Frozen Grave

Chapter 55

Ellerman wiped the dust and dirt from his eyes as he scraped away at the wallpaper in Craig’s room. He’d been working on it all day, non-stop. He had moved everything he could out onto the landing and covered the rest with sheets. He could see the hurt in Dee’s eyes when he started, but it had to be done. He felt she knew it too. They couldn’t stay in the house any more and live in a tomb. She had set up her space in the corner of his office. She had homework to do from her classes. She went out more than he ever realized before. But then, the last time he spent three consecutive nights at home, Craig had been alive.

Ellerman stopped working – he had felt his phone buzz in the pocket of his overalls. He looked at the caller ID. It was Megan. He paused, thought about it and then answered it.

‘Hello, gorgeous, how are things in sunny Devon?’

‘They are fine. I’m working too hard. I’ve just finished a big commission piece; I could do with a little distraction. Are you coming down my way soon?’

‘Ahh. I’d love to. What did you have in mind?’

‘What about tomorrow?’

‘Thursday?’

‘Yes, I thought we could spend a couple of days together, head to the coast, walk on the beach. It’s cold but the forecast is for sunshine.’

‘You don’t know how marvellous that sounds. Can I ring you back later when I’ve juggled a few things?’

‘Of course, but say yes – I feel like spoiling you. Great wine, great food.’

‘Sold! What time do you want me down?’

‘Late afternoon would be great – sixish; that will give me time to finish up the last of my work.’

‘I’ll be there, gorgeous.’

Megan came off the phone to Ellerman and opened up her list of numbers to call. She called Harding first.

‘You have my address. Would you like to make an evening of it and come and stay?’

‘Yes, I could – I don’t have a lot on on Friday. That sounds delightful. What is the plan?’

‘I’m inviting a few of the women from the list down. I think we should stick by one another – after all, we have a lot in common. You never know, good things might come out of all this. We might hit it off really well.’

‘Sounds like fun.’

Megan phoned Paula and Emily next.

‘I’ll have to check I can leave the girls with my mum,’ said Paula.

‘You can sleep here, no problem. Have you heard from JJ?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Emily?’

‘Yes?’

‘Can you come down here tomorrow? Are you ready with the contract for us to look at?’

‘Yes, the first draft of it anyway. ‘Is it going to be too icy to drive home?’

‘Possibly.’

‘I’ve had car trouble recently. The steering went on me whilst I was driving on the lanes the other day. I could hire a car especially to come down or I could borrow one from the school.’

‘Do it; but don’t drive home anyway. I think you are going to want to stay.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’m hoping JJ might make an appearance.’

‘Oh. Okay. I’ll find that very strange, to see him with everyone else.’

‘We will all find it strange, Emily, but it’s the only way to sort it out. We need to confront him. I’m not telling everyone that he’s coming. I sense that you won’t be put off, but I think others will and I want us to end this on our terms, not his. We stand together and make him tell us what’s going on. We get the truth. I want to see him squirm.’

Megan phoned Dee. Dee was walking back from the station.

‘Dee Ellerman?’

‘Yes. Who’s this?’

‘Megan Penarth.’

‘We talked before… You said you were Paula.’

‘Yes. I’m sorry.’

‘What do you want?’ Megan was thinking what a difference a few days made. This sounded like a different woman. She was also trying to work out how Dee could possibly have known she was lying about being Paula.

‘I have a proposition to put to you.’

‘Go on.’

‘I’m inviting you to Devon to meet some of the women who have been having a relationship with your husband.’

‘I don’t get it. Why would I want to do that? It sounds like a sick joke. Don’t call me again. Leave me alone.’

‘No – Dee, please don’t hang up; just hear me out… we are all in this together. Even you. We can help one another. Come and meet us.’

‘Everyone will hate me. I’m the reason why you all can’t have JJ. Everyone will wonder why I don’t just leave him. They will hate me.’

‘No one has the right to judge you. We all just blame JJ. We know he’s a past master at lying. I’ve invited him down here, Dee. He has no idea that there will be other women here. He thinks I never got the letter. I think you should come – we will all support you. We are all in this together after all.’

‘How many of you will be there?’

‘About four of us.’

‘I can’t possibly come. I can’t do that. I won’t tell him that I know where he’s going and I wish you luck in confronting him but I can’t do it, sorry.’

