Chapter 3

Now normally when I fall to sleep it's until morning. Not tonight. I'd tossed and turned since 2 this morning and my mind was back on the racing track. There was no way that I was going to get back to sleep because there was an idea that I couldn't get rid of. I was up quickly and went with the cargos with a black T-shirt and hoodie over the top. I had on my boots and was wearing my gun so with everything that I might need for our trip, I left my apartment and set off for the gun range. I almost backtracked when I entered that alleyway. No, I wasn't going to succumb to being frightened by the dark, so increased my speed.

Once inside the office I went straight to my laptop. I was looking for a midwife. How hard could that be? There were no listings for any midwives in Holliston, but the nearest were only six miles away in Framingham. After searching I had three phone numbers to contact. Would the midwife who delivered Banning still be around? Would there be any records and if there were, would anyone tell me what I needed to know? With that out of the way I pulled out the photos that showed the inside of Banning's house. I suppose to prepare myself for the morning.

"Annie. Annie?"

"Huh?"

Came from me wondering why there was someone calling out my name. My neck ached a bit as I lifted my head, but I know that I was frowning when I looked down at the crumpled photos laid on the desk. Oh shit. I must have fallen asleep. Had I missed our meeting time? Had they gone without me?

"Why the hell are you even here? Never mind. Come on, you need some coffee"

I felt mortified as I peeled off a piece of paper that had stuck to my face. I didn't want to know what Jonas thought of me because it couldn't be any worse than what I thought of myself. I tried not to grimace as I stood up so ended up moving my head from side to side as I followed Jonas to the elevator. A look in the reflection from the doors almost had another groan coming from me. My hair resembled Medusa. I quickly tried to flatten it but not having an elastic with me wasn't helping.

We were silent as I followed after Jonas, though I was intrigued that he took us through a gate that led to the front of his house. Definitely a more civilized route. He led me through the front door and forward until we came out in an amazing kitchen. It was large with a wooden table in the middle and old fashioned looking units on the walls. Probably purpose built to fit in with the period of the house.

"Take a seat"

Had me pulling out a chair and sitting down while Jonas poured out some coffee into two mugs. A look at a clock on the wall had a sigh of relief come out. It was only 7.15. I hadn't missed meeting up with everyone.

"What couldn't wait Annie?"

I looked up from my mug to see Jonas sat opposite me and knew that I'd have to give him an explanation.

"Something that was niggling at me, and I couldn't sleep"

I wasn't sure that he'd understand that there were times when I just had to follow up on a specific lead.

"A good friend once told me, never question a woman's intuition. Did you find what you needed?"

Okay, so maybe he was prepared to let me run with my idea.

"His mother, there's something to be found with her. I can't believe that she just abandoned him at that homestead when he was eight years old"

He nodded his head as he lifted his mug to his lips, never saying a word. Was that him agreeing with me or was he thinking of how to let me down gently?

"Let me know what you find"

Huh. I didn't expect that. No lecture about being in the office or for being asleep. Now here was a boss that I was warming up to.

Precisely on time I was sat in the back of the grey SUV with Jex sat next to me. Jonas was driving, following the directions from the sat nav which would take us to where Banning had lived. The journey started on main routes that were fast but all too soon the road that we were taking was a lot smaller and a lot slower. After the metropolis of being within the suburbs of Boston I found it interesting that we left all that behind so quickly. Trees lined the road with properties set behind neatly manicured lawns. This certainly seemed to be a desirable area to live in, which had me wondering what the residents thought when they had learnt that they had a serial killer in their midst.

"Banning's place is away from any houses, set in the woods. The locals were aware of the place but chose to ignore it and its occupants"

Yeah, I could see that. Then watched as Jonas made a left turn onto a dirt track. It wound between the trees until I swear that I thought that we'd missed where we were making for. All of a sudden, we came into a clearing and I was looking at the building that I'd seen in the photographs. Getting out of the car I stood there as I looked around. It was like being in a time warp. The same wooden slats that made up the walls and the same wrap around porch. What was obviously different was the turned over earth that we were stood on. I suspected that a lot of work had been done in looking for any more bodies. That had me shivering. As I looked beyond the building to the trees beyond it did have me wondering what was out there. I jumped when a man suddenly appeared from the side of the building but seeing Jonas walk up to him and begin talking had me assuming that the man was the agent who was meeting us here. Why that had to happen, I had no idea. It wasn't as if we would be interfering with an ongoing investigation.

I followed Oscar as he stepped up onto the porch and watched as he disappeared through the door. Was I ready for this? I wasn't sure. Then again it had been me that had suggested coming here. What did I expect from suggesting that? Walking into the house my heart was going ten to the dozen. It was dark and musty inside with a layer of dust over the floor.

