‘Anson, don’t do anything… illegal.’
‘Don’t worry, Loxton. I won’t involve you. You just focus on Barratt. I’ll see what the underworld knows.’
If he was perfectly okay with breaking into a police officer’s home out of hours, Loxton dreaded to think what he’d do to criminals to find out what he wanted.
‘Anson, I’m sorry.’ She knew police relationships could be intense. Spending every day together, death on the periphery at times. It must have been all-consuming, and now Sarah was gone.
‘Sarah talked very highly of you. She said you had a knack for solving murder cases. She said you couldn’t switch off; whatever the question was, you would always be rolling it over in your mind, looking at every angle. She wished you’d kept in contact more. Kept telling me I should get you on the team while I could, before you went back to murder or for promotion.’
Loxton could imagine Sarah trying to help her out like that. ‘We’ll find her.’ She wouldn’t stop until she had. She envisaged Sarah being kept somewhere dark, perhaps another disused warehouse. She dreaded to think what would happen to her if they didn’t find her soon.
Anson stood up and put the empty glass down on her coffee table. ‘I want to know any developments the minute you do.’
‘I’ll call you when I can.’ Loxton didn’t like this, but what choice did she have? She watched him leave, but at the door he stopped and looked back at her.
‘Loxton, be careful. This isn’t going to end well for anyone.’
‘I know,’ she said and double-locked the door the moment he was gone. She put the chain across and then rested her forehead against the solid oak door. She shivered at the thought that Anson had caught her unawares like that, but perhaps she should be grateful it was him waiting for her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone else had been in here before him.
She walked around her flat more carefully, trying to see if anything had been moved, anything taken. Everything seemed to be in order, but then she noticed that her bookcase looked different somehow. She went to the middle shelf, checking between the books for her diary, which she kept hidden in between two large tedious police manuals. It was there, but it wasn’t pushed to the very back, which is where she always kept it. She took it out and leafed through the pages. It looked the same, but somehow it wasn’t hers anymore, it felt like someone else had been reading it.
It wasn’t safe to stay in her flat anymore. She would get a hotel room. She headed to her bedroom to pack, taking her diary with her. She wasn’t going to sleep here tonight or any other night soon. Anson had scared her. Perhaps that had been his intention all along. Well, it had worked. She wasn’t going to let herself become the next victim.
PART 3 GABRIELLA
Chapter 18
Friday 28 January, 23:10
Gabriella came to and realized she was being tossed from side to side in a car trunk. The streetlight seeped through the glass tail lights and tiny gaps in the seals of the boot. It was hard to see, but already her eyes were adjusting to the gloom.
Her head hurt and she felt sick and groggy, like when you wake from a hangover. But this was much worse.
How had she got here? For a moment she had no idea. Then it came back to her. She’d been walking home after work. There’d been a scream, barely audible from an alleyway to her side. Probably a fox, but her instincts had kicked in, so she’d run down it to take a look, imagining a woman in distress.
She’d taken her mobile out of her pocket as she ran. She’d pulled up short, hanging back to assess the situation, rather than blindly running into danger. She hadn’t seen anyone, not even a fox. And then she’d spotted it. A mobile in the middle of the alleyway. The noise had been coming from there, human and animal at the same time. At that moment she realized how stupid she’d been. Loxton had warned her.
She’d stabbed frantically at her phone, trying to dial 999 and seeing Rosa’s name on her screen as she spun around, but it was too late. That was all she could remember. That screaming voice and her own rising with it. And then this, whatever this was. Her head was swimming and it wasn’t just the motion of the car. She probably had a low-level concussion, but she was awake at least.
She thought of Rosa, worried sick alone at the flat. She had to get out of this for her. She was all Rosa had left in the world, now that both their parents were dead.
She looked around her for some chance of escape. Beside her was a heavy sports bag. Next to it was a dark grey satchel, which was tied loosely, and if she craned her neck she could see gleaming metal. It was a chef’s professional knife set. She’d seen them on cookery programmes.
