Snatched

by Gillian Jackson

  ‘Actually, Elaine, I don’t really care what you think of me.’ He eventually interrupted her monologue. ‘My priority is Martha and Danny — they are the only ones who matter right now and I know I’ve let them down badly. It’s their opinions of me I have to work at changing, not yours. I love my wife and son and intend to do everything in my power to make it up to them. The guilt I feel and the knowledge of how stupidly I’ve behaved is a punishment in itself and, although you might not believe it, my opinion of myself is probably even lower than your opinion of me. Now, I am going to try to sleep and I wish you a good night!’

  Richard turned and walked upstairs, leaving a stunned Elaine speechless. Her opinion of him meant nothing; it was her daughter and grandson he needed to win back.

  Chapter 37

  Leaving Suni at the hospital with the Stones, Radford and Best had left to go to Portishead and try to find Serena Murphy, or Helena Johnson, or whatever her real name was.

  In the car Radford told Best more about Jack Priestly’s call.

  ‘The description of the woman he was involved with fits the description Stone gave of Serena. Julie checked her alibi and it was watertight, but this new lead suggests that our Ms Murphy had been having an affair with the fathers of both kidnapped children, possibly even more. To my mind that’s too much of a coincidence and most certainly puts her at the top of my list of suspects, so let’s get a move on!’

  Best turned on the sirens as they began to weave through the busy Saturday traffic.

  Radford made a call to ask for uniform back-up at the Portishead address, confident enough to have already made the decision to bring Serena Murphy in for questioning. He asked if Julie Simms was in and when he was told she was, Radford asked for her to go with the backup car. She was the only one who had seen Serena Murphy and could therefore be useful.

  ‘Do you think she’ll still be there?’ Best asked, ‘It’s only a few hours since the kidnapper collected the money and she wasn’t at the farm. The accomplice didn’t mention a woman, other than the dead boy’s mother and she’s in custody now.’

  ‘We’ll get someone to ask him, shall we?’ Radford made another call to the station and asked the custody sergeant to find out from the kidnapper how many people were involved and if there was another woman working with them.

  With the sirens on, the journey to Portishead took only fifteen minutes and shortly before they arrived at the address, Radford got a call from the station.

  ‘He says there was only him, a man called Pete Turner and Sally and the boy. He doesn’t know of anyone else and he doesn’t seem to know this Pete very well either. They’d only met recently in a bookies, when Turner asked him if he wanted to make some extra cash.’

  ‘And do you think he’s telling the truth?’ Radford asked.

  ‘Yes, I think so. He seems genuinely sorry for the shooting and wants to come clean. I don’t think he has much time for this Turner guy and he’s ready to tell us everything he knows,’ the sergeant replied.

  ‘Thanks, that helps. We’re in Portishead now, so let’s see what we can find out.’

  While Radford was on the phone, Best had turned off the sirens, not wanting to alert Serena to their visit. He manoeuvred the car into a spot outside a rather exclusive looking apartment block. It was facing the Bristol Channel with a great view of the nature reserve. Just round the corner from the block, a police car, with two uniformed officers and DS Simms waited for Radford’s instruction. Simms rang Radford to let them know where they were.

  ‘Good, they’re out of sight,’ Radford mumbled as he exited the car.

  ‘Nice!’ Best said, looking up at the apartments and across at the spectacular view.

  ‘Very,’ agreed Radford. They crossed the road and searched out the patrol car to have a word with the uniformed officers before going into the flats.

  ‘Once we’re inside I want one of you to position yourself at the entrance and the other at the service entrance, which will probably be at the back. Hold anyone coming out, arrest them if they don’t co-operate. Julie, you stay here for now. If she’s in, I’ll want you in there with us so I’ll call.’

  Each apartment had its own intercom and Radford pressed the one with S Murphy beside it. There was no answer. He tried again and when there was still no response, he tried another buzzer and identifying himself as a police officer, asked that the occupant let him into the building.

  Once inside, they made their way to Serena’s apartment on the second floor and hammered on the door.

