‘I know her alright. And you’re in fucking trouble, mate. If you think you’d hit the jackpot with Magellan, Jesus Christ. That’s Tina Durose.’
‘Address, Glen. And how do you know her?’
Glen looks increasingly agitated.
‘I… I’ve got a kid with her. That’ll be the kid in the picture. Jennifer. My daughter.’
Sally intervenes.
‘No, Glen. That’s Maisie in the picture.’
‘So where’s Jenny then?’
Pat smiles his evil now.
‘Can you tell us when you last saw Tina Durose and in what situation?’
‘Last Wednesday. She’s living in Ancoats now, near her mum, so she brings Jenny down here every month or so. She turned up at my place, something about her car broken down and she needed some cash, and Jane was here.’
‘So did she know anything about the plans you had? Or Magellan?’
He starts to laugh. Then he becomes very serious.
‘Know about Magellan? It was her idea. It was her idea to raid offices and get addresses so that we could harass the bastards. But when she got pregnant she kept going in hospital, then she couldn’t come on demos. When she had Jennifer she went fucking loco. Crazy. So we side-lined her. But she knows all about it.’ He shakes his head. ‘She knows fucking everything.’
‘So why didn’t you tell us she was there last week? Or involved with Magellan when I asked you? Is there anyone else you need to tell us about, Glen.’
‘Tina’s not involved anymore. How can she be? She’s a mum.’
‘That doesn’t stop her knowing about it though, does it? And I asked you for the names of anyone who knew about it?’
The look on Glen’s face makes me think that Pat’s promised him something in return for this information and he’s realising that he might not receive it now.
‘What’s was she going to do? With a baby?’
‘Not very bright, are you? She hasn’t had a memory transplant at birth, you know. She still knows what she knows and now she’s in charge, isn’t she? Whether she’s got a baby or not, she’s in charge. Looks like you made one big miscalculation here, Glen.’
Sally shuts her notebook and rests her arms on the table.
‘So, Glen, what I need to know from you is her intention. So, is it more likely that she would carry out the Magellan plan or not?’
He attempts his grin but it’s suddenly lost its effectiveness. Sally and Pat don’t react, they just wait. He looks at his solicitor who’s writing, and ignores him. Then he jumps up, crashing his chair backwards.
‘She’s fucking crazy. Crying and screaming, then not speaking for days. I was looking after Jennifer and trying to keep it together. Then she started moaning about stuff, stuff I did around Jennifer. Jennifer, Jennifer fucking Jennifer. I never wanted a kid. I love her now, but I never wanted Tina to get pregnant. I told her she was on her own but she was trying to make me into fucking super dad or something. So I ended it. She tried to live in London but it didn’t work. So she moved into some flat in Ancoats. I don’t know where it is.’
Sally continues.
‘OK. What’s her mother’s name?’
‘Laurie Durose. She moved in with Tina’s stepdad about nine years ago, that’s why Tina moved to London.’
I pick up the comms phone and speak directly to Pat.
‘Ask him where Tina comes from. Originally.’
Pat nods and Sally suddenly looks annoyed and glances at the camera.
‘Do you know where Tina was born? Where she comes from?’
Glen shakes his head.
‘Manchester. She’s got a northern accent. Broad. She never really told me. All she did was moan about her mum and her stepdad.’
Pat takes the initiative.
‘Was she interested in dolls?’
He starts to laugh manically.
‘Interested? She’s fucking obsessed. Dresses Jennifer as a doll. She just thinks they’re lucky for her. Something about her childhood. Never had any, or something. Oh and those fucking shoes. Red fucking shoes. Obsessed with them too.’
Pat stands up.
‘Right. That’s all for now.’
Glen sinks into his chair.
‘Hang on. What about my charge? What about Jennifer? Where is she?’
Pat leans over the desk. The solicitor leans backwards.
‘Social services have your kid, Glen. And with her mother on the run with someone else’s child and you in custody, that’s where she’s staying.’ He leans closer. ‘You know, there are people walking this earth who would do anything to have a kid.’ I can see Pat’s spittle hit Glen’s face. He’s red and angry and I know he’s losing it. ‘And you and your girlfriend can’t even look after yours between you.’
