Chapter 7

Andy and Maria spent much of Sunday sorting out the evidence that they had gathered. They knew that it would have to be believable to swing the hard-nosed members of the team. It would be a hectic week, if they were to raid the restaurant before the victim had been ritually sacrificed.

Monday morning, they all gathered in the office. Sue left the floor to Andy, who was a little worried as the Chief Superintendent had joined them. Everyone stayed quiet as Andy and Maria took them through the situation as it now stood, with all the names that they had been given linked to other names, with each body dump being explained in sequence. Then they moved to the finding of Mary Greensborough and what they had subsequently found out, along with the one bit of conjecture, what the body parts had been used for.

Doggy then took over, with what he had found out about the restaurant.

“Hyp-Nouvelle, in a building bought five years ago. Renovations started a couple of years later, with the lift being installed at that time. They opened the main dining room a little after that and the records show that they were making a profit in the first year. The registered owner is Maximillian Quincey, who had been working as a hypnotist, on stage, for about twenty years.”

He had a partner who, when named, made Maria gasp.

“That man is someone who old DCI Nicholas knows. They do shows and civic occasions together. He’s been into Harborne, more than once.”

The manager was Harry Parks, the ex- employee of the lift company. Doggy read out the man’s rap-sheet, which included attempted rape, assault with bodily harm and several arrests after pub brawls. Other employees, the chefs, the waiting staff, and others, were all casuals except one. That was the head chef, an Algerian native, who had been in the country nearly three years. They wondered if he had been the one who had thought of the ‘special events’.

When the whole thing had been laid out, the CS stood and cleared his throat.

“What you’ve shown me, this morning, is something out of a horror novel. However, it does all fit together and I’m behind you with going for a search warrant. I’ll also be talking to Internal Affairs about this link between the Chief Inspector who sat on this for two years, and his friendship with one of the suspects. Susan, your team has done wonders in the time you’ve had the files. Has Nicholas been told anything or are there any things the papers might have picked up on.”

“We haven’t said anything to Nicholas, and there hasn’t been any sign that he’s interested. He doesn’t know that we’ve recovered the belongings and identification of every victim. The only dive that drew the press was the one which discovered the remains of Syd Singh, which they all thought had been the main aim of the dive. All the other dives had no onlookers. I’d say that we’re still off their radar, and the raid will be a total surprise. We will aim to do it Saturday lunchtime, so that we can rescue the intended victim. I think that we’ll set up a sting, for Saturday evening, so that we get all the special diners together. If we can’t arrest them, we can give them a bloody big shock.”

“All right. I’ll authorise any overtime you’ll need and tell the uniformed to expect you to call. Who do you think you’ll need for the sting?”

“It would have to be people who would fit the scene. I expect that we would need up to six WPCs. They’ll have to be outfitted with good dresses, but I have an idea of where we may be able to borrow some. We should be able to do the raid with our team and about six to eight uniforms. If we can clear the casuals, we can have them on site in the evening to give authenticity.”

After the CS left, they got down to making plans. Sue started to give them tasks.

“Doggy, I need as much background as we can get. See if you can find any pictures of the Manor House, before and after the renovations. Andy has some pictures of the lift installation that can add some detail. There are the dimensions so it will help to draw up a floor plan. There may be drawings with the council building inspectors.”

“Right, Cuz, I’ll get on to that.”

“Terry, start planning for Saturday, with the personnel that will be needed, and we’ll get some reinforcements up to speed before we go in. Now, Lean, Super and Jack, I want you to get changed and look like birdwatchers. Doggy can give you the satellite picture of the Manor House and the surrounding countryside. Get out there and get us current information on entry points to the grounds and what you can see of the house, with pictures. If you can photograph any of the workers, all the better. Doggy should be able to give us pictures of the main players, from passport, stage, and mug shots.”

“Porky and Sky, I want you to go down to the uniformed office and put together a team to go in Saturday morning, they should be ready to be with us all day and into the evening. Organise a bus for them and the rest of the team that Andy and Maria will get. You two, take yourself off the Burton-on-Trent station. I’ll give them a call to expect you. See if you can put together a team of girls to be part of the raid, as well as to carry out the sting as hostesses in the evening. We can kit out a few of the team, hopefully none of the targets would have met them. I doubt that Butt will turn up, but, if he does, he hardly ever looks hard at underlings. I think that we should approach the door as prospective diners and secure the entrance. We’ll need to have the uniforms out of sight until that’s done.”

