by BL Pearce
“Y–Yes, but it’s switched off. I’ve tried ringing her several times.”
Rob took the number down and immediately texted it to DS Will Freemont, a member of his team. He’d triangulate it and see if he could pick up her signal.
He said as much to Lisa, who nodded but kept biting her lip.
“You said you were running late,” Rob continued. “Was there any particular reason?”
Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I overslept – I haven’t been sleeping well lately – and had to rush her. I sent her off without a proper goodbye.” Tears filled her eyes.
That was tough. Rob felt her guilt from across the table. She blamed herself for her daughter going missing.
“Why aren’t you sleeping well?” he enquired.
“What?” She seemed confused. “Why is that important?”
“Please, if you could just answer the question.”
Her shoulders sank in a defeated sigh. “My husband, Brian, and I are having problems. We–we’re getting divorced. He wants custody of Katie.”
Rob studied her for a long moment. She wasn’t an unattractive woman, although right now she looked awful. Eyes puffy and glazed, face pasty-white, with the make-up she’d applied this morning smeared all over it.
Under normal circumstances, he imagined she’d be rather striking. Her hair was rich and glossy, despite its current wild state, her eyes a soft, cornflower blue and it was obvious she took care of herself. He glanced at her expertly manicured fingernails with their little white tips, showing up against her dirty hands.
Barnes was a small village situated in the borough of Richmond Upon Thames and positioned snuggly in a bend of the river. The ‘Barnes Trail’, a circular walk that takes in the riverside and local woodland, was popular with locals and visitors alike, and Rob remembered jogging along it when he’d first arrived in the area. That was back in the days when he still had the time and inclination to exercise. Now, most of his free time was spent pouring over case notes in his armchair at home, his Labrador, Trigger, at his feet, or with Jo.
“And you want Katie to live with you?”
Her gaze rose to meet him. “Of course. She’s my baby girl. I’d be lost without her.”
They could delve into the court proceedings at a later stage. Right now, time was of the essence, so he pushed on.
“Then what happened? You saw her off and she walked down the street to meet her friend. Is that right?”
A sob. “That’s what I thought, but Candy must have gone on ahead. Katie was ten minutes later than usual. They normally meet on the corner at eight-thirty.”
“Candy live nearby?”
She nodded. “In the next street.”
“And you’ve confirmed Candy is at school today?”
“Yes, she arrived by herself.” She took a shuddering breath. “Shouldn’t you be out looking for my daughter rather than sitting here questioning me? I don’t know what else I can tell you.”
“We have people out looking for her,” he assured her. Uniformed police were doing a systematic search of the area as they spoke. If they found anything, they’d let them know.
“I thought she might have gone down to the river,” she stammered. “She likes it there. The gate to the nature reserve is on the way to school.”
“Do they often go there before school?”
She shook her head, her eyes glistening with new tears. “No, not normally. They’ve been told not to. But I take her after school sometimes. We buy some bread on the way. She likes to feed the ducks at the old reservoir.” A sob caught in her throat and she stopped talking.
Rob could only imagine what she was going through. He didn’t have children, but there couldn’t be anything worse than not knowing what had happened, or was happening, to them. He didn’t even want to think about it, so how she was coping, he had no idea.
“Mrs Wells.” His voice softened. “Is there anyone who would want to hurt Katie?”
Her eyes grew wide. He could see the panic in them.
“I’m sorry, I have to cover all bases.” Some questions were hard to hear.
She stiffened. “No, why would anyone want to hurt Katie?”
“To get back at you, perhaps?”
“You mean Brian?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “No, Brian loves Katie. He would never hurt her. Not even to get back at me.”
Rob nodded. “Okay, and what about Sergio?”
She stared at him. “Sergio has nothing to do with this.”
“Are you in a relationship with him?”
She went very still. “Yes, but it’s nothing serious. It’s more of a physical thing than anything else.”
“How long has it been going on?” he asked evenly. No judgement, just the facts.
She fingered the corners of the charcoal sketches. “About four months.”
“And how was he around your daughter?”
“Fine.”
She traced her finger over one of the drawings. It was of a woman standing in front of an open window, smoking a cigarette. She wore suspenders and high heels, and nothing else. The lines were smooth, and the elegant curves of the woman’s body drew the eye. The artist had skill, even he could see that. He wondered if they were hers.
She glanced up. “He adored Katie. Sergio is a decent man. I wouldn’t bring just anyone home.”
“Of course. Well, we still need to talk to him,” Rob insisted. “If you could give us his contact details.”
Her lip quivered. “I was lonely. It’s hard being a single parent, you know?”
Rob didn’t know, but he nodded anyway. She didn’t need his approval. Her personal life was none of his business.
She continued anyway, “Brian left a year ago, when Katie was ten. He–we argued all the time. It was better that way.”
“What did you argue about?” asked Rob.
“Money, mostly. And about me going back to work. Brian thought I should stay at home and look after Katie.” She gulped. “Maybe he was right. If I’d been in less of a rush, I might have walked with her to school. Maybe this would never have happened.” Her voice cracked and her knuckles grew white as she tried to control her emotions.
