The Girl in the Rug (30 page)

After a long day at the Boulter house, Carla drove to the
hospital; she needed to see Tracy and tell her what had been found, and let her
know that she had been right all along about Louisa.

Dorothy had called her on the way, saying that the throw
from the sofa in the living room was a match for the one from the cellar. The
cellar throw had thrown up lots of evidence, there were at least three types of
blood found on it and lots of hair, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a DNA
match from it. If Louisa Boulter had been wrapped in that throw they would be
able to prove it.

Also the blood found in the study wasn’t Tim Boulter’s, so
if that same blood was on the throw found in the cellar, then they had evidence
that whoever had been injured in the study had then been wrapped in the throw.

‘Can you rush these tests through Dorothy; I will need to
have something to throw at Mr Boulter when I question him tomorrow?’ Carla
asked grimacing at her unintentional pun.

‘I’ll try Carla, but I can’t promise anything, we are rushed
off our feet at the moment.’

‘Oh well just do your best love…thanks,’ Carla rang off and
parked her car at the hospital.

Frank should have finished talking to Clive Tutt by now she
thought, so she would maybe pop in and see how that went before heading home…he
would almost certainly be visiting Linda this evening.

Tracy was relieved, but very tearful at the news that her
friend had almost certainly been killed by her husband.

‘I can’t help but think I’m to blame,’ she cried when Carla
told her. ‘I talked to them about the children that I’d seen at that party you
see…and I could tell I’d hit a nerve or something because Louisa’s face just
sort of froze and she was looking at Tim with such anger in her eyes. And then
of course they were arguing when I went back for Tilly’s moomoo…oh god do you
think he did it then…oh no how awful…’

‘Tracy love none of this is your fault…’ Carla reassured
her. ‘From the initial look at Tim Boulter’s computer he was into some serious
child porn. If I had to guess I would say that maybe Louisa found out about
that and then you mentioned the children and she put two and two together. He
was completely dependent on her financially you know, he had nothing of his own
so if she kicked him out…well he wouldn’t have wanted that to happen would he?’

‘Poor, poor Louisa,’ Tracy cried, ‘what a bastard…how did
she die Carla?’

‘Well until we find her body we won’t know for
sure…hopefully Tim will start talking when he realises what we’ve got on him
and he’ll tell us where she’s buried.’

Carla stayed with Tracy for a while, steering the
conversation round to more cheerful topics before she left. And then walked
down the corridor to Linda’s room, she was surprised to find that Frank wasn’t
there, he had gone up to interview Tutt Linda said.

‘But that was quite a while ago Carla, I must admit I did
expect him back by now…although I know how hard it’s going to be for him,
seeing that man again…’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Carla bewildered. What is it about
Tutt that Frank finds so hard…what am I missing here?’

‘Oh I’ve said too much,’ Linda exclaimed. ‘I’m sorry Carla
but you’ll have to speak to Frank about that, it’s not my place to tell you.’

Carla sighed, ‘Ok I will,’ she shook her head in frustration.
‘I’ve known something’s been bothering him for a while now…I’ll try and talk to
him. Thanks Linda I’ll try and find him, I expect he’s still with Tutt…glad to
see you’re looking so much better,’ she said as she left her. ‘Tell Kat I want
to meet up for a drink before she travels back home will you?’

Carla took the lift to the next floor and headed to where
Tutt was being treated. His room was situated at the end of a long straight
corridor. As Carla stepped out of the lift the first thing she noticed with a
sense of dread, was that the police guard that had been posted outside Tutt’s
door was missing. She looked around her, there was no one else around…it was
late and most of the patients were settling down for the night. But just then a
side door opened and a tall hooded figure came out into the corridor.

Carla smothered a gasp…and leapt into the shadows. Although
a good two hundred yards away Carla recognised the man as he silently walked
down the corridor and after looking left and right disappeared into the room at
the end…Clive Tutt’s room.

Carla’s heart began to beat faster in her chest and her
palms began to sweat. ‘That’s him,’ she muttered under her breath, ‘that’s
Nellie…we’ve got him.’ She immediately got onto her radio and requested backup…somehow
she had to apprehend this killer, but she had no idea how she was going to do
it on her own. She knew that she was no match, physically, for Elliot
Dentch…and where the fuck was Frank when she needed him! She started to creep
along the corridor towards the room.

