‘Kraig with a K liked them young, and Allman managed to get himself caught paying off a fifteen-year-old. It went to court, but at the last minute the girl wouldn’t testify. Her parents didn’t want her name dragged through the newspapers.’
‘God help us. Let’s hope he wouldn’t procure his own seven-year-old daughter for some deviant band member.’
Becky pulled a face. ‘Whatever his intentions, it does seem that he might have contacts who could have kidnapped her for him. Lynsey’s asked the local force to check out where he is, what he’s doing and who he’s doing it with, and they’re going to get back to her. His phone’s off, but then it is the early hours of the morning, so that’s not particularly odd.’
‘He’s not the only one with contacts, is he? Tessa O’Hanlon knows enough out-of-work actors who, if paid enough, might be prepared to become a detective or social worker for an evening. I want every aspect of her life investigated. I hate playing the waiting game with her, but we can’t risk barging in and questioning her until we know more. If the kidnappers are in there, it would be catastrophic.’
Tom was aware that Sandie Burford’s team had managed to get an audio feed into Tessa O’Hanlon’s house, and the bedroom curtains were now closed. There was no evidence of anyone in the house except Tessa, and no other mobile phone signals. She appeared to have gone to bed and all was quiet, so it seemed that whoever had been there had scarpered.
‘According to Sergeant Burford, if her visitor has gone, he didn’t leave by either of the gates, so he can only have gone over the fence. Jo’s call must have alerted Tessa in some way, which in itself is suspicious. Why the hell would you sneak out over the fence if you had every right to be there? No cars were seen leaving the area, so he’s left on foot, in this crappy weather. Apparently it’s turned to sleet out there now. I’m hoping it doesn’t snow.’ Tom was thinking of Louisa and what might happen if the roads became icy and he was stuck here. ‘Ideally we want whoever was in there with her to come back – then we can move.’
‘What about the descriptions Jo gave Zoe of the detectives who came to the house?’ Rob asked.
‘Very vague,’ Becky said with a frown. ‘She was too focused on Ash to look closely at the first two. They were ordinary – nothing stood out. She spent more time with the other two and described the fake social worker as being tall, thin, with a tight mouth. The detective with her was overweight, with a florid complexion. Looked like a drinker, she said.’
‘Whoever those two were, I’m certain they’re not the masterminds behind this kidnap, abduction, whatever the hell it is. It’s too clever, and they wouldn’t expose themselves to the threat of being identified.’
Tom was feeling increasingly frustrated. They needed the kidnappers to make a ransom demand or at least communicate with Jo to say why her family had been taken. Until they knew what the kidnappers wanted, he felt as if they were in straitjackets, constrained by all that they couldn’t do or say.
And whoever the kidnappers were, they seemed set on making Jo wait.
28
It was the cold that woke Ash. His body was shaking so violently that he was scared he would bite through his own tongue. He didn’t know where he was or how he’d got there, just that he was lying on frozen ground in a muddy hollow filled with icy water.
What had happened? His last memory was of eating meat and potato pie, worrying about the future – the lies he’d told, the mistakes he’d made – and wondering if he could ever put things right, or whether it was too late.
Then he remembered falling, but falling from where? He’d jumped – he remembered that – into the dark. He didn’t think the ground was too far down, but he must have fallen badly and bumped his head. He had a sense that he had been running through the dark night, the rain soaking him. Why was he running? How did he fall? From what? Where?
He lifted his head, brutal pain throbbing with every movement, pounding as if the pumping blood wanted to burst through his skull. He had to get up, or he would freeze to death.
He looked around, but he could see only blackness. The sky to one side of him glowed with the amber cast of street-lights, but they seemed far away, beyond his reach. His arms felt useless, numb where he must have been lying on them, and he tried to move his legs.
He screamed in agony. He couldn’t see his left leg, but he knew without a doubt that his ankle, or maybe the tibia, was broken.
He felt the stinging bite of the glacial water as it pierced his jeans. He wasn’t going anywhere, but unless he moved, he was going to die.
For a moment he wondered if he deserved it.
29
I can’t believe I slept. I feel so guilty. What right do I have to sleep when those I love most are missing, maybe hurting and undoubtedly terrified? What must Millie be thinking now? Does she believe I’ve deserted her? I promised her she would be home soon. I lied to her – something I swore I would never do.
After what seemed like hours of nothing happening, Becky took my phone and promised to keep it with her so I could have some peace – some time alone. She offered me a bed again, but I didn’t want to leave this room. It feels like my safe space. I want to stay here so that if anything should happen, I will be the first to know. But nothing has.
Zoe, the young family liaison officer with the kind freckly face, has tried her best to look after me, but I asked if she would mind giving me some time alone, and as the door closed behind her I allowed myself to fall apart. It may be true that crying never solves anything, but surely it’s nature’s way of releasing tension? I would have liked to scream and hit things, but I didn’t have the energy. All I had was the dull ache of loss.
The crying must have worn me out, and I think I was asleep for about two hours. I am ashamed of every single minute. As I jerk awake, my first thought is: What’s changed? Surely something must have happened while I was sleeping. It’s twelve hours since they were taken. There must be some news by now. So why haven’t they woken me?
I push myself up from the sofa. I need the bathroom, so I head to the corridor.
In the Ladies I look at myself in the mirror and find it hard to believe that, pale and hollow-eyed as I am, I am still recognisable as me. I don’t feel like me.
I splash my face with cold water and open the door. A short distance along the corridor I see Rob punching a keypad and disappearing into a room. In the brief moment that the door is fully open I hear the sound of talking and glimpse people moving around. It has to be the incident room that Tom told me about.
I hurry towards it and reach the door just before the lock catches. I’m not sure if I’m allowed in or not, but it’s my family that’s in danger, so I don’t really care. I push it open before I can give myself time to think.
Rob is on the phone, and a couple of other officers are sitting at monitors. It must be after six in the morning, but they’re all still here, trying to find my family. Tom is standing staring at a whiteboard. I see pictures of Ash, Millie, a recent photo of Steve Allman looking much older and smarter than the man I knew nearly eight years ago, and an elderly Middle Eastern man who I guess is Ash’s dad. There are pictures of me, Tessa and the kids too – Nousha posing as she always does, and Sami caught unawares and looking much younger than his thirty years. There’s another board covered in writing, but I don’t look at that. I can’t take my eyes off the photo of Millie.