  ‘Break it down, Graham,’ Radford said and his sergeant took great delight in using his physical bulk to affect an entry.

  It was no surprise to either man that Serena was no longer there. The flat was still furnished, but a look around confirmed that Serena had taken all her clothes and personal possessions; she’d left for good.

  In the kitchen Best called out to Radford, ‘Boss, she can’t have been gone for very long, the kettle’s still warm.’

  Radford’s phone rang — it was DS Simms.

  ‘Sir, I’ve just seen her! She was with a man in a black Lexus; they pulled out of the road opposite, from behind the apartments. Should we follow?’ Simms spoke rapidly; it was obvious she was out of the car and running.

  ‘Yes, as quick as you like. Did you get the number plate?’

  ‘I did, sir, I’ll ring it in and have them tracked. They were heading east, perhaps for the motorway?’

  ‘Do you think they saw you?’ Radford asked.

  ‘They didn’t see me, I was in the back seat, but they could have seen the car.’

  ‘So, they’ll probably know we’ve tracked them to Portishead, but they might think they’ve given us the slip. We’re right behind you, Julie. Ring in with that registration number and we’ll see if we can find them. With a bit of luck they’ll be heading for the motorway, to London perhaps,’ Radford said.

  Best opened their car and with a wave to the police car to tell them to move off, he pulled out close behind them.

  ‘If they go on the motorway the cameras will soon pick them up, or that number plate recognition thingy you like so much,’ Radford said, making Best laugh.

  ‘That number plate “thingy” is a wonderful invention and yes, hopefully we’ll pick them up quickly, otherwise it’s a hundred and twenty miles or more to London.’

  Pursuing Serena Murphy and the man she was with was not going to be as easy as DI Radford hoped. It was literally only two or three minutes until they were following in the same direction the couple had taken and they hoped to catch up with them quickly. They assumed that Serena and her companion were heading for the motorway and probably on to London. If this was the case, they would soon be picked up on CCTV and be easily apprehended. However, their car was not picked up on any camera from all the main roads, or the ramp to the motorway.

  After fifteen minutes, Radford instructed the police car they were following to circle round and back into Bristol, while he and Best continued on the current route. Forty minutes later, there had still been no sighting of the car and Radford reluctantly made the decision to return to the station. The elusive black Lexus could be anywhere.

  ‘Perhaps they’ve gone to where this man lives,’ Best offered. ‘Do you think it’s Pete Turner?’

  ‘Yes it seems more than likely that it’s him. If they’ve gone to ground, we probably won’t pick them up again until tomorrow morning. It’s already eight pm. We’ll run a check on the Lexus number plate and then call it a night. If the cameras pick them up again we’ll be called out, but I think they’ll lay low until tomorrow.’

  ‘Do you think they know we’ve got the vehicle details?’

  ‘I rather think they won’t. They might have seen the car parked opposite the apartment, but Julie was pretty confident they didn’t see her. So, even if they knew we were at the apartment, they would think they’d got cleanly away. If they did see Julie, they might take the precaution of ch
anging the car and then we’ll be back to square one, but I think that’s unlikely.’

  Disappointed, the two men returned to the police station. There were still members of the team there and Radford took the chance to update them before telling them all to go home and rest. He needed them to be fresh the next day so they could brainstorm on their next move.

  The computer search revealed that the car number plate was registered to a man in Leeds who had reported it stolen almost a year ago. This could help to tie Turner into DI Priestly’s case and provide another charge to bring against Turner, as and when they caught up with him.

  Before she left for home, DS Simms wanted to have a word with her boss. She was clearly annoyed with herself that she hadn’t connected Serena to the kidnapping when she’d first visited her flat.

  ‘I’m sorry, boss, if I’d been more vigilant...’

  Radford cut her off. ‘Don’t burden yourself with guilt, Julie. You did everything you should have done and I’ve no complaints. We’ve interviewed dozens of colleagues and friends of the Stones and you just happened to have the one who mattered, but you couldn’t have known that at the time. Hell, even I discounted her as an unlikely suspect, but you did all that was asked of you, so forget it. That’s an order!’

