The Child Catcher (A DI Erica Swift Thriller Book 4)

by M K Farrar

  She missed Mummy and Daddy, and she missed her bunny, too—her special toy that she always slept with at night. Mummy stopped her taking Bunny out of the house with her, ’cause she said she was too old to carry it around with her, but Ellie really thought it was because Mummy didn’t want her to lose Bunny. There had been a couple of times where Ellie had left it somewhere and couldn’t quite remember where, and Mummy and Daddy had had to go back to all the places they’d been that day, trying to find it again. It made them both really angry when she did that, so they’d decided Bunny was safer if they just left him in bed.

  Her chest hurt even worse at the thought of her parents than it had at Livy.

  Mummy and Daddy would be worried about her. One time, when Mummy had picked her up from school and then stopped to talk to Lilia’s mum, Ellie hadn’t noticed and had kept walking. She’d got right around the corner when she realised she was all by herself. She remembered the panic, that bright spark inside her, the pounding of her heart, the shortness of her breath. It had only been for a matter of seconds before Mummy came running, having figured out what had happened and come racing after her. She’d grabbed Ellie by the arm and shaken her and told her not to wander off, but then she’d pulled Ellie into a big hug and told her how frightened she’d been. It had seemed strange to Ellie that her mum said she was the frightened one, when Ellie was the one who’d been scared. What did Mummy have to be frightened about when she was the grownup? Mummy hadn’t been the one who’d ended up on her own. Anyway, it hadn’t seemed fair to Ellie that she was the one who’d got told off. It was her mum who’d stopped to talk without telling her.

  But the memory reminded her how worried Mummy and Daddy would be about her going missing. Would they be angry with her, too? She didn’t think she’d done anything wrong. Maybe she shouldn’t have talked to that person about their lost dog, but she hadn’t actually done anything or gone anywhere with them, had she?

  Ellie thought hard, trying to remember what had happened. It all seemed like a blur. One moment she’d been playing, and then worrying about the poor doggo that had got lost in the park, and then next there was screaming. Everything got all muddled after that. She thought someone put something over her head, and then she smelled something funny—like sweet, but not—and it made her feel sicky, and she didn’t really know what happened after that. All she knew next was waking up here in the dark, lying on the stinky mattress, and not knowing where she was.

  Something scuffed across the floor somewhere to her right.

  Ellie sucked in a breath and pressed her knuckles into her mouth to stop herself screaming. It was the monster! She knew it was! The one with the clawed, grey fingers, coming to get her. She pictured it dragging itself across the concrete floor, its eyes wide hollows, its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth like the ones she imagined the swans having.

  But then the monster spoke, and it had a child’s voice, just like her own.

  “Hello? Is someone there?”

  Ellie Dempsey wasn’t alone.

  Chapter Six

  “What do you mean, you think someone took her?”

  Jack Dempsey was on his feet in the waiting room of the ICU, where Erica had found him, and was pacing back and forth, his fist at his mouth.

  It hadn’t been news Erica had wanted to break to him on the phone, so she’d left Shawn to continue the work with the CCTV footage and had returned to the hospital.

  Erica continued. “We have footage from the park at the time of the stabbing. It’s not clear, because she was partially hidden by a climbing frame, but it looks as though she was talking to someone of an adult size, shortly before your wife was stabbed. When the stabbing occurred, the person grabbed Ellie and wrapped her in a blanket or possibly a large scarf and took her.”

  His eyes were wide. “Took her? Took her where?”

  “That’s what we’re still trying to find out, Mr Dempsey. I have my colleagues working on it right now. So far, we’ve been able to track the person crossing the park with Ellie and leaving via one of the exits. They then used an underpass, and unfortunately, at that point, we lose them.”

  “Lose them? How can you lose them? Aren’t there like multiple cameras for every person who lives in London? How is that even possible?”

