Sign of Evil

by M A Comley

  “Possibly. She didn’t get on any other form of transport, anyway.”

  “Thanks so much for your call. Was there anything else you can think of?”

  “No, I believe that’s all. I hope you find her. I’ll be sending out a prayer for God to keep her safe in the meantime.”

  “Thank you. I’m sure her parents will appreciate your thoughtfulness, sir.”

  “Goodnight, Inspector.”

  “Goodnight.” She ended the call and jotted down the information Mr Baldwin had given her on the whiteboard. She stood back and assessed what she’d written, but her line of thinking was interrupted by the telephone ringing again. She shot across the room to answer it. “DI Sara Ramsey, how may I help?”

  “Hello, are you the person in charge of the missing girl case? Sorry, I’ve forgotten her name already. I just saw the clip on the news.”

  “I am. May I take your name?”

  “It’s Davina Harding. I think I saw her.”

  “You did? That’s excellent news, may I ask where?”

  “It was near the precinct on Monday. I’m a mobile hairdresser, you see. I was in the area, I have a client in town, she was desperate for a cut and colour… sorry, I’ve gone off track, haven’t I?”

  Sara sniggered. “Just a little. What can you tell me about Amber Rowse?”

  “Ah yes, that’s her name, I knew it was something weird or should I say uncommon. Anyway, I came away from Mrs Montgomery’s at around half-tenish, she had an appointment with her gynaecologist at eleven hence the reason she wanted her hair doing so urgently. Oops… here I go again… I saw the girl, thought how well-dressed she looked. I wasn’t surprised when she got into one of those fancy cars.”

  “Wait, you saw her get into a vehicle?”

  “That’s what I said, didn’t I? One of those long ones.”

  “Long one, as in a limousine?”

  “That’s the one. Sorry, my brain tends to go to mush in the evenings.”

  “No problem. I don’t suppose you got the registration number, did you?”

  Davina tutted. “You’re right, I didn’t. Had I known that she would step into the car and be reported missing a few days later, then maybe I would’ve taken more notice. Sorry.”

  “No need to apologise, that’s a logical deduction. Did the car stay where it was or drive away?”

  “She got in and it took off. Don’t ask me where to, I’m not psychic. Sorry, that was uncalled for, you didn’t deserve that retort.”

  “We agree on one thing.” Sara chuckled. “Did you see the driver of the vehicle or were the windows blacked out?”

  “Yes, they were, but the chauffeur got out of the car to open the door for the young woman.”

  “I see. Can you tell me what her reaction was?”

  “She seemed embarrassed, I thought that was odd. But there was no reluctance to get into the car, not from where I was standing.”

  “And the car left soon after?”

  “Yes. I watched it drive off, it was as if I was mesmerised by the whole scene. I shook myself out of my state and walked off towards Tesco’s to pick up my car.”

  “I suppose it’s not every day you see a limo in the centre of the city like that.”

  “It was a first for me, I can tell you. I hope I’ve helped a smidge. Poor girl must be frantic, going out of her mind with worry.”

  “I would suggest the same, which was why I called a press conference early. I truly appreciate you getting in touch. What you’ve given me could turn out to be really important.”

  “You think? I hope so. I try to help the police when I can. I called your lot out to my estate when four lads were kicking a cat around like a football at the park at the end of my road. I tried to stop them, but they gave me a right mouthful. Your lot arrived within minutes, thank goodness. Turns out it was my neighbour’s cat. Poor thing was so badly injured that she had to be put to sleep, the vet couldn’t save her. Brain damaged it was. Bloody kids of today need a good thrashing, I’d volunteer to do that if I could.”

  “That’s terrible. I recall the case. My husband is a vet, I remember him saying at the time he thought the cat wouldn’t survive. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to call in tonight, it means a lot.”

  “You’re welcome. Please do what you can to find her, she seemed such a nice girl from a distance.”

  “I will, I promise. If you hadn’t rung this evening, my job would have been a whole lot harder. Thank you again.”