  Radford smiled at the young DS and she left for home feeling much happier for hearing those words. After a quick visit to the station’s press office, Radford too left for home and some much needed sleep. It was ironic that the case was so demanding of his time, when the nature of the case made him want to spend more time with his own children. But hopefully they were close to wrapping it up and perhaps tomorrow would bring the break they needed.

  DAY 7

  Chapter 38

  At two am, Danny began to scream. Martha woke suddenly; she’d been asleep in the chair next to his bed. Immediately she was on her feet, cradling her son’s head and whispering soothing words.

  ‘Shh, it’s okay, it’s all over now and you’re safe!’ Her eyes filled with tears as her son sobbed, his head tucked into the space between her neck and shoulder, a place of comfort and safety. ‘It’s only a dream, I’m here and you’re safe now!’

  Martha tried desperately to comfort her son, who clung to her as if afraid she would disappear and he would find himself back in that awful house again. Martha didn’t know all the details of her son’s ordeal; she hadn’t wanted to press him. DI Radford had told them very little so far — only that he’d been kept at an abandoned farmhouse with the boy Lewis and his mother. From what Danny told Suni earlier, she’d gleaned a little more information and was surprised at her son’s attachment to the other boy. Perhaps she would never learn all the details of what he’d experienced, but her desire to know came second to her son’s well-being and she would never press him to relive what he’d suffered if he didn’t want to.

  Within minutes, Danny’s breathing slowed and he was asleep again. Martha lay beside him on the bed and wrapped her own body around his, holding him tightly until she too fell asleep.

  The hospital day began early. By six am, noises of trolleys rattled in the corridor and nurses began to monitor their charges before they handed over responsibilities for them to the next shift. Martha woke at the sound of the first movements, Danny slept on for another hour, until it was his turn to be checked over.

  When he was fully awake, Martha was pleased to see him sit up while the nurse took his blood pressure and temperature, smiling and chatting about nothing in particular as she worked. She removed the drip from his arm while telling him that the doctor made his rounds later in the morning and would hopefully allow Danny to go home. The nurse left, with another huge smile at her patient and a trolley appeared at the door of their room. Martha was given coffee while Danny chose orange juice.

  ‘Will I really be able to go home this morning?’ he asked.

  ‘I hope so. The doctor we spoke to yesterday said so and you’re looking good to me, apart from the bed-head!’ Martha ruffled her son’s hair and he managed to smile at her, prompting a warm feeling to run through her body. Martha realised that she too would take a good while to get over the ordeal they had all been put through.

  After breakfast, which Danny wolfed down, he was allowed to have a bath. Martha mother was on hand to help him, talking of mundane things in an effort to make things appear normal again. Her son was quiet and thoughtful; he’d experienced the kind of trauma which was life changing and Martha knew it was going to take time and patience to work through it.

  When they were back in the little side ward, Richard arrived, bringing a fresh change of clothes for Danny and some toiletries for his wife. Her thanks were brief and cool but neither parent wanted their son to pick up on their mood, so they spoke of trivial things and remained civil to each other. He told Martha that her mother was waiting at home, having insisted she cooked a meal for the family for their return home.

  The three of them were mostly silent as they waited for the doctor. Martha made the odd comment, mostly about irrelevancies and Richard tried to capture Danny’s interest in talking about football and rugby. For much of the time their son kept his eyes closed, although they were aware that he was not asleep. It served to take some of the strain out of having to fill the quiet room with conversation, almost as if Danny knew there was something wrong between his parents.

  Eventually, when it was almost lunchtime, the doctor arrived and his bustling manner filled the room as he spoke encouragingly to Danny, telling him how well he was doing. He told Martha and Richard that he was happy to discharge their son, but suggested an early appointment be made with their GP to arrange counselling for him.

  Richard assured him that they would and thanked him for his care. Almost as soon as the doctor left, the ward sister appeared with a discharge letter which she gave to Martha and they gathered together their few belongings and left the hospital.

  Danny remained silent with only a dutiful answer to any questions his parents had and the journey home was pleasingly uneventful. