Last orders, p.23
Last Orders, page 23
“Do you have an address for Hakim’s mum or is your plan to stop Robin at the airport? What happens if he shoots or stabs us?”
“He’ll have just got off a plane, so unless he attacks us with his briefcase, we’ll be safe. Besides, airports always have security guards and cameras everywhere, so he won’t try anything.” MJ wasn’t particularly convinced by her previous statement, bearing in mind he may have been responsible for killing Nazir in cold blood, but she wanted to believe he wouldn’t hurt her.
“And then we talk to him, appeal to his caring nature and hope for the best.”
“You should apply for a job with the police you know,” said Andy with a tone of sarcasm.
“Have you got a better idea?” She knew the plan wasn’t that of a mastermind but, not having preventing murder as an attribute on her CV, she thought it would do to begin with and would at least buy Hakim some time.
The seatbelt sign lit up, followed by a chorus of window blinds being pushed up and seats clicking back to the upright position. MJ felt another surge of nerves run through her body and wondered why she’d boarded the plane in the first place. Could they simply just talk to someone linked to multiple deaths and prevent him from taking another life?
“We’re here now, so let’s just stick to the plan, OK?” said Andy.
MJ nodded and thought to herself, be like Leah, be strong, be confident.
Chapter 57
Steve received the message from MJ and alarm bells rang instantly. The text itself didn’t look right, let alone the content. Something was up he was sure of it. He needed to think on his feet; first things first, he decided to check she wasn’t at home. He shouted through to the kitchen and asked Alex to hold the fort, to shut the kitchen if necessary. Leaving Roxy upstairs, he grabbed his jacket and then reached above the door, moving his steady hand between the gap. He removed the knife and put it in his inside jacket pocket, recalling the Scout motto ‘Be Prepared’. En route, he called MJ’s mobile, but it went straight to answer machine. He was about to close his phone case when he noticed the business card that the detective had given him on Tuesday. He contemplated whether to ring the number or not.
He arrived at the front of the house and noticed that the discarded kebab was still in the front garden, which set off more alarm bells; maybe she was home but in danger. If anyone had touched her … he would kill them. He rang her bell several times but there was no answer. He then rang the downstairs bell and Sarah opened the door.
He didn’t beat around the bush, explaining that he thought MJ was in some sort of trouble; he said he needed to take a look in her flat immediately. Sarah hesitated, but could see that Steve was genuinely worried so handed him a set of keys indicating which one was for the flat door.
“Shall I come up with you?” asked Sarah.
Steve looked down at her protruding stomach and said it was best she didn’t, but to listen out and have her phone at the ready. He cleared his throat and walked up the three seemingly never-ending flights of stairs. With each step, he went over the possible scenarios that could greet him. Would Hakim be holding her hostage? Would she be lying in a pool of blood? Perhaps she’d been drugged. Or perhaps she wouldn’t be there at all. He unlocked the door and grasped the handle, as if he expected it to scald him. Once inside, he crept around the flat, listening out for signs of life … or death, but everything was still. He checked the bathroom and noted a pile of wet and dirty men’s clothes. He’d seen enough cop shows to have a basic understanding of police procedure and didn’t touch them, as they would be bagged for evidence. After another scan under the bed, in the wardrobe and around the furniture, he relaxed and was confident the place was empty. He heard Sarah calling upstairs asking if everything was OK. By the time he opened the door, she was stood outside, so he suggested she come in and sit down; it was safe.
“What’s this all about, there have been comings and goings non-stop over the last few days, is MJ OK?”
“I very much hope so, did you hear anyone here last night?” asked Steve.
“Yes, someone arrived quite late; MJ came down and let them in and then I heard two lots of footsteps going back up. Because of this one,” she said patting her belly, “I’m not sleeping too well at the moment. It surprised me just how busy this staircase has become at night.”
“Any idea who it was, I mean did you hear a man or woman’s voice, was there shouting or laughter? Anything?”
“Sorry, I didn’t hear much conversation-wise. I did hear the shower go on late though, which is unusual.”
That would account for the pile of clothes in the bathroom, thought Steve.
“What’s been going on, should we be worried?” asked Sarah.
“She’s just got herself caught up in something, that’s all, but MJ has got her head screwed on, so I’m sure she’ll be fine. You may have a visit from the police, though.”
Steve thanked her for giving him access and said he was going to head back to the pub. He handed the keys back and waited as Sarah double locked the door.
As she turned, a shocked look came across her face, “What on earth? I didn’t notice all these filthy footprints when I walked up. Whatever trouble she’s in, she’ll be cleaning these or paying for a cleaner to do it for her when she gets back.”
Steve rushed back to the pub, sat down at the table near the front window and did what he should’ve done straight away, he dialled the mobile number for DI Madeline Johnson.
Chapter 58
No sooner had the plane touched down, than passengers were reaching for their phones like their lives depended on it. MJ was about to do the same but decided against it, she didn’t want to get distracted from the task ahead of her. When the doors opened and the queue started to thin out, Andy edged out into the aisle and made room for MJ to join him.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Let’s go then, we have a job to do, we have a life to save.”
“That sounds so corny.”
They left the plane and walked up the ramp into Terminal 1. Andy checked on his phone and saw that Lufthansa flights went to Terminal 2 and that the 16:45 arrival from Heathrow was scheduled to land on time.
Once in Terminal 2 they worked out which gate the London flight was due to arrive at and found a café-bar located opposite, giving them a perfect view of arriving passengers. The nervous wait began.
***
DI Johnson thanked Steve for his call, and within five minutes, there were two police cars parked outside MJ’s house and officers inside taking samples from the muddy prints and bagging up the clothes.
“I’m 99 per cent sure, Ma’am, that the suspect was here last night.”
“Thanks, Sarge.”
What the fuck was she doing talking to him, let alone having him in her flat – he’s a suspected mass killer. The DI scratched her forehead and then put a call in to the team requesting the surrounding CCTV be checked. She then dialled Leah’s number.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Miss Pope, sorry Leah, there’s been a worrying development.”
Leah listened as the DI told her about MJ’s late-night visitor.
“Where are they now?” Leah asked.
“That’s a good question, you haven’t heard from her, have you?”
“Well, funny you should ask, when I checked my phone this morning, I had several texts and missed calls from her asking if I could talk. I tried to call her back, but the phone went straight to answer machine.”
“Unbelievable! Is nobody taking this seriously? We’ve got a deranged man, a member of a known terrorist family …” her phoned beeped, “sorry, I’ve got to take this call.”
“Ma’am, they’ve picked Mr Khan up at Frankfurt Airport, boarding a train to Hamburg.”
“Great news, any sign of Mr Franklin or Ms Atkins?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Keep looking; check passenger lists for all flights to Germany today and tomorrow.”
She loved this part of an investigation, a rapid influx of calls and I think we have something, ma’ams. It reminded her of doing jigsaw puzzles as a child, jigsaws that her foster parents would bring home from car boot sales and church fetes, meaning that more often than not, the pieces would come in a bag and not a box resulting in her having no idea what the picture would be. Once the corner and edge pieces were identified, it would then take weeks to establish the picture, with pieces being put in and then taken out again. When momentum took hold though, there would be no stopping her and with every new piece of puzzle fitted, the next one would follow, and a clear picture would be established. She would rush to finish it and the climax of putting in that last piece would give her a long-lasting buzz. For DI Johnson, solving a crime was the same and she could feel the momentum building, sensing that they would soon have the final piece of this jigsaw; unless people withheld vital information that was, and stopped her from finding the last piece of the puzzle, something the other kids had found satisfying. They would take pieces of puzzle and hide them in various bedrooms knowing that whoever’s room the pieces were found in would get attacked by the feisty girl. She knew how to look after herself even then.
One of her team put a sheet of paper in front of her detailing the flights arriving in Hamburg that day, along with passenger lists. She scanned through the names. There was no sign of Robin Franklin, but, on the third page, a couple of names popped out Ms Mary Jane Atkins and Mr Andrew James Blackwell. She picked up the phone to Leah again.
“You know those calls from MJ last night? They were probably to tell you she and that lad were going to Hamburg. Please can you send her a message and ask that she calls me ASAP, she may be in serious danger.”
One of the officers called her. There, on the screen, was a photo of a smiling woman cuddling a youthful looking Hakim; underneath were the words she’s next. The officer confirmed that the message was sent to Hakim by Mr Franklin at 05:30.
“Sarge, can you contact the team in Germany please and find out if Hakim knew about MJ going to Hamburg?”
Another member of the team handed over a phone advising it was Niklas Hoffman, MJ’s landlord. The room watched as the DI took the call and scribbled something down on her notepad. “Thank you, Mr Hoffman, you’ve been most helpful.”
The DI got the teams’ attention and told them to inform all concerned that Robin Franklin has an alias, George Bennett, and is on flight LH245 due into Hamburg Airport at 16:45.
“Good work team, let’s hope our German counterparts can finish the job off with no more bloodshed.”
Chapter 59
Oblivious to the mounting police activity in both London and Hamburg, MJ and Andy waited for what seemed like hours for the passengers to exit flight LH265. Andy stared into space and MJ made funny faces at an animated little girl sat opposite. The woman, who she presumed was the girl’s mother, sat partially obscured by a post, but MJ detected a head of long black hair. The girl had a rounded face and a pair of cute pig tails tied in red ribbon. Her hair, MJ noted was a lot fairer than that of her mother’s. With a sense of ease only a child has, the girl reached into a bag and took out a colourful padded book and walked over with it.
MJ and Andy were so engrossed with the little girl’s charm and animated reading, they didn’t realise that the passengers were already filtering out of the gangway and dispersing into the terminal, including Robin, who, having been sat in business class, was one of the first ones to exit.
Andy looked across and did a frantic jump off his stool. “Quick, I think he’s off already.”
MJ looked up; she couldn’t believe she’d taken her eyes off the ball. She looked over to where the child’s mother was, but both woman and bags had disappeared.
“Andy, she’s left her kid.”
Andy grabbed his rucksack and began to walk away from the table.
“Just leave her, we have to find Robin.”
“I can’t just leave her!” MJ protested.
