by June Gadsby
“Work. We’ve just drawn a lead on the possible kidnapper. I have to get back on the job.”
“I see.” Of course, she understood, but she couldn’t hide her disappointment. He had been going to make love to her and she had never wanted any man quite the way she wanted Gavin Calder.
Gavin reached out and touched her flushed cheek. “I’ll bring Anna back just as soon as I’m able. Okay?”
Sally bit down on her lip. “Yes, of course,” she said, wondering why she should feel such a warning churn in her stomach. There was something not quite right with all this, but she had no idea how she could get to the bottom of it.
Chapter Seven
Sally roamed restlessly about the flat after Gavin left. There were too many raw emotions running riot inside her to allow her to remain in one place for more than a few seconds at a time. And all her emotions were conflicting ones.
On the one hand, she had this growing attraction for the big American. Actually, it was more of an obsession. She couldn’t get him out of her mind and the body she thought would never feel anything again for any man, was betraying her badly. On the other hand, she couldn’t help wondering if he wasn’t just playing her for a sucker because he needed somebody to make his job of looking after Anna easier.
And, of course, there was Anna herself. Sally had taken all of five minutes to decide that this was her idea of the ideal child. Looking after her had not been the real pain. It had been the overwork caused first by Rob’s non-return to work and then his brother’s sudden illness. Sally had been obliged to don, yet again, the outfit of Jojo the Clown. She could have asked someone else, of course. She could, as the owner of The Rose Carousel, have insisted that someone take on the role, but she knew that nobody was keen on the idea – no more keen than she was. So, it was her responsibility. Or lose a lot of business when she could ill afford to do so.
The money she had borrowed to extend into the land at the rear of the premises, in order to build a children’s garden, play area and home farm, had to be repaid. That could only be done if she could keep on attracting large numbers of customers to the shop and tea-room.
Bella had offered to give Jojo a go, but the minute she put on the clown’s suit, she had an acute attack of nerves. She was full of apologies, but it was obvious that she couldn’t possibly take on the role.
“Oh, why did he have to go and do that?” Sally moaned aloud, thinking of Gavin’s kiss and the embrace that she had enjoyed a little too much. “I was perfectly happy the way I was before he walked through that door.”
Liar! You were lonely and more than ready for somebody to come along and eat you up.
Sally pronounced an unaccustomed four-letter word under her breath, flung herself down on her sofa and switched on the television. She wasn’t an avid television fan, but she thought that perhaps it might take her mind off all that was happening in her life right now.
She was wrong. The picture that flashed before her astonished eyes was that of Anna and the ticker-tape message that flowed beneath the picture spoke of a kidnapping that had been kept quiet by the girl’s parents.
Sally boosted the sound as the newsreader came into focus. “American multi-millionaire Aaron Macey was not available today to talk to reporters, but his estranged wife has finally admitted that their daughter, Anna, five years old, was recently abducted. The family have been keeping the crime from the police and the press in case of reprisals, but since no ransom has been demanded they are now concerned that this is not so much a kidnapping, but a possible case of murder. Chief suspect is the security chief who looks after the family affairs, Gavin Calder. Calder…” A blurred but unmistakable photograph of Gavin flashed onto the screen. “…thirty-nine years of age and an ex-FBI agent with special responsibilities to the White House under President Clinton, has not been seen or heard of since Anna’s disappearance six weeks ago….”
Sally zapped the television and sat there, oozing the cold perspiration of fear. She had fallen in love with – been taken for a ride by – a kidnapper! Gavin Calder was a criminal of the most despicable kind. How could she have allowed herself to be taken in like that? He had seemed so – so normal and so nice and….
He had kidnapped his employers little girl, a lovely, trusting child who thought the sun, the moon and the stars all shone out of Gavin Calder.
“Bella!” Sally couldn’t think of anything to do right then but call her cousin. “Bella!”
“Cripes, Sally!” Bella sounded as shocked as she was. “I saw it too! Damn it, girl! You’ve just got to phone the police.”
Sally felt numb. She knew phoning the police was the right thing to do under the circumstances, but there was something about that that bothered her. Something that just didn’t ride right beneath her ribcage. Whatever Gavin was, there was no getting away from the fact that he worshipped little Anna and the feeling was mutual. What kind of kidnapper did that make him?
“Oh, God, Bella! Gavin isn’t some hardened criminal. He cares. He cares for Anna. That little girl wouldn’t cling to any man who wasn’t worth his salt.”
“Sally, baby,” Bella’s voice was soothing, but this time it didn’t work its usual magic on Sally. “You never should have got yourself involved in the first place, but I beg you – phone the police. You’ve got to, for your own sake. If anything happens to that little girl you’re never going to live with your conscience. Phone the police and let them sort things out. Please, sweetie – do it!”
Sally hung up and sat staring into space, trying to assimilate her feelings, trying to persuade herself that what Bella advised was the right thing to do. She didn’t know how long it took, but eventually, she got up, reached for her coat and bag and headed for the door. She had no way of reaching Gavin. He had always been the one to contact her and wouldn’t divulge his telephone number, even when she asked, making the excuse that he was always on the move and it was easier for him to phone her at regular intervals.