She let out a low moan of despair, muffled by the gag tied tightly around her mouth. It wasn’t loose. Salvation was so close, if she could just reach a knife, but her hands were bound behind her back to her ankles and these knots weren’t coming undone.
The blood supply to her hands and feet had been compromised and they had gone numb and tingly. If she could roll over to the knives she doubted if her hands would work well enough that she wouldn’t just end up cutting her own fingers off by mistake.
She wondered if her attacker had left the knives partly on display on purpose. To torture her before the real pain began. She craned her neck towards the sports bag, half undone, and saw more metals objects that looked like surgical instruments. She began to panic as she imagined what they were for. Her breathing became short and desperate. If she didn’t calm down, she’d hyperventilate and pass out.
She decided to focus on the knife set. That was her best chance. This lunatic was going to kill her, she was sure of that. Barratt must have arranged it, to exact his promised revenge at last, to kill her like one of his victims. She shivered, reliving finding them again. They’d been kept tied up in the tunnels and abused until he’d eventually tired of them and choked them to death.
That wasn’t going to happen to her. Her only chance was to free herself with one of those knives and then strike when they opened the boot up. She tried to roll over, so her back was nearer to the knives, her tied hands behind her within reaching distance.
But she couldn’t turn.
Something was holding her back. She craned her neck to look over her shoulder and saw that she’d been tied to a metal hook on the side of the boot. She wouldn’t be able to roll over. With her hands and feet tied behind her, all she could do was stare at the knives helplessly.
She howled in rage and frustration. And then she screamed for help. But the gag muffled her voice. The car speeding along the road drowned out more of it. And the loud bass music did the rest.
Chapter 19
Saturday 29 January, 16:30
Loxton and Kowalski were in the CID office trawling through the CCTV around the warehouse where Sarah had gone missing. There was lots of movement, vans and lorries coming out of the industrial estate at all hours of the day. She noted down registration plates for the team to follow up on, but it was proving to be a mammoth task.
Meyer came into the office, his face clouded.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘The blood traces found at Tony’s Garage have come back.’
Loxton felt as if her heart had stopped as she waited for him to speak.
‘It’s Nathan Marshall’s. He’s the Uber motorcyclist in a coma who was hit last Saturday around midnight.’
‘That pretty much puts Pearce in the clear,’ she said. ‘He must have hit Marshall and then driven over to Tony’s Garage.’
‘Maybe Emma was with him,’ Meyer said. ‘Or he drove to her house asking for her help and she wanted to turn him in to the police. An altercation happened…’ He was grasping at straws and he must know it, Loxton thought. The timing was too tight.
Winter rushed into the office. ‘Another detective’s been reported missing,’ he said. ‘DC Gabriella Caselli. Her sister has just called it in.’
Loxton’s stomach knotted in dread. Gabriella.
‘I need to get Pe
arce arrested for this hit and run,’ Meyer said.
‘We’ll go and take the full missing person report from Gabriella’s sister,’ she said, looking at Kowalski, who was already gathering his things to go with her.
‘I thought you’d want to,’ Winter said, handing her a printout of the 999 call. ‘Here’s what we have so far. That’s three officers now from the Barratt case, Loxton. Looks like you were right. It could be a Barratt copycat seeking revenge against the team who locked him away. Be careful. Kowalski’s not to leave your side.’
‘I won’t,’ he said.
‘You two lead on it for now. DI Meyer, do you need a hand with Pearce?’
‘No, I’ve got that covered,’ Meyer said. ‘Keep me informed of this other detective going missing. I might have been looking at this wrong.’
Loxton and Kowalski headed to the car.
‘Oh God. Poor Rosa,’ Kowalski said when they were alone. His face had gone grey.
‘You know Gabriella?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘We were good friends when she used to work in Southwark. I haven’t seen her since she was promoted to murder. I can’t believe this is happening.’ He struggled to keep the anger out of his voice.
