Abandoned (21 page)

This suddenly stirred something in Georgie. ‘You know you said that Mr Lee was previously in the military, which suggests you researched his past?’

‘Yeah, well obviously! And?’

‘Did you look into his childhood also? And did you speak to anybody in his regiment that might shed some light on his character and why he left?’

Taylor sensed she was onto something as he realised he never had any details on Charles before joining the army…very strange.

Taylor and Georgie then went back to the station to ask his team to run a full background check on Mr Charles Lee, and told them to get back on the phone to the people at the deed poll office and see if they could offer anything else on either Jonathon McMullen or Charles Lee. He then told Georgie that he would come back to the hotel with her and get a full written and recorded statement from their witness to have ready to hand into the CPS as soon as the time comes.

***

On the opposite side of the city to where Taylor and Georgie had been questioning Charles, Chief Inspector Messenger had got out of his own personal car and, in plain clothes and pulling on a baseball cap in an effort to disguise his recently high profile face, cautiously
approached the entrance of the hotel. He made his way to the second floor bedroom where he had seen Georgie through her window whilst he’d sat anxiously observing from the car park.

‘Room service,’ he said as he knocked on the door.

The woman was slightly alarmed at this; she certainly hadn’t ordered any room service as she didn’t want to abuse Georgie’s hospitality and trust. A second knock rang out and the woman nervously made her way toward the locked door and took a look through the spy hole. She could make out the figure of a man. He had his back to her so she could not be sure if it was genuinely room service or somebody coming to harm her.

‘I’m sorry but you have the wrong room, I didn’t order any room service,’ she called back in an attempt to get the man to turn and face her.

Messenger was getting angry now; he did not want to be out in the corridor any longer and draw attention to himself so turned and faced the door, not realising she was looking right at him from behind it. As she realised just exactly who it was she let out a slight gasp, which immediately informed Messenger that she knew who he was and his reason for being there. With that in mind, and not wanting to give her the time to call for help, he looked both ways to see that nobody was looking, and with one swift kick he booted open the door, which smacked back into the woman’s face.

He immediately recognised her as one of his victims as he made his way inside, closing the door behind him. She desperately tried to scramble to her feet as he approached her, taking out a length of rope from his pocket as he neared.

‘Please, stop!’ she begged, as he silently and purposefully positioned the rope around her neck, then proceeded to pull the ends tightly around her throat, cutting off her air supply in doing so.

He watched as her face reddened and she started to lose consciousness due to her lack of oxygen, and held his stance until she had totally given into it and her
body went limp. In that instance he heard voices coming from the corridor; he let the rope slacken and removed it completely, placing it back in his pocket. He then went and looked through the spy hole. Fortunately for him it was just a passing couple making their way back to their room, and as soon as they closed their door behind them, he opened the door to the room he was in and made his way into the corridor, closing the door behind him again, safe in the knowledge that she would never be able to speak out against his crimes ever again.

As Taylor and Georgie made their way towards the hotel, Taylor instantly spotted Messenger’s Audi as it teared away down the road that led into the carpark entrance, heading in the opposite direction of where they were going. Taylor knew straight away that the woman had possibly been harmed or even killed, and immediately informed Georgie to call an ambulance on the off chance that she might still be alive. He also knew in that moment that Messenger was fully aware of what he and Georgie were trying to accomplish and would without doubt try and do everything in his power to stop himself from being exposed, but also do his utmost to discredit not only Taylor, but Georgie also.

Everything depended on what state they found the witness in, and the two of them ran inside the hotel, pushing past everyone in their way as they did so, in a desperate attempt to try and help the woman. As they nervously opened the door they both looked at each other and thought they were too late, as they was greeted by the sight of her laying on the floor in only a dressing gown to cover her modesty, totally unconscious and foaming at the mouth.

Georgie immediately sprang into action as Taylor got back on the phone to check how long the ambulance would be. Georgie felt enormous guilt, as she felt responsible for being a part of the circumstances that enabled this to happen.

She looked up at Taylor. ‘It doesn’t look good, I can’t find a pulse!’ She was determined to try and keep the woman alive though, and started to administer CPR until the paramedics attended on scene a few minutes later.

Taylor just stood there, feet firmly rooted to the floor as he watched and hoped and prayed that she would pull through — not just for her sake, but so he could bring the bastard, Messenger, to his knees!

The attending paramedics tried relentlessly to
resuscitate the woman for what seemed like an eternity as the pair of Taylor and Riley looked on in sheer hope that she would make it. The lead paramedic had given up as his efforts to resuscitate had all failed, and was just about to pronounce the woman dead, when all of a sudden her foot involuntarily moved, forcing him to re-check to see if she was breathing. He could not believe it as he found the slightest trace of a pulse and shouted at his colleague to get the stretcher as he put an oxygen mask over her face.

Georgie insisted she would stay with the woman on the way to the hospital and until she regained consciousness, if at all, to avoid any further harm coming to her. Taylor, as in any other case, called for forensics and another team of detectives to come and gather evidence.

***

After Taylor handed over the crime scene to his colleagues from CID, he decided to make his way back to the station to face Messenger, knowing full well that he was now probably going to be taken off the case.

‘Still nothing on Jonathon McMullen, sir,’ came a voice from one of his junior staff as he made his way towards the Chief Inspector’s office.

Messenger beckoned him in through the window and Taylor entered the office and slammed the door shut behind him. Messenger immediately started to question his detective on what he had been told from all the names they had interviewed regarding their time at the Beatties’.

‘I know everything,
sir
!’ he angrily snapped back at Messenger, desperately resisting the urge to beat his boss to a bloody pulp and arrest him in front of all the other officers. However, he knew at this point that without the witness’ statement, he had nothing concrete on Messenger and he would probably walk free if correct procedures didn’t take place.

