by D. E. White
Out on the main road, they were overtaken by two police cars, sirens screaming, blue lights flashing and Holly clutched her chest, constantly checking her own phone. Surely somebody must have seen him. Whoever took him must have had a car so maybe …
‘It must be this way round the back. Do you think?’
She saw with a jolt they had reached their destination. Dev drove slowly past the café, and across the bumpy lay-by to the big square of gravel and dirt at the rear. It was a big area, well-used by the lorry drivers, and the café was open all night, its lights shining a cheery yellow across the shadows.
‘You sure you want to be part of this?’ Dev drove down to the far end of the pull-in. ‘Maybe you should stay in the car and I’ll go and chat to Bailey.’ Huge shapes of lorries, most of their cabs in darkness, were parked in neat rows. The parking area backed onto woods, and the branches of trees hung menacingly, pointing their twisted fingers towards the vehicles.
‘Of course I am. Stop asking.’ Holly knew this wasn’t helping but she couldn’t just sit and wait, leaping every time her phone rang, watching the drama unfold on social media. ‘I just thought, Tom has a place near Highton Downs. He sold the house but he still has the piece of land. He rents it as an allotment, but there are a few buildings on there too. I’ll ring Karen and tell her.’ She scrolled through her contacts as passed on the information, ignoring the other woman’s instruction to wait at home.
‘I thought you said Tom wasn’t a suspect?’ Dev still hadn’t got out the car. He was watching her carefully, anxiously.
She shook her head. ‘He was in a late meeting when Milo was taken, but until we know for sure, and especially now I know the shit was getting coke from Rohan, I can’t trust him. Let’s find Bailey and get this over with. If he gives us the information to take down the Nicholls we can go straight to the police. They can pull Gareth and Joey in and if they’ve got Milo …’
He didn’t answer, just covered her cold hand with his, driving with one casual hand on the wheel. They pulled up in the shadow of a derelict shed and Dev killed the headlights. ‘There’s his lorry – he’s got a collection of furry dice in the window.’
They followed the light of Holly’s torch, circling the other vehicles. There were two brick garages, both derelict now, and the parking area was brown with dead weeds, a maze of muddy cracks. Nature was slowly reclaiming the space. A train rattled in the distance, gathering speed into the darkness and behind them the lights of the café shone a little duller as it spilled into the early morning.
They rounded the green lorry, peering into the shadows. At first Holly didn’t register the pair of feet at eye level, but Dev shot a hand out to stop her walking.
A pair of scruffy white trainers swayed in the breeze, and her first terrible thought was that it was Milo. As her gaze travelled upwards, reality returned and she let out a long shaky breath. It was a man, and he was hanging by his neck from one of the overhanging tree branches, limbs dangling uselessly, red hair plastered wetly across his downturned face.
‘Fucking hell! Bailey!’ Dev shouted. ‘We need to get him down!’
Holly was already tapping out 999 on her phone, speaking to one of her colleagues. The nightmare of being at the other end, of dealing with the patient, being the person who was screaming for help, jarred her brain and she fumbled over her words.
Trying to answer the questions, she looked around wildly for Dev, whilst explaining to one of her colleagues that there was currently no way of getting the man down but they were going to try.
Whilst she had been talking, Devril had roused a few other drivers and half the occupants of the café surged towards the crime scene. Dev shoved a stepladder into position and balanced on the top rung, producing a knife from his back pocket, slicing the rope that held the body.
Three men helped to lower Bailey to the ground, removing the cord from around his neck. Holly stood on the outskirts of the group. She wanted to help, but her limbs felt leaden, her brain uncooperative. She should help; she knew exactly what to do. It was Larissa all over again, but this time, she couldn’t even try. Another driver was starting chest compressions and the scene was being managed with great efficiency, so she relayed this information to her colleagues, leaning helplessly against one of the HGVs.
An ambulance turned off the main road and followed the men waving it towards the lorry park, followed by another police car.
The tiny flicker of relief she felt at the sight of her colleagues, and the hope that perhaps Bailey wasn’t dead, wasn’t enough to give strength to her trembling legs. She slid to the ground, sitting on the wet gravel, arms around her knees, watching, hoping. How had this happened since he had texted – what? Ten minutes earlier maybe? He had told them to come. But of course, he couldn’t have sent the text. It had all been too easy, and she and Dev, blinded by the worry of Milo’s disappearance, had fallen for it. She watched the continuing CPR with a mixture of fury and terror, mingling with the dull leaden conviction that Bailey could have been up there for an hour or so, or even murdered elsewhere and hung from the tree like a crow scarer. They would have known she’d come, her and Dev, and they wanted her to see what happened.
It was both a warning and punishment. Gareth and Joey had taken action.
***
By the time the sky lightened to proper morning, Holly was back on the sofa, mug of coffee in her hand, phone in the other. There was no news from the search teams. She had passed on her thoughts about Tom’s old allotment and was told it would be investigated, but Tom was not currently a suspect as his meeting had given him an alibi.
Dev, shaking with suppressed emotion, had gone home to shower, change and file his story on Milo’s abduction. He promised to come back this afternoon and she had agreed. It was weird how they had suddenly become so close after years apart, but she was too exhausted to examine his motives. His concern was obvious and she was grateful.
Bailey was confirmed dead. His neck had been broken before he had been strung up, and his phone was missing. When the police interviewed them, Nicholls Transport expressed shock and grief at the news of an employee’s death. They also apparently denied Bailey had been going to grass them up. Holly and Dev had told the police everything but there was no evidence with Bailey dead, and his phone missing.
Karen had shared her frustration that Bailey didn’t have the chance to hand anything over. Bailey’s wife had vanished with the two children and Holly couldn’t bear to think about them, beyond a swift hope that they had run before Gareth got to them. Dev had said Bailey’s wife didn’t know what was going on, anyway, just that her husband was getting out of the danger zone.
Karen, her face grey with exhaustion, had been back to see Holly, assuring her that everything was being done, but no, they had no idea, as yet, who had taken Milo or where he could be. The Nicholls’ yard had been searched, and Rohan was off the critical list. He refused to tell the police who attacked him.
They had found and questioned Sara, and although it was a hell of a coincidence the keys had ended up in her bag, there was nothing to suggest Sara was involved in Milo’s disappearance. Steph had gone back to the station but promised to return later.
‘Holly, I made you a bacon sandwich. You need to try eat and get some rest.’ Lydia came in with a plate. Her eyes were red from crying, and her wild black hair was sticking up on one side. ‘The police will call us if they get any news and I’ll wake you straight away. Cathryn called on the landline while you were in the bathroom. She said she’ll be over later but call her if you need anything.’
‘I can’t sleep,’ Holly told her. ‘But thanks.’ It was more than that. She almost felt if she slept that Milo would slip away from her. By staying awake she was with him, keeping his face in her mind, willing him to be okay.
DI Harper was summoned from another case, but Holly couldn’t face seeing him, and retreated to the sofa, flicking through the messages on her phone, racking her brains to try and figure it out. She
found herself almost willing her phone to ring and Milo’s abductor to demand money. Then at least she would have a starting point, to feel she was doing something, had a hand in all of this. So many questions for George Harper, but none she wanted to ask now. He had his own reasons for wanting the Nicholls destroyed, and she hoped he would succeed, but all she could think of was Milo.
Despite her intentions Holly eventually fell asleep where she was on the sofa, a crumpled heap of clothes and her coffee mug overturned on the floor.
By midday she was awake and showered, Karen was talking about a press conference, a TV appeal, which would also add to the social media hype. It was good, Holly thought, the more people who saw his face, who heard he was missing, the more chance there was of someone seeing him, or remembering something odd about last night.
She was flicking through the TV channels, seeing nothing but Milo’s face on the screen, when Cath rang back.
‘Sorry, babes, I went straight to sleep on the sofa after school drop-off and didn’t check my voicemails. Jesus, it’s all kicking off isn’t it? Bailey’s dead and Rohan’s in hospital … I’m coming round now but I just need to get dressed. Colleen’s got the kids …’
‘You don’t have to …’
‘Of course I fucking do. Ten minutes, babes.’