"The FBI removed every piece of furniture looking for clues. Tore up floors and checked the walls and roof. The evidence that they were looking for, the women's belongings, were found in the shack outside"

I'd taken note of that shack from the reports, but it wasn't overly large and seemed badly constructed. Certainly not somewhere where a woman could be held.

"Where do they think the women were held?"

I asked Oscar as I followed him through to the kitchen.

"The FBI reckoned they were kept underneath the house. There's a pit that was dug out underground with access just outside by the back door. The three bodies were eventually found in shallow graves, just by the tree line"

Okay, so I hadn't got to reading the part about the pit yet and to be honest I had no intentions of going down there and taking a look. Standing in the kitchen I could see the shack through the window. Why would Banning keep those clothes? Was he so insane that he didn't realize that by keeping them they would provide the evidence to have him arrested? Why not burn them? Why not drop them down into the pit?

I'd read that Banning being caught was pure chance. The FBI were on the hunt for a kidnapper, but Banning was never on their radar. The search for Lisa was what brought them here. Banning's pick up truck was caught on camera close to where Lisa was last seen. Something about that just wasn't adding up for me, but I had no idea what it was.

I made my way up the wooden stairs from the front room, finding myself in a narrow hallway. Three doors that led to a bathroom and two bedrooms were all open allowing the shafts of sunlight to illuminate the grains of dust that I'd disturbed. I peered into the first room seeing a small room with a window. That was where I walked in to, looking down into the backyard. As I stepped back my hand ran down the side of the frame feeling something regular within the wood. Looking more closely they were holes, and they were on the other side of the frame as well. Knowing that Oscar was behind me I asked him the question that was puzzling me without turning around.

"What did the FBI say these holes were from?"

I watched as Oscar came over to the window and as he ran his fingers over the holes, just as I had.

"Not in the report"

Hmm. I'd been locked in a room where planks of wood had been hammered across the windows. That was because the man, whose file I was given by that new manager, was in fact a kidnapper and rapist. Not the docile man who liked to look through windows. He'd been waiting for me to show up and unable to defend myself from the stun gun that he'd had, woke up in a room similar to this. Was that what had happened here? Okay, so going on past experience I began to look around the empty room. I was seeing what could be a circular mark in the corner so walked over and crouched down to get a better look. Using my hand, I began to brush away the dust.

"Water mark"

Was the answer provided by Oscar, but I already knew that. It was from a bucket. Next, I began to crawl on my hands and knees looking closely at the edges of the room, where the walls came down to the floor.

"Annie, what are you looking for?"

To be honest I wasn't sure, so didn't reply.

"The FBI declared these rooms clean. No blood or bodily fluids"

Because this room hadn't been used to kill anyone. This room was used to lock someone inside. Ha, just what I had done. One of the boards was lose, so I gently teased it away from the wall. The nails were missing so I bet someone had thought that they could use them. I had done. Three nails between my knuckles made for a better punch surprising my FTA. His face and chest had been pouring with blood as I'd ran from that room and from the house. What did surprise me was what I found wedged right in the corner. Teasing it out with my nails I was holding a thin gold chain, probably an ankle bracelet with a small clasp that was broken.

"Good find Annie"

I dropped the bracelet into a plastic bag that Oscar was holding open for me, trying to decide why it was there and who it had belonged to.

"How did you know to look?"

Ah hell, how did I explain that. I didn't want anyone to know who I was but then again maybe Jonas had taken me on because of those past experiences.

"I was kidnapped once. Locked in an empty room with boards nailed across the windows. I had a bucket for, well a bucket. I worked the board along the floor lose and used the wood and nails as a weapon. I think a woman was kept in here. She was made to remove her clothes and given others to wear. Her jewelry and her watch would have been taken from her, but they missed her ankle bracelet, so maybe she hid it or it got kicked under by mistake"

I had no idea if I was right because I was recounting my own experiences. To me it made perfect sense. Movement caught my eye at the door so turning I noticed Jonas stood there. I was damned sure that he'd heard what I'd said to Oscar because as he turned, I was sure that he had a smile on his face. Maybe I was right, I was here because Jonas would know that I'd look for things that no one else would see.

A look around the other room and what would have been the bathroom didn't reveal any more clues for me. Hell, the FBI had stripped all of the pipes and fixtures out. As I looked around at the sloping roof above, at the boards that hadn't been replaced neatly I knew there was nothing else to find up here.

It was as I stepped out of the back door that a shiver went down my back and I was immediately looking into the trees that faced us.

