Sorcerer Read online

  ‘Oh my Lord’ said Jocelyn.

  Gabby was crying and Owen held her tightly to him. But then she said she was okay and ready to carry on.

  ‘What happened then, Gabby?’ Jeff asked.

  ‘I never saw George again. We drove on for I don’t know how long but it must’ve been the whole of the afternoon. Then we stopped and I remember hearing a scuffle outside and voices that were raised but not shouting so I just couldn’t hear what they were saying. Then doors slammed and the car sped off again. We’d been going a couple more hours when we stopped again. I heard people get out and after a while, it wasn’t very long, say about half an hour, the car drove off again. By this point I was out of my mind with fear. I just didn’t know what George was planning to do with me but I just wished he’d get on with it because I didn’t know how much more I could take. Then the car stopped, the boot was opened and the stranger let me out and let me go’.

  ‘So you have no idea where you went on that journey?’

  ‘None at all I’m sorry’.

  ‘And you don’t know where you stopped for that half an hour or so?’

  Gabby shook her head. ‘Sorry, no. I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary like planes flying over or anything like that. It’s like we’d just gone through suburbs’.

  ‘It sounds like you had a very lucky escape, Gabby’.

  ‘I know’ said Gabby. ‘I dread to think what could’ve happened. But why did he take me?’

  ‘I’m afraid we don’t know, Gabby’ said Jeff. ‘Anything we say would be purely speculation’.

  ‘He’d have had some kind of sick, twisted reason’ said Jocelyn.

  ‘Can you remember anything else about the stranger who rescued you, Gabby?’ Jeff went on.

  ‘No’ said Gabby. ‘Like I said before he was about six foot, broad shouldered, dressed all in black including his balaclava. Oh his eyes were brown, I remember that much. And he had a strange way of talking’.

  ‘How so?’

  ‘Well it was difficult to make out with the balaclava over his mouth but it wasn’t a local accent, I don’t think. It wasn’t Mancunian or Lancastrian or Scouse’.

  ‘Do you think he was foreign?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t that kind of strange accent. He was English speaking. I just don’t know where from, I’m sorry’.

  Jeff had something nagging away at the back of his mind following on from what Gabby said about her rescuer and his accent. He tried to dismiss it because it was quite preposterous but the notion just wouldn’t let go of his consciousness.

  ‘And can you just confirm what he said to you?’

  ‘He said that I shouldn’t pay for the crimes of my grandparents and that he was letting me go’.

  ‘So he didn’t give any indication of the whereabouts of your grandparents?’

  ‘I’m sorry but no, he didn’t, and I didn’t think to ask because I just wanted out of there’.

  ‘That’s understandable and I’m sorry to press you on it’.

  ‘Don’t be sorry’ said Gabby. ‘I just wish I could tell you more’.

  ‘Gabby, I assume you’ve been told about Jack White being your great Uncle?’ Rebecca ventured.

  ‘Yes’ Gabby answered. She smiled at Jocelyn. ‘In the space of a few weeks I’ve found out that I have a great Aunt on one side of the family and a great Uncle on the other side. I can’t say I’m particularly well disposed towards Jack. He should’ve gone to the police about George a long time ago but he’s offered to pay for our wedding so I guess he wants to at least try and make it up to us’.

  ‘It’s the least he could do’ said Jocelyn who’d fallen out royally with her former close friend Jack. ‘The very least’

  ‘But it’s not just the family he has some making up to do to’ said Gabby. ‘There are all those men who I’m sure will never have got over what he did to them. Then there’s my father’.

  ‘And now they’re trying to get money by committing fraud yet again’ Jocelyn went on. ‘Faking Mary’s death? Using the body of some poor stranger in the coffin? How could they sink so low?’

  ‘It is a pretty twisted and tragic situation, Mrs. Holmes’ said Jeff. ‘And DI Stockton and myself have seen our fair share of those believe me. But the total number of statements against George and Mary concerning not just sexual abuse but also blackmail and extortion has now reached nineteen. Then there’s the international operation being co-ordinated by the Antwerp police in Belgium. They’ll go down for a very long time and all of their known victims will see justice being done’.

  ‘Known victims?’ Owen questioned.

  ‘Who knows how many hidden victims there are out there who’ve suffered as a result of their actions. They made films that have been sold all over the world showing graphic child sexual abuse. The trade in those films will have produced hidden victims of sexual crimes everywhere’.

  ‘They should die a very long, slow painful death, detective’ said Jocelyn. ‘When I think of all those poor children. How could they do it?’

  ‘Well we can sit here and share our revulsion at what they’ve done but we need to find them so that all their victims can get at least some comfort from seeing them brought before the law. So Gabby, if there’s anything you remember, anything at all, please call us straight away’.

  ‘I will do’ said Gabby. ‘I absolutely will do’.

  The doorbell rang and Owen went to answer it. He found Gabby’s mother Jenny standing there.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, impatiently.

  ‘Owen, please, I just need to talk to Gabby’.

  ‘She doesn’t want to talk to you’.

  ‘But I’m her mother’.

