The Child Catcher (A DI Erica Swift Thriller Book 4)

by M K Farrar

  Mae frowned slightly. “I...I’m not sure.”

  “Do you remember the attack at all?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but it’s all a blur. I remember sitting on the bench, talking to Jack...” She closed her eyes and put her hands over her face. “God, we should have been watching Ellie more closely. Why weren’t we watching her?”

  “We can’t watch them every second of every day,” Erica said kindly. “It’s simply not possible.”

  Mae sucked in a shaky breath and nodded, though Erica doubted anything she could say would ease Mae’s doubts. Mae Dempsey would be questioning those moments leading up to Ellie’s abduction, asking herself if she could have done things differently, blaming herself when she convinced herself she could. If they never found Ellie, it would be something her mother would blame herself over for the rest of her life.

  “So, what were you and Jack talking about?” Erica needed to direct Mae back to the topic at hand. There would be plenty of time for beating herself up later.

  “Oh God.” She scrubbed her hand across her face and winced as the movement caught both her grazes and jarred the wound in her back. “It was really nothing. Money, I think. Work. Just life, you know? Jack’s been out of work for a while now, and I’ve been working every hour I can. Maybe I got a bit resentful about that. He gets to be at home all day and was getting to take Ellie to school and pick her up again, while I was slogging my guts out.” She gave her head a slight shake. “Seems like such a stupid thing to get upset about now. I’d give anything to know she was safe at home with him.”

  “Of course. Do the two of you often argue about money?”

  “Don’t most couples who are struggling to make ends meet? Jack is always worried about money, though considering the company he worked for before he lost his job is still paying him his bonuses for the next few months, we’re getting by.”

  “They’re still paying him?”

  Her gaze flicked between them. “Yes, that’s right. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s enough to help towards the bills.”

  “How did he lose his last job?”

  She pulled a face. “It was a misunderstanding. They told him he’d broken some rule about the kind of finance he’d offered to a customer and sent him home that day.”

  “Had he broken a finance rule?” She knew how hot on things the FCA were now after all the PPI claims.

  Mae shrugged one shoulder and winced again. “Honestly, I have no idea.”

  “He could have challenged it?” Erica suggested. “Maybe gone down the unfair dismissal route.”

  “He hadn’t been there that long. Only eighteen months, I think.”

  “But they’re still paying him?” Something wasn’t ringing true. She shot a look to Shawn, who frowned, clearly sharing her opinion that this wasn’t normal.

  “Yes, we’ve been lucky—I mean, as lucky as we can be.” Then Mae seemed to remember where they were and their current position. “I suppose that luck ran out.”

  “Can I have the name of the company your husband used to work for?” Erica asked.

  “Yes, of course. It was Green Stag Motors.”

  Shawn made a note of the name.

  “Thank you,” Erica told her.

  Confusion clouded Mae’s features. “You don’t think they had anything to do with Ellie’s disappearance, do you?”

  “No, I’m sure they don’t. We just have to make sure we follow every lead.”

  She blinked fast and turned her face away. “Please, find my Ellie, Detective. I don’t think I’m going to be able to handle it if she doesn’t come home.”

  “We’ll leave you to rest now.” Erica could see the other woman was flagging. “Thank you for all your help.”

  Mae’s eyes were already slipping shut. Sleep was probably the best place for her.

  Erica and Shawn stepped out of the room to where Jack waited anxiously outside.

  “How is she?” he asked.

  “I think she’s going back to sleep,” Erica told him. “Mr Dempsey, how do you spend your days while your wife is working?”

  “I take care of Ellie, do the school runs, and take care of the house. And I look for work, of course, go to interviews and submit my CVs to places.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Any bites yet?”

  He shook his head and clasped his hands together. “Not yet, but I’m still hopeful. Not that any of that really seems to matter now that Ellie is gone.”

  “I suppose not, though the bills will still have to be paid.”

  “True.”

  She almost felt bad for mentioning it, especially as it only seemed to drag him deeper into depression. But some of the sympathy towards him had waned since she’d got the impression he was lying to her.

  “Mr Dempsey, your wife says you’re still receiving payments from the company you used to work for.”

  Twin spots of colour bloomed in his cheeks. “Yes, I was,” he said, and then added hurriedly, “but that’s stopped now.”

  “That’s fairly unusual, isn’t it? For a company that’s fired someone to then continue to pay out?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. They called it gardening leave and said I’d still get paid for a few months.”

  “You can show us that these payments are coming from Green Stag Motors into your account?”

  His gaze darted away, flitting across them to the hospital corridor. “Umm, no, not exactly. I’ve been getting cash.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Cash? Were you paid in cash previously?”

  “No, I wasn’t.”

  “So why the change?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. It was just more convenient, I suppose.”

  He clearly wasn’t thinking straight. All it would take was a phone call to the place he used to work to find out if they’d ever do something like continuing making cash payments to someone, even after they’d been let go.

