Captor

by Anita Waller

  ‘I’m pleased he’s safe. I’ve sent everybody back to the station, so there’s no harm done. Your reaction was understandable, and Tanya did exactly the right thing.’

  ‘And have you heard anything?’

  Brent shook his head. ‘Nothing. We’re continuing with house-to-house, but so far nobody has seen anything. What we would like to do is a television appeal. We need you to ask for Jake’s safe return. We’ll show the one piece of CCTV we have, and hope it jogs someone’s memory. They’ll film it later this afternoon, and we can get it out on the six o’clock news. This will be hard, Liz, but if it brings in something, it will have been worth it.’

  ‘I’ll do anything.’

  Brent nodded. ‘I know. The filming crew will guide you through it, and I’ll be there as well, because I’ll follow up with a police request for information and the CCTV. The lads who will be on duty at two will bring you down to Moss Way. Will Dan be with you?’

  ‘I’m sure he’ll want to. Is that okay?’

  ‘It’s fine. It’s what we want. I’m heading back now, I was about to start the morning’s briefing when Tanya rang.’ He turned to go out of the door. ‘And Liz, I’m thankful it wasn’t anything worse. See you later.’

  She watched him speak to his officers, then climb into a car. She felt overwhelmed. Her heart was aching. Where was Jake? Was he still alive? She felt that he was, but was that wishful thinking? Her baby needed to be home with her.

  29

  Phil lay on his bed, watching his son sleep. The child was beautiful; blond hair, blue eyes closed, yet flickering occasionally as if he was dreaming, tiny hands clutching on to the tag that was sewn into the hem of the blanket covering him. He had noticed that a tag calmed Jake down, and Phil handed him one every time he cried.

  He lay there for a while, until his own eyes drooped. Captor had sent down a flask of coffee and Phil had welcomed it. He missed coffee. He slept deeply and was shocked awake by the sound of a child crying. For a moment, he was disoriented. He sat up and the room swirled around him; he shook his head, and finally things settled down. Jake was standing, looking over the edge of the cot.

  Phil smiled at him. ‘Hi, son. How long have we been asleep? You want out of jail? Join the club.’

  He lifted the little boy and sat him next to him on the bed. He put on his tiny slippers, more to keep him warm than as cushioning for his feet as he tried to walk.

  ‘There you are, Jake,’ he said, and lifted him on to the floor. Jake grabbed for the edge of the bed to steady himself, then turned and looked at this man he had come to accept was part of his life.

  Phil stood and moved across to the toilet, then washed his hands. He turned to go back to Jake and Jake was standing, unmoving, not holding on to anything. He lifted his arms and took three tentative steps before dropping to the floor.

  ‘Good boy!’ Phil clapped his hands, then immediately his smile disappeared as he realised Liz had missed a milestone in Jake’s life. His first steps. She would be devastated.

  ‘God, Liz, our child is bloody amazing,’ he said, under his breath. ‘And I promise, while ever I live, I’ll protect him until he can go home to you.’

  Captor watched the scenario that was being acted out on his monitors. So, the child had walked. Another little bit of salt to rub in Liz Chamber’s wounds, once the information could be got safely to her. It was time to step up a few things, give a bit of information out to torment her even further.

  Plans would be made, and acted upon. Captor switched off the monitors, closed the room door, and left the building. Time to drive her to distraction.

  30

  30

  * * *

  Liz broke down in the middle of the filming, and the cameras kept rolling. She was heartbroken, and it showed. Dan tried to comfort her, and the whole world saw it. Brent’s face was grim as he outlined the information they needed, and followed it up with the CCTV.

  ‘We desperately need to find this baby. Please think about the CCTV you have seen – does anything about the person pushing the pushchair make you think of someone you know? Is somebody close to you behaving strangely? Out of character? Have you heard a baby crying somewhere where you wouldn’t normally hear that sound? The number to call is scrolling across the screen. If you have anything at all, call it in.’

  And the picture faded.

  Liz and Dan were on the sofa watching the broadcast, Tanya standing behind them.

  ‘That was really good, Liz. Let’s hope we have some sort of response from it. Now, you need to eat. Neither of you have had anything today, have you?’