"You okay?"

Came from Jex who must have noticed how I held my arms around myself.

"I feel as though someone is watching me"

Oscar disappeared while Jex walked with me back to the car. Yeah, that feeling was unsettling. It had nothing to do with what had happened here, it was different. A feeling that I'd been aware of before on countless occasions. It was several minutes before Oscar reappeared, but he didn't say anything.

The drive back was done in silence. Yeah, including me. I had so many puzzles going through my head that I was struggling with where to start first. Of course finding that ankle bracelet was important but it would mean trying to identify who it belonged to. Hell, if I lost a piece of jewelry, I don't think anyone would know what it looked like. Then there was that room. The FBI had obviously decided that there was no evidence in there linking back to any of the missing women. So what had the room been used for. Oscar had told me that there had been some underground space, so I assumed that was where the FBI had focused on. Then there was where the clothes had been found. Why remove the women's clothes if Banning was going to keep them in the shed? Had they been made to remain naked? That had a shiver go through me because I suppose that it fit in with the sadistic way that they'd been tortured and killed.

I realized that I really needed to read through all of the reports more carefully. Jonas had said that there had been seven women who had disappeared. Was that number based on the clothes that had been found? Three bodies recovered which meant that there were four others out there somewhere, including Lisa. I was pretty sure that the FBI would have covered every square inch of that property looking for them.

As the SUV pulled to a stop in front of Jonas's house I was surprised when he began talking. Maybe like me he was trying to figure out what he needed to do next.

"I'll talk to Lisa's father and find out if he recognizes that bracelet. I can't stop you from continuing to work, especially with what we saw fresh in your minds. Please, make sure that you get some sleep"

I was guessing that the last comment was aimed at me. At least he hadn't said anything about finding me asleep to the other two guys. Once stood outside of the SUV I debated what to do. Jonas was right, that visit had certainly fired me up to want to know more. On the other hand, I knew that I was tired from my nocturnal work. Decide on one task to do and then call it a night, was what went through my mind. Seemed that Oscar and Jex were of the same frame of mind as me, so as a group we used Jonas's short cut and made our way over to the office.

My one target was to call any midwives who lived in the area of Holliston or Framingham and find who might have been the midwife that delivered Elijah Banning. You might think that would be easy to do but I was conscious that Banning was a very high profile name in the area. It probably wouldn't go down well to mention his name. I leant back in my chair as I considered how to overcome that and admitted that it was going to have to be by lying. Now don't get me wrong. I'd made up plenty of stories before when I needed to find a skip. From announcing that I was delivering food, there as a plumber or even a pest controller. I'd even suggested that my skip had won some great prize and needed to claim it in person. None of those would be of use for this.

Then I remembered my grandma raving about this British drama series that she was enjoying watching, Call the Midwife. Okay, I could work with something like that. I checked for the year that Banning had been born, thinking to myself that he was only four years younger than me. Then called the first number.

"Hi, my name is Annie Michaels. I was hoping to be talking to Janice, a midwife"

I knew that using that name wouldn't be a problem because it could never be traced back to here or to me.

"Sure honey. When are you due?"

That threw me until I realized what she was assuming. Me pregnant, no way.

"Err, no, not pregnant. I'm actual a writer for a magazine and have been collecting together stories from midwives who worked in the 80's, especially their experience of home births"

I heard a low chuckle in the background and was suddenly worried that my cover story wasn't going to work.

"Sorry. I'm too young. I only started out as a midwife five years ago"

Damn, I never even considered how old the mid wife would have to be now. Think, how else could she help me.

"No need to apologize. Would you happen to know who might have been working then"

"Oh, let me think. Maggie, my predecessor, she was here for nearly ten years before she moved to the city. I know just the person. Emily, Emily Wallace. She'll be getting on in years now. She retired eventually. Apparently she was old school, but knew her stuff"

I had a name, so needed to know how to find Emily Wallace.

"Does she live local?"

Crossing my fingers that she hadn't moved away as well.

"I'm pretty sure that she did but I'm not sure where. I'm sure she'd have some doozy stories to tell you. Good luck with the article, maybe you could send me a copy"

"Sure. Thanks for your help"

As I placed my phone on the table, well the phone that Jonas had provided me with, I wanted to fist bump the air. A quick look around me had me rethinking that. The two men were back to studying their electronic images on the screen and in the 3D imager. Maybe I needed to have a look at what they were doing. But not until I found an address for Emily Wallace.

Thirty minutes later I had an address so decided to see what Jex was up to. I had to admit that seeing where we'd been this morning now as a 3D image was more than interesting. I walked around it seeing the building from every angle.

