Jane might even have been locked in a soundproof room in the house. She might have been unconscious or tied up. I just didn’t know, but I was going hell for leather to find out now.
I had to slow my speed as I came into Rochester. I broke a hundred on the motorway and came screaming down the hill toward the city until I started hitting traffic. There was something going on at the castle, the streets filled with pedestrians dressed in Victorian garb. It would be another Dickens thing, possibly an outdoor play.
I didn’t care what it was, but I did care that I had to slow down to a crawl to get through it. I honked my horn angrily until I saw children among the revellers. It was Christmas Eve in a few hours and here I was playing the part of Scrooge or the Grinch.
Suffering silently, I got through the press of people and to my office just along from the cathedral. The car door didn’t shut as I ran at the office rear door and I didn’t care. I was going back out soon enough.
I burst through the final door that led me into the main office space to find Big Ben already suiting up. Basic was too, and Amanda. Only Jagjit, and Alice were still wearing their normal clothes but then they both knew I wouldn’t want them to get involved in a task such as this one.
Some days it feels like I have been a paranormal investigator for half my life, yet I opened the firm in the spring of this year. We haven’t yet reached our one-year anniversary but looking around at my friends, I had to take stock of all that had occurred in those few months.
That three of my friends, including my girlfriend were donning black combat gear and getting ready to storm the house of a maniac ought to give me pause to consider my life choices. Did I ever really have a choice though?
I didn’t choose to be a paranormal investigator and I most certainly didn’t choose to take on a serial killer who likes to kidnap women and murder them while he sings them to sleep. The choices were not mine, but the decision to deal with the consequences of my situation were.
I could go home, open a beer, and cuddle up with Amanda and the dogs on the couch. Except, I couldn’t. Not really. Duty and responsibility demanded I take direct action and try to save Jane.
Was she still alive? I had no idea, but when Big Ben handed me my own set of body armour, I knew I would find out soon enough.
‘Back to New Ash Green?’ asked Amanda as I took off my jacket and started fastening the Kevlar vest over my normal clothes.
I nodded, tugging on the Velcro to secure my armour in place. ‘We should take two cars even though we could all fit in Big Ben’s. The last thing we want is to break down or have something else happen to delay us.’ I told them about my encounter with Harry Hengist earlier.
Jagjit jogged over to the desk in my office, settling into my chair. ‘Can you spell that?’
I had no idea why he wanted the name but just as I was starting to draw out the plan of the house – what little I had seen of it – Jagjit called out that he had no hits for Harry Hengist other than the house he currently occupied.
‘He might also have a house in Sandwich,’ Amanda told me. ‘Could he have gone there? We found that one under a different name, but I think it is safe to assume he lived near many if not all of his victims.’
I pursed my lips and shook my head. ‘My gut says he is staying in New Ash Green. The place looked lived in. The lawn had been mowed, the garden was tidy. There were shoes stacked underneath the coat rack. If he took Jane and Jan, unless he took them in the same trip, he must be operating closer than Sandwich. There and back twice is too far to go for him to then be in New Ash Green for me to find him at home. He had no idea I was going to turn up at his house so why would he be there if Jane and Jan are somewhere else?’
‘Those are valid points,’ Amanda conceded. ‘You know raiding his house is highly illegal, right?’
I gritted my teeth. ‘I don’t care. I will gladly do a spell in jail just to get this guy.’
‘Me too,’ Big Ben threw his hat in the ring. ‘We don’t get up to nearly enough illegal stuff anyway.’
I wasn’t sure what he meant – we were always doing things we knew might get us in hot water. Now was not the time for a discussion though. Now was the time to open the box of weapons we kept in the corner of the storage room.
Before we went there, I slowly spun on the spot, making eye contact with everyone one at a time.
‘No one has to come along on this venture. Big Ben and I are the ones trained for this.’
‘Oh, shut up, Tempest,’ snapped Amanda. ‘I’m the former police officer. You were trained to shoot people and blow stuff up. Raiding houses is my territory, not yours.’
‘Okay,’ I conceded and turned to look at Basic. ‘Basic this could get you into a lot of trouble. If they lock you up there will be no one to look after your mum. You really don’t have to come.’
I was often reluctant to involve Basic for the simple reason that I wasn’t sure he even knew what was going on half the time. If he ended up in jail, there would
