Page 85 of Then She Vanished

Gina couldn’t very well tell the team what Pete had messaged, but it was reassuring that they were on the right path.

Luna and Ruth could be being held there and they had to get them out of the personal hell that they’d been living in, and she hoped that Luna could tell them what had happened to Elissa, Felicity and Joanie.

If her career was to come to an end tonight, then she could at least feel as though she had made one huge final contribution.

Jacob drove in darkness towards the next junction. A derelict-looking block with some sort of corrugated metal stood to the side of the gated yard. Huge trees surrounded most of it, but the unit stood proudly above the many outbuildings.

She stared at the oppressive structure, with its expanse of land behind it. In a bid to save life or limb, they could enter without a warrant.

She cleared her throat. ‘No one knows we’re coming, but I feel so nervous. As soon as we’re in, I know an alarm will betriggered, and if we have it all wrong, we could have just put Ruth and Luna in more danger. We don’t know if our perp is already in there with the victims.’ She took deep breath after deep breath, her nerves jangling like mad.

Jacob pulled the handbrake on and the police cars pulled up behind them. She called O’Connor again. ‘Are we all in place?’

‘Yep, all in place. The area is surrounded and there’s an ambulance and fire engine on standby. We have a dog team, too, in case we get any runners.’

‘We’re going in.’

FIFTY-FIVE

PC Smith stepped forward, and to their surprise there were no locks on the gate. Gina messaged Garth to call the company’s out-of-hours number while they took a look around outside.

Smith pushed one of the gates open. Gina led with Jacob and several officers close behind. She spotted a number of CCTV cameras.

‘Right, take a look around. If the owner of the business turns up soon, we have easy access. If not, we are going to have to gain entry. Make sure we have everything we need to do that. Jacob, you, me and you three, please,’ – she nodded at the PCs to her left – ‘will come with us. The rest of you head to the right. As you can see, the buildings go really far back, so I need you to lookeverywhere. Call out to see if there is any response. Preppers use bunkers. Pay particular attention to anything that could be a bunker.’ She glanced back at the officers at the main gate. ‘As soon as the owner arrives, radio through. Has everyone got that?’

She heard barking in the distance, but then it stopped.

Everyone said yes and started heading around the main building. Running, Gina reached a huge barn, but it was padlocked.

‘Hello,’ she called out. She flinched as a rat darted past her feet. Jacob let out a slight screech. They followed the sides of the building, but nothing seemed out of place.

A row of concrete garages led the way towards the back of the land. Each one was once again padlocked.

They kept going on the uneven pavement. The further away they got from the main building, the darker it became. She pulled her torch out and flashed it ahead of them.

That’s when she spotted the creepiest-looking door ever, that led to a small concrete building the size of a tiny mausoleum in a graveyard. The heavy wooden door and gargoyle-guarded concrete surround was half hidden by trees.

Gina grabbed the round metal door handle and tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t budge. ‘We need to get in here.’

One of the PCs came up behind her after talking on his radio. ‘A member of staff is just pulling in. The owner, Mr Bishop, is unavailable. Apparently, he’s on holiday.’

‘Great, can you get the key to this building from them?’ It would be easier than trying to break down a door that heavy, but she prepared herself for an argument with whoever had turned up.

She walked around the mausoleum while she waited, and Jacob stood with the PCs. The dog’s distant barking started again. A few minutes later, the PC ran back with a bunch of keys in his hand. He passed them to Gina.

‘The employee said she’s never been in this building, but one of the keys might work. She said they used to build these before she started working here, but demand fizzled out.’

Gina could tell. It was mossy and dirty and unloved. The perfect place to build a bunker underneath and keep someone without ever getting caught.

She glanced around. The back of the land was surrounded by a tall metal fence that would be near on impossible to climb with its spiky tops.

She tried the keys in turn until she came across the one that fit perfectly. It made a clicking noise as it unlocked, and her heart began to bang.

Stepping into the darkness, she held her torch out in front of her and shone it ahead. She hit the wall with her free hand. A pile of old rusty tooling leaned against the back wall. Stepping around the small room, she pressed and prodded the walls and checked the floor for any type of hatch, but it was nothing more than a room with some rubbish contained in it.

She stepped out and let out a long breath as she leaned next to the heavy door and stared up at the moon.

An officer ran over towards them. ‘The person in charge has opened everything up and there’s nothing suspicious here. We’re doing a more thorough search now.’

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