‘That’s nice.’ Maddie knew he had children, but not how many or what gender they were — until now.
‘I’m not sold on it. Apparently I’m not so good at replying to messages on my phone. I guess they thought that an electric shock every time you get one is the best way to prompt a response.’
‘Does it work?’
‘It does, actually. I still think I’ll go back to the old one, though.’ Harry was fiddling with his phone and looked to be typing something out. Maddie waited until he put it away.
‘Have you talked to them? About Daniel Wootan?’
‘Yes. Well, one of them. They both know.’
‘One of them?’ Maddie pushed her luck.
‘The youngest. The other is away at university. It doesn’t make it easy.’
‘I’m sure it doesn’t.’ Maddie let the silence return again. She thought there might be more to come. She was right.
‘They were devastated. Even Faye was upset and she’s the laid-back one of the two. Melissa, the younger one . . . she’s struggled — with the whole thing. I talked to her, but I still wouldn’t say I know what she’s thinking.’
‘Probably the same as what you are,’ Maddie said.
‘I doubt it.’ There was another pause. ‘I didn’t go to see CPS today. I went to see Wootan’s Probation Officer. It was a mistake. I know I should be staying the hell away.’
Maddie snatched a look at him. He was still looking away. ‘Okay . . . Did you get to see him?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘He assumed I was there because I was upset about our crime figures.’
‘He didn’t know about your history? With Wootan, I mean.’
‘No.’
‘So, no harm done then?’
‘Not yet, no.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Well, he doesn’t care. Not about Wootan and what he might do now he’s released. And he certainly doesn’t care about what he did to go to prison in the first place.’
‘That must have been hard to hear.’
‘It was. I just need to remember that no one else does care. They can’t. I’ve made a career of telling junior colleagues not to absorb too much from what they see and from the victims they speak to. You can’t suck up everyone else’s agony. In the end it’ll take you over. He’s right not to care. It’s just another name on his books.’
‘Is that what this is for you? Agony?’ They weren’t far from the location now. The scenery was just trees and the dapple effect of a weak sun on the muddied road ahead. Maddie slowed up, giving Harry time to talk. Arrival at their destination would have cut him off, and she decided he needed to talk it out.
‘It’s hard. And you can’t take anything for it — nothing deadens it. Then we get the news that he’s . . . I can’t look my own daughters in the eye and tell them why it is happening . . . why that man is a free man . . . why he hasn’t answered for what he did and how he might be getting compensation from the police.’
‘Compensation?’
Harry waved her away. ‘Forget that — that bit’s not happening. I think our friend Vince was a little heavy handed with the arrest. It hasn’t helped.’
‘You know that was his way of trying to do just that, though? Of helping? You should have seen how happy he was to be the one out there knocking on Wootan’s door!’
‘I do. I do know that. He’s a good man — just in the most idiotic way.’
‘That might be the best description of Vince I’ve ever heard.’ She laughed a little, Harry didn’t. He changed the subject.
‘How was your meeting at the café? I assume you went out with Rhiannon?’
‘I did. Uneventful. He didn’t show.’
‘He didn’t? Anything since?’
‘No. I’ve asked the FCR to make me aware of any other calls from that number.’
‘So a timewaster?’
‘I guess so.’
‘That’s very frustrating. The public are quick to moan that there aren’t enough police officers on the streets, but they don’t realise that a call like that can take a lot of resources to manage.’
‘I know. I guess they don’t think about it like that,’ Maddie said. They were nearly at the location but now Maddie was satisfied. This wasn’t the time to tell Harry that she hadn’t tied up quite as many resources as he thought. She’d reckoned it to be a timewaster from the start.
They rounded a bend and the road straightened. She could see a marked car parked up in front of them and over to one side. The door to this car pushed open as they approached and a sergeant with a black jacket tightly zipped up under his chin stepped out and walked towards them. He was at her door before the car had even come to a full stop. He wore a baseball cap that had a little mud-splatter on the word Police. Maddie pushed open her door.
