Missing

by Charlie Gallagher

‘Stop it!’ Shaun bellowed at the sobbing Alice as she started going back over the same words again. He shocked her enough to stop her for just a second.

  ‘You don’t understand, you don’t understand! This is all my fault. I did this. You don’t understand.’

  Shaun reached over, and grabbed her roughly by the head. He pulled her into his chest, wrapping her up in a firm hug.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘It’s okay now. There wasn’t anything you could have done. You’re safe. We can sort this out. We can sort it all out.’

  He felt her head shake under his arm. ‘It’s my fault,’ she sobbed. ‘He was there for me.’

  ‘Calm down, Alice. We’ll talk it out.’ He held onto her for a minute or more. Her sobbing calmed down so that it was little more than a sniff, though her head still twitched with rushed intakes of air. ‘That’s better Alice. None of this is your fault. That man back there, he killed those people. There was nothing you could have done, okay? Nothing.’

  ‘Those people? I loved those people! They were everything to me . . . everything!’ The wailing started again and he hugged her firmly, waiting until she calmed back down.

  ‘Tell me what happened?’ he said.

  Alice sat back up. She moved her hair out of her eyes. ‘Jake. He came round to see me. My sister doesn’t know anything about it.’

  ‘About what, Alice? What’s going on?’

  She turned to face him. Her face was flushed red, her cheeks marked with streaked mascara. She had smears of blood on her cheeks, but Shaun reckoned it was from his own bleeding forearms.

  ‘I needed a job and Jake got me a job. He knows people and he said he could. Next thing I knew I get this job without really trying. Down the port, doing the intelligence admin. I was there like a week and Jake comes to my house when Dean’s out. He tells me some stuff, about lorries and cars coming through. He said they would have gear on them. He tells me to make sure they get stopped.’

  ‘And you did?’

  ‘I stopped most of them, but missed a couple. I didn’t realise it was such an issue. Jake went mad, he came back round again, got me on my own. He was so angry that I had let some through and he . . .’ She was consumed by sobs again. Shaun let her compose herself until she could continue. ‘He forced himself on me. We got a little way and then I pushed him off, I hit him as hard as I could and he just smiled! He said that I should do as I was told, that I had to do what he told me in the future like a good little bitch. He said if I didn’t then he’d tell my sister about how I’d fucked him. I never did — I never did anything, but she was so into him. I tried to talk to her. I wanted her to know what sort of a bloke he was but she turned on me. I’d never seen her like that. She wouldn’t have it, she said it was my fault. Said I’d led him on and I was a slut. We’d never argued — not like that.’

  ‘So Jake asked you to do more for him down the port?’

  ‘Lots more. I never saw him again though. He would just text or call. His information was good — I was getting loads of really good stops in at work. Jess thought I was great and life was good — it was great with Dean . . .’ Her face scrunched up again. She covered her mouth with her hand. Shaun waited until she found her strength. ‘I knew my sister was going through it, I knew what sort of a bloke Jake was. I couldn’t get to see her, I knew he was stopping her going out, stopping her talking to me. I tried to be places I thought she might go so we could talk. But I couldn’t get to her. Then she just turns up out of the blue and all beaten up by him. I thought she had finally seen him for what he is. My God, Shaun, she never stood a chance!’

  ‘No she didn’t, Alice. Neither of them did.’

  ‘I saw it. He stabbed her. It was like she was a piece of meat — he just kept stabbing her. He wasn’t human. I’ve never seen anything like it. Then he held the knife to me, but I saw that he was so scared! I could see it in his eyes! I tried to tell him everything was okay. I tried to tell him. He was so scared. He was shaking and talking about the devil. He kept saying that I hadn’t seen what he had. He kept asking me over and over who knew about me, who knew about him telling me information about lorries to stop. But I’d told no one, Shaun. Not a soul. Why would I? I think I’m going to be sick!’ Alice pushed her door open and bundled out of the car. She slammed the door shut and stumbled into the woodland. Shaun could hear her retching, bent double and out of sight.

