by Carol Wyer
Ian ended his call. ‘A neighbour thinks they saw a dark-blue Toyota Yaris parked outside number 12 Larkspur Close. They didn’t think anything of it and assumed it was somebody visiting there because he’s seen it parked up on a few occasions, but it’s come to light that the occupants of number 12 are away for the weekend.’
‘No chance they got a registration for it, did they?’
‘Nah. At least he recognised the make and model. It’s a start. What’s really of interest is that number 12 is the first house on the right as you come out of that path linking to Lavender Rise.’ He tapped his pencil against his front teeth and rocked on his seat. ‘Thinking what I’m thinking?’
‘The assailant was in their car, watched Sage go to Louise’s house and then followed her down the path when she came out?’ Murray said.
‘What if they parked their car, took the grassed path and staked out Howard’s house from the phone box? They watched Sage leave with Louise, and when the girls took the path to Louise’s house they followed them and waited in their car for Sage to come back out,’ said Natalie, who then shook her head. ‘Too messy. They’d risk being spotted. How about instead of waiting in the car where they stood a chance of a neighbour seeing them, they lurked on the path, waiting for Sage to emerge? They must have known she’d take that route back home and might have even heard Howard telling her they were going to collect Kerry, so they knew they wouldn’t have long to wait. Yes, that’s plausible,’ she said, rubbing her hands together in thought. ‘Search all the cameras in the area for a dark-blue Yaris. Any of our earlier suspects own one?’
Ian spun back round on his seat and started typing again. Murray moved across to the fixed computer to examine footage. Lucy returned with a scowl on her face. ‘They’re overwhelmed with work. I had to plead to get them to check the iPad.’
‘They doing it?’
‘Yes. I’m good at pleading,’ she said straight-faced. ‘What’s going on here?’
‘A dark-blue Yaris was parked outside number 12 Larkspur Close,’ said Ian, eyes trained on the screen. ‘It might belong to whoever snatched Sage.’
‘Good. A lead at last.’ Lucy plonked down on her seat and began reading through a file. Natalie looked across. It was going to be a long night. She ought to ring David.
‘Anyone want anything in particular to eat?’ she asked. ‘I’m going to ring an order through to the Chinese takeaway on Salt Street. I’ll just get a mixture if that’s okay with everyone.’ She received appreciative noises and nods and slipped outside to order the food and speak to David, but her first call was to neither.
‘Hi. Everything okay?’
‘Complete fucking chaos,’ said Mike. ‘Teams out here, there and everywhere at the moment. However, we’re pretty certain the assailant was hanging out in the phone box near Howard’s house. We uncovered similar sole patterns that indicate they’d been there several times. Your theory appears to be spot on. They were spying on Howard and his daughters.’
‘Okay. That’s something,’ she said, slowly. ‘They must have come from the phone box and met her on the path then bundled her into their car. Shit, they could have driven her anywhere.’
‘They might be local to Uptown.’
‘I’m going around in sodding circles here. I feel they’re near and yet I have no idea where they’re hiding!’ She stomped around the car park as she spoke.
Mike picked up on her tone. ‘You okay?’
‘It’s so fucking difficult. A little girl’s been snatched and I know in my gut the killer’s got her. I’m scared. I’m scared for her and I’m terrified we won’t find her in time. I don’t think I could take it if we’re too late.’
There was a pause before Mike answered. ‘Natalie, let it go. If you get wound up, you’ll make rash decisions. You know what went wrong with the Olivia Chester case. You’re in control here. You’ve got the best people you could have on this investigation, and whatever happens, you will have made the right decisions. That’s all you can do. Like me, you work with what you’ve been given. Don’t turn your attention to what might happen. It hasn’t yet.’
His words had the desired effect. Once again, he’d known how to handle her and what to say. The burning in her stomach subsided for a moment.
‘Thanks, Mike. I needed to hear that.’
‘Any time. That’s what friends are for.’