‘I don’t know what to do anymore.’ Loxton covered her face with her hands as a wave of grief rose and then smashed into her. She felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Kowalski wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight hug. ‘It’s going to be all right; we can do this.’
When she felt in control again, she moved her hands and looked up at him.
‘I’ll drive.’ He held out his hand.
She nodded, passed him the keys and pressed her lips together to stop from screaming.
Gabriella Caselli. She had been the bravest of them. Never taking no for an answer, she was tenacious and as fiery as they came.
Emma dead and both Sarah and Gabriella missing, all of them linked to Barratt. It had to be something to do with him. Her old team were being taken one by one. And it would soon be her turn; she was sure of that. Unless she could stop it.
* * *
Gabriella rented a ground-floor maisonette with her sister, Rosa. It was large and spacious but somehow had a temporary air, every wall painted magnolia, nothing hanging on them.
Rosa was fresh out of university and had just started working in the charity sector. She was shaking so much she spilt the tea she had insisted on making for them. She left her own untouched, instead repeatedly tucking her long wavy black hair behind her ears. She tried to make things normal, to hold on to something comforting, but there was no comfort anymore.
‘Tell me why you think Gabriella has gone missing.’ Loxton vaguely recognized Rosa and then realized they had met at Gabriella’s thirtieth two years ago. A group of them had gone to a swanky cocktail bar on a rooftop overlooking Trafalgar Square where they watched the sunset and the twinkling lights of the city come on. Loxton remembered champagne cocktails and nearly missing the last tube home. And laughing so hard that she’d cried.
‘She’s not answering her mobile.’ Rosa’s voice was so quiet that Loxton had to lean forward to hear her.
‘For how long?’ Loxton asked.
‘She’s not checked her WhatsApp since ten thirty last night. And she’s not returning my calls. I know it seems strange, but she usually answers straight away. Or if not straight away, then she calls me back within the hour. She’s so paranoid all the time; she likes to keep tabs on me, but especially since Emma Robins was murdered. She wanted me to stay with friends but I told her she was being ridiculous. I thought Emma’s murder was a domestic.’
‘What else has happened to make you worried?’ Loxton asked. Rosa didn’t seem to want to say. It was as if voicing her fear made it real. ‘Please.’
‘She… she left this horrible voicemail on my phone last night.’ Rosa’s voice was a whisper. Her gaze had drifted to her hands, which were shaking on her lap. ‘It was like something was happening. I only listened to it twenty minutes ago when I tried to call her again for the tenth time. I never get voicemails; I’ve forgotten how to check them. But when I was trying to work out when I last spoke to her, I saw it. That’s why I called 999.’
‘Can we listen to it?’ Loxton asked.
Rosa nodded and pulled out her mobile, putting it on speaker and dialling 121. She pressed play and screwed her eyes shut, her hands covering her ears. A piercing scream came from the mobile, like a fox late at night, the eerie wail high and long. Then the phone cut off.
‘Is that the only voicemail?’ Loxton asked gently, her own heart racing, her hands going clammy.
Rosa nodded, her bottom lip trembling, and Loxton was struck by how young she looked. Still a baby, only in her early twenties. Far too young for all of this.
Rosa tried to say something, but only a strangled noise came out. She gulped back some tears and tried again. ‘She left the voicemail at quarter past eleven. I was out with friends. We had a few drinks. More than a few. I don’t even remember how I got home. I was dead to the world. Then this morning I had the worst hangover ever and I was in such a rush to get to work. I had this charity fair weekend event I had to go to. I didn’t see her in the morning, but I normally don’t. She’s usually gone before I wake up. Her shift starts ridiculously early.’
‘At 7am,’ Loxton said.
‘When I got home this evening and she wasn’t here I tried calling. She’s meant to cook on a Saturday evening. It’s our weekly routine, so that we spend some time together in the week, and she jokes it’s so I get at least one decent meal. She’s like a second mum to me.’ Rosa flinched as she said the word ‘mum’.
