They stood for a moment staring at each other. A thousand words passed unspoken between them. Maya tenderly squeezed Lurch’s arm as she left. She couldn’t waste another moment. The thought that Andy Carr was behind the deaths had been disturbing. Knowing who was really responsible for all the killings, was terrifying.
81
Maya pulled over on the dirt track which surrounded the back of the industrial unit. Parking carefully to make sure the van stayed out of sight; she could see the green shipping container through the trees. She was chilled by the sight of the white car parked alongside it, which she recognised immediately. Maya shook her head at her own naivety. She had been so convinced that Andy Carr was behind everything that she had overlooked the truth. She almost wished it had been Andy. That would have been easier to deal with. She had never trusted or liked him. She felt sickened that someone so allegedly respectable could be behind this. Someone she could once almost have considered a friend.
Straining towards the windscreen to consider the lay of the land, Maya’s mind was whirling with how to proceed. Every moment she faltered could mean the difference between Donnelly coming out of that lock-up alive. She couldn’t cope with having his death on her conscience. She needed to get in there. But what could she do alone and unarmed?
Maya grabbed her phone and began to dial the office number. She hesitated as the call began to connect and hung up quickly. She no longer knew who she could trust. God knows how many people were involved. She urgently needed police backup but how could she ask for it if she didn’t know who the good guys were. Shouting up on the police radio would get her the help she needed but could also compromise her safety. And what would she even say? How could she explain the situation without sounding like a complete fantasist?
Looking at the radio in its vehicle holder she knew what to do. She pressed the emergency button. She knew this was one way of communicating with comms. It had worked when officers at The Farmhouse had used it when arresting Donnelly. They would be able to use GPS to track her location, and when she didn’t respond to a welfare call, patrols would be allocated to her. She pressed the button and heard the alarm chirrup into life. On wobbly legs, she left the safety of the van and walked stealthily towards the shipping container. She passed the familiar vehicle before quietly and hesitantly pushing her way through the open door.
The heat was oppressive and the stench unbearable. Aiden Donnelly spotted her first, the figure clutching the gun totally unaware of her presence until Maya spoke.
‘What’s going on?’
The killer turned and smiled at Maya, seemingly unsurprised by her arrival, as the gun was turned in Maya’s direction.
82
Amanda arrived back at the office at the same time as Elaine. Chris had dropped her off, stating he needed to do something before he returned to work. She was just settling her things down on the desk when the police radio chirruped with the recognisable tone of the emergency activation button.
Amanda frowned. ‘You’ve not pressed yours by mistake have you, Elaine?’
‘No.’ Elaine picked it up to check. She could see on the display the collar number of the officer who had activated it. ‘Hey, isn’t that Maya’s collar number?’ She hurriedly passed the radio to Amanda. She squinted through her reading glasses. ‘Yes, it is. Shit, I hope she’s okay.’
‘She was only going to the garage, wasn’t she?’
‘As far as I know, yes,’ replied Amanda. ‘Unless she’s been allocated another job while we’ve been out. It might be an accidental activation. I’ll ring the garage and check if she’s still there.’
The comms officer was responding to the activation over the air, calling Maya’s collar number and asking if everything was okay, but getting no reply. Amanda suddenly put the phone down, looking pale. ‘Elaine, shout up and let comms know, Maya left the garage ages ago. She should be back here by now. I’ll phone Chris. Out of all of us, if there was a problem, she’d have rung him first.’
‘Shit,’ breathed Elaine as she attempted to stay calm and relay the information to comms. She informed them that the emergency activation was by a SOCO officer, but they didn’t know her current whereabouts.
Comms replied that they were currently accessing her location by using the Northgate mapping system. Amanda shook her head as she put the phone down. ‘Chris isn’t picking up.’
After what seemed like an age, the comms officer shouted up with a location. ‘Confirm emergency activation is coming from Weir Industrial Estate. Any patrols free on an immediate response please?’
Several officers acknowledged that they were en route. A couple of sirens began to scream from the rear yard as they made their way. All Amanda and Elaine could do was sit huddled around the radio and wait for an update. They were both frantically hoping and praying that Maya was okay.
83
Maya thought the state of Aiden Donnelly was almost as shocking as the sight of the gun that was pointing in her direction. Alison Mitton smiled at Maya. She appeared completely unconcerned, as if Maya had walked in on a team briefing. ‘Aiden here has had a rough few day,’ she explained nonchalantly. ‘I was just about to put him out of his misery.’
‘Really? Like you did with the others?’
Alison smiled at her, nodding slowly. ‘Oh, Maya, I knew you were smart enough to work it out. What gave me away?’
‘I sent Celeste Warren’s suicide note off to the lab for chemical treatment. The ident has just come through. I thought there was something unusual about the note. The way the wording was crossed out.’ Maya heard the shakiness in her
