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

by M K Farrar

  Erica scooped the girl into her arms, while Shawn carried the boy. They reached the top of the stairs, where two uniformed officers had put Helen Bergersen into handcuffs.

  Naeema Shariff was bouncing a baby girl on her hip.

  “Is she all right?” Erica asked her. “She’s not hurt?”

  “Not that I can tell. She seems fine. Your mummy is going to be very happy to get you home,” she said to the baby, who gurgled and touched the DS’s cheek with her little hand.

  “No, please,” Helen cried, struggling between the two uniformed officers. “You can’t take her away. She’s my baby!”

  “Take the children outside,” Erica told Shawn, who nodded.

  An ambulance would be here for them shortly, and they didn’t need to see this.

  “Helen Bergersen,” Erica said, “you are under arrest for the abduction and false imprisonment of three children. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”

  “No,” the other woman cried, tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I loved those children, but they wouldn’t love me back.”

  “From the state of Ashley Ford’s arm, it didn’t look as though you loved them, and when was the last time either of those children were given anything to eat or drink?”

  Maybe Erica shouldn’t have engaged with her, but she was so angry after seeing the poor children like that. What if that had been Poppy?

  Still, Helen continued to plead her case. “I saved that little girl from seeing what that boy did to her mother.”

  Erica stiffened. “What boy?”

  “The one who stabbed her. I protected her from having that memory to have to live with.”

  “You saw a boy stab Ellie’s mother? You’re sure?”

  “Yes, I saw him after he’d done it.”

  “Describe him to me, Helen. If any good is going to come from what you’ve done, you need to tell me what he looked like.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Asian, but he had a lighter complexion, about sixteen years old, short dark hair. He had a mole above his lip, like a beauty spot.”

  The description punched Erica in the chest. She knew exactly who Helen was talking about.

  The boy who worked at the shop. The one she hadn’t expected to pass on her business card to his boss.

  Yousef Dabiri.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Erica accompanied Ellie Dempsey and Ashley Ford in the ambulance, so she sent Shawn to track down Yousef Dabiri. Was the boy really responsible for stabbing Mae Dempsey? There was no reason to think Helen had been lying.

  Other than being a little dehydrated and starving hungry, Ellie Dempsey was in good shape. Once she’d been checked out by the paramedics, there was no reason not to reunite her with her parents at the hospital.

  Erica took Ellie to her mother’s hospital room. Unable to stop herself smiling, she pushed open the door to reveal Mae sitting up in bed, and Jack on the chair beside her.

  “DI Swift,” Jack said, rising to his feet. He was still cautious of her after revealing what he’d been doing during the day to earn a bit of extra cash.

  “I’ve got someone here to see y—”

  Ellie didn’t even let her finish, but instead rushed past her, bursting into the room. “Mummy! Daddy!”

  “Ellie?” Mae cried. “Oh my God, Ellie!”

  Ellie collided with her dad, who scooped her up onto the bed with her mother. The family collapsed into a bundle of sobbing happiness.

  “You’re all right. Thank God, you’re all right.” Mae pulled Ellie away from her body a few inches to check her over. “You are all right, aren’t you? Did anyone hurt you? Did anyone touch you?”

  “I’m all right, Mummy.” She climbed back into her mother’s lap, burying herself in Mae’s chest.

  Mae lowered her face to her daughter’s hair, sinking her nose into its silky strands, dampening it with her tears.

  “Careful of Mummy,” Jack warned Ellie.

  “I don’t care about that.” Mae wrapped her daughter in her arms.

  Ellie lifted her head from her mother’s chest. “I’m hungry.”

  Mae burst out laughing, and then cried some more, her hand pressed to her face.

  “Why are you still crying, Mummy?” Ellie asked.

  “They’re happy tears, sweetheart. I’m just so happy to have you back again.”

  “I’m happy, too.” And she gave her mother another big hug.

  Erica found her eyes pricking with empathetic tears. This moment made her job worth it. She imagined the family was going to take some time to get over what had happened to them. She hoped Mae and Jack’s relationship was strong enough to get through the lies he’d told. Ellie would benefit from having a stable home, especially in the following weeks and months, when she’d most likely be coming to terms with what had happened to her. Erica imagined there would be a lot of disturbed nights of bad dreams in their near future, but at least they’d only be imaginary ones, not a reality.

  DS Shariff had been in touch with the Ford family, who were all on their way to the hospital to be reunited with Ashley. They couldn’t believe their son had been found after all these weeks. Erica imagined Mrs Ford must feel as though she’d been given a second chance at life.

  There would be a lot of questions needed to be asked of the children as well, but they had specialists who would do that. Helen Bergersen had acted terribly by taking the children, and even worse that she’d hurt poor Ashley, but it was Erica’s belief that the woman had suffered some kind of psychotic breakdown. It was early days yet, but hopefully the psych evaluation would go some way into getting her the help she clearly needed.

