by Mistry, Liz
Nodding, she turned onto the Dales Way Link. Gus braced himself as they juddered over the cattle grid and studied the isolation that fanned out to the side of the narrow road. The snowy landscape made the area seem even more desolate. The few houses they passed were situated quite a distance from the road. Some people, it seemed, really craved solitude.
They drifted to a standstill, the engine humming gently. Sadia leaned over the steering wheel and peered through the windscreen.
‘This is it. What sort of people live here?’
Gus shared her surprise. Not content with just having security cameras dotted periodically up the length of the winding drive, the owners had created a double-gated access. Three-metre high railings spread out from either side of the gate. By the looks of it, they surrounded the entire property. Gus glanced at the slip of paper Nancy had given him. The number and house name tallied with their GPS destination. They’d arrived at Four Oaks.
‘Well, I’ll be damned!’ he said, under his breath.
‘So, this is more important than twenty abused kids?’ said Sadia, her face flushed.
Gus studied her heightened colour and the way her hands gripped the steering wheel with interest. Why the hell was she so enraged by this? Before he had a chance to ask her she thumped the steering wheel with her leather-gloved fist. ‘It’s disgusting. Someone with a bit of money reports their kid missing and all of a sudden that takes precedence. Couldn’t the locals have dealt with it?’
Gus began to reply when she engaged the clutch. Putting her foot down, she wrenched the wheel to the right and swung onto the tarmacked waiting area. Taken by surprise, Gus lurched forward, the seat belt tightened agonisingly across his shoulder. Before he could react, her window whirred open and her right arm extended towards the security bell. His sudden expletive halted her. She turned towards him, mouth open in surprise.
Rubbing his shoulder, he glared at her. When he spoke his words were staccato. ‘What. The. Fuck, Hussain? That stupid trick of yours could have landed me back in hospital.’
Under his angry glare, her face blanched.
Gus took a deep breath and when he spoke again his tone was calm. ‘Look, Sadia, we’re all under a lot of strain at the minute. These cases are hard going.’ He paused to adjust his sling, then raised his sharp, blue eyes to meet her gaze. ‘You’ve got to learn to control your reactions. You can’t go off on one. Let’s get the bigger picture before we jump in with guns blazing, eh?’
He smiled and pointed to her open window. ‘You better press the bell.’
Lips tight, she nodded and did as instructed.
A fuzzy voice addressed them through the intercom. Moments later, once they had shown their warrant cards to the minute camera, the first gate slid open. Driving forward, it slid shut behind them before the second gate opened, allowing them access to the curved drive leading to the house.
Gus shook his head. ‘How the hell did someone manage to abduct a child from here?’
Looking subdued, Sadia swallowed hard. ‘Beats me.’
Following the cobbled drive up to the front of the house, they parked between a Land Rover, and a marked police car. As they got out a uniformed officer approached, hand outstretched. ‘Hi, Sir. PC Owens.’
Gus, pointing to his strapped shoulder, offered his left hand to the officer, who, with a smile, quickly swapped hands.
‘What’s going on, Owens?’ asked Gus, after introducing himself and Sadia.
‘Got a report this morning about a missing school girl; Molly Graves. Then I was told you lot were coming.’
‘What’ve you done so far?’
‘Two officers searched the grounds and surrounding area. Sent another one to the neighbours.’ He opened both hands wide in an encompassing gesture, ‘But, as you can see, the neighbours are miles away. Nobody’s seen owt so far. I also sent two officers to Molly’s friends’ houses.’
As Gus nodded approvingly, the front door opened and a diminutive figure stepped out.
‘That’s granny,’ said Owens.
Telling Owens to request a family liaison officer, Gus, followed by Sadia, walked towards the small porch where a middle-aged woman waited.
Chapter 47
Tuesday 2pm
The transaction had been successful and the girl was in their clutches. Now, the exquisite torture he’d planned so carefully over the years could begin. In anticipation, The Matchmaker phoned The Facilitator. When the call was answered, he said, ‘she’s in the depot.’
