Dan sighed. It was a repeat of when Anita went missing the previous week. The whole area was searched and they even dragged the river, although the current would have taken her downriver.
“Can we see the mother?”
“Yes. I’ll give you the address.”
“Come on then, Grant, let’s go.”
Adam’s mother was naturally upset. Grant stayed in the car at Dan’s request and Coombs went with her boss. Dan was gentle with Mrs Monk, who was a divorcee. She tearfully told him how Adam went off to school happily as he usually did.
“And he didn’t show any signs of being distressed or anything? Anything you can remember, however insignificant, may well be helpful.”
“We-ll, now I come to think of it, he did say one day that he thought someone was watching him.”
“Really? When was that?”
“Um…two days ago, I think. Wednesday. Yes, that’s right, it was Wednesday. I told him not to be so silly. I wish I’d taken more notice of him now, he wasn’t a boy given to making up things. He’s a good lad.” She started to cry again and she groped for the box of tissues on a table near her. In her jeans and jumper, with her slight figure and dark, curly hair, she looked too young to be the mother of a fourteen-year-old.
“Well, I think that’s all, Mrs Monk. We have a photo of your son. Please rest assured that we will do everything possible to find him.”
She managed a tremulous slight smile and nodded. “Thank you.”
**********
Dan frowned at the three photos on the board, thoughtfully. He turned to his companions, DS Grant and DC Coombs, and PC Johnson, who was excited at being part of the investigation.
“Right. Let’s brainstorm. What are your thoughts about these three young people and their disappearances?”
“Well, Sir…,” began Coombs hesitantly.
“Yes?”
“I know it sounds silly, Sir, but they are all pretty. If you take the glasses off the boy, he’s pretty.”
Johnson gave a slight snigger and then reddened as Dan frowned at him.
Good thought. I’m not sure if that would be a factor although it may be. Write it up there, C oombs.”
“They are all children from one-parent families,” said Grant. Dan nodded to Coombs, who wrote that too in her neat hand.
“Of similar age,” said Johnson, wanting to redeem himself after his earlier gaffe.
“Yes, there are only months between them. Put it up, Julie.”
There was silence as they all gazed at the board.
“Not much to go on really,” commented Grant.
“Well,” mused Julie Coombs, “Obviously, kidnap for ransom can’t be the motive because none of these families are well off.”
“Do you think these youngsters were picked at random because they happened to be in a place where they could be taken?”
Grant shook his head. “Not where the prostitute’s daughter is concerned. That was a deliberate act, planned and carried out.”
“Don’t forget Adam’s mum said he told her he thought someone was watching him,” said Coombs.
Dan looked at her approvingly. She was learning to reason; that was good.
“So,” he said. “we know Gloria was deliberately kidnapped, which means someone had been watching Ruby and her daughter and they knew Ruby is often out all night, giving them plenty of time to do their work. It also seems that someone was staking out Adam Monk from what he said. They must have known he was walking alone, although how I can’t begin to guess, when his friend could have been with him at any time. We have no way of knowing if they were also watching Anita but it’s likely. She always walked her dog at the same time every day to help her mother who works full time. So, what can we conclude from that?”
“Given that the last two happened so close together, it’s likely we’re looking at a gang rather than one or two people,” said Coombs, thoughtfully.
“Good, yes! Unfortunately, it does seem to be a gang, which makes it more difficult because they could strike anywhere at any time and at distance to each other. It makes it impossible to pre-empt their next move. There must be hundreds of one-parent families with a single child all over the county.”
“Which bring us back to the ‘why’,” growled Grant. “And the ‘where?’ Where have they been taken?”
“Going back to how they look – and I hardly dare think about this – could they have been taken for – um, you know, young prostitutes?” Coombs cringed as if hardly daring to voice her thoughts.
The three men looked at her and her face turned red again. She hung her head. “Take no notice. Silly thought.”
Dan frowned. “No, Julie, not a silly thought at all. In fact, it’s something that’s been running around in my mind since your earlier remark about how pretty they are, even Adam. I hate to say it, but we all know there’s a certain type of person who would love to get their hands on a pretty young boy, especially an innocent one. Given that no bodies have turned up – and believe me, the tracker dogs would find them, that, to me, is the only possible solution. I know we’ve always had our share of doubtful nightlife but, to my knowledge there’s never been anything like this here.”
“Do you think it’s anything to do with the new gang of pushers that seem to have arrived on our streets?” Grant said.
“It could well be. In fact, that might even be a kind of cover to lead up to this, their real motive.”
“Horrible. Poor kids,” shuddered Julie Coombs.
“Horrible indeed,” remarked Dan. “I would imagine they are being held somewhere in the county, unless they have already been taken to London or somewhere else. For the time being, they should be okay but they’ll be in for a shock when they find out why they’ve been taken. Right. Grant, I want you to take Johnson in plain clothes and get out into the streets of the city, see what you can find out. But, try not to give rise to suspicion and above all, don’t do anything if you see something they don’t want us to know about. Coombs, you come with me. We’re going to see Anita’s mother and then we’ll call upon Ruby again. We have to find those kids before anything nasty happens to them.”
