by A L Fraine
“Don’t guilt-trip me, Nathan, you’re not good at it.”
“On your conscience be it.”
Alan sighed. “Look, all I can say is, he has some… questionable friends.”
“Like who?”
“You’re going to have to work that out for yourself, Nathan. We’re done here,” he replied and stood. “Guard.”
The guard by the door knocked on it, and his friend appeared, followed by George. The two guards moved to Alan’s side. “Come on then.”
“It’s been a delight, Detective, truly it has. Give my regards to Kate, By the way, how’s her finger?”
Nathan didn’t answer the question, but he did look up and catch the smirk on Alan’s lips as he was led out of the room.
George approached the desk that Nathan sat behind. “Did you get what you wanted?”
“Kind of,” Nathan replied. “Kind of.”
16
Pulling up in the hotel car park Jon turned the car off, plucked the foam food carton from the passenger seat, and sat back. Picking one of the lengths of garlic-sauce-covered kebab meat from the warm pitta bread, he stuffed it in his mouth and savoured the greasy taste. He didn’t have one of these very often, but they were just so good, especially after a long day of policing and dealing with pricks like Russell.
What was the deal with him, and why did his girlfriend, Sydney, take such a keen interest in him? That was downright uncomfortable.
Maybe they were one of those couples? Swingers? Perhaps they held sex parties at that mansion and shared partners?
The thought was an intriguing one, but he wasn’t sure. It was more likely that she was doing it on purpose, trying to seduce him for whatever reason. Was it at Russell’s behest?
Jon munched on another mouthful of processed lamb and wondered how Russell might connect to Olivia and her disappearance. He’d met her at that club, they had definitive proof of that, but he seemed like he had no idea who she was. Had he been lying? Sydney had been right there, and might not have liked the idea of him picking up a teenager for a night of passion, so of course, he’d lie if he had actually done something with her.
He struck Jon as the kind of man who would play away, getting his end away whenever he could, mainly because of the attention he got from being in his admittedly enviable position.
The impression Jon had of him was of a used car salesman got lucky. Somehow, he’d become incredibly rich, but if Jon was right about him, he’d guess it was through underhanded means and methods. He’d probably swindled his way to the top. There was no way a man like that got his wealth through kosher business deals.
Or, maybe he was wrong.
But he doubted it.
Well, there was little point in sitting here in a dark car park. He might as well sit in a warm hotel room instead.
Jon climbed out of the car and walked in through the main entrance, pulling his room key out as he went.
“Hey, Pilgrim.”
Jon turned at his name to see Kate sitting nearby in the hotel lobby, beaming up at him.
“Oh, hi.What are you doing here?”
“I changed my mind.”
“About what?”
“About spending the evening with you. I thought it might be nice to get a drink in a more relaxed environment.”
“Oh,” he replied in surprise and then smiled. “Well, that sounds good. What did you have in mind?” he asked as she stood.
“I’m not talking about a wild night on the town, by the way.”
“Good, because I’ve just had a kebab, and I doubt I could manage one anyway. So how about a hot drink in the hotel bar?”
She smiled. “Perfect.”
“Great.”
“So, a kebab?” she asked as they walked through. “Shish or doner?”
“Doner, with a generous covering of garlic sauce. Can’t beat it.”
“Sounds good,” she replied without much enthusiasm. “Just don’t get too close with that garlic breath of yours, okay?”
“No tonsil hockey, then?”
“In your dreams.”
Jon nodded and smiled, but a part of him wondered how serious she was about that. Was she just messing with him, or was she telling him she only wanted to be friends?
“How about that table over there?”
“Looks good,” Jon replied, and before long they were settled in their seats, and a waiter had taken an order of tea for them both.
“So, what do you think of my home?”
“Well, it’s a little crowded for my tastes. I prefer to not share my dining room with the general public, but it’s nice and big.”
“Isn’t it?” Jon replied proudly.
“Did you put an offer in on the house?”
“I did, actually. The seller sent back a counteroffer, and I need to get back to the agents with my reply. Looks like I’ll be bargaining with them.”
“Did you lowball it on your first offer?”
“A bit. Gotta save those pennies.”
“I guess. I hope you get it, it was a nice place.”
“Thanks,” he replied, as the tea was brought to the table and they poured it out.
“Do you want me to do yours?” Kate asked, a mischievous grin on her face. “I can even use my tea making magic and put the milk in first.”
“Stay away from my drink, witch,” he replied, raising his hands and crossing his fingers to make a cross. “I’ll have none of your alchemy infecting my tea.”
She laughed. “So, you’ve been here a few weeks now, and I’ve not really seen you for most of it. How are you settling in? It’s not too bad down south, is it?”
He laughed. “No. In all honesty, I like it, I do. There are some differences, sure. The price of things is crazy…”
“Like houses?”
“Like houses. I could buy a mansion up my way for what I’ll be paying down here. But that’s okay, it’s just the way it is.”
“So you don’t miss home?”
“A bit. I have lots of memories up north, sure. But that’s all, really.”
