Clare sat down. ‘Hello, Kevin. How are you holding up?’
He glanced at her, his face blotchy, eyes pink. ‘Dunno. Okay, I suppose. No news?’
Clare shook her head. ‘You’ll be the first to know, I promise. We’ve circulated Abi’s photo to all the newspapers, and her abduction will be on the national news tonight.’
Lisa trudged back in. She looked faintly annoyed. ‘Can’t even have a pee in peace,’ she said, throwing Wendy a look.
‘Actually,’ Wendy said, ‘I might just go myself. All these cups of tea… Do you mind?’
Lisa flicked her hand in assent and Wendy left the room. Chris appeared and joined Clare on the sofa. She glanced at him and he gave a slight shake of his head.
Clare turned back to Lisa. ‘I was just telling Kevin that we’ll have Abi’s photo on the front page of every newspaper tomorrow morning and she’ll be on the national news tonight.’
‘Right.’
‘I’d like to get some background information on you both,’ Clare went on. ‘It’s possible that someone you know might have taken Abi, either to get back at you for something or simply because they wanted a baby.’
‘Get back at us for what?’ Lisa snapped. ‘You saying we’ve done something to deserve this? Like it’s our fault?’
‘Of course not, Lisa. But you never know; there’s a chance you might be working with someone who’s involved with Abi’s abductors. Maybe you mentioned you were going to the fun run and they saw an opportunity. You can’t tell who you’re mixing with these days. So the sooner we can rule out your own contacts, the sooner we’ll find the real culprit.’
Lisa picked up her cigarettes and lit one. She held the pack out to Kevin, but he waved it away.
‘You know I don’t like you smoking with Abi in the house.’
‘She’s not in the fucking house, in case you hadn’t noticed.’ She drew on the cigarette then scowled at Kevin. ‘Dipshit!’
Kevin started to cry again. Clare wondered at the change in Lisa, so broken and bereft just a few hours ago and now fighting mad. Was this a mother’s instinct kicking in? Perhaps it was worth speaking to the doctor again.
‘Listen,’ she said, ‘I understand this is a dreadful time for you both. But the sooner we have the information we need, the quicker we can give you some space.’
Lisa drew deeply on her cigarette again and exhaled. She seemed calmer now. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘It’s just…’
‘I know. No need to apologise. Maybe you could start by telling me where you work, Lisa? Or are you a stay-at-home mum?’
‘Tanning salon. Woodburn Place. Bronzalite, it’s called.’
‘I know it. I reckon Chris here could do with a few sessions.’
Chris took his cue. ‘Yeah, you’re not wrong. Worked there long, Lisa?’
‘About three years. Just afternoons through the week. Sometimes do the odd evening or weekend. Just depends.’
‘Who looks after Abi when you’re there?’
‘My sister sometimes. Mostly she goes to Wee Tots Daycare just along the road.’
Chris noted this down.
‘Get on okay with the others in the salon?’ Clare asked.
‘Yeah. I’m usually there by myself, though,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t take a lot to run a tanning salon. Just get them to sign in, take the money, that sort of thing.’
‘Lonely?’
‘Not really. I have the radio and my magazines.’
Clare said, ‘If you give me the manager’s name and number we’ll let them know you’ll not be in tomorrow.’
Lisa picked up her phone from the coffee table and swiped until she found the details. ‘Her name’s Sacha.’ She held the phone out for Clare to see, adding, ‘She’s the owner.’
Clare noted down the number then turned to Kevin. ‘And you, Kevin? Do you work?’
‘Groundsman at Melville College. Private school, a mile or so out of town.’
‘Been there long?’
‘About a year.’
‘Nice place to work?’
‘Aye, sometimes. Some of the kids can be a bit snobby. Staff too, but the other gardeners are all right.’
‘What did you do before that?’ Chris asked.
‘On the rigs. Lost my job when the oil prices dropped. Then Abi was on the way and I didn’t want to be away from her for weeks at a time.’ Kevin drew a hand across his eyes and Lisa threw him a look. She stubbed out her cigarette and went to take another from the pack.