‘Now…you have to stop this now!’ Another voice screamed in
Frank’s head, ‘You are better than this…you must stop this from happening, no
matter how much you hate and despise the man in the bed.’

Frank angrily trampled down that thought…after all who would
ever know…if he just stayed where he was and let the intruder do his worst…who
would ever know. Some might even say that justice had been done.

‘Where’s me money Tutt,’ Nellie growled at the terrified man
in the bed…who just shook his head at him, his eyes wide with panic.

‘Fucking tell me…or I will slice you up like a ripe tomato,’
Nellie hissed furiously, putting his knife into Tutt’s face. Tutt seemed to be
too petrified to speak his eyes fixed in horror on the knife in front of him.

Frank stood rooted to the spot and watched with an almost
primal fascination, as Nellie place a huge gloved hand firmly over Tutt’s
mouth, smothering the high pitched animal scream that came from deep within
him. He plunged his knife into Tutt’s fleshy cheek and dragged it over to the
other side of his face, slicing him from ear to ear. Blood spurted over the
snowy white pillows and onto the walls as Tutt shook his head from side to side
in his terror and agony.

‘The fucking money fella…where is it?’ Nellie repeated
urgently looking over his shoulder, he knew that anyone could come in to this
room at any time…still Tutt didn’t answer he seem to be incapable.

‘You’d better tell me now Tutt or I will finish you,’ Nellie
was getting desperate now, Frank could hear it in his voice…he knew he had to
act soon…or he would be witnessing a murder.

Nellie seemed to have come to the end of his patience with
another growl of anger he grabbed hold of Tutt’s tongue nearly pulling it out
of his mouth…then he placed his knife against it…Tutt screamed from his chest
loud howling screams muted by Nellie’s glove.

‘NOW…FRANK NOW…DON’T LET HIM DO THIS!’ the voice in his head
bellowed at him and despite himself Frank couldn’t stand by and watch this man
being tortured any longer…at last his inbuilt sense of right and wrong kicked
in and he charged out from his hiding place and tried to grab the knife from
Nellie’s hand.

Carla ran down the corridor as quietly as she could, backup
would be here very soon but she needed to make sure that Nellie didn’t get away
and that he didn’t harm Clive Tutt.

As she got closer to Tutt’s room she could see that the
blinds on the window in the door had been closed, but not quite…there was a gap
at the bottom and she could see into the room. She crept up closer and peered
through the gap.

Carla put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from
crying out. Nellie was there just a couple of feet away from her, he was
leaning over Tutt, holding him down while he sliced at his face with a knife.
Tutt’s face was a mass of blood…his cheeks had been cut through to the bone,
his gums and teeth visible through the awful gaping wound giving him a skeletal
appearance. Carla felt the bile rising up her throat and determinedly swallowed
it down.

‘Keep it together Carla…come on you can do this,’ she said
to herself as she prepared to rush in and try and apprehend this monster, she
knew she couldn’t wait for backup…Tutt would be dead unless she acted fast!

She took a deep breath and forced herself to move….

But before she could rush through the door, Frank appeared
in the room as if from nowhere, and grabbed Nellie from behind grappling with
him for the knife. Frank had the element of surprise on his side but Nellie was
a formidable foe and soon recovered enough to push Frank away from him. That
was when Carla threw the door open with a bang surprising Nellie even more, he
lunged at her with his knife but Frank had found his footing by this time and
grabbed Nellie by the back of the neck pulling him away from her. Nellie swung
out and caught Carla on the side of the face with his fist sending her reeling,
meanwhile Frank had managed to knock the knife out of his other hand, and had
got both of his arms wrapped round Nellie’s chest from behind, immobilising him
after a fashion. The knife clattered to the floor inches away from Carla who
quickly grabbed it and jumped up holding it up against Nellie’s throat. He
stopped struggling then…looking at the knife in Carla’s hand in disbelief...and
realising it was over, he began shouting abuse at them both as Frank struggled
to hold him.

‘Elliot Dentch, you are under arrest for the murders of Lucy
Hunt, Amish Patel and Tony Lahars…’ Carla shouted over his roars of fury, as
eventually Frank managed to pull his arms behind his back and cuff him. Carla
radioed once again for backup and they secured Nellie to one of the chairs with
Carla’s handcuffs and waited for help to take him in.

