Chapter 8

Andy got up and went to the bag that held the extra kit that they had brought with them. They went off to the left end of the ledge and he stood, with his back to her, as she put the wetsuit on. He checked her for wrinkles. Then they went back to the bag, and he pulled out a weight belt.

“Any idea of what you weigh?”

When she told him, he took off a few weights and helped her put it on. Then she put on the harness for the tank.

“Right. What we do now is have you put this mask on. We then sit for five minutes while you get used to breathing with it. It’s just like breathing in normal conditions. I’ll wear mine; they have radio so we can still talk until you think that you’re ready to go.”

They spoke about what she was going to do, after she was outside.

“I don’t know, go back to standing on a corner, I suppose.”

“That’s not likely, Andrea. You will be wanted to talk about this on radio and TV. You’ll be able to sell your story to the magazines. I know where we can get you dressed for success. You could even get work here, digging in the upper cave. There are years of work there, and Janet, the girl from the Museum, is a nice person, who will need a helper, especially one who has explored this cave, something she won’t get to do before we’ve cleaned it out.”

“Do you think so? That would be brilliant. I’m getting too old for the streets, more suited for a brothel, somewhere. I think I’m ready to go for gold. Where am I, anyway?”

“Have you ever been to the caves at Creswell Crags?”

“A couple of times when I was studying.”

“Well, you’re some hundred feet below, and several hundred yards further into the hill from the Boat House.”

Andy clipped the tank on the harness and walked her to the beach. He got her to sit down and put the fins on. Then he secured his own tank and weight belt, gave Alex a nod, getting a big smile back. Securing the evidence bag in his waterproof pouch and turning off the recorder, he took her hand, and they started swimming towards the wall of the cave.

“Are you all right, Andrea?”

“Yes, this is wonderful.”

“OK. Now, think like a seal and we’ll go down some.”

She kept a strong grip on his hand as they went down, and she saw the tunnel opening ahead. Knowing that this was the only way to freedom, she also knew that she could trust this man beside her, he was unlike the men she had known before. They swam, almost leisurely, through the tunnel. She found it hard to believe that the weightlessness was real, and wondered if it felt the same in space.

When they got to the other lake and surfaced, she had a problem with the bright lights and kept a tight hold on Andy’s hand until they reached the ledge.

“Give me your hand, miss,” Charlie said, softly. “Me and Jack here will have you on dry land, quick as a wink.”

She let go of Andy’s hand and put hers up, to be quickly lifted onto the ledge. One of the FSI officers stood by her as Andy was lifted out. They quickly took the mask, tank, harness, and weight belt from her as Andy took off his own. Taking off the fins, she was given a pair of runners to put on, then a team coverall. Andy was similarly dressed.

“I must look a mess.”

“No miss, you look like a miracle, to me,” said Charlie. “To paraphrase Harry Potter, you’re the girl who lived.”

“See, Andrea, you’re already a celebrity and you haven’t reached daylight yet. Now, Charlie, do you have some sunglasses, Andrea has been in semi-darkness for about two weeks. I’ll be back to help with the transfers, in a while.”

She put the sunglasses up on her head, smiled at Andy, and put her hand out. He took it in his and led her towards the sunlight. At the doorway, she could already see how bright it was and put the glasses over her eyes. He went into the Boat House and the turned to help her emerge. As she came out, there was a cheer and applause. Maria came up to Andy and gave him a hug and a kiss.

“Maria, this is Andrea. Can you go with her to the hospital to make sure no-one gives her a hard time. I think they’ll take her to Sheffield, so I expect that our friendly Sheffield detective will join you. I need to talk to Sue, and then I’m going back down. If you give me your keys, I’ll drive to the hospital, when I’ve finished, and pick you up. When you find out where she was taken from, let Sheffield take over.”

She got the keys for him, as the paramedics took over. Andy stood and watched as the ambulance took Andrea and the two detectives off to the Royal Hallamshire. He then went over to where Sue and the team were waiting. He pulled the evidence bag out of his waterproof pouch and handed it, along with the recorder, to Sue.

“She knew him. He had been a lecturer at a course she had been doing. He had left a bunch of books down there, and this one is interesting.”

Sue looked at it and passed it to Sally, who let out a little shriek.

“That’s the Ferdie that we were told used the grinder into the evening. He lives next to the pub on Ferry Road. We were that close!”