‘Again, if you let us know who to contact we’ll tell them you won’t be in tomorrow.’
‘Aye, sure.’ Kevin reeled off the name and number from memory and Clare noted them down.
‘Is there anyone you noticed recently – anyone taking a particular interest in Abi? Hanging about the street, looking in the pram, that sort of thing?’
Lisa shrugged. ‘Don’t think so. Maybe worth asking the Wee Tots staff but I don’t remember anything like that.’
‘Anyone you’ve fallen out with recently? Neighbours, anyone at work?’
‘Nope.’
Clare looked at Kevin. He glanced at his wife then shook his head.
‘I don’t know why you’re asking us all these questions anyway,’ Lisa said. ‘Should you not be out there finding Abi?’
‘Rest assured, Lisa, we have every available officer working on this. We just need to be thorough. Sometimes a bit of background information can point us in the right direction.’
‘Sorry.’ She raised her eyes to meet Clare’s. ‘I’m not normally like this.’
Clare rose. ‘No need to apologise. I think you’re holding up remarkably well. Both of you.’ She smiled at them and Kevin attempted a watery smile in return. ‘And if there’s anything else you remember, let Wendy know. She’ll stay with you until this evening and she’ll be back in the morning. I’ll leave an officer outside your door overnight. Keep the press away.’
‘Thanks,’ Lisa muttered. She stood up. ‘I’ll see you out.’
‘I’ll do it,’ Wendy said to her. ‘You sit tight.’
Wendy came out into the garden with Clare and Chris. ‘She’s got another mobile,’ she told them. ‘An Alcatel. Looks like a pay-as-you-go. I reckon Ashley must have brought it round. The two of them disappeared upstairs together then Ashley came down and left the house.’
‘Has she used it?’
‘Yep. She was in the bathroom for a while before you came and I was sure I could hear her voice. She’d put the radio on in the bedroom, though, so it was hard to be sure. I had a look for it while you were speaking to them just now. She’s stashed it in the bathroom. It’s at the bottom of a laundry basket under a pile of washing. I put it back so she wouldn’t know I’d found it.’
‘Who did she call?’ Clare asked.
‘Got the number here.’ Wendy took out a notebook and tore off a page. ‘Probably a pay-as-you-go, but still worth a check.’
‘Cheers, Wendy. I’ll get onto it. In the meantime, could you keep an eye on that phone, please? There must be a reason Lisa’s using it.’
‘Will do.’
Wendy returned to the house. Clare and Chris climbed into the car.
‘Any thoughts?’ she asked Chris.
‘What do you reckon a groundsman earns?’
Clare regarded the house. It wasn’t exactly a starter home. ‘Not enough for that place, anyway, even with Lisa’s afternoons at the tanning salon.’
‘A couple of expensive cars in the drive, too.’
‘He was on the rigs until a year ago, though. That’s good money. They could have been stashing it away. Put it towards the house, or paid cash for the cars.’
‘Sure. But they’re a young couple. They must have twenty years of their mortgage left. Even if he’d been saving up over the years, I can’t see they’d have enough to keep up payments on a house that size.’
‘Good point.’ Clare started the engine. ‘But there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation. Meantime, we have
a baby to find.’
Sunday Evening
Chapter 6
It was almost ten o’clock when Clare finally climbed into her car. The evening had grown cold and it took a few minutes to clear the windscreen of condensation. She sat while the heater blew cool air and watched until it was clear enough to pull out of the car park. She left the town behind at the Bogward Road roundabout, driving through farmland towards Daisy Cottage, her home for the past six weeks. It was dark now, of course, but she could see the distant lights of two combine harvesters, working late into the night to bring in the crops before the weather changed.
Clare had grown tired of renting in St Andrews and decided it was time to put down roots. The detached Victorian cottage on the country lane, known to locals as the Craigtoun Road, had piqued her interest when she had been investigating a series of hit-and-run murders in the area.
She drove on, blinking away fatigue as the fields bordering the road gave way to dense woods. It wasn’t so long since she had raced through these same woods, trying to escape a shotgun-toting killer. She shook her head. That, along with so much else, was in the past and Daisy Cottage was the future. Or at least it would be once the builders had finished with it.
The woods cleared and she slowed for the entrance to her cottage. She swung the car off the road and up the short drive, the headlights picking up the wooden portico and red-brick walls. A security light blazed, dazzling Clare, and she wondered if it could be adjusted so it didn’t shine right in her face every time she approached the house. She killed the engine and climbed out of the car. Inside the house, Benjy, her English Bull Terrier, heard her approach and began to bark. She fished in her pocket for the house key and opened the front door. Benjy flung himself against her legs and she led him out to the garden to pee. While he sniffed under the privet hedge, Clare picked up a note on the mat and moved about the house, lighting lamps. She stepped carefully over a series of gaps where the floorboards had been lifted by the plumber.
Benjy returned from his night-time wanderings and followed Clare into the kitchen. She was reading the note from Moira, her nearest neighbour, half a mile further along the road.
Saw you weren’t back so walked Benjy this afternoon.
Let him out again about six. Hope all ok,
M
God bless Moira. She was the perfect neighbour and so fond of Benjy. Clare opened a cupboard and took out a bag of dog food. She poured some into a bowl and Benjy made a beeline for it.
‘Benjy,’ she said in what she hoped was a warning tone.
He looked at her.
‘We’ve talked about this,’ she went on, trying to look stern. ‘Wait until you’re told!’
He looked at her again with puppy-dog eyes and she relented. ‘Go on then,’ she said, and he fell on the bowl, devouring the food in less than a minute.
She unearthed an M&S chilli meal from the back of the freezer and put it in the microwave to defrost. As the microwave hummed, the fatigue she’d felt in the car washed over her once more. Travelling back from France last night, up this morning for the fun run and then Abi’s kidnapping. It had all caught up with her. She pointed the remote at the kitchen TV. It flickered into life and she saw herself being interviewed on the West Sands. Great coverage, but would it help? She stared at the close-up of Abi’s photo on the TV.
‘Where are you?’ she wondered aloud.
* * *
Clare ate her chilli on a tray in front of the coal fire. It was cosy but smoking a bit and she added find a sweep to the to-do list on her phone. There might even be an old bird’s nest up there. As the fire sparked and spitted she wondered about replacing it with a woodburning stove. If the central heating was ever sorted out!
Her phone buzzed from the arm of the chair. She picked it up. Geoffrey:
Just checking you’re okay.
Saw the news – dreadful. Poor things.
Hope you’re not too exhausted,
Love G xxx
PS still ok for dinner on Tuesday?
Dammit. She’d forgotten Geoff’s sister had invited them to dinner. The invitation had come before their holiday, a holiday that was fast becoming a distant memory. Tuesday was just two days away, about as long as they had to find Abi Mitchell. Benjy wandered through and stretched out in front of the fire. The sight of him made Clare yawn. It had been one hell of a day. She rose from the sofa, carried her tray into the kitchen and loaded her plate in the dishwasher. She whistled to Benjy and opened the door for him to have one last pee in the garden. Then she switched out the lights, stepped carefully across the missing floorboards and went upstairs to bed.
Monday, 23 September
Chapter 7
Further reinforcements from Glenrothes, Cupar and Dundee packed into the station the next morning. The incident room was bathed in autumn sunshine, raising the temperature until someone thought to close the blinds. As Clare entered the room, it seemed to be a sea of bodies but gradually, as they became aware of her, they found desks and chairs to perch on and the chatter subsided.
‘Right,’ she said. ‘First of all, any sign of Ashley McCann?’
Jim raised his hand. ‘Nothing at all. She’s not turned up at her house yet.’
‘So where has she been?’ Clare asked. ‘She was round at the Mitchells yesterday but she’s not been home since. Any thoughts?’
‘Probably kipping up with someone,’ Chris suggested.
‘Or getting a hit,’ Bill said. ‘Could have gone somewhere to score and crashed out.’
Clare sighed. ‘Not permanently, I hope. Anyone checked her previous convictions? Liv, was that you?’
Liv began shifting papers on her desk until she found the one she wanted. ‘Yep. Pre-cons for possession and supply of Class A. She’s a minor player, though, judging by the sentences. And she served six months for serious assault.’
‘The minute she surfaces,’ Clare said, ‘I want to speak to her. She’s the victim’s nearest relative. And there’s something else. Ashley gave Lisa another mobile phone. An Alcatel, and Lisa has chosen to conceal this from us. Wendy found it hidden in the bathroom. The question is why? Why did Ashley give it to Lisa, and why is Lisa hiding it?’
‘Boss, why not just ask her?’ Liv said.
‘It’s a fair point. My concern is, if she does have something to hide and we go steaming in, she’ll clam up and we’ll lose any intel we might get from that phone. So, for now, we monitor the activity – calls and texts – and see what we can learn. Who knows, it might give us a pointer to what’s going on here – to who’s taken Abi, and why.’
Liv nodded and Clare pressed on. ‘So, Kevin and Lisa’s iPhone records up to midday on Sunday – who was on that?’
Robbie raised his hand. ‘Lisa called her sister, Ashley McCann.’
‘Time?’
Robbie checked his notebook. ‘Just before ten in the morning. Call wasn’t answered.’
‘Okay, any other calls?’
He scanned his notebook again. ‘One inbound, to Kevin’s mobile. One of those have-you-been-in-an-accident calls.’
‘And anything after the time Abi was snatched?’
Robbie shook his head. ‘Just a text message from Lisa’s phone – about half twelve.’
‘To?’
‘Ashley again.’
Clare nodded. ‘Figures. Probably sent from the car when Sara was driving them home. Is that it, Robbie? No other calls?’
Robbie shook his head. ‘I’m checking her contacts now, boss, but nothing of interest so far.’
Clare mulled this over. ‘So, certainly no ransom or other demands for Abi’s safe return, on their iPhones at least.’
‘What about the other phone? The one Wendy found in the bathroom?’ Chris asked.
Robbie flicked over a page in his notebook. ‘Wendy texted about half an hour ago, boss. She checked the phone this morning. According to the call log there was one outgoing call yesterday afternoon, about half-three, then another last night at
ten thirty. Both around two or three minutes long.’
‘So the second call was after Wendy left?’ Clare said.
‘Looks like it.’
‘Same number?’
‘Yeah. Untraceable. Must be a pay-as-you-go.’
Clare looked round the room. ‘So Lisa Mitchell has made two calls on a phone she doesn’t want us to know about. Why?’
Chris sat forward and loosened his tie. ‘I’m starting to think she might have another bloke. Remember we found that gold necklace hidden in the wardrobe? And she was downright fidgety when we went back the second time yesterday. If she has someone else on the go, she’ll be frustrated at not being able to see him. Could be that’s who she’s been calling.’
‘I think any mum would be fidgety if their baby had been taken,’ Nita said.
‘Think about this, then,’ Chris went on. ‘What if the baby’s not Kevin’s? He was away on the rigs, remember.’
‘Yes, that’s a good point,’ Clare conceded. ‘And, if the baby isn’t his, do we have a lead? Could Abi’s real father have snatched her? Maybe Lisa wanted to break it off and he’s trying to hold on to her. And Abi.’
‘Bit of a stretch, boss,’ one of the uniforms said.
‘Yeah, I know. But it’s worth bearing in mind. Most kids are snatched by someone known to the family. There’s Kevin, too, of course. He could have a girlfriend.’ She moved to the whiteboard, picked up a pen and wrote sexual partners? Then she looked back round the room again. ‘Any other thoughts?’
‘Social media,’ Chris said.
‘Thanks, Chris. Who’s on that?’
Erin raised a hand. ‘That’s me, boss. Not much for Kevin. Lisa’s had a few spats on Facebook but definitely nothing that would make someone snatch her baby.’
Clare nodded at this but, before she could go on, the station phone began to ring out in the main office. Sara rose to answer it. Again, Clare saw Chris’s eyes following her out of the room, and he wasn’t smiling. She wondered for a moment if they’d had a fight. And then she recalled herself. Finding Abi Mitchell was all that mattered for now.
In Plain Sight Page 5
