The Valley of Longing 28

‘Hello, Doring Draad Police Station,’ Constable Brown answered the phone. ‘How can I help you?’

‘It - it’s Terance  F-F-Farrell,’ he stammered into the phone as he fought the urge to throw up while he checked the throat of the girl on the floor before him for a pulse. It was a job made all the more difficult by him not being able to bring himself to look at what he was doing; he was sure that if he looked down at the bloody body he would lose control, what little he had, and throw up - he had seen enough of the body as he crossed the room to know that the girl was no older than his little brother, which made her about fourteen, and she had suffered a great deal. ‘I’m at the old Hardwell Farm; I’ve found - I think it’s Amy Wright and Daisy Hawkins, they’ve been attacked.’

There was a period of stunned silence while Brown took in what he had just been told before he was finally able to speak again. ‘Did you say you’ve found Amy Wright and Daisy Hawkins? I didn’t even know Daisy Hawkins was missing.’

‘Neither did I,’ Terance said, as aware as everyone else in the Dorpie of what had happened over the weekend.

‘Are you certain it’s her?’

‘Not certain, no, but I think it’s her, I recognise the hair. She’s naked, and, oh JESUS!’

‘When was the last time you saw Daisy?’ Mitchell asked of Terance.

‘I don’t know. She’s just a kid,’ Terance said quickly, defensively. ‘I don’t pay attention to when she’s around and when she’s not. Maybe Neil would know, he goes to school with her, I think he even fancies her, so he’s bound to notice when she’s around.’

‘But doesn’t she live just down the street from you?’ Mitchell asked.

Terance nodded, ‘Two doors down, but that doesn’t mean I know when she’s home, or where she is when she’s out.’ He could see that Mitchell was about to ask him something else, and guessed at what it was. ‘Saturday morning, that’s the last time I remember seeing her; she was walking along the street, heading away from home. Don’t ask me what time it was, I don’t remember, and I don’t have a clue where she was going.’

Mitchell finished questioning Terance and his girlfriend and straightened up so he could make his way over to Inspector Stevens.

‘Mitchell Venter,’ Stevens greeted his subordinate sombrely.

‘Sir’ Mitchell returned the greeting. With a barely concealed look of distaste he glanced around at the crowd that was being kept to the edge of the yard by his constables. He Didn’t like that so many people had come from all over the Dorpie - he liked it less that so many people had found out so quickly about the discovery that had been made - it didn’t seem right to him that they should express their curiosity in such a way, especially when their presence was likely to get in the way of his investigation. ‘Isn’t there anything we can do to get rid of them?’ he asked.

Stevens glanced over his shoulders to see who Mitchell was referring to. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said, though he didn’t sound certain. ‘I think as long as they’re keeping out of the way, and not doing anything that’s obviously wrong, they’re allowed to be there. Just ignore them, and be thankful what’s been going on around here hasn’t reached the ears of the local press.’ He couldn’t help wondering how much longer it would be before that happened, it could only be a matter of time, he thought . ‘What exactly is the situation here?’

Mitchell sighed and said, ‘What did Brown tell you when he called?’

‘Not much. Almost nothing.’ Stevens admitted. ‘He told me that Amy’s been found, and that Daisy Hawkins’ been found as well - I didn’t even know she was missing,’ he said that last in a slightly accusatory tone, as though his officers had been keeping him in the dark about things.

‘You’re not the only one,’ Mitchell said. ‘As far as I can tell, no-one knew she was missing.’ He heaved another sigh. ‘I don’t get it, she’s only fourteen, someone should have realised she was missing; her parents, school, somebody. Terance thinks he saw her on Sunday morning, but isn’t sure; she’s got to have been missing for at least a day - Wild was at the station from seven, and in the hospital  from one AM - without anyone noticing, how’s that possible?’

‘I don’t know, Venter; it’s something we’re going to have to find out,’ Stevens said. ‘Is it definitely Daisy?’

‘Yes.’ Mitchell nodded reluctantly. ‘How the hell Mel’s coping, I don’t know.’ He glanced over at Melissa and marvelled once again at how she was holding herself together; he would not have blamed her is she had fallen apart with grief upon hearing that her young cousin was now a victim of the killer who had already taken the lives of Lynne and Lily, that hadn’t happened, however. Melissa had withdrawn into herself a little, but that was her only reaction to the tragedy.

‘Okay, so Daisy is our fourth victim; what else can you tell me about the situation here?’ Stevens asked. He knew he sounded cold, speaking so baldly, but he had to do it, he was sure that if he didn’t shut off his emotions as much as much as possible, he would not be able to cope with the situation; he had felt a twinge in his chest and a shooting pain his left arm upon hearing what Constable Brown had to say, and he worried that he was on the verge of having the full-blown heart attack the doctor had been warning him about for the past year.

‘There is some good news, unbelievable as it might seem,’ Mitchell told his superior, who looked at him as if he had said something truly crazy. ‘Amy’s alive.’ He let that sink in. ‘I don’t know how, but she is, just about. The paramedics say that since she’s made it this far, she’s probably going to be alright, though how long it’s going to take her to recover, and whether she’ll recover fully, they couldn’t say. If we’re lucky, though,’ he smiled with bitter irony as he said that. ‘Amy will wake up and be able to tell us who attacked her; that, plus the DNA evidence the pathologist said he found on Lynne - I assume he’s going to find more on Lily - will be enough to convict Wild. I only wish I’d been able to catch the bastard, for sure, before it got this far.’