“There’s one other thing. I didn’t tell Maria because she would have driven off to pull someone’s head off. The guy used to be an underground workings specialist and worked as an inspector for the Inspectorate. I expect, Lee, that the brick wall that you knocked your head on needs a little talking to, hopefully with hot coals and a branding iron. Lost file, indeed!”

Sue gave him a hug.

“Solved it all, it’s a great job. We’ll get straight on to this; quite likely we’ll have him in the cells before you finish with carting spam tins. Look after yourself, down there. I have spoken to the AC, while you were down on the ledge, to give him the good news. It was better than reality on the screen.”

Andy turned to look at the screen, seeing Charlie hauling a sack out of the water, the diver changing his tank before going back to the other cave. He told the others that he would see them later and went to have a drink from a thermos on the dive truck. On the way back, he saw Janet, looking at the screen. He went over to her.

“Janet, the girl we brought out is called Andrea, and her time, underground, made her think about her life. She had studied history and had wanted to work on a dig. She told me that there was a fissure at the back of the end cave, leading to a space where she thought must have been open to the air, at one time. She said that it was full of remains of animals that had fallen in. I don’t know what era. Can you see if you can recruit her to help when you work down here? I expect that there’ll be a fair bit of money to do the research, seeing how good the things I’ve seen are.”

“For you, Andy, I’ll do what it takes. I’ve been talking to a lot of policemen while you were down there, and they all told me that it was you and Maria that drove this case, with opening the cave all down to you. If we get to the point of creating names, the big cavern is going to be called the Barton Cavern.”

“As long as the end cave is called Andrea’s Den, I don’t mind. Have to go, now, work awaits.”

He spent several hours, going back and forth through the tunnel, with sacks of rubbish and some sacks with evidence bags in waterproof pouches. When they were finished, he stood, with the other divers, on the ledge. Alex told them that it had been a good day and Joe congratulated everyone for a job well done.

“While we’ve been here, I had a look at the bit where she said she was told to shit. It’s a natural outlet and I think I could hear rushing water, some way below. That means that this cave has never flooded. It would be good to do a proper dive, to have a look at what’s on the bottom.”

Alex laughed.

“Talk to Janet, I’m sure that she’ll welcome some professional volunteers, when they get to that point. Andy, the last item to leave is the airbed. Now it’s been deflated, you get the honour of giving it to the FSI so that they can call it a day.”

They all kitted up. And went to the water’s edge. Andy had the last nightlight, which he turned off to put in his waterproof pouch, plunging the cavern into total blackness, until the divers turned on their own lights. As he entered the water, he took a last look at the ledge and then submerged, to start the trip back to city life and crowds.

When the ten of them were stood on the ledge, with Charlie and the Sheffield crew fussing over the kit, Andy gave the FSI man the last evidence bag. He looked around and saw that the boxes, and all the rubbish, had been removed, along with the camera and cable. They picked up their kit, along with extra tanks that had been emptied, and made their way, in single file, back to the big cavern. There, Alex got his flashlight and told the others that it was time this place was back in darkness. When they were all ready, he pulled the power cable from the alligator clips,

With Andy at the rear, now with a cable in one hand and his tank in the other, they followed the fissure back into the light of day. Alex went to the truck and got two, new padlocks with keys. He gave them to Janet,

“Janet, as far as we’re concerned, the cave is yours. There’s nothing in there, now, that pertains to the case. When the guys have pulled the rest of that power cable out, you can lock it again, with these new locks. We will want to use the outer cave for a little while, to change.”

They all got their bags from the two trucks and changed into their normal clothes. Then Janet locked the door, then the grill, as the two crews shook hands. They were then joined by the CID DCI from Sheffield.

“Well Joe, I think that your lot has earned a drink, on me, before you knock off.”

He looked at Andy.

“Your DCI shot off like a rocket, early on. What gives?”

“I gave her the name of the murderer, Sir. It was someone that we knew of but had never spoken to. He had dumped the last one close to his house, and something that Andrea said, in the cave, makes me think that he wasn’t too well. We’ll find out when he’s arrested, that’s where DCI Cousins was going.”

“Well, I never. You saved the life of a victim and solved the case. That’s good going for any detective. You can come and visit us, in Sheffield, any time you like.”

“He may do that,” said Joe. “He’s on the rescue list, and from what I saw of his work, today, it’s well deserved. You taught him well, Alex.”

“He’s a good student, Joe. And no, you can’t borrow him.”

They all had a laugh and Andy picked up his bag.

