Missing Believed Dead

by Chris Longmuir

  ‘Tell me,’ he said. ‘Have you heard anything more from Jade?’

  ‘She came to me last night. I woke up and she was leaning over me. She told me not to worry about her, that she was safe, and I wasn’t to look for her. She would come to me when she was ready.’

  ‘You mean she was here?’

  ‘Yes.’ Diane smiled at him. ‘I always knew she would come back.’

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Jenny Cartwright crossed the room and stood in front of Sue’s desk. She fidgeted from foot to foot while Sue continued to talk on the phone to Inspector Hargreaves of the Manchester force. The younger woman’s agitation was eroding Sue’s concentration and she gestured for her to sit down, pointing at the phone as she did so.

  Sue scribbled on the pad in front of her. ‘Thank you, sir. I will ensure fingerprints and photographic evidence are sent in order for you to check this is the same John Gregson you’ve got on your radar, and it would be helpful if you could keep us informed of the progress of your enquiries.’ She replaced the phone in its cradle and looked up smiling. ‘Manchester police have been investigating a paedophile ring and John Gregson is one of the names they had on their list. We’re making progress.’

  Jenny shifted in her seat. Her eyes sparkled behind her spectacles. ‘I’ve been digging into the computer and I’ve found a snippet of chat between Gregson and Jade12. It was an arrangement to meet at the Overgate Centre, in Dundee, on Friday. It looks as if Jade12 is the person we’re looking for.’

  ‘Good work, Jenny.’

  ‘That’s not all. I traced the IP address and got onto the ISP responsible and,’ she waved a piece of paper under Sue’s nose, ‘I’ve got a name and address for the person posting as Jade12.’

  ‘How on earth did you manage that?’ Jenny was prone to use computer talk in her speech, but at least Sue knew what an ISP was. ‘I thought you needed a court order to pry names and addresses out of them,’ Sue said.

  Jenny’s face reddened. ‘I conned them into giving it to me. I said they’d be charged with aiding and abetting a murder if they didn’t. Did I do wrong?’

  ‘No, you did OK.’ Sue smiled at her. She stood up. ‘Anyone know when the DI will be back?’

  There was no response, apart from a few shakes of the head and shrugs of the shoulders.

  ‘OK, Jenny,’ Sue said. ‘You’d better write this up, you know what the DI is like for paperwork, and you don’t need to mention the conning bit, just say you acquired the name and address from the ISP.’

  Sue gathered up the files she’d been working on and locked them in the filing cabinet. This was an exciting development and it needed to be followed up, but she wasn’t sure how the DI would respond if she went out without consulting her. If Andy had still been in charge, there would have been no problem, he liked the team to act on their own initiative. But from what she had already seen, DI Rawlings liked things done by the book. She might not take kindly to Sue diving off and doing her own thing. However, it seemed fairly certain Jade12 was the person they were seeking, so if they had an address the only option was to raid it.

  Decision made, she lifted the phone. ‘I need officers for a raid,’ she said into the receiver. ‘At least six . . . well I suppose four will have to do. I’ll be downstairs immediately, have them ready.’ Clattering the phone down, she looked round the room. ‘Blair, Jenny, Sid. Grab your jackets.’

  ‘What’s up?’ Blair had one arm in the sleeve of his jacket and was struggling to find the other sleeve.

  ‘We’ve got an address for Jade, thanks to Jenny. We’ll need to bring the occupants in for questioning, and confiscate any computer equipment. I’ve acquired four uniforms to go out with us in case we run into trouble.’

  It didn’t take them long to get to the Derby Street multis. Two massive buildings, Butterburn Court and Bucklemaker Court, rising above the surrounding houses like sentinels watching over them. They drove into the parking area at the rear and tucked the vehicles, two cars and two police vans behind the entry ramp wall of Bucklemaker Court, which was high enough to mask them from view. Sue checked the address again, it was on the third floor. They wouldn’t have to go all the way to the top.

