by BL Pearce
“It could be an accomplice,” he said.
“Who?” Will asked, gesturing to the phone records scattered over his desk. “He doesn’t have any close female friends.”
That they knew about.
Rob sighed. They were probably right. It was beginning to look like Brian Wells may be innocent.
“Let’s get this recording analysed,” he said. “Maybe they can work out what the woman is saying.”
“If she’s the kidnapper,” Will added. “It might be a random person asking Katie if she’s okay. She was waiting on a street corner by herself.”
“It’s possible, although it’s more likely to be the kidnapper, given that it’s in the time frame of her disappearance.”
Will acknowledged his cynicism with a grimace.
“So, are we looking for a woman?” asked Mallory. They’d all been thrown by the latest turn of events.
“Seems so,” said Will.
“It’s bound to be someone who knows the family.” Tiredness prickled at his vision. “We need to speak to Lisa Wells. Tell uniform to bring her in.”
Mallory made the call as he walked back to his desk. “Yes, now. Thank you,” he told the officer who was obviously querying the late hour.
Things were happening. This was the first solid lead they’d had. Normally, he’d update the Chief Superintendent, but Lawrence had left long ago.
Rob sank into his chair and swivelled around so he faced the window. The sky was a dark smudge, the sun having set over two hours ago. Across the road, the gothic silhouette of the church spire reached upwards. Its reverent stillness strangely comforting.
A woman perpetrator put a different spin on things. Serial offenders were hardly ever female, and it likely ruled out a sexual motive – thank God – which left one question.
Why?
Was it trafficking? Suburban west London was a strange hunting ground. Too middle-class. Too settled.
As he ate his sandwich, he pictured Katie’s serious little face, and wondered where she was now. And if she was still alive.
They invited Lisa Wells into the briefing room. She wasn’t under caution, she was helping with their enquiries. Right now, she stared at him across the boardroom table.
Instead of the tatty skirt and blouse she’d been wearing earlier, she wore jeans and a simple T-shirt, her hair tied back in a ponytail. Practicality over vanity.
“Have you found anything?”
Rob cringed at the hope in her voice. “Lisa, Candy had a missed call from Katie this morning…”
Her eyes lit up.
“She didn’t leave a message, but there was a woman’s voice in the background.”
“A woman?” Lisa frowned. “You think a woman took her?”
“It’s possible.” Rob leaned forward. “Lisa, I need a list of anyone you’ve had contact with in the last few weeks, anyone who’s shown an interest in Katie, any friends of the family, even visitors to the house. Can you do that for me?”
“Okay.”
“Now, please. If you don’t mind.” He placed a piece of paper and a pen on the table in front of her.
“I’ll have to wrack my brains,” she said.
“Take as much time as you need.”
She nodded and picked up the pencil.
In the interim, Rob checked on Jeff and Harry who were ploughing through the CCTV footage in the vicinity of Brian Well’s and Sergio Wojcik’s flats.
“The entrance to Brian’s flat is around the back, so the camera on Upper Richmond doesn’t pick him up,” said Jeff. “But I’ve got him on the ANPR at nine-thirty-two heading to Katie’s house. It ties in with his story.”
It did. “Okay, good. What about Sergio?”
“He’s safe too. He leaves shortly after nine-thirty when he gets Lisa’s call. It matches his phone records. He then passes the ANPR camera on Lonsdale Road a few minutes after Brian Wells.”
“He did arrive a few minutes after him,” acknowledged Rob.
It seemed the two men were in the clear.
“Okay, thanks guys. Good work.”
He told Mallory to release Brian Wells, and went to see how Lisa was getting on.
“Making progress?”
Lisa had written half a page of names. She was chewing on the end of the pen. “I can’t think of anyone else.” She slid the list over to him.
He studied it. There were several names he didn’t recognise. “Let’s start at the top.”
They went through them all.