Despite her feeble protest, Holly waited by the window for Cathryn to arrive. She was shivery now, earlier positivity vanishing. So far she had resisted the urge to go into his bedroom, but the photographs she had given the police and Devril were plastered everywhere.
The doorbell rang, and she rushed to answer it. Lydia had gone home to get some more clothes and take Oreo out for a walk. She was also going over to Donnie’s to update him. Holly rubbed her gritty eyes. Hopefully her best friend could stop her from going crazy.
But it wasn’t Cath, outside on the step, it was Beth.
‘Is there any news of Milo?’ She was wearing a red wool dress and black shiny boots, her dark hair drawn back by two gold slides. Holly couldn’t help but think after a sleep-deprived night she looked the perfect, polished mum-to-be. The bump that had been carefully hidden last night was proudly on display, and quite big for three months gone … She hadn’t noticed it all last night, but now, in daylight, it was obvious.
‘Sorry, Beth, I’m expecting a friend over. No news. Where’s Tom?’
She twisted her handbag strap between nervous fingers and bit her lip. ‘Oh, he’s gone into work. He said he can’t sleep knowing Milo is missing and he went onto campus at five this morning. The police spent a lot of time questioning him about his dealer and all that stuff.’
‘Okay.’ Holly processed this information, skin prickling. But no, Tom had an alibi for last night. God, was it really only last night? It felt like weeks had gone by since she last held Milo. To her horror she felt tears slid down her cheeks, hot and wet. ‘I’ll call you if I get any news, okay?’
‘Holly, can I come in, just for a minute? Please, I’ve got something to tell you.’
She held the door open, reluctantly. ‘If it’s anything important you need to tell the police.’
Beth stood awkwardly in the hallway, still clutching her bag.
To hell with being polite. ‘Come on, Beth, what is it?’
‘I … Can I sit down?’
She did look a bit pale, Holly thought, offering her the sofa. The room was a mess of mugs, tissues and muddy footprints, and Beth sat neatly on the end of the sofa, knees together, hands folded in her lap. ‘So tell me?’
‘Tom …’ She frowned, forehead wrinkling. ‘I wanted you to know that I had no idea he had a major problem. It wasn’t anything to do with me, because as I said, I don’t do drugs.’
‘Yeah, you said last night. Sorry, Beth, but I really am expecting a friend …’
Beth brushed her interruption aside so Holly stood arms, folded, towering over her. ‘I have noticed in the last couple of months, since we moved in together, that he does seem to do a lot of coke. I knew he liked a bit, of course, and he always said, who hasn’t tried drugs? He never seemed like he was an addict, but I realise now he was hiding it from me …’
‘Me,’ said Holly grimly. ‘I’m like you. I’ve never done drugs. It isn’t fucking given that you have to try everything you get offered. So what are you telling me? He’s a regular user now? I don’t really care. I only cared when it affected Milo.’
‘The texts he sent you. He takes something and then he gets really weird, like he isn’t himself at all. He’s paranoid about everything. He starts thinking you’re trying to stop him seeing Milo, or that people at work are out to ruin his career. Weird stuff.’
Holly thought about this. It made sense. It was a slippery slope from party use to addict. Fuck, she knew that all right. But Tom had always seemed so together, with his perfect career, money and lifestyle.
‘What are you thinking?’ Beth asked her coolly.
Holly was surprised. She’d always thought of Beth as a bit of a vanilla character – young, inexperienced and blown away by Tom. Uncomfortably close to her younger self, probably. But now the girl was showing a tougher side. ‘Is there any way he could have got out of that meeting and taken Milo last night? Is there anything that you’ve seen recently that would suggest he was planning to take him? Come on, Beth, this is really important. Imagine if it was your baby who had been taken.’
Her carefully made-up big brown eyes opened wide, but she was shaking her head. ‘No. I’ve been trying to think since the police questioned me, but the only difference is he seems to be getting more of these weird times. Occasionally he’ll get all twitchy, make a phone call and disappear for half an hour.’