Carla pressed the call button for a nurse to come and deal
with Tutt who had been crying and screaming the whole time. Frank went over to
the bed and looked down at him in disgust for a moment before telling him to
shut the fuck up! Then he had stormed out of the room, leaving a worried Carla
to deal with the sobbing Tutt and a furious ranting Nellie. Until at last, a
nurse came and dealt with Tutt and two officers arrived and dragged Nellie down
to a waiting police car.

The officer that had been guarding Tutt was found about
fifteen minutes later in a linen cupboard…his throat had been cut…another
victim to add to Nellie’s tally.

Furiously, after looking everywhere for him, Carla caught up
with Frank outside the front entrance of the hospital, ‘Let’s go and get a
coffee’ she said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Frank followed reluctantly as she led him to the hospital
café where she ordered two coffees and sat down at a table in the corner.

‘Ok,’ she said trying to control her anger as he sat down
opposite her, ‘now you are going to tell me what the fuck was going on before I
turned up at Tutt’s room.’

Frank kept his head down, ‘Nothing…I just saw Nellie come in
and I jumped him, you know the rest…’

‘No no no…that doesn’t make any fucking sense Frank…you were
in there when Nellie arrived, he had been with Tutt long enough to cut his up
his face. Why didn’t you try and stop him before then…were you…what were you
doing Frank…were you watching him, were you going to let him kill that man?’
she finished in disbelief.

‘NO!’ Frank shouted, ‘I don’t know,’ he put his head in his
hands, ‘Tutt…you don’t know…he’s a monster Carla, the bastard doesn’t deserve
to live…’

‘For fucks sake Frank,’ Carla interrupted furiously. ‘I know
the man is an animal, I’ve read Andy’s statement and the statements that Ted
had got…but that doesn’t mean that we can hand down justice ourselves, we have
to get him in a court of law, make a good case, find the evidence to convict
him and then move on.’

Frank didn’t say anything, he just sat and stared at
something over her shoulder, Carla tried again.

‘Frank…there’s more to this isn’t there? You’ve been like a
cat on a hot tin roof ever since we started investigating these homes…please
tell me, I know there’s something,’ she asked gently placing a hand over his.

Frank still said nothing, but Carla stared in amazement as a
tear rolled down the side of his face, he brushed it away furiously…Carla
squeezed his hand, and went to get up.

‘He did it to me,’ Frank said in a voice so low that Carla
almost didn’t hear him. ‘When I was seven my mother killed herself and I was taken
into care…’

Slowly and hesitantly Frank told Carla about his mother and
how she had suffered for years with depression until one day she took her own
life. He told her about how he was violently raped by the caretaker Robert
Gray, or Clive Tutt as he now knew him, and his lonely time in the care home,
until at last he was fostered and then adopted by Gillian and Paul Hill and his
nightmare ended.

Carla was in tears herself by the time he had finished
talking. ‘Well he won’t be doing it to anyone else sweetheart,’ she said to
Frank, ‘thank you for telling me Frank, this must have been so hard for you…’

‘I nearly let him do it Carla,’ Frank said ashamed, thinking
back to Nellie again, ‘I never thought I could hate someone so much…’

‘Yes but you didn’t…in the end you put a stop to it…you did
the right thing, focus on that Frank and on the fact that we finally have Tutt
and that psycho Nellie off the streets. You did a good job in the end
sergeant…just remember that ok?’

Three weeks later at The Bull

‘I’m sorry Trace but I promised you,’ Carla said teasingly
holding a bag of cheesy wotsits just out of reach. ‘You asked me not to let you
have any tonight…it’s for your own good.’

‘You are a hard bitch Carla Right,’ said Tracy sulkily.
‘Maggie always lets me have them, even if she has promised don’t you Maggie?’

‘Yes but that’s why I’m not a policewoman Tracy love. I
crumble at the first sign of violence and I know what you’re capable of if you
can’t have your wotsit fix.’

‘Yeah well Carla will find out soon enough if she doesn’t
hand them over!’ said Tracy looking at Carla threateningly.

Carla just laughed at her and threw her the bag of wotsits
which she tore open hungrily.

‘How did it go in court today love?’ Helen asked Carla in
her quiet voice.

‘Well he’s been charged and remanded in custody, he’s still
not told us where Louisa’s body is though…we’re digging up the grounds of the
Robinsons’ house now so maybe we’ll get lucky there…’

‘Is that Tim you’re talking about Carla…he looked like a
broken man didn’t he?’ Tracy had been in court to see Tim Boulter charged with
the murder of his wife. ‘I almost felt sorry for him…almost but then I
remembered Louisa…he deserves everything he gets,’ she finished with a shake of
her head.

