Shallow Waters (18 page)

58

I
was at the hospital by seven a.m. I'd had six missed calls from Ethan
through the night and one withheld number. Another mental to-do was
created. The hospital smelled of floor antiseptic, whatever it is they
wash the bedding and gowns in, and sick people. Sick people have an
awful smell about them, like the illness is seeping out of their pores.
I felt rough but I'd made a conscious effort with my appearance that
morning; concealer and foundation attempting to cover narrow pink cuts.

Natalie
was still in the same room, but this time it was a different uniform
outside her door. I flashed my warrant card and walked in. Clear
plastic tubes ran over her body, keeping her alive. Her face was
relaxed and the harshness she portrayed when she talked money and her
missing child was gone. Her hands, pale with age spots, rested above
the cream weave of the hospital blanket. The severe red nail varnish
she wore had been removed and her hands looked sallow. She looked
pathetic. Weak and pathetic. I sat myself in a chair at the side of her
bed and let her know I was there. She didn't flinch. I took her hand in
mine. “Natalie? We have him Natalie. We have the man who hurt Allison.”
I stared long and hard at her. Waiting. She could hear me couldn't she?
They say hearing is the last sense to go and she wasn't about to go
anywhere. I waited some more, her hand limp in mine, her finger ends
curling downwards towards the blanket as I held her.

“Natalie,
it was Colin. I'm sorry.” I willed her to hear me. To react. “We have
him. He admitted everything. Hurting Allison and setting the hob on the
gas oven open. He wanted to destroy evidence and wasn't concerned if
you got caught up in it.” I studied her hard. There was no movement.
Nothing to suggest she had heard. “He was scared you knew what had been
happening and would link things together.  He tried to protect his
measly little life. He thought a gas leak wouldn't be identified as
arson. We have him though; he's going to prison and for a very long
time.”

Silence.

59

Sally walked into the incident room, shrugged off her jacket and threw it across the back of her chair as Grey entered.

“Sally,
how are you?” Grey approached, a smile widening his usually thin face.
He shook her hand. Her cheeks changed from a pale shade to rosy pink
dots. Crap, she would to have to attempt to control these bodily signs
that were trying to give her away.

“I'm
well thank you, Sir. I needed a couple of days rest. I'm now fit and
can't wait to help put this case together on Benn.” Ross had told her
the offender’s name, along with a lot of other information. There
wasn't a lot Ross hadn't told her. He was so giddy with the size of the
job, and the pressure that came from on high only served to increase
his eagerness.

“That's
good. We've a strong team who work well, but all hands on deck is what
we like.” Grey paused, pushing back a silver strand of loose hair, “So
long as both you and your doctors are happy that you're fit to be here.
I know we all want this, but we don't want to push so hard we injure
one of our own, do we now?” His brow furrowed in a questioning look.

“Sir, I'm fine. The hospital released me.”

“Happy to hear it.”

Sally
sat at her desk and brought the computer to life. She felt uncertain.
Tom wasn't talking to her this morning. She put her hand on her stomach
but quickly pulled it away, looking around guiltily. She hated to
deceive her friends and co-workers like this, but once she'd finished
this job there would be no more secrets. She'd announce the happy news,
everyone would be pleased, and Tom would be talking to her again. She'd
take on mundane roles and after having the baby things would all return
to normal. She'd return to the unit and revise for her exams. People
did manage to juggle full time jobs and have a baby, so she didn't see
why she couldn't do it. It would be hard. She'd be tired, exhausted,
but she'd do it. So that would be normal, but with a baby to consider.

60

After
the hospital I had to attend court for Benn's remand application. All
went according to plan and a steady drive of ten minutes from the
magistrates’ court to Central police station found me back at the
office in no time at all. It would have taken half that, but traffic
was heavy and slow. The visit to Natalie had hardened my resolve to do
what could be done to locate the unknown girl. There was another family
out there suffering. Parents wondering where their daughter was and a
girl held in a cage with who knew how little time before she became
another statistic to be counted in government figures. We had little to
work on, with no specifics on the girl, which made it close to
impossible to search the National Missing Persons Bureau database. The
investigation into her identity had the feel of an impenetrable brick
wall. We were completing the case against Benn, getting justice for
Rosie and Allison, yet unable to make a real start on the girl in the
photograph.

The
kettle roared its way to boiling point, breaking into my thoughts. I
emptied its contents into the line-up of mugs on top of the
refrigerator, shouted for everyone to collect their own and to listen
up for the debrief on the case so far. I turned with hot mug in hand
and looked at the team. It had been a good job done by all.

At
this point I saw Sally in her chair. Because I hadn't expected to see
her and hadn't noticed her when I first walked in it was a jolt. She
had her head down and looked busy. I'd expected to speak to her before
her return, to be informed. Or maybe I felt ashamed. I hadn't made that
call to see how she was. After all we were in a car together when the
world went bang. She was either refusing to look at me or she really
was engrossed in what she was doing. I suspected the former, though I
was unsure why.

Ross
looked relaxed and happy and Aaron looked calm in his neat tie, tapping
at his keyboard. Once drinks were collected and the chatter had died
down I thanked everyone for their hard work, let them know we couldn't
slack off or let our guard down and we had to finish this investigation
properly by tying everything up neatly with the paperwork. It was an
exercise in team management. It was necessary and required; they knew
the drill. In the middle of the debrief I took another call on my
phone.
Withheld number
. 
Again silence greeted me. It was starting to become a bit too regular
for my liking. There was no way to identify where the call came from
and with the amount of people that had my work number, there was, at
this point, more to lose and nothing to gain from changing the number.
I just couldn't figure out who would call but not speak.

