Long Gone

by Paul Pilkington

  ‘But Jack…’

  ‘What you’ve told me about Jack is another reason why she might have gone to ground. She’s obviously had a very stressful few months, culminating in this weekend. The London guys will think exactly the same, if they were to do their risk assessment. I’m afraid it would never meet the criteria to escalate things.’

  ‘Is there something you could do?’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘I don’t know, do what you normally do, investigate things, find out the answers.’

  ‘But I’ve told you, it’s not…’

  ‘I mean unofficially, Dad.’

  ‘And do what?’ But even as Cullen said the words, he was already playing through how he could help. He could, with luck and some effort, confirm whether Natalie had boarded the train at London Paddington. He was good friends with Anthony Braddock, the head of the CCTV Operations Centre at Victoria. He could ask a favour, get them to look back at the recordings.

  ‘I don’t know. Look at the cameras at Paddington at the time her train was boarding?’

  Cullen couldn’t help but smile. ‘I could…’

  ‘Please, Dad.’ She sounded as if she were fourteen again.

  Cullen thought it through. The train was approaching the next station. He could jump off, board the next train back to Waterloo and head over to Victoria, giving Anthony a call en route to warn him.

  ‘It might not be that easy,’ he replied. ‘Paddington is very busy, it might be hard to pick her out on camera, even with a lot of effort.’

  ‘Could you just try?’

  The train would be at the next station in under a minute. A couple of fellow passengers stood up and made their way to the doors.

  ‘What if we do confirm Natalie boarded the train?’

  ‘Well, it means she didn’t stay in London, like the text message said.’

  ‘But it doesn’t mean it couldn’t just be Natalie lying about where she’d gone.’

  ‘No, I guess not…’

  Cullen was running out of time to make a decision. If he were to get off, he could kiss goodbye to accompanying Sarah up to Wigan. But then he thought again of Amy’s battle with anxiety. He couldn’t risk it flaring up again. He just couldn’t. Sarah of all people would wholeheartedly agree with that.

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘I can pull a few favours, try to get a look at the cameras.’

  ‘Thanks, Dad! Thank you. Thank you. You’re the best.’

  ‘I can’t promise anything,’ he said, as the train came to a halt and he slipped out of the doors, heading straight for the bridge. ‘As I said, it might not be that easy to spot her. And I can’t ask them to look for very long. Just a few minutes is probably all we can expect, and that’s a big favour.’

  ‘I know, I know.’

  ‘Can you send me through a few photos of Natalie? Headshots and full-length photos, as good a quality images as you can get. Just so they know who they’re looking for?’

  ‘I’ve got loads of photos on my phone they can look at.’

  Cullen glanced up at the departure board, only half taking in what Amy had just said. The next London-bound train was in just five minutes. ‘I don’t understand. Just send two or three through.’

  ‘No need,’ she replied. ‘I’m on the way into Paddington now. I’ll meet you at the CCTV place.’

  7

  ‘Hey, Dad!’

  Paul Cullen turned to see Amy striding towards him. Her smile was muted, and he could see the concern on her face as she brought her face close for a hug.

  ‘This is a surprise,’ he said. ‘A nice surprise.’

  ‘Are you mad with me?’ she said, pulling back from the embrace. ‘Coming here out of the blue like this?’

  ‘It’s always great to see you,’ he replied, dodging the question. ‘But what about your studies?’

  She shrugged. ‘There are no lectures this afternoon. And I can catch up with this morning’s on video.’

  ‘They record the lectures?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘For students who’d prefer to stay in bed, nursing their hangovers?’

  ‘Well, maybe. And those who are sick, or…’

  ‘Worried about their housemate?’

  Now she smiled properly, with those pearly white teeth. ‘Exactly.’

  ‘I guess that’s okay, then.’ Cullen gazed at his daughter. Should he admit his concerns about her anxiety, and whether the fact that she had just hopped on the first train to London on a whim was a symptom of something that he should be worried about?

  Because he was worried.

