“What about my job? Will I have to give it up?”
“Usually employers are sympathetic if people have to take time off in such circumstances. You’ll probably have to confide in Mr Lennard.”
She smiled sardonically.
“I’ll have to think about that. Resignation may be preferable. But thank you. I’m sorry for getting in your way.”
“No problem,” said Andy, trying to summon a grin. Fate seemed not to be on his side today. He’d managed to exchange the company of a brave, independently-minded woman for one who was needy and damaged. He cast another sidelong look at Veronica. He still found her puzzling. He suspected that her plea for help might not be as straightforward as it looked.
“You say your husband’s dangerously unstable. Do you know where he is at the moment?”
“No. And that’s the truth. I know DI Yates doesn’t believe me.”
“Does he have weapons?”
“I don’t know. That’s the truth as well. I’ve never seen him with any: he prefers to use his fists on me. But a man like Matthew would certainly be able to get hold of weapons if he wanted to. Or think of ways to improvise.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
HAVING SEARCHED THE crowd in vain, Tim was worried about Juliet and Verity Tandy. He’d instructed his team not to use pagers but set their phones to silent so they could text each other. “Where are you? Are you OK?” he texted Juliet now. He waited five minutes for a reply, knowing that she would answer immediately if she could.
The spectators’ enthusiasm for the game was dwindling noticeably. Returning to them, he saw Giash Chakrabati stationed unobtrusively near the side entrance and Ricky MacFadyen talking to Arthur Knipes. “I need to leave now,” the old man was saying angrily. “I can’t wait until the end.” Ricky caught Tim’s eye. Tim nodded as he approached them. Ricky understood the Knipes were free to go if they wished.
“Would you like a hand getting back to your car, sir?”
“Certainly not. I won’t require help, but if I do there’s always Susannah.” Mrs Knipes had her back to Tim, so he couldn’t see her expression.
“We’ll arrange for the gate to be opened for you, Mr Knipes.” Tim observed that Andy Carstairs and Veronica Start were deep in conversation. He beckoned to Giash.
“PC Chakrabati, would you mind asking Mrs Start to open the gates for Mr and Mrs Knipes? And when she’s done that, I’d like to speak to her myself.”
Tim was irritated when a few minutes later he saw Giash and Andy walking away with Veronica Start.
“Jesus,” he muttered to himself. “It’s not as if we’re exactly overstaffed here.”
He looked at his phone again. Still no message from Juliet.
The Knipes were moving more slowly than when they’d arrived. They seemed to be arguing. At one point, Arthur Knipes halted his wheelchair and stabbed a finger at his watch. Susannah Knipes bent to say something to him and they moved on again. Veronica Start had opened the gate and was patiently waiting for them to drive through it, Andy still at her side, Giash standing at some distance. Finally, the silver people-carrier edged along the far side of the sweep and through the gate. Veronica Start flicked her remote control tag and the gate swung back again smoothly. Tim and the trio converged outside the main entrance. He spoke to Giash.
“When did you last see PC Tandy?”
“About half an hour ago, sir.”
“Try texting her, will you? Ask her where she is. Mrs Start, we need to get into the school. It’s urgent. Can you open the door, please?”
She looked panic-stricken. “I’m sorry, I can’t. Mr Lennard has the only set of keys we’ve taken out of the building today.”
“We’ve lost sight of him for the moment. We think he’s gone back into the school. I assume you know his mobile number. Can you call him?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t,” she said again. “When Mr Lennard came to the school, he had a mobile jammer system fitted, to prevent students from using their mobile phones here. It means the staff can’t get reception, either.”
“Right,” said Tim. “We’re going to go in. We’ll need back-up. Armed police with a battering ram. I’ll call Superintendent Thornton now. PC Chakrabati, we’re going to stop the netball match. Go and tell DC MacFadyen. I want you to take the names and contact details of everyone present, including the netball players. Then ask them to leave. Make sure no-one stays. Ask the visiting netball team to collect their kit from the foyer and go. Mrs Start, please open the gates for people as they leave but make sure you don’t let anyone else in. DC Carstairs will help you.”
Veronica Start stared at him like a trapped rabbit.
“DI Yates, a word,” said Andy, drawing Tim to one side. “Mrs Start has requested police protection. I think she’s traumatised.”
“She will be fucking traumatised if we don’t find Juliet and Verity Tandy soon,” said Tim, sotto voce but furiously. “Get her organised. I’m going to call Thornton.”
He moved to the shelter of the school porch and took out his phone.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
JULIET AND VERITY had crawled into a subterranean world constructed of elaborately-interlocking rafters propped up at frequent intervals by vertical posts. By the light of their torches, they could see thick drifts of dust amid which several cables snaked along the ground. The structure was about four and a half feet high; they could walk half-bent along the line of posts like miners toiling to a coal face. Roughly calculating the square footage of the area, Juliet was convinced her original hunch was right: they were underneath the school’s stage. If indeed the storage room was used by The Bricklayers as a secret entrance, there must be another trap door somewhere. More nervous than she’d led Verity to believe, she hoped fervently that no-one would find them via that route. It would be impossible to beat a hasty retreat.