**********
Ruby was reticent at first to tell them where and who she’d been with that night. She was still smarting from the way she’d been treated by the staff of Grafton Bank when she’d walked out of the room and down to the foyer. The starchy, stuck-ups! Eventually, she told Dan about Peter Edwards and the wonderful night she’d had. She produced the note he’d left her.
‘Dear Ruby, thank you for a wonderful night. Treat yourself to something nice. Peter’
“’E was gone when I woke up. ‘E did say he’d got to get off early, like, and I did sort of oversleep. But I were sorry, ‘cos ‘e were that nice. I’ve never bin treated so good, ‘e made me feel like a lady.”
Dan refrained from comment on that. “May I keep this note? We may be able to find him through this.”
“Yeah. Here, do ya think ‘e did it a-purpose, like? To keep me outa the way so as they could take my girl?”
“I’m afraid it looks that way, Ruby,” replied Dan gently.
She cried. “I’m so stupid. Gloria don’ deserve to ‘ave a mother like me.”
Angela rose to comfort her charge while Dan and Julie let themselves out.
Chapter 24
George and the family soon settled down in the new house. Rowena loved that she could walk to school with her friends in a few minutes. Harry was able to catch a bus to the city from almost outside the house, so he took himself to the hospital every day. He was doing well. At first, the walk from the bus station to the hospital was a challenge, although it was only close behind the bus station. By mid-March, he was walking better, with only the aid of a couple of sticks rather than crutches. Netta had found herself a part-time job, working in the large supermarket a short distance away and George was happy working at the nursery. He was considering buying a moped or a motor-bike to go to work on. Things se
emed to be looking up for the family.
Three more youngsters had disappeared, two girls and another boy. George looked at the news report about it on the television. Mary Brooke, aged fourteen, was taken from Ross-on-Wye, Sarah Randle, thirteen from Kington and Mark Hunt, who was only twelve, from Weobley. Their pictures were shown in a group of six on the screen.
“Terrible,” remarked Netta. “Whatever is going on? They are so pretty, all of them, even the boys – and that Mark is only twelve too! Their parents must be going spare, poor things.”
“Listen!”
‘Detective Inspector Dan Cooke, of West Mercia Police, Hereford, has made an appeal.’
‘These six young people have all gone missing within a period of two weeks. The police are doing all we can but we are appealing for witnesses to come forward. If you think back over those days and nights and can remember anything at all, however insignificant, please talk with us. We are very concerned for the safety of these young people and we need you to help us. No bodies have been found, so we have reason to believe they are being held somewhere, either in the county of Hereford, or elsewhere. If you have any suspicions, please talk with your local police. Although we don’t want to panic you, we also appeal to parents of all young people of a similar age, especially if you are a one-parent family, to please be especially vigilant at this worrying time. Thank you.’
“That’s Linda’s husband,” said Harry. “I know she’s been worried about him because he’s working practically round the clock, although she wouldn’t tell me what it was. It must be bad indeed if he’s put out a warning.”
“Oh, we must keep an eye on Rowena!” said Netta, her eyes darting to where their daughter was sitting sideways in a chair, her legs over the arm, eyes closed, listening to music through her earphones.
“I don’t think we need to worry. She walks to school with a crowd of friends, otherwise she’s either here or with friends at their home. In any case, all those children are from one-parent families.”
“No, they’re not! That last girl, Sarah something, has two parents and a younger sibling.”
“But the father is away somewhere with the SAS.”
“Ah! But anyway, it’s awful.”
“I agree,” said George, quietly. As the music for the end of the news came on and Netta rose to make hot chocolate, he thought how these terrible kidnappings reminded him of another time and another place…
**********
Gloria put her arm around the sobbing little boy. Mark had joined the group two days ago. He was younger than the rest of them and obviously was not dealing with his situation very well. Adam was the eldest of the group but he spent his days sitting in a corner, silent and morose.
“Why are we here? What are they going to do with us?” Mark sobbed, taking in great gulps of air as he fought to control his emotions.
“I don’t know. I don’t know where we are and I don’t know why they’ve taken us, I wish I did know.”
Actually, Gloria had an idea why, but she wasn’t about to tell the others. She was a sensible and resourceful girl; she’d had to be with a mother like Ruby. Although she didn’t know what she could do to help them out of their situation. They were in a large room, what she imagined a dormitory in a boarding school to be like, with four beds along one wall with a bedside cabinet in between each one and the same on the opposite side. The windows were boarded up, except for at the very top of each one to let in light. She knew it was an upstairs room because she could hear movement below them.