  Sue steadied her breathing. Raids always gave her an adrenalin rush and she was never sure if the buzz she got was out of fear or pleasure. Turning to Jenny, who was sitting beside her, she said, ‘Let the uniforms go in first and you follow on behind. Your job is to locate the computer equipment and instruct them what to take.’

  Jenny nodded. If anything, her eyes looked even bigger behind her spectacles and Sue wondered if she was anxious.

  ‘OK, let’s go.’ Sue got out of the car and strode to where the uniformed officers were gathered. ‘Everyone ready? The flat’s on the third floor, and we’ll try to gain entry before using the bull bar. It’ll save a lot of hassle if we don’t need it.’

  The constable carrying the bull bar shifted it from one shoulder to the other, and Sue couldn’t help noticing the look of disappointment on his face.

  They turned the corner and hurried up the concrete ramp to the back entrance of the building. Two elderly ladies, one with a zimmer frame, stopped in their slow progress down the ramp and looked at them with startled eyes. The officers streamed past them and Sue nodded to Blair, he was good with older people. He would reassure them.

  The entry hall was empty. Sue pinged the lift button and prayed they weren’t out of order. The wait seemed interminable but she could hear the groaning and clanking of the lift as it descended, and when the lift doors creaked open they all crammed in; four detectives, four constables and one bull bar. Luckily, when the Dundee multis were built they ensured the lifts were large enough to take a coffin, so eight living bodies was no problem.

  The third floor corridor had seen better days, grubby walls, graffiti, and a floor that hadn’t seen a brush for many years. The front door to the flat wasn’t any better, the original brown paintwork, dingy and peeling.

  Sue rang the bell and pounded on the door with the side of her fist. The detectives and constables stood at the ready at each side, and the constable with the bull bar gave the impression he was itching to use it.

  ‘Who is it?’

  ‘Police!’ Sue said. ‘Open up.’

  The sound of a key turned in the lock and the door opened a crack, obviously on a door chain.

  ‘You got identification?’

  Sue held her warrant card up to the opening, and gestured for one of the uniformed constables to step forward.

  ‘Wait a minute.’

  The door closed and opened again. ‘Can’t be too careful,’ the woman said. ‘There’s a lot of yobbos round here. What d’you want anyway?’

  ‘I think it would be better if we discussed this inside.’ Sue appraised the woman in front of her. She looked in her early thirties, dressed in jeans and a red sweatshirt, her hair short with red streaks through it. However, she was too tall and well built to be the person in the CCTV video.

  The woman nodded and held the door open.

  ‘Wait here,’ Sue instructed the constables. ‘Blair, Sid, Jenny, come with me.’ The four detectives entered the flat.

  ‘Who is it Bren?’ Another woman appeared at the inner door. She was of similar age, but had long fair hair that brushed her shoulders.

  ‘It’s the police.’

  ‘What do they want? And why are there so many of them?’ She had a cultured voice, out of keeping with where they were living.

  This was unlike any raid Sue had been on. The women seemed mystified as to why they were there, and they didn’t seem to be the type that would have had much dealings with the police in the past. But this was where Jade had been working from. They must know something.

  ‘We need you to help with our enquiries,’ Sue said in a formal voice. ‘You are Brenda Sinclair, I assume.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you are?’

  ‘Julie Baird.’

  ‘Ms Sinclair, your name
has been supplied to us by your ISP.’

  ‘What’s an ISP?’

  ‘Don’t be daft, Bren. They’re the ones who provide our broadband. I told you not to download those films.’

  A look of panic crossed Bren’s face. ‘I didn’t think I was doing any harm.’

  ‘Depending on the films, downloading them could be illegal, but that’s not why we’ve come.’ Sue felt as if she’d entered some parallel universe, they all seemed to be talking at cross purposes. ‘We’re here because Jade Carnegie has been contacting people from your IP address.’

  ‘Who is Jade Carnegie?’ Julie’s voice cut in. ‘Have you been seeing someone else, Bren?’

  ‘I don’t know any Jade Carnegie.’ Bren’s voice sounded desperate. ‘You know there’s no one else, Jules.’

  ‘Are you saying neither of you know Jade Carnegie, or someone claiming to be Jade Carnegie?’