"As Oscar reviews a piece of evidence, I place it in the position where it was found"

I watched as the room where I had found the bracelet in came into view and as the bracelet appeared where I had found it. It was strange now seeing other items inside the room. A single bed with a mattress on was up against the wall and a single chair was in the corner.

"Nothing else?"

I asked wondering why it was so sparsely furnished.

"No, only the stain in the corner by the door"

I watched as Jex took me through the house one room at a time. This was far better than looking at photos. Whilst Banning had a bedroom upstairs with a large bed in it, shelves for clothes and a long unit with drawers the FBI had deduced that he lived mainly downstairs. Yeah, that area was a tip. Littered with packages, empty bottles and what looked like scraps of food mingled with dirty clothes. I spent some time looking at that room from different angles trying to work out what was missing.

"Is that everything?"

No answer, but a look was all that I got from Jex, so I assumed that was a yes.

"There's nothing personal here. No ornaments, nick knacks, pictures or photos. Don't you find that strange?"

I smiled as I looked up to Jex not really sure if he was following what I was saying. I mean everyone had mementos, hell even Ranger in that Zen style apartment he lived in had photos of his daughter and the core team. Me, okay, I probably had more, but then again, I had nieces who bought me ornaments whenever they went somewhere. My bedroom had childhood toys that I didn't want to get rid of and my shelves were filled with photo frames. I looked back at the house, the emptiness that it conveyed. There was nothing in it that gave me any idea of who Elijah Banning had been.

I'd spent long enough looking at the house. I had a better understanding of how Banning had lived now so I needed to get back to my apartment. My stomach was telling me that it needed feeding and I had some salad in the fridge that would fill the space. Yeah salad, did I say with lots of mayonnaise dressing?

As soon as I'd eaten, I showered and went straight to bed. I think that I was so tired that even my brain took the night off. No dreams, which was a blessing considering what I'd learnt over the past two days.

Seeing as I was visiting with an elderly woman, I decided to wear a dress, yeah with color in it. It was demure for me, knee length with a round neck and short sleeves and went well with the white sandals. Now all I had to do was get to our morning meeting and hope that Jonas had no objections to what I was planning on doing.

I arrived at the office to find Jex and Jonas sat at the table, fortunately at the other end from where I'd spread out my papers. Sitting down I was aware of how Jex was looking at me. Yeah, he was curious with what I was up to. As soon as Oscar arrived the atmosphere changed, and we got down to business.

"Our client is out of town but will be back tomorrow. Did any of you learn anything from visiting the homestead?"

I looked from Oscar to Jex because I wasn't sure if I'd learnt anything or if I was just making assumptions based on my own experiences. I needed to find out more before I committed myself to trying to explain.

"I didn't find anything that the FBI missed in terms of evidence. The tests carried out supported that the clothes came from seven women and the styles and labels supports the time frame. Including clothes that Lisa was wearing"

"The room that Annie found the bracelet in?"

I knew that Jonas had been there when I'd found the bracelet but wasn't sure what Jex had surmised from that.

"Unusual and very sloppy of the FBI. I can only guess that after they took out the furniture and tested for DNA, they didn't find anything, so didn't look further. Downstairs and outside was where they focused on. The case against Banning was based on the discovery of the three bodies and the clothes and DNA found in the pit"

"And his confession. Though that is open to interpretation according to his defense lawyer"

Added Oscar. I'd glanced through some of those transcripts and found Banning's ramblings and outbursts confusing. According to the psychiatrist, who had assessed him, Banning was exhibiting three personalities, each persona blaming the other for the atrocities that had been done. What I found weird was that while Banning, or one of his personas, had admitted to torturing and killing women there was never any inkling of what had happened to the women or where their bodies were buried.

"Annie?"

I looked at Jonas as he said my name so was prepared to explain where I was going today and why.

"Banning stopped going to school when he was eight years old, which could be explained by his behavior. Maybe his mother refused to send him or couldn't get him to go. I'm a people person. I learn things from their habits and associations. I can't get a handle on Banning so I'm trying to discover what happened when he was a young kid. I'm going to Framingham to talk to a midwife who may have delivered him"

That got a raised eyebrow from Jex. So it wasn't based on science or fact. It was my way of doing things.

"Okay. Let Jex know where you're going, and any problems then call"

Wow that was simple. No cross examination or arguments. That was new for me. Hell, whenever I'd discussed with Joe an avenue that I wanted to pursue he would always try and talk me out of it, saying that I was wasting my time or that it was police business.