They all went about their tasks. When Andy and Maria got to the station at Burton, they were shown into the office of the uniform Chief Inspector, and they let him into a little of what was going to happen, not telling him the full story. They asked for four or five presentable WPCs who would be part of a raid, and then kitted out to act as hostesses, on Saturday. The CI thought that it might be an illegal gambling den, and they didn’t dissuade him of that idea.

They were shown to a spare office and waited until five female officers joined them. They took the names and then asked the girls for their dress sizes, letting them know that they would be in a raid and a sting on Saturday, and to wear good underwear, with a pair of black heels in a bag. Telling the girls that a minibus would pick them up at around ten on Saturday morning, they left Burton and travelled back to Harborne to go and see Collette. Collette went into the store and came out with five dresses.

“These are old stock, Andy, last year’s fashion. They’ll look good with a bunch of costume jewellery, and I can write them off at less than cost if we call them a donation. Will you be wearing one, Maria?”

“No, Collette, there’s one person who may be joining us who knows me, so I’ll be in the background. This is a complicated operation, and you’ll read all about it in coming weeks. We’ll bring the girls in about three on Saturday afternoon.”

Over the next few days, they made detailed plans of what each person would be doing on Saturday. They knew that the main kitchen was on the ground floor and surmised that there must be a small one upstairs. Doggy had managed to get some plans of the old house. They took the gamble that it would only be the main dining room in use at lunch so the main moves would be aimed there. Sue, Terry, and the two sergeants would concentrate on making sure that the upper-class diners were not upset, while Sky, Andy, and a couple of uniformed would go straight to the kitchen to round up the cooks. They expected that the Algerian would be back there, with Quincey and Parks likely in the dining room.

Jack would be leading some uniforms and paramedics downstairs in the lift, as they hoped to find the future victim in the basement. Porky would go up one floor to the function room via the main stairs. They didn’t expect there to be anyone upstairs, but it needed to be checked out.

The ‘birdwatchers’ had brought back some good pictures of the outside, including all the access points where they would have to put someone to stop any escapees. They had talked it over and, hopefully, covered all the bases by Friday lunchtime. Sue gave them all a light lunch in their usual pub and then an early day so that they could get a good sleep, it would be a long day on Saturday.

Saturday morning, they assembled at the station, checked that they had covered everything and then went off to Walton, with Maria in the Audi and Andy in the coach. The staging point was a carpark behind the Swan Hotel. The coach carried on into Burton to pick up the WPCs. On the way back to the staging point, Andy gave the uniformed officers the news that they were going to be involved in a very important operation which would finalise the investigations of eleven murders.

The timing was that the team would go to the main entrance in three cars, with Maria and Andy driving Sue and Terry. The others would have parked as they arrived and should be getting close to the doors. The paramedic fast-response team, and the coach, would be in the side road, just outside the entrance to the carpark. It all went as planned.

Sue and Terry went in and were greeted by a girl in a cocktail dress.

“I’m sorry, folks, but we’re fully booked for lunch, and we have full bookings for the next few weeks. You can phone to book if you wish.”

Sue held up her warrant card.

“We don’t wish, young lady. What I want is for you to stay quiet, and go outside, where you will be taken to a coach to be held for an interview.”

Andy had called in the others and some of the uniformed were at their posts at the other doors. One of the WPCs took charge of the girl, then they carried out the rest of the raid. Sue and Terry took the sergeants and a couple of uniformed with them into the dining room, with her calling out for everyone to remain calm and remain seated. Quincey and Parks were quickly identified and cuffed, complaining bitterly that they were all totally innocent and that the force would pay for the intrusion.

Jack, with his group, had already gone down in the lift and Porky was going up the stairs. Andy, Sky, and three of the WPCs went through the dining room and into the kitchen. They called out for everyone to stay where they were, and not to make any sudden moves. As they moved in, a man leapt out from behind a refrigerator with a large knife in his hand. He lunged at Sky and plunged the knife into his torso. Andy acted instinctively, hitting the man in the forehead with the heel of his hand, on the end of a straight arm jab.

The man staggered back, pulling the knife out, then collapsed on the ground, the knife clattering away from him.

“Cuff him to something solid. Is there blue tape here?”

One of the other chefs reached behind him and tossed Andy a roll of blue chef’s tape. Sky was on the floor and Andy tore his shirt to see the wound, which wasn’t bleeding much but was bubbling. Andy taped the wound, then turned Sky over, finding another wound in his back. He taped that wound as well and turned to the other WPC.

“Where’s the nearest hospital with an ED?”

“The closest is the Queen in Burton. I can show you where it is.”

“Right, we have to get Sky there as soon as we can, the Paramedics are in the basement. Help me get him up and outside, there’s a mustard Audi out there.”