  ‘I’ve never heard of her.’

  ‘Me neither.’

  Sue was feeling more uncertain than ever, mainly because neither of these two women matched the figure they’d all watched on CCTV, both of them were too tall. The person they were looking for was small and slim. ‘But you must know her because she’s been using your wireless connection.’

  ‘We’re the only ones here.’ Bren’s face had a look of confusion that seemed genuine.

  ‘And there’s no one else,’ Jules interjected. ‘The folk round here aren’t friendly.’

  ‘It’s possible their wireless connection has been compromised.’ Jenny’s voice cut into the discussion, ‘but I won’t be able to tell unless I have a look at their computers.’

  ‘Right.’ Sue turned back to the two women. ‘In order to eliminate you from our enquiries we’ll need to examine your computers. Now you can give us permission to take them, or we can go and get a court order. If we do the latter I’ll have to take you in for questioning until the court order comes through.’

  ‘How long before we get them back?’

  ‘That depends on what we find and whether they need to be kept as evidence.’

  ‘I don’t think we have an option, Bren. They’re going to take them anyway so better now than later.’

  ‘OK, the desktop is in the bedroom and the laptop’s on the kitchen table.’

  Sue opened the door and beckoned a policeman in. ‘Jenny, show him what to take and then you get the laptop.’

  ‘Remember, we need them back again.’ Bren’s voice echoed behind them as they left the flat.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Hammers pounded in May Fraser’s head. She sat up and groaned. Memories of the nightmares flooded back, and she swore.

  It was all the fault of that wee slag Megan. She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since she failed to come home on Saturday, and the bloody police weren’t doing anything about it. All they said was she’d gone walkabout before and she would come back when she was ready. But this time was different, she could feel it in her water. Besides, she was her mother, and a mother always knew.

  It was something to do with that perv along the landing. She’d seen the way he looked at Megan, and the silly wee slag had laughed, enjoying the attention. She knew, she just knew, he had something to do with it. Him with his sidelong looks, and the way he avoided her eyes. Maybe the wee slag was shacked up with him. She wouldn’t put it past her.

  Well, they weren’t going to get off with it, she’d go along right now and confront them, and if Megan wasn’t there she’d make him tell her where she was. Bloody perv should never have been housed beside decent folks anyway.

  She heaved herself out of the bed, struggled into the skirt she’d been wearing for the past month, pulled her tee shirt on, rammed her feet into a pair of fleecy slippers, and charged out of the flat. The wind on the landing whipped at her red hair, but it was already a tousled mess so it didn’t make much difference.

  The door to the perv’s flat hung open. May thumped on it but when she got no answer she walked in. The kitchen was a mess, a mountain of dirty dishes in the sink, more dishes and pots and pans cluttering every surface, rubbish spilling out of a waste bin. May tutted and turned her back on it. A faint sound of music filtered through the living room door. Without hesitation she gave it a shove. ‘Where’s my bloody Megan?’ she roared when it swung open.

  The music continued to play, but the body on the floor looked very dead.

  * * * *

  Kate threw her jacket over the back of her chair, stuffed her shoulder bag under the desk, and returned to the team room. She looked round at the empty desks and flickering computer screens, before walking over to Bill at the coffee machine.

  ‘Where is everybody?’

  Bill shrugged. ‘You know as much as I do. Want a coffee?’

  Kate peered at the brown liquid in Bill’s paper cup. ‘Think I’ll give it a pass.’

  She marched over to the whiteboard and studied it. ‘What did you make of Mrs Carnegie?’

  ‘She seemed calmer today. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or a bad one.’

  ‘Mmm, she seems convinced Jade has come back. D’you think it’s possible?’

  Bill shrugged. ‘It leaves a lot of unanswered questions if she has.’

  ‘I’m not sure Mrs Carnegie would have opened up as much if you hadn’t been present.’

  ‘Why would you think that?’ Bill wondered what Kate was thinking, but her face gave nothing away.

  ‘I don’t know, she seemed to relate to you.’

  ‘Maybe it’s because I was part of the original investigation, and I’m the one she’s had contact with about this question of Jade’s return.’