I
continued with the debrief. “The digital investigation unit are working
on identifying markers in the photograph of the unknown girl. There is
little we can do at this moment in time. What we have to focus on is
getting the file prepared and in order for the Crown Prosecutor. Once
we have something to go on from the photo we will deal with it. I know
you are desperate to find her and the people behind this. As soon as
the DIU come back to me you will be the first to know.” It was little
comfort but it was all we had. Knowing the girl was out there, held in
a cage, was frustrating, painful and personal. Aaron nodded, taking it
in his stride, acknowledging the boundaries in which we worked. Ross
verbalised his frustrations.

“Bastard fucking paedos. I'd like to put them in a cage and then leave them in an open prison, see how they like it.”

“Or
we could get the evidence against them and put them away for a very
long time,” I responded, not in annoyance, but in practical terms. They
needed to stay grounded and not too emotionally invested. It wouldn't
do them any good, but I realised they needed an outlet, a place to vent
and I had no issues with that in the safety of our working environment.

“Yeah, that,” answered Ross.  A pulse flicked in his jaw.

I
looked over at Sally. She had dropped her head at Ross's outburst. She
felt it, but didn't have the same level of comfort at verbalising it as
Ross did. I understood that. I compartmentalised, closed it off, shut
it down. It was how I could see the things I see and not internally
combust.

I took a black coffee into Grey, placed it in front of him and sat down. “Morning, Sir.”

“Morning,
Hannah. Good job well done with Benn. How did it go at court?” He
smiled with a natural easy smile. One that illustrated his relief at an
expeditious conclusion to a nasty high profile investigation. The media
hadn't been informed of the photograph. There was no need for them to
know,
“not in the public interest”
was
the term coined. Grey would give an interview and everyone would be
happy. The families would be forgotten by the public and life would
move on until the next big media sensation.

“It
went well,” I answered, “The remand application went through and he
hopefully won't see the light of day on the outside of those particular
walls again.” I placed my cup on his desk. “He didn't say anything in
court other than to offer his name and address.”

“Good
job. I'll let Claire know and we can reassure the public we have the
right man off the streets and the girls can now be put to rest.”

The
remainder of the day went by in a blur of paperwork, meetings and calls
with various agencies. The prosecution file was being put together; the
forensic evidence from the crime scenes, dump sites, bodies and
computers was coming in slowly but steadily. Several belts had been
recovered from Benn's address and forwarded to Jack to consider for
weapon match. A blanket had been found in the boot of his car along
with a plastic sheet. A pair of children's pants and vest were seized
from under his pillow. These were all processed by the Forensic Science
Service. Benn hadn't had a lot of time to plan for his crimes and was
sloppy with evidence. I didn't know how his fellow offenders were
thinking and what preventative measures they were taking.

The
image of the girl in the photograph wouldn't leave my mind. It was on
an endless loop. She was looking out of the cage waiting for me to come
and save her. How long would they keep her alive and would we ever find
her body should we not get to her in time? The Digital Investigation
Unit were working hard on it, I'd reassured my team they were, but it
was leaving me with a very uncomfortable and strung out feeling. The
image had been taken recently so I was holding on to hope she was still
alive, but I couldn't bank on it, not with the speed Benn had killed
Rosie and Allison. I had to address the issue of how quickly these
offenders progressed from torture to murder. The child looked so small,
and afraid. I needed to know who she was.

I
looked up from the decision log I was working on and spotted Sally
making her way from the photocopier to her desk. I took the opportunity
to call her in to my office.

“Sally,
do you have a minute?” I asked through the doorway. She nearly dropped
the pile of paperwork in her hands when I spoke. Her knees sank a
little as she tried to keep hold of them, paper fluttering like a pack
of butterflies trying to take off, but she managed to keep it under
control.  I knew she had been in the same car I had and she had
every reason to be on edge and not quite as sharp as usual, but this
uneasy feeling I had about her had begun before the blast. There was
something wrong and it was lax of me to let it slide because we were
having a busy few shifts. I liked to think of myself as approachable
and fair, but Sally wasn't forthcoming and I didn't like it. Did I need
to be worried?

“Yes, boss.” She stood in the doorway, shuffling the paperwork in her hands, her eyes downcast.

“Come in, sit down.”

She
sat in the chair opposite my desk, holding herself tightly. She tapped
the sides of the papers on her knees to straighten the edges, then
turned them to another edge and repeated the action.

“How are you?” I asked her, giving her my full attention.

“I'm good, Ma'am.”

“Don't give me that; you've just got out of hospital. I'm certainly not expecting a good.  Maybe an okay, but not a good.”

She looked relieved as though I had given her some magic answer.

“I
have to admit, I feel a little shook up. It was hard coming back in to
work, but I feel passionate about this job and wanted to be here.” She
relaxed.

“Do you think you came back too soon? I know I'm feeling the strain, so I understand. Do you need to call it a day for today?”

“Maybe.
Soon. I need to finish what I'm doing. I don't want to slack off with
this.” She genuinely cared about the case. Maybe I had it wrong. She
had been through an ordeal. We both had.

“Finish that, then knock off for the day. If we don't see you tomorrow, we don't see you.”

She practically jumped out of the chair.

“Oh, I will be in tomorrow. I'm fine. I'm tired. I will be here tomorrow and won't leave until I've finished this.”

I leaned back and smiled at her.

“Great. That's good to hear.”