  “So, the person who took Ellie wasn’t the same as the one who stabbed me?” Mae asked, when Jack had taken Ellie out to find some food. It was clear from Mae’s expression that being parted from her child for even a few minutes was emotionally painful for her, but there were some conversations that couldn’t be had in front of the little girl.

  “No, we believe it was just an opportunistic act. Maybe she’d been watching Ellie, and then when the stabbing happened, and everyone was distracted, she grabbed Ellie and ran.”

  “Why didn’t Ellie call out for help or fight back?”

  “We believe she used some kind of sedative. We’ll be looking into it further during our investigations.”

  “Then she’d been planning to abduct a child?”

  “She’d done it before, with seven-year-old Ashley Ford, who we found with Ellie, so yes, we believe so.”

  “Isn’t that premeditated then? She must have been aware enough of what she was doing to plan to take drugs out with her.”

  “I’m afraid that’s going to be for a psychiatrist and a judge to figure out. Helen Bergersen suffered the tragic loss of her own daughter two years ago, and there will be some sympathy offered to her because of that.”

  Mae didn’t look in the slightest bit sympathetic. “That doesn’t give her the excuse to take someone else’s daughter. What if Ellie had died?”

  “I know, and I agree, but let’s hope Ellie recovers without too much emotional trauma and that Helen Bergersen gets the help she needs.”

  It wasn’t going to be an easy case—Erica didn’t know quite how she felt about it. If it was Poppy who’d been taken, she might have a very different viewpoint. She remembered how sick she’d felt in those few minutes that Poppy had been missing, how she’d jumped to the worst possible conclusion within seconds. It had been one of the most terrifying moments of her life, and she’d been through a lot of terrifying moments. She’d only had to experience that fear for a short time and couldn’t imagine having to suffer through days of it. It was no wonder Mae Dempsey was so angry.

  But Helen Bergersen had lost her daughter, where they’d all had their children returned, and even though Erica knew she’d broken the
law and needed to be prosecuted, she understood.

  Grief could drive people to do crazy things.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Erica left the hospital to go back to the office. Shawn hadn’t yet located Yousef, and that she’d only solved half of the case made her head spin. They’d been looking for two different people this whole time. The stabbing had never been directly connected to Ellie’s abduction.

  She pulled into the car park, only to discover a familiar figure standing in her spot.

  Oh shit.

  Erica got on her radio and informed dispatch that she’d found Yousef Dabiri, then climbed out of the car. “Yousef? What are you doing here?”

  “I’m sorry.” The boy had tears on his cheeks. “I’m sorry for everything that happened. I wish I’d never stabbed that lady.”

  “That lady? Do you mean Mae Dempsey?”

  He nodded, and fresh tears sprang from his eyes. “Yes, I do.”

  “You understand this means I’m going to need to take you in for questioning. You’re sixteen years old, so you can have an adult with you while you’re being questioned, if you want. What about your parents?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t have any parents.”

  “Who’s been taking care of you?”

  “My uncles take care of me.”

  “Can I contact one of them, then?”

  Fear brightened his dark eyes. “No, no.” He waved both hands in front of him in a warding off gesture. “Please don’t speak to my uncles about this.”

  Erica frowned. Was he frightened of getting in trouble with his uncles? Surely, he must understand that if he was admitting to a detective that he’d stabbed a woman then he was going to get in trouble.

  “Was it one of your uncles there at the park with you that day, Yousef? Is that why you don’t want me to contact them?”

  “No, please. There was no one else. I was on my own.”

  “There’s CCTV footage. I know that’s not true.”

  “I don’t know who the other person was. They were just hanging around.”

  Erica exhaled a breath. He was lying, but she wasn’t going to stand in the car park questioning him. She just wanted to get the boy inside so he couldn’t change his mind and run.

  “I will need to handcuff you?” she said.

  He put out his hands for the cuffs, which she clipped around his wrists. “Yousef Dabiri, you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence, do you understand?”

  He nodded.

  “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

  She took Yousef to one of the interview rooms and sat him down. “Can I get you anything? A drink or anything to eat? You know you have the right to have a solicitor with you as well? We can get you one, if you don’t have your own.”

  The boy shook his head miserably and didn’t look up. “I don’t want a solicitor.”

  “I really think—”

  “I don’t want one!” he insisted.

  Erica exhaled air through her nose. “I just need to make a quick phone call, but I’ll be right back, okay?”

  She stepped out into the corridor and called Shawn.

  “Where are you?” she asked when he answered.

  “Literally walking into the building. I went to the shop, but everything was closed up, and there was no one there. The place looked abandoned. Where are you?”

  “Outside interview room one. Yousef is sitting in there. He’s just confessed to stabbing Mae Dempsey.”

  “Oh shit. I’ll be right there.”

  Sure enough, within a minute, Shawn appeared, hurrying along the corridor towards her. “Well, this is a turn up for the books.”

  “The last thing I was expecting was for him to just walk up to me and hand himself over.”

  “We would have brought him in anyway,” Shawn said.

  “I know, but...”