  ‘And you left her father to jump into bed with her step-grandfather who then went on to abduct her. Now where do you think all that stands on the level of understanding? I’m afraid you’ve burned your bridges as far as your daughter is concerned’.

  ‘Owen, I’m as much of a victim here as anybody’.

  ‘How do you make that out?’Owen demanded. ‘Gabby didn’t know if she was going to make it out of that situation alive? The so-called man you’ve been sleeping with was responsible for that. If it hadn’t have been for some stranger she wouldn’t be here now and I’d have lost the love of my life. So don’t you even dare to paint yourself as a victim in this and can I remind you that your husband is still in hospital following a breakdown over years of your lover boy sexually abusing him? You make me fucking sick!’

  Gabby came to the door and asked Owen to leave them to it.

  ‘Gabby, I just don’t know what to say. I’m so, so sorry if I’ve caused any of this trouble. I’m sorry if I could’ve done anything and didn’t. I’m sorry because I’m still your mother and you’re my daughter and I still love you so very much. Can you not find it in your heart to forgive me?’

  Gabby looked at her mother. ‘Very nice, very compelling little speech but you didn’t even hint at asking how my Dad is or how he’s coping now that he’s finally found the strength to expose George for the pervert he’s always been. You couldn’t care less. Well, neither can I care less about you anymore and as for being my mother? You’re dead to me’.

  If he hadn’t have been so dedicated to his task over the last two decades then it might have gone so terribly wrong. As it happened, George Griffin’s abduction of his step –granddaughter had complicated matters. It could’ve brought an end to his activities altogether but he’d managed to get around it and use it to his advantage. The whole operation had taken months of meticulous planning and he’d had to make contact with the same kind of odious individuals he was going to be dealing with today. He’d had to get on side with the bastards and the perverts who’d fucked up his life and those of so many others.

  ‘You do realise you won’t be getting out of here alive? This is your last day on this earth’.

  He was standing in the cellar of the house he’d grown up in before the hand of fate had dealt its blow and sent
him to Pembroke House. He had both George and Mary Griffin bound and restrained like rabbits caught in a trap.

  ‘Then why don’t you get on with killing us?’ Mary Griffin demanded in a snarl of utter contempt. ‘And take that stupid balaclava off. Are you too much of a coward to let us see who you are’

  ‘Oh don’t worry you will know who I am at the moment of no return. So tell me, why did you abduct your granddaughter Gabby?’

  ‘What business is that of yours?’ George demanded. He was pulling at the cuffs around his wrists that were also restraining him to the chair. ‘You don’t even deserve to breathe the same air as us. We are vastly superior to you’.

  ‘Oh you are?’

  ‘Yes, we are!’

  ‘Well that’s, as they say, debatable. So let me ask you again, what was the abduction of your granddaughter all about?’ He was met with silence from both of his captives. ‘You see, I think you were going to use her as some kind of ticket out of here? Am I right?’ The reaction in the eyes of them both was enough to tell him the answer. ‘I am right. She was an insurance policy. You wanted to use her to get yourselves out of shit. Well it seems that every time you cross what should be the last line you find another one that you leap over without any thought or compassion for anybody else. Sorry, compassion? You probably don’t know the meaning of the word so let me explain. It means you have some thought and feeling for the predicament your fellow human being is in. You wouldn’t know anything about compassion. How could you when you’ve done the things you’ve done’.

  ‘How did you find us?’ asked George. He didn’t really want to know. He thought he might be able to use the information against him once he’d figured out a way to get the better of him in this situation. ‘You’ve got to at least tell us that much’.

  ‘You stole my life from me, I owe you nothing’.

  ‘But even so’ George went on. ‘There’s got to be something you can tell us?’

  ‘When you did … when you did all those evil things to me you left something behind that I couldn’t ignore. I’ve tried. I’ve really tried to get past it but it just wouldn’t go away. I’ve had girlfriends. They were all good people. They wanted to love me but in the end I couldn’t let them because of what you’d done to me. Every time I got intimate with one of those girls, every time I tried to be normal, it all just came back. I wanted to be like everybody else. I wanted to walk hand in hand down the street with my girlfriend and for it to feel right. But it never could because you and your evil had got inside my soul and poisoned it with the abnormality you’d inflicted on me. I started looking at porn. Not adult porn. It was child porn and it disgusted me but I couldn’t stop myself. I found a German site on the internet that made films that were strangely familiar to the ones you forced me into making. I knew they must’ve had your filthy hands all over them. I made some inquiries. I got on friendly terms with your distributor in Munich. We became friends. After a while we were close enough for me to ask certain questions about the films. That’s how I found out that you were part of the financial means behind them’.

  ‘Very interesting I’m sure but just tell us what you’re going to do with us?’

  He laughed. ‘Oh don’t try and make me hit out at you. You’re not going to distract me like that because when they find you I need for you to look clean of any trace of any ill-treatment. Nobody can see what’s inside me on the outside. And it’ll be the same for you’.

  ‘Why don’t you just kill us now if you’re that determined?’ Mary demanded.

