No Escape (Sinister Minds Quick Reads Book 2)

by D. A. Longman

  “It’s OK, Kiddo, I’ve got it,” He said.

  It was a cold but sunny afternoon. Nadia looked at the way the sunbeams were catching the water as they walked up the pontoon. A few smaller boats were moored along the side, but they were heading for a larger luxury yacht. It stood, dwarfing the other seafaring vessels, with two impressive decks visible.

  Mateo grinned as he saw Nadia look at it in awe. “Isn’t she a beauty!” he said.

  “Is it yours?” Nadia asked.

  “It is owned by the consortium,” he said.

  “Is that who my Dad catches fish for?” Nadia questioned naively.

  Before Mateo could answer, another man stepped out on the deck to welcome them. He beckoned Fatima over.

  “We’ll take the merchandise from here,” he said, handing over a large brown envelope to Fatima.

  She took the envelope and turned to start walking down the pontoon.

  “Where are you going?” Nadia asked.

  “Sorry kid, you’re their property now.”

  She continued walking, as Mateo dragged Nadia onto the boat.

  9

  The following day

  DS Lisa Whitney was in Chief Leroy Edwin’s office. The chief was in a cheery mood.

  “Lisa, bach,” he said, his strong Welsh accent coming through. “You’ve done great work on the Project Payback initiative. But, we’re handing it over to Avon and Somerset for the time being.”

  Lisa’s heart sank, this would mean no more visits to the facility. Through the Project Payback work she had provided serious domestic violence offenders to have their crimes explored at the medical facility. The scientists behind the work included Hannah. Lisa had become very fond of Hannah. She had sensed a connection between them, she knew they were both single and she knew that Hannah was also gay. Lisa had been biding her time to ask Hannah out for a drink. However, no more Project Payback also meant no more visits with Hannah.

  She snapped out of her maudlin mood back to what the chief was saying.

  “However, I have an even more important case for you,” Leroy continued. “I want you to support Liam and the team on a missing child case.”

  “Yes, Sir!” Lisa replied. “When do you want me to start?”

  “Right away!” Leroy answered. “In fact, the briefing should be just about to start.”

  ...

  DI Liam Matthews stood in front of the large whiteboard as he updated his assembled crew of detectives and uniformed officers.

  He tapped a photo of Nadia on the board.

  “Nadia Jenkins, 15, disappeared from her house in Roath Park yesterday. Left a note for her Mum saying that she was going to visit her Dad. She said that she was going with a lady called Fatima.”

  He tapped another photograph, the selfie from the train photo that Nadia had messaged to Amy.

  “Our top priority is finding out who this woman is. This is the woman that Nadia left Cardiff with. This photograph was taken on the train from Cardiff Central to Paddington yesterday morning. I don’t need to tell you how important it is that we move quickly. As you can see, we have called in some reinforcements, most of you will know DS Lisa Whitney from the witness care unit. Lisa, if you and Donna could go to Swansea depot and interview the train manager, see if they saw anything suspicious.”

  Lisa nodded. She looked over at Donna and smiled.

  Liam continued, “Her note to her mother said she was heading to Morocco, flying from Gatwick. Her mother has confirmed that her passport is missing. Nadia had sent a similar message to her school friend, which is how we got the photo. However, we know that Nadia’s passport has not been used in Gatwick or any other UK airport. This could mean that she is still in the country or has left by another means. As we know, the first forty-eight hours are crucial in a missing child case.”

  ...

  Once the briefing was over, Lisa waited outside the room for Donna.

  “Let’s take a pool car,” Lisa said. “I’ll go and log one out now, meet you outside in five minutes.”

  Donna nodded.

  Lisa hadn’t worked with Donna before. There was something about Donna that made Lisa worry. She had a look in her eyes like a rabbit in the headlights. She seemed out of her depth.

  Lisa decided that she would drive, when she met Donna outside the building, she purposefully made a move towards the driver’s side of the unmarked Ford Focus.

  “Don’t mind if I drive, do you?” Lisa asked.

  “No, that’s fine with me,” Donna replied.

  They both sat in the car, Lisa started the engine and pulled out of the car park. She wondered whether she should start a conversation. However, they had barely driven more than a few feet when Donna spoke.

  “This case is just awful,” she said.

  Lisa glanced at her, and for a moment she thought Donna was going to cry.

  “First missing child case?” Lisa asked.

  Donna nodded. “I was with the family yesterday. I can’t begin to imagine what they are going through right now.” She paused for a moment. “Do you think we’ll find her?”

  “We’ll do everything in our power to try and get her home safely,” Lisa replied.

  There was something in the way that Lisa spoke that didn’t fill Donna with confidence.

  “You think she’s dead already, don’t you?” Donna said.

  Lisa paused, thinking about how to word her response.

  “No,” she began. “I think she has been trafficked. She fits the profile. We’re seeing too many teenage girls being groomed in some way and going missing.”

  ...

  Ellie Morgan sat in her train managers uniform in the small office of the depot. She stuttered a little as she spoke to the officers.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I had no idea.”

  Lisa reassured her. “It’s OK, Ellie, we just want to find out if you can remember anything that would help us. Do you know what station they got off at?”