The Matchmaker knew that, despite his reluctance to risk what they’d recouped over the years, The Facilitator had the utmost faith in him. After all, where would they be if not for him? The Matchmaker had been the brains behind the operation for so long and, for that, he knew, the other man would allow him this indulgence. It would be so good to make the bitch pay. She’d cost them a lot. Nearly broken them, if the truth were told. He looked forward to making her suffer.
Thinking he heard movement outside his home office, he walked to the door, opened it and glanced down the stairs. They were empty. He stepped back inside, locking the door behind him. The last thing he needed was for his wife to get curious and listen in to his private conversations. ‘Let’s get this show on the road,’ he said, sitting down at his desk.
‘We’ll keep our distance. The Distributor will take the risks.’
‘Oh yes, he’ll have to do a lot to do to redeem himself,’ said The Matchmaker drumming his fingers on the desk. ‘And we’ll make sure he does. For now, we still need him.’
A nervous laugh rumbled over the phone. ‘Have you sorted things out at your end?’
‘The idiot’s stupidity has left a few loose ends, but we’ll let them play out. Nothing implicates us.’
He hung up and walked over to the mirror. Straightening his tie, he assessed his reflection with a critical eye. Tall, handsome, some might say, debonair. Flicking a piece of fluff from the shoulder of his suit, he smiled. The mere thought of his appointment with the ten-year-old boy made him hard. Leaving his office, he went downstairs and kissed his wife perfunctorily on the cheek. Happy that he was about to devour fresh meat, he headed to their safe house in Leeds. Occasionally, The Provider excelled himself.
Chapter 48
Tuesday 3pm, Ilkley
The woman led them through to a spacious kitchen without uttering a single word. As soon as they entered the room, she scurried over and sat down at the table. Gus frowned and made a mental note to encourage the family to have a doctor look at her before he left. The last thing this family needed was for grandma to lose it. Heat belched from the Aga that stood, bright red, between bespoke kitchen units. Gus immediately felt at home in the clutter that marked this room as the centre of family life. The large American-style fridge-freezer was covered with pictures of a young girl with curly red hair; petting various animals, in climates as diverse as the snow-capped hills of northern Scotland, the Greek isles and a rain-swept Yorkshire moor.
Well-thumbed books lay across the work surfaces and four pairs of wellies were lined up in size-order by the back door. The window above the sink looked out over a huge garden with what looked to be a mega-sized, snow-covered trampoline in the far corner. Eight chairs stood round a large pine table, which was definitely not courtesy of IKEA. One of them was occupied by a man in his late thirties with prematurely greying hair cut close to his scalp. In a second chair sat a woman with short brown hair, breastfeeding a new-born baby. Shirt sleeves rolled up loosely and tie awry, the man stood up, hand outstretched, and introduced himself as Alex Graves, Molly’s stepdad. Resting a protective hand on her shoulder, he introduced his wife, Beth. Then turning to the older woman he said ‘And this is Molly’s granny, Jessie Graham.’
Beth looked up. ‘Jessie is my previous husband’s mother.’
Gus studied each adult in turn. Alex was clearly distressed. His white shirt had a splodge of what looked and smelled like baby sick down the front. His wife, by contrast, looked uncannily self-po
ssessed. Her gaze was direct, dark and uncompromising and, apart from a tightness round her eyes, it was hard to detect how she felt.
Clearing his throat, Gus pulled out a chair, sat opposite Beth and introduced himself and Sadia. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m in dire need of a coffee and I think you all need to keep up your strength.’ He turned to Sadia. ‘DC Hussain here will rustle up some toast and drinks for us and you can tell me what’s happened.’
Sadia’s eyes narrowed, but Gus held her gaze, daring her to refuse. Normally he’d have made the coffee himself, but his shoulder was killing and, to be honest, he quite enjoyed winding her up. After a few seconds her shoulders sagged. Pasting on a smile, she picked up the kettle and turned to the trio. ‘What’ll it be? Tea or coffee?’
As if startled out of her trance, Jessie jumped to her feet. ‘I’ll do it. God, what am I thinking? I should have offered.’ Agitated, she turned to her daughter-in-law. ‘You need to keep your liquids up when you’re breastfeeding.’ She blew her nose on a rapidly disintegrating tissue and took the kettle from Sadia.