  Carla and Will stepped into the room as she ended the call. “Good news, guys. I’ll tell you about it over a coffee.”

  “I’ll get them,” Will volunteered.

  “Thanks, I knew you were my favourite for a reason, Will. I take it Sasha went straight home?”

  Carla eased herself into the chair next to Sara. “She did. Here, I took a video of her movements. The closer she got to her home, the more agitated she became.”

  Sara watched the young woman constantly peering over her shoulder and up her pace now and again. “Yep, she seems dead nervous to me.”

  Will deposited two cups on the desk for her and Carla. He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet a little.

  “Spit it out, Will,” Sara demanded. She noticed he’d only bought the two cups of coffee.

  “I was wondering if it would be all right if I shot off, boss. I promised my mates I’d meet them for a game of snooker tonight.”

  “One sec, I’d like a brief chat in my office, if that’s okay?”

  They entered the office and Sara closed the door. “I know you’ve been with Carla most of the afternoon, but did you manage to do any research on her possible attacker before you went?”

  “I did. I checked back over the recent cases, and well, to be honest with you, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, boss. All the cases we’ve solved in the past six months, any one of those bastards could be responsible.”

  Sara growled. “Not what I wanted to hear. This case has to take priority now, we’ll revisit Carla’s attacker afterwards. Saying that, if things should go quiet around here, will you promise me you’ll do some more digging on the hush hush?”

  “Of course. I still reckon someone should pay her ex a visit. Too much of a coincidence to me.”

  “Yeah, maybe I’ll drop round and have a quick word with him. All right, get out of here. You’ve done your stint for the day. Thanks for taking care of Carla today.”

  “Always a pleasure having a pretty colleague sharing the car with me instead of Barry.” He grinned and sprinted out of the room.

  “He’s an odd one,” Carla noted, once they were alone. “Barely said a word to me in the car, lost in his own thoughts most of the afternoon.”

  “Not fun for you, ever the chatterbox.”

  Carla groaned. “Bloody cheek, I am not.”

  Sara inclined her head and raised an eyebrow. “If you say so. Right, back to business. I’ve only had three calls, one was a time-waster, the other two are what I’d call golden ones.”

  “Sounds promising.” Carla took a sip from her cup and motioned at the sheets of paper Sara was holding.

  “We’re going to need Craig to work his magic on the CCTV footage in the morning. So far, we have a gentleman who sat behind Amber on the bus. He told me she had a conversation with what sounded like a friend. Going for an interview was mentioned. Then, we have a hairdresser who saw Amber a little while later getting into a limousine.”

  “A what? Bloody hell. Who the fuck goes to an interview and gets picked up by a limousine?”

  “Exactly, it’s way out there in the realms of bizarre, if you ask me.”

  Carla shook her head. “Hard to believe. What are we looking at here, Sara? It doesn’t bode well, does it?”

  “Unless we find out what the interview was for, we’re unlikely to find her.”

  “Do you want to pull Sasha in for questioning?”

  “I’m moving in that direction. I think we should verify what we’ve been t
old first, then pull her in. I have an inkling she knows more than she’s letting on.”

  “Looking at the footage I showed you, do you reckon she was nervous or terrified?” Carla asked.

  “Hard to tell. Do you think she knows who has her and is terrified they’ll come after her next?”

  Carla sighed and shrugged. “It seems to be the only logical explanation.”

  “We need to match up the phone numbers and take another look at what Sasha told me. Either way, I’m not getting a good feeling about this. Maybe Sasha is in on it. Perhaps she arranged for someone to abduct her friend… no, that can’t be right, she wouldn’t be reacting like this if that was the case, would she?”

  Carla pinched her forehead and flinched. “God knows. I’m too exhausted to try and figure it out.”

  Sara bashed her fist on the desk. “That’s it. We’ll call it a day and hit the ground hard in the morning.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yep. The phones have gone dead now, anyway. Come on, let’s both go home and get some rest. Do you want me to drop you off? Do you even want to go home? Jeff said he and Wendy could put you up. How are your aches and pains?”

