Chasing Can Be Murder

by June Whyte

  Ben shrugged one shoulder. “Simple. Get rid of the fuzz then let Tanya and Dan know what’s happened.”

  “And how exactly do we—get rid of the fuzz?”

  “Well…”

  “Do you evenhave a plan?”

  Ben scrubbed his hand across his face. “Well…”

  Time for my input. “What say we tie and gag the Inspector and lock him in the closet until after we’ve found Erin?” I suggested, grimacing when Scuzz and Ben rolled their eyes at me. “Okay. Okay. Thought you might object to that one, but what else can we do to get Columbo out of the mix? What if the kidnapper is watching the house right now and noting police presence?”

  While Ben paced, Scuzz scratched thoughtfully at a fire-breathing dragon tattooed across his bulging right bicep.

  “If only we knew where they were hiding Erin,” I bleated, unable to come up with a better plan. Caller ID had shown the call came from Erin’s mobile but not where she was located.

  Footsteps crunched on the gravel outside and raised voices signaled our visitors were approaching the front door. Scuzz, one large finger raised in warning, leaned toward us. “Act blasé,” he whispered. “Let the inspector think we believe Erin is hiding at a friend’s house.”

  Tanya, eyes red and swollen, came slamming through the doorway into the lounge room. Worry creased her forehead and her face had that permanently startled expression you often see on a trauma victim. After greeting us with a nod, she strode across the room and stood, back to the television, anger and fear radiating from her like a force-field.

  “Are you sure Erin’s not hiding here, Kat?” she asked, her voice tight. “Have you searched the dog kennels? Under the bed? And what about the wardrobe in the spare room? Have you looked in there?”

  I shook my head, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, Tan. Erin’s not with me. I wish she was.”

  “Bloody Dan!” Tanya snarled, glaring at her ex who’d followed her in. “Can’t leave the pub long enough to pick up his own daughter. What does that tell you about him as a father?”

  Dan looked the picture of misery. In his eyes Erin had always been his one success in life. He adored his daughter. Half the reason Erin was such a pain in the butt was because Dan couldn’t say no to her.

  “God, Tanya,” he whined. “How many more times do I have to say, I’m sorry? You know I’d jump in a vat of boiling oil to save Erin.”

  “But not leave the pub to pick her up.”

  “I told you. My car broke down.”

  “If you spent as much money on that bloody car as you do on booze it wouldn’t break down.”

  Dan sighed. Since Erin went missing, he’d probably blamed himself a hundred times. He put a comforting arm around Tanya’s shoulders. “We’ll find her, love,” he said. “She’s likely sulking somewhere because you wouldn’t take her on the plane with you.”

  Tanya jerked away from him and stomped across the room leaving Dan standing awkwardly by himself. “If she’s sulking somewhere, why haven’t we found her?”

  “We will, love. We will. And when we do, I’m going to lock her in her bedroom until she’s at least twenty-one. No way can I go through this again.”

  Tanya’s only reply was to snarl and turn her back on him.

  DI Adams, who had followed the Ashtons, stood by the doorway, his sharp eyes assessing the situation.

  “Ms. Ashton—” he began, taking advantage of the slight pause in Tanya’s tirade.

  Still snarling, Tanya swiveled around to face the policeman. “And you! Why aren’t you out looking for my daughter? Kat’s already said she’s not here.”

  “I will, Ms. Ashton as soon as you calm down and answer some questions,” he assured her. “I can’t help unless I know what’s happening.”

  Tanya’s face seemed to collapse in on itself. She sniffed, scrubbed a hand over her eyes. “Oh, God, I’m sorry, Inspector. Of course I’ll answer your questions. It’s just that I’m so worried about Erin.”

  “Perfectly understandable.” Columbo dug out a notebook and biro from a pocket deep inside his trench coat, opened the pad and chewed on the end of his pen. “Now...can you tell me how long Erin has been missing?”

  Before Tanya could respond, I answered. “Not long, Inspector. Hey, you know what kids are like. They’re always demanding attention by doing crazy stuff.”

  DI Adams lifted a questioning eyebrow in my direction then slowly turned back to Tanya.

  “Ms .Ashton?”