Sally pulls at his jacket and puts a comforting hand on his arm. I lean back and watch it play out. The screen flashes off and Keith hands me Tina’s mother’s address in Ancoats.
‘Can’t get Tina Durose’s address as she isn’t on the electoral register. It’ll take me a while to get it off the benefits office or infrastructure. But as far as I can see she’s twenty five, no previous.’ He pulls up a set of intelligence photos from the Met files. ‘But she’s been identified by intelligence. Here, in the background.’
She’s right behind Glen in some of the pictures, and farther in the background in others. Small, compact. Quite pretty, really, in a grungy kind of way. All wild hair and combats, but the close-up shows carefully applied make-up and professionally applied false nails. Angry, shouting, and, in the last two, pregnant. She's wearing red shoes or boots in every picture. I grab my bag and jacket.
‘Steve. Can you go and update the Lewis’. Tell them Maisie is safe, at least for the time being. Me and Lauren will go and see Tina’s mum.’ I turn around and face the operations room. ‘OK. We need to step up the search for that car now it’s on the move. Let me know immediately if it’s spotted. Get the CCTV on all routes from that Travelodge and track it as far as you can.’
Keith shouts after me.
‘Shall we update the media? You know, Silver Range Rover? Public looking for a guy? With Jennifer in the hospital and the Travelodge sealed off, lots of people will know there are some developments.’
I think for a moment. What can we tell them?
‘Just tell them that then. Some developments and we’re closer to finding Maisie. Nothing specific. Nothing to spook Tina Durose. Let me know.’
Lauren follows me to the back doors of the building. When we get there she tries to stop me and speak to me. I don’t know if she’s going to apologise or voice her concerns about working with me under the circumstances but I take control.
‘Bring your car round here, Lauren. I’ll get in the back without being seen and lie on the back seat until we’re out of the immediate vicinity. OK?’
She nods and looks relieved. In a few minutes she turns and parks beside the door. I crawl into the back seat and lie flat. There’s Lego on the floor of her car, and a blue rubber smurf stuffed underneath the back seat. I remember her kids and how concerned she must be to have me in the car. But there’s no time. We’re out of the car park and travelling towards the city.
‘Anyone following? Just nod yes or no.’
She nods yes.
‘OK. Drive towards the big Tesco on Oldham Road. Park up and go inside. Get three sets of underwear size 14. Get two black t-shirts and a hooded top, and two pairs of black jeans. Quick as you can. Let me know when the car following gives up.’
Halfway up Oldham Road, and just as she pulls into the Tesco car park the car turns off. She gets the clothes and in fifteen minutes we’re pulling up outside Tina’s mum’s house. I get out of the back and straighten my clothes. Lauren knocks on the door and an older woman, peroxide blond, opens it. Lauren shows her warrant card.
‘Mrs Durose. We’re here to have a word about your daughter Tina. Can we come in?’
She rolls her eyes and opens the door. Once in t
he lounge she motions for us to sit down. The room is small, and smells faintly of cannabis. She knows this and stands by the electric fire, bolt upright with her arms folded.
‘What’s she done?’
I get my notebook out.
‘You don’t sound surprised she’s done something. Jan Pearce, by the way. I’m a Detective Constable with Greater Manchester Police.’ I go to shake her hand but she backs off. ‘OK. We’ve got reason to believe that Tina has kidnapped a child. You may have seen it on the news. We need to get access to Tina’s flat in order to understand what’s made her do it and to see if we can find any evidence.’
Lauren holds up a warrant. Mrs Durose stares at us blankly.
‘You mean that kid up Saddleworth? Bloody hell. Where’s Jennifer?’
‘She had Jennifer with her. We think she went to London and drove back in a car which we need to trace. Then she booked into a Travelodge and left Jennifer there. She took Maisie.’
She explodes.
‘She did go down to bloody London to visit that wet streak of piss. But believe me she’s not behind the bloody door herself. She was crackers before she had Jennifer but she’s worse now. Thinking up crazy schemes to get that bloody Glen to come up North. And she wouldn’t take those bleeding headphones out. Not for a single minute. So I’m not surprised she’s done something off the radar.’