“You can’t blame yourself,” he said soothingly, not that she was listening. ‘If only’ was a game they all played. He’d seen it many times with grieving relatives. If only I’d come home sooner, if only I hadn’t left her alone, if only…
“Let’s try and focus on where she might have gone, okay?”
“She wouldn’t have gone anywhere. She was on her way to school.”
“You mentioned the nature reserve. What about the park? Or a shop?”
“Not if she was running late,” Lisa insisted. “She’d have gone straight there. The school is only four blocks away.”
“Is that Bromley Prep?”
“Yes.”
They were just finishing up when a door slammed and Brian Wells could be heard shouting, “What the hell are you doing here?”
3
“That’s Sergio,” Lisa whispered, stricken. “Oh, God. I hope Brian doesn’t kill him.”
Rob got to his feet. That was handy. He wanted to meet the new lover and gauge the interaction between him and the soon to be ex-husband. He hadn’t ruled anyone out yet. Both men would have had time to grab Katie and hide her somewhere before coming to the house. When kids went missing, it was usually someone they knew, most likely a relative or a friend of the family.
Mallory had positioned himself between the two men, but he wasn’t happy about it. His usually serious face was etched with worry. Mallory wasn’t the most physical of men, and if they went for each other, he’d have a hard time pulling them apart.
“What’s going on here?” asked Rob, entering the lounge. He put on his booming policeman voice, a trick he’d learned from Chief Superintendent, Sam Lawrence. An intimidating presence was a useful tool for a police detective, particularly in these situations.
Lisa flew into Sergio’s ar
ms.
Nothing serious, eh?
Rob checked him out. A construction worker, Brian had said. He certainly looked the part. Stocky, with a rugged, outdoor complexion and brawny arms capable of carrying large blocks of concrete up ladders. He could see why Lisa might find him attractive. Paint-stained denim jeans and a white T-shirt completed the stereotype.
“That man is not welcome in my house,” snapped Brian.
“It’s not your house,” Lisa retorted.
“I still own it,” he retaliated.
“Are you alright?” Sergio asked Lisa, ignoring Brian and wrapping a beefy arm around her shoulders. He sounded Eastern European, Polish maybe.
“Mr…?”
“Wojcik,” replied Sergio, holding out a grubby hand. “I am a friend of Lisa’s.”
Brian snorted.
Rob caught Mallory’s eye and gestured to the door. It was time for the husband to leave. They had his details and would talk to him again, along with possibly searching his premises. But right now, they needed to diffuse this pressure-cooker of a situation. A little girl was missing and every second counted.
Rob shook the man’s extended hand. “How did you know to come here?”
“Lisa texted me.”
He glanced at Lisa who was still clutching his other arm like it was the only thing holding her up. She bit her lip and nodded.
“Okay, well since you’re here, maybe you can answer a few questions.”
“Sure.”
Nothing in his demeanour aroused Rob’s immediate suspicions, but that didn’t mean squat. Some of the worst killers were the best liars.
“When last did you see Katie?”
“Katie?” He seemed surprised by the question. “I saw Lisa last night, but Katie was already asleep when I came round.”
“When was that?”
“I arrived at nine.”
“And how long did you stay?” He met the man’s gaze head on.
There wasn’t a flicker of hesitation. “A few hours.”
Lisa nodded. “That’s right, he left just before midnight.”
“And did you check on Katie before you went to bed?” This was directed at Lisa.
“Of course. I always check on her before I go to sleep.”
Something in her manner gave Rob pause. It was guilt. Had she been too tired to check on her daughter? After all, her lover had been here. But that wasn’t a crime.
It struck him that they only had her word for it that her daughter had left for school that morning. As awful as it sounded, the two lovers could have got rid of Katie the night before, then concocted this plan to avoid suspicion falling on themselves.
While he wanted to believe her, he knew from experience that the most impassioned plea could be fabricated. He glanced around the kitchen, looking for clues. There was an empty mug of tea on the table, but no cereal bowls and nothing in the sink. If she’d been in a rush like she’d claimed, she wouldn’t have had time to wash the dishes before leaving for work. Was there any proof that Katie had actually been in the house this morning?
“Where do you stay, Mr Wojcik?”
“Mortlake.”
Not far from Barnes, also in the Richmond Borough.
“Can anyone confirm you were at home this morning?”
Sergio looked stunned for a second, then recovered himself. “Um, yeah. My neighbour, Bill, saw me leaving to come here. And I called work to tell them I’d be late.”
There were no outward signs that he was lying, but Rob never took anyone at face value. Useful habit or occupational hazard? He wasn’t sure.
Right, it was time to kick this investigation up a notch. He glanced at his phone, just to be sure. No messages. Shit. That meant they hadn’t found anything.
Leaving Sergio and Lisa in the house, he walked outside. Mallory was talking to an officer holding a large clipboard. His job was to record everyone who entered or left the premises.
“What did the husband say?” Rob asked.
Mallory turned to face him. “He hadn’t seen his daughter since the weekend. They spend every second one together.”
“Did you believe him?”