  He pulled the phone from his pocket. This was his chance. He pressed a button and the screen lit up, the only stored number across its centre. He hesitated, peering back through the window where Alice was stood facing away, her hands on her head, a picture of devastation. She didn’t deserve any of this. But he had to stay strong — it wasn’t about her. It was about him. And his son.

  Shaun pressed the button to call.

  Chapter 27

  ‘You okay, George?’ Whittaker surprised him with the question. He had anticipated Whittaker’s fury when he arrived and especially when he brought him further up to date. It had been nothing like their usual exchanges: Whittaker stayed silent then walked with George round to the back of the property where he peered in through the hole in the rear patio door. Whittaker had kept his distance, obviously aware of the forensic work that needed to be done first, but he was close enough to see three sets of dead eyes and a whole load of blood. He still hadn’t spoken to George when he walked back round to the front of the property and busied himself talking to other officers, making phone calls and barking out orders. George had slunk away to sit in the front seat of his car, the door hanging wide open. He was reflecting on everything he had seen and everything he had done leading up to that point. Oddly enough it was the silent treatment from an old friend that seemed to be on his mind the most.

  Now the chief inspector was stood at the open door, asking him if he was okay, his expression softer, maybe even carrying some concern. George instantly felt a little better.

  ‘Yes, Major, I know I fucked up. I should have been straight with you from the start.’

  ‘Shaun Carter told you not to tell anyone. He trusted you with that and you didn’t betray him. Part of me can understand that.’

  ‘It wasn’t just out of some loyalty. I was just trying to get his family back. I thought that was best done under the radar — to start with, at least.’

  ‘You were wrong, George. I know you have little faith in this organisation but you should have had more faith in me.’

  ‘I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have.’

  ‘I could have given you support, a few more eyes and ears out looking for Shaun might have made the difference.’

  ‘I know.’

  Whittaker stood in a black stab vest with a radio strapped to his chest. He cocked his head abruptly to an excited update — a female voice from the control room. George had the car set on, too. He turned it up.

  ‘Confirm you have a sighting of the van? M20 coastbound?’

  ‘Yes, yes. Lane One. No reaction to the marked vehicle at this time. We have not made any attempt to stop it. Can we have additional resources to assist please?’

  ‘More eyes and ears, George.’ Whittaker almost smiled. ‘You see what they can do?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ George took a long breath. ‘Sir . . . I—’

  Whittaker interrupted with a sigh that turned into words. ‘Go ahead, George. And for fuck’s sake, man, get this finished. And peacefully.’

  George reached for his door. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

  The Skoda fired up. George saw Whittaker step away in his side mirror and he raised his hand as he accelerated away.

  His radio provided an update on the van’s location. He pressed his radio button to transmit.

  ‘Control, this is DS Elms. Can you show me en route to this van please?’

  ‘All received, Sergeant Elms. I have marked you up.’

  ‘Thank you. For all patrols monitoring this channel, can I just reiterate . . . it is highly possible that we have two civilian victims in that van.’
>
  ‘You were on talk-through, Sergeant. We have already broadcast this and there are patrols getting ahead of the van with a stinger option among others. The marked unit is hanging back. The van has made no reaction at this time.’

  ‘Understood, Control.’

  George discarded his radio. He moved towards activating his lights and sirens just as his speakers were filled with the sound of a ringing phone. The screen read as Jess.

  ‘Shit timing, Jess,’ he said, his teeth clenched. Then he answered the call. ‘Jess! No news I’m afraid.’ George had to brake hard as he abandoned an overtake past some slow-moving traffic. ‘Can I call you back when I have something more?’

  ‘He’s just called. He sounded really upset.’ Jess was breathy, and hard to understand.

  Traffic was now flowing steadily in the other direction and he couldn’t see another opportunity to overtake. He cursed his luck. ‘Sorry, Jess, who’s upset?’

  ‘Shaun. He just called me. I’ve never heard him like that before.’

  ‘Shaun?’ George now focused on the call. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘That he was sorry. That things just got out of control and he didn’t mean for any of it to happen. He sounded so down. I asked him to come down and see me — or I would go and see him, but he wasn’t interested. He wouldn’t even let me speak, really. He just wanted to tell me he was sorry. He told me he couldn’t make me understand and he had to go.’