‘Hey, I understand you want to see the find?’ He eyed them both. He looked like he was doing his best not to ask why.
‘That’s right,’ Harry said. ‘Thanks for waiting.’
‘No problem. We’ve completed the search and CSI have done their bit. The scene’s stood down — not that it needed much managing. I haven’t seen a single car in the three hours I’ve been here.’
Maddie peered around at the scenery. The road was a slither of cracked tarmac that was out of place in the thick woodland. Overall it looked like nature had been left to its own designs and was slowly taking back its territory. The road was flanked by muddy gullies that leaked standing water onto its surface while long grass and weeds poked out from its middle. They stood on packed-down mud mingled with stones and rocks that appeared to be the start of a vehicle track into the woods. There was a closed gate around two car lengths in with a green sign announcing that the land was maintained by the Forestry Commission. Maddie’s eyes flicked around, looking for any cameras. Some fly-tipping hotspots had them, but it didn’t seem they were so lucky.
They stopped close to the gate and the sergeant pointed to a small puddle of mud at his feet. ‘Not much to see, I’m afraid, but this was where the dog signalled. There was a rock that had some staining to it. The CSI was able to confirm it as blood and it’s been seized. She took a sample of the puddle water too. She seemed to think she had enough.’
‘Great, thanks.’ Maddie suddenly felt aware of herself. The sergeant was looking from her to Harry and she knew he was waiting for them to reveal the reason they’d driven twenty minutes out to look into a puddle. They didn’t have one. Harry had needed to leave; he had wanted to talk and needed an excuse. This was it.
‘Any tracks?’ Maddie was clutching at straws. She made a show of looking around.
‘More of an indent. CSI took some pictures. It’s too wet to take a mould apparently and there wasn’t enough tread detail. She didn’t think she’d get anything.’
‘Okay. Right then, I think I’ve seen enough. Thanks again for your time.’ They shook hands. Maddie could see the sergeant was still looking over at them when she got back into the car. She was glad of the phone ringing to drag her attention as she drove away.
‘Rhiannon, you okay?’ Maddie answered.
‘Yes, can you speak?’
‘Sure. You’re on speaker. I’m out with Harry following up a lead on Jarod Logan. We’re just coming away.’
‘A lead?’ Rhiannon sounded enthused. ‘What have you got?’
Maddie exchanged a glance with Harry. ‘Well, a muddy puddle really. But it might turn out to be something.’
There was a pause at the other end. ‘Okay . . . well, we might have something on the Alex Thompson case, too.’
‘Alex Thompson?’
‘That is the name of our boy covered in blood!’ Rhiannon nearly sung the revelation.
‘How did we get to that?’
‘We did what you asked. We put out a good picture of the boy to Social Services in just about every county to see if anyone recognised him. We got a hit in Reading. A social worker over there reckons her colleague work
ed with the boy and his family a while ago. She’s given us some information over the phone but I’ve sent two DC’s to speak with her this afternoon. We should know more very soon.’
‘Her colleague?’
‘Yes. And I know what you’re going to say but we can’t speak with her. I put my foot in it a bit actually — she passed away.’
‘Who did?’
‘Sorry! The social worker who dealt with Alex and the family over a period of time died. Last year sometime. But the woman we’re speaking to did a dual visit when they first started working with the family. Apparently, they always try and go out as a pair for the first meeting.’
‘One visit?’ Harry butted in.
‘Well . . . er, yes.’ Harry’s gruff interjection seemed to have thrown their young colleague. ‘I mean they worked with the family for a little while, I think — certainly with the boy.’
‘But your actual informant . . . she only made one visit, is that right?’
‘Er, yes. She went out on the first one. But she’s pretty certain.’
‘One visit over a year ago to a boy of that age? It might not be this Alex Thompson at all.’
‘Noted, sir. I’m sending a couple to go and see her anyway. We’ll get all the detail when we see her. There should be other ways we can confirm it.’ Maddie could hear the excitement ebbing out of Rhiannon’s voice.
