by GS Rhodes
“We can talk about this later,” he said cutting Ben off. “Now’s not really the right time.”
Kidd took a breath. He was right of course. This wasn’t the time for Kidd to be getting into this kind of conversation with Craig, but he really wanted to. Everything that Zoe had said to him was running around in his head. What was he doing back? Why now? What kind of trouble was he in? Was Kidd about to get himself into serious trouble by association? He took a breath, steadied himself, and started to speak again.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“What did you call for?”
Kidd could hear Craig smiling on the other end of the line.
“I just…wanted to make sure you didn’t mind me eating your food or whatever,” Craig said. “I’m already intruding and, look, you don’t have a lot in right now anyway, I feel like I’d be eating you out of house and home.”
“I have food.”
“You have some food, yes,” Craig said with a laugh. “You’re living like a pensioner, Ben.”
“I eat out a lot.”
“There are too many jokes in there.”
“And it’s too early in the day for you to be making them,” Kidd said. “You can eat what you like, you don’t need to ask me that. You lived there before.”
There was a pause. And there was so much in it. Even more questions that Kidd didn’t know how to ask, didn’t know if he was ready for the answers to.
“Yeah, but not anymore,” Craig said. “Things have changed.”
Understatement of the century.
Kidd took a breath.
“Eat what you like and I’ll do an online shop or something when I get home,” he said. “I’m at Liz’s tonight, remember, so you’re fending for yourself.”
“I’ve gotten pretty used to that,” Craig said. “Thanks, Ben. See you later.”
Kidd hung up the phone and found himself staring at it. He had no idea what he was going to do. He didn’t even know where to start.
A text appeared on his phone saying it was from Craig and that this was his number if Kidd needed him. He quickly saved it. It was strange seeing his name on his phone again. The other number had been inactive for so long it was a wonder that he hadn’t deleted it already. It was weird to think that Craig Peyton was in his life again, in his house in fact. It was even weirder to think of the myriad of reasons as to why he hadn’t been around for the past two years. Whatever it ended up being, there was no way it was any worse than what Kidd imagined, could it?
It was probably best he kept that door closed.
“DI Kidd?”
Ben looked up to see a familiar curly-haired boy standing in front of him. He looked like he was on his way somewhere, a rucksack slung over his shoulders, a big pair of headphones over a beanie hat that Kidd had seen him wearing so many times he hoped he either washed it a lot, or had several of them. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“Joe Warrington,” Kidd said. “What are you doing here?”
Joe smiled a little wider. He’d become something of a staple in Kidd’s life recently. Ever since he’d re-joined the force to investigate the resurgence of The Grinning Murders a few months back, a case for which Joe’s twin brother Tony was convicted, they seemed to keep bumping into each other. Either that or Joe was seeking him out to ask him questions for his news site. It could have been either, possibly both.
“I’m on my way to class,” Joe said, pointing in the direction of Kingston University. “I was walking through town and thought I saw you. Thought I’d come and say hello. Well done on the case, by the way.”
Kidd’s face scrunched up. “Which one?”
“The Paige case,” Joe said. “I read about the arrest this morning. It was a good catch.”
Kidd couldn’t help but smile. If it had come out of anyone else’s mouth it would have sounded patronising, but not from Joe. He seemed genuinely impressed. The whole thing had felt rushed by the end, if Kidd was entirely honest with himself. He’d managed to land on what he thought was the right thing, but quickly figured out where he really needed to go. Just in time it turned out.
He shook his head. He’d be revisiting it in the paperwork soon enough, if he could get five minutes.
“Did you have something you wanted to ask me, Joe?” Kidd asked. He didn’t quite believe that Joe just saw him in the distance and decided to come and speak to him. There was something else hanging between them, and a nervousness about Joe’s energy that was setting Kidd a little on edge.
Joe took a breath like he needed to steady himself.
“I just wanted to ask you about my brother,” he said. “I know you said to leave it, but I spoke to him yesterday.”
“Joe—”
“I know you said that I shouldn’t, and I know what he did was wrong—”
“Wrong?!” Kidd repeated. “Joe it’s not just that Tony murdered someone. He was going to do it again, and when it came down to it, he was willing to put you in harm’s way so that he could escape. Are you forgetting all of that?”
“Of course I’m not,” Joe said, firmly. But Kidd could see quite clearly that he was. Joe had been terrified that night, and with good reason.
He couldn’t get his head around why Joe would be in contact with his brother.
“He’s depressed,” Joe said. “At least, that’s how it looks to me. I’m not an expert, but no one is helping him in there. There are people in there who are going to do some terrible things to him if someone doesn’t step in and I don’t want him getting hurt. I know, I know, he’s a bad guy okay? But he’s still my brother.” Joe paused, seemed to collect himself. “Justice has been served, right? He shouldn’t have to suffer any more than he already is.”
Kidd wasn’t so sure. While Tony was in prison for what he’d done, there was a family who were without their daughter, there were people who were continuing to suffer for what he had done. Did he deserve whatever was coming to him in prison? Kidd wasn’t the person to decide that. And he didn’t want it on his hands if something happened to Tony. It wouldn’t be right.