‘You think he’s goes to find his dealer? Did you tell the police about this escalating drug use?’ Holly’s voice was hard.
‘Of course. I mean, you had already told them so I just confirmed what they already knew. He isn’t the person I thought he was, Holly.’
‘Really? You do surprise me. Is that it?’
Beth stood, flicking specks of dust from her dress. ‘Yes. I just wanted you to know. I also wanted to say goodbye. I’m leaving Tom.’
Holly couldn’t help but feel a sneaking respect for the girl. ‘Have you told him?’
For the first time her composure shook slightly, just a slight change but noticeable, like thin ice sliding across a puddle. She covered it by pulled her bag over her shoulder and turning to go. ‘No. I’ll text him later when I’m far enough away from this place. He isn’t a fit father for my child, and he certainly isn’t a decent boyfriend. I’m not marrying an addict. Oh, and Holly, I’ll drop in at the police station on my way out, and tell them about the text messages and well … everything.’
Hammering on the door indicated Cathryn’s arrival, and Beth jumped slightly. ‘Good luck then.’ Holly found she couldn’t actually say ‘fuck off’ because, really, this girl had guts.
The other woman paused in the hallway. ‘Thanks, you too. I hope you find Milo.’
‘I will.’
Chapter 29
She opened the front door and Cathryn staggered through, cigarette in one hand, a carrier bag of groceries in the other and her vast handbag balanced somehow on her shoulder.
Beth strode away down the road to her car, and Holly watched her thoughtfully. The other woman climbed carefully into a shiny red Golf and pulled away into the traffic without a glance backwards. A yellow Battersea Dogs Home sticker and a row of silver stars were stuck on her back window. She indicated right at the traffic lights and vanished behind a white van. Beth was gone.
‘Who was that?’
‘Beth, Tom’s girlfriend.’
Cathryn studied her best friend’s face and then shrugged. ‘Bitch is way more than three months gone.’
‘Yeah.’ Holly burst into tears properly and sobbed whilst Cathryn cradled her. Finally she sat up, sniffing.
‘Here you go, babes, you got to let it all out,’ Cathryn told her firmly, offering a wad of Kleenex. ‘I�
�ve got you bread and milk, pizza, wine and all that shit. Have you sorted out work?’
Holly shook her head and sat docile as a child whilst Cathryn rang the control centre and explained. She rang off ten minutes later. ‘All done. You get an indefinite leave of absence, and you’ll even be paid for a certain amount of time. So don’t think about work.’
‘Thanks. Karen says we need to do a press conference later. She’s going to arrange it for about four. Can you stay?’
‘Course I will. So tell me what the fuck is happening, babes, coz I can’t believe this shit. Milo missing and then Bailey hangs himself! And I don’t mean to add to your problems but the Nicholls are blaming Donnie for Rohan’s stabbing.’
Holly sighed. ‘Bailey didn’t hang himself, he was killed before he was strung up. I feel like I don’t understand anything anymore. Donnie’s playing the good dad, and I know he sent his boys out looking for Milo, so if Rohan got in the way, I don’t care. He won’t talk.’
‘Jesus. What a fucking mess.’ Cathryn pulled a bag of crisps out of the grocery bag, tore the packet open and shoved them across to Holly. ‘Share.’
‘I can’t. I need to get back out there.’
‘Sure. Where do you want to go?’
Holly frowned. Terror made her unable to sit still for long, and at least if she was out there looking she was occupied. ‘The woods. I know it sounds crazy but I want to walk through the way he was probably taken.’ Her voice broke and tears poured down her cheeks again. She laid her head in her hands, listening to her own sobs and the thumping of her heart.
‘Holly?’ Cath had her arms around her. Thin, wiry arms that hugged her with a surprising amount of strength. Just as they had when her mum died, when Jayden was declared dead, and all the other times when Holly had needed it. ‘Come on. We’ll go out now and be back by two. That gives you time to get ready for the press.’
