Missing

by Charlie Gallagher

  ‘I don’t mind at all. I’m sure you won’t mind me ignoring you?’

  ‘Everyone else has.’ Whittaker gestured at a vacant seat for George. ‘I’m very sorry, Emily, you’ll have to drag a chair in from outside.’

  ‘I’ll stand.’ Ryker said.

  ‘You two know each other then?’ George said. ‘That saves the formal introductions.’

  ‘Yes of course. Emily put some intel packages together for me in a past life.’

  ‘Excellent. So, it’s been a busy weekend, sir. Not the sort of weekend I’d want to be running Major Crime.’

  ‘Feast or famine this lark, George, just like I remember from the front line. Of course, I was a much younger man the last time I was stood on it. Suddenly I’m the SIO for a murder with no body, a kidnap with returned victims who are suddenly mute, a dead man quite probably linked and we’ve just had a high-risk witness snatched from police custody. As far as shit storms go, this is a particularly stinky one. Are you okay, Emily? I know you were caught up in all that business?’

  ‘Fine, sir. I’m just sorry it happened.’

  Whittaker waved away her apology. ‘As long as you’re okay. We’ll sort it out. We’ll sort everything out.’

  ‘You’ll get a handle on it, sir,’ George said. ‘And from the amount of people just outside your door you’ve got enough to delegate some of the smelly stuff out to.’

  ‘The buck will stop in this office, though, friend. And the more people you have working for you, the more stupid questions you get asked and the more people you need to think for. I can’t say I remember trained detectives being quite so needy, George.’

  ‘I think it’s a culture thing, sir. This job is all about audit trails and arse covering these days. If they only do what they’re told to do, it’s not their fault if it’s wrong.’

  Whittaker rubbed at his tired looking eyes. ‘I think you might have hit the nail there, George.’

  ‘I can help, sir. I know you weren’t keen on me taking bits on for you but the offer’s still there. I can even think for myself.’

  Whittaker shook his head vigorously. ‘I know you’ve offered. From up high, though, George . . . I didn’t realise just how much you’d pissed those people off, my friend. You know I would have you front line, stood beside me while this thing plays out, but I’ve been given a very severe word at the mere mention of your name. I can’t have you involved. I have to say I’m a little envious to be honest. I was hoping someone would say they didn’t want me involved either so that I could go home!’ Whittaker’s nervous laughter lacked its usual enthusiasm. George could tell that he felt awkward about the situation. He let him off the hook.

  ‘I understand. It’s better that I stay away then, sir. The last thing you need is to be spending any time or energy on me. You have a lot on, we’ll leave you to it.’ George stood back up. ‘Unless you needed anything from Ryker here?’

  ‘Not at this moment, but I know where you both are. Thanks, George. We’ll catch up though, when this all calms down and my coffee machine finally arrives from headquarters. Come and talk to me. I’m serious about supporting you for the next rank up.’

  George pursed his lips. ‘Sounds like you’ve just experienced first-hand how likely I am to be considered for promotion.’

  ‘It would definitely piss some people off, George. Some very senior people. But if you’re supported and you meet the criteria no one can block you. The fact that it pisses people off is all the more reason to get it done, right?’

  ‘We’ll see, sir. Well, the offer stands if you need us for anything.’

  George left the office quickly, his pace fuelled by his frustration. He heard Ryker calling out when they got clear of the incident room. He waited until they were in the lift before acknowledging her.

  ‘We’re not telling him what we know, then?’ Ryker breathed a little with the exertion.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Because you’re pissed off that he doesn’t want you involved?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It seems like it to me. I know you’ve got this male pride thing going on, but there’s a bigger picture here, George. The information we have would progress their investigation massively. Maybe even to the point where an incident room of that size will find Shaun’s little boy alive and well.’