“I’ll put in a call, see if I can get people to keep a closer eye on him,” Kidd said. “There’s not much we can do from out here, but it might help. You never know.”
Joe smiled. The tension he was holding in his shoulders seemed to fade a little.
“Thank you,” he said. “I know it’s not…I know he’s done some bad things. But he’s still my brother. I just want him to be safe.”
Joe said his goodbyes and headed off towards the university campus. Kidd couldn’t help but watch him go, feeling more than a little bit uncomfortable to know that Joe was in contact with Tony. It had slipped his mind with everything that had happened yesterday, but it couldn’t be good. He only hoped Joe wasn’t about to do anything stupid.
His phone buzzed in his hand.
JOHN: We still on for tonight? Xx
Kidd looked back through the messages they had sent last night. He’d not been able to see John because of the case, and had said they would do tonight instead. Much as he needed to talk to John, he didn’t want to bail on his sister. And there was even a small part of him that wanted to try and get a decent night’s rest before he tried to have that conversation.
KIDD: Christ, sorry, I’m meant to be seeing Liz tonight. Tomorrow? I promise this time I will be there. Xx
He watched as the three dots filled the screen and vanished. Filled the screen and vanished.
JOHN: No problem. Tomorrow is fine. Xx
That’s right, Ben, Kidd thought. Keep pushing him away. You’ll be back on your own again eventually.
He pocketed his phone and headed back into the station.
CHAPTER TEN
Campbell practically leapt out of his seat as Kidd walked into the Incident Room. It got Kidd’s attention at least. He was still on the phone as Kidd walked over to him.
“Uh-huh,” Campbell said into the receiver. “Okay, thank you for checking for
me, really appreciate that.” He hung up the phone and looked at Kidd with a big smile on his face. It was enough to send a jolt of excitement running through the DI’s body.
Progress, he thought.
“So, I got off the phone with Daniel Walters’ office,” Campbell started. “Not the nicest bunch of people, by the way. Never known anyone that works in recruitment personally, but after chatting with this lot, I don’t really think I would ever want to.”
“And?”
“They confirmed that he was in meetings all day all over town, wasn’t in the office at all,” Campbell said. “The receptionist got hold of the schedule for me, and emailed it over. He was literally anywhere but the office yesterday, at least according to that.”
“Shit.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Campbell said. “But you gave me the impression earlier that you thought it was something else, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You thought he was lying to you,” Campbell said.
“I wasn’t sure,” Kidd replied. “There was something that just didn’t add up. I…I couldn’t place it. It was a hunch. Guess I was wrong.”
It still didn’t quite add up in Kidd’s head. There was definitely something there. At least, he thought there was. He tried to shake the feeling off. Maybe he was overthinking it. Maybe he was looking for something that wasn’t there and the tiredness was getting the better of him.
“Okay, but I think it might have been a good hunch, alright?” Campbell continued. “Because she gave me a copy of the schedule, it had all the places he was supposed to be yesterday, right? I just checked in with the first one that was on the list, which happened to be a Pizza Express that’s in town.”
“Classy.”
“I like their dough balls.” Campbell shrugged. “But I gave them a call and checked for a booking and there was nothing there. I checked his name, I checked the company name, I checked the assistant’s name.”
“Who’s the assistant?”
Campbell looked back at his computer screen.
“Louise Harker,” he said. “I didn’t get to speak to her but the receptionist said that she arranges everything for him, books it all, all that fun stuff.”
“So it wasn’t booked, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t there,” Kidd said.
“True,” Campbell said. “But the next arrangement was for a cafe in town called Cafe Marco, and they didn’t have a booking for him either. It’s a long shot, of course, and he could have ended up going somewhere else, or maybe he didn’t go there at all.”
Kidd looked at Campbell carefully. It was a possibility, of course, that the places had been too busy and he’d gone elsewhere, it was possible that they didn’t take bookings at all or it was booked under a different name, but maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t been there at all for some reason.
It crossed Kidd’s mind that Daniel Walters could be in some way responsible for what was going on. It wouldn’t be the first time, and unfortunately, probably not the last, that a parent had been involved in the disappearance of their child. It had only been a few months since Kidd had dealt with exactly that, with the disappearance of Sarah Harper. Her dad had ended up being responsible for her disappearance and subsequent death.
“See if you can get any CCTV off them,” Kidd asked. “We can at least check if he was there. Maybe call the other places, see if he showed up at any of them. You might be onto something. Good job, Owen.”
“Thank you, sir.” Campbell was beaming. If the coffee he’d been mainlining wasn’t working to waking him up, some kind words from DI Kidd would certainly help things along.
DC Ravel clapped her hands together, pulling Kidd’s focus away from Campbell. She had a huge smile on her face, one that hopefully meant some good news.
“I’ve got what I think might be a lead,” she said, turning her attention from Kidd to the computer and back again. “It’s tenuous, but I don’t know. Maybe…” she trailed off.
“What?” Kidd said. “Everything is worth looking into, what have you got?”