When she had first arrived, she’d found Anita already here, alone and frightened. She couldn’t believe there were now six of them. She had more or less become the leader, the comforter, the one that tried to keep up their spirits. She had to admit, they were well looked after, provided with clean clothes and the food was good too. A shelf at the far end of the room had books and games, and there were a couple of tables and eight chairs where they could play or eat. The only difficult bit was the bathroom facilities as there was only one with sinks and four toilet cubicles. So the boys and girls took turns. Towels and night clothes and everything had been provided for them to live in relative comfort. They all thought it was strange but there was nothing they could do about it. Gloria wondered about the other two beds – did that mean there were going to be two more coming?
Two women brought their meals. They wore identical masks that looked like women’s faces so they couldn’t tell what they actually looked like. They were always accompanied by two burly men wearing balaclavas and carrying guns to make sure the youngsters didn’t try anything. The women didn’t speak, they just brought the food and left, one of the men locking the door behind them.
“Why don’t they speak to us?” Mary paced around the room. “We’re just left here, day after day and they’re not telling us anything.”
“I guess they don’t want us to hear their voices, afraid we might be able to identify them somehow.”
“You – you don’t think it’s anyone we know?” Mary was wide-eyed at the thought.
“Don’t be silly!” Adam spoke from his corner, making them turn to look at him. “How could they be people we know? We all come from different places, we attend different schools and we don’t know each other. We don’t even have friends who know each other. We were just easy to take, that’s all.” He raised his book in front of his face, effectively shutting them out.
“Anyone fancy a game of Cluedo?” Gloria held up the box.
“Might as well, I suppose. Better than doing nothing,” agreed Anita. Gloria set the box on a table and the five of them gathered their chairs around and set out the game.
“Want to play, Adam?”
Adam looked up from his book. “Only if I can be Colonel Mustard.”
“Okay. Come on then.”
They brought another chair in for Adam and the six of them were soon involved in trying to find out who committed murder with what weapon in which room.
**********
George wasn’t the only one to have his thoughts cast back to the past by the news item. Stephanie felt her blood run cold as she listened to DI Cooke’s appeal while she was getting ready to go down to the restaurant kitchen. It seemed that this year her past was fast catching up with her and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Chapter 25
The Tuesday after the police appeal had been made, George was working in the potting shed. He’d only been at work for a couple of hours when Sheila came to the shed.
“Oh George! I’m glad I’ve found you! You need to go home right away. Apparently Netta’s not well or had an accident or something. A neighbour of yours called, he didn’t give his name and didn’t seem sure about what’s actually happened. He said his wife gave him our number and told him to leave a message for you to come home.”
What could have happened?
As George dithered about what to do, Sheila said, “Go on, lad! Your wife needs you. I’ll square it with Kenny, he’ll be fine. Get gone, now.”
George left, feeling in his pocket for his car keys as he went. He had his fleecy jacket on because it wasn’t terribly warm in the potting sheds. As he drove, he searched his mind for what could have happened to Netta. He finally concluded she must have had a fall, for she had seemed well that morning. An illness doesn’t come on that quickly – unless it was a heart attack or stroke. That thought alarmed him even more and he put his foot down further on the accelerator.
The ten minutes that it took to get home seemed more like an hour to George. Surely another member of his family hasn’t had an accident, not after what had happened to Harry?
He pulled into the drive, and, slamming the car door, ran into the house, calling “Netta! Netta, where are you?”
He went into the kitchen first and looked out to the back garden. There was no sign of her and no answer. He flew up the stairs and went from room to room calling her. Perhaps she’d been taken to the hospital already? He went down and into the sitting-room
and stopped short.
“Luke! What are you doing here? Where’s Netta? I had a message that she needed me to come home.”
“Just a little ploy to get you here, Jimmy. Don’t worry, Netta’s at work. It’s Tuesday, lad. She always works on Tuesdays.”
George felt a moment of relief – Netta was okay. But what did his step-brother want? George had gone to great lengths to get away from his him and had not seen him for – well- since that time.
“So, what do you want, Luke? I should be at work.”
“Isn’t it enough that I wanted to see my little brother?” The calm voice answered. “Why don’t you sit down, take the weight off?”
George sat, glad of it, for his legs were turning a bit wobbly. He had a bad feeling about this.
“You haven’t bothered with me for years, Luke. What do you want?” George asked for the third time.
“Well, I haven’t needed to, have I? I thought you may as well be left in peace. Weren’t doing too well, though, were you?”
George felt a little shiver run up his spine.
“You know what I’ve been doing, where we’ve been living?”
“Oh yes, Jimmy. I’ve known for a good while. No one disappears from Lucian Avery, unless I order the disappearance.” The darkly handsome face gave George a sardonic smile. George’s shivers ran up his spine again. He was only too well aware of how people disappeared from Lucian’s sight. Their bodies were sometimes never found. He was suddenly very grateful for the fourteen years he’d been allowed to live his life free of this man.
“Of course, you weren’t very clever really, going back to your proper first name and taking your mother’s maiden name. No, not clever at all. I found you easily. And of course, you were brought to my mind again when your lad had his accident.”
Fear Has Long Fingers Page 11