They managed to get Sky up and put his arms over their shoulders, taking him towards the main doors. Andy saw Maria and called out for her to open the Audi and give him the keys. She did so, then helped them put Sky in the back seat. Sky was able to help himself a bit now that the shock was receding. The WPC got in the back with him, and Andy got into the driving seat and fired up the engine.

“Right, which way do I go? I’m Andy, by the way, who are you?”

“I’m Sally Brown. Do you know the way to the motorway?”

“Been that way before, buckle up and hang on.”

As he left the carpark, he flicked the switches and put his foot down. As they approached the highway Sally started to give him more directions. They went north on the highway for a little way, long enough for the speedo to get past a hundred. They took the exit for Burton and Sally directed him along a road past some shops and then into the town itself. After a hard right and a hard left, Sally shouted.

“There’s a road coming up on the left, Dallow Street, there should be a hospital direction sign. Take that and we go under the motorway and the ED is further along. There are signs and it’s a little complicated so once we make a left turn at the top of the road, you’ll have to slow down. I’ve called them to tell them that we’re coming.”

When he pulled up outside the ED, there was a team with a trolley. They eased Sky out of the back, put him on the trolly and put an oxygen mask on him. As he was taken away, a doctor asked Andy, now standing by the car, what the wound was.

“Long kitchen knife looked like it missed the ribs. Not much blood but the two wounds, front and back, were bubbling. I blue taped them. I hope it was the right thing to do.”

“Anything to seal the lungs is a good thing. Park your car, I’ll come out and let you know how he’s doing, once we’ve had a good look. The nurses will guide you to the waiting area.”

Andy went and found a parking spot, switching the flashing lights off. He then joined Sally where she had waited, and they found the seating area. He took out his phone and called Maria.

“Hi, there, it’s Andy. We’ll be here for a little while. How’s it going?”

“We have started processing the chefs and the diners. The waitresses are all in the coach and being questioned. The victim was in the basement, in a bolted room. His girlfriend was next door, in another cell. She wasn’t in a good way, and the paramedics have called an ambulance for her. They think that she’s been raped, more than once. Parks looked worried when she was brought up. Quincey is still adamant that they haven’t done anything wrong. Sue has found a booking journal. They have twenty booked for tonight, with names. Guess who I know among the guests?”

“What, Nicholas?”

“Yes. Sue has called the CS and we will be joined by a couple of heavies from Internal Affairs tonight. How’s Sky?”

“The doc will let us know when they’ve had a good look. I don’t think it’s too bad, but he will need to be here for a while. I didn’t have time to get a good look at the attacker, but I’ll take a guess that it’s the Algerian. We’ll be back when we can, give me a call if the coach is ready to take the girls to see Collette: I’d hate to have Sally miss out on tonight.”

“Sally, is it? Take her on a short car ride and you’re on first name basis. Wait until we get home, buster, I’ll show you who’s your woman.”

“OK, you’re on. See you when we get back.”

He put the phone in his pocket and sat back. Sally put her hand on his arm.

“You can tell her that I’m a happily married woman, with a kiddie. That drive here was a bit different, though. How come you get a pursuit car as a detective?”

Andy smiled.

“Actually, it was my dad’s. He was in traffic and bought it at an auction. The extra bits come in handy at times. You did well, back there, I appreciate your calmness and directions; it really helped.”

“That’s OK. What about the rest of the day?”

“We take all you girls down to the city, where you’ll be outfitted with hostess gowns at Jolene’s. You’ll get to keep the dresses after the operation. Then we go back to the restaurant and set it up to look as if everything is normal. We then hope that we can arrest the diners at a special meal where they expect to be eating bits of a young man who was in the basement.”

“What! That place was serving guys to people. That’s gross! What sort of person would do that?”

“Very well-heeled ones, it appears. Tonight, the meal is fifteen grand a head. It’s the tenth one they’ve held, every three months. I had the dubious honour of finding the first victim. I think that he may have been a test run, seeing that they tossed a cleaver away when they dumped him.”

They sat for a while, then Sally went and got them both a hot drink. Andy couldn’t tell if it was strong tea or weak coffee, but at least it was wet and warm. Finally, the doctor strode into the waiting area, his scrubs streaked with blood.

“Good, you’re still here. Your friend will live but will need to be with us for a while. The knife went right through his lung, and you may have saved his life by sealing the wounds. He had a lot of blood loss inside, but we could suck most of it out. We did have to open him up a little more to repair the holes in the lung and seal the damaged blood vessels. You two did well. You can’t see him, so you’d better get back to whatever you were doing.”

“Thank you, doctor. I expect that our boss will come by to see him in a couple of days.”