  “The camera on the opposite end of the underpass was out, and so we didn’t catch them exiting. We’ve checked cameras in both directions from the underpass, but I’m afraid it does leave a fair amount of time where we don’t know what the person did. They may have got into a car or handed Ellie over to someone else. We’re still working on that and trying to trace all the cars that were captured by CCTV in that area at the time.”

  He stopped and stared, shaking his head. “No, no. That’s just not good enough. There has to be some other way of finding her. You can’t just lose her. Oh my God, what am I going to tell Mae when she wakes up? I can’t tell her that Ellie is missing. Jesus, this is my fault. I was distracted by the stabbing and I forgot to watch Ellie. I should have been watching her more closely!”

  She softened her tone, affected by his distress. “This most definitely wasn’t your fault, Mr Dempsey. No one could have predicted this happening, and of course you were distracted by the stabbing. Everyone was, which is why no one saw what happened to Ellie.”

  His eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Did they do it on purpose? Did someone stab Mae in order to snatch Ellie?”

  “That is a line of enquiry we’re following, yes.”

  “Those bastards. Those fucking bastards.” He turned his anger towards the people who’d stabbed his wife. “And did you manage to track them down? If you find them, you’ll be more likely to find Ellie, won’t you?”

  “Yes, that’s what we’re hoping. We have caught both suspects on camera, but again, they were careful to keep their faces hidden. It’s impossible to cover every corner of the park, and it appears as though they studied the positions of the cameras before the attack. We think they must have removed their hoodies to make it harder for us to spot them exiting the park.”

  “What do you know about these people?” he asked. “You must have something to go on.”

  “We know they’re male. We believe them to be young, though we can’t be certain. We haven’t been able to get a good look at their faces, but it would appear they’re not Caucasian, possibly of an Asian or Indian descent.”

  His eyebrows lifted in disbelief. “And that’s all you know?”

  “For the moment, yes, but it’s still very early days, Mr Dempsey. We need to get the forensics reports back on the crime scene and on the knife, since it’s not long been given to us by the surgeons who removed it from your wife’s back. It may have fingerprints on it.”

  He snorted. “Do you really think that’s likely?”

  “It has been known to happen,” she assured him. “In the meantime, we’ve got every police officer in the city searching for your daughter. We’ve put out a Child Rescue Alert to make sure the public are aware that she’s missing, plus we have the media helping, and her picture will be on television, too.”

  “I should be out there, looking for her. God, she must be so frightened. My poor girl.” He covered his face with his hands.

  “Really, Mr. Dempsey, you’re far more use to us here, where we can find you. How is your wife doing?”

  The energy seemed to drain from him, and he slumped back onto the moulded plastic chair. “She’s out of surgery but she’s still in Intensive Care. I wish there was something more I could be doing. I feel so useless.”

  “You can think for us,” she said. “Think back to anyone who might possibly have wanted to take your daughter. Any confrontations with anyone? Or family members, or even tradespeople who’ve been in your home recently? Any possible connection might help us. What about Mae’s family? Do they see Ellie often?”

  “It’s only Mae’s mum and dad. She’s an only child, and yes, they see Ellie whenever they can. Mae’s mum wanted to come to the hospital, b
ut I persuaded her to stay at the house for the moment, just in case Ellie shows up, or if someone tries to contact us there.”

  Erica gave him a sympathetic smile. “That’s a good idea. What about ex-partners? Someone who might have a grudge?”

  “Mae and I have been married for years now. No ex-boyfriends or girlfriends hold a grudge for that long, surely, not the sort of grudge that would prompt them into kidnapping our child.”

  “We can’t rule anything out.”

  He sighed and ran his hand over the top of his head. “I don’t even know who Mae’s ex-boyfriends were. You’d be better off asking her mum about that. And my ex wouldn’t do something like that. I think she’s married with kids of her own now. I doubt she’s given me a second thought, never mind do something as unthinkable as kidnapping my daughter.”

  “I admit, it’s unlikely, but we really do need to explore every avenue. What about work? Is there anyone there you might have upset before you lost your job, or who thinks they might be able to get money out of you?”