Mallory shrugged. “Hard to say. He’s pretty angry, which could mask his guilt. I’ve sent a team round to his house to do a spot search.”
In situations like this, when a child’s life was on the line, a warrant wasn’t strictly necessary. It was the lead detective’s call, and Rob had the utmost faith in his DI. It was yet another indication that the rapidly promoted detective was ready to lead his own investigation.
“Good move,” Rob said. “We should do the same here, and at the boyfriend’s place. It’s been less than an hour since she went missing, there’s still time.”
Mallory gave a succinct nod. He knew, as Rob did, that the first few hours were crucial if they hoped to find Katie Wells alive.
“Let’s get eyes in the sky,” he continued. “I’m launching a full-scale alert.”
Mallory got on the phone while Rob called the control centre and asked for an update. As expected, they’d found nothing during the preliminary search.
It was time to get serious.
He rang Chief Superintendent Lawrence and told him they had a kidnapped girl and they needed to act fast. There was no doubt in his mind that she was at risk.
“Christ, Rob. Really?” After the highly publicised Surrey Stalker case, followed by the equally macabre revenge killings earlier in the year, the Super did not need another media shitstorm. Especially, since he was retiring at the end of the year.
“‘Fraid so, sir. I’ve ordered a helicopter and the K-9 unit is on its way. Maybe we can pick up her trail. I’ve also authorised searches on the primary residence and that of the ex-husband and the boyfriend.”
“No ransom demand?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Okay. Keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
He hung up. It was full steam ahead. Rob mentally checked off his to-do list.
Katie’s phone.
Search the premises.
CCTV.
Speak to the best friend.
“Let’s head back to the station,” he barked. First, he had to brief the team and get the ball rolling.
“Helo’s ETA is twelve minutes,” confirmed Mallory, hanging up and falling into step beside him.
Rob updated the sergeant with the clipboard. “A search team will be here soon. And for God’s sake, don’t let Brian Wells back inside. Point him in my direction if he has any questions concerning the investigation.” The husband had struck him as a hot-head and all that pent-up aggression he harboured towards his soon-to-be ex-wife and her lover would only complicate matters. They didn’t need to add an assault charge to the mix.
As they drove away, Rob stared at the dense vegetation in the Barnes nature reserve and then the river Thames as it wound lazily towards Richmond.
“Hang in there, Katie,” he muttered to himself. “We’re coming for you.”
4
DCI Rob Miller strode into the squad room at Richmond police station. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please?”
Computer keyboards fell silent, heads glanced up and the general office murmur quietened down. Even the printer spewed out one last page then ceased printing.
His voice carried over the heads of his colleagues. “We have a missing person and we’re going to need all hands on deck with this one.”
Richmond wasn’t a big police force, twenty-three officers in total, two teams overseen by Detective Chief Superintendent Sam Lawrence, a beast of a man in his fifties with a booming voice that could lead troops into battle.
Rob was the only DCI, but they had two DI’s, Mallory and a burly Scot named Galbraith, who was currently sunning it up in Tenerife with his wife, lucky bastard. Galbraith’s team was present, however, and Rob planned to put them to good use.
Mallory had already darted into the briefing room and wheeled out the white board that they used fo
r presentations. The new glass-enclosed briefing rooms might look impressive, but they didn’t allow for more than a dozen officers at a time.
DCS Lawrence emerged from his fishbowl and stood at the back. His hulking, silent presence a stark reminder of how grave the situation was.
Many of them had heard the original call-out and knew what was coming.
Rob filled them in on the details. “Eleven-year-old Katie Wells was abducted on her way to school in Barnes this morning. Her mother, Lisa Wells, saw her off at eight forty a.m. but the school called at twenty past nine to find out if Katie was unwell. The friend who she usually walks to school with arrived alone. From what I understand, Katie was later than usual this morning and the friend, Candy, didn’t wait.”
Nobody moved, they were hanging onto his every word. The trusty office clock that usually ticked its way through charged silences such as this one had been replaced by a digital upgrade that screamed out the silent passing of time in neon blue.
“The abduction occurred between eight forty and nine twenty this morning. That’s a little over three hours ago.”
Several eyes flew to the glaring blue digits.
“Jeff and Harry, can you get onto the council for any CCTV footage in the area during that window? There’s a council estate around the corner, they might have security cameras, as well as a newsagent further down the road.”
The rookies always did the CCTV work, although more and more they were outsourcing it to civilian operators trained to pick up the slightest clues in body language.
Jeff nodded, he’d been on CCTV duty before and knew what they were in for, but Harry, a rookie DC with exotic, movie-star good looks, gave an enthusiastic, “Yes, sir.”
Rumour was he’d had a bit-part in EastEnders and supplemented his income by appearing in the odd commercial.
Mallory wrote Katie Wells’ address on the white board. In a short while, he’d pin a map of the area beside it, highlighting her street and the route she usually took to school.
“What school does she go to?” asked an American voice from Galbraith’s team. Evan, Rob thought his name was. He didn’t know the soft-spoken Detective Constable that well, since he was also fairly new to the department, but he seemed competent and his desk was always immaculately tidy.
