The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery (21 page)

Saturday January 17
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Mac was back in the station well before eight. He couldn’t wait to get on with it. Martin arrived just after eight thirty and Tommy a few minutes later. After a sandwich and coffee they got to work. It was nine thirty before they got their first good candidate. By eleven thirty they’d gotten good candidates for all five dates. Martin marked the locations on a map and then printed off a large version. Mac pinned it to a board and they all looked hard at it.

In all they’d gotten nine candidates that corresponded with the dates and type of car so four had to be discounted. Mac couldn’t see any pattern at first.

‘It’s strange, I had it in my head that he was working with a pharmaceutical company and that’s why he lived in Stevenage but none of these are even in Hertfordshire.’

‘Hundreds of pharmaceutical and life science companies in Cambridge though,’ Tommy said.

Mac suddenly thought of something.

‘Good boy!’ he exclaimed. ‘Can you print off this same map but with the train stations on it?’

‘No problem,’ Martin replied.

He pinned the new map to the board.

‘See, these five here.’

Mac pointed them out.

‘Yes they’re all quite close to train stations, aren’t they?’ Tommy commented.

‘Martin, can you print off the locations of where the cars were stolen from?’

They checked and those too were close to train stations.

‘So what does it mean?’ Tommy asked.

‘Unfortunately in one way it doesn’t bolster our case for more than one man being involved. It looks like our man ditched the cars near train stations so he could get back home again. All of the locations are near stations on the main line to Stevenage.’

‘Why not use a bus?’ Martin asked.

‘Buses have drivers,’ Mac replied. ‘You might be remembered but train stations are a lot more anonymous, especially if you don’t have to buy a ticket.’

‘I’ll check for any season tickets in the name of Mark Brody then,’ Martin said with a grin.

‘Good idea.’

Mac looked hard at the map again.

‘So if we get rid of these four, which aren’t near a station then…’ Mac crossed them off with a pen and, as he did, the pattern jumped out at him.

‘It’s Cambridge, look.’

All five locations were within twenty miles of Cambridge and they formed a sort of rough circle around the city.

‘So it looks like this pharmaceutical company might be in Cambridge then,’ Tommy said.

‘Yes, I think our man thought he was being clever by varying the location of where he disposed the cars but all he’s done is draw a big bulls eye on the map for us. As you said there are hundreds of companies in that area but it still narrows it down a bit for us and that’s always helpful.’

Tommy looked at the clock and cursed under his breath. He took his phone out and turned it on.

‘Expecting a call?’ Mac asked.

For some reason Tommy gave Mac an evasive look.

‘No, why should I be expecting a call? Just thought I’d turn it on that’s all.’

Tommy was hiding something but Mac didn’t have a chance to find out what.

It was Mac’s phone that went off first. It was a text message and all it said was –

‘See JD ASAP Mr. C’

‘Come on Tommy we’ve got to go and see someone and I hope to God it isn’t what I’m thinking it is.’

Martin gave him the address from the case file. On their way there Tommy asked more than once where they were going and why but Mac was deep in thought and didn’t answer.

Tommy pulled up behind the Porsche four by four.

‘You have to tell me something Mac,’ he implored.

‘Sorry I was thinking. Okay this guy is a pimp, bottom of the food chain, but I’ve been getting some information from the very top of the food chain.’

Mac pictured Mr. C as a Great White Shark and it seemed fitting somehow.

‘This is where I got all the information on the missing girls in the first place. The text message just told me to see this guy but it didn’t say why.’

As they walked to the front door Tommy persisted, ‘What do you fear it might be then?’

Mac didn’t answer, he rapped loudly on the door. A few seconds later the door opened a couple of inches and Mac could see the pale, fearful face of Jay Dee peeking out. He seemed relieved that it was only the police at the door. They followed him into the living room where Mac could see that a few more pizza boxes and beer cans had been added to the pile.

‘What is it?’ Mac asked bluntly.

‘You got a message from…?’

Jay Dee’s face showed his distress and Mac had to remind himself that he was a scummy pimp. 

‘Yes I got a message and someone isn’t happy. Tell me,’ Mac ordered sternly.

‘I was only sure when I went around there this morning, please tell him it wasn’t my fault,’ Jay Dee pleaded.

‘Tell him yourself, I just need to know what you know.’

‘I went round there yesterday and her bed hadn’t been slept in. She didn’t turn up for work last night so I asked around and no-one’s seen her. When I checked this morning and her bed hadn’t been slept in again I phoned my boss.’

Mac was certain that Mr. C wouldn’t take the delay in letting him know kindly.

‘You’ve lost another girl?’ Mac asked.

Jay Dee nodded.

‘I didn’t tell anyone straight away, I was still hoping she’d turn up, I mean all her clothes and stuff are still there. Anyway, the guy who was killing all the girls is dead, isn’t he?’

‘What’s her name?’ Mac asked brusquely.

‘It’s Chanelle, Chanelle Burdon.’

For some reason Mac had been praying that it wasn’t her. Mac could picture her clearly in his mind, a young pretty girl who said she’d had bad luck. She feared that something bad was about to happen and it was beginning to look like she’d been right.  

‘Who saw her last?’ Mac asked.

‘She was working with a new girl called Kate, she moved in after Kayla….after she went.’

‘She’s staying at Chanelle’s? Is she there now?’

‘Yes I just rang her, I was still hoping that Chanelle might have turned up.’

‘Anything else?’

‘No sorry that’s all I know. Please tell him I did my best, it wasn’t my fault.’

Mac turned to go and then turned back again.

‘Where are your family from?’ he asked.