Minutes later, with steaming mugs and a plate of buttered toast in front of them, Beth settled her sleeping baby in his pram. Popping a couple of naproxen, Gus observed her sympathetically. ‘Tell me what’s happened?’
Wringing her hands, Beth said, ‘I fell asleep. I fed and changed Sam and then we just fell asleep.’ She grabbed her husband’s hand. ‘He’s not a good sleeper, you see. We’re all exhausted but I should have used that time to be with Molly.’
Alex put an arm round her shoulders and squeezed. ‘Oh, Beth. You can’t think like that. Molly knows she shouldn’t leave the premises.’
Picking up another slice of toast, Gus said, ‘How do you think Molly was taken?’ He gestured towards the gates and cameras outside. ‘This place is like Fort Knox; so how could the system have been broken?’
Alex sat up straight. ‘It couldn’t. No way. I own the company and we’ve spared no expense. There’s just no way anyone could have infiltrated the system. I’ve made sure Beth feels safe. It’s what I do. Security is my business and this security system is state of the art.’
He pulled the laptop that lay on the table towards him. Pressing a few buttons, he turned the screen towards Gus. ‘I’ve already set it up. This shows Molly leaving the house at 10:13.’
Sadia and Gus leaned closer and watched. The girl, in black boots and skinny jeans, curls bouncing jauntily, walked down the drive. When she reached the pedestrian gate she hesitated briefly and glanced around. Pulling off her glove, she pressed her thumb to the biometric pad by the pedestrian gate. Before the gate had opened fully, Molly slipped through. They watched her walk slowly along Dales Link Way towards the main road until she moved out of view.
Gus tapped his lip gently with one finger. ‘So, Molly left the house on her own.’
Beth looked blankly at Alex and then nodded slowly. ‘She must’ve done.’ Her voice rose to a strangled cry. ‘Why the hell would she leave the grounds without telling us? Without asking permission? We’ve drummed into her how unsafe it is outside.’
Gus wondered if perhaps little Molly Graves had got fed up with all the restrictions. Maybe she realised her friends weren’t so restricted and had decided to break the rules.
‘Did Molly ever express an interest in visiting somewhere locally? Somewhere she might have gone on her own?’
Both Beth and Alex shook their heads. ‘No, nowhere.’ Beth cradled her face in her hands. ‘But she was jealous of Sam.’ She grabbed Alex’s hand. ‘Her nose was pushed out of joint when he arrived.’
Gus exchanged a glance with Sadia, ‘And you’ve phoned round all her friends and given all their details to PC Owens?’
Beth closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Yes, yes, yes. I can’t think of anyone else to try.’
Gus looked at each of the three faces in turn. He could almost taste their desperation. ‘Right then. I’m going to bring my expert in to see if he can identify a weakness in your security.’
Puffing up his chest, Alex said, ‘There is no weakness. I’ve told you that.’ He gestured to the screen. ‘Anyway, we can see that she left of her own accord.’
Beth frowned at her husband, ‘Alex, someone’s taken her. After she left here someone took her, or else she’d be back by now.’
Gus looked from husband to wife. ‘Why would you say that, Mrs Graves? Often when children go missing they’re with someone they know.’ He inclined his head apologetically to Jessie. ‘I hate to ask this, but you mentioned that Jessie is your previous husband’s mother. Could Molly be with him?’
Stillness descended on the room. Beth and Jessie exchanged furtive glances. Alex’s jaw tightened and his hand automatically drifted across the table to meet Beth’s.
Beth leaned forward, her face lined in frustration. ‘We’re under witness protection and Molly’s dad is in prison.’ She turned and stared at Jessie. ‘Those bastards have taken our little girl.’
As if sensing his mother’s anguish, the baby let out a high-pitched shriek that hung in the air like a giant exclamation mark.
‘Witness protection?’ repeated Gus. He knew it was called UK Protected Persons Service now, but no-one could get out of the habit of calling them WP. For a moment the only sound in the room was the sound of a tap dripping. Then, Gus felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen. Sampson. He shrugged apologetically and moved into the hallway.
‘Sir, we got the results back on the gun. Compo input it into Interpol’s records and the ballistics matches the gun with one used in Gorce, Poland, twelve years ago. Guess what it was used for?’