  ‘You heard what he said in there. He has a room full of detectives who are terrified of making their own decisions, of using their own initiative. If I tell Whittaker what we know he will be pissed that I didn’t listen to him, that I didn’t step away — and that I kept the information from him in the first place. Then he will make damned sure that I don’t do it again and my day is over. The task of finding Shaun and his family then falls to a room full of people too scared to do what it takes to get the job done.’

  ‘This again!’ Ryker’s exasperation was clear.

  ‘Yes, this again.’

  ‘This belief that you are the only person who can get things done, that everyone is else incapable of—’

  ‘Not incapable, Ryker. There are a lot of good coppers in there. But they’re all choked. They’re all on a leash. They’re all terrified of losing their jobs, of being prosecuted by their own employer.’

  ‘I wonder if we are ever going to be able to get you back, George. I know what you’ve been through. I know it’s changed your outlook. You’re a different bloke. It’s like you’ve lost all faith in everyone. But maybe you’re wrong, George.’

  ‘An incident like this, where you’re against the clock isn’t about being wrong or right. It’s about getting things done. Major Crime got sent to speak to Bobby Leonard’s family and they walked away with nothing. We don’t have time to play by the rules.’

  ‘Major Crime don’t even know they’re against a clock until we tell them. And get over yourself! You were first on scene when she gets a brick through her window, George. Of course she was going to be a little more receptive to talking to the police once she realised there might still be a threat to her and . . .’

  The lift bonged impatiently, the doors opened and George stepped out, waiting for Ryker to continue. Her voice was hushed suddenly.

  ‘You threw that brick, didn’t you?’

  ‘I needed her to talk to me. We don’t have time to play games.’

  ‘So you put a brick through her window?’

  ‘What would you prefer? I play by the rules and knock on her door? Get told to fuck off like everyone else did?’

  ‘I don’t know. We don’t know what we’re up against. Shit, George! You throw a rock and marked police cars turned up to that house. We don’t know what that might mean.’

  ‘Well, all the more reason to do what we need to do to find out.’

  ‘You’re going to get yourself in the sort of trouble you can’t get out of one day, George. You know that, right?’

  ‘You’re probably right, Ryker. Lord knows I’ve given it a good go.’

  Ryker sighed and he felt that she was stepping down from her offensive.

  ‘You can’t go round doing stuff like that. Even you, George. You’re a good detective, you don’t have to step over the line to get results.’

  ‘Yes I do. We all do. I am a good detective, and when you get a good detective to a point where he doesn’t give a shit anymore, that’s when you can become a great detective. I just want to find Shaun’s family. Not for him, for them, because they don’t deserve any of this. Protecting the innocent, that’s what we do, right?’

  ‘From bricks through the window, from being terrified in their own home.’

  ‘You think Bobby Leonard is innocent in all this? And his wife? Do you think they play by a set of rules? The Leonards took money to get to Shaun. Whether they knew it would go the way it did or not, they took part. And Damon Alcott? He’s a piece of shit and I’ll lie to him every day about having a search team ready to do a bust if it means he tells me what I need to know. To protect the innocent. That’s all I’m here for now. One day I will step over
the line and Lennokshire Police will gladly get rid of me. It’s all fucked, Ryker. Nothing has more rules and regulations than policing, and yet our very function is to pursue those who play by none, and for their own gain. Fuck ’em. Sometimes we have to even it up a little or we will never win.’

  Ryker smiled. ‘You feel better now?’

  ‘No. I’ll feel better when we win.’

  Ryker shrugged. ‘So how do we do that? We’re at a bit of a dead end all of a sudden.’

  ‘Yeah. We need to be out of here so we can work out what we know and where the gaps are. Then we can start filling them.’

  Ryker smiled. ‘Fine. But I’m choosing the place and you’re not allowed to throw anything at it.’

  He grinned back. ‘No promises.’

  Chapter 21

  Follies was a French themed café, which meant the coffee was strong and the atmosphere hushed and personal. George and Ryker occupied a table upstairs in front of a large window overlooking a busy road at the top of town. George tried Shaun’s mobile number for the umpteenth time, despite knowing it was useless. He slid his phone over the table top in response to the standard engaged tone.