‘Andy has been so good,’ Carla said turning back to Helen,
‘he was interviewed by a lawyer on camera and he was so clear and concise when
he answered the questions. Poor little chap, well at least he doesn’t have to
be in the court room with Nellie. He’s given us enough to be able to charge all
those men with child molestation, and he’s given evidence about his little
sister’s murder. Tell him I think he’s really brave will you…how’s he settling
in with you, I bet he loves it doesn’t he?’

Helen smiled, ‘Oh he’s such a sweet boy, but I think it’s
going to take time for him to think of our house as home. He’s still on his
best behaviour at the moment, Maya can’t wait for him to be naughty…then at
least we’ll know he’s finally feeling at home.’

‘I think that was the kindest thing Helen,’ said Tracy,
‘giving that poor little lad a home, after all the different kinds of hell that
he’s been through…you two are just what he needs.’

‘I can’t believe that no one else knew what was going on at
those homes, Carla,’ Maggie put in. ‘I mean what was that woman doing, you
know…what’s her name Miss Taylor, what was Miss Taylor doing while those poor
kids were being pimped out at night?’

Carla pulled a face, ‘Apparently she had no idea…she was
absolutely distraught when it all came to light…mind you, I think that was just
because she knew she would have to resign. She came across as a very hard
woman…no empathy for the kids at all, makes you wonder why these people go in
for those types of jobs…’

‘Well I am so glad that the dreadful Right Honourable David
Wesley got what he deserved,’ said Helen with relish, ‘even if it does mean my
portrait of him has been taken down and stashed in some cupboard somewhere. I
always knew he was a nasty piece of work, didn’t I say…’

‘You did indeed honey…several times,’ said Maggie laughing.

‘You any closer to finding Gordon Robinson Carla?’ asked
Tracy. Trying to open yet another pack of cheesy wotsits without attracting
attention.

‘Well we know he’s in Spain…but the Spanish police aren’t
being very cooperative, so without their help it’s going to be a hard job
finding him. Freddy Robinson has been charged with conspiracy to murder though,
amongst a whole host of other things. He was the one who gave the order to
kidnap you love,’ Carla said giving Tracy’s hand a squeeze, ‘you had seen and
said too much I’m afraid sweetheart.’

Maggie obviously thought the evening was getting too
maudlin, ‘Have I told you the latest Mayleeism,’ she interrupted loudly. ‘She
was telling Dom that her uncle, who is a keen Liverpool FC supporter, could get
Dom and Jed tickets for an up and coming game at Anfield and asked him if he
would be interested to which he replied, ‘Is the pope a catholic?’, anyway,’
Maggie giggled, ‘Maylee sort of looked at him as if he’d gone mad and said,
‘How the fuck should I know…and what’s that got to do with these tickets
anyway…sometimes Dom I think you don’t hear a word I say…and anyway of course
he’s not catholic he’s a Samaritan isn’t he…a good Samaritan…like Jesus was…I
would have thought you would have known that. Now do you want these tickets or
not?’

The girls burst out laughing as Maggie had known they
would…Duncan, who was serving at the bar looked over at the girls’ laughter,
Maggie caught his eye and blew him a kiss. She looked at her three witchy
friends all laughing and chatting at once. With Simon’s tender care, Tracy had
bounced back from her nightmarish ordeal as she had known she would, and Helen
was blossoming in her role as mother and protector of her ever increasing
family. Carla…well Carla was the same as ever, dependable, unflappable.

She reminded Maggie of a recent article she had read in a
newspaper, about different countries ways of coping with increased security
alerts. It described the stiff upper lipped Brits as maybe getting a ‘bit
miffed’ which could be raised to ‘peeved’ as the danger increased but said that
the level of ‘a bit cross’ hadn’t been reached since the London blitz, and the
last time a ‘bloody nuisance’ level was issued, was during the great fire of London
in 1666. That was Carla to a tee; no dramas…no matter what happened she was
there dealing with it…Maggie was just thankful she had her as a friend. And
more than that she was so relieved that they were all here, all four witches.
Righting the world wrongs, giving each other strength through everything that
life threw at them, all that and dieting and fashion tips as well…what more
could any girl want.