Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(99)

Sandford stood and lifted the baby’s body bag.

‘No, no one yet. Mawgan and Kensa are in the house, plus a male friend – Cam Simmons? Jago and Marky were here but I heard a jeep taking off about an hour ago and there’s no lights on in the cottage now.’

‘I’ll go and have a word with Mawgan,’ said Willis, walking off towards the farmhouse. She knocked at the inner door and pushed it open. The kitchen was dark. There was a television on in a room off to her left. She knocked at that door and walked in. Mawgan was sitting on her own.

‘Hello. I just wanted to see how you and Kensa were doing. Where is she?’

‘Upstairs. Cam’s up there talking to her.’

Willis moved further into the room. ‘Are you okay, Mawgan? There’s a lot to cope with. Has Cam come to help?’

She nodded. She had the television on but she wasn’t really focused on it. ‘Is Towan coming back later?’ she asked. ‘After you take him in, that’s all.’

‘It’s just for an informal interview; we’ll be talking to all of you in the next day or so.’

‘So you’re not charging him then?’

‘No, we haven’t got far enough in the investigation.’

‘You should.’

‘Are you scared to be here with him, Mawgan?’

‘No, I’m a better shot than him.’ She turned back to the television and flicked the channels. ‘Cam will stay with us, anyway.’

‘Do you know why your dad was murdered, Mawgan?’

She shrugged. ‘Because he deserved it? He’d done so many wrong things to so many folk and, in the end, he got what he deserved. Wait . . .’ She got up and handed something to Willis.

‘What is this?’

‘It’s a contact book that my dad kept on the people who stayed at Kellis House and the deals he did.’

Willis opened the book, which was a simple ledger, but inside were the names of guests. Besides the dates that they stayed, there were dots and numbers.

‘What does all this mean?’

‘It means these were the times he had to provide escorts for these people. Their names are written in the back.’

‘Why are you giving this to me?’

‘Because Raymonds and Towan are going into business. They intend to contact these people from the book and make demands. Maybe, if they get the house, then nothing will change here. It will all continue as it did when Dad was alive and I can’t bear that. Things happen at that house and people go unpunished. Towan will take over where my dad left off. He’ll be twice as bad. That’s why he’s always going off into Penhaligon; he picks up young girls in there, schoolgirls, he grooms them, brings them back, they end up in Kellis House, out of their skulls on stuff. The private parties and the VIPs that come down and abuse them, they think they’re untouchable. That’s not right.’

‘No, it’s not. I can help you, Mawgan. Tell me what’s gone on in the house, make a statement. I can get help for Kensa, too.’

‘No one can help erase the past. No one can give us back our childhood. I don’t want your help. I don’t want it to continue, that’s all. I don’t want other people to suffer.’

‘And what about Samuel? He shouldn’t have to suffer for other people’s mistakes, should he?’ Mawgan didn’t answer. ‘Where is he, do you know?’

She looked at Willis and said nothing. ‘Mawgan?’

Cam Simmons appeared at the doorway to the stairs.

‘Cam?’ Willis looked behind him to see if he was alone. ‘Is Kensa all right?’

‘Not really.’

‘Has she said anything about Samuel?’

He shook his head. ‘But she’s talking about seeing Toby.’

‘I think he’s coming down tomorrow.’

‘She may talk to him.’

‘If she took Samuel she couldn’t have done it alone.’ Willis looked at Mawgan, who was back staring at the screen.

‘Neither of us know anything about it. Do we, Mawgan?’

She shook her head.

Willis went back to talk to Carter. She showed him the ledger.

‘Kensa’s inside, upstairs. I think we should have her sectioned.’

‘If we do, we lose any chance of finding Samuel alive. By the time they finish medicating her, he’ll be dead.’

‘They all need help here, guv.’

‘And we’ll make sure they get it – when this is over.’ He looked at the book in her hands.

‘VIPs who regularly use Kellis House,’ she said. ‘This book is going to be a who’s who of the upper-class degenerate.’

‘That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?’ Sandford overheard her as he prepared to load up his car for the night.

‘Not according to Mawgan. I wouldn’t be surprised if she hasn’t suffered abuse all her life in that place. She says that Towan does a sideline in conning vulnerable kids and plying them with drink and drugs and then they end up being abused in Kellis House. Stokes got paid for it, now it looks like Towan wants to carry it on.’

Carter took the book from Willis to have a look.

‘There are the ages of these kids, some as young as twelve.’

‘Who are these kids?’ asked Sandford.