  ‘I know it seems a bit crazy,’ Amy said, seeming to read his mind. ‘That I’ve dashed over here. But it was just instinct really. I felt like I had to do something, to find out where Natalie is, to find out what’s happened to her.’

  ‘But you don’t know…’

  Amy simply continued. ‘After I’d spoken to Jack, I was just brooding in the house, worrying, not knowing what to do. And before I’d thought too much I jumped on a bus and headed for the station. I knew I’d be in London in under two hours.’

  ‘And here you are.’

  ‘Yes, here I am. So…’ She turned her attention to the building they were standing outside. ‘What is this place, exactly? I Googled it, of course…’

  ‘Of course…’

  ‘But there isn’t much information on the Transport Police website.’

  ‘We don’t want to give away all our secrets,’ Cullen replied.

  ‘Good thinking.’

  ‘This is the National British Transport Police CCTV Headquarters,’ he stated. ‘All those cameras you see at train stations, across the country, thousands of them – any camera on the country’s rail network, including the London Underground – well, the footage from them can be analysed here.’

  This was obviously what she wanted to hear. ‘Great. So we can see whether Natalie got on the train at Paddington.’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ he cautioned.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Just because there is footage, it doesn’t mean that we’ll be able to spot her.’

  ‘But surely if…’

  ‘We can’t ask them to spend very much time on this,’ he said. ‘And that’s even if they agree to look for us in the first place.’

  ‘Oh. But…’

  ‘I put a call through to my contact there, just after we spoke. He said he’d see what he could do.’

  ‘Right…’

  Cullen felt slightly guilty at deflating her expectations so effectively. But it was necessary. There was a strong likelihood that even if Natalie had got on the train, they would fail to spot her among the crowds.

  ‘It’s okay, Dad,’ Amy said, processing what he had said. ‘We can only do our best. Shall we go in?’

  ‘Yes, let’s keep our fingers crossed.’

  They would indeed need luck on their side. Maybe with hours of scrutiny, they could be more confident of an outcome, but that simply wouldn’t be possible, even pulling a favour from a friend.

  ‘DETECTIVE CHIEF INSPECTOR PAUL CULLEN,’ he said at the reception. ‘And this is my daughter, Amy. She’s doing some work experience, shadowing her dad. Aren’t you, Amy?’

  Amy glanced up at him and then smiled nervously at the receptionist as Cullen handed across his ID. ‘Yes. It’s all very interesting,’ she added.

  The young receptionist smiled back politely, before examining Cullen’s badge. He knew a few of the reception staff by name but he didn’t recognise her. Maybe she was new, or a temp? She passed the badge back with another smile. ‘How can I help, Detective?’

  ‘We’re here to meet with Anthony Braddock,’ Cullen replied.

  ‘Of course.’ She picked up the phone. ‘Hello. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Cullen is here to see you.’ She replaced the handset. ‘He said he’ll be along in a few minutes or so,’ but it might be longer. We’ve been having some problems this morning with the swipe card access across the building, l
ocking people out, locking people in. Still teething troubles from our opening, I’m afraid. It’s been one problem after another.’

  ‘Still,’ Cullen said, looking around at the impressively decorated reception area, ‘it looks a lot better than the old place.’ It was the first time he’d been in the new British Transport Police CCTV Headquarters since it had opened a month ago.

  ‘I can’t argue with that,’ she replied. ‘When we moved over last month I transferred from one of the back offices. Now, they were pretty unpleasant to work in. At least here I get to see daylight.’ Just then the phone shrilled. ‘Sorry,’ she said to them, one hand reaching for the handset, ‘you can wait over in the sofa area if you like. I’m sure Anthony will be with you shortly.’

  Cullen and Amy took a seat across from the reception desk. The sofas were angled towards a flat-screen TV that was showing a promotional video about the new building.

  ‘Are you sure this is okay?’ Amy whispered. ‘Me coming in here?’

  Cullen nodded. ‘I told Anthony you’d probably be with me.’