The neighbour, Ed Maplin’s wife, Julia, who popped in to ask for help with the annual street party. Every year they closed off the road and put stalls out so the residents could mingle and get to know each other. Like Jenny had said, they were a close-knit community.
That meant every resident in the street was a potential suspect, since they all knew each other. But the door-to-door enquiries hadn’t picked up anything suspicious, and he had to trust they’d done their jobs correctly.
He suppressed a shiver. What if Katie was only a few houses away, hidden in someone’s attic or basement?
The cleaner who came in once a week. “I can’t afford her more often than that,” Lisa admitted, blushing. She always used public transport and lived in Surbiton. Rob took her details, they’d check her out anyway, but it was unlikely she was involved, she hadn’t been working the day of the abduction.
Candy’s mother was on the list, but they’d already discounted her, along with Katie’s teacher, who’d been at school when Katie was abducted.
“Who is Mrs Patel?” Rob asked.
“Oh, she’s the lady who works in the newsagent around the corner. We often stop there for a cold drink on the way home, or bread to feed the ducks. She knows Katie.” Lisa shrugged.
“Okay, good.” They’d check her out too.
“Karen Prior is a work colleague. She came back to mine for a drink after work last Friday. We sat in the garden and had G&Ts.”
“Does she drive?” Rob wanted to know.
“Yes, it's a red car, a Honda, I think, but I can’t be sure. I don’t pay that much attention to cars.”
Rob asked for Karen’s details. It would be easy enough to check with the DVLA.
“Is Brian still in custody?” she asked, her voice quavering.
“We’re releasing him tonight. He’s no longer a person of interest.”
She heaved a sigh of relief. “I knew it. I knew he had nothing to do with this.”
“He was planning on taking Katie out of the country,” Rob reminded her.
The haggard look was back. “This divorce has been very hard on him. He misses being with Katy.”
“Why don’t you let him see her more often?” Rob asked, not that it was any of his business.
She sighed. “He went off the rails after we split up, lost his job, started drinking heavily. And he looked terrible. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Katie with him.”
Rob could understand that.
“Maybe you guys need to have a talk,” he said, then shut his mouth.
Not his problem.
Lisa nodded. “Yes, we do.”
Rob showed Lisa out.
Suddenly, they’d gone from having no leads to having a whole street to follow up on, as well as the cleaner, the newsagent, and the work colleague.
He fought off the weariness that threatened to encroach and wondered if he ought to attempt a coffee from the machine in the canteen before heading back upstairs.
Bugger it. How bad could it be? He needed to stay awake. Katie’s life depended on it.
13
The coffee was really bad.
Rob grimaced and threw it away, grabbing a coke from the vending machine instead. They had the recent bout of budget cuts to thank for that.
Back upstairs, his extended team was hard at it. No one even considered leaving when Katie was still missing.
He got everyone’s attention. It was time for a pep talk.
Weary faces turned towards
him, fingers stopped typing and the neon blue digital clock flicked to 11:24.
“It’s been fourteen hours since Katie disappeared,” Rob began. “There’s been no ransom demand, which quite frankly isn’t good news, so we have to assume the kidnapper never planned to release her.”
Heads drooped as the reality of what he was saying penetrated.
“If we don’t get her back, she’s not coming back.”
“As you know, the voice on Candy’s phone was female. We’ve sent it off to be analysed but we won’t get anything back until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. In the meantime, I need you to look into all the possible suspects on the list Lisa Wells made this evening. You’ve all been emailed a copy. Mallory and I are going to visit the residents in the street tomorrow, just in case the door-to-door missed something.”
At Celeste’s worried frown, he added, “We’re running out of options.” He wasn’t second guessing her.
“There’s no CCTV in Belgrave Street, but there is on Lonsdale Road and at the roundabout by the Waterman’s Arms, so let’s see if any of the residents’ vehicles were picked up on that during the window of Katie’s abduction.”
Heads nodded.