“Did you hear that?” whispered Verity.
Juliet paused and knelt down to ease her leg muscles. She listened intently. She heard a voice immediately above her. Although it was distorted by the poor acoustics, she was certain Councillor Start was speaking. She shifted her position so that Verity could sit alongside her. They both listened hard.
“It sounds as if he’s giving a lecture,” murmured Verity, as they accustomed their ears to the warped timbre of the voice.
“. . . and now you see the differences,” the disembodied voice was saying. “Intelligent, yes. Clever, yes. But considerably shorter at the same age. Mathematical aptitude not as advanced. Social skills present, but not as developed.”
There was a pause and some muttered conversation which was difficult to pick up.
“I agree, it’s unfortunate that D didn’t survive.”
“What about A?” Someone else was speaking. “What’s happening to her?”
There was another pause.
“I don’t know, at present. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to collect the information.”
“If you want my opinion, this is all fucked up now. They were meant to meet H, but not like this. They can’t be sent back now. They’re going to tell the cops where they’ve been.”
“I know it’s a problem. We could send them abroad somewhere, give them a new identity.”
“And you think they’ll just go along with that? Let us rip them away from what they know as their families and give them a fresh start? Agree never to come back?”
“It’s worth a try. P would probably agree to it. She detests her ‘family’ . . .”
“Less of that!” said a rough voice.
“Well, she does.”
“I said, shut it!”
“Stop it! We’ve got to agree on a solution to the problem.”
“We all know who caused the problem. Without him there wouldn’t have been one.”
“Perhaps he can be the solution as well. The police already
suspect him, but they’ve got nothing on the rest of us. Tell him to sort out the mess he’s made and get rid of them. He’s done it before, hasn’t he?”
“You mean, keep them where they are?”
“That or dispose of them. One or t’other.”
There was another pause.
“All right, I’ll talk to him. We’ll see what we can come up with.”
“You’ll have to do better than that. You make him do something about this. He’s got until Monday. You can report back to us Monday evening. Use the e-mail address, it’s too risky to meet again. Have we got all the stuff?”
“Yes, Ivan took it out earlier.”
“Nothing left here of ours?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“The meeting’s over, then. Last one here. Let’s go.”
“Through the back entrance?”
Juliet looked at Verity. They both held their breath.
“No. The copper said he wanted to speak to us and we’ll oblige him. At least, I’ll oblige him. No reason to make him more suspicious. I’ll listen to what he has to say. You can all leave through the French windows. You won’t have to speak to them unless they stop you.”
“Did you slide the bolts on the traps?”
“I fastened the one here,” said a deeper voice. “The one at the other end hasn’t been done.”
“If there’s no-one about, we’ll do it from the car park. Otherwise we’ll leave it. Kids’ll get the blame, that’s all.”
“I’d like it done properly,” came the deeper voice, sounding uneasy. “No trace of us using it. Not if we’re not going to come here again.”
Chapter Sixty
TIM AND SUPERINTENDENT Thornton were back at the police station. Thornton had refused to stay at the school, saying that Tim had mishandled events by terminating the netball match early and antagonising the headteacher. He was convinced Juliet and Verity would turn up shortly. Tim told Ricky MacFadyen and Giash Chakrabati to keep calling their mobiles, although he knew it was hopeless if Veronica Start’s information about the mobile jammer system was accurate. The Superintendent seemed to think that her plea for police protection had nothing to do with the case.
“She’s not married to her father-in-law, is she?” he said. “What are you going to do with her?”
“A WPC will take her to hospital to see if she needs treatment for that bruise on her face. Then we’ll try to find her accommodation in the battered wives’ refuge at Whittlesey. She won’t need it long term, but she’ll be safer there until we can locate her husband.”
“Good, good,” said the Superintendent. “But make sure someone keeps an eye on her, Yates. She could lead us to your man yet.”
“What about DC Armstrong and PC Tandy, sir?”
“Put a trace on their phones. If you can’t get a signal in the next hour, we’ll ask for an emergency warrant to search the school.”
“OK,” said Tim doubtfully. If Matthew Start was trying to avoid the police Tim doubted that he’d risk going anywhere near the school. But what if he had, and was holding Juliet and Verity somewhere?
“You need to get your mind back on the case, Yates,” Superintendent Thornton cut into his thoughts. “What are you going to do next?”
“Katrin was going to come in to the station to help Juliet build a storyboard. And she’s got a contact who can get DNA results done quickly. I was going to ask Verity Tandy to go to the Pilgrim Hospital to get a sample from the woman who died yesterday. We’ve got samples from the two girls.” He didn’t add ‘and the baby and Helena Nurmi’.
“I know about that contact,” said the Superintendent. “It’s a private lab. And its charges are exorbitant.”
“Under the circumstances . . .”
“Yes, yes, Yates, I agree. Get on with it. We’ll worry about the budget later. Send someone else to get the sample. Your wife can still come in and have a go at the storyboard, can’t she? I seem to remember she’s good at that sort of thing. Do her good to get back into the swing.”