  Amy nodded, seemingly soothed. ‘I’ve been to better movie showings,’ she quipped, as they watched a sped-up version of the construction of the building. ‘Do you think they bring around popcorn?’

  ‘The bosses are obviously very proud of their new temple. Want to show it off.’

  ‘What was the old place like?’

  ‘One of the ugliest buildings in London. Prince Charles even cited it once.’

  ‘So this is an improvement.’

  ‘On first impressions. Although,’ he said, watching as Anthony Braddock struggled to swipe through the access turnstiles to get to where they were sitting, ‘at least the doors opened in the old building.’

  ‘Is this Anthony?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You know him well then?’

  ‘Well enough to get a favour out of him. He’s a decent guy. Helped me out a lot on a number of cases. He loves his technology. Last time I spoke with him, he was very excited about the new stuff they’d have at their disposal once they moved in here. Maybe not so much now…’

  Anthony Braddock approached. He looked flustered but his face brightened as he proffered a hand. ‘Paul. Great to see you again.’

  Cullen took his hand. ‘And you. This is Amy, my daughter.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you,’ Braddock said. ‘So, you like the new place?’

  ‘Very swish,’ Cullen replied. ‘I hear you’ve been having some teething problems.’

  ‘You could say that. But all’s running smoothly in our new CCTV Hub. It really is a fantastic place. State of the art. Just wait until you see what we can do. Absolutely first-class.’

  They followed Braddock through the swipe-access turnstiles and into the lift.

  ‘It really is state of the art,’ Braddock repeated, as the lift ascended. ‘A real change from what we were used to. I think you’ll be suitably impressed.’

  ‘I’m sure we will,’ Cullen said. ‘And we’re really grateful for your help.’

  ‘Really grateful,’ Amy added.

  The lift swooshed open on the third floor.

  ‘This is the National Railways CCTV Hub,’ Braddock explained to Amy, leading them down the corridor. ‘We have access to over thirty thousand cameras across the rail network. There are eight and a half thousand cameras on the London Underground network alone.’ He led Cullen and Amy up to a main door. ‘Fingers crossed this works,’ he said, holding his badge up to the security panel. It flashed green on the first attempt. ‘Thank goodness.’

  They entered a large room, flanked by television screens. Along the side of the wall were banks of equipment. It reminded Cullen of a recording studio. Two workers perched on seats turned to greet them.

  ‘So, this is it,’ Braddock said to Amy, looking suitably proud. ‘The heart of the operation to monitor the National Rail network.’ He gestured to the screens. ‘These are all live feeds. Euston, King’s Cross, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, Birmingham New Street. We can bring up a live digital feed for any of the cameras on the national network, just by searching the database and selecting.’ He turned to one of the consoles. ‘We can also bring up a map of any of the stations,’ he explained, as a map of the London Underground came up on one of the screens. ‘And from the map, click onto any of these icons, which are all cameras. So we can chop and change angles and locations instantly, with a click of a button, which is particularly useful if we’re tracking an offender in real time. This is Baker Street on the screen now. Last week we got reports of a pick-pocketer, with a description. We identified him and tracked the guy through the station, and were able to direct officers to make an arrest before he exited. That’s just one example of how good this new system is.’

  ‘That’s cool,’ Amy said, although Cullen could sense the impatience in her voice. ‘So, Paddington?’

  Braddock didn’t pick up on Amy’s hint. ‘Look,’ he said, like a kid on Christmas morning, ‘you can zoom right in, with this little stick here.’ He clicked onto a live feed from the entrance to Baker Street station, and zoomed right in on a young guy who was just passing through the barriers. The picture quality is just superb.’

  Cullen and Amy exchanged a glance.

  ‘So, Amy’s friend, Natalie,’ Cullen began, ‘she was supposed to catch the eight thirty-five train from Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads last night.’

  ‘Of course, of course,’ Braddock replied, looking a little crestfallen that his guests weren’t taking him on. ‘Sorry, I can get a bit carried away by all these toys. Right, let’s get down to business. Please,’ he said, indicating to two chairs to his right, ‘do take a seat.

