I push his hands away. None of this is making sense. How does he know this woman, and what the hell can she possibly want with Millie?
‘Did she lose a child – a child in your care? Is that what this is about? Is it retribution because you let her child die?’
Ash shakes his head slowly, sadly. ‘If only it were that simple.’
‘What does she want? She can have anything, Ash. Tell her, if you know how to contact her. She can have anything at all – but not my Millie!’
He doesn’t answer. His lips are pressed together, and I feel that he’s trying to stop the words bursting out.
‘What? What is it, Ash? Jesus, you’re killing me!’
‘She knows that I’m scared of losing Millie from my life and thinks Millie is the glue that’s holding you and me together. I need to tell you now, Jo, that’s not true. I want to marry you because I love you – it’s not just about Millie.’
I wave my hand dismissively. I don’t care about his reasons. I just want to know what the fuck he’s talking about, and my mind is spinning with ideas about this woman – who she is, what she wants. And how does she know about our problems? The realisation is coming to me slowly, but I’m struggling to accept it.
‘You’re saying she thinks if we lose Millie, we won’t stay together?’
‘Yes, that’s what she thinks.’
‘So by taking Millie…’
He stares at me. ‘She gets me.’
63
Tom was getting an update from the team checking the CCTV footage – although concrete leads were proving conspicuous only by their absence – when he sensed Keith’s presence behind him, clearly waiting for a chance to attract Tom’s attention without seeming to interrupt.
Tom glanced over his shoulder. ‘Yes, Keith?’
‘Sir, we have a name for the body found near Barton Bridge. Martin Hislop. As we suspected, he has a record, but not for anything like this. Domestic abuse.’
‘Did he serve a prison term?’
‘No, he was given a community order. Apparently he showed appropriate remorse and agreed to work with a psychologist to take steps to control his behaviour.’
Tom pushed his hands into his trouser pockets and leaned against the nearest desk. There had to be some link between Martin Hislop and the mastermind behind the abduction. They needed to find links between all of those involved to see where there was an intersection. For now, they only had one piece of the puzzle. They needed more – with one additional suspect in the mix, they might be able to find the connection.
‘Becky, have you got a moment?’ Tom asked as she walked past.
‘Of course. What can I do for you?’
‘You said Rajavi has confirmed that our murder victim was one of the men who took him, and almost definitely the one he hit in the face, yes?’
‘That’s right. He was the cocky one, apparently.’
‘I would put quite a lot of money on this guy not being the brains of the outfit.’
Becky grinned. ‘I think that’s a pretty safe bet.’
‘So there has to be one person who in some way connects Jo, Ash or Millie to Martin Hislop. And that person has to be the one who planned this and recruited him for the job. We need to start with their immediate circle. Can we find any link between Hislop and Steve Allman, or Tessa O’Hanlon, or even Ash’s two siblings? And while we’re at it, have we got any more on the whereabouts of Sami Rajavi?’
‘I’m not sure. Let’s ask Lynsey.’
They walked across to where the young detective was ending a phone call.
‘Zoe managed to get a list of Sami’s contacts from Nousha,’ Lynsey said. ‘She thinks Nousha’s quite worried. Sami’s phone appears to be off, and she says it’s normally never out of his hand. Are we worried enough to request cell-site analysis so we can get his last position before he switched off?’
‘The press conference is still airing on the news. Let’s call all of the contacts on Nousha’s list first. Sami might be avoiding his sister for some reason, but if his friends know the police are trying to find him, and why, they might take it more seriously. Let Becky know how you get on, Lynsey.’
They spun towards Rob as they heard a shout of ‘Yes!’ He punched the air and pushed back his chair, grabbing something off the printer as he strode towards them.
‘Tessa O’Hanlon. I knew I was right. It turns out that was her stage name, now adopted as her own. Her real name is Teresa Feehan. And she had a fairly shitty time of it in the second half of her teens, by all accounts – which might explain why she wasn’t too happy to be interviewed by the police.’
‘What have you got?’
‘Her uncle, Michael Feehan, ran a strip joint in central Manchester. Apparently quite an upmarket one, if that isn’t a contradiction in terms. And Teresa worked for him.’
‘As a stripper?’ Becky asked.
‘It would seem not.’ Rob referred to his notes. ‘She was forced to seduce his top clients – local bigwigs, businessmen, councillors and the like – I believe so they could subsequently be blackmailed.’
‘You say “forced”, Rob. What kind of force was applied?’
‘Coercion. She had a younger sister. Her uncle promised to leave the sister alone – keep her out of it – if Teresa did as she was told. Both parents were absent – not dead, as far as I can see, but just out of it – leaving the kids to fend for themselves with the help of their dear uncle. According to the report, Michael Feehan broke his word after a couple of years, and introduced the sister to his customers – she was thirteen. Teresa begged him to stop, but he wouldn’t. At which point she took a massive risk and reported him to the police.’
‘Brave. What happened?’
Rob stared at the printout, as if not wanting to look at Tom. ‘She was too late. The sister killed herself.’
‘Shit,’ Becky muttered. They were quiet for a moment before Rob continued.
‘Michael Feehan denied everything, and the people she had hit on didn’t want to be named, so they denied the whole thing too. Teresa thought she was finished, but just when she thought her uncle was going to get away with it, one man who apparently had daughters of his own discovered he had a conscience. At significant risk to his own marriage, he came forward and backed up everything she said.’
Thank God for a man with at least some principles, Tom thought. ‘And the charming uncle?’
‘Got fifteen years for blackmail and for causing a child to commit a sexual act. He’s out now, but he’s left the country. I’ll delve a bit deeper. Make sure he’s still where he’s supposed to be and hasn’t come back to Manchester to sink even lower than he sank before.’
Tom thought about all the things Jo had told them about Tessa and her attitude to men, and it was hard to blame her, given her backstory. He knew how it felt to lose a sibling too – he had thought for years that Jack was dead and had tortured himself by wondering if he could have done something to save him.
It was as if thoughts of his brother had summoned him up. Tom’s phone rang. An unknown number, but he knew instinctively who it would be and excused himself from the team.