I look at Lauren. She’s looking around the room and sniffing.
‘Why does she wear the earphones all the time?’
Mrs Durose lights a cigarette.
‘So she can’t hear Jennifer. She can’t stand the sound of Jennifer crying. Instead of doing things to stop her crying, she just plays the same thing over and over again. Some bloody soppy words. Muttering all the time under her breath. Says it keeps the pain out. It’s a wonder someone hasn’t reported her.’
The story. I calculate my next question carefully.
‘Do you think she’d ever hurt Jennifer?’
She pauses for longer than she should. She takes several drags of her cigarette and blows the smoke out of the side of her mouth.
‘I don’t think she’d mean to. But she’s not well. She’s always going on about dolls and Glen. It’s like she’s obsessed. Jennifer could be crying and she’s still drawing dolls on bit of paper and telling me how Glen will do this, Glen will do that.’
‘Dolls. OK. So what’s that about?’
She shrugs and flakes of heavy dandruff fall from her shoulders.
‘She’s always liked them. Pictures as a kid.’
‘Is she religious? Is it to do with any particular beliefs?’
She eyes me carefully.
‘I don’t really know. We were close when she was a little kid but then I had me own problems. I haven’t really asked her. Couldn’t see anything wrong with it? Dolls. Harmless aren’t they?’
‘So you don’t know where this particular fixation came from?’
She rolls her eyes. It makes her look even more stoned than she already does.
‘No idea. None whatsoever. She was always out. Roamin’ round on her own. A proper loner. What’s this got to do with that kid?’
'Did you read to her when she was a child? Fairy stories? Hans Christian Anderson? The Red Shoes.'
She snorts and looks puzzled.
'Are you fucking kidding? Not my thing, readin'. Not at all. She liked to watch telly.'
‘Did she ever mention anything called Magellan?’
‘Oh yes! That’s all she used to go on about before. How the bloody planet was being destroyed and how she was going to make them pay. That’s how she met him, isn’t it? Through that. Him, with his posh mum and dad and his money. He pays to Jennifer, you know. So where is Jennifer? Is she with Tina?’
Lauren jumps in.
‘No. She’s at the hospital being checked over. I’ll give you the social worker’s number and you can arrange something with her.’
Mrs Durose gets a pen and paper and scribbles Tina’s address.
‘Here you are, this is Tina’s address. It’ll be a mess. I don’t go round there, but I can tell you it’ll be a tip. Last time I went round there it smelled like she hadn’t put the bins out for weeks. Dirty, it was. No place for Jennifer. Bloody hell. That poor kid and her parents. I’ll bloody kill Tina when I get my hands on her.’
‘Have you got a key? To Tina’s place?’
She shakes her head slowly.
‘You’re joking. She wouldn’t let me in most of the time.’
Lauren takes the address and radios through for support. No key, so we’ll probably have to use force. We get up ready to go. I give her my business card.
‘If she gets in touch contact us, please. Straight away. Someone else will be round very soon to take your statement. Oh. One more thing. Have you always lived in Manchester?’
She starts to laugh. It’s a manic kind of laugh, the hysteria of someone who has endured trauma that has changed their lives.
‘Nah. Lived up Uppermill since I was a kid. Priory Farm. Just behind Dovestones. My parents had a farm just outside the village. My husband and I, Tina’s dad, took it over, but he was an alkie. He drunk all the money away and we had to sell it. Moved here when I met my partner.’ Her eyes momentarily flicker upwards and I know he’s upstairs listening. ‘I’ve been trapped here ever since. No kind of life, this. No wonder Tina’s gone tapped.’
She shows us to the door and I make a point of raising my voice.
‘I’d be grateful if you didn’t repeat our conversation to anyone. Particularly the press. It could harm the investigation if you do and out Tina in danger.’
She nods and glances upstairs again. When we’re outside Lauren takes a deep breath.
‘Thank God for that. I’m always paranoid about breathing that stuff in. Addles your mind. And that’s no place for Jennifer.’
I’m just about to give her a lecture about being with people who love her is better than being in a children’s unit when the comms phone rings.