‘Send one. You don’t need two on that enquiry. You need people back here,’ Harry said.
‘Oh, okay then, understood. I guess we could do with keeping the manpower back here. I was just thinking it’s quite a way. It might be an overnighter and there might be another enquiry or two to come off it . . . But, yes, I’ll whittle it down.’
‘We’re heading back in now,’ Maddie cut back in. ‘I’ll catch up with you when I’m back and we can see what we have. What are your plans now?’
‘Er . . . Well I was thinking I would go up and speak to the boy . . . tell him what I think I know and see what reaction I get. I don’t see any harm in it and right now it might be the quickest way of moving us forward.’
Maddie was quick to answer before Harry could. ‘Okay, good idea. Let me know if you want me to come with you. I know he still hasn’t reacted to anyone else.’
‘He hasn’t, but he might now. I know you’re tucked up with Jarod Logan. I’ll go and see what happens. It might be that I ask you to go back and speak to him if he still won’t engage with me.’
‘I think it makes sense for you to try first, for sure. Good luck!’ It was easy to read between the lines with Rhiannon. She had been given an investigation and she wanted to deal with it herself and she didn’t want help unless it was desperately needed. Maddie was pretty certain she would have done exactly the same.
‘Thanks.’ Some of the enthusiasm seemed to be back in her voice. Maddie cut the call. She glanced towards Harry. He appeared to be oblivious, his attention out of the window. She swallowed her first reaction, took a few moments and a couple of deep breaths with it.
‘You didn’t have to bring her down so hard, you know. She’s a young detective excited about a lead. We shouldn’t ever beat that out of someone.’
‘Beat? Having a lead is one thing, seeing it is another.’
‘And managing someone with one is another thing altogether. She’s bright. She has a hell of a future.’
‘So you keep saying. She’s naïve.’
‘She’s young! We all were once, even if some of us can’t remember it.’
‘That’s just another way of saying the same thing. And we all had to learn from those that weren’t quite so young. She may have nothing.’
‘And she may have everything.’
Harry fell silent. Maddie hadn’t finished making her point but she knew that continuing now would get her nowhere.
‘And I’m not sure we need to go and see the boy with a possible name just yet. If we’re wrong, we might just lose any of the confidence that boy has in us keeping him safe. It’s a big risk.’ Harry picked it back up.
‘Rhiannon’s made a decision. I think it’s a good one.’
‘You should go with her to see that boy at the very least.’
‘You heard me offer. She’s going on her own. One thing I know about that boy is that he doesn’t like crowds. That young thing she has going for her just might be in her favour. She’s closer to that boy’s age than any of us — by a long way.’
‘If the name is right, she’s making good progress.’
‘I never doubted she would!’ Maddie snapped and immediately wished that she hadn’t. It had been as close as Harry ever got to a climb-down. She needn’t have worried.
‘That was good advice you gave her, about checking with Social Services.’ Harry’s face was creased into something she had come to recognise as a smile. Maddie couldn’t help but smile herself.
‘I knew you couldn’t let that go! Fine, Social Services was a good suggestion of yours and you’ve proved your point about how I should call you for your opinion. You happy?’
‘Well, I am now.’
Chapter 16
Rhiannon knew she was going to have to get out of the car at some point. She didn’t know why she was hesitating. She didn’t need to. She’d already broken the ice by calling ahead and talking to Rose on the phone. Rose had cried, of course she had, but that conversation had meant a lot to Rhiannon too. She didn’t like how she had left it with Rose all those years before.