“Any family?”
“Oh yeah. My parents still live in Mansfield, and my sister is up there too.”
“You have a sister?”
“Yep. Jill.”
“Jon and Jill? Inventive.”
“I know, right? It’s one step away from Jack and Jill.”
“Went up the hill to fetch a pail of water…” Kate sang.
“Oi you, shut it. I’ve never fallen down a hill and broken my crown.”
“Are you sure? I sometimes wonder,” she replied with a wry smile.
“What about you? Any family local? You went to stay with your parents recently, right?”
“Yep. Just my mum and dad, I’m an only child. They live near Maidenhead. They lived in Sutton before that, but moved after my one woman excursion to Ireland.”
“Maidenhead. That’s near Windsor, right?”
“Closer to Slough, but yeah.”
“Aaah, The Office, I loved that series.”
Kate laughed. “Yeah. It’s not as bleak in Slough as The Office made it out to be, though. I used to go out clubbing there.”
“You dirty stop out. I bet you were tearing up the town.”
“We had some fun times.”
“Friends?”
“Of course, a bunch over Maidenhead way. One of my childhood friends lives locally in Leatherhead too. Harper. That’s why I chose to get a flat there.”
“Makes sense.”
“Have you got any friends or relatives down here?” she asked.
“Nope. No one.”
“Aww, how sad. I’ll be your friend.”
Jon snorted. “Thank you, Detective.”
“Anytime.” She smiled brightly.
“So, any idea what Nathan’s up to?”
“No, why?”
“He’s following some kind of lead on the case. No idea what, but I said he could look into it.”
“Yeah. He can
be a bit of an enigma, that one. He’s great, I enjoy his company, but he plays his cards close to his chest. I felt like I never really fully got to know him. He’s a great detective though, even if he does have some interesting ideas about the world.”
“The conspiracy theories? Yeah, that was a little strange. It all seems to come from a distrust of the rich and powerful, I think.”
“Yeah, I noticed that. Which sounds about right for this area where he’s surrounded by it. You can’t fling a stone for hitting a millionaire around here.”
“I bet that only feeds his paranoia. That and dealing with criminals day in and day out.”
“You’re probably right,” Kate agreed. “You worked with him while I was away, though, right? Did you get on okay with him?”
“Yeah, of course. I’m easy, I’ll get along with anyone. He’s alright, I don’t have any complaints.”
“And the rest of the team?”
“No, I like them all. I think I’ve fallen quite lucky. I’ve hung out with them at the pub a couple of times.”
“See, you’re making friends already. It looked like that Sydney was keen to be your friend too.”
“I think she wanted more than that,” Jon remarked. “I half expected her to turn up here and try something.”
“But instead, you got me, the Tea Witch. Sorry.”
“I’ll make do.”
Kate laughed.
17
Geoff awoke with a start, his eyes blinking in the darkness. Had he heard something?
No, he must be imagining things, surely. With a sigh, he closed his eyes.
There was another thud, followed by the sound of movement from somewhere in the house. Beside him, Sylvie stirred too. He sat up.
“Urgh, what’s that noise?” she muttered, her voice low.
“Ssshh, quiet. I think someone’s in the house.”
“What?” she gasped. “You’re kidding.” He could see her eyes bug in the shadows as fear gripped her. He felt the same creeping terror in his chest, and part of him just wanted to hide under the covers and hope whoever it was, went away.
There was another thud, and Sylvie whimpered.
“Shush,” he hissed.
But he couldn’t just hide, he couldn’t just do nothing. He had to do something, Sylvie was relying on him. There were more thuds, getting closer this time, and a reflected light swept over the walls through the doorway.
Torchlight.
Someone was coming upstairs.
Geoff balled his fists as his breath grew short. He could feel a swiftly growing anger boiling up inside of him at the audacity of whoever it was. How dare they come into this house, invade their personal space, and… and…
He didn’t know why they were here. Were they going to try and rob them?
No. He wouldn’t allow it.
Geoff climbed out of bed and inched towards the door. The light swept across the wall again.
Geoff jumped back.
“What are you doing?” Sylvie whispered.
“I don’t know,” he replied, furious, but still scared.
“Shut the door.”
“What?”
“Shut it, and hold it closed. They can take whatever they want, I don’t care.”
“No, I won’t let them.”
“Don’t go out there, please,” she pleaded.
“I’m just going to scare them off.”
“Geoff please, don’t. I’ll call the police.”
There were more sounds of movement coming from the next room.
Olivia’s room.
What were they…? A thought occurred to him, was it Olivia? Was she back? He looked at his wife.
“Is… is it her?” she asked, having the same thought. “Is my baby home?”
“I…” He needed to know. Geoff strode out of the room onto the dark landing and around to Olivia’s room, peering into the darkness. “Livy? Is that you?”
A tall, dark figure appeared before him, stepping into the doorway of his daughter’s room. It was not Olivia.
He gasped. “Huh… who are you? What do you want?”
The figure moved, too quick for him to follow in the darkness. Pain blossomed on his forehead.
