by GS Rhodes
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Sorry to do this again,” Craig said. “I know you’re at your sisters and I didn’t want to bother you, but I obviously don’t have a lot of stuff with me right now. You saw, I only had that duffel bag and I could do with washing some clothes.”
“You can use the machine, Craig, I don’t mind,” Kidd said, annoyed that he’d called, annoyed that he’d basically revealed to his sister that he was back. Kidd wasn’t about to lie to her. He knew Craig was just being courteous, he was a guest in Kidd’s house, after all. Years may have passed since he last lived there, and while the decor hadn’t changed, their situation definitely had. “There’s washing powder and fabric softener in the cupboard under the sink.”
“Aha!” Craig exclaimed.
Kidd sighed. “What?”
“Well, you always used to keep it in a different cupboard,” he said. “So while the outside appearance of the house hasn’t changed, some internals have.”
“You could say that, yeah,” Kidd said. “I shouldn’t be here for too much longer. You know how the machine works, don’t you?”
“I can google it,” Craig said.
“Right, good,” Kidd said. “Is there anything else you need from me in the meantime?”
“I need you to live your life to the fullest and maybe buy something other than the basics in your next food shop,” Craig said. “You’re earning a decent living and life’s too short not to have ice cream in the freezer.”
“Make a list,” Kidd said.
“You can sound as exasperated as you want, Benjamin Kidd,” Craig said. “But I’m about to change your life with this shopping list.”
The shopping list, Kidd thought. Sure, that’s the thing that’s going to change my life.
He hung up the phone and walked back into the dining room. Liz was at the table staring at him. She had refilled her wine glass and his. Greg had left the table, and Kidd could make out the sound of him filling up the sink in the kitchen to do some washing up.
“Greg doesn’t have to clear up, I’m happy to do it,” Kidd said.
“Nice try,” Liz said. “I think we might have something to talk about, don’t you?”
Kidd sat down, knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to argue his way out of this conversation. She wanted to know what was going on and maybe, just maybe, she would be able to help him figure it out in a way where no one got hurt.
He explained the situation to her, telling her the whole story of the past few months. How he’d been looking for Craig without really telling anybody apart from Zoe at work and how, when he had all but given up hope on it, Craig had shown up out of the blue and was yet to give an explanation as to where he’d been for the past two years or why he’d left.
“So he’s at your house right now?” she asked. Kidd nodded. “You know I’ve got half a mind to go over there and tear him to pieces for what he did to you.”
“I can handle myself, Liz.”
“Be that as it may, he hurt you, Ben,” she said. “I saw what it did to you when he vanished. I saw what it did to you when you had to go to the bastard’s funeral. And now he just shows up and hasn’t told you what the fuck is going on?”
“In fairness to him, I’ve not asked.”
“He doesn’t deserve any fairness right now, Ben, you have to know that,” Liz said, taking a long sip from her nearly empty wine glass. “Look, I know you care about him, and you probably always will, that’s just how life is sometimes, but if he’s in trouble and he wants to stay with you, then the least he can do is tell you what the fuck is going on. I know it’s an awkward conversation and you’re not going to want to ask, but you have to.”
“Liz—”
“If it scares him off again, it scares him off,” she interrupted. “But him showing up out of the blue and offering you nothing more than an apology, is not the way to do things.” She took a heavy breath. “I take it John has no idea.”
Kidd shook his head.
“I tried to tell him,” he said. “But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I have no idea what he’s going to say, how he’s going to react.”
“The longer you leave it, the worse it’s going to be,” she said. “And chances are, at this point, it’s going to be pretty bad. I know that’s not what you want to hear right now, but that’s the truth.” She took a moment for that to sink in. “You’re seeing John tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you have to tell him.” She said it like it was the simplest thing in the world, but Ben couldn’t help feeling like keeping it from John was the only thing that was keeping them together. Once he knew, he’d run for the hills, Ben was sure of it. “You’re being an idiot, by the way.”
“Oh, I’m very much aware,” he said with a laugh. He had to laugh. “I’m walking around fucking up my own life here.”
Liz sucked in a breath, apparently she wasn’t so sure.
“Look, you’ve not fucked anything up yet,” she said. “You’re just very much on the road to doing it. Just be honest. Tell him what’s going on. If you break up, it would suck, of course it would, but you owe him the truth.”
Kidd knew she was right. Truth be told, he knew that he should have told John from the start about Craig. But at what point in a relationship were you supposed to bring up the fact that you were still a little bit hung up on your ex that went missing two years ago?
Apparently, the moment they show up out of the blue was a little bit too late.
◆◆◆
Kidd finished up his evening with Liz and Greg. The food had been fantastic, the company even more so, and it was good to see that Liz and Greg were now back on track. Gone was the tension he had felt last time he’d visited and, though it was an assumption, gone was the mistress who seemed to be coming between them. It made Kidd happy that his sister’s life was clicking along nicely, even if his seemed to be falling apart at the seams.