Oh, how he had deceived her.
“Where the hell is she?”
Sally staggered back into the flat. On opening the door Gavin Calder had burst in looking like a bomb about to go off.
“Wh-what are you talking about? How would I know where she is? You’re the damned kidnapper, not me!”
She saw the way his face paled at her acid words spat hatefully at him.
“What are you talking about? Sally! Talk to me! What do you know?”
He pushed her roughly inside and shut the door behind him. He grabbed hold of her and his fingers dug into the flesh of her upper arms like steel clamps. “Tell me!” he shouted in her face.
“The news…” she glanced over her shoulder at the now silent, blank screen of the television set. “They said Anna had been kidnapped six weeks ago – that you were the chief suspect in the case – that the parents had kept quiet in case of reprisals. They had been waiting for a ransom demand, but none had come, so they had approached the police.”
“And you believed that garbage! Sally, you’re more of a fool than I took you for.”
“I – I didn’t think you took me for any kind of fool, Gavin,” Sally said in a small, faltering voice. “I thought you – cared.”
Gavin’s eyes closed and he swept a hand over his face as if to wipe away the tiredness that she could see gathered there. “I trusted you, but it seems that nobody can be trusted these days. How much did they pay you, Sally?”
“What?”
“How much did they pay you to kidnap Anna for them?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I haven’t seen Anna since you took her away from here the night somebody tried to steal her from the park.”
He stared at her, blinking. “Is that the truth, Sally?”
“Damn you, Gavin! Of course it’s the truth!”
She saw his Adam’s apple work up and down, saw his eyes mist over then become jet black and cold as ice. “She was last seen talking to Jojo the Clown in the park. She got into his car, wen
t with him willingly. Went with you!”
Sally shook her head. “No, Gavin. It wasn’t me. I didn’t do the Jojo thing today. I was here at The Rose Carousel all day. Ask Bella. Ask anybody in the shop. We were run off our feet. I decided that we could afford to give up Jojo for at least one day, even if it did disappoint a few children.”
“Rob, then? His brother – what’s his name – Bruce?”
“Rob has his foot in plaster and Bruce called in sick. He has a dose of summer flu and I must say he sounded rough on the phone.”
“But she was seen talking to Jojo. The description was spot on. The white wig, the blue and yellow hat with a pompom. The blue, yellow and red costume and the big shiny black shoes.”
“Gavin, who was she with when she was taken?”
“The damned nanny again, but it happened under the nose of two of my best operatives who were tailing them.”
“Then shouldn’t you be investigating the nanny at least – or your own staff?”
“How many Jojo costumes are there?”
Sally thought about it, but not for long. “I bought two and they were the only two in the shop. Fortunately, the big one fit Rob and the small one fit me. There were other clown costumes, but they were the only two matching ones and I did foresee the problem of having to replace Rob at some time or another, so I bought the second costume as a spare, never really thinking I’d be the one to use it.”
“Show me!”
“What?”
“Show me the costumes. Where do you keep them?”
Sally licked her lips. She ought to feel wary. Gavin had been presented on the television as a suspected kidnapper and a possibly dangerous man and here she was alone with him. But she didn’t get any dangerous vibes. Angry ones, frustrated ones, anxious ones. But not dangerous. Not to her, at least.
“They’re kept in the staff-room downstairs.”
“Show me!” Gavin repeated, gripping her wrist as if he was afraid she might try to escape him.
She took him downstairs and entered The Rose Carousel by the steel safety door that opened out onto the back yard. It could be opened easily from inside, but needed a stout key to open it from the exterior. There were only three keys in existence. Sally held one, the security alarm firm held the second and the third was lodged with the local Fire Brigade.
“Any more smoking men lurking in your back yard?” Gavin wanted to know, looking furtively around as he waited to gain access to the shop.
“No. I never saw him again, but it was pretty scary just that once.”
“I posted one of my men in the lane after you reported that.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
“Probably a local burglar chancing his luck.”
“Probably.” He didn’t sound too convinced.
The staff-room door was also locked, but as soon as Sally opened it and stepped in she saw what she had feared. Rob’s Jojo costume was missing.”
“How many people have the key to the staff room door?” Gavin asked.
Sally drew in breath and let it out on a long, weary sigh. “We all have one. It’s necessary. The door has to be kept locked during the day to stop curious children and odd customers going in. The members of my staff feel they can leave their belongings in here safely. You’d be surprised at how many light-fingered people there are about these days.”
“Tell me about it!” Gavin was rubbing madly at the back of his neck. “I have a bad feeling about this, Sally. I think we’d better pay a call on your friend Rob and his brother.”
“You can’t possibly believe that Rob has anything to do with kidnapping Anna. Nothing you say will convince me that he’s the guilty party.”
“Sally, I checked up on this so-called friend of yours. I called all the hospital, all the doctors and clinics I could find in the area. Nobody had heard of Rob Barlow, except the Psychiatry Department at The General Hospital. But then, he wouldn’t go there with a broken foot, would he?”