‘So do I,’ Stevens admitted. ‘Because the chief inspector is far from happy with the situation here, and that’s without hearing the latest. He Hasn’t insisted on a detective taking over the case yet, but there’s every chance he will after this, especially given the pressure he’s almost certainly getting from Raymond Potgieter, about the only thing that’ll stop him is us catching the killer - are you absolutely certain it’s Mr Wild?’

Mitchell nodded emphatically, ‘Yes, sir, I’m positive. I Haven’t figured out how he managed to kidnap Amy and half - kill her, or when he took Daisy, but I’ve got a bit of a theory running around my head, and I am positive Wild’s our man. The pathologist was able to give me the blood - type of our killer while I was at the morgue, and while I was at the hospital I checked and it matches Wild’s.’

‘Well that’s good news. I’ll tell the chief inspector, I’m sure he’ll be able to tell Raymond that we’ve caught the guy who killed his great - niece, it might be enough to help us all keep our jobs.’

The paramedics wheeled the stretcher bearing Amy Wright out of the house then, manoeuvring through the narrow passage with difficulty. The two officers watched as they hurried it around the side of the house to the air ambulance. It took a minute or so for the paramedics to get the stretcher loaded on board, and a short while later it lifted off so it could speed Amy to hospital. Only when it had disappeared from view did the sergeant and the inspector return to their conversation.

‘What’s your next move?’ Stevens asked. ‘Aside from passing what you’ve got on to the Data Base so they can charge Mr Wild.’

Mitchell didn’t even need to think about that. ‘I need to go and see Cecil, tell him we’ve found Amy and she’s alive - I’m surprised he isn’t here already, he should have been able to see the air ambulance from just about anywhere on the farm - he’ll want to get to the hospital as quickly as he can. Kerwin and Tara should probably go as well, just in case the paramedics are wrong and Amy Isn’t going to make it.’ His voice remained steady only with an effort. ‘After that I need to find Daisy’s parents, so I can find out how she could have been missing, especially given recent events. I just hope nothing’s happened to them; Wild’s got enough to answer for as it is.’

Stevens could see how angry Mitchell was and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, ‘You worry about Cecil and his family.’ he told Mitchell. ‘I imagine they’re going to need the support of a friend. I’ll find the Hawkins and speak to them, find out what’s going on there. I think you should take Melissa with you, it might help her is she has something to concentrate on other than her cousin, and if it doesn’t, you’ll able to get her some proper help at the hospital.’

Mitchell nodded. He was about to walk away, so he could get Melissa and head up the road to see the Wrights, when he stopped and turned back to his superior. ‘Why didn’t we think to check this place out?’ he wanted to know. ‘I spent most of the morning searching the woods for Amy or some sign of her, I must’ve been within a hundred meters of this place at one point, but I never thought to divert and check it out.’ He looked horror - struck as a thought occurred to him. ‘What if Amy dies because I didn’t think to check this place out? I should have known to check here, it’s such an obvious place for Wild to have brought Amy; I’ll bet Wild to have brought Amy; I’ll bet Wild realised Kerwin had seen him, so he left, then went back to grab Amy, stashed her here, fixed up his alibi, and then returned while we were at the Farm so he could have his fun - the sick bastard.’ There was no mistaking the disgust that Mitchell felt.

‘Don’t beat yourself up,’ Stevens told him. ‘I was with the search party going through these woods on Saturday, remember; I never thought to check here either.’ He shook his head. ‘Maybe if we’d checked here then, we could have found the evidence to charge Mr Wild, rather than being forced to let him go. If We’d done that, Amy would never have been taken, and maybe Daisy would have been sage as well.’ He was as unhappy as the sergeant about what they had and hadn’t done, but also a little more realistic about things. ‘We can’t change what’s happened, all we can do is make sure our case against Mr Wild is airtight, and ensure he can’t ever hurt anyone else.’

‘And hope that Raymond doesn’t blame us for failing to catch Wild after Lynne went missing and before he could grab Lily.’ Mitchell said pessimistically..

When his phone rang, Mitchell excused himself and moved away from the waiting area, leaving the Wrights: Cecil, Kerwin and Tara, to their wait for a doctor, or nurse, or anyone, to come and let them know what the situation was with Amy . Melissa was there as well, though so lost in her grief over the murder of her cousin she was oblivious to either the Wright family of her superior.

‘Have you been able for find the Hawkins, sir?’ Mitchell asked once he and the inspector had exchanged pleasantries.

‘Yes, but it wasn’t easy,’ Stevens said. ‘It seems they’re away at the moment, which is why they didn’t report Daisy missing, they weren’t aware she was. I had to get their contact details from a neighbour; they had to leave on a family emergency yesterday, Ursula Hawkins’ father had a heart attack. They were going to take Daisy with them, but didn’t want her to miss school today, so they made arrangements for her to stay with a friend last night and go to school with her this morning.’

‘What friend?’ Mitchell had a horrible feeling he knew who Daisy was supposed to have stayed with. His eyes strayed to the Wrights in the waiting room.

‘Tara Wright,’ Stevens answered. ‘According to Frank Hawkins, Daisy couldn’t go to the Wright Farm straight away because all the family had things to do. Daisy was to stay at home and make her way to the farm in time for dinner, and she was then to stay the night there. I figure it would have taken her about an hour to get to the farm from home on foot, which fits, beceause the neiThghbour I spoke to said she saw Daisy heading up the street at about a quarter to five, and the Wrights were supposed to have dinner at about six, If I remember what you said Cecil told you.’