Andy led Sally back to where he’d parked and they went back to Hyp-Nouvelle, a lot slower than the previous trip. When they went in, Sue saw them and rushed over to ask how Sky was and Andy gave her the latest news, then asked how the raid had proceeded.

“Absolutely great, Andy. It’s the result we’ve wanted. In his office, Quincey had a scrapbook of the other nine dinners, names, photos, the menu with the name of the dinner. There’s twenty expected tonight and the main dining room is fully booked. We’ve interviewed all the workers and their stories all coincide. They had nothing to do with upstairs, once the diners were seated, so we’ve asked the chefs to stay and cook the usual meal. They all said that the Algerian had nothing to do in the main room, as he would be upstairs, preparing something special. They never saw the victims, with the lift doors staying shut after the guests had gone up.”

“So, we’ll just need to make it look normal when those twenty arrive. I think that it would have been usual for them to have free drinks, seeing how much they have paid, so we might be able to keep them happy until they’re all here. I suppose that we can make the normal folks, down here, happy with a free meal and drinks, seeing that it’s the last one they’re likely to get here.”

“Right. Now, I think that you had better have a good look around and then get the girls together for a trip to be kitted out. Give me a call when you’re about to leave, I think I may treat myself to something really nice, seeing that I’ll be here when old Butt gets himself led out, in cuffs. The CS has rung me, again, telling me that Butt will be spending the night in the cells, possibly the first night of many more.”

Andy went up the stairs and looked around the function room. He saw a small, but well equipped, kitchen and a well-stocked bar. Another door took him to the office, where he found Maria, sitting at the desk, and going through some paperwork, an open safe in the wall behind her.

“Hi, Andy. Had enough time with Sally? This lot is going to sink our friend Quincey with the tax man, probably be up for a stretch for avoidance after we’ve done with him. Have you had a look downstairs, yet? That’s a sophisticated set-up, I can tell you. The intended dinner had been kept in a sort of bondage kit, with his hands in gloves that were fastened to the belt, and a gag with a hole, big enough for a straw. There was enough bottles of different vitamins and hormones to open a store in a gym. He told Jack that Quincey would hypnotise him, and he would lose minutes, or hours. That’s probably how the victims were kept calm while they were murdered.”

“What about the girl?”

“Poor kid, it’ll take a lot of time with a shrink to get her past this. She said that Parks, and only Parks, raped her. She was kept in a similar harness so couldn’t do anything to fight him off, the bastard! Both of them were happy to see their clothes, which were in sacks, just as the others. There was a third sack with Mary’s things in it, pushed into a corner. Sue wants the two of us to be with her when Butt gets arrested. I think she’s looking forward to it.”

“I’ve never met the man, but I think that it will make me happy, as well. I’ll go and have a look at the basement and the round up the girls for the trip. Sue wants to come as well, how about picking something to look good in, for your moment of triumph?”

“As long as you can afford it, my love, I’ll be happy to do so.”

Andy went down, in the lift that had cracked the case, pulled on gloves, and looked into the basement. The cells looked reasonably comfortable, as far as cells go, and, beyond that, the area was sparse, with only the lift as the entry and exit. He wondered if any of the victims had been given any idea of what lay in store for them. The one thing that made him shudder, was a trolley, similar to a working table in a morgue, with a drain for blood and a tank underneath. It had soft straps either side, for wrists, and another one long enough to go over a chest.

Back on the ground floor, he rounded up all of the WPCs, Sue, and Maria, and they all boarded the coach. On the way, Sue congratulated the girls on their work, so far, and outlined what she expected would happen this evening. When they got to Jolene’s, they all went in, and Andy took Sue and Maria into the upstairs office to see the pictures and other memorabilia while Collette worked her magic on the WPCs. She had pulled in a couple of friends from a nearby salon, to help out. That was something that Andy remembered his mother doing.

While Sue and Maria were being fitted, Andy went to the back store and picked a suit that his father had worn to civic dinners. It was a good fit, and with black brogues, he thought it looked smart. It was also something that he thought would honour his father’s memory. In the office, he opened a drawer and pulled out the two wedding bands that had belonged to his parents. He threaded them onto a gold chain which he tucked into his shirt before he put the tie on.

The police coach driver had a big smile on his face when they all emerged from the shop. The girls had left the coach in full police kit, with bags holding their shoes. Now they emerged looking like angels with their kit in the bags. In busy High Street, the girls looked totally out of place, but he had seen the inside of the restaurant and knew that there, they would enhance the place. Now he knew what they had achieved, that day, he was also looking forward to shipping the well-off cannibals to the cells, even if most of them would only be staying overnight.

Marianne Gregory © 2023