  ‘After you called, I took the liberty of retrieving the recording from last night at Paddington. As well as the live feeds, we can also bring up recorded footage for any given timeframe over the past few weeks. There’s a vast amount of data stored on the system.’

  ‘Thanks, I appreciate it.’

  ‘I actually did a quick run-through of the footage. Well, Gary here did. The platforms are busy, I’m afraid. There was the big demonstration about health service funding cuts on the afternoon, and a lot of people were heading back at that time, it seems.’

  Cullen nodded. The BTP had been on alert over the weekend, in case there was any trouble. It was unlikely, given that most of the marchers were healthcare workers, but these things had sometimes been infiltrated by extreme groups out to take more direct action.

  ‘It just means that it might be that much more difficult to spot your friend,’ Anthony explained. ‘But, with any luck, and a keen eye, hopefully we can confirm whether she got on the train.’

  Amy shuffled towards the edge of her seat, her eyes trained on the screen. ‘Thank you. I’m ready.’

  8

  ‘As I said, you use the joystick to pan around, and zoom in and out,’ Anthony explained, as Amy gazed up from the chair with Cullen sitting beside her. ‘The buttons on the dashboard take you forwards and backwards in time. You can slow down the footage with the button on the right. Feel free to have a play. Any problems, let Gary or myself know; we’ll be just outside.’

  Amy nodded.

  ‘Thanks, Anthony, for the big favour,’ Cullen added, as Braddock went to close the door.

  ‘More than happy to help,’ he said. ‘Fingers crossed you spot your friend, Amy.’

  And with that the two men left.

  ‘Okay,’ Amy said, reaching for the play button. Cullen noticed that her hand was shaking ever so slightly. ‘Here we go.’

  The operative, Gary, had paused the footage at 8pm, some thirty-five minutes before the scheduled departure time of the train to Bristol. That seemed a sensible starting point to capture anyone who had boarded.

  The camera that they were looking at was of the main concourse, pointing towards where one of the two banks of departure screens were located and where most people chose to wait until their train was announced as being rea
dy for boarding. Opposite and out of sight was the second bank of screens, next to Platforms 6 and 7, where another group would be congregated. It was unlikely that Natalie would have chosen to wait there, as the Bristol train usually departed from Platforms 1 to 3 and she was a frequent enough traveller to know that. But they had that footage ready for viewing in the background, should the first recording not show anything.

  They knew, though, that the train had departed on Platform 3 that evening. So the first camera, which also panned to take in the ticket barriers to that platform, should show whether Natalie had boarded the train.

  Cullen watched on, letting Amy take control. She’d laid her phone on the table in front of them, showing a recent photo of Natalie, for Cullen’s benefit. He’d met Natalie only briefly. At least with the photo it gave him more of a chance of being useful, and he did have a talent for spotting people in crowds, whether it be on screen or in the flesh.

  ‘YOU’RE DISAPPOINTED?’ Cullen said as they emerged into the bright spring sunshine.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And still worried?’

  She nodded. ‘I still don’t know what happened to her.’

  ‘Unless she was telling you the truth,’ he tried, not wanting to risk sounding as if he was downplaying her concerns – even though he believed there was more than likely a non-sinister explanation for all this. ‘Not seeing Natalie getting on the train, it backs up what the text message said about staying in London.’

  ‘But the message before that, she was about to board the train.’

  ‘About to,’ Cullen countered. ‘She wasn’t on board. Maybe she changed her mind. Maybe someone called her just after she sent that text, offered her a place to stay?’

  ‘You’re probably right,’ she conceded.

  Cullen wrapped a fatherly arm around her. ‘You don’t look convinced.’

  ‘Well, it’s just… I thought the CCTV footage would provide the answers. But it hasn’t really proved anything.’

  ‘It’s rarely that easy.’

  ‘I mean, that platform, it was so busy, we can’t be sure she didn’t get on that train, can we? We might have missed her.’