Your Life or Mine

by Vicki Bradley

  ‘She’s gone missing.’

  ‘What?’ Jane sounded shocked.

  ‘She didn’t turn up for work and we’re treating her as a missing person case. I’m the last known person to have seen her on Saturday night when she got on the underground at Waterloo and I don’t think she ever made it home.’

  ‘God.’ Jane’s voice was a whisper.

  To hear her so worried made Loxton’s stomach lurch. ‘Do you know anything about a boyfriend?’

  Jane paused for a second. ‘There was a guy. She met him about six months ago. But then the little one came along and I’ve been out of it for the last few months. You’re better off asking Gabriella; she even met him once. She said he was good looking but a right arsehole and told Emma as much. They had a bit of a falling out over it apparently. Gabriella said he was controlling, always moaning about Emma being at work and not spending enough time with him. The other night was the first time I’ve been out since Joseph was born, so that’s as much as I heard. But try Gabriella; she’ll know more.’

  ‘Thanks, Jane.’

  ‘Let me know when you find her. I’ll be stressing out about her being missing now, imagining all sorts.’

  ‘I keep thinking of Barratt,’ Loxton said. ‘The escape attempt.’

  ‘Don’t start me thinking about him or I’ll never sleep,’ Jane said. ‘This can’t be him, he didn’t really escape, remember. I hope Emma’s okay.’

  ‘Me too. I’d better go.’ Loxton hung up and sighed. She felt bad worrying Jane, but she needed to know everything that had been going on in Emma’s life just before she disappeared.

  Loxton pulled up Gabriella’s name and dialled her. The dial tone rang and she waited, but Gabriella didn’t answer. Loxton didn’t like it. She was probably in custody with a prisoner, her mobile on silent. She was always so busy, still working long hours in the murder squad.

  After a while her voicemail picked up: ‘This is DC Gabriella Caselli. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.’

  ‘Gabriella, call me back as soon as you can. I need to talk to you urgently.’ She hung up. They had to find this boyfriend.

  Patel ran into the office, her eyes bright, clutching some paperwork. ‘The phone company got back to me. I think I’ve got him.’

  Kowalski rushed over to her. ‘Great work. Who?’

  ‘His name’s Luke Pearce. They were calling each other about three times a day, back and forth, until about two weeks ago, when she stopped calling him or answering his calls. And then he started calling her about twenty times a day but never got through. He’s been calling her like that ever since, but stopped suddenly on Saturday night.’

  Why had he stopped around the time she went missing? ‘Have you got his address?’ Loxton asked.

  ‘Not yet. The mobile’s a pay-as-you-go phone, so he didn’t have to register an address when he bought it. But I’ve found out where he works. Google has him listed as an employee of South London Logistics, it’s a delivery company. You could try there while I look for his home address. It might take me a couple of hours. He hasn’t come up on police databases, so he doesn’t seem to have a record.’

  ‘Thanks, Meera.’ Loxton looked at the details of the company. South London Logistics and a local address not too far away.

  ‘Let’s get over there now,’ Kowalski said.

  She grabbed her coat. Luke Pearce’s obsessive behaviour was worrying; the fact that he had suddenly stopped all communication, even more so.

  * * *

  The depot where Pearce worked was quiet; there were a few vans and lorries parked up, but no movement around them. Loxton parked several cars down the street and they watched for a few moments.

  They got out of the car in silence and walked through the large open gates. The shutters were down on most of the garages but there were a few open at the far end. Kowalski nodded towards the office. ‘This place is big. I’ll ask the boss if Pearce is here and which garage he’s in.’

  ‘I’ll stay here and make sure Pearce doesn’t leave – if he’s still here.’

  ‘I won’t be long,’ Kowalski said. ‘Call me if you see him.’

  She stayed outside, keeping an eye on the open garages, but then she heard an engine roar to life from the garage at the far end. If it was Pearce, he was going to drive out of here before Kowalski got back.

