find?”
“I dread to think. We’ve found a book with a list of names, addresses, and amounts in it. I’m thinking it was some kind of record of abuse. Denis confirmed that he was regularly abused by one man on the first page of the book. Can your guys note it down as evidence? I need to take it with me, though, if that’s okay? I promise no one will touch it without gloves on.”
“Very well, it’s obviously an important part of your investigation. Jesus, we’re talking about some warped fucking people here, aren’t we?”
“And this is just the beginning. There’s a bunch of birth certificates up there, too. My take is that you’ll be able to match up some of the remains to them. Here’s another thing—Denis found his certificate and has just discovered he has a different name.”
“Did he go through the system? Did they adopt him?”
“Not that he can remember. He’s always regarded the Platts as his own mother and father. It was a total shock to him. That poor man, and then to witness what he’s just seen… I can’t begin to imagine what’s going through his mind at the moment.”
Patti shook her head. “Talking of fathers, any news on him?”
“I’m just going to ring the station now, although I think they would have informed me if he’d been caught.”
“Okay, let’s get this noted down, and then you can leave. Mick, can you deal with this for me?”
The technician stepped forward, clipboard in hand, and noted the evidence, then he placed it in an envelope for Lorne.
“Thanks. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Sam and Denis had made their way downstairs and were standing in the hallway when Lorne and Sean returned to the kitchen. “Do you think we should take them into protective custody until Platt is found?” Lorne asked.
“Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea, in light of what we’ve just uncovered. I’ll get onto it when we get back to the station. They can accompany us. They’ll be safer there than at their flat.”
“I’ll see if they’re agreeable. You could always try and make the arrangements from your car. It’ll save some time.” Lorne smiled and winked at him.
“Okay. Give me ten minutes and then join me. The sooner we get back, the better.”
“I’ll tell them. Be with you soon.”
Sean stripped off his suit and left the house. Lorne took Sam and Denis into the lounge, where she and Denis discarded the used suits into a black bag.
Lorne explained what she and Sean had discussed. “Is that all right with you both? You’ll be safer, and I’ll have peace of mind knowing that you’re safe.”
Denis held Sam’s hand tightly. Together, they nodded. “I think it’s for the best, until he’s behind bars,” Denis agreed.
“That’s great news. My boss is sorting that out now. He should have it sorted within the next few minutes—”
Her mobile rang and she strode out to the hallway to take the call. “AJ? Tell me it’s good news. I couldn’t handle anymore shit right now.”
“It is, boss. They’ve caught them. Platt and Porter. They’re being transported to the remand centre now.”
“Thank God for that. Any casualties?”
“A few men with cuts and bruises, nothing major. The same can’t be said for the suspects, though. They’ll need a spell in the remand centre’s hospital wing for a day or two.” AJ sniggered.
“Saved me a job of beating the crap out of them,” Lorne replied, relief flooding through every vein. “We’ll be back soon. Any news on the warrant for those files yet?”
“More good news I wanted to tell you about. It came through around fifteen minutes ago. I’ve sent Stephen and Graham over there to pick the files up. Hope that was okay?”
“Brilliant! Well done, you. See you in a while.”
Lorne hung up, poked her head round the lounge door, and told the hugging couple, “They’ve got him. We’ve got him. You’re safe, at last.” Then she left the elated couple and went outside to the car. Lorne motioned for Sean to end his call.
He hopped out of the car and frowned. “Why? Have they got him?”
“Yes. I’ve informed Denis and Sam. There’s no need for you to organise the safe house now.”
“Brilliant. Back to the station now, yes?”
“Yep. One last thing I need to tell Patti. I’ll be with you in two minutes.”
Lorne flew down the stairs as if she’d grown a pair of eagle wings. Patti was as relieved as Lorne to hear the news of Platt’s arrest, and she promised to ring Lorne later that evening with an update.
The incident room had a different aura about it when Lorne and Sean arrived twenty minutes later. Stephen and Graham were right behind them, carrying a bulging archive box full of files.
“Jesus! How many kids have these guys fostered over the years?” Lorne asked, shaking her head, her eyes misting up easily again.
Stephen shrugged. “We won’t know until we begin sifting through this lot.”
Lorne looked at the clock on the wall—it was almost seven o’clock. “Okay, I need to take a vote. Who’s up for pulling an all-nighter? I’ll dip my hand in my pocket and supply a takeaway later for those willing to stay.”
“No, you won’t. I will,” Sean butted in, raising his hand. “Come on, guys, anyone else willing to give up their comfortable evening and warm bed?”
“If you put it like that, I’m in,” AJ said.
The rest of the team followed suit, and Lorne’s chest puffed up with pride. However, it quickly deflated when she realised she would have to ring home and break the news to Tony.
Sean nudged her in the back. “Go on, get it out of the way.”
Lorne went through to Katy’s office and closed the door. Picking up the landline, she rang home.
Tony answered after the first ring, as if he’d been waiting for her call. “Hi, love. How was your day?” Lorne asked.
“Frustrating. Yours?”
“Gratifying, heart-breaking. It swung between both of them, really. Umm… I need to pull an all-nighter.”
“What? You’re winding me up, right?”
“No, sorry. What we’ve uncovered is absolutely deplorable, Tony. If I didn’t stay here and thrash my way through it, I wouldn’t be able to shut off my mind and sleep anyway.”
“Shit! Really? It’s that bad?”
“It honestly is. I’ll make it up to you at the weekend, I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that. Charlie just told me how excited she is about having time off and going away. I thought then that she wouldn’t be the only one.”
“Cheeky. Okay, better fly. See you tomorrow.”