  “Mr Dempsey, you do understand that absolutely everything and anything you tell us could be of vital importance when it comes to finding Ellie. You might tell yourself that something doesn’t matter and write it off in your own head as not being important, but I’m afraid that’s for us to decide, not you. If there’s something you’re not telling us about where that money is coming from, then you understand that you might be responsible for us not finding your daughter.”

  He let out a groan and sank down onto the nearest chair, the balls of his hands pressed into his eye sockets. “Okay, I lied. I’m helping some guys sell some stuff, that’s all.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Stuff?”

  Jesus Christ, was he selling drugs behind his wife’s back? What kind of people was he involved with? The kind who might stab his wife and kidnap his child?

  “It’s not a huge amount, and it’s only around the local pubs.” He lifted his head. “I just wanted to be able to contribute to the household, that’s all. I didn’t want Mae to shoulder everything, and the dole doesn’t pay out hardly anything. Honestly, it’s laughable what they expect us to do for so little money.”

  Erica sighed and ran a hand through her hair, then took the seat beside him.

  “You should have told us this right away. How do you know those aren’t the same people who attacked Mae and took Ellie?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, it’s not like that, I swear. They’re all right blokes. They just do a few runs through the Channel Tunnel and fill up their boots. It’s not a big deal, really.”

  “They must be filling up a lot of boots to take on someone to help shift the stuff for them.”

  “Maybe,” he mumbled.

  She pictured exactly the type of person they were talking about—men who didn’t give a shit about rules and laws, who thought they were just getting one over on the taxman and making a few quid at the same time.

  “Is this going to get them in trouble?” he asked.

  “I don’t care about someone selling a few packets of cigarettes, Mr Dempsey. All I care about is finding your
daughter and figuring out who stabbed your wife.”

  In truth, she’d be passing this information on to the correct team, but it wasn’t her role to investigate such things.

  “I really don’t think they had anything to do with what’s happened. Honestly, they’re not like that.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not for you to judge. Do you have a name for the men you’ve been working for?”

  “Not a surname. One’s called Dave, and the other one is Gut-so-Gav.”

  She cocked an eyebrow at that. “Gut-so-Gav?”

  “Yeah, you’ll understand why when you see him.”

  “And do you have a contact number or address for either of these men?”

  “Nah, sorry. I met them down the pub. I just have to show up at a certain time each week, and I take that week’s supply and hand over their cut.” He must have remembered something as he suddenly checked his watch. “Shit, I’ve just realised I’ve missed my meeting with them.”

  “I’m sure they’ll understand, considering the circumstances.”

  Shawn stepped in. “When were you supposed to have met them?”

  He scrubbed his hand across his face. “About an hour ago around the back of The Pig and Whistle.”

  Shawn glanced to Erica. “Think they’ll still be there?”

  She shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”

  Jack widened his eyes and stared between them. “Shit. You’re going to talk to them?”

  “Of course,” Erica said. “You can’t have thought that we wouldn’t.”

  “This is going to really land me in it.”

  “I’d be more concerned with what your wife is going to say when she finds out you didn’t tell either her or us the full truth, especially when you have so much at stake. I can’t imagine she’s going to be too impressed when she finds out where the money’s been coming from these last few months either.”

  Jack Dempsey groaned again and lowered his face to his hands.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ellie Dempsey had no idea how long she’d been locked in the dark, weird-smelling room. She’d fallen asleep at some point and woken with her hand all numb and floppy. She’d been lying on it in her sleep and had to flap her arm around and wiggle her fingers until they’d gone all pins and needley, and then finally got the feeling back. The problem with falling asleep was that now she didn’t know if she’d been here for hours, or if a day or so had passed.

  She remembered the other person in the corner of the room. She hadn’t dared speak yet. They’d called out to her, ‘Hello? Hello? Who’s there? What’s your name?’, over and over, but she’d been too frightened to reply. Instead, she’d stayed tucked up in a ball, trying not to breathe too hard in case the other person heard her, and praying they’d go away. She didn’t know what to think. Did this other person know whoever had taken her? Was it some kind of trick? Stranger danger, she’d always been warned about it, and here was another stranger in what felt like the most dangerous place she’d ever been in.

  She needed to pee, as well, and didn’t think she could hold it much longer. She really didn’t want to pee her pants. That’s what babies did, and she was five years old and had started school already. One of the girls in her class had wet herself not long after reception had started, and everyone had giggled at her behind their hands. Ellie had giggled, too, feeling mean and oddly delighted that it wasn’t her that was being laughed at, but now she wished she hadn’t laughed, ’cause now she was going to do the same thing, and even if no one else could see her, the shame was the same.

  She missed Mummy and Daddy. She missed her home, and her bed, and Bunny. She’d never known that missing something was like a giant ache in the centre of her chest. She’d always thought it was maybe in her head, or even in her heart. But it felt as though she didn’t have anything inside her anymore except that horrible feeling of missing. What were they doing now? Were they looking for her? Did they have any idea of where she’d gone? She was worried about Mummy, too. Something had happened. Something bad. She’d thought she’d heard screaming, and when someone screamed like that, it was never because of anything good.