  Something was still troubling her.

  “What’s wrong?” Shawn frowned at her in concern. “You should be happy. We’ve reunited the children with their parents and have two people in custody.”

  “I just feel like I’m missing something.”

  “What?”

  She shook her head. “It’s the boy. I understand Helen Bergersen’s motivation for doing what she did, however twisted and wrong it was, but I don’t understand Yousef’s. Why did he plan to go and stab someone that day? Who was it who was with him? Perhaps if this was gang related, or he’d stabbed someone his own age, or someone he knew, I could understand it more. But to stab a young mother, seemingly unprovoked, just doesn’t feel right. There’s more to it.”

  “Sometimes people act in ways we can’t understand.”

  “Yes, they do, but not this one. He has a conscience. He’s not cold or ruthless. If it wasn’t for him, we might not have put Helen’s ex-husband’s complaint together with the car description, and we might have just thought he was an ex with a grudge against the wife.”

  “Let’s get in there and talk to him and find out.”

  Erica nodded, and they both stepped back into the room.

  “Hello again, Yousef,” Erica said. “This is my colleague, DS Turner. You met him before when we stopped by the shop that time.”

  Yousef didn’t reply, so Erica sat and then advised him of his rights again.

  “How are you doing?” she asked.

  He shrugged.

  “Are you sure I can’t get you anything? Some water? What about that solicitor?”

  He shook his head.

  This wasn’t going to be easy if he was going to refuse to talk to her. He was within his rights to keep quiet, but she was going to struggle to figure out what his true motivation was if he didn’t say anything.

  “We found that little girl. She’s alive and safe, and back with her parents, who are so incredibly happy to see her. And not only that, we found a missing boy, and a baby who’d been snatched from her pram just yesterday. That happened because of you, Yousef. You did that. You helped three innocent children and their families, so I know you have good in you. Deep down, you want to do the right thing, don’t you?”

  He finally lifted his head. “You found the girl?”

  “That’s right. She’s with her mother now.”

  His lips thinned again. “The mother I put a knife into.”

  “She’s healing. She’s going to be fine, now she has her daughter back. I’m sure they’re both going to need some time to recover, both physically and emotionally, but they’re both going to be all right.”

  “I’m glad about that,” he said, his voice small. “I hated to think of that girl without her parents.”

  “Why did you do it? An innocent woman—a mother no less—just enjoying a day in the park with her family. Why her?”

  “She seemed like an easy target.” His cheeks bloomed pink with shame.

  “So, you just decided to stab her? But why?”

  “It was an initiation, of sorts. To make sure I was ready.”

  “Who was the other person with you? We need a name.”

  He shook his head. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

  “What if it could help you? You’re sixteen years old, Yousef. We already know you didn’t act alone, and we’ll find out who was behind you on all of this eventually. But if you can show us that you’re cooperating, the judge will look on you more kindly when it comes to sentencing.”

  He stared down at his hands. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

  “Yousef, I don’t know your background, or who or what drove you to do this terrible thing, but I believe you know what you did was wrong. On the CCTV footage, you paused, didn’t you, before you stabbed her? You hesitated. That hesitation may have saved Mae Dempsey’s life. And then you gave us that tip on what car you saw someone bundling the little girl into...”

  “That didn’t have anything to do with us,” he
said in a hurry. “We had no idea someone was going to snatch a child.”

  She noted his use of ‘we’.

  “But the stabbing was planned,” she checked.

  He lowered his head again and nodded. “Yes, but not the person.”

  “But then you tried to help us find her daughter, and you paused long enough that the stabbing didn’t kill Mae Dempsey. I can’t pretend to know what it’s like to be you, but I do believe you’ve got a good heart, you’ve just been exposed to the wrong kind of people.”

  “I did it for my people.”

  “Who are your people, Yousef?”

  “For all those in Iran who have suffered.”

  “You’re not from Iran, though, are you? You were born here in London.”

  “But my family are from Iran. My people.”

  “Your parents? Where are they now?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Who looks after you?”

  “I’m old enough to look after myself.”

  She knew that wasn’t true. There were people behind this young man, shaping his thoughts, twisting them to hatred. There were extremists in every walk of life—from Christian to Muslim—and she didn’t believe for one second that you could taint a whole population of people just because of the acts of a few.

  “I think you care about people.” She dropped her shoulders and tilted her head, regarding him kindly, as though she was speaking to Poppy. “I think deep down you know what you’re being taught is wrong. What was the point in stabbing Mae Dempsey? It hasn’t helped anyone. It hasn’t changed anything. All it’s done is put a young mother in hospital and provided an opportunity for someone to snatch a little girl.”

  “I told you, the girl had nothing to do with me.”

  “Do you really think someone would have had the chance to take her if it wasn’t for the commotion caused by the stabbing? Do you think her parents wouldn’t have noticed if they weren’t distracted by the large kitchen knife protruding from the mother’s back?”

  Yousef paled, and Erica could see that she’d got to him.