  ‘Mmm, whatever. It could prove useful though, provided you don’t get drawn in.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’ Bill resisted the urge to run his finger around his collar. He didn’t want Kate to know how much she had unsettled him.

  A waft of air signalled the door opening. Kate turned. ‘Ah, the wanderers have come back.’

  Sue dumped her bag on the desk and strode over to join them.

  ‘There’s been a development, ma’am. DC Cartwright acquired information about Jade’s contact with Gregson and she persuaded the ISP to give us a physical address for the contact. We went out to investigate and have confiscated the computers.’

  ‘You found Jade?’

  ‘No, ma’am. The occupants were obviously nothing like the person we’re looking for, but I think we should keep them on our radar. We’ll know more once Jenny has plumbed the depths of the computers.’

  * * * *

  The gold chain slid through Diane’s fingers onto the table. Without the bead, the chain was nothing, the policewoman should have taken it as well, but she hadn’t. Instead, she’d slipped Jade’s bead into a small polythene bag and left the chain behind.

  Emma burst through the door. ‘I saw the police driving off. What did they want?’

  ‘They should have taken the chain,’ Diane said.

  ‘What?’

  Diane looked up at the daughter who was not Jade, and could never take her sister’s place. ‘They took Jade’s bead but they left the chain.’

  ‘Why did they want the bead?’ Emma sank to her knees in front of Diane’s armchair and grasped her mother’s hand.

  ‘They said it was for evidence.’

  ‘Evidence of what?’

  ‘I don’t know, they just said evidence. Maybe they’ve got a lead on Jade. Maybe it’ll help them find her.’

  Emma’s grip on Diane’s hand, tightened. ‘I doubt it. They must have another reason but for the life of me I can’t think what.’

  ‘They will find her. I’m sure of it. Bill Murphy, he’s the sergeant, he promised me he would find her.’

  ‘That’s impossible. You must know in your heart Jade’s never coming back. How could she? She’s been gone too long.’

  ‘He said he would find her, and I trust him.’ Diane snatched her hand from Emma’s grasp. ‘I sometimes think you don’t want her to return
.’

  ‘What’s going on down here.’ Ryan appeared in the doorway. ‘I heard raised voices . . . ’

  ‘Nothing,’ Diane said. ‘Are you finished working on your computer?’

  ‘Yes, that’s Tony’s website finished. I just need him to approve it, before I upload it to the web. You working today, Mum?’

  Diane nodded.

  ‘I’ll drive you in after lunch.’

  Emma scrambled to her feet. ‘I’m off. I came home to collect a folder I forgot this morning.’ She ran upstairs and back down again with the folder in her hand, and left the house without a backward glance.

  Diane leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She must try to be nicer to Emma, now Jade was coming back.

  Chapter Thirty

  ‘You ready to go, Mum?’ Ryan adjusted the strap cutting into his shoulder. His laptop was a hefty one, a powerful beast built for work, unlike many of the flashier ones meant for play.

  Diane emerged from the kitchen. ‘I was cleaning the sink, can’t leave it in a mess.’

  Ryan smiled and kissed her on the cheek. ‘When was there ever a time you left anything in a mess? Let’s go.’ He opened the front door, escorted her down the path and helped her into the car.

  ‘You’re becoming quite the gentleman,’ Diane said.

  Ryan shrugged, got in the driving seat and drove off.

  The drive to the club was a silent one, and Ryan kept sneaking looks at his mother who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. Even her hands, normally active picking and twisting at anything she was wearing, were clasped loosely in her lap. She wasn’t herself and it worried him. Maybe she was planning to go off again, on her futile hunt for Jade.

  There was plenty of room in the car park behind Teasers, too early in the day for the punters to be fighting over spaces. But he noticed Tony’s flash BMW, and a couple of other cars, one of which he thought was Phil’s. A shiver crept down his spine. Phil had a strange effect on him, something about the man’s eyes, hypnotic and compelling. This strange attraction was combined, oddly enough, with repulsion, and he didn’t trust himself to stay away.