The Value of Life

by Andy Crowson

  Chapter 6: The Note

  Josef's alarm woke him at seven, he was so sleepy he bumped into the wall and the bathroom door before the cold of the shower dragged him screaming to consciousness, too late in remembering how long the shower takes to warm up. As the hot water found the pipes Josef relaxed and let the spray bounce off his neck and shoulders, the previous evening flooding back.

  Refreshed from the shower he dressed and drank three cups of coffee, ate some toast and headed out around eight. He made a stop at the Martins' to check on the night's events, collected a piece of paper, a photo of the boy and the schoolbag from PC Whitlock and was in the CID meeting room at a quarter to nine.

  With a fresh coffee and a chocolate finger biscuit from the vending machine in the corridor, he sat waiting for the others. He unfolded the paper the PC had given him and looked at it. There were three registration numbers on it, well, two and a half, the first was his own at two twenty five, the second said three twenty and had 'circled twice probably looking for parking', noted in brackets. The third was just half a registration number N 23, ten past six, with the note 'white van number plate light broken' in brackets. Josef discounted the van, workmen get up early and collect mates and co-workers, and besides he only had half a registration number. The car however was of interest and the time was right.

  A short call to the traffic desk assured Josef that the car belonged to a gentleman who lived two streets away from the Martins' and as Josef put the phone down the first of the CID team came in.

  "You here for the briefin'?" he smiled, "must be somefin' juicy, I've been told to drop an assault case an' two criminal damage cases to be 'ere. You know what's going on?"

  Josef nodded, "Well, I suppose you gonna know in a minute anyway, but looks like a kid's been abducted, maybe kidnapped. That's all we really know right now." The officer looked surprised.

  "Looks like?" he frowned.

  "It's what we need to find out really," Josef replied. The officer relaxed and pulled out a seat opposite Josef.

  "DS Ward," he smiled offering a hand, Josef took it.

  "DC Lindahl," he smiled back, "Josef."

  "Dave," Ward added.

  At that moment CDI Bentworth came in followed by two other plain-clothes officers Josef recognized from round about but had no idea of their names or ranks. He sat at the head of the meeting table, the white board behind him looking totally at home. The other men sat next to him and he looked at his watch,

  "We've got another five minutes yet and we're not all here so grab yourselves a coffee if you like," he said to the room in general. Everyone left the room except Josef and a tall blond man who had sat to Bentworth's right. He said nothing so Josef studied his notes. He hadn't had a chance to go over his recordings of the Martins' interviews but he was confident he didn't need to.

  He'd made notes on the house, the garden, the street and the bag. In his visit to the Martins' he'd confirmed the mortise lock didn't work and that nobody had been spotted hanging around the scene since last night. The schoolbag and computer were on the floor beside him. His thoughts were broken by Bentworth's return and the others filed in after him. There were very few Josef recognized and none he knew, all seven in the room seemed to be ranking officers. When everyone was seated Bentworth spoke.

  "I've called this meeting because it seems we might have a problem case," he said. "I feel its best at this stage to let DC Lindahl explain everything to you as I haven't yet had a full briefing myself and things have happened quite quickly since last night." Bentworth nodded towards Josef, "This is DC Lindahl and on my request he has been brought in to help with this, Josef, can you fill us in on everything up till now?"

  Josef stood and went to the whiteboard, he drew a little map and named the streets the school and the recreation ground, then he wrote a list of names and some key words like keys, garden, bag. He wasn't at all sure what to do. He had never done anything like this before, but he supposed he just needed to make everything they knew clear, and he couldn't think of a better way to do it. When he finished he turned to face everyone, he was more nervous than he realized but when he started to speak he forgot his nerves and was soon caught in the case.

  Whilst explaining he emptied the schoolbag carefully on the table, underlined names, key words etc. When Josef finished there was silence in the room. Bentworth spoke first.

  "Excellent Josef, thank you," he waited while Josef seated himself again. "Now before we throw this around can anyone think of anything obvious we missed," there was silence, so Bentworth said "well, in that case let's hear the questions first." The blond man to Bentworth's right spoke first.

  "DI Mason," he said matter-of-factly. "Did the mileage and petrol consumption for Martin's van work out?"

  "Close enough," Josef said. "According to the mileage and the records in the book it's about right but we'll have to see how much Martin bought that night, but my guess is it'll work out, he should have bought about forty liters to fill up."

  "OK," Mason said, seeming to accept Josef's guess. "From your description the boy was taken between the end of the street and the front gate, that implies a vehicle parked somewhere along that road," he looked around the room to make sure everyone was listening. "'Ain't easy parking in those streets, they're always busy."