  “It’s so kind of you all. No fussing, remember?”

  “I’m not. I’m allowed to be concerned for a friend, aren’t I?”

  “I suppose. I’ll be fine, as long as I sleep well tonight.”

  “You have your own concerns to worry about. We should start investigating the attack on you too, Carla.”

  “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

  “But I do.”

  “Then, stop. Are you ready to go?”

  “Ah, the expert on changing the subject strikes again.”

  They left the incident room, Sara switched off the lights and closed the door behind them. In the car park, she again asked Carla if she was okay to drive home. Carla ignored her and got in her car and left before Sara had even had the chance to unlock hers.

  She drove home, her thoughts on the case in hand, Smooth Radio playing softly in the background. She found Mark standing on the doorstep when she pulled into their road.

  “Hello, you. Did you have a good day?” He kissed her and removed her coat.

  She slipped off her shoes and reached out for a cuddle. “Yes and no. I’ll tell you about it while we prepare dinner. How about you?”

  “I got off lightly today, only a few bites from a frustrated parrot to add to my scars. Dinner is ready.”

  “Poor you. Wow, what are you about to delight me with tonight?”

  “Gammon, pineapple, chips, tomatoes, mushrooms and sweetcorn.”

  “Crikey, sounds delicious. Do I have time to get changed?”

  “Nope, I’m about to dish up.”

  “Oh well, no big deal. Can we have a bottle of wine or is that too much to ask, what with it being mid-week?”

  “Go on, then. I’ll leave that for you to do. I’ll be busy serving up.”

  They entered the kitchen, and the smell sent her into a happy place for some reason. She removed two glasses from the cupboard next to the cooker and opened a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

  They tucked into their meal, both apparently hungrier than they first thought. Halfway through, she decided to tell Mark about how the day had begun.

  Mark’s features were filled with worry for her colleague. “What? Who could possibly be responsible for doing that to poor Carla? Was she badly injured?”

  “We’ve yet to determine that. I have my suspicions it might be Gary, but I wouldn’t voice that openly, not to Carla.”

  “Hard to believe a fireman would go to such lengths as to punish his ex in that way.”

  “It’s hard to believe anyone would, but the truth is, they did. Carla could barely move at work. She made my piss boil when she refused to go to the hospital, so, rather than let her sit there in agony, not knowing if she had a few broken bones or not, I got Jeff to call the duty doctor.” Mark topped up their wine glasses and she took a sip before she continued, “She wasn’t too happy about it, but tough. She needed to be examined. You should have seen her, black and blue all over, I’m presuming all over. Her face was discoloured, so much so that I refused to take her out with me today.”

  Mark winced. “Ouch, I bet that went down well.”

  “She admitted it was right for her to stay at the station, but come mid-afternoon, she was bored out of her mind. So, she volunteered to go on surveillance with Will.”

  “Bless her. It’s tough sitting behind a desk once you’ve had the freedom to go out and about every day with the boss. Must have come as a shock to her system.”

  Sara sipped at her wine. “Yep. Anyway, we’ll see how she is tomorrow and decide whether she can team up with me again or not. Thanks for a lovely dinner, sorry I was delayed getting home this evening.”

  “I saw the appeal go out. Was it prosperous?”

  Sara dropped her knife on the plate and waved her flattened hand from side to side. “We’ll find out in the morning. I felt bad coming away from the station so early, but there’s little more we could have done tonight, anyway. I switched the phones over to the main call centre to handle. We’ll sift through any extra calls that come in tomorrow.”

  “What’s your gut saying about the case?”

  “I have a few lingering doubts as to why a young woman would arrange an interview with someone in the back of a limousine, and why she felt the need to hide the impending interview from her parents. At least, I think she did, I’m assuming they would have mentioned it otherwise.”