“You asked me to look into any missing children from the past week in the area,” she started. “I looked a little beyond that. There were a few that had been in the past couple of months but had been solved just fine, found within the space of a week, but there was one entered into the system just five days ago,” she added. “It was looked into, they were searching, did forensics on the area, the works, and they haven’t found him yet. Not a single lead. Nothing.”
“Name?”
“Brody Wade,” Janya said, squinting at her computer screen. “Three years old, was out with his mum, Cherise Wade, when he disappeared into a crowd. She couldn’t find him, the police couldn’t find him, nothing. I’ve been in touch with the team working on it.”
“Who is it?” Kidd asked.
“DCI Shauna Reid,” Janya said. “She’s fine with us reaching out and getting in touch but…” she trailed off. “Look, I don’t want to cast any judgments or anything, but DCI Reid was telling me that she’s a bit of a handful.”
“The mother?”
Janya nodded. “Apparently she kept making all sorts of accusations the way things were being conducted, how they weren’t paying attention to the things that she wanted them to pay attention to…” she trailed off again, looking at her computer screen. It was bothering her, Kidd could see that much.
“What are you thinking?”
Janya shrugged. “I don’t want to cast any judgements on DCI Reid, I don’t know her,” Janya said.
“I’ll happily cast judgements,” DS Sanchez piped up from the other side of the room. “I know her pretty well.”
“You do?” Janya asked.
“She’s a bit of a hard ass,” Zoe said with a shrug. “She doesn’t take crap from anybody and…I don’t know, it’s not my place to say, but you’re asking me to say it, I think it makes her less good at her job. If someone questions her authority or the way she does things, she’ll sling them out so damn fast…” She looked at Kidd, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “The two of you would get on like a house on fire.”
Kidd laughed. “Is that so?”
“The way you are with Weaver, the way you give him a hard time and don’t take shit from him, constantly questioning his authority?”
“I wouldn’t say constantly—”
“I’m sure Weaver would,” Zoe said. “She would have you out of this station so fast your feet wouldn’t touch the ground. It’s her way or the highway.”
Kidd nodded, turning his attention back to DC Ravel. “And she didn’t mind you talking to one of her victims? She was okay with that?”
“She seemed glad to be rid of her,” Janya said. “I think the exact phrase she used was, ‘Good luck with that one.’”
“Charming,” Kidd said.
“The case is still open, apparently they’re following what leads they have, but she told me they don’t have much to go on.”
“You happy to look into it?” Kidd asked Janya. “Sanchez, do you mind going with her?”
Zoe got up from her desk. “Happy to,” she said.
“Campbell, you happy to keep checking in with those companies, checking the CCTV?” Kidd asked.
“No worries,” he replied. “I’m on a roll, boss.”
“I’ll go interview Victoria Moore,” Kidd said. “You got that address for me, Janya?”
She scribbled it down on a piece of paper before handing it to Kidd.
“You think Campbell will be okay holding down the fort?” Zoe asked as the three of them started out of the Incident Room.
Kidd suppressed a laugh. “I’m sure he’ll manage without us.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Victoria Moore’s house was a Toytown-looking red-brick house right next to the train line that ran through Hampton Wick. On the driveway was a small Ford Fiesta that looked like it was one accident away from being written off. Drawn on the brick driveway, you could just make out the remnants of
some childish chalk art, a couple of stick figures, and a stick figure dog that was half under the car.
When she answered the door, she had similar look about her as Rachel had. She looked like she maybe hadn’t had a good night sleep for a few days, likely a combination of having two young children coupled with the stress of everything that was happening with her friend. Her hair was a little wild, frizzy, all over the place, and she looked drained. Everything from her eyes to her shoulders looked like it was losing a battle with gravity and being dragged towards the ground.
“Thank you so much for coming,” she said as she ushered DI Kidd inside. “I’m sorry about all the mess, the kids have been…” A smile snaked its way across her face, a tired yet content smile. “The kids have been being kids,” she finished. “They’re taking a nap just now, so we shouldn’t be disturbed. Unless all hell breaks loose again. Fingers crossed.”
She led him through the house and towards the kitchen that was situated at the back. She really wasn’t joking about the mess. You could hardly move without trampling on a piece of clothing that had been left on the floor, or a toy that was in the way. Kidd was having to take special care that he didn’t end up breaking anything.
She offered him tea, something that Kidd practically jumped at the offer considering the tea at Rachel’s earlier hadn’t materialised. She cleared some space at the kitchen table, putting an ice cream tub full of coloured pens and a stack of colouring books on a vacant chair.
“Seeing as we didn’t manage to get a statement from you yesterday,” Kidd said. “I just wanted to get your recollection of events. It shouldn’t take all that long, it’s routine, so please don’t worry—”
“It’s hard not to,” she interrupted. “I’m sorry. I just…I feel a bit responsible, you know? Maggie was off with Elliott and Marcus. They knew they weren’t supposed to go beyond the bench, I told them before we left the house, I’m pretty sure everybody by the river heard me shout it at them two or three times because…” She sighed heavily. “You know what boys are like.” She looked at Kidd, waiting for confirmation. “Well, you’re a boy, you must know. They just want to do their own thing, independent little things. Can’t really get control over them at the best of times.”