  ‘Get them to close the gate, Kowalski, ’Loxton called to him over the radio and sprinted towards the last garage, trying to be as quiet as she could, glancing into the open garages as she went. The place was deserted; the morning shift already out on deliveries.

  As she leaned her head around the open shutter, she heard bangs towards the back of the dark hanger. She saw a Luton van parked up, nose outward, raring to go as the engine idled. She took another glance at the driver’s seat to make sure no one was in it waiting to ram four tonnes of metal into her body.

  The noises sounded as if someone were moving boxes. She crept to the end of the van and peeked around the corner.

  Pearce dropped a box into the rear of the van and then turned towards her. He jumped, startled, as she stood there watching him.

  ‘You scared the shit out of me.’ He eyed her suspiciously. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘Looking for you.’ She pulled out her warrant card. ‘I’m DC Loxton. I need to ask you a few questions.’

  ‘You here on your own?’ Pearce glanced behind her to see if anyone else was there.

  Loxton realized her mistake as Pearce’s eyes darkened. ‘A colleague’s just outside.’

  ‘You’re bluffing.’

  She pulled out her radio. ‘Kowalski, he’s here. The last garage. Close the gate.’

  He eyed her up and then slid his left hand into the van, retrieving a metal crowbar. ‘Are you guys supposed to go out on your own? It’s not really safe, is it?’

  Loxton felt her throat tighten and her breath shorten. She glanced at the crowbar and then back at his face. ‘Put the crowbar down.’

  He looked at the weapon. ‘Depends if you’re going to let me drive out of here or not.’

  Her baton was in her shoulder belt, within easy reach; it would take a second to grab it. There was only half a metre between them, though, and she might not have a full second. She pressed her emergency button on her radio so Kowalski would know she was in trouble. They all would.

  ‘You’re not going to drive out of here, Luke.’ She pulled out her baton in one swift movement and flicked it to extend, locked open. ‘I need to ask you some questions. Put the crowbar down.’

  He nodded at the same moment that he hurled the crowbar at her and sprinted around the van. She managed to lift her baton just in time and the crowbar clanged against it, knocking her backwards.

  The engine throttled louder and she jumped back in case he tried to reverse into her. But the van sped forwards, swerving out of the garage and taking off a wing mirror in the process. She ran after it, watching as it sped towards the gates, which were slowly closing, Kowalski standing by the control panel. Pearce honked his horn angrily at him, the noise piercing the morning quiet, but the gates continued to close.

  The reverse lights suddenly came on. Pearce was reversing at speed towards her. She only just dodged out of the way in time before Pearce’s van raced forwards again towards Kowalski and the gates, gaining momentum. Kowalski’s eyes widened and he flung himself away as Pearce’s van ploughed into the gates, a horrible grinding of metal as they were shunted towards the road.

  Pearce’s van reversed again and then shot forwards, forcing the gates open, the screech of the gates scratching along the van, hurting Loxton’s ears. After a chaotic three-point turn, he sped off. Loxton rushed to Kowalski, who was still on the floor.

  ‘I’m all right.’ He stood up, his face shocked, and started running towards their car. ‘Come on! I’ll call it up on the radio, you drive.’

  She jumped into the driver’s seat, shoving the gear stick into first and hitting the acce
lerator. She turned right, giving chase. She could see Pearce’s rear lights ahead although he’d made significant ground ahead of them.

  Kowalski was barking directions down the radio and calling for other units. She put her foot down, hoping her car would be quicker down the narrow car-lined streets than Pearce’s van.

  Pearce turned left out of her view and she tried to keep calm as her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. It was dark in the gloomy winter morning, her headlights picking out the road ahead. She prayed that Pearce wouldn’t hit anyone and wished she’d tried to strike him when she had the chance. Anything that happened now was her fault. She was already losing her edge on this case.

  ‘This is MikeDelta2, we’re coming up Burgess Park Road.’ The officer’s voice was steady and calm. Backup was on its way.

  ‘He’s heading your way. We’re a few seconds behind,’ Kowalski said. ‘He’s already rammed through a gate and driven at officers; be careful.’