  Tanya sent me a confused scowl. “Dan reckons Erin’s been missing for almost twenty hours. And contrary to what my best friend’s inferring, it’s not like Erin to demand attention by doing something as crazy as running away from home.”

  Inspector Adams wrote in his notebook before looking up. “Did you or your ex-husband argue with the child before you left her home on her own yesterday?”

  For a moment I thought Tanya was going to self-combust. “Hey, hold it right there, buster,” she yelled, her face and neck an unnatural shade of red. “Before I left for the airport, I telephoned Dan and arranged for him to pick Erin up. My mother broke her leg, you know, so don’t go trying to imply that I’m an unfit parent.”

  “Calm down. I’m not implying anything. All I am trying to establish is why your daughter ran away.”

  “You’re not listening to me!” Tanya growled deep in her throat. “Erin did not run away.”

  This wasn’t going well. I glanced at Ben. Hands in pockets, he lounged awkwardly against the corner of the phone table while Scuzz had jammed himself back into the armchair. They’d both either gone to sleep or run out of ideas, so I guessed it was up to me to get rid of the nosy Inspector.

  The cause of my discomfort chewed thoughtfully on his pen before turning to me. “Ms. McKinley,” he said, giving the collar of his shirt a claustrophobic yank. The rumpled shirt attached to the too-tight collar looked like it hadn’t seen an iron since the day it left the department store. “It appears you were the last person to speak to Ms. Ashton’s daughter. Can you remember exactly what time that was?”

  “Sorry, I had other stuff on my mind when I rang and spoke to Erin.” I looked across at Scuzz. “Do you remember…Theodore?”

  “I would say…around eight p.m.”

  Columbo took his eyes off me and let them rest on the man-mountain jammed into the armchair. He blinked, as though his more thorough examination of Scuzz had left him disorientated. “This um…man…was with you when you spoke to Erin on the phone?”

  I nodded.

  Columbo, eyeing Scuzz like he was an extra from a Godzilla movie, finally sighed deeply and returned his gaze to me. “Before she hung up, the child told you someone was at the door. Is that right?”

  “Yes. But look, Erin and I bait each other all the time. It’s like a game. She probably spun me that line to put me off the scent, hung up the phone, wrote a note saying she was staying with me and then took off to a friend’s house.”

  I gazed beseechingly at Tanya, attempting to send her a telepathic message of apology. By the thunderous black glare she hurled back at me, my telepathic powers were abysmal.

  The inspector passed a sheet of paper, evidently torn from a school exercise book across to Tanya. The paper was covered in clear plastic. “Is this your daughter’s handwriting, Ms. Ashton?”

  Tanya read the words on the paper and closed her eyes, her answering nod almost imperceptible.

  “Okay, now try not to worry,” he said, his voice laced with sympathy. “We get kids running off for the silliest reasons, every day of the week. Your daughter is likely hiding out and treating this as a big adventure.”

  “Erin is an adventurous kid,” I agreed.

  “Ten dollars says she’s hiding in Karen’s back shed or in Susanne’s attic,” said Ben.

  “But Dan has already contacted Karen and Susanne,” Tanya bleated. “They haven’t seen her.”

  “In that case, I imagine your daughter is playing a game with one of her other little frie
nds,” put in Scuzz, dragging his huge frame from the armchair and standing up.

  Tanya, apparently spotting Scuzz for the first time, looked up. And up. And up. She blinked. And by the expression on her face, didn’t know whether to hide or run.

  “Oh, that’s right,” I put in. “You two haven’t been introduced, have you? This is my…umm…Jake’s cousin, Theodore Samuel Parkington the Third, better known as Scuzz. He’s one of the good guys.” While Tanya gulped at the size of the hand stretched out in greeting, I continued with my spiel. “Naturally Erin’s friends won’t tell you where she is, Tan. They’re probably in on the conspiracy too.”

  “You think so?”

  I fixed my eyes on the wall behind her and nodded. I couldn’t look her in the eye. How could I? I was lying to my best friend, stringing her along, encouraging her to think Erin was safe while all the time she was in unbelievable danger. Kidnapped by a monster, so evil, he would hack out a child’s tongue to ensure one of my greyhounds lost at the races.