  ‘So, what do we know?’ Ryker said.

  He watched the cars bustle past through the window for a few seconds. Then he summarised as best he could. He tried to keep it chronological while Ryker made some scribbled notes. There was a silence when he finished that Ryker was the first to puncture.

  ‘So the address that Damon gave us. That’s the next obvious move, right?’

  He shook his head. ‘It’s a viable address and it’ll be a drug den no doubt, but I’m not sure it will get us any closer to our missing people. Damon might even have given us something that would slow us down. I don’t think he would be offering anything that would help, assuming he even could. Without resources, we can’t go knocking on the door anyway.’

  ‘So we wait for Shaun to reappear? We have to assume he’s back in touch with these people by now.’

  ‘He must be, yeah. But Shaun’s wife stands out for me. When I think about what we know and the vast amount we don’t, that’s what I would focus on. These people have got to know as much as they could about Shaun. It’s fair to assume they would have spent as much time on his ex-wife and her movements too.’

  ‘There’s not too much we can do, though, is there? What can you get from looking at the outside of an empty house?’

  ‘We don’t know it’s empty. I assume she lives alone now but we don’t know that. For all we know she’s a prisoner in her own home. But stuff like if there’s a car on the drive, what her neighbours know. Basic investigation stuff, Ryker, you never know your luck.’

  ‘Well, thanks for patronising me at least.’

  ‘Sorry, I forget you’re one of the good ones!’

  ‘Well, at least you accept that they exist. That’s the sort of thing that could be done for us by someone in that incident room, though. Maybe we should have told them what we know. I’m not sure if looking up the movements of the victim’s car is going to get us much further. We need to find Shaun. Is it not better to make him our priority?’

  ‘Shaun isn’t behaving rationally. We don’t stand much chance of finding someone like that, but we can find where this Carol lives. Then a little more about her maybe and who knows where that leads. Shaun will turn up.’

  ‘What about Shaun’s girlfriend down at the port? Is it not worth talking to her?’

  ‘She has to be on the list. But she doesn’t know what’s going on and we don’t know if Shaun’s going to need her to help him again. I don’t want to do anything to put his family at risk unless we really have to. I didn’t get the impression from Shaun that he trusted her to do the right thing with this information. And if he doesn’t, we sure as hell can’t.’

  ‘What about warning her? These people are snatching those that are close to Shaun. Surely she’s at risk?’

  ‘It’s a valid point. Okay, maybe we could talk to her and see if there’s anything we can get without letting on why.’

  ‘That won’t be easy.’

  ‘I agree. We’ll need to be a little creative.’

  Ryker twitched, her right hand moved to her jeans pocket and she pulled out her phone to inspect the screen. She looked puzzled. George sipped at his drink while Ryker took the call. It was short and she said very little.

  ‘That was the control room. My silent marker on Shaun’s car? It’s just pinged at the port — inbound.’

  ‘The Vectra?’

  ‘Yeah. Seems we might need to go see the girlfriend rather more urgently.’

  ‘Seems that way. I’ll head down there and see if I can find him.’ George stood and led the way to the stairs.

  ‘You don’t want me to come with you?’

  ‘No. I’m going to have to get a move on to get there, Ryker, I don’t like driving like that with someone else in the car. And I think one of us needs to do the enquiries around his wife sooner rather than later. Can you find out where she lives do you think?’

  ‘I work in intelligence, George. I reckon I can handle it.’ She followed him as he walked to the door. ‘Are you sure you’re going to be okay on your own? Shaun’s suddenly a lot less predictable and he might have Nowak with him.’

  ‘Yeah. I think it makes sense to be on my own actually. He might not panic if he sees it’s just me. If I want him to engage with me again I’m going to need him still to trust me.’

  He slapped a ten-pound note on the counter, prompting a curt look from the woman stood behind it. He continued out through the door. ‘You okay to walk from here?’ he called out, already at the driver’s door.