“I’m sure she’ll still be willing to do it, though she’s bound to be worried about Juliet. We’ll have to find someone to look after Sophia.”
“Who? Oh, your daughter. I was forgetting. Yes, well I’m sure a neighbour or someone will oblige. And of course we’ll pay Katrin,” the Superintendent added, as if his largesse would be impossible to refuse.
Once alone, Tim tried Juliet’s phone himself. Still no answer. Immediately he made a call to the tracking unit. He was damned if he’d wait for Superintendent Thornton’s stipulated hour to elapse. He asked for both mobiles to be tracked.
Wearily he sat down at Juliet’s desk. He called Katrin, explained the situation to her and asked if she could get a babysitter. He’d no sooner put the phone down than it started ringing. He seized it.
“Juliet?” he asked.
There was the sound of tinkling laughter.
“Is that DI Yates? I thought I recognised your voice. It’s Louise Butler here. I was actually calling Juliet. She said she wanted to come and pick up some tissue samples from the woman we know as Lucy Helen.”
“Yes,” said Tim. “I did know about that. It won’t be Juliet now, I’m afraid. I’ll arrange for a squad car to come for the samples, if that’s OK with you.”
“Fine by me. But is Juliet all right?”
Tim had a lightning debate with himself and decided not to dissemble. He wanted to keep Louise Butler on board.
“Very confidentially, Dr Butler, we’re not sure of DC Armstrong’s whereabouts at the moment. I’m certain there’s been some kind of misunderstanding, but naturally we’re concerned. Will you let us know if either she or PC Tandy gets in touch with you?”
“Of course. But . . .”
“I don’t mean to alarm you, Dr Butler, but I think I should tell you the truth. Frankly, I’m very worried myself. Please, just keep calm. If she can’t reach us, I think she may try to contact you. Can she reach you if you’re not on duty?”
“Yes. But I shall be on duty for the next six hours, at least.”
“I hope to God she’ll have turned up by then.”
There was a pause.
“Dr Butler? Are you still there?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m sorry, this is a lot to take in. I actually had another reason for calling Juliet.”
“Anything that concerns me?”
“Yes. Yes, it is. We’re planning to discharge Mrs Grummett later today. There’s no medical reason to keep her here any longer.”
“Does she know this? Or her husband?”
“No. You asked me to tell you first. But . . .”
“Dr Butler, you’d be doing us an immense favour if you could hold her a little longer.”
“As I told you before, DI Yates, we’re not a prison. Or a charity, for that matter.”
“Do you need her bed?”
“As it happens, we don’t. Not yet, anyway. We try to send as many people home as possible at the weekend, as I’m sure you know. But we’ll probably need the bed on Monday.”
“Could you keep her until then? Please, Dr Butler.”
There was a much longer silence.
“I suppose so. But I want you to know that it’s not only against my principles, but probably breaking the hospital’s code of ethics. I could get into serious trouble.”
“I promise you I’ll take the blame if anything goes wrong.”
“I don’t think you can do that. But all right. We’ll keep her a little longer. To be honest, she doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to leave.”
“Thank you, Dr Butler. I’m grateful.”
“You will do everything in your power to find Juliet, won’t you?”
“Yes,” said Tim. That goes without saying, he thought, as he put down the phone. And he didn’t have time to consider i
t now, but at the back of his mind was the passing thought that Katrin’s hunch about Dr Butler was correct.
Chapter Sixty-One
JULIET AND VERITY were listening to clattering footsteps, so loud they must be coming from just above the place where the two policewomen were crouching. Juliet waited until the noise receded before she spoke to Verity. She was still keeping her voice low.
“Did you hear what they said?”
“Yes. If they get a chance, they’re going to bolt the trapdoor that we came through. We’ve got to get there first.”
“We can try. But unless we can move fast enough to get completely outside the building before they come, we’ll have to hide in the lighting store. Or we’ll have to face them, but I don’t fancy it. I think we know enough for them to want to shut us up in any way they can. We’ve got to get out of here unseen to make sure they’re arrested.”
Verity’s hatred of confined spaces was taking hold and she felt close to panic, but for the second time that day took courage from Juliet’s apparent calm.
“I’ll go first. I’ll move as quickly as I can. It’s still going to take a few minutes to crawl back to the exit.”
“OK. I’m going to text Tim. He may still be outside.”
Juliet wedged her torch in the elaborate carpentry above her head and started texting. Verity began to slither back the way they had come. She’d gone only a few feet when she heard Juliet exclaim.
“Fuck!”
“Are you OK?”
“I can’t get a signal.”
“Leave it for now. Come on!”
Juliet put away her phone and plucked the torch from its perch. On her hands and knees, she crawled after Verity, holding the torch awkwardly as she propelled herself forwards.
Verity had reached the enlarged space immediately below the trapdoor.
“You can turn off your torch now,” she said. “I’ll light the way for you.” She was speaking in her normal voice.
“I think we should still keep as quiet as possible,” Juliet whispered. She heaved herself round the last corner and banged her elbow on one of the wooden pillars.
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