  Dan stood. ‘I’ll see to it. I’ve all sorts of stuff in the freezer. Tanya, do you like curry?’

  ‘You don’t have to feed me, Dan,’ she smiled. ‘I’ll nip to McDonald’s or somewhere and get a meal.’

  ‘It’s no problem. My freezer portions are always for three people anyway, so do you like curry?’

  ‘Certainly do. Thank you.’ She turned to Liz with a smile. ‘Why didn’t my son have aspirations to be a chef instead of a geologist?’

  ‘I didn’t realise you had a son!’

  ‘Yes, he’s doing something in Peru, right now, but his job has taken him all over the world. There’s just the two of us, although from his emails, I think things are getting serious with a young lady called Hannah.’

  ‘Three of us on our own with a son – you, me and Sadie.’

  The landline telephone rang stridently, and Tanya and Liz looked at each other. Tanya moved across. ‘It’s showing a number,’ she said. ‘This isn’t our kidnapper.’

  Liz glanced at the tiny screen. ‘It’s my friend, Julia. I’ll let it go to voicemail, and ring her back after we’ve eaten.’

  ---

  ‘Julia? I’m sorry I missed your call. As you can imagine, things aren’t normal here at the moment.’

  ‘Oh, God, Liz, I’m so sorry. I’ve been in Paris for a few days, so only found out about it when I watched the news tonight. Is there anything I can do to help?’

  ‘There’s nothing anyone can do,’ Liz said quietly. ‘The police have nothing to go on; whoever has taken Jake hasn’t communicated in any way, and I think the DI in charge of the case is pinning all his hopes on that appeal. I’m not convinced we’ll get anything from it.’

  ‘Shit, that’s awful. Can I come and see you? You’ll need a hug. Has Oliver been to see you?’

  ‘Yes, him and Tom both came up the morning after I found the bodies.’

  ‘You found the bodies?’ Julia’s voice rose as she digested Liz’s words.

  ‘I did. And come up whenever you want, have your mobile phone handy in case I have to cancel. Sometimes they need me at a moment’s notice.’

  ‘Give me an hour. We can talk more, face to face.’ Julia disconnected.

  Liz turned to Tanya with a smile. ‘She’s a bit of a whirlwind, is Julia. It sounds as though she’s back to her usual bouncy self – she’s Oliver Hardwick’s soon to be ex-wife. I’ve known her for years, since school days. She’ll be here in an hour, she says, but that could as easily be two hours.’

  ‘Then will you be okay if I go home? I need to check everything’s okay, and I’ll have my mobile on.’

  ‘Of course I’ll be okay. Stay the night, come back in the morning.’ Liz held up a hand as Tanya opened her mouth to protest. ‘Honestly, I’ll be fine. Tell our babysitters outside what you’re doing, so they are aware Dan and I are on our own, but I suspect Julia might stay the night anyway. You need time out from this, you know you do.’

  Tanya nodded. ‘I’ll check with DI Brent first. If he says okay, that’s what we’ll do.’

  She disappeared into the kitchen to make the call, and returned a couple of minutes later. ‘I checked if there had been any response to the appeal, and they’ve had a few phone calls saying they saw somebody pushing the pram, but one says it was a man, one says it was a woman, another one says whoever was pushing it, put it in the boot of the car without folding it,
after struggling with it for a bit.’

  Liz’s head shot up. ‘That’s the one he needs to concentrate on. The pushchair is easy for me to fold, but Gareth never quite got the hang of it. It has safety devices on it, and different levers to release to get it to fold. If you don’t know about them…’

  ‘He’s given me permission to take the night off, so I’ll ring him before I go, tell him what you’ve said. He may ring you for more information. Are you sure you’ll be okay?’

  ‘Tanya, go! I’ll be fine.’

  Tanya nodded. ‘I’ll ring him from my room.’ She headed for the stairs, almost colliding with Dan as he came from the kitchen.

  ‘Okay, I’ve set the dishwasher going. I’m off to bed. I was up really early this morning.’

  ‘Julia’s coming. You want to stay up to say hello?’

  ‘Julia? You still allowed to be friends with her, then?’

  Liz looked puzzled. ‘Of course. Why shouldn’t I be?’