  ‘Okay. He didn’t give you any idea where he was at all? Or where he might go?’ The response vehicle slowed naturally.

  ‘He said he was going back. He said he had to go back.’ Jess said.

  ‘Going back?’

  ‘Yeah. What’s going on, George? Go back where?’

  ‘I’m not sure, Jess. Don’t worry, I’ll find him and I’ll make sure he’s okay.’

  ‘Please do. And let me know when you do.’

  The phone beeped confirmation that the call had finished. George once again pressed to transmit on his radio.

  ‘Control, this is DS Elms. Can you confirm how many patrols you have making their way to this call please?’

  ‘Yes, yes. We have eight patrols making way. Four traffic units are tracking just a few minutes out and we have the remaining patrols plotting ahead.’

  ‘Received. I’m a little way off, Control, and there are enough making way. Can you show me cancelling please.’

  ‘Received that, Sergeant.’

  George moved back to his phone, it connected on the first ring.

  ‘DCI John Whittaker.’

  ‘Sir, George Elms.’

  ‘Elms. You left me minutes ago. If you’re ringing to tell me about another fucking mess already I will be shoving something long and robust up your arse, George. No lube.’

  ‘Well, at least I know you’re not angry at me anymore.’

  ‘I’m angry at everyone right now. It’s getting things done here.’

  ‘Sir, can you get angry at Firearms. I need a plain car, preferably two, to go into Langthorne. Right away.’

  ‘What have you got?’

  ‘Well, a hunch really. Shaun has made contact with his girlfriend. He wasn’t making much sense, but I think he’s back in Langthorne. I’m going to have a look. Can you arrange for an unmarked firearms patrol to assist with an area search for the Mercedes hire car? I gave you the details. They have to be unmarked.’

  ‘I can, George, but right now we have firearms resources responding to the van sighting. This hunch of yours . . . is it strong enough to start pulling resources away from that?’

  ‘There are enough patrols to deal with that. I’d actually feel better if there were fewer guns there, to be honest.’

  ‘Fine. But if you’re wrong, George . . . No lube, old boy. You remember that.’

  ‘Understood. When you speak to Firearms, can you ask them to use the viaduct where it crosses Foord Road as their starting point.’

  ‘Will do.’

  George cut the call and fired up the sirens.

  Chapter 28

  Shaun parked the Vectra on Bradstone Road in Langthorne. It was a quiet, residential street with a large gap in the housing filled by some wasteland on one side and the rear of a storage warehouse on the other. The viaduct loomed above him as he stood by one of its massive pillars. The base was more than two car lengths wide. Patches of the red brickwork had been replaced over the years; the brighter, newer bricks stood out from the Victorian structure like slash wounds. The car was level with steps that led up to where access to the viaduct was possible. It was a similar position to where he had parked to speak to Bobby Leonard.

  He stood up out of the car, shut the door behind him and put the burn phone to his ear. Alice stayed in the passenger seat, still and silent. She looked totally lost, staring forward as if she had run out of tears. He had told her that he was driving her to the police station but that he had to pull over to make a call. If she’d been thinking straight, she would have questioned where they had stopped but, lucky for him, her thoughts were elsewhere.

  ‘I’m where you said. Let’s do this.’

  ‘There’s a bin by the bottom of the steps. Put the wire and the gun in there. You won’t be needing those anymore.’ That same voice. So matter-of-fact, so arrogant. Shaun had never hated anyone so much.

  ‘I can’t just put a gun in a bin.’

  ‘It won’t be staying there. It will be cleaned up behind you, don’t worry. You will need the gloves and the tape.’

  ‘What for? Why can’t you just meet me here? You can have the car with her in it — I’ll just walk away with my son.’

  ‘Because you’re not in charge, Shaun. Because you’re not quite finished.’

  ‘Like fuck I’m not! I’ve done everything you asked, more than you asked in fact. You’ve had enough from me. Give me back my son and go fuck with someone else!’ Shaun could feel his emotions getting the better of him, spilling over.