  ‘Oh I’m not going to kill you, Mary’ he said. ‘I’ve got something much more interesting lined up for your death’.

  Mick had never seen anything like it.

  ‘I could fit my whole house into here’ he said as he looked round Jack’s suite.

  ‘I’m thinking of moving back home’ said Jack.

  ‘Do you think the threat from George Griffin has passed?’

  ‘I think so from what I can gather from the police’

  ‘I’d live it up for a while longer if I was you’.

  Mick had come straight from work to Jack’s suite. He was still in his work jeans and thick blue jacket. There were the expected paint stains here and there and Jack was getting off just at the sight of him. A few seconds later they were naked on top of the largest bed Mick had ever seen and Jack was giving Mick the blow job of all blow jobs.

  Once Jack had finished Mick lay back feeling mightily satisfied. ‘If you could bottle your talents, Jack, you’d make an even bigger fortune than you’ve already got. You’re a very wicked man, Jack’.

  ‘A wicked man with a proposition for you, Mick’.

  ‘I’m already married, mate, sorry’.

  Jack smiled. If only. But how to further his relationship with Mick was not the only thing on his mind. He had a lot of reconciliation to do with various people starting with his nephew Ed, and his friends Jocelyn and Doreen. But Mick was also a priority. He needed him. He needed him to stay in his life and for their affair not to just fizzle out like so many others before it.

  ‘No, it’s a different kind of proposition, Mick. How much do you earn in your business?’

  ‘Well at the last count it was about twenty grand a year’.

  ‘Twenty grand? Is that all?’

  ‘Well particularly at the moment everybody wants to drive prices down. I can’t blame them but it does have a tremendous impact on what I make and I don’t mean in a good way. Anyway, why do you ask? What are you up to?’

  ‘I want you to come and work for me, Mick’.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I want you to come and work for me’.

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘As my security and right-hand man’ said Jack. ‘This whole business with George Griffin has made me think about my own personal security and I know I don’t act like your average sixty- year old but I have to face facts and recognize that I am potentially vulnerable. I’ll have a proper contract drawn up and pay you a set salary of twenty-five grand a year’.

  Mick sat up. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’

  ‘I’ve never been more so’ said Jack. ‘I’m rich and I can do it. And it gives me the chance to keep you around’.

  ‘You don’t need to pay me to keep me around. I wasn’t planning on bringing what we do to an end’.

  ‘Well this way you’ll have the security of knowing that your income is sorted and settled as well as enjoying these fringe benefits. Come on, what do you say?’

  ‘Well I … I mean, what would you want me to do exactly?’

  ‘Look after my house and help me with my daily life. Drive me to the places I need to go to. It might mean some unsocial hours but at least the two of us will have a bloody good laugh together’.

  ‘Well then I guess it’s yes’.

  ‘You will?’

  ‘Yes, I think I will’ said Mick who was shocked and surprised by Jack’s offer. He hadn’t seen it coming but it wasn’t unwelcome. His income as a painter and decorator was becoming increasingly precarious lately. But what would he tell Pauline?

  ‘What are you thinking, Mick?’

  ‘I’m wondering what I’m going to tell Pauline’.

  ‘Tell her the truth’ said Jack, simply. ‘Tell her a customer has offered you the chance of a permanent job with a regular, steady income. She should be pleased and in case you’re wondering about the future I’ll put a pension provision for you in my will so that you’ll be looked after when I’m gone’.

  ‘You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?’

  ‘I’m a hard businessman, Mick. I don’t do anything without careful planning. But with regard to Pauline, you don’t think she’ll be suspicious at all?’

  ‘Pauline? No. It wouldn’t cross her mind that I might be having a carnal relationship with the male boss’.

  ‘Good. Because there’s more’.

  ‘There is?’

  ‘I want to pay for your kids to go to a private or independen
t school’.

  ‘You want to what?’

  ‘I don’t have kids, Mick, but what you told me about yours made me think that I could use some of my money to help you to help them’.

  ‘I can take a job from you, Jack, but I can’t take you paying for my kids’ education’.

  ‘Don’t say it’s to do with pride?’

  ‘No, it’s not pride it’s … ‘

  ‘ … it’s what?’

  ‘Well it’s … ‘

  ‘You can’t think of a reason to turn me down, can you?’

  ‘It just doesn’t seem right, Jack’.

  ‘In what way doesn’t it? I want to give this to you, Mick’.

  ‘I know you do and I don’t want to sound ungrateful’.

  ‘Look, you lie here and think about it. I’m going to run a Jacuzzi for us both. Once it’s ready you can get in it with me and if you’re a good boy I’ll massage your shoulders whilst we’re in there. Think about what I’m offering your kids and their future, Mick. Chances like this don’t come along very often and as their father I think you should take it’.

  ‘What’s a Jacuzzi?’

  SORCERER SEVENTEEN

  ‘The trouble with people like you is you never accept responsibility for your pathetic excuse for a life’ said George. ‘My wife and I didn’t fuck you up like you say we did. What we did was no different to what most of you would’ve got at home’.