‘This is getting to be a habit,’ Tom said, unable to hide the smile in his voice as he walked back to his office. He could go months – years – without speaking to Jack and this was the third time in two days.
‘I know. Maybe you need to get used to it, because as far as I can tell there is no one looking for me now that Finn’s dead.’
‘That’s great news, Jack. Really good.’
‘Well it is, but I think we need to start using our new names – you know, me, Emma and the kids. You need to forget Jack, Emma, Tasha and Ollie. We’re Pete, Clare, Ava, Billy – and, of course, Sophia now. Surname Johnson. We’ll come up with a cover story of how you and I know each other, and then maybe we can meet. You’ll be amazed at the kids, and you’ll get a chance to meet your new niece.’
‘And pretty soon you’ll have a new niece or nephew yourself. But pleasant as this is, I can’t believe you’ve called me to chat about the family. What’s up?’
‘It’s about the recruiter. There’s lots of chatter about how he put together a team to pull off a clever kidnap. I know you’ve been involved in a kidnap case – I saw you on television. I don’t know if it’s the same one, because there were no details online. If it is, though, he’s involved.’
Tom said nothing. This raised so many questions. Why would a recruiter for an organised-crime group bother himself with a kidnapping if it wasn’t either for ransom or some kind of gang retribution?
‘You’ve gone quiet, little brother. I’ve known about this for a bit longer than you have, so shall I tell you what I think?’
‘Well, you might as well, because right now I don’t seem to have a coherent thought in my head.’
‘Most of the recruitment work seems to be for organised crime – as ever. But if the kidnapping they’re all talking about online is your kidnap, then it has to be personal, unless you think one of the victim’s family is involved in drugs or prostitution?’
‘No, I don’t. The man’s a doctor, and the mother’s an actress – so potentially both could be exposed to drugs more than most – but I honestly don’t believe that’s the case.’
‘Okay. I must stress that this is purely hypothetical, but if the kidnap is something the recruiter has got involved in, it has to be because it’s personal to him, or he’s been paid a shedload of money by someone to put a team together. Either way, you now have several threads that must share a link: the prison officer, the guy who killed Finn in Strangeways – if you know who he is yet – your victims, and possibly the guy who was killed near Barton Bridge.’
‘How the hell did you know about that?’
Jack as usual just laughed. ‘Gang-style execution, but he wasn’t a big fish. Lots of chat about it, the general inference being that he was killed before your lot could bring him in for questioning. I think you’ve got more pieces than you think you have in terms of identifying this person and finding your hostage, and Titan will have other bits. Obviously I can’t stick my nose in there, but I’ll keep monitoring the chat and see if anything else comes up.’
‘How do people get recruited? Couldn’t we put someone in a position where they could offer themselves to see if the recruiter bites?’
‘That’s not how it works, Tom. No one applies. They are approached because their suitability for the role has already been assessed. It only ever comes to light in the chatter because sometimes those who’ve been recruited mention it, although obviously no one uses real names on these sites. They don’t know who’s recruited them, and no one knows how they’re selected, but if you can identify enough people who are linked to either Finn’s murder or your kidnap, it should be possible to find one individual who has come into contact with the key players. You guys are good at that.’
‘I’m going to have to think how to put this idea to the team. They know nothing about the recruiter or McGuinness’s murder, but I think Becky would get it without me spelling it out to her.’
She would know immediately that the intel came from Jack, but Keith, who was a stickler for detail, would want to know the source of the information, which Tom wasn’t prepared to provide.
‘There’s something else. Go careful with who you tell.’
‘What do you mean?’
Before Jack could answer, Becky pushed the door open.
‘Sorry, Tom, but Lucy called. She said she couldn’t get through on your mobile, so she called me. Can you get back to her? It’s urgent.’
‘Shit! Got to go. It might be Louisa going into labour. Call me back. Please, Jack.’
He ignored Becky’s raised eyebrows as he cancelled the call with his brother.
64
The look of horror on Jo’s face as she took in Ash’s words was too much for him to bear. He couldn’t look at her, see the anger and contempt that would be unmissable in her eyes. She would know now that everything that had happened was his fault.
He folded his arms on the table and brought his head down to rest on them. Jo was silent for a moment, then he heard a thud as her fists hit the table and felt the warmth of her breath on his cheek.
‘You shit, Ash. You total fucking shit. This is down to you.’
Her voice broke on the words, and he felt a chill as she moved her body away from his. The room shook as the door slammed behind her. She was gone, and nothing he could say now was going to make things better.
For weeks he had been scared of Jo finding out about his brief, if intense, affair. He’d only started it because he was hurt by Jo’s rejection of his proposal, and had soon come to his senses. Since then he’d done everything he could to end it, but there had always been the danger that she – the woman he had thought so understanding – would tell Jo.
‘I know you want to be with me, so if you don’t have the guts to tell Jo that you want out of your relationship, I’ll tell her myself,’ was one of her favourite lines. She said it as if she would be doing him a favour, but Ash recognised it for what it was. A threat.
He had been walking a tightrope, giving the woman who believed he was the love of her life enough to keep her happy while slowly trying to extricate himself with no harm done. Why had he been so stupid?
Things had come to a head just over a week ago when she had called him during Sunday lunch. He had hurried out of the room, up to his study, pretending it was a call from the hospital.
‘Why are you calling me?’ he’d whispered urgently.
‘I wanted to talk to you. Is that so unreasonable?’
‘Jesus! You know I’m at home with my family.’
He heard a soft laugh. ‘Come on, Ash, you know that’s not where you want to be. You should be here with me.’
Ash had clamped his top lip between his teeth to stop himself blurting out that he didn’t want her. She was a mistake and one he regretted every single day.
‘I know it’s difficult for you to deal with the fact that I have to spend time with my family. I understand how it must feel to be at home on your own when I’m here. But please, let me handle this. Give me some time.’