As I left the office, I was going through what had been said. To be honest we really didn't know any more than we had when we started. Oscar had been quiet, so I had no idea what avenues he was following.

The drive to Framingham was relaxing. Did I say that a car came with the job? Yeah, a Ford Escape, in grey of course. It was classed as a compact SUV but to me it was a dream. Not brand new which was probably better for me. Everything worked including the radio. Lula would be so jealous. I spent some of my time singing along to the songs that I knew, checking with the sat nav every so often.

Emily Wallace lived on the outskirts of Framingham, on Cyprus Street. I followed the directions from the sat nav, winding my way along the streets. It sure seemed a nice place to live, went through my mind as I passed by the properties set back from the street. I had no preconceived ideas about where Emily would live but seeing as she was retired, a single story property seemed to fit. I parked by the sidewalk as I surveyed the house and the grounds. Once out of the car I walked up the path through an area of grass, that looked to need cutting, and stepped up the three steps to reach the front door. The drive next to the house had a white Toyota estate car parked up, so someone must be home. It was after knocking again, a bit louder this time, when I noticed a shadow behind the door and heard the sound of a lock being thrown. There I was, stood smiling, as I prepared to talk to Emily. So imagine my surprise when a young woman opened the door.

"Good morning. I, er, was hoping to have a conversation with Mrs. Wallace. Emily Wallace"

Oh Shit, went through my mind when I watched as the woman's face went pale and her eyes teared up. I watched as she wiped her eyes and plastered a smile onto her face.

"Sorry. You must be Annie. Janice phoned my house for me to let mum know. She had no idea that mum had died three weeks ago and as she had no way to contact you, I decided to come over. I have so much to sort through anyway"

"I'm so sorry for your loss"

Which I was but I was also disappointed that I'd never get a chance to talk to Emily.

"It was expected, she'd been ill for an age, but it still came as a shock. Why did you need to talk to her?"

I wasn't prepared to be asked that question and to be honest I just couldn't bring myself to come up with some stupid story.

"Can we talk somewhere more private?"

Not wanting to be stood on the doorstep in front of all of the neighbors. As she stepped back from the door, I took that as an invitation to follow her inside. All I could see were boxes that littered the floor of the hallway. Okay, here goes. Bracing myself as I started to tell her my reason for being here.

"I'm investigating the disappearance of women from the area"

"The ones that that mad man murdered? I heard about that"

Well at least I didn't have to explain anything else, and she hadn't asked if I was a police officer or fed, so I wasn't going to embellish on that.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, not all of the women have been found. I wanted to know more about the killer and his family so was going to ask your mother if she'd been the midwife who delivered him at home"

I was very aware of her expressions as I told her that and saw the frown as it crossed her face. Now what was she thinking about? Had her mother mentioned something to her when the news of Banning's arrest had hit the media.

"Wow. I never considered that. Mum was in the hospital having chemo when that all came out"

As she stood there obviously considering something I wasn't sure what to do. Apologize for disturbing her and leave I suppose.

"You know mum was a hoarder. Hence all of these boxes. I haven't started on the summer house yet because to be honest I wasn't sure what to do with the stuff inside"

It was my turn to be confused now, wondering what this woman was talking about.

"Her records. She was anal about keeping notes. The summer house is filled with journals, so I have no idea what to do with them. Hand them over to the health center or burn them"

Records, was I hearing right? Could it be possible that what I needed to know was here in those journals?

"Err, do you think I could see them?"

"Knock yourself out. As long as you box them up for me"

I nodded before she turned away from me and then picked up four of the flat packed boxes from the floor. Not wanting to invade on the woman's privacy I went back out through the front door and then walked past the garage up the side of the house. I assumed that the summer house was the wooden structure in the far corner of the yard so made my way along the path that led to it. I could see the glass of the windows and doors but not through them. I smiled as I realized that Emily had fine drapes covering them, maybe for privacy or to block off the sun's rays.

Opening the door, I was looking around in amazement. Every space, save from where a small upholstered chair sat, was covered with piles of books. Would Emily have sat here as she wrote them or would she have come here to read them as a way to reminisce. Whichever it was it was going to take time to find what I was looking for, if it was even here.

An hour later I'd filled the four boxes with books. I knew that I was looking for an entry for May 15th 1995 and had yet to find anything even relating to that year. Emily's daughter wasn't kidding when she said that her mother was a hoarder. I needed more boxes and to move the ones that I'd filled out of the way. Standing from the chair, yeah I could understand why Emily used it because it was comfy, I bent down to pick up one of the boxes from the floor. The next thing that happened came as a shock. A searing pain on the side of my head followed by blackness.