  Just as Josef was about to answer a mobile phone rang somewhere to his right, Bentworth excused himself and left the room, Josef let the question hang waiting for Bentworth's return, but Mason nodded.

  "Well, how did he make sure he had parking?" he didn't actually sneer and he had a valid point but Josef had thought about this himself. He studied the man. Mason was in his mid forties, with medium length blond hair parted on the left. His accent and manner spoke of a classical education and reminded Josef vaguely of Bentworth, but his hard face, aggressiveness and his need for approval separated him from Bentworth by a mile.

  "You're right it's not easy to park in those streets at anytime," Josef said, "specially with them being so close to the High Road, but there are times of the day when you can. Picking up from school time is one of them. Lots of Mums use their cars to collect the kids from school and then you can find a parking space.

  Mr. Martin is a security guard and he has a company van for night patrol, so he's pretty particular about his parking spot too. There may even have been a space directly outside the house." Josef sat silently a moment and when it seemed Mason was about to comment Bentworth re entered the room,

  "Listen everyone, we've had a development that changes the direction of this meeting," he said. "The Martins have just received a ransom note in the mail, that's all I know right now, so here's what I want you to do." He started snapping off commands.

  "Dave," he said to DS Ward. "You organize and supervise a team of door knockers for the whole area between the school and home. I want you to talk to the headmistress and the staff and find out if anyone saw or reported anything suspicious around the school."

  Bentworth paused there before continuing, "Get a picture of the kid from the parents and flash it round, the rest of you have cases to be getting on with but set your mind to work on this, anything you can think of. Brian," he said to Mason. "I want you on research, anything you can turn up on kidnapping, abduction, attempted, whatever you can find. Just London first, then the Home Counties, but concentrate on kidnapping. There can't be that many, and send this bag and its contents to forensics, and can you get someone to check the computer too By this time people were standing. "Any press contact through me, "Bentworth continued. "I mean it, "he added louder. He looked at Josef who was leaving with the others.

  "Josef, I want you to come with me to the Martins' and take a look at this note. It changes the whole situation," Bentworth paused for effect, "if it's real," he said raising his eyebrows. "Give me ten to get my coat."

  Josef left the room and found DS Ward at his desk, on the phone, with a fresh coffee in his hand talking to someone from uniform branch.

  "Well if
three is all I can have then send 'em up," he said looking up at Josef questioningly. "Yeah a car would be great if you've got one," he paused then laughed. "Didn't think so, thanks," he hung up. Josef handed the picture of Daniel to him.

  "Got this from the family this morning," he said. "It's pretty recent by all accounts."

  "Thanks mate," DS Ward said looking at the photograph. "Saves me a trip, I'll make copies." Josef turned to leave.

  "One more thing," he turned back, "talk to the dinner ladies."

  "What?" Ward asked, "Why the dinner ladies?"

  "They're not on the same hours as the rest of the school, they come and go different times. Sometimes they watch the playground at lunchtimes too, they see things. You might wanna check the local sweet shops too. Anyone hanging round might fancy a snack."

  "Will do... and thanks a lot," Ward said genuinely.

  Josef barely had time to take two sips of his coffee when Bentworth returned to CID with his coat and a briefcase.

  "Ready," he asked. When Josef nodded he said, "we'll take my car." As they walked across the parking lot Josef could read in Bentworth's manner something was bothering him.

  "There a problem sir?" he asked.

  "What? oh... maybe," Bentworth said drawn back from distraction. He seemed to give some more thought to the situation so Josef said nothing and when he finally spoke they were seated in Bentworth's Jaguar headed for the Martins'.

  "Two things are bugging me Jo," he said. Although Josef hated being called Jo he held the rebuke in. "The bag, that's one, and the note, that's two. D'you know how hard it is to get away with kidnapping these days?"

  Bentworth didn't seem to require an answer, and when Josef didn't give one they continued in silence to the Martins' house where the door was opened by the PC Whitlock. Inside Mr. and Mrs. Martin were sitting in the kitchen at the table drinking tea, Bentworth went in and sat with them, Josef held the female officer in the hall.

  "Where're the others?" he asked.

  "You know you said these sickos like to look," she said. Josef nodded. "Well when the letter arrived they had this idea that they should watch either end of the street 'cause surely whoever sent it would want to know the letter was delivered."

  "Great, top thinking," Josef said. "Tell me everything from when I left you this morning." Josef took the debriefing in the hall. When the PC had finished Josef smiled.

  "I really appreciate this," he said, "I owe you one." It was then that Josef noticed for the first time her smile; quite beautiful really.

  "I'll collect," she said. When Josef entered the kitchen Bentworth was holding the note, which had thoughtfully been put in a zip lock freezer bag, the envelope in another beside him on the table. He passed the note to Josef.