She resisted the urge to say more and hung up. She had to let David know she wouldn’t be home. She decided to text him instead to avoid an argument and then rang for a takeaway. They’d all work better if they had some food. They had leads. They knew about the car and that the kidnapper had been watching Howard’s place. It was certainly looking increasingly like this was connected to the disappearance of Ava Sawyer so she’d go back to the beginning. She told herself they would find Sage, and she marched back inside more determined than ever to locate the child.
Thirty-Five
SATURDAY, 29 APRIL – AFTERNOON
SAGE FRANKS
He’s watched this house on many an occasion. The little girl who lives here looks very like Sherry’s friend, Gail Shore. From the first time he set eyes on her, he was reminded of delicate Gail with huge green eyes and ringlets of light-brown hair, who looked as thin as a twig and who’d laughed so cruelly at his attempts to befriend Sherry and her. Sage isn’t like Gail. She is friendly and sweet and charming. He doesn’t want her ever to change. She’s perfect as she is.
The phone box is the perfect place to observe the house and its inhabitants. Howard doesn’t draw his curtains until late in the day so sometimes he sees the girls playing or watching television in the front room. He likes to observe the trio going out together, dad holding onto both girls’ hands, Sage looking up with adoration on her shining face. Howard is her world for now. Her love for him shines like a halo around an angel. The sight of her face creates a pocket of warmth in his chest swiftly followed by the familiar heaviness of sorrow. He’s never experienced such affection. Howard is fortunate. However, times changed and children grew up and had families of their own, and Howard would lose that complete and utter dependence and breadth of affection. He’ll be doing Howard a huge favour. This way, he’ll always remember Sage like this. There’ll be no arguments, fallouts or suffering. Howard will always have his perfect little girl.
He knows Howard’s routine. Saturdays he drops off the little one, Kerry, at his mother’s house then takes Sage swimming. They go to town for a drink and a treat – a cake or sandwich – and then do the weekly shopping together. They return around 2 p.m. and then leave to collect Kerry again. Those moments when it’s just Sage and her father are the best. It’s magical to watch them.
He shifts slightly in the phone box. Dressed in black, he is invisible in his hidey-hole. He can stand still for hours if he has to. Practice makes perfect. He had plenty of practice standing in the corner of the school classroom.
Another girl, tugging a gambolling puppy that stumbles cheerfully into the car tyre, has appeared from the cut-through. He’s seen her before. She lives close to where he left the car. He’s been parking there every Saturday. Most people are off work and the close is filled with cars. One extra won’t be noticed. In his experience, people aren’t very observant, and he uses that knowledge to his advantage.
The girl rings the doorbell, pulling at the puppy, who is trying to eat a flower. She lifts him up. Sage comes to the door with her father. Her face lights up when she sees the dog. There’s a conversation and Howard nods. He can hear Howard telling Sage not to be long. Howard walks part way down the path with the girls. His heart is thudding against his chest wall. If Howard comes any further and looks up, he’ll have the phone box in sight. He’ll be spotted for sure. He isn’t sure what he’ll say if that happens. He holds his breath and waits. The girls skip on ahead but Howard turns slowly and fumbles for a mobile in his trouser pocket and answers it. The distraction was meant to be. Howard ambles back towards his house and disappears from view.<
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From his position he watches the girls race towards the cut-through, squealing with excitement as the puppy chases alongside.
This is his chance. He follows them and stops at the car, extracting the large shopping bag on wheels he keeps in the boot. This is it. The moment he’s been hoping for. It’s perfect. He hastens back down the path and stops a third of the way down. Here he is completely out of sight. There are no windows overlooking this area. He can hear no other noise than the tinkling of the water running alongside. He takes a moment to enjoy the solitude and to prepare. This time he’s ready. He played it wrong before. He tried to befriend the girls when he ought to have taken them by surprise.
He feels the cloth in his pocket. He’s doused it with chloroform. The bag is unzipped and open. Sage is small for her age, and so slight she’ll easily fit into the bag. He hums a rhyme; a distant memory of a lonely childhood.