  ‘You’re close, Shaun. You’ve done well, but don’t start thinking you’ve earned the right to piss me off. The gloves are for you. Put them on first. Then you will need to wipe the gun and the wire down with the cloth provided. Put them all in the bag and put that in the bin. Do it now.’

  Shaun opened the boot. The shoebox was sat in the middle and towards the left and inside, in a clip seal bag, were the gloves. They had an odd softness, and a fine, white powder drifted from the cuffs as he pulled them on. It had been a while since he had come across the powdered type. He looked around him as he leant in to wipe down the gun before pushing it into the bag. He sensed that Alice was looking out at him as he passed her door and dropped the bag in the bin. He walked back to the rear of the car where the boot was still up. Only the Gorilla tape remained in the box.

  Shaun picked up the phone. ‘Done,’ he growled.

  ‘The tape is for Alice. You need to cover her mouth so she doesn’t shout. If she attracts attention to you and you are challenged, this is all over. Do you understand?’

  Shaun stepped away from the car and lowered his voice. ‘For Alice? No, I don’t understand! I think she’s had enough shit for one day, don’t you? I can walk away from the car and she’s yours.

  ‘The tape is for her. And Shaun, you will need to make sure she understands that she needs to do as you say or this will not work and she will fuck this up for you at the very last moment. You need to walk her up those steps and out onto the viaduct. Take her to the spot where you had your long conversation with Bobby Leonard.’

  ‘Why would you have me walk her up there? If you think I’m going to—’

  ‘I think you will do what you are asked when you remember the alternative, Shaun, and I think you are starting to piss me off! You do not want me to lose patience, Shaun, trust me on that. There are ways of speeding you up — of stopping you questioning me — but your son would not like it.’

  ‘Jesus! She’s had enough! Why up there?’

  ‘Because it suits my needs. You may not have taken the time t
o enjoy the view the last time you were up there, but Bobby Leonard could be seen from any number of houses, cars or vantage points. I am watching, Shaun, just like I was watching Bobby Leonard. And he understood just how easy it would be for me to blend in and disappear, never to be seen again, if he didn’t do what I instructed.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘There are some things, Shaun, that you may never know. I appreciate that, as a police officer, this doesn’t sit easy.’

  ‘We’ll see about that.’

  ‘I guess we will. You’re out of time. When I can see you are in position I will call you — a little demonstration, should you need it, that you are being watched. I am close, Shaun, and I have your son.’ The line went silent.

  Shaun slipped the phone back into his pocket, pushed the boot shut and lingered on it, leaning so it took his weight, his eyes moving around the rows of housing and parked cars in front of him. He turned to take in the view behind him; it was more of the same. Further in the distance was a Tesco Express and a Citroen Garage in front of a block of flats. The man was right: stood out on the top of that viaduct, someone watching him could be anywhere.

  His focus moved back to the task at hand. His gloves had already turned transparent from his sweat. He looked through the rear window to the back of Alice’s head. She still stared forward, no doubt still lost in the nightmares of her day. Shaun would like nothing more than to wrap her up and tell her everything was going to be all right, to take her to a police station and to make her safe. But he couldn’t. Not now. He was so close to the end. There would be no fooling her now, he would have the element of surprise, it would give him a few seconds and he would have to be aggressive. He had the Gorilla tape in his hand. It was unravelled a little but it was still sticky. He checked around him for a final time, careful that there was no one else about. When he was satisfied he stepped forward.

  He wrenched the door open and climbed in immediately. Alice turned to the noise and Shaun was ready with the tape, he pushed it firmly on her face, wrapping it swiftly over her mouth and around her head. She raised her hands to pull it off, but Shaun was ready for that too. He took hold of her wrists firmly and pulled her out of the car, twisting her round and snapping handcuffs expertly over both her wrists as he had done to so many deserving criminals. He cuffed her behind her back so she couldn’t get at the tape. She tried to scream but it was a muffled noise, nothing that was going to travel any distance. He wrapped the tape round another couple of times to be sure, secretly relieved that she wouldn’t be able to plead with him. He didn’t think he could take that. He slammed the Vectra door shut and pushed Alice towards the steps.