  Probably sensing I was close to blurting out the truth, Ben strung one arm around Tanya’s shoulders and led her towards the kitchen. “Come on, Tan, what you need is a hot drink. I’ll make a gourmet cup of my famous Taylorbrew, a recipe passed down through three generations of Taylor. Heaped spoonful of coffee, dash of honey, third of a cup of Bourbon…”

  “Thanks for responding to our call, Inspector Adams,” I said as soon as Tanya was out of earshot. “Now you’re helping us in the search, we’ll have Erin home in no time. Kids do the damndest things, don’t they? But no worries, Scuzz has his biker gang out on the roads as we speak and they won’t give up until they find her. Will they Scuzz?”

  “I have?” Scuzz blinked, momentarily at a loss and then his eyes widened and he nodded emphatically. “Ooh yes. Of course I have. Don’t worry, Inspector, my boys come highly recommended when it comes to finding missing persons.”

  “You have bikersout there?” Columbo gulped. “Driving through our streets?”

  Hmm…maybe that wasn’t one of my better ideas. Maybe we’d have to revert to my original plan of tying the Inspector up. I bit my bottom lip. Last I’d seen the roll of duct tape was in the bottom drawer in the kitchen where I stored my rarely used reels of sewing thread, a pair of broken pruning shears, colored binder twine and my emergency wooden stirring spoon. I took a step toward the kitchen when the Inspector’s mobile went off. I stopped. Who’d have guessed Colombo’s favorite tune was Santa Claus Is Coming to Town? Just proves you can never tell a book by its cover.

  “Goddamn daughter,” he growled hurriedly bringing Santa’s words of warning to a close. “Thinks she’s a comedian.” With the phone plastered to his ear, he grunted, assured whoever was on the other end that he’d be there in ten minutes and hung up. “Armed hold-up at Munno Para Shopping Centre,” he informed us beetling a frown at Scuzz. “Three big guys dressed in black leather. All on motorbikes.”

  “Well, well.” Scuzz grinned. “This must be my lucky day.” He brushed a nonexistent piece of lint from his sleeveless leather jacket and flexed his arms, making several tattoos shiver and shake and do other unmentionable gyrations. “If a police officer should ask me where I was when the Munno Para robbery took place, I’ll smile politely and say, I was with your intrepid Detective Inspector Adams.”

  “Mmm…” Eyes thoughtful, Columbo watched Scuzz run a gentle finger under Lucky’s chin. He then pocketed his mobile and slapped his notebook shut. “If there’s nothing more you can tell me about Erin’s disappearance, I’d better check this robbery out.”

  “Of course.” I smiled and took hold of his arm. “Sounds like you have some baddies to catch, Inspector.”

  “Oh, and Mr. Ashton,” he called out over his shoulder, while I tugged more strongly on his arm, “when your ex-wife has finished her drink, I’d like you both to report to the Gawler police station. Bring a recent photo of your daughter and we’ll get straight onto finding her.”

  While Dan nodded, I maneuvered the Inspector in the direction of the front door. I’m not sure whether Columbo suspected me of knowing more about Erin’s disappearance, Scuzz of masterminding the Munno Para robbery, or he was merely captivated by the pungent aroma of Ben’s special brew emanating from the direction of the kitchen. Whatever the reason, he seemed rather put-out when I bundled him through the front door and closed it firmly behind him.

  I figure cops are like boulders. It’s no good asking them to move—you have to give them a good hefty push in the direction you want them to go.

  24

  The message on my answering machine clicked off.

  Through the deathly hush that followed, Tanya gazed at me, eyes wide with raw terror, face drained of any natural color. Beside her, Dan stood ramrod straight. The sound of an empty VB can scrunched in his hand. He snarled and his fingers closed more tightly around the tin receptacle. By the twist of his mouth and the way his brows hooded his eyes, I figured he wished the flattened can was the kidnapper’s throat.

  “I’m sorry, Tan,” I said as I moved toward her, fearing she’d collapse. “That’s why we couldn’t tell the Inspector.”

  She gazed at me. Her face ashen, the dark shadows under her eyes making her appear gaunt. And when she eventually spoke, her voice seemed to be coming from deep inside a well. “That man said he’s going to cut out my baby’s tongue.”

  I tried to hug her but it was like hugging a cement post.