  “Definitely Paddington,” Ellie replied. “I remember smiling at the young girl after I’d checked the Reading tickets. I was wondering if her Auntie had given her phone back to her.”

  “Sorry, her phone?” Lisa asked.

  “Yes, her Auntie took her phone off her as I came through the carriage just before Bristol. We had a chat about social media. I thought her Auntie seemed a bit harsh to be honest,” Ellie said.

  “We have good reason to believe that it wasn’t a relative.” Donna said.

  Lisa glared at Donna. There was only so much information they should divulge when interviewing witnesses.

  “Oh, my God!” Ellie held her hand to her mouth in shock.

  Lisa took over. “Did you happen to see them at Paddington?”

  “No,” Ellie replied. “But there is really good CCTV there, I can put you in touch with some people.”

  “That would be fantastic,” Lisa replied. “Thank you for your help.”

  The two police officers got up to leave. Lisa handed over a business card. “If you could email me the details that would be fantastic.”

  “Of course,” said Ellie. “I’ll do that straight away.”

  They left the room. When they got outside, Lisa lost her temper.

  “What the hell are you playing at?” she yelled. “We don’t tell witnesses key information like that!”

  “I’m sorry Ma’am, I didn’t think.” Donna replied.

  “No, you bloody didn’t!” Lisa replied. “If that hinders our search, you’ll be on traffic duty for a month.”

  10

  Six Months Later

  The electronic screen in the airport lounge announced that the flight was boarding at Gate 8.

  “What’s the betting that we get there and they haven’t started boarding at all?” Gemma said.

  Jen laughed, “You’re so cynical.”

  The two friends got up and started to walk towards the gates.

  They turned the corner to Gate 8, and saw dozens of people stood wait
ing.

  “What did I tell you?” Gemma said. “They always do this in Cardiff.”

  A member of airport staff started talking into the loud speaker.

  “Tui airlines would like to thank you for your patience in boarding flight six four two two to Arrecife,” She began.

  Gemma whispered to Jen, “I don’t care what the flight is called, just get me in the air!”

  “We would like to invite passengers with special needs and travelling with small children to board first.” The lady continued.

  “This is what we’re missing by not having kids,” Jen joked. “We have to wait until the end to board.”

  The sentence took Gemma aback slightly. It was the first time that Jen had acknowledged not being able to have children, but without a twinge of sadness. Was she starting to accept what had happened to her?

  “Yeah,” Gemma laughed. “There’d better be some overhead luggage space left by the time we get on.”

  “I wouldn’t bank on it,” Jen replied, whilst pointing to a couple with three children, each of which were sat on a wheeled children’s case with zoo animal designs. The mother seemed to be struggling with all the passports, whilst the father ushered his children further forward in the queue.

  “Poor dab looks like she could do with a holiday,” Gemma said, whilst looking at the harassed mother.

  “They look like triplets, too.” Jen said. “They all look the same age, bet that’s hard work.”

  After a few minutes the next announcement came through.

  “We would now like to welcome passengers seated in rows seventeen to thirty-two to now come forward please,” the lady said.

  “Typical!” Jen said. “We’re row twelve.”

  Gemma laughed, “Sod’s law, Jen. I could have gone back to the make-up counter in duty free and still had loads of time to board.”

  “Are you planning on reading on the flight?” Jen asked Gemma.

  Gemma nodded. “It’s brilliant having a Kindle these days. Doesn’t seem that long ago that I had several books in the suitcase all taking up weight.”

  “So, what are you reading?” Jen asked.

  “It’s a light hearted comedy set in Spain,” Gemma replied.

  “Very apt.” Jen replied. “I can’t decide if I’m going to read the in-flight magazine or have a nap after the early start.”

  “Well, the in-flight magazine will only take you five minutes. It’s all about trying to flog over-priced sandwiches and drinks these days.” Gemma said.

  “Best I kip then,” Jen replied. “I can’t believe I put my Kindle in the suitcase. It was so nice of Troy to buy me one as a holiday present.”

  “He’s a good one, Jen,” Gemma smiled. “What have you loaded on there?”

  “A few textbooks more than anything,” Jen replied. “I’m still thinking I should sign up for a degree. I just can’t decide whether I should do the psychology degree or the counselling course.”

  “You could have loaded on a few novels,” Gemma rolled her eyes and laughed.

  “Oh, I have a couple,” Jen replied. “I have a few memoirs of sports people I like.”

  “Rows one to sixteen are now welcome to come forward,” the announcement interrupted.

  Jen and Gemma stood up and made their way to the desk, handing over their passports and boarding passes for checking.

  “A few hours now and we’ll be in the sunshine,” Gemma said.

  11

  Six months before

  “Stop it, you are hurting me!” Nadia cried, as Mateo dragged her down the steps onto the boat.

  They reached a door. Mateo undid the bolt on the outside, opened the door, and threw Nadia inside.

  He closed the door, and placed the bolt back across.

  “Let me out! Let me out!” Nadia pounded on the door. “I don’t understand, I just want to see my Dad.”

  ...

  “Sarge, we have located Ali Amrani,” Donna said. She was trying her hardest to get back in Lisa’s good books.