“Thanks for staying, everyone. I know it’s late. Let’s push through and get as much information as we can, and then call it a night. Try and get a few hours’ sleep before you come back in tomorrow. You’re no use to me if you’re a bunch of zombies.”
A few smiles.
“Oh, and we have the Crimewatch team coming in tomorrow. Harry will be their point of contact, so refer them to him if they try to speak to you directly. We can’t have them getting in the way of this investigation.”
Harry grinned good naturedly at the few joking murmurs passed his way. Being mixed-race with Indian heritage, he was extraordinarily good looking. Slanted brown eyes, criminally long lashes and a model bone structure.
“Right, thanks again everyone. We’ll have an update at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
By four AM Rob was falling asleep at his desk. There was a camp bed in one of the back offices, if he was desperate, but he only lived down the road.
The squad room was eerily quiet, the neon clock casting its blue light over the sleeping computers.
He scanned out and said goodbye to the duty sergeant as he left. Weariness tugged at his body and he stumbled rather than walked the short distance home. Anyone watching would think he was drunk.
It was a balmy night. Tomorrow was going to be hot.
“Christ Trigger, I’m sorry,” he said, as he walked through the door and a golden Labrador launched itself at him. He’d completely forgotten to dash home and feed the dog. Since Yvette had left, he’d taken to leaving the sliding patio door open so Trigger could get into the back garden, and he had plenty of water, but he no doubt was starving.
Rob fed him, then collapsed on the ancient, worn sofa in the lounge. He’d spent many a night on it when Yvette had been having one of her sulks. Now that was something he didn’t miss.
He closed his eyes and tried not to think of Katie. It was impossible. Her small, serious face with her clear blue eyes flickered behind his vision. He was dimly aware of Trigger coming into the lounge and curling up on the floor next to him. Katie’s face morphed into Lisa’s, her eyes glistening with tears.
You will find her? She begged. Please, get my Katie back.
And finally, the images faded to black.
Rob woke groggy, unsure of where he was.
Aah, the lounge. He’d fallen asleep on the sofa. Already Trigger was prancing around him. Feed me, he seemed to be saying, tongue lolling to the side.
Crap, what time was it? He had a briefing at eight.
His phone, on its last bar, read 07:30.
Spurring into action, he fed Trigger, showered, dressed and left the house, all in twenty minutes.
“I promise I’ll take you for a long walk later,” he told a panting Trigger as he closed the door. These long hours were thankfully few and far between, only when he had a big case on. Normally, it wasn’t like this.
Trigger wined pitifully as he closed the door. Yvette had refused to take him when she’d left, even though he’d bought the dog for her. A clean break, she’d said. Nothing to remind her of him.
It was crazy to think he’d had such a detrimental effect on someone else’s wellbeing. And how much she hated him for it.
But that was on him. It wasn’t Trigger’s fault.
At least Jo was also in law enforcement, so she understood. Her own hours were unpredictable, her own caseload erratic and inconsistent. There were times when he hardly saw her, and others when she’d stay for days and he was almost happy. But then she’d leave again, before they got too comfortable.
It was perfect.
Everyone was in by eight, including the Chief Superintendent. No surprises there. He always arrived before everyone else.
Rob could tell by his loaded gaze that he wanted to have a word, but there wasn’t time. He’d promised a briefing at eight.
Katie had been missing for twenty-four hours.
He updated his team on their tasks for the day. Chasing up forensics, analysing camera footage, and digging into their new pool of potential suspects. The tail they’d put on Brian Wells hadn’t resulted in anything. He’d gone straight home after his stint in the nick and hadn’t left.
“That rules him out, then,” stated Mallory.
It was beginning to look like it, but Rob left the tail on him, just in case.
He eventually succumbed to DCS Sam Lawrence’s silent summons and entered the fishbowl. The normally stalwart Chief Superintendent’s pinched expression said it all.
“I don’t mind telling you, Rob, I’m under a huge amount of pressure on this one. Is there anything definite on the girl?”