  “Why would he want to do that?”

  I shook my head and with one arm around her uncooperative body led her across to the couch.

  “I don’t understand what’s happening.” She perched on the edge of her seat and stared up at me. “Kat, you won’t let Lofty win, will you?”

  Oh, God, if only it was that easy.

  I shook my head and began kneading my fingers into her shoulders, even though I knew no amount of massage would ease the knotted muscles beneath her jacket.

  “Listen, Tan,” I said, continuing to work on her shoulders. “Don’t worry about Lofty. We’ll work that out later. First, we need to come up with a plan to rescue Erin. Okay?”

  “No. No. No.” Tanya pushed my hands away, her voice rising in panic. “Just do as he says. He’ll let Erin go if you do as he says.”

  “I don’t think we can trust—”

  “You have to follow his instructions, to the letter. Do you hear me? Otherwise...if anything bad happens to Erin...it will be your fault.” Her ruinous eyes met mine then filled with tears. “And…and I’ll never see my little girl again.”

  A slab of guilt the size of a basketball court lodged in my stomach. I watched Ben remove the mug from Tanya’s fingers, slide it onto the coffee table next to the bloated gargoyle statue my sister sent me for my twenty-first birthday, and hunker down in front of her.

  “Trust me on this, Tanya,” he said holding her face in both hands. “There’s no way you can believe a mongrel kidnapper. Even if Kat gives Lofty a sedative and he loses his race, how do we know he’ll let Erin go afterwards? How do we know she hasn’t seen this guy’s face?” He kept his hands on her face as she tried to pull away. “We can’t take that risk. I go along with Kat and say we find Erin and get her out of the kidnapper’s clutches beforeLofty races.”

  I caught Ben’s eye and gave him a thumbs up of approval. In return he sent me a lopsided grin that had my heart skipping several beats.

  Dan, his voice almost unrecognizable, spoke for the first time since we’d played the message on the answering machine. “And when we do find the bastard who took my kid, I’ll put a hole in his head big enough to drive a semi through.”

  Ben straightened. “I know where you’re coming from, mate, but we need to stay calm if we’re going to get Erin back.”

  “Calm?” Saliva flew from Dan’s lips as he fired his snarl at Ben. “Easy for you, Taylor. She’s not your kid.”

  “Dan…” Tanya shook her head.

  “Sorry. Sorry.” Dan threw up his hands and sank onto the l
ounge, his body shrinking as though someone had recently deprived it of air.

  “You’re hundred percent right,” Ben told Dan. “I can’t begin to imagine how you and Tanya must be feeling right now.” He paused, determination visible in the set of his jaw, the fire in his dark eyes. “But what I do know is—we must find Erin. And fast.”

  “I’m with Katrina and Benjamin,” Scuzz told Dan. “It is imperative we find your little girl before anything bad happens to her.”

  “And do we agree—not a word to the police?” Ben’s question was directed at Dan and Tanya.

  “No police,” whispered Tanya.

  Another tense silence followed. It was finally broken by my dude-helper, Jake, who’d sloped through the front door as the Inspector left. With his long spindly dreadlocks falling over his face, he voiced the number one question on everyone’s lips.

  “So…where do we look?” He pushed his hair from his eyes. “No one’s seen or heard a cat’s lick of Erin. We’ve, like, combed the area totally man, and found nada.”

  Jake was right. All very well to say we’d find Erin, but we had no idea where to start. May as well hunt for a square grain of sand on the beachfront at Semaphore.

  “Play the message again, Kat,” advised Scuzz. “See if there are any clues to the little girl’s whereabouts in the kidnapper’s words.”

  Tanya scrambled from her chair, eyes wild. “No. I can’t,” she gasped. “I can’t listen again. He’s going to kill her—I know.” A sob choked her words. “And I-I’ll never see my baby again.”

  I held her in my arms, rocked her in time to a silent rhythm in my head. I’d never felt so helpless. And what made it worse—Tanya was right. If we didn’t find Erin soon she might die. Hell, she might be dead already. The kidnapper could have killed her straight after he left his message.

  Tanya clung to me, shoulders heaving, tears running unchecked down her face. She was my best friend in the world and yet there wasn’t a thing I could do to ease her pain.