  His head shot up. “You think they might try to ransom Ellie?”

  “Again, it’s a possibility.”

  He barked frustrated laughter. “But we don’t have any money! Mae works for the council. Why on earth would someone think we’d be able to pay a ransom fee?”

  “What about both of your families? Do they come from money?”

  “No, not at all. Both of my parents are dead, and Mae’s parents are just...normal. We’re all just regular people!”

  “Did your parents leave you any inheritance?” They had to cover everything. If another family member was aware of money stashed away somewhere, they could be using Ellie to get their hands on it.

  “It was hardly anything—just a couple of grand from an old life insurance policy, which I used for a funeral after my mum passed away. They didn’t even own their own home.”

  “So, there was nothing to dispute? No family members who felt hard done by?”

  He shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”

  It was frustrating that he couldn’t give them anything to go on. “Okay, thank you for your help. Please, let me know as soon as your wife wakes up.”

  “Hang on a minute.” He put out a hand to stop her. “What you’re telling me is that you literally have no idea who has Ellie. She could be anywhere. Someone might have even smuggled her out of the country by now.”

  “That’s highly unlikely, Mr Dempsey.”

  “Unlikely doesn’t mean impossible! Maybe those men who stabbed Mae are part of some child smuggling ring, and that’s why they stabbed Mae and took Ellie.”

  “Then when we find the men responsible for the stabbing, we’ll find Ellie as well.”

  She wanted to reassure him, but it wasn’t easy. She’d be out of her mind with fear if Poppy had gone missing. She remembered how it had felt to discover Chris missing. That had been frightening enough, and Chris had been a full-grown man. Not that that had been enough to save him. If such a terrible thing could happen to an adult, she didn’t want to think about what might happen to a child.

  IT WAS GETTING LATE, but Erica was still a long way off being able to pick up Poppy and then head home for some sleep. Besides, DCI Gibbs had called a briefing.

  She entered the room, her colleagues—Shawn, DS Hannah Rudd, and Jon Howard among them—filing in with her. Being one of the leads on the case, she sat near the front of the room where Gibbs stood.

  He looked across the group of detectives, did a roll call, and then asked for updates about the case.

  Erica filled him in. “We have three people on CCTV. Two, we believe to be male, were working together to stab the victim, while a third person snatched the victim’s five-year-old daughter from the park. All the perpetrators kept their faces covered, either with hoods or scarfs, and while we’re able to trace them some way across the park, we lose them on the CCTV eventually.

  “We’re still waiting on the report from SOCO,” she continued, “but hopefully that’ll be in by tomorrow morning. From the footage, we think the attacker may have dropped something—a screwed-up piece of paper of some kind. It could be nothing, just a sweet wrapper or something, but it might have DNA on it. That’s even if we can locate it. There wasn’t much of a breeze today, but it was dropped some distance from the park bench where the attack happened, so it could have blown away before SOCO even got there.”

  “What’s the victim’s prognosis?” Gibbs asked.

  “She’s out of surgery, which is good news. She’s still in a critical condition, but she should pull through.”

  “Good. Have we got any leads as to who is responsible for the stabbing?”

  “Unsure yet,” Erica said, “though we believe the stabbing was a diversion to the kidnapping. As you’re aware, usually a kidnapping is done by someone the victim knows, or else some of the time it’ll be a stranger with a motive such as a ransom. As of yet, we haven’t had any contact from whoever has taken Ellie, so chances are it’s going to have been someone the family knows.”

  Gibbs rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It’s been hours since she was last seen, and as we all know, the more time that passes without her being found, the less likely it’ll be that she’s found safe and well.”

  Shawn spoke up. “What about other child abductions recently in the area? Should we look into those, see if any might be linked to this one?”

  Erica turned towards him. “You think a criminal group might be snatching the children for something?”

  She wasn’t sure she even wanted to think about the possible reason children were being taken. It was literally a parents’ worst nightmare, and now the poor Dempsey family not only had to deal with the fact the mother had been stabbed and was fighting for her life, but they also now had a missing child.