  ‘Roger that.’ The radio went quiet.

  ‘Left or right?’ Loxton asked as they neared a T-junction.

  ‘Go right.’ Kowalski craned his neck, trying to see around the corner. ‘No – go left. He’s gone left.’

  She spun the car left, nearly losing traction. Then she spotted the white van ahead.

  ‘MD2 here, we have eyeball,’ the police officer said over the radio.

  Loxton saw ahead the blue lights of the police van bouncing off the windows around her and Pearce’s van screeching to a stop in front of it, his way blocked. Loxton drove straight behind Pearce’s car, aware that giving him any room to pick up speed would risk Kowalski’s and her lives. She touched her bonnet against his rear bumper and kept her foot above the accelerator.

  One of the uniformed officers shouted at Pearce to get out of the van. There was a horrible silence. Everything seemed to still – everything except the blue light that was spinning on the van, casting an eerie light across the street.

  ‘He could have a weapon on him,’ Loxton said into the radio. ‘He threw a crowbar at me. Approach with caution.’

  ‘Roger that,’ MD2 replied.

  Pearce’s driver door flew open and he was out, running as fast as he could past Loxton and Kowalski. Loxton threw the car into reverse and followed him down the road. The uniformed officers weren’t far behind, giving chase on foot. Kowalski was relaying the events down the radio.

  At the far end of the road another police car appeared, it’s blue light spinning, its siren silent. Pearce had no choice but to run towards it and the two police officers got out of the car, ready and waiting.

  They managed to tackle Pearce as he tried to dodge onto the pavement and get around them. Loxton braked and she was out of the car running towards the group. Pearce was throwing punches wildly at the officers and Loxton slammed her body into Pearce’s, knocking him forwards. She felt him fall to the ground underneath her, and then Kowalski was beside her, the four of them pinning him to the ground.

  ‘Stop struggling,’ the police van driver shouted at Pearce as he knelt down next to the melee with his handcuffs out and slapped them on to one of Pearce’s wrists. The remaining officer grabbed Pearce’s other arm. The reassuring click of the handcuffs made Loxton realize she’d been holding her breath. They’d got him and no one had been hurt. She glanced at Kowalski, who was looking at her with an odd expression, his lips pressed together and a frown on his face.

  Chapter 5

  Tuesday 25 January, 17:00

  There’d been no obvious signs of a struggle or anything out of place at Pearce’s flat. Forensics had gone over it and sent some traces of blood to the lab, but the result would take a few hours to come through. Pearce’s BMW had been completely clean.

  Loxton decided to try Gabriella again before she went into the interview with Pearce. She wanted to hear her friend’s opinion of the man. He hadn’t run for no reason. She went into a side room away from the main office.

  ‘Hi, Alana, what’s up?’ There were voices and music and Loxton had to strain her ears to pick out Gabriella’s voice. Loxton felt a rush of relief at finally getting hold of her.

  ‘Are you in a bar? Can you go outside for a minute?’

  ‘I can’t hear you,’ Gabriella shouted down the phone. ‘I’m going outside.’

  The noise was deafening, life happening in London on a Tuesday evening. Had that really been her, Emma and the others just a few days ago? She marvelled at how everything could change in a heartbeat.

  ‘What’s up?’ Gabriella sounded cheerful, the alcohol working its magic.

  ‘Emma’s been missing since Saturday.’

  ‘Since our night out? Oh my God, what happened to her?’ The voices in the background became quieter as Gabriella moved further away from the bar.

  ‘It looks like she didn’t make it home.’ Loxton tried to keep her voice steady. ‘Do you know anything about a boyfriend, Gabbie?’

  ‘Yeah, I met him once,’ Gabriella said. ‘His name was Luke. He was a real dick. Started flirting with me when Emma was in the toilets, wanted my number. I told him to his face he was an arsehole and when Emma came back I told her he was trying to get my number. We had a little falling out about that. We’d been drinking. She said I was jealous, so I left them to it. She was distant with me for a while but I think she ended it a few weeks back.’

  ‘Did you ever see him again?’