Loxton remembered Gabriella’s mother had passed away just before Loxton had met her. It had happened when Rosa was only eighteen, a few years ago now. Gabriella had assumed the role of Rosa’s mum – she was always talking about her, so proud of her little sister. Loxton had been a teenager when her own mother had died, and Gabriella had asked her for advice. Loxton remembered wishing she’d had a big sister like Gabriella, someone looking out for her, someone going through the same thing to help her.
‘I thought maybe Gabriella had got stuck at work again. A prisoner or something. When a murder breaks everything goes on halt. But normally she calls.’
‘She’s not been to work.’ Loxton felt tears welling in her own eyes.
‘I know she never turned up.’ Rosa swallowed hard. ‘I called the station first. They had her down to take a statement from a victim, but when they called the victim, she said Gabriella hadn’t showed. That’s not like Gabriella. Do you think that weird noise was an animal or the phone crashing or something?’ Rosa looked desperate.
‘Maybe. We don’t know what’s happened yet.’ Loxton’s heart was hammering in her chest. First Emma, then Sarah and now Gabriella. What the fuck was happening? She felt herself going cold and then hot, sickness swelling inside her.
‘The whole station is working on this case, Rosa.’ Kowalski leaned across and squeezed Rosa’s hand, then leaned back.
‘Please, Dominik, find her.’ Rosa looked at Kowalski, her eyes pleading. She burst into tears.
‘Don’t you worry, kiddo,’ he said. ‘We’re on it.’
‘I saw on the news last night that another detective’s gone missing.’ Rosa started to shake violently now. ‘Gabriella told me Emma’s murder was a domestic. It couldn’t be connected to Gabriella, could it? She wanted me to stay at a friend’s, but all my stuff is here. She installed a video doorbell and a burglar alarm. She told me not to open the front door unless I knew who it was and to set the alarm even when I was in. Gabriella’s dead, isn’t she? Just like Emma.’ Rosa’s lower lip trembled as she tried to hold herself together for the answer.
‘We don’t know Gabriella’s dead,’ Loxton said. ‘We’re going to do everything we can to find her.’ The words sounded hollow.
Rosa burst into tears and Kowalski pulled her into his chest and held her there. He looked over at Lox
ton, her terror mirrored in his eyes.
* * *
They’d waited for a friend of Rosa’s to come to the flat before they’d left her and now they sat in the car outside, both silent and lost in their own thoughts. Loxton’s mind was whirring with possibilities but everything seemed to lead back to Barratt.
‘I need to warn Jane,’ she said. ‘I told her to get rid of her mobile and to get out of London, but she’s got to go into police protection.’
‘Do you know where she is?’ Kowalski asked.
‘I have no idea. I told her not to tell anyone.’
‘Maybe you were right and she’s safer off where she is,’ Kowalski said. ‘We still have no idea who’s behind this.’
Loxton nodded but hated the idea of Jane finding out from the news. She tried to call her mobile on the off chance, but it was switched off. At least Jane had taken her advice.
She called Winter and updated him on Gabriella’s disappearance and told him that she couldn’t get hold of Jane.
‘That’s three now from the Barratt team,’ Winter said. ‘Leave Jane Edison to me. I’ll get a team working on it. We’ll track her down and get her and her family into police protection.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ Loxton said, feeling hopeful that they’d be able to find her.
‘Pearce has been arrested. He’ll be interviewed about the hit and run and Emma Robins’s murder, but I really don’t think he’s involved. Alana, I want you and Kowalski to go and see Barratt in Broadmoor. I’ve arranged it for Monday morning; they won’t allow visitors at the weekend.’ Winter sounded annoyed.
‘I’ll see if I can get him to talk,’ Loxton said. The idea of facing Barratt made her heart race, but she needed to find out what he knew.
‘He’s now at suspect status along with anyone associated with him,’ Winter said. ‘I want to know who his followers are on social media, who’s on his email list. Anyone and everyone who’s had contact with him and especially visited him. And how staff think he briefly escaped.’
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