Chapter Seventeen
I pull the phone out and fumble with the green button to switch it on. We’re standing on a Manchester street, concrete pavements and terraced houses with the not so distant sound of traffic echoing through. But the world silences because we both know what any contact with Tina means. I push the speaker button so Lauren can listen in.
‘Jan Pearce. Is that you, Tina? If you let me know how you are and where you are I can help you.’
We stand under a grey sky speckled with clouds and a single crow squawks in the distance. We both lean closer to the phone to pick out background noise and hear the forlorn cry of a young child in the background. In the empty spaces where Maisie is silent, gasping air for her next cry. She cries again. It’s strong and fills me with hope that she might yet be returned.
‘Tina. Look. Whatever it is, we can help you. Whatever’s wrong we can help put it right? You just need to give Maisie back to us. Your mum is looking after Jennifer and she’s fine. Just tell us where you are.’
I’m silent and counting down the minutes until Keith buzzes my personal mobile to tell me her location. Maisie carries on crying. A car passes and we move even closer to the speaker of the phone. I consider going back into the house and asking Mrs Durose to appeal to her daughter, but that could go both ways. She could persuade her to bring Maisie back, or scare her into doing whatever she intend to do more quickly.
My phone buzzes again and I pull it out with my free hand. Keith has text me and I pass the phone to Lauren.
‘She’s heading for Saddleworth. She’s up on the Huddersfield Road, somewhere between Scouthead and Greenfield. Difficult to triangulate, because the cells are more distant out there. Can’t pinpoint it exactly.’
We’re still listening to Maisie crying. The yelling has turned to a whimper now. We hear her murmur and can just make out the word. Mummy.
‘Look Tina, whatever has happened we just want Maisie to be back with her mum. She’s…’
The c
all ends and we stand in in the street. It’s started to rain, but neither of us move for a minute or so. Then Lauren speaks.
‘This doesn’t look good, does it?’
I’ve been thinking the same. It’s confirmed many of the initial hunches I had, but I don’t feel triumphant. I feel more concerned. We’re no longer looking for someone who’s going to demand a ransom. This isn’t something Marc Lewis can blame on his job. This is something completely different.
‘No it doesn’t. We’ve got two witnesses saying she’s disturbed. She’s got knowledge of the contents of the car, but I don’t think her intention is to blow up the power plant any more. Otherwise she’d be heading North. There’s no real pattern to this. Except she can’t stand a baby crying. She’s dumped her own child and now she’s blanking Maisie out. The good thing is that she’s phoned us. That shows us that she’s got a flicker of hope.’
Lauren snorts.
‘She’s got a flicker of hope? From where I’m standing she’s holding all the cards.’
‘Maybe. But what about from where she’s standing? We know she’s driven down to London in her own car to see Glen with Jennifer. She’s caught him with Jane and driven off in his car because he wouldn’t give her the money to fix her car. She’s driven back North and posted the dolls to the first recipients. Then she’s gone to the Lewis, likely to do the same and, for some reason, decided to take Maisie. They found what I think is Jennifer’s soother in the grounds so she was probably carrying Jennifer with her.’
Lauren looks puzzled and asks the key question.
‘But why take Maisie? If she’s not going to demand anything?’
I focus on Maisie’s bedroom room. The picture, the fingerprints. The paper doll.
‘She was in the room a while. Looking around. Then she took Maisie and drove to a Travelodge. The car wasn’t particularly hidden, just lucky that it was under some trees. She didn’t hide the children but she paid in cash. Then left her own daughter in the room and drove to Saddleworth.’
I search for the reason, the purpose, for taking Maisie but I can’t find it in this information. None of it makes sense. Unless this isn’t what we think it is. There hasn’t been a demand despite two phone calls. No code word or drop off point. Not even a cryptic request for an exchange – Maisie for cash. Nothing at all. I cast my mind back to my conversation with Petra. We’re dealing with an amateur, not a professional. Everything in the abduction points to this, and so does the lack of a demand. But that still leaves the reason she took her. If not for money or power, then why?
What I Left Behind (The gripping prequel to the DS Jan Pearce Crime Fiction Series) Page 16