  ‘No, never. He was weird though, Alana. I didn’t like him. Why, do you think he has something to do with Emma going missing?’

  ‘We’re not sure yet.’

  ‘Well, from what I saw, he’s definitely someone to look at closely.’ Gabriella sounded worried, she hadn’t said it, but they both knew that two women a week were murdered by their partners.

  ‘What about Barratt? Don’t you think it’s strange that he tried to escape just last week? I’m worried this is about him. That we’re not safe.’

  ‘Barratt’s in Broadmoor.’ Gabriella’s voice hardened. ‘This isn’t him. I think it’s that prick, her ex. I could tell he had a nasty streak in him. Have you arrested him?’

  ‘I’m about to interview him. Did Emma say anything to you about him harassing her? Or hurting her?’

  ‘No… No, she didn’t. But he’s that type. I’m sure he is.’

  ‘Okay, thanks, Gabbie. Do me a favour and take care of yourself, okay? Can you get someone to pick you up? Maybe stay with friends for a few days?’ Loxton didn’t like the idea of Gabriella out in town. The winter evenings had drawn in and there weren’t as many people out after all the partying of Christmas and the New Year. She already had one friend missing; she didn’t want to lose another one too.

  ‘I’ll head home now. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Keep me updated.’

  ‘I will,’ she replied, and hung up.

  ‘There you are,’ Kowalski said, coming into the side room.

  ‘I’ve just spoken to Gabriella Caselli. She’s convinced that Pearce is no good and that he’s got something to do with Emma’s disappearance.’

  ‘Anything concrete?’ he asked.

  ‘Not really. Just that he was a sleazebag and she got a bad feeling from him.’

  Kowalski nodded. ‘I know what she means; there’s something about him.’

  Loxton walked towards the door but Kowalski put his arm out. ‘Just a minute,’ he said. ‘I need to talk to you.’

  With a sinking feeling, she turned back to him.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she lied.

  He pulled a frustrated face at her. ‘You shouldn’t have approached Pearce on your own; you could have got hurt.’

  Loxton knew he was right; going after Pearce in the garage on her own had been reckless, but instead she said, ‘There was no time and I didn’t want him getting away.’ She didn’t want Kowalski to know how much she was struggling. She needed to find out what had happened to Emma at any cost, to make up for leaving her on her own on Saturday night.

  �
��You should have waited for me. We’re a team. You’re not alone in this.’ Kowalski failed to keep his voice steady. She could see he was worried about her.

  ‘It was a split-second decision. We got him, didn’t we? Another minute and he would have driven out of there and disappeared.’

  Kowalski hesitated before speaking. ‘This case is too personal for you.’

  Was he going to talk to Winter, insist she be taken off the case? She couldn’t have that. ‘It was a bit close, but we got him. That’s what matters.’ She left the room.

  He followed her. ‘I just don’t want you getting hurt, that’s all. Emma going missing, it’s just made me think how anything could happen to any one of us.’

  She kept walking, not turning back to him, wanting the conversation to be over. Kowalski was rattled and she didn’t want him to see that she was too. She felt on edge all the time, like someone was watching her, waiting for her to make a mistake. She was normally so sure of herself, of her place in the world as a protector, hunting out dangerous people and stopping them. But with Emma being missing, everything was suddenly the wrong way around.

  * * *

  Pearce’s eyes were bloodshot and there were deep shadows under them. His solicitor, in contrast, sat stiffly next to him with his pen poised above his notes.

  ‘Why did you throw a crowbar at me and make off in your van when I tried to talk to you?’ she asked.

  ‘I didn’t throw the crowbar at you; it was more towards the floor.’ Pearce looked nervously at his solicitor. ‘I ran because I just panicked. I can’t explain it any more than that. I’ve had a bad time with the police before.’

  ‘You weren’t running because of what you’d done to Emma?’ Loxton stared at him.

  He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘I haven’t done anything to Emma. I had a bad time in the Czech Republic last year with the police there. They can be pretty brutal. I thought you were going to be the same.’