  Shawn shrugged. “It’s definitely worth checking.”

  “Okay,” Gibbs agreed with Shawn. “Rudd, can you check for missing children around the local area? Let’s find out if whoever took Ellie Dempsey is responsible for snatching any other kids.”

  Rudd nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “What are the thoughts on the father?” Gibbs asked them.

  “He seems genuine,” Erica said, “but there was some friction between them as a couple. They have money worries. The husband has been out of a job for some time.”

  Gibbs’ eyebrows drew together. “A couple with money worries wouldn’t be my normal pick to be victims of a ransom-based kidnapping.”

  Erica exchanged a glance with Shawn.

  “That was our thoughts as well,” she said. “We did consider a custody battle of some kind, but it seems a bit of a reach.”

  “Interview the couples’ family and friends, see if you can get any idea of if they believe there are any issues in the marriage.”

  “I can do that, sir,” DC Howard offered.

  Good.” He offered the DC a curt nod. “Get onto it. Everyone else, keep going until we find this girl.”

  Erica rose to her feet. “Yes, sir.”

  She got back to work, going over the CCTV footage, combing it for any detail she might have missed that would give her a clue as to who had taken Ellie Dempsey and stabbed her mother.

  WHEN THE COFFEE WAS no longer doing its job, and her eyes were gritty from over-use and exhaustion, Erica finally said goodnight to Shawn and then climbed in her car and drove to her sister’s house. Her shift had ended hours ago, and as much as she hated leaving when a girl was missing, she had her own daughter she needed to take care of.

  She knew she’d be back into the office at the crack of dawn. How could she sit at home, putting her feet up when there was a girl, just like Poppy, out there, alone and afraid?

  Natasha must have seen the headlights of Erica’s car as she opened the door as Erica walked up the drive.

  “Mummy!”

  A small head appeared from around Natasha’s legs.

  “Poppy, sweetheart. What are you doing still up? It’s super late. You should
have been asleep hours ago.”

  She threw a questioning look at Natasha who pulled a sympathetic face. “We had a few tears tonight, didn’t we, Pops? She was a bit upset about Granddad and Daddy.”

  Erica’s heart swelled with love and sorrow, and she dropped to her knees to sweep her daughter up against her. Poppy’s arms wrapped around her neck, and she buried her face on her shoulder. Erica kissed the top of her head and inhaled the clean scent of her hair.

  “Oh, sweetie. It’s okay to be sad sometimes.”

  Erica caught Natasha’s eye.

  “She was asking when she’d get to see them again,” Tasha said.

  Erica squeezed her daughter tight. “Not for a long, long time. Not until you’re an old lady yourself, I hope, but we can always see them in our memories or in our dreams, can’t we?”

  The little girl raised her face from her mother’s shoulder, her eyelashes spiky spider legs, wet with tears. “Sometimes, I can’t remember Daddy properly.”

  It was approaching the year anniversary—only a couple of months to go now. It was a day Erica was dreading. But in her mind, a year was nothing—barely a flash in the pan of her almost thirty-five years on this planet. But for Poppy, it was almost a fifth of her entire life and must feel like forever.

  “Hey.” Erica gave her another squeeze, “I know it’s late, but how about you and I go home and watch some videos that have got you and Daddy in them?”

  Her eyes brightened. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. I’ll make us hot chocolate, and we can have a girly night.”

  “With marshmallows?” Poppy checked suspiciously, knowing her mother didn’t normally allow so much sugar so late.

  “And squirty cream.”

  She felt bad for bribing her child’s happiness with sugar and calories, but Poppy’s tears had dried right up.

  Erica fought against yet more guilt at not putting Poppy straight to bed and heading there herself in order to be up first thing to get back on the case. She reminded herself that her colleagues—who she trusted with her life— would be continuing the search for Ellie Dempsey while Erica was spending some much-needed time with her daughter. Her colleagues knew and understood her home life, and of course, were all aware of the circumstances in which she’d become a single parent.