“Aaagh,” he cried before the man pushed him. He hit another figure behind him. Geoff tried to pull away but was hit again. He fell and saw a boot come rushing towards his head.
18
Jon walked across the office towards the incident room, his files under his arm as he did his best to get his head in the game.
He’d slept badly, and it was taking its toll on him today. He’d been preoccupied with the case, running through possibilities in his head about what this was leading to and where Olivia might be. The link to the Russian Mob through Vassili was worrying him too. He’d seen firsthand the kind of devastation they could wreak, and had no desire to see that kind of thing again.
And then there was Russell and Sydney.
He didn’t trust either of them, but he felt like Sydney had taken something of a personal interest in him, and that just made him think back to Charlotte and the man who had taken her life, because of what he’d done.
As a result, his mind had been racing all night, leading to him tossing and turning in bed, and having a couple of vivid nightmares that he wouldn’t wish on anyone.
“Hey, how was your night?” He looked up to see Kate approaching with a smile. “Are you okay?”
“Hi. Um yeah, I’m okay, thanks. Just a little preoccupied.”
“I could tell when you walked in. You looked like you were miles away from here.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I just had a bad night’s sleep, you know?”
“Don’t lie.”
“Huh?”
“I bet after I left, you went out and tore up the town, right? You dirty stop out.” She smirked.
Jon laughed. “If only. Two pints and I’m anybody’s these days.”
“Two pints,” she replied, pulling out an imaginary notebook and miming writing in it. “Noted.”
“And by anybody’s, I mean I usually end up embracing the floor, or calling God on the big white telephone.”
“God on the what?”
Jon made a vomiting noise.
“Oh.” She laughed as they walked into the incident room. “Thanks for the tea last night, by the way. It was good to catch up.” She winked at him.
“I had fun too. I’m looking forward to Friday.”
“Me too.” She smiled and walked to her seat.
Jon took his seat and looked up at his team with a smile. “Morning, I hope you all got a better night’s sleep than I did.”
“Yup,” Kate replied.
“Not too bad, guv,” Dion added.
“Where’s Fox?” Jon asked, noting Nathan’s absence from the meeting.
“Don’t know,” Rachel replied.
“No idea,” Kate added. “I’ve not seen him. His coat is on his chair out there, though.”
“Hmm, okay. Maybe he’ll turn up.”
“He wasn’t around much yesterday afternoon, either,” Rachel said.
“Hmm. Well, he did say he was chasing up a lead.”
“Any clue as to what?”
“Nope,” Jon replied. “He was being all mysterious about it. I’ll have a hunt around for him in a bit. Okay, let’s focus on Olivia Cook, what do you have to tell me? Anything new? Has she turned up anywhere yet?”
“No, nothing yet, guv,” Dion replied. “No new reports. Nothing.”
“Alright, then we work the case. I still want into Vassili’s house. Where’s my warrant for that?”
“We should get it today,” Rachel replied. “I’ve been digging a little deeper into Vassili, and it looks like we’ve dug up quite the career criminal. I’ve reached out to the police in Russia, but I’m not sure what we’ll get back. I suspect he was a low-level criminal over there too, though. In fact, I think he might have been sent over here to extend the influence and power of the Mob fam
ily he works for.”
“Good work, but that only confirms what I’d feared. The sooner we get into that house, the better. Let me know as soon as we have that warrant.”
“Will do.”
The door to the room opened, and Sheridan walked in with a sheepish grin on her face. “Sorry I’m late,” she said and moved to her seat before greeting the others.
“Between downstairs and up here?”
“Yeah, well, there was a—”
“Whatever, better late than never,” Jon interrupted and returned to his train of thought. “So, what about Jacob?”
“Still missing,” Kate said. “We’ve got officers parked up close to Vassili’s house, they’ve been there all night, but there’s no sign of Jacob so far, and there’s been nothing incriminating either.”
“What’re the chances of Vassili or Jacob knowing we’re watching the house?” Jon asked, wondering if they’d been made already.
“It’s certainly possible,” Kate replied.
“Okay, well let’s keep them there for now. They’ll be a deterrent at least.”
Kate nodded.
“We need to know more about Russell Hodges too,” Jon said.
“You think he might be involved?” Kate asked.
“In the kidnapping? I honestly don’t know, but I doubt it. Not directly at least anyway. I can’t see him smuggling a girl into a vehicle in a car park, but I just wonder if there’s something dodgy going on with him. I’d like to know if he has any links to any criminals or organised crime.”
“Like the Russians?” Rachel asked, her eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, maybe. Stranger things have happened.”
“On that point,” Dion said. “I’ve put in a request for the CCTV from the club in Epsom, where Russell was photographed with Olivia. I’ll go through it as soon as we get it. I’ve also requested Russell’s phone records and those of his employees.”
“Excellent,” Jon replied. “If that’s all?”
“There’s one other thing I think you should know,” Sheridan said, leaning forward.
“Aye, go on love,” Jon replied, looking at the blonde CSM.
“You were just talking about Russell Hodges, right?”