  ‘Yeah. I’ve decided that cars are dangerous anyway. The last time I got in one someone hit me.’

  ‘Oh really? You didn’t mention it.’

  Chapter 22

  ‘Christ, Shaun! What’s the matter?’

  Shaun had checked himself in the car mirror before stepping out. He knew that he didn’t look himself, his skin had a washed-out pallor and he could feel the sweat that had layered his top lip and held his t-shirt against his back.

  ‘Nothing’s the matter, Jess.’

  ‘You look unwell, Shaun.’ She looked beyond him, Shaun thought that she might be concerned he was making a scene, embarrassing her. Sure enough she moved him to a side office.

  ‘What are you doing here, Shaun?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Jess, I know you’ve just started your shift. There’s been conversations at my place about this lorry that came through — about what we can do the next time. Now . . . I’m not making a panicked call through to someone I just happen to know down here. I know you weren’t too impressed and rightly so . . .’ Shaun knew he was floundering. ‘But we need to be sure there’s a system in place.’

  ‘That’s why you’re here?’

  ‘Yeah. I mean not officially. I was in the area and I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to say I was sorry too, you know? It wasn’t ideal, calling you out of the blue like that — and then I was a bit of an arse about it after. I’ve been under a lot of pressure at work recently. I know I shouldn’t take it out on you.’

  ‘I’ve never seen you like this, Shaun. Has something happened?’

  He could feel Jess studying him. She looked deep into his eyes and her expression was full of concern, of sympathy. He hadn’t known what to expect. ‘It’s all pressure you know. I might have taken on a little bit too much — this negotiator thing. I didn’t think it would bother me but it’s had more of an impact than I expected.’

  ‘There’s no shame in something like that affecting you, Shaun. It can’t be nice.’

  ‘It isn’t. You’re off duty, supposed to be relaxing and the next thing you know your phone goes off and you’re dragged into this world of someone else’s misery. Can you imagine how someone can get to the point where they can throw themselves off a viaduct? I guess some of that has to rub off on you.’

  ‘Of course it does. Bugger it, Shaun, ju
st come off the rota. It doesn’t have to be forever. You don’t have to quit completely. Just tell them that you’ve had a rough couple of weeks and you need a break. There should be something in place for that. They should look after you when you have a bad call.’

  ‘They should. I think they would if I asked.’

  ‘Do that then. What are you on today? I saw the car, is that a police car?’

  Shaun took a second, then remembered that he was in the Vectra. Jess must have seen him park on the cameras. The camera feed was on a monitor visible from her desk.

  ‘Yeah. We’re doing a bit of plain clothes stuff, a reccy for a warrant they want us to do at some point next week. It’s not far from here — I thought I would come down and have a cuppa if I could.’

  ‘I can spare a teabag, I’m sure.’

  Jess led the way back out into the office. They crossed the floor, Shaun was again aware that he seemed to be the centre of attention. He checked his watch — he didn’t have much time. Jess led him through to a canteen area. There was an urn that brought itself noisily back to the boil as they approached.

  ‘So, I reckon we should have a sit-down meeting. I can represent the police and maybe you and whoever is responsible for your intelligence down here.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’ve always said we need to be more transparent. Bad guys are bad guys, right?’

  ‘Can’t argue with that. Who is that?’

  Shaun had been speaking to Jess’s back as she busied herself with making the tea.

  ‘Who, the bad guys?’

  Shaun smiled, he did his best to make it look natural. ‘No, your intel officer down here?’

  ‘Intel officer. You make it sound so grand. We’re the poor relation down here, I’m afraid. The majority of the intelligence either comes from or goes through the counter terrorism unit, the police, the NCA or the French. We get fed the scraps, the stuff we might need to know, and that comes through at the last minute. Very much like the information from you yesterday. I have an admin clerk who sorts through what we get and what we can generate. She’s been responsible for some pretty impressive stops recently though, she seems to have a real nose for a shitbag.’