  Mr. and Mrs. Martin,

  I have your son Daniel, he is safe and well. For now.

  If you want Daniel back, put the money into the Swiss International Bank of Geneva.

  Acc 490036-8711491

  Failure to comply will result in Daniel's death. You have until midday Friday to make the transfer. This is the last communication we will have until after the DEADline.

  K

  Josef re-read the note six times,

  "Shit," he said quietly. Mrs. Martin looked at him.

  "What?" she asked, tears welling in her eyes. "What's wrong with it, I don't get it, he doesn't even say how much money, he's gonna kill Daniel isn't he? He calls it a deadline. You know don't you? He's mad isn't he?" Josef raised a hand to silence her.

  "Please," he said, "it's nothing like that, trust me. It just causes a whole set of problems. Using Daniel's name and threats is supposed to make you upset and frightened, but it's a good sign. The real threat would be if he depersonalized Daniel. He'd be much more likely to hurt Daniel if he didn't use his name." This seemed to make sense to Mrs. Martin and she looked at her husband for confirmation, he nodded his agreement of Josef's opinion.

  "Are you sure?" she said hopefully.

  "I'm certain," Josef answered. "Killers don't think of their victims as humans, it's like killing an animal for them, it's totally objective, impersonal, like when you step on a spider, it's not human." She accepted this.

  All the while Bentworth had been sitting silently, Josef standing by his shoulder.

  "We'll need to take this for forensic examination," Bentworth said, standing and holding the note and envelope. "We should do that as quickly as possible. We'll follow up with the post office and send some fingerprint technicians for all your fingerprints but in the meantime I suggest you start looking at your finances." The Martins looked at each other.

  "What do you mean?" Mr. Martin said. "Are you saying we should pay?" Bentworth looked up from the note.

  "I'm saying you should think about what you'll do if we can't get a lead from the note or the bank."

  "That's it?" Mr. Martin snapped angrily in disbelief. "You're just gonna leave us?"

  "Mr. Martin," Bentworth soothed. "We're not just leaving you. We're in constant contact with the officers here and we can be most effective where we have access to all our resources. We'll let you know as soon as we have anything." He turned and left.

  Josef said, "Please, there's lots more the note can tell us but we can't do anything else here. We need a bit of time on this." He turned and followed Bentworth into the hall. Bentworth was talking to PC Whitlock.

  "I'll send relief as soon as I get back. I'm sorry, I totally understand but we've probably stolen your relief for door to door, but I'll sort something," he said, half out the door, then was gone. As Josef made to leave PC Whitlock stopped him with a hand on his arm.

  "That was nice what you said in there," she said nodding at the kitchen. "She's been really frightened and she trusts you." She seemed to fill with embarrassment and removed her hand from his arm, "they're really scared both of them."

  "Thanks," Josef said, trying desperately to remember her name. In the end he seemed to remember her saying Maria but he wasn't sure, he'd been so tied up when they'd met.

  "Maria isn't it," he felt dumb, but she smiled and it was Josef's turn to be embarrassed, "I'm crap with names," he blurted. He hurried towards the door and was half way out when she said

  "Close."

  The car was already idling when Josef climbed carefully into it. It was pristine inside.

  "What's your take on the note Jo, I mean really?" Bentworth said hurriedly as he pulled away from the curb. "What's it about? Revenge or something? Mr. Martin didn't say much about it."

  Josef thought about that for a moment then dismissed it. He hadn't been paying much attention to the man and he'd seemed subdued but maybe it was just shock. Josef shelved that thought and answered the question.

  "You're right there's something not right about it. There's no ransom sum, that's the worst thing. There's the use of the boy's name, which supports the theory that he's no Fred West, but the death threat seems totally serious, because of that I think there's a real chance that he might kill the boy. Then there's the money, which means two things. First the kidnapper is questioning the boy's value to the parents, and second, he's removing all responsibility for the outcome from himself. If the money is not enough then the boy dies and it's the parents' fault, it all comes back to the parents." Josef was lost in thought for a moment when Bentworth said, "You're good at this."

  "Not really," Josef replied distractedly, "It's just a way of thinking."

  "Well what do you think we should do next?" Bentworth asked.

  "The key is the parents, that's the message the kidnapper is sending. It's their choice and their responsibility, how much do they value Daniel. I'd start with all the boy's medical records and school reports everything. If the boy was being abused then this may be punishment for the parents, it could be a relative or something, and that would explain how easy the abduction had been.

  Bentworth seemed to like this idea and as they drove on in silence Josef allowed his mind to ponder some of the more intriguing questions.
Like what did K mean?