  Lisa looked up from her computer. “The father, right?” she asked.

  “Yes, Ma’am.” Donna continued. “He’s not in Morocco. He’s in Parc Prison. Serving fifteen years for possession with intent to supply. He’s got eight years left on the sentence.”

  “Interesting,” Lisa replied. “The mother, she never said anything about this did she?”

  “No,” Donna replied.

  “I wonder if she knows?” Lisa continued. “She has been estranged from her ex-husband for years, hasn’t she?”

  “They separated twelve years ago,” Donna replied. “When the daughter was three. Divorce came through a year later, and not long after that, Roberta got involved with her current husband.”

  “I think we’d better go and see the mother again,” Lisa said.

  ...

  “You’ve located Ali?” Roberta asked. She allowed a glimmer of a smile to cross her face. “Is Nadia with him?”

  Lisa shook her head, and the glimmer of hope in Roberta disappeared.

  “I’m sorry to say that he has been in prison for the past seven years on drug offences,” Lisa said. “Are you sure that there has been no contact between yourself and your ex-husband?”

  “We split up due to drugs,” Roberta began. She turned to Martin, looking for some reassurance. He stroked her arm.

  “Go on, Rob, you need to tell them. It may help them to find Nadia.” he said.

  Roberta took a deep intake of breath. “He always liked to smoke pot,” she began. “I wasn’t too bothered about that at the start. But after we had Nadia, I didn’t think it was right for him to smoke around the baby.”

  “Go on,” Lisa encouraged.

  “He started spending more and more time out of the house.” Roberta continued, “It was a tough time and we were really struggling with money. Then one day, he came home and said he was doing some work for one of the boys. He started buying more things for Nadia and things started improving for a while.”

  Lisa nodded, maintaining silence to encourage Roberta to continue speaking.

  “He was a good provider, although he was angry a lot of the time. He scared me, but I didn’t want to leave. I knew he was taking more drugs. Then one day, I was sat watching Coronation Street. I had just put Nadia to bed and the front door was kicked down. These two men came into the house, screaming at me, asking where Ali was. I told them I didn’t know, and one of them punched me. I had never been so scared in my life. I was scared for Nadia, I was scared for me. When they left, I packed a bag quickly for us both and went to stay with my parents. I never went back.”

  “And Nadia never had any contact with her father?” Lisa asked.

  “Not really,” Roberta said. “Once or twice he called around my parents in the first few weeks and then he just disappeared. I didn’t even see him during the divorce. I presumed he’d gone back to Morocco.” Roberta paused, thinking. “I’m not surprised he’s in prison to be honest, the drugs had a hold over him even then and I guessed he was selling them and that was why we had more money.”

  “Thank you, Roberta.” Lisa said.

  Roberta began to sob, as if taking in all of the information.

  “It’s due to the drugs isn’t it.” Roberta cried. “Someone has taken my baby girl due to drugs!”

  “We don’t know that, Roberta.” Lisa replied. “But we’re still doing everything that we can to find her.”

  ...

  Lisa and Donna got back in the car.

  “Do you think the father has anything to do with this?” Donna asked.

  Lisa shook her head. “I don’t think so, no. I still think this is a case of grooming.”

  “But the note...” Donna said.

  “We know that Nadia met the woman who took her via social media. Anyone can say they are anyone online. All she needed was for Nadia to believe that she was her Auntie. These people pray on vulnerabilities. In Nadia’s case, a desperate need to find her father again.”

&n
bsp; 12

  As Lisa started to walk up to her desk, she could see Liam near one of the meeting rooms. He waved at Lisa, beckoning her to go and speak to him.

  When Lisa entered the room, Liam closed the door behind her.

  “How was the conversation with the mother?” he asked.

  “Hard.” Lisa replied, “She doesn’t know anything; she didn’t even know that Ali was in prison.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” Liam began. “We’ve been in touch with the Met. We’ve seen the CCTV footage of Nadia and the woman at Paddington. They were seen getting into a 52-plate silver Mercedes.”

  “OK,” Lisa said, pausing, waiting for Liam to continue.

  “The woman who Nadia was with is known to the Met. Her name is not Fatima, as we suspected. Her name is Latoya Turner. She’s a known prostitute who has lately been suspected with involvement in people trafficking, although the Met were still pursuing lines of enquiry, as they had nothing concrete to connect her.”

  “Until now,” Lisa replied, the sadness evident in her voice.

  “It is looking that way.” Liam continued. “The man who was with the car is also known. Gary Morris, convicted paedophile, he has been out of prison for eight months. He last served time here in Wales, in HMP Parc.”

  “Excuse me?” Lisa stopped Liam in his tracks. “Did you say Parc?”

  “Yes,” Liam replied, looking quizzically at Lisa. “Why?”

  “That’s where Nadia’s Dad is currently serving time,” Lisa replied.

  “Right then, Lisa. Looks like you and I are going to be paying a visit to Parc,” Liam answered.

  “What about tracking down Latoya and Gary?” Lisa asked.

  “I’ll get the Met to track them down. Whilst we wait, let’s see what the father has to say.”