“Only the woman’s voice on the phone, but we don’t know if she’s the kidnapper. We’re assuming she is, for now.” Because it was all they had.
“What do the tech guys say?” The magical techies who conjured the truth from voice recordings and the twisted bowels of laptops and mobile phones.
“Will is chasing it up, but they need more time.”
The Chief Superintendent sighed. His hand shook slightly as he raked it through his hair. “Time is something we don’t have. Have you released the father?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t look like he had anything to do with it. The only thing he’s guilty of is wanting to spend more time with his kid.”
Lawrence shook his head. “Damn shame.” Once again, his eyes flickered to the family photo on his desk.
“What a way to go out,” he muttered.
“Sir?”
“We have to find this girl, Rob. I don’t want to retire with this hanging over my head.”
It was the first time Rob had heard Lawrence admit he was packing it in. Everyone knew he was, but he’d never come out and said it. Because that would make it real.
“You’ll be missed, sir.”
“Thank you, Rob.” He seemed to pull himself together. “I’ll update the Commissioner; he’s coming in later this morning. When are the Crimewatch crew turning up?”
Fuck, he’d forgotten about them. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I’ve put Harry, I mean, DC Malhotra in charge. He’s had some experience with the film industry.”
“Very good.” The Chief Super nodded. “And let me know the moment you find something. We could all do with some good news.”
“I’ll do my best, sir.”
It was midmorning when the film crew arrived. Vicky strode in followed by a chic female presenter who Rob recognised from the Crimewatch programme. Behind them were the entourage. Sound engineer, cameraman, gaffers and an assortment of equipment.
“That’s our cue to leave,” Rob murmured to Mallory.
Too late. Vicky made a beeline for him.
“Morning Rob, do you have a moment?”
He pointed to his phone. “Sorry, Vicky. Can’t stop. DC
Malhotra’s ready for you. He’ll brief you and help you get set up.” Harry came forward, a smile on his perfect face.
The Crimewatch presenter smiled back.
“But…” Vicky’s reply was lost as he dashed out, followed closely by Mallory.
The south east of England was gripped by a rare heatwave with average temperatures soaring into the mid-thirties. Red-faced pedestrians walked around in strappy tops and shorts, fanning themselves, while inside the police vehicle, they blasted the air con.
Belgrave Street, where Katie lived, was no longer cordoned off, and they drove right up to the house.
“This heat is crazy,” said Mallory, as they stepped out onto the shimmering tarmac. He’d replaced his normal long-sleeved shirt with a short-sleeved one, displaying pale, skinny arms.
Rob noticed Ed watering the pot plants either side of his glossy front door. Obviously not at work today, then.
“Morning,” he called.
Ed glanced up. “Morning, detectives. Any news on Katie?”
“We’re following several promising leads,” he lied.
“I heard you had Brian Wells in custody.”
“We let him go. He wasn’t charged.”
Ed nodded. “Glad to hear it. Terrible to think that the kid’s own father…” His voice petered off. Rob knew what he meant.
“We’ll be by later to have a chat,” Rob told him, then turned to Mallory. “Let’s start at the far end. I’ll take the houses on this side; you do that side.”
Mallory gave a curt nod and marched towards the first house at the far end. A lot of what they were doing was pure gut work. They weren’t just searching for signs of Katie like kids’ toys, items of clothing or supplies, but also for anyone acting abnormally, trying too hard, being subversive, or just giving off suspicious vibes. Rob trusted Mallory implicitly. If there was something fishy going on with any of the residents, no matter how small, Mallory would flag it.
He watched as Mallory rapped on the door. They made a great team. It would be a shame when Mallory moved on but move on, he must. He deserved to run his own murder squad. Rob made a mental note to talk to the Chief Super about it.
Rob worked his way down his side. It was basic policing, usually left to the uniformed division, but surprise was key. If any of the residents were hiding Katie on their premises, they wouldn’t be expecting a second visit.