“Ouch, that sounds awful.”
“Yeah, forget I said that. See you in a few hours. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Lorne walked back into the incident room. The first thing that caught her eye was how unhappy Sean looked when he hung up the phone.
“Carmen’s not a happy bunny, I take it?”
“Hardly, the baby has been playing up all day with teething pains. I feel guilty as bloody sin now.”
“Damn, sorry to hear that. She would have been looking forward to you doing the nightshift there, instead of here.”
“Never mind. We’ll get over it. What’s first on the agenda?”
“I need to get the team searching the net for research purposes then. If you like, we can tackle that pile of files together?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope, I’m
Acting
DI, remember? You’re my partner.”
“Thought you might remind me of that one. Glad you didn’t disappoint.”
“Okay, attention please, peeps. Has everyone cleared it with home?” Lorne’s gaze swept across the room, and everyone nodded. “Great stuff. First of all, I need everyone to wear gloves when handling what’s in the envelope. Is that clear? Okay, AJ and Karen, I need you to see what you can dig up about the children using their birth certificates, all right?”
“Are we likely to find anything?” AJ asked, looking puzzled.
“I have no idea, AJ. All I know is that some of the certs go back years. They’re not all concerning recent foster children. Just see how you go, okay? Karen, I want you to look at one in particular for me.”
“Ma’am?”
“The one belonging to Denis, the Platts’ son. His birth certificate leads me to think they’re not his real parents. See what you can do for me?”
Karen sighed and shook her head in disgust. “I’ll do my very best.”
Lorne knew she would. “Stephen and Graham, I need you to go through this book. Try and decipher the addresses and let me have a list of the people noted down and whether they’re still around or not. Glancing through, I thought I spotted a few famous names in there. I hope I’m mistaken, but in light of the Jimmy Savile case, I’m not prepared to discount anyone from our enquiry at this point.”
“Okay, we’ll see what we can find out.”
Lorne went to lift the box of files onto the desk, but Sean, being the gentleman he was, pulled her aside and heaved it onto the desk beside her.
“I think we need more room.” She pulled the chairs out from underneath a few of the other tables and pushed three tables together. “That should do.” She sighed deeply enough for her cheeks to puff out. “Right, where do we begin?”
“At the beginning,” Sean said, ducking to avoid the inevitable swipe coming his way from Lorne.
She gave him a cheesy grin, a little light relief before they sank their teeth into the onerous task ahead of them. “Go and do something useful—buy us all a coffee.”
By the time Sean had bought and handed out the drinks to the team, Lorne had placed the files on the desks in date order. She opened a couple of files, and a frequent name jumped off the page at her. “Stephen, look out for this name—Sid Weston.”
“Nothing as yet, boss.”
“Okay, tell me right away if you find anything.”
Sean’s expression was one of confusion. “Why that name in particular?”
“Something Denis said about social workers being involved.” Lorne turned the file in front of her in his direction and pointed out the man’s name. “Here. I’ve already seen his name and signature on several other files, too.”
“Beggar’s belief that someone in that role can be linked to such heinous crimes against children.”
“Truthfully, nothing surprises me after what I’ve heard in the last few years. I wish capital punishment was still an option in this country. We need a deterrent of sorts. The gallows sounds a good enough one to me.”
“I can’t disagree with you there, Lorne.”
“If I had my way, anyone tampering with kids would be hanged as soon as they were arrested. There’s no smoke and all that.”
After an exhausting night, Lorne breezed through her tiredness and glanced around at her team. They’d done her proud. Each and every one of them had pulled out all the stops and achieved more than was expected of them in a working week, let alone twelve hours. Sean sent Graham for bacon rolls, and while they ate their breakfast, they summed up what they’d established so far. An adrenaline rush had pushed away any tiredness Lorne had expected to feel.
She walked over to the incident board. “Right, let’s try and make some sense of this.” She took a bite of her roll and pointed at AJ. “You start, AJ.”
“I’ve managed to locate some of the children they fostered in the system, but there are so many that I think it’s going to take me a full week to track all of them down—if they’re trackable, that is.”
“Okay, I’m not expecting miracles, so a few is a great start. At this point, I’m mainly interested in one in particular. Karen, any luck?”
Karen’s tired eyes met Lorne’s, and she smiled. “Just doing final checks now, but I think I’ve hit the jackpot.”
Lorne’s heart skipped several beats. “Really? That’s fantastic news. Well, between the rest of us, we’ve been appalled by what we’ve unearthed. The magnitude of this case has just gone through the roof and half way to the moon. The people, if you can call them that—I’d rather they were known as animals—have been fairly easy to identify, thanks to the way the Platts have listed them. Was that intentional on their part? Probably, I wouldn’t put it past them to do everything they could to implicate all concerned. None of them can be labelled as having morals, any of them. So, we have an extensive list of depraved human beings in some very high-profiled positions, including apparently the head of social services at the time. Sick shits, the lot of them! The chief even spotted a former superintendent in another force amongst the visitors to the house. Fortunately for him, he’s no longer with us. We’ll pass all the information onto the Paedophile Unit, let them deal with the lowlifes while we concentrate on the three murders of the tradesmen, for now, until Patti has identified the remains at the house.”
Sean nodded. “Good idea. I’d like to say something, if I may?”
Lorne propped her backside on the nearest desk. “Be my guest.”
“I’d just like to add my congratulations to the team for what you achieved last night. All of you have gone above and beyond on this one. I want to personally thank you for that. Lorne and Katy are always singing your praises, and after working with you closely this past week, I can totally understand why. I am extremely proud and honoured to have such a devoted and professional team working under me.”