  ‘I don’t think Oliver was happy about them splitting up. Not according to Simon, anyway.’

  Liz looked bewildered. ‘Simon?’

  ‘Tom’s Simon. Simon Banton. He’s in my school now, a year behind me. We play football together every day.’

  ‘I don’t understand. Why should Oliver and Julia splitting up affect my friendship with her? It hasn’t affected my friendship with Oliver, or my working relationship with him. In fact, he didn’t mention it. Tom told me what had happened.’

  ‘Whoa! Don’t shoot the messenger! I’m telling you what Simon said. He heard his mum say that it was good that you’d given Julia some backbone. Did you?’

  ‘Good Lord, no. All I did was tell her she’d have to make a decision sooner or later, but if the decision was to go, not to waste her time being unhappy mulling it over.’

  ‘So you didn’t tell her to leave him?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. I like Oliver, and to be perfectly honest, Dan, I wouldn’t presume to do anything like that. Marriages are sacrosanct, and only the two people involved can deal with any issues thrown up.’

  Guilt, guilt, guilt. Are all marriages sacrosanct? She cringed inwardly at her thoughts.

  ‘Whatever you said to her, she took your advice, apparently. Mum the marriage counsellor. But I’m still going to bed. I need sleep.’

  He walked through the door and almost collided with Tanya.

  ‘I’ll be back for seven tomorrow morning, Liz, but if you need me…’

  Liz smiled. ‘I know. I’ll ring you. But to be perfectly honest, I’m planning on sharing a couple of bottles of rosé wine with Julia, and then hopefully I’ll sleep. Drunk, if necessary.’

  ‘Not really advisable,’ Tanya smiled. ‘What if they find Jake?’

  ‘You’re right, of course,’ Liz responded. ‘To be perfectly honest, I don’t really drink. I’m not keen on the taste, I wondered if it might blot everything out…’

  ‘Enjoy your evening as much as you can, Liz. Is that your friend coming down the path escorted by a policeman?’

  Liz laughed. ‘She’ll love that.’

  Tanya exited the door, as Julia entered. Liz and Julia hugged, and then went through into the lounge.

  ‘Proper bummer, this, isn’t it?’ Julia said, softening her words with a hug.

  ‘You don’t know the half,’ Liz responded, ‘There’s so much I need to tell you. But not yet. Dan is probably still awake, and if I can keep this from him…’

  ‘Are we going to need this?’ Julia delved into her capacious handbag and produced a bottle of vodka and a large bottle of Coca-Cola. ‘That policeman checked my bag before he’d even let me down the drive, and he grinned at me, before he made me feel like an old lady. He called me ma’am!’

  Liz collected two glasses from the kitchen, then watched as Julia poured drinks. ‘So, I guess we both have some talking to do,’ Julia said, as she handed the drink to Liz.

  ‘It was a bit of a shock, hearing that you’d left Oliver.’

  ‘It was a shock to me too, and I went into a shell. I didn’t speak to anybody, not even my solicitor, initially. I can only apologise for not ringing you, but I couldn’t. Even my mum found out through Oliver, and not me.’

  ‘Why? After we’d had our chat about it, how long was it before you left?’

  ‘The day after. He asked me where I had been. He had called home and I wasn’t there. I told him I’d been for a coffee and a chat with you, and he said he didn’t want me meeting up with you anymore. He said it wasn’t necessary to be friends with you.’

  ‘What? He’s never said a word out of place to me.’

  ‘It’s the control thing again, isn’t it? He made me give up work, said I didn’t need to, and for a while that was fine. But then I got bored with being at home all day. Then when my car needed something doing to it, he scrapped it, saying I didn’t really need one, I could always use his. Good idea, except it was never there when I wanted to go anywhere. When he said I should drop you, something snapped. I went to bed and couldn’t sleep. I was so angry. I thought about what you had said about making a decision but then not hanging around for him to change my mind. He went to work, I packed and moved into a hotel.’

  ‘Did he try to get you back?’