It’s not long before he sees her. He assumes the position and cranes his neck then looks in surprise as she approaches.
‘Hi,’ she says.
‘Shh! Look. Baby ducklings. There are five of them. So sweet.’
She moves next to him and looks where he’s pointing. Her face screws up. ‘Where—’
He acts immediately. He clamps one hand containing the cloth over her face and holds her body tightly to his so she can’t escape. She struggles but is no match. Within seconds she is limp and he bundles her into the shopping bag and wheels it to his car. He opens the boot and places the bag in. It weighs very little. There’s no sound from the bag. He’s managed it. Now he must get away before Howard comes looking for her.
He pulls away in his car slowly as to not draw attention to himself. He’s the master at that. No one usually notices him. He ought to feel sorry for Howard, who will be anxious and upset, but he doesn’t. He’s given Howard the greatest gift imaginable – everlasting love.
Thirty-Six
SATURDAY, 29 APRIL – NIGHT
‘Fuck all,’ said Ian, lifting his hand from the mouse and falling backwards against the back of his chair. ‘No sign of a dark-blue Yaris on any of the footage.’ He rubbed his eyes and yawned.
‘Then they must have taken a route where there are no safety cameras, no ANPR and no CCTV,’ said Natalie. Her hair stuck up from running her hands through it repeatedly and her mascara was smudged, but she didn’t care. She threw up the map of the area on the overhead projector. Lavender Rise and Larkspur Close were circled in red and the camera points all marked in green. ‘To avoid the cameras altogether the perpetrator would have had to have taken these roads,’ she said, drawing red lines down several streets. We need to work out the possible routes they might have taken and see if they lead us to a specific area in Uptown.’
The empty boxes that had contained the Chinese food were now stacked in a neat pile outside in the corridor. Ian stood up and stretched. ‘I’m going for some air and a fag,’ he said.
‘You want to go home?’ Natalie asked.
He shook his head. ‘No chance.’
She knew how he felt. There was a sense of urgency and determination in the office. Mike had been right when he told her she had the right team for the job. It struck her she felt an affinity with these people that she’d not experienced in her last position. They may have their ups and downs but they worked so well together. Her musings were interrupted by Lucy, who entered holding the iPad and smartphone taken from Grace and Tony Coots. ‘They’re clean. Nothing to link them to the purchase of those dresses.’
Her face said far more than her words. It was clearly infuriating her that she could make no headway with the Etsy card. She settled back down to her laptop and, ignoring everyone, puzzled over some information she had on her screen.
Natalie was trying to work out the route the dark-blue Yaris might have taken. It was the only clue they had to Sage’s whereabouts. She hadn’t rung Howard. With no fresh information for him, there was no point in adding to his misery. He was at home with Tanya and another liaison officer who would alert the team should a ransom demand be made or, if by some miracle, Sage reappeared.
Naomi tapped lightly on the open door and entered. She brought with her the smell of lilies of the valley. Her eyes were bright and she showed no sign of fatigue as she stepped up to Natalie’s desk, slid across a manila folder and waited for a reaction.
Natalie opened the file and read its contents. Naomi had identified fibres found on Audrey’s cardigan and matched them to those found under Rainey’s fingernails.
‘It’s not just ordinary leather,’ said Naomi. ‘It’s known as bridle leather, which refers to the way it’s treated at a tannery. This particular type is harder wearing because both the flesh and the grain sides are treated with beeswax, fats and tallow, all of which is labour intensive and expensive. I suspect your killer used the same or similar piece of leather to strangle both girls.’
‘The killer strangled them with a pricey belt,’ Natalie said.
‘A belt, strap, bridle or a dog lead,’ said Naomi.
‘It certainly gives us some food for thought,’ said Natalie. ‘Thanks for working so quickly on this.’
‘I wasn’t going home until I’d identified the fibres. I just hope it helps you find the little girl who’s been taken.’
‘Me too, Naomi. Me too.’
Naomi glided out, leaving Natalie poring over the findings. She wondered how easy it would be to buy bridle-leather goods and began a quick search for them.