The house hadn’t changed a bit. Rhiannon had lived there for a very short time — a couple of weeks, maybe. But it had been the most significant couple of weeks of her life. She still believed it had changed her course entirely. When she entered that place, with its mismatched furniture, pinging radiators and creaking floors, she had been a terrified sixteen-year-old who’d just lost the last family member she had. She had never felt more alone, and Rose had been able to change that almost immediately. She was wonderful, warm and genuine, while also seeming to know just how much space to give her. There’d been other occupants with her there, too, another kid who had needed an emergency foster placement just like her and a permanently fostered girl. Rhiannon had caused problems. She hadn’t meant to and the numerous times she had looked back at her time there she still wasn’t sure if she could have done anything different.
When she had left that house she was a different person. Still alone, but more aware of who she was, of what she could be — of what she wanted to be. She started researching police recruitment almost immediately and she would apply the moment she turned eighteen. Now she was going to step back into that house as a police investigator — not yet an accredited detective, but she would be soon. Among a number of lessons she’d learnt in her short time in that house, the most significant perhaps was that she could do anything she set her mind to.
She knocked on the door firmly. She was suddenly happy that she had assured Maddie that she didn’t need anyone to come out with her. This was something she wanted to do on her own and the fact it was her first time leading an investigation as serious as this was only part of the reason. The sun was low and felt warmer than it had for a while. It was beating straight at the door, giving the effect of a flash when it pulled open. Then the same light illuminated the face of the woman who had taken her in at a time when she was at her lowest, at her most vulnerable. Rose’s hand snatched to her mouth, her face creased, her sobs were big, like everything about her. She stepped forward suddenly and swept Rhiannon up in a big hug. When she stepped back her hand was still over her mouth.
‘Look at you! Look at you! Rhiannon . . . you’re a woman! And what a woman!’
‘Hey, Rose. You look great.’
‘A detective! I always said you were sharp. I’ve never known a girl like it. I said that when you were here and after you left . . .’
‘I’m sorry, Rose. I know I caused you problems. I never got the chance to speak with you after, but I never wanted that.’
Rose stepped forward again, the hug was bigg
er still, stronger too, and it pushed the air out of Rhiannon while trapping her arms by her sides and pushing her notebook against her chest.
‘Don’t you apologise! I had no idea what was going on. The police, they came and spoke to me. They told me what happened, what happened to you — to you and to Sam . . . I don’t think she was as strong as you, Rhiannon. She’s doing okay now, but it took her some time.’
‘That’s good. I was going to look her up but it wasn’t . . . it never seemed like the right time.’ Sam was the other girl in emergency foster care at the time. Rhiannon could still remember her cheery innocence and how it had been snatched away in her time in the house.
‘You should. I think she would appreciate that.’
For the first time, Rhiannon felt awkward. Rose had stepped back again and was looking her up and down while biting down on her lip. She looked to be beaming with pride.
‘How’s your latest guest doing?’ Rhiannon said. It seemed to snap Rose out of her daze.
‘Oh, he’s doing okay.’ She lowered her voice and her eyes flickered momentarily to the ceiling. ‘He’s going to need time. Some of your lot don’t seem to recognise that. But come in! Let me put a pot on. We can talk better in the kitchen.’
Rhiannon pushed the heavy front door shut and followed her through. The kitchen was just as she remembered it: the big table that dominated everything was chipped and stained in equal measure; the old range oven against the wall; the same oversized teapot with its tea-stained spout and the scorched-metal kettle on the hob with a bright blue flame bending around its base.
‘I assume he still hasn’t said anything?’
‘Not a word. He’ll do things that he’s asked, so I know he understands me, and if he’s hungry he’ll come down and point at a cupboard or some bread or something. But he doesn’t speak at all. I’m sure I’ve heard him crying in there, though. I went up there the first few times, I wanted to see if there was anything I could do. I’ve lost count of how many children I’ve had through here and just about every one of them has shut me out to start with. I understand it — I’m a stranger. But I make it my business not to be a stranger for long and not one of those kids has kept their barriers up for as long as he has. Sometimes I do get the impression he wants to talk to me and I really don’t think he wants to be sat up in that room all day. It’s like something is stopping him.’
HE WILL FIND YOU an absolutely gripping crime thriller with a massive twist Page 15