  “It does sound strange.” He pushed his empty plate away and leaned back. “I couldn’t do your job. The fact you have to sift through minor evidence and assemble a case I’d find bewildering and yet you manage to successfully do it day in, day out.”

  “I’ve never really thought about it that way before. It’s my job, you slip into a routine. Identify when to probe and when to hang back to see what develops.”

  “As in the case of the best friend, is that what you’re getting at?”

  “Exactly. We need to drag her into the station, screaming and kicking if necessary, to find out what she knows.”

  “Hard to believe she could be involved in her friend’s disappearance.”

  “Involved? The jury is still out on that one. Possibly, being coerced into giving us a false statement. Either way, I’m determined to get to the damn truth and quickly. Amber’s life is at risk.”

  “Why the limousine? What’s the significance of that?”

  “Maybe the person needed to entice her into thinking he was wealthy. Again, without knowing what type of job the interview was for, it’s hard to say. Enough about work, I’ve had my share for the day. Let’s get cleared up, correction, I’ll clear up while you find something decent on the TV to watch tonight.”

  “I won’t argue. Don’t forget you promised to ring your mother back tonight.”

  “Yikes, thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten.”

  Mark helped her clear the table, kissed her and then went into the lounge. She FaceTimed her mother and angled the phone against the orchid plant sitting on the windowsill in front of her.

  “Hi, Mum, I’m doing the washing-up, so forgive all the clattering of plates et cetera. How are you?”

  “I’m fine. Your father had a rough day today. I’ve just put him to bed.”

  “Damn, what’s wrong? Is it his heart again?”

  “No, he couldn’t tell me what was wrong. He’s got a fever, hot and sticky. I gave him a couple of paracetamols. I’ll check on him in a moment, I think he’ll be asleep soon enough.”

  “Send him my love and wish him a speedy recovery.”

  “I’ll do that. Now, you’re not to worry about him, he’s in safe hands.”

  “I know. Give us a shout if he gets any worse though, Mum.”

  “I will. Your sister is here, she’s going to be staying with us a few days, so there really isn’t any need for you to worry. How’s work? Wait,
before you answer that, we all watched you on TV this evening. Any news on the missing girl?”

  “No, well, that’s not quite true. We had a few useful calls come in, so we’re hopeful of finding her soon.”

  “That is good news, dear. Okay, I’m glad you called. As you know, it’s your father’s birthday next weekend. I want to make this year a special occasion after… losing your brother. Will you and Mark join us for a celebratory meal on the Saturday?”

  “That would be lovely, Mum. Do you need me to help with the catering or arrangements?”

  “No, you have enough on your plate. Lesley is here to help with the finer details. It’ll only be the immediate family.”

  “Sounds ideal. Dad’s in the dark I take it?”

  “Yes, at the moment, not sure how long it’ll remain that way, but we’re going to do our best.”

  “What about presents, what shall I get him this year?”

  “Goodness, I don’t know. Don’t you think I have enough going on in my head without thinking about what present to buy him?”

  “Sorry. I’ll give him a fishing tackle voucher. Docklow Pools have a shop, I could nip out there next week or maybe I’ll give them a call.”

  “How thoughtful. He’ll love that. Okay, I’m going to let you get on with your evening now. I want to do some planning while he’s out of the way.”

  “Good luck. Let me know by text how he is in the morning, if you would?”

  “I’ll do that. Love you, dear. Send Mark my love.”

  “I will. Love you, too.”

  5

  Sara busied herself in her office with mundane paperwork until the team arrived. Carla poked her head into the room at five minutes to nine.

  “We’re all here now.”

  “How are you today? And no, that’s not me being a fusspot.” She smiled, doing her best to ward off another rebuke.

  “A lot better. Thanks. The bruising seems to have gone down well overnight.” She angled her face in different directions as if to emphasise her point.

  Sara narrowed her eyes. “It’s amazing what a little extra make-up will hide, right?”

  Carla’s grin carried a touch of sarcasm to it. “Don’t know what you mean. Can I partner you today?”