‘All right, I understand it must be worse for you than anybody. If you change your mind you know where we are.’

Dee walked back into the house and heard Ellerman still hard at it. She went upstairs and stood in Craig’s doorway. Her husband stopped work and looked at her in amazement. He shook his head in disbelief but he didn’t look pleased. That night he tried to make love to her. She went to sleep in the spare room.

Carter and Willis drove straight to the hospital to check on Toffee. Zoe was working on her laptop outside his room. She closed it and stood as they approached.

‘Any change?’ asked Carter.

‘Very slight improvement, sir.’

Carter looked through the window at Toffee. He was sleeping, but he was no longer encased in a tangle of wires and tubes. He was breathing on his own. ‘Have you managed to get near him?’

‘Yes. I went in there with Simon Smith. He seemed to respond to his voice well.’

‘What did Smith ask him?’

‘He just asked him if he remembered what happened. Toffee just shook his head. We have to presume he doesn’t know where he is right now.’

‘Did he say anything at all?’

‘He said something about loving Mimi. I asked Smith who that was and he said it was his sister.’

‘Who’s taking over for you tonight?’

‘Gardner, sir. I’m going to pick up my mum from the hostel.’

‘Any sign of Mahmet Balik?’

‘We got an address for him; he’s on one of the blocks towards the other end of the estate.’

‘We’ll get a search warrant issued tonight and get in there.’

‘Okay, sir. I’ll wait for your instructions and I’d like to come in with you.’

‘We’ll phone you when we have it.’

Zoe Blackman waited for Gardner to come and relieve her, then she drove to the hostel and parked up on the road outside. She was early but she wanted to go inside tonight and see how things were. Diane had said that particular clients were missing the PCs. Zoe wanted to see who she meant. As she walked across towards the hostel, she heard the sound of a chain dropping on tarmac. She stopped to listen and, instead of going inside the building, she followed the path around the church to the back, where the commercial buildings were. She saw Simon stepping into one of the buildings. He didn’t see her as he flicked on the light switch and was about to close the door behind him when she managed to sprint the last few steps and catch it before it closed.

‘Hello. Is everything all right?’

‘Yes.’ He tried to step back out quickly.

‘What are all these?’

‘My family’s business, not mine. Nothing to do with me.’

Zoe took a few paces inside.

‘Do you mind if I take a look?’ Inside the building were ten cars under insulated covers.

‘Well, yes – I was just checking that their battery leads were still okay.’ Zoe lifted the corner of the cover nearest to them. A red Ferrari was beneath.

‘What is this place?’

‘It’s just a storage facility for luxury cars. It means people who haven’t the space or right conditions to take care of their cars leave them here under heated covers and I make sure they are kept ticking over.’

‘You get to drive them?’

‘I start them up. Shall we go?’

Zoe walked further into the facility. ‘Do you mind if I take a look at some of the other cars? I find it really fascinating.’

‘Maybe another time. I’m going to shut up here for the night.’

Zoe ignored him and lifted the cover of another car – an Aston Martin. She moved round the front to see the number plate: MER 100.

‘I think I know this number plate – it belongs to a man named Ellerman, Mermaid Yachts. Do you know him?’

‘I’ve heard of him. I’ve never met him.’

‘Where do they come from, these cars?’

‘Different owners. I have very little to do with it. It’s a family concern. I just make sure they’re all in working order.’

‘Ready to use?’

‘Yes, that’s it. We finished?’

They walked outside. ‘Have you had any more trouble from the gangs?’

‘Not for a couple of days.’

‘You haven’t seen Mahmet Balik?’

‘No.’

‘Simon, the other day, when they were in the car park, I saw you give something to him; what was it?’

‘I don’t recall giving him anything. Excuse me, I’d better go and check that your mum is okay.’

‘Why wouldn’t she be?’

‘Well, we have to watch the clients sometimes. Gangs get in and cause problems, injuries, people get hurt.’

Zoe phoned Carter from the car after she dropped her mother home.

‘Ellerman’s car is in the building at the back of the church. It’s being looked after there. Smith gets cagier by the minute.’

‘Okay, we’ll bring him in after we search Balik’s place. Get some rest and then join us at five in the morning. We’ll catch him asleep hopefully.’