‘Natalie, we think we have an idea where the kidnapper was driving,’ said Murray. The map was now a mess of colours from where he and Ian had been testing out routes. ‘We took out all the roads where there are cameras and that left only two possible directions they might have taken before hitting a security camera. This all hinges on the fact he actually drove into Uptown and didn’t stop and park up anywhere along the route.’
He threw up a new transparency with the roads removed. The two possible directions the kidnapper might have taken were obvious. Dodging CCTV cameras, the kidnapper could only have driven towards Uptown Primary School and beyond to St Chad’s Road, or to Queen’s Park. Natalie blinked at this new information, her eyes gritty with tiredness.
‘Has he taken her to the park?’ Her brain was working too slowly.
‘We could head there,’ Murray said.
‘I can’t shake off the feeling the killer has snatched Sage. We can’t ignore the fact Howard was working the Ava Sawyer case and the other victims were at the birthday party when she disappeared. I know it’s only assumption on my part, but I think we should consider it a real possibility.’
‘Okay, we’ll run with that. It makes sense and we don’t have anything else to go on.’
Natalie continued to voice her thoughts. ‘If I’m on the right track and he has taken her, then why would he go back to the same crime scene unless he’s sending out a message? I don’t think he retraces his steps. He’s killed in two different places and kidnapped three girls from three different spots. I could be completely wrong.’ She pulled a face then made the decision. ‘Go on, Murray. Take a unit and go to the park. I’m not sure he’ll have taken her there but we can’t ignore that possibility.’
Ian spun around to face her. ‘I think I have something relevant. I was going through the list of allotment owners to see if anyone noticed Rainey walking past on Thursday afternoon, and I’ve received an email from the allotment committee with new information. Two plots, previously owned by gentlemen on my list, were allocated to new owners this month. One of them now belongs to Ned Coleman. If he’d been on the allotment, he might have spotted Rainey the day she died.’
‘He’d have told us if he’d seen Rainey. He knows we’re investigating the disappearances,’ Natalie said.
Murray gave a slight shrug. ‘It’s still worth asking him about it. Just in case.’
She glanced at her watch. It was almost twelve. He’d probably be asleep. The thought of Sage trapped by a killer spurred her on to mak
e the phone call. Ned answered on the tenth ring.
‘Mr Coleman, it’s DI Ward. I’m sorry to disturb you so late at night, but we need your assistance.’
‘Go ahead. I wasn’t asleep. I was reading. I don’t sleep much these days.’
‘You have taken on a plot at the allotments, haven’t you?’
‘That’s correct. I’ve had an application in for quite some time but there haven’t been any spaces. Two came up recently. I got one.’
‘Were you tending it Thursday afternoon?’
‘I went over first thing after lunch to set up some cloches and I was there about an hour. Why?’
‘You didn’t happen to notice Rainey Kilburn walking past while you were there?’
‘I’m afraid not. I was working on my patch and then I left and caught the bus home. I like to get back for afternoon tea and my quiz shows. I enjoy those.’
‘You don’t drive any more?’
‘I sold my car soon after Lorna passed away. I don’t stray far from Uptown so it didn’t seem worth hanging onto it. They’re expensive to run, what with maintenance, MOTs, tax, insurance and, of course, the fuel. It’s easier to get about using my bus pass.’
‘What about transporting your gardening tools and plants and so on?’
‘I usually get everything I need delivered to the plot. I have a shed there to store the essentials and there’s invariably someone willing to help out a fellow gardener.’
‘Was there anyone else on the allotments on Thursday afternoon?’
‘A couple of chaps were leaving for lunch when I arrived but no one else turned up while I was working.’
‘Thank you. Sorry again for ringing so late.’
‘It’s not a problem. Always happy to oblige.’
Natalie gnawed at a hangnail. Ned didn’t own a car. He hadn’t been on his allotment when Rainey had gone by. She almost felt sorry she’d disturbed the old gent so late at night.