“I’ll see you later, Alex. I’m taking Maria’s car to the hospital to pick her up.”

The Sheffield officer grinned.

“Follow me, then. I will need to get my guy back to the office.”

As Andy turned to go, the FSI Inspector gave him a paper bag.

“Those are the contents with the things for Andrea. Seeing that she wasn’t dead, she can have them back, although I don’t think that she’ll want to be seen, in daylight, in the dress she had been wearing.”

Andy and the Sheffield DCI walked to the cars. As Andy followed him onto the main road, the lights went on and it sped up, Andy grinning as he followed, all the way to the hospital.

Maria was waiting at the entrance when they arrived. She gave Andy a hug and told them where to find Andrea. Andy showed her the bag that he had been given and she took it from him.

“Keys, please. We were wondering about what to get for when she leaves here. I’ll pop off to the shops and get her something nice to wear. See you when I get back.”

The two men walked towards the ward where they found Andrea, in a three-bed room, on her own, with the detective sitting on a chair. He stood when they entered.

“Good afternoon, Sir. Andrea has had a lot of tests and some blood taken. She’s in good spirits, considering what she went through. There are just the blood results to come back but I think that she will be out of here before long.”

“That’s good, constable. I’ll have a word with her then I’ll take you back to the station. You did well in helping the Brum team to get this far, it will be noted.”

The DCI went over to Andrea, to ask her to come into the station to make a formal statement, when she could, and then Andy’s phone rang. It was Sue. She asked him where he was and, when he said that he was at the hospital with the CID from Sheffield, she asked him to put his phone on speaker. They all stood by Andrea’s bed as he did so.

“Andy, we rang the Ironbridge station to see if they could put a watch on Shields home until we get there. They told us that the constable had seen Shields leave, in his van, on Tuesday afternoon, of last week. When the constable spoke to him, he said that he was going for a holiday, for his health. The constable told his superior about it, saying that old Ferdie seemed to be very short of breath. We did a call to the airlines and the ferries and found that an F. Shields had a one-way ticket to Brazil, booked for that night, leaving from Heathrow. The thing is that he was a no-show. We took a guess that he would have been taking the M40 and came up trumps. Our murderer is in a morgue in Oxford, waiting for someone to claim the body. What’s left of his van is in their pound. The story is that a couple of squad cars were coming up behind him, on blues and twos, and he suddenly sped up and raced ahead of them before veering off the road and rolling, several times.”

“Sounds like a heart attack,” whispered Andrea. “He was breathless on the last time I saw him.”

“Absolutely right, Andrea. That’s the finding. We’re sending Lee down to collect his papers, tomorrow, and bring the keys back so that we can open the house for FSI. I know that it’s not the best ending to the case, but it is a closure, of sorts. The AC is going to hold a press conference, on Monday, and he wants the CID from Sheffield, Nottingham, and Manchester to attend. I think that he will outline the case to the press and name the murderer. He wants you, Andrea, to attend. Will you be happy if I put you into the care of Maria and Andy for a while? They’ll keep the sharks away once it’s known that you were rescued. I’ve already had my pal, Jackson, on the phone. There has been some YouTube activity about the circus at the Boat House, today, and he smells a story.”

“I’m happy to stay with them if they’ll have me. I don’t think that I can face my old companions at the moment. I’ll just need to go to pick up some things from my digs.”

Sue ended the call and Andy could see the detective from Sheffield looking like he was about to explode.

“That bastard in the Mines office. He was covering for a murderer all the time. I’ll rip his bloody head off!”

“Surely,” asked the DCI. “You had permission from them to open up the cave?”

Andy shrugged.

“You’d better know it all, Sir. The manager took a long time finding the book with the note of closure of the cave. Then he took a lot longer finding the empty file that should have had the safety report in. Lee and I think that he was covering for Shields, who had worked as a Safety Inspector, out of that office. Maria had pinched some letterhead from the manager’s desk, and we forged a permission letter to go with the keys that we had made. It was Sue and Alex, both DCIs, who forced the museum into letting us do the first search, then that’s when we put the event together that you saw today. He was spoken to on the Monday of last week, with Shields leaving home on the Tuesday. I think that some phone records need to be looked at.”

“So, the manager of the Inspectorate can now be classed as an accessory to murder? I think that you, my fine young detective, can be the one to arrest him, in his office. If we leave now, we can do it before close of business. Thank you for being frank, Detective Barton. That bit can stay between us. Come along, constable, we have a bit of arresting to do. I’ll see you two at the media do, when I get an official invite.”