He made his way home. It was definitely strange to see the lights on in his house before he was even there. He could see Craig’s silhouette through the curtains in the front room. It was a sight that he had seen many times before, but not one he had seen for two years. It was oddly familiar, and as surreal as it was warming.
I need to do the right thing, he thought. I need to tell John what’s going on. And I need to find out what on earth Craig has been up to.
As he got closer to the house, he could see that Craig was on his feet, pacing back and forth in the living room. He looked like he was on the phone. Kidd couldn’t help but wonder to who.
He unlocked the door and stepped inside, trying to stay as quiet as possible, not wanting to disturb him.
“Yeah, I know,” Craig’s voice was hushed. Maybe he’d heard him come in, maybe he didn’t want Kidd to hear whatever he was saying. “I’ve got to go. I’ll…talk to you soon. Bye.”
Kidd slammed the front door and shrugged off his jacket. Craig’s head appeared at the living room door.
“Hey you,” he said, a smile plastered across his face. Was it just Kidd, or did it look strained? “Wasn’t expecting you back so soon. Did you have a good night?”
“Eventful,” Kidd said. “But nice, yeah. Did you manage on your own?”
“Oh yeah,” Craig said. “Watched some TV, chilled out, you know.”
He didn’t know. He had no idea what Craig had gotten up to, or who he’d been talking to on the phone.
“Liz sent me home with leftovers,” he said. “If you’re hungry you can heat it up, then maybe we can do that food shop.” He handed the bag to Craig who practically skipped off to the kitchen. Kidd watched him go, unable to shake the feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
After they had done an online food shop so that Craig could feel a little more comfortable eating Kidd out of house and home, he left him to the rest of his night. As much as he wanted to pry into exactly what it was that had brought Craig bac
k, he needed his rest. He needed his focus to be on the case, at least for the time being.
When he made his way into the office the following day, Kidd felt like he’d been renewed. The exhaustion of the previous day had all but gone and he was ready to tackle the rest of the case. The police tape was still up on the other side of the river, But the forensics team were no longer there, having collected everything that they could from the site. Now, his team would have to wait to see if anything came up.
Once the rest of the team arrived, Kidd put them to work. They needed to get in touch with Peter West today. They hadn’t managed to reach him yesterday so Kidd had already decided that another surprise visit was in order. If he wasn’t there, they would wait. They needed to speak with him, even if it was just to take him off their list of suspects. Kidd had a feeling that he wasn’t their man. He couldn’t place it, but it all felt a little bit too easy.
As for Daniel Walters, Campbell had put in a call to him at his office that morning asking if he could come down to the station to answer a few routine questions. Like Weaver had suggested, they didn’t want to go in there all guns blazing and spook him. They wanted to get to the bottom of where he was and who his mistress is. Something told Kidd that she might be significant. Or at the very least, she could help clear Daniel’s name.
He was about to head on his way to see Peter when the door to the Incident Room was practically thrown off its hinges. DCI Weaver barged in, his face red, his suit screaming, everything about him was on edge.
“We’ve found a coat,” Weaver barked, a little out of breath. Apparently he had just run all the way from his office. “Maggie Walter’s coat.”
“What?” Kidd said.
“It washed up along the river, a little further downstream,” Weaver said. “Forensics is already down there taking a look at it. Someone called it in, in response to the appeal.”
They’d managed to find something. Kidd hadn’t anticipated much coming through, but the coat was a start, maybe it would give them a location, maybe it…he sat up a little straighter as it dawned on him that it was found in the river. He needed more.
“Where?”
“It wasn’t anywhere near the site where she was taken.” Weaver seemed confused. Kidd was too. “It was found all tangled up in one of the barges along the river, but on this side of the water, not on Barge Walk.”
“You think she might have been dragged down the river?” he asked. Maybe it wasn’t a kidnapping after all. They’d been chasing all around town to find the girl but maybe they should have been looking for a body instead.
“It’s possible,” Weaver said. “It doesn’t…I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to quite add up to me. The PC who went to check it out said that coat didn’t look like it had been water damaged or anything like that, it was just…there.”
“A plant?” Kidd asked. “You think whoever did it tried to get rid of the coat to make us think she drowned?” It seemed like a lot of effort to go to, but the kind of thing someone would do to throw the police off the scent. “I need to know where exactly it was.”
“Near South Lane,” Weaver said. “Just opposite, in fact.”
Kidd looked to Zoe. He could feel the colour draining from his face. That was near Peter West’s house. Kidd couldn’t help but feel like he’d fucked up.
◆◆◆
After Kidd filled Weaver in, the DCI secured a warrant and arranged for armed response to meet them at West’s house. Kidd cursed himself with every minute that passed. How could he have been so stupid?
Kidd filled Weaver in as they walked out of the station. The Dog Support Unit had already gotten Maggie’s scent and were using it to try and sniff her out along that side of the river, but Kidd had other ideas. He wanted to get into that house. He should have done it yesterday, should have smashed the door down and gone in. What if Maggie was in there? What if Brody was there too? What if he’d been right there, stood at the window to that basement and he had done nothing?