Gus felt Sampson’s excitement reverberate over the line. ‘Go on.’
‘To shoot an elderly man during a child abduction. The perp got away.’
‘Shit! Right, tell Compo good work, then get on the phone to Jankowski; he should be back in Poland by now. Get him to pull the files and send them to us. We need to act fast. Tell him to correlate any other child abductions in the area at that time.’ Gus released a slow breath. The links to Poland were very telling. It seemed Nancy was right to think these two cases might be linked. He needed to get more information from Beth Graves.
‘Any word from Alice about the bloke in the photo?’
‘She’s just phoned in. She’s heading off to interview the builder who employed him. Er, where are you? Compo said you and Sadia left in a rush. Is everything alright?’
‘No. The shit just hit the proverbial fan and, unfortunately, the animal doing the shitting is a great hulking elephant, not a bloody Chihuahua.’
‘Eh?’
‘Never mind. Can you get Compo to head over here with all his stuff? We’ve got a missing child, possibly abducted and I need him to hook us up in case we get a ransom call.’ Gus reeled off the address and then hung up.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and took a minute to consider the bombshell Beth had dropped before Sampson’s call. Witness protection. No wonder Nancy had been on edge. He ran his fingers through his dreads. She should’ve warned him to expect this. He’d have words with her on his return to The Fort. A child was missing and he had a really bad feeling about this. The local Bobbies had started door to door, but in this neck of the woods it was unlikely anyone had seen anything.
When he re-entered the kitchen, three pairs of panicked eyes followed his progress into the room. He turned his chair round and straddled it, leaning his arm, supported by his sling along the back. He revelled in the slight stretch the position offered his tender thigh and shoulder
‘Right, witness protection? I presume you’ve already contacted your handler about this?’
Beth Graves nodded.
‘So, tell me everything.’
Beth shuddered and closed her eyes briefly. ‘This is related to those children isn’t it? The ones in the attic, I mean. It’s all linked, I know it is.’
Gus tapped his fingers on the chair back. ‘I don’t know,
Beth. Why don’t you fill me in and we’ll take it from there?’
Her hand trembled as she massaged the bridge of her nose. She leaned heavily against her husband and glared at Gus. ‘I’ve already told the police all this. You should have this on file. Why don’t you stop bothering us and go find Molly?’
Gus kept his tone calm. ‘Look, Beth, I’m sorry if you think we’re wasting time, but it’s essential that you tell me everything I need to know. It’ll be quicker for you to tell me than for me to access your files.’
For the first time Jessie spoke. ‘He’s right, Beth. Just tell him what he needs to know.’
With a sigh Beth began her story, while Jessie wept silently beside her.
‘Twelve years ago I was called Cathy Clegg.’
Gus’s eyes narrowed and his gaze remained on Beth as she continued.
‘I discovered some awful pictures on my then husband’s computer. The vilest images you can imagine. I did the right thing. I went to the police in Cambridge and reported it. It transpired that he was part of a group of paedophiles who abducted and imported children, mainly from Eastern Europe, into the UK. His paedophile ring sold the children or hired them out to the highest bidder. They, in turn, used them any way they wanted. Some made snuff movies. Some uploaded videos.’ A single tear rolled down her cheek. ‘All of the clients were very rich. Surgeons, barristers, even politicians…’
Gus felt Sadia tense beside him at the table. A quick glance told him she felt as angry as he did. Trying to maintain a neutral expression, he nodded at Beth. ‘You’re doing really well.’ Fuck, what had this poor woman been through? And now this. He knew coincidences didn’t happen often in his line of work and his concern over Molly’s safety had just spiralled.
Beth swallowed, and linked her arm through her mother-in-law’s. ‘The police begged me to help them close the ring down completely. They promised me Molly and I would be safe. I did what they asked.’ She laughed humourlessly. ‘It was clear from the images that my husband’s interests weren’t young babies, so we knew Molly would be safe from him. That didn’t stop me worrying about his friends.’ Her mouth curled up as she said the last word. ‘I made sure I kept Molly safe. She spent a lot of time with Jessie during those weeks, didn’t she?’