  A scuffing came from the other side of the room, and Ellie sat up, straining her eyes against the darkness. She folded herself back into the ball she’d been in before, arms around her knees, knees up to her chest.

  A click and a crack of light, and she sucked in a breath and huddled into the mattress.

  The crack grew larger, up and down, and a figure filled in the light.

  Ellie whimpered and tucked herself smaller. She’d vanish altogether if she could.

  “I’ve brought you food.” The figure stepped into the room. “You have to eat.”

  They approached, looming over her.

  She darted her gaze around, trying to figure out where she was, and there, in the shaft of light, she spotted the person who’d tried to speak to her. It wasn’t the monster her imagination had conjured, but a boy with blond hair who was maybe just a couple of years older than her. He was skinny and dirty, and he was staring at her with fascination.

  The boy caught her eye and widened his in surprise. What had he expected? Not her, that was for sure.

  “Here.” The figure came closer still, a hood pulled up over their face, hiding it in shadows.

  They placed a paper plate on the floor in front of Ellie and then pushed it towards her. Ellie jerked backwards and skittered off the mattress, putting as much distance between herself and the plate. The chain around her ankle snapped tight, yanking her to a halt.

  “Don’t be stupid,” the person growled. “Eat something.”

  The figure turned to the boy on the other mattress on the opposite side of the room. “Here. You, too.”

  A second paper plate of food was put on the floor in front of him.

  Ellie suddenly found her voice. “Please, I want my mummy. I want my daddy. I want to go home.” She was crying now, hot, salty tears dripping down her cheeks.

  “What are you talking about, you are home,” the person snapped.

  They backed out of the room. A moment later, the door shut again, plunging them back into darkness, and then came the same click. Was the door locked? It didn’t matter either way when she was chained to the floor. She was glad the person had gone, but she didn’t like being in the dark either. And she didn’t want to eat what they’d brought her. She didn’t think she could.

  A small, sad voice came from the darkness. “You should just eat your food.”

  “What?”

  She knew now it was the boy speaking and not some hideous monster. It had helped that she’d seen him, though her mind still tried to conjure terrifying things.

  “You should eat it. They’ll get mad if you don’t.”

  “I don’t want to eat it. I’m not hungry.”

  Her stomach had twisted itself into knots, and her throat felt like it had a big lump blocking it. There was no way she’d be able to swallow anything.

  She heard the shrug in his voice. “Suit yourself.”

  “I’m Ellie,” she said, not wanting him to be annoyed with her. “What’s yours?”

  “Ashley.”

  “I’m scared,” she admitted. “I wanna go home. I miss my mummy and my daddy.”

  He let out a sigh. “Yeah, me, too.”

  “Do you think we’ll ever be able to go home?”

  “I don’t know, but I really hope so.”

  A tear slid down her cheek. “I don’t like it here.”

  What was this person going to do with them? What did they want? They had assemblies at school about strangers, but no one ever actually explained what it was they did once they took you. Was this what all the grownups had been so afraid of—that the stranger would take the children away from their parents and lock them in a dark, funny-smelling room? Were they afraid of their families being separated and of their children being scared, or was something even worse going to happen?

  Would she end up dead?


  Anyway, she still needed to pee. In fact, she needed to pee so bad it hurt. Had there been a toilet in the room? She thought she’d seen a bucket nearby, but she didn’t want to use that. She didn’t want to go to the toilet in front of the boy, either. Even though it was dark down here, she didn’t like the thought of it. She’d never peed in front of a boy before, well, except for her daddy, and he didn’t really count. She wanted to ask this boy what he did when he needed to go so badly, but the idea of even talking about it made her face all hot and her stomach churn.

  Instead, she squeezed her legs together and stuffed her hands into her lap.

  “How long have you been here?” she asked, trying to think about something other than the ache in her bladder.

  His voice came back to her out of the darkness. “I don’t know. I kind of lost track.”

  She almost didn’t want to know the answer. “But is it a long time?”

  He sniffed. “Yeah, it’s been a long time.”

  Alarm shot through her. “Did no one come looking for you? What about your mummy and daddy?”

  “I think they would have tried. They just couldn’t find me.”

  She knew what that meant. If no one had found the boy, then they wouldn’t be able to find her, either.

  Fresh tears spilled from her eyes. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go home.”

  “Me neither, but you need to eat your food. You don’t want to make the Creeper angry.”

  “The Creeper?”

  “Yeah, that’s the name I’ve given them. Like from Minecraft.”

  She’d heard of Minecraft, but she’d never been allowed to play computer games. Mummy and Daddy hadn’t let her have her own tablet yet, though there were some kids in her class who already had one. Most of those had older brothers and sisters, though, so they just got them handed down when they got better ones.

  “I’m sorry you’re here,” said Ashley, “but I’m glad I’m not on my own anymore.”