When they were alone, Andy asked Andrea how she felt.

“Surprisingly good, Andy. All that time without junk food and alcohol has done me the world of good. I could have spent a thousand quid in a wellness spa to get the same result. You don’t mind putting up with me for a little while?”

“No, we won’t mind. We have a spare room for you. We have a place in Solihull. Maria has just gone to get you something to wear when they let you out of here. I was given a bag with the things that he removed from you when he took you down there, so there’s probably underwear and your handbag. FSI told me that you would look a little underdressed if you wore what was in the box.”

“If I have something normal, that’ll be good. We can loop by my digs, and I can pack a bag. The rent’s paid up for another few weeks. You two are being fantastic, I’ll never be able to pay you back.”

“Just get your life back on track. That will be all we will want to see. I spoke to Janet, and she said that she’ll get you a place on the dig team. I expect, now that we have our man, so to speak, that she’ll be wanting to put in proper lights and start sifting through the bones in the first cave. I think that Joe and Alex will offer the services of the two dive teams to have a look in the bottom of the lakes, at both ends of the tunnel.”

The door opened and a doctor came in, with a clipboard in his hand.

“Well, miss. You have a clean bill of health, from me. The only thing off is the vitamin D count. You really should get more sunshine.”

Andy and Andrea were still chuckling when Maria arrived, with bags in her hand.

“Out, Andy. We girls have got some preening to do. Can you leave, yet?”

Andy went into the corridor and saw a drink dispenser, further along. He went and bought himself a drink and the sat on a chair and thought about how they would work, from here. There would be all the paperwork to complete, the press conference to attend, the house on Ferry Road to look at. He thought about the ones they hadn’t known about, and he had a sudden idea. He rang Sue, in the office.

“Sue, the ones that we hadn’t known about. In the prison cave, there was a hole, to one side, that sounded like there was an underground stream, some way below. He might have just hit them, then dropped them down the hole, it would be just large enough. The only place, in the near area, where there’s a lot of water, is at Welbeck. Can you check if there had been any floaters found there? It would have been ten or more years ago.”

“Will do, Andy. Your guesses have been good, up to now. I’ll see you and the girls on Monday morning. We’ll be going to Sheffield for the press release. I want you to look smart. We’ll have Sally and Lee, as well as Alex. Our Chief Super will be there, as well. It will be a shock to the press, not having any information to hit us with, while there were girls being murdered and dumped. The AC has taken all the files so that he can present a complete picture. He wants to talk to us, privately, afterwards.”

When Maria and Andrea came out of the room, he stood,

“Andrea, you look good. I’ve spoken to our boss. We have until Monday morning, when we have to be at the station. I expect that there’ll be a bus taking us to the press conference, in Sheffield. The Assistant Commissioner will be fronting that. Now, do you want to go and pick up some things?”

Maria gave him the bags.

“You can ride in the back. We’ll need to loop by the dive headquarters to pick up your car once we leave Sheffield. Andrea has said that there are some normal things that she would like to have, along with her cosmetics. You can sit and wait for us to sort things out.”

They went to Andrea’s home, then to the dive headquarters so he could pick up the Audi. Maria drove off and he went inside to make sure that his kit had been stored. Alex was still in his office, filling out paperwork.

“Hi, Alex, working late, I see. I’m afraid that I had to tell the Sheffield DCI that you and Sue got us into the cave with a forged letter. He said that it would stay between us.”

“Why was that?”

“I’ve been told that Shields left for a trip to South America, the day after Maria and Lee had spoken to the manager at the Inspectorate. He was going to Heathrow and didn’t make it, having a heart attack along the way. We will have to recover his body from the morgue at Oxford.”

“So, he was going to skip the country, leaving Andrea to die down there.”

“Looks like it.”

“What’s happening with her?”

“We have the job of looking after her until Monday. You’ll get a message to attend a press conference in Sheffield. The AC will be calling it. Sue wanted me and the girls at the office, that morning. I think that she’ll organise a bus for us all. What are you and your wife doing, Saturday evening? I can get us a table at a fantastic restaurant. I want to treat you to a good meal, as thanks for putting up with me and going along with my mad ideas. In fact, I think I’ll try to book a big table and invite Sue and Mervyn, I think he’ll enjoy seeing the place.

Marianne Gregory © 2023