‘Well you tell me what you think you know, and I
will tell you what I know,’ Messenger provokingly asked Taylor.

‘I know that you are a fucking disgusting piece of shit, that has raped and tortured innocent children for the past twenty-five years, and have totally abused your position of trust! I also know that, you and your so-called “respectable” friends have run a secret paedophile ring for all this time, and it is just a matter of time before I expose you all for what you are!’

‘Is that so, Detective?’ Messenger replied smugly. ‘Now let me tell you what I know, shall I? He reached into his desk, removed a large envelope and passed it to Taylor to look at.

‘What is this?’ Taylor asked nervously.

‘Why don’t you take a look inside and find out for yourself?’

Taylor hesitantly opened the package and removed its contents. He was shocked to see semi-naked pictures of himself and Georgie from the night he spent in her hotel room. He realised somebody had obviously crept in as they slept and taken the pictures without them knowing.

This case was far too big to just let go of, but on the other hand it would break his wife’s heart to once again discover he had been unfaithful. Also, he didn’t want Georgie’s career destroyed over one drunken mistake. Taylor found himself in a dilemma as he contemplated which way to play his next move.

‘What do you think your wife would think if she was to wake up to these through her letterbox tomorrow morning, Taylor?’ Messenger sneered. ‘Better yet, what do you think the papers will make of them when they realise that instead of tracking down a killer, you and Miss Riley have been drunkenly cavorting in hotel rooms like teenagers?’

Taylor was extremely annoyed at himself now; he knew he should have conducted himself more professionally, and knew that Georgie would not want naked pictures of herself that could possibly destroy her career in the national news.

‘You see, Detective, you’re not the only smart one around here. You might have been investigating me, but I was also following your every move and everything you spoke of on the phone… Just one last thing before you leave, Detective Taylor.’

‘Which is?’ Taylor replied, defeated.

‘If you thought for one second that that stupid woman was going to bring me down, then you were sadly mistaken. It’s just a shame that she will never be able to give you any more information now, isn’t it?’

‘Actually,
sir
, there is a good chance that she may pull through, and I hope and pray that she does so I can bring you down!’

‘Needless to say, Taylor, you are now officially off the case. As of now you are on permanent vacation — that’s not a request, it is an order. Now get the fuck out of my sight!’ Messenger tried to play it cool, but deep down he was raging with himself for not finishing the woman off properly and putting an end to all of this.

***

As Taylor cleared his desk, one of the officers from his team came in to see him and update him on the progress of the hunt for the killer.

‘Sir, after speaking with the guys at the deed poll office, they have confirmed that Charles Lee was definitely known by another name at some point as they have details on his name transfer. Unfortunately though, they seem to have misplaced all the documentation of what his previous name was. They have told me that they will try their best to locate it over the next few days and will contact us as soon as they find anything.’

‘Good work, Detective,’ Taylor replied. He explained that Messenger had just taken him off the case, and proceeded to tell him that although he wouldn’t be in the office, he would still be continuing with his investigations into the case from the outside, and instructed his junior that if him and the others find out any more information they
should contact him directly and not give this information to Messenger. He couldn’t let him know the reasons why, but just asked the man to trust his judgement, as he had done so many times in the past, to great success.

‘You got it, Boss.’ The junior detective knew that Taylor was a brilliant detective and a good boss, and knew he must have good reasons for his actions.

Meanwhile at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary, a guilt-ridden Georgina Riley sat attentively outside the room of the witness, tirelessly waiting for any signs of her pulling through. This was their doing, hers and Taylor’s. They both had blood on their hands if this woman didn’t make it. What a tragic shame it would be if she passed away at the hands of one of the people that subjected her to a catalogue of abuse as a child, someone who subjected her to a lifetime of fear. Georgie seriously contemplated walking away from Taylor and the case, but stopped herself; she knew she would never be able to live with herself and conscience if she didn’t help Detective Taylor get justice for the victims and rid Cumbria of these vile predators.

It was at this point that Taylor called Georgie and informed her that Messenger had taken him off the case. That meant she was, too. He then nervously explained to her about the pictures he had just seen from their night in her hotel room. Georgie didn’t know how to respond, and Taylor could tell by the silence on the end of the line that she was completely in shock, and told her he was on his way over to the hospital to see her.

When he arrived, he immediately made his way down the corridor towards where Georgie was seated with her head in her hands. He could clearly make out that she had been crying and he instantly sat next to her and put his arm around her in a comforting manner. It was at this point that Georgie threw her arms around him and clung tight as she broke down in his arms and realised she was in way over her head and admitted to Taylor that she was scared, scared that some of these powerful men might be intending to come after her next and told him that she
did not feel safe. Taylor tried his best to reassure her that he would keep her safe, but she knew that even he could not protect her if they were to target her next.

Taylor couldn’t think of anything else to say other than, ‘Come and stay at my house, just until this is all over.’ He knew it was far too unsafe for her to return to her hotel room. Just look at what had happened to the witness!

‘Thanks, Taylor. It’s a kind offer and I know you mean well, but I just couldn’t look your wife in the eyes knowing what we did.’

He knew she was right; he had not thought that far ahead.

‘So what are you going to do?’

‘Well, I am not leaving this hospital until she wakes up, that’s for sure. I can’t bear the thought of leaving her vulnerable and alone twice, knowing that we put her in this position when she was trying to help us!’

‘And what have the doctors said?’

‘They’re still not sure if she will pull through, as they can’t be certain how long it was before she was resuscitated. They’ve also said that, because they can’t be sure how long her brain was starved of oxygen, they don’t know if she will be in a vegetative state if she was to wake up.’