  ‘It took him over a week to locate me. He contacted every hotel he could find. I was in a really small one at Nether Edge, and it was as simple as him ringing them and asking to be put through to Julia Hardwick. They did. My brain was in such a state I never thought to tell them I didn’t want anybody knowing I was there. He tried to persuade me to go back, but it wasn’t even up for discussion. We ended the call, I packed and checked out. I made it clear at the next hotel I wanted nobody able to find out I was there, and I’m now in a rented house that he has no idea about. Nobody knows where it is, and I’m keeping that to myself, until all financial negotiations for the divorce are settled. Oliver is being quite reasonable, I should add.’

  ‘And according to Dan, Oliver blames me! Although I must say, he has never changed in the way he treats me, so I’m taking what Dan says with a pinch of salt. His words have come via Simon Banton, and prior to that from Simon hearing his mum say something to his dad, about me giving you some backbone. Did I?’

  ‘Somebody did,’ Julia laughed. ‘I’ll never go back to him. It’s been nearly five months now, and I feel so much more at ease. I don’t want another man, ever, because I won’t take that risk of being controlled, but it doesn’t matter. I’m happy with my own company.’

  ‘Good for you. And you’ve got a car?’

  ‘Yes, it’s parked somewhere across the road. I feel independent again, ready to get on with life. You did that, Liz, you did that.’

  She leaned forward and refilled their glasses. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

  Liz looked puzzled. ‘Talk about what?’

  ‘What’s going on with you. About finding the bodies, about Jake going missing. Is there anything I can do to help?’

  ‘Without clues – although there may be one – there’s nothing much anyone can do except trust in the police to find him. Jake going missing has overridden Gareth’s death. I can’t think about that, about the circumstances. He was having an affair, it seems, with the childminder. Dan suspected, but because it was only a suspicion, said nothing. Me? I suspected nothing. It can only have been a fairly recent thing, because it’s only about four months since I first introduced the two of them.’

  ‘That’s crap,’ Julia said, reaching forward to clasp Liz’s hand. ‘Why would he want somebody else? You’re beautiful, inside and out.’

  Liz snorted. ‘Don’t be fooled, Julia. I know I haven’t been quite as… loving… as I used to be, and Gareth obviously felt the need to find someone who was. But it’s all irrelevant now, he’s gone.’

  They continued to chat, with Julia constantly trying to steer the conversation back to the events of the past couple of days. Eventually, Liz said she was tired. ‘I can offer you a sofa, if you want to stay.’

>   ‘Thank you. I think I’d better – those two officers outside would probably be able to see from my stagger that I wasn’t fit to drive.’

  Five minutes later, Liz was in her own bedroom, feeling irrationally angry. It was clear that Julia hadn’t come to comfort, but to find out the gossip. Liz wished she had offered to send for a taxi, rather than give her overnight accommodation.

  Her head sank into the pillow, and yet she couldn’t sleep. Talking to Julia had forced her to relive the horrors; the blood, so much blood from Gareth, and yet none from Sadie. The scene was re-lodged in her mind now, and she didn’t want it there. She tossed and turned for what seemed like hours; she picked up her kindle deciding not to read the Stephen King she had already started, but to change to something that wouldn’t scare her half to death. She chose a debut novel by an author she had decided might be worth the £1.99 she had paid for the download, and began to read.

  The book was good; she stayed awake. Finally, she gave in and went downstairs to make a camomile tea. Liz didn’t particularly like the taste, but everyone said it helped in getting to sleep. She crept through the hallway, trying not to disturb Julia. It was as she returned holding the mug in her hand that she heard the ping of an incoming text from the lounge. She glanced through the open door and saw the glow from Julia’s phone, as it lay face up on the coffee table. Who texted at 3am? Puzzled, Liz went across, making no noise, and glanced down. Oliver.

  Julia obviously had a different idea of what no contact meant than Liz did. She’d been quite adamant that she hadn’t had anything to do with him since they had split up. Any contact had been through solicitors. And yet he was texting her at three in the morning.

  Liz quietly left the lounge and returned to her bedroom. There was so much about her life that was full of questions; she could manage quite well without the added complication of Julia’s marriage.

  She sat up in bed and sipped at her tea, reading the book. Halfway through a sentence she suddenly thought about the love phone. She hadn’t checked it once since finding the bodies. She reached across to her dressing table and pulled her bag towards her. She took out the phone, and gasped.