“Well – maybe Rob just wanted some time off. Time to spend with his brother. I gather they haven’t seen one another in a long time. They’d had problems in the past. Maybe they need time to talk, to get their act together.”
“Act is probably the right word for what they’re doing, Sally. They’re part of a kidnapping ring and Anna is their victim.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Oh, is it? Is it? I checked up on brother Bruce too. There’s no record of your friend Rob ever having had a brother. He had an older sister who died when he was a kid. No brothers.”
Sally’s brow creased into a deep frown. She shook her head in disbelief. It just wasn’t like Rob to lie to her. And yet – there had been something in his manner lately. Something that she just couldn’t figure out. Something that bothered her. And it all seemed to stem from the so-called broken foot and the arrival in Rob’s life of Bruce. The brother that never was.
“I have to find Anna,” Gavin was looking more and more weighted down by concern, his emotions showing with every move, every glance. Suddenly he turned and banged a fist against the door jamb. “Goddammit! It can’t end like this. They can’t take her away from me!”
“Gavin?” It was there. The clue. The thing that had been locked at the back of Sally’s mind. For a security chief, Gavin had too many feelings. “Gavin, tell me the truth – please!”
He shot her a glance, then wiped a weary hand over worried eyes. “I am who I say I am, Sally. There’s no mystery there. My security firm is well established and we’ve been employed by the Macey family for many years. Anna is not the daughter of my millionaire employer, however. He’s just her step-father.” His face twisted with revulsion as he spoke. “He’s a bastard of the first order, but Anna’s mother saw him as a good catch and he was anxious to have a child to leave his fortune to. Three wives and no children. Not a happy state for a rich man known for his sexual prowess.”
“Nadine was already pregnant with Anna when she decided to throw in her lot with the boss. She was a junior secretary in the firm. She had ambitions right from the start. But the father of her child, whom she chose very carefully, lost out to the riches offered by Lorn Macey. When Anna was three, Nadine walked out – or was thrown out. I was never sure one way or the other, but I can guess. She left Anna behind. Not that she was a good mother. She treated the poor kid like a doll rather than a human being. As soon as Anna started to show some character and independence, Nadine lost interest. She was also bitterly jealous of the attention her millionaire husband gave to his step-daughter.”
“Jealous?” Sally’s brows wrinkled. “I would have thought she was glad to find a man to love her child.”
“It depends what kind of love it is, Sally.” Gavin’s face was ravaged. “He started abusing Anna. I didn’t see it and those who did kept it to themselves because they didn’t want to lose their jobs. Then, a few weeks ago, somebody found the courage to come to me and spill the beans on this rich world benefactor beloved by all.
“I had always been close to Anna, made it my business to look after her when I could. Things were always good between us, thank God.”
Sally swallowed hard. “What did you do?”
“Faced him with it – at first. He just laughed. Said nobody would believe me. In public he was the perfect, loving father. And what was more, Nadine had agreed to go back to him and be a proper mother to Anna. He was paying her highly enough to do it, so she had agreed to return to the fold and turn a blind eye.
“This was too much for me. I took Anna and I ran. One or two of my most trusted operatives came with me to help. But things were getting too difficult and I was in danger of losing Anna – not for the first time.”
“What do you mean, Gavin?” Sally thought she knew, but she wanted to hear him say it. Wanted to read the depth of his feelings in his eyes as he spoke the words.
Gavin’s eyes were moist as he looked up and there was a definite tremor in his voice as he confirmed what she was already
beginning to suspect. “Sally – Anna is my daughter. I’ve got to get her back or die in the attempt.”
Chapter Eight
“So you really did kidnap Anna?” Sally was sitting next to Gavin as he drove at breakneck speed across town. They were heading for Rob’s flat and somewhere in the evening traffic there were at least two other security men coming to their chief’s aid. He had phoned in while driving with one hand and giving quite a few motorists, plus Sally, minor heart attacks as he zipped around them, burning rubber all the way.
He nodded and the grin he gave her was tinged with a sadness she could well understand. She knew that he stood to lose out on a deal that was no deal at all. Maybe he would get to Anna before they got the child out of the country, which is what he expected them to do. However, it might not make any difference. The law would not be on Gavin’s side. He would have to see his little daughter being handed over to a mother who cared only for money and power and a step-father who was a monster.
“Slow down! You’ll get us both killed, Gavin!” But he wasn’t in the mood to take advice. He had the Devil pushing him from behind. “There! Next turning on the right – oh, my God Gavin, you nearly chopped that cyclist down! No – no! Straight ahead, first left over the cross-roads and watch for the…” Too late. “…red light!”
Fortunately, the part of town where Rob lived was relatively quiet and only two cars travelling in opposite directions ended up nose to nose with white faced drivers staring at each other, wondering how they managed still to be in one piece.
There was no answer to Gavin’s pressure on the doorbell of Rob’s flat, nor to his fist reverberating on the thin wooden panel.
“Rob! Rob, it’s me, Sally! Please open up. We’ve got to talk!” Sally shouted through the door, but all she was met with was the silence from within and Gavin’s laboured breathing as he seethed impatiently by her side.