“Yes, you can, she’s not your responsibility – leave her.”
MJ looked down at the child whose eyes looked familiar. She seemed scared at the raised voices; their exchange had also caught the attention of other customers.
Think, think, think, she said to herself before lifting up the child and carrying her out of the café-bar, hurrying after Andy, who was already a good fifty metres or so in front of them. They followed a swarm of people heading towards exit and flight connections, with MJ trying to keep Andy in view, which wasn’t easy as he wasn’t the tallest of men.
“HALT HALT!” came a shout from somewhere around them.
There was more commotion ahead. MJ stopped in her tracks and was forced to go backwards but, with another crowd forming behind them, a crush looked imminent. The little girl tightened her grip, MJ needed to get her out of the crowd. To her relief, behind them, security guards were now managing the flow of people. MJ called out to Andy, but it fell on deaf ears, the cacophony around her had reached an excruciating level. Armed police ran past, their arms outstretched, firearms poised. MJ pushed the girl’s head into her chest, trying to shield her from the scary scenes playing out around them. They moved to a quiet spot in a corridor by the toilets and MJ took out her phone, it was only a few seconds but felt like minutes until the Apple came and went from the screen. Ignoring the string of messages and missed calls, she took out the DI’s card and dialled her number. All the time, MJ was absorbed by the girl’s face, which was now watching her with intent. A shiver went down MJ’s spine as it dawned on her where she’d seen the piercing green eyes before.
***
DI Johnson’s counterparts in Germany established a live video feed with the team so they were privy to every step of the evolving situation. With Hamburg Airport now on lockdown, the team from Operation Carousel formed a tight bubble around the DI’s desk, their eyes glued to the screens in anticipation. A few hearts skipped a beat when the phone in front of the screen started to ring, the vibrations sending it scuttling across the desk. It wasn’t a number she recognised, but without hesitation the DI clicked on accept and then on speaker. “DI Johnson.”
“I’m sorry, I’m in Hamburg, I’m at the airport, I have a child, I’ve lost Andy, I don’t know what to do.”
She mouthed It’s Miss Atkins to her colleagues, one of whom mouthed back, Whose child?
“It’s fine, stay where you are and stay calm, I’m going to send a couple of officers over to you.” The DI got the attention of her German-speaking officer.
“MJ, I want you to call me back using the video call OK, we need to find out where you’re located.”
Thanks to modern technology, within a few minutes two female officers were sat with MJ in the corridor behind the toilets.
***
Andy, meanwhile, headed off in pursuit of Robin and found himself in the hub of the commotion. He’d just spotted Robin and had nearly caught up with him, when the dark-haired woman he’d been walking behind, reached into her bag. In one smooth swoop her arm brought out a bottle and smashed it into the centre of Robin’s face causing him to collapse in an instant. She continued her assault and jumped on top of him, pummelling him with the broken bottle, puncturing his body until it resembled a mini fountain of red water. Blood was everywhere and screams rang out.
Andy lay motionless on the ground, too, covered in blood and shards of glass.
A message was sent to London saying that both Robin and Andy had been killed, causing a lump to form in the DI’s throat. There was nothing worse as a detective than the perpetrator turning up dead, it was like finishing the jigsaw with a piece missing; you’d never get to see the whole picture. She wanted to know the Why’s, When’s and How’s. Now she’d never know, and nor would Leah. And to make matters worse, the life of another innocent victim had been taken.
The news filtered through to the two officers with MJ, but, unaware of her connection to the victims, they didn’t pass it on. MJ was scared, she had no idea what was going on and continued to hold the girl close and gently stroke her face, as much to comfort herself as the child. Despite several attempts by the police officers to prise the girl away, she remained firmly attached to MJ.
The DI was about to put a call through to MJ and speak with her directly, when she received an unexpected update about Andy. He was alive and unhurt. After the first strike to Robin’s face, which sent blood and glass flying everywhere, Andy’s brain must’ve sent a message to his body to just shut down, it couldn’t handle any more death, causing him to collapse. Being so close to the victim, he got covered in blood and glass himself, so people naturally assumed he too had died.
Chapter 60
Several months later …
“Bloody hell, I didn’t think she’d ever leave,” said Steve. He walked over to the main door, locked it and put a sign in the window Closed for a Private Party.
He called for everyone to come downstairs and get to work. Alex had been busy prepping food in the small kitchen upstairs so as MJ wouldn’t clock him, and he couldn’t wait to get back to the pub kitchen with its decent-sized oven and fryers.
Roxy couldn’t understand what was going on – the smell of sausages was driving her crazy, as well as the balloons floating around the flat, which for some reason she wasn’t allowed to chase.
Steve messaged Andy and asked him to keep MJ out of the pub until at least 7pm, so everybody had time to get there. The two of them had managed to contact MJ’s friends and family and invite them to her birthday karaoke bash. Even Sarah, who had given birth to a baby girl a couple of months ago, said she would try and make it for an hour. Either way, she’d make sure that MJ’s birthday cake was brought round to the pub. Steve was amazed that, even with three kids under five, she was able to whip up a birthday cake. He just hoped it tasted as good as it looked from the photo she’d sent him.