It didn’t bear thinking about. He just needed answers and there was only one way he was going to get them.
“I thought you went to speak to Peter yesterday,” Weaver growled. “Should we not have done this already?”
There were officers on their way to the property now. This wasn’t how Kidd thought he was going to be starting his morning, but he’d had a feeling about today. Maybe things were about to start moving.
“I did,,” Kidd said. “He wasn’t there and we couldn’t get hold of him and now…” Kidd trailed off. “This was the property he was living in when he’d had the kids in that basement and we had no bloody idea.”
It had felt too easy when Weaver had told him that Peter West was out of prison. It had felt like it was too simple, but what if that had been the answer all along? Why hadn’t he gone back to the house later in the day, after no one answered the first time? Why hadn’t he followed it up?
He cursed himself. If something had happened to those children because he was too slow to react, Kidd didn’t know if he would be able to forgive himself.
“If he’s doing it again, then this will be a slam dunk,” Weaver said. “I just hope you’re right.”
They reached the property. Kidd turned his attention to the river, to where Maggie’s coat had been found. He marvelled at how easy it would have been for Peter to walk out of his front door in the middle of the night and dump that coat in the water. He probably hoped it would float away, probably hoped nothing would come of it and nobody would come around asking him questions.
Peter West’s luck had perhaps just run out.
There was police tape put up around the house, police cars blocking each end of the road. There were people at their curtains, another few coming to their doorsteps only to be told by uniformed officers that they needed to go back inside, that there was nothing to see here.
There was everything to see here, but they almost certainly wouldn’t want to see it.
Kidd watched as two of the ARU officers slammed a battering ram into the door. Once. Twice. Three times. The wood splintering, cracking, breaking off its hinges, collapsing in on itself under the weight of its age coupled with force.
“POLICE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!” one of the officers barked as they charged inside. He could hear them thumping up the stairs, going in and out of each of the rooms.
They won’t be upstairs, Kidd thought. He knew exactly where they would be, and he wasn’t about to let them waste any more time.
Without a word to DCI Weaver, Kidd started towards the house, his blood pumping in his ears. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Weaver calling his name, telling him to come back, but Kidd was a man on a mission. He needed to see it for himself.
“Property is empty, sir,” an officer said as he walked inside. He was taller than Kidd, his shoulders broader, his gun across his chest. “We’ve checked all the upstairs rooms.”
“What about the basement?” Kidd growled.
Confusion flashed across the officer’s face. “Sir?”
“Basement,” Kidd said. He walked over to the door that lead to the cupboard under the stairs, practically yanking it off its hinges. The smell that flew out from there was acrid. Kidd’s arm flew to his face to cover it. He started coughing. It was stale. It was old. It didn’t fill him with much hope.
The armed officers hurried down ahead of him, guns raised, torches shining into the dark. Kidd followed them down, his heart sinking as he reached the bottom of the stairs. The light was limited, just a couple of windows that looked out onto the street.
There were two chairs in the middle of the room, a couple of tables and some old belongings positioned around the outside. It didn’t look like anybody had been there for a while. The hope flew out of Kidd’s chest as quickly as it had come.
“I want a forensics team down here now,” Kidd barked. “If anyone has been here, I want to know about it.”
He walked back out onto the street to see Weaver still fuming on the pav
ement, DS Sanchez at his side. Registering the disappointment on Kidd’s face, Weaver turned on his heel and made his way back to the station. A crowd had gathered along the street, something that Weaver definitely wouldn’t be pleased about. He would be hearing about this later, Ben was sure of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Kidd headed back to the station, getting Campbell and Janya to work on looking at the CCTV of the area. While the kids might not have been down in that basement, he wanted to know if Peter West had been in the area. He needed to know for his own sanity.
There was a strange sort of hush in the office before Kidd left. They knew that he was on edge, they could sense it. Kidd hated that he hadn’t followed up on the West angle yesterday. If anything happened to those children… It didn’t bear thinking about.
“You coming?” he asked Sanchez.
“I’ll drive,” she said. “No chance I’m letting you behind the wheel like this.”
Kidd jumped in a car as quickly as he could and they started on their way over to Richmond. Daniel Walters would be at the station in the later part of the morning, but he would have to wait. They needed to track down Peter West and they needed to track him down now.
He should have looked yesterday. If he’d have spoken to him then, there was a chance, however slim, that this would already be over. But now it had been more than a day and a half since Maggie had gone missing and the longer someone was missing, the more likely it was you were looking for a body.
“We should have gone with my gut,” Kidd said as Zoe floored it over Kingston Bridge. “I should have knocked that bloody door down.”
“You didn’t know if it was the right call,” she replied. “Look, you did what you thought was the right thing at the time. Peter West seemed too bloody obvious.”
“But maybe the most obvious choice was the right one,” he growled. “Now look at us, we’re playing catch up. If he’s gotten rid of the coat—”
“She wasn’t there, Kidd,” Zoe cut in. “No one had been in that house in ages. It was empty.”