‘From Andra Pradesh in India,’ Jay Dee replied, looking puzzled.

‘You still have family there?’

Jay Dee nodded.

‘If I were you I’d pay them an immediate visit. A very, very long visit, understand?’

Jay Dee understood all right. He raced upstairs to pack.

Back out on the pavement Tommy said, ‘God that guy was frightened to death, wasn’t he?’

‘He was. He was figuring that the guy he works for might think that one girl going missing might be an accident but two…’

‘Might be carelessness?’ Tommy suggested.

‘No thinking more like a death sentence. His boss is not the forgiving kind.’

‘Bloody hell! Remind me never to take up pimping for a living,’ Tommy observed.

‘Mr. Jay Dee might well be wishing someone had reminded him of that too if they catch him before he makes his flight. Anyway he’s not our problem, we’ve got a young girl missing, let’s concentrate on that.’

Mac could just about remember the way to Chanelle’s. The door was open when they arrived and they surprised a young blonde haired girl who was standing behind it. Mac could see a couple of suitcases behind her in the hallway. Tommy showed her his warrant card.

‘I’m sorry, I thought you were the taxi man,’ she said in heavily accented English.

‘We’re investigating the disappearance of Chanelle Burdon and we believe you were the last person to see her. Can we go inside?’

‘But the taxi?’

‘You can order another one, this is important.’

She reluctantly led them into the living room.

‘I can’t tell you much,’ she said defensively.

‘Just tell us what you know,’ Mac said gently.

The door knocked and Mac gestured for Tommy to go and deal with the taxi driver.

‘Okay, the night before the last one, we were on our street corner and around nine thirty I got a job and I had to leave Chanelle by herself. When I got back she’d gone and, at first I thought that she’d got a job too, but then when she didn’t turn up that night I told Jay Dee. That’s it.’

‘Did you see anyone hanging around where you work, perhaps a car parked down the road?’

‘No nothing like that, honestly I saw nothing.’

‘I take it you’re going somewhere?’

Kate crinkled her face in disgust.

‘As far away from here as I possibly can. I’ll be in Warsaw in a couple of hours. I thought coming here would be a great adventure but it’s just a pig sty. We have those too in Poland but at least its home and girls don’t just disappear.’

Tommy came back in.

‘He’s waiting for you.’

‘Can I go now?’ she asked sullenly.

‘Yes can you give us your name and address in Poland before you go please.’

‘Okay but you won’t let Jay Dee know?’ she asked nervously.

Mac reassured her that Jay Dee would never know and Tommy dutifully wrote the details down.

Outside they watched the taxi disappear.

‘Anything?’ Tommy asked

‘No, nothing. Come on back to the station, Dan will want to hear about this.’

Back at the station Dan was catching up on paperwork when Mac told him the news. Dan got up from behind his desk and started walking up and down as he thought through what he’d been told.

‘Okay, Tommy I know it’s Saturday but call around and get the team together and bring them up to date. I’m going to tell the boss that we’re opening this case up again whether he likes it or not.’

Mac grinned as Dan strode determinedly out of the door. Tommy and Martin phoned around the team. Within half an hour they were all assembled and seemingly excited about being on the case again. Dan strode in looking serious but his face broke out into a smile as he addressed his team.

‘Game on,’ he said. ‘Okay Martin get me a print out of all the pharmaceutical companies in the Cambridge area, Mary and Buddy I want you to go and interview all the girls we have addresses for and then interview anyone else who’s plying their trade this evening. Someone must have seen something. Adil…’

Dan’s words were interrupted by Tommy’s phone going off. Got his call at last, Mac thought. He was surprised when Tommy passed the phone to him. There was a text message on the screen –

‘Coming in HRA at three have poss got some info Sammy N’

Bloody hell, Sammy Newell! Mac had nearly forgotten all about him.

‘Dan I’m sorry but I think Tommy and I might have a lead, that medical researcher is back from holiday, he’s coming into Heathrow Airport in a couple of hours.’

Dan grinned broadly.

‘Well, what are you waiting for?’

‘Get a fast car with a siren,’ Mac ordered as they walked to the car park. ‘I’ve got a feeling this is going to be a good day.’

Tommy drove them straight on to the M1 motorway and then into the mad dash of the M25. Even on a Saturday afternoon the traffic slowed them down forcing Tommy to put on the siren from time to time. While they drove Mac contacted the airport police on Tommy’s phone and requested help in getting Sammy off the plane as quickly as possible. They kept asking if he was a suspect of some sort and Mac had to assure them several times that he wasn’t a terrorist but a medical witness in an important case. They eventually got the message.

In no time at all they were in the arrivals lounge waiting for Sammy Newell to appear. They didn’t have to wait long. An electric buggy approached with a policeman holding a sub-machine gun sitting in the back seat. A sandy haired man in his early thirties with a huge grin on his face was sitting in the passenger seat. His face said thirty but his expression said twelve.

Mac introduced himself and Tommy to Sammy.

‘God that was absolutely awesome,’ Sammy said enthusiastically. ‘Less than ten minutes it took. Whoosh through passports and security, bags waiting for me. You guys can pick me up any time you like.’

Tommy helped Sammy with the bags to the police car which was parked on double yellows right outside Arrivals. Mac was just about to get in the front passenger seat when he saw a look of keen disappointment on Sammy’s face.

‘Are we going to have sirens?’ he asked.

Mac smiled and let Sammy sit in the front. He decided he was definitely thirty going on twelve.

‘Take me to the Royal Free, driver,’ Sammy excitedly ordered.

Tommy gave Mac an amused glance and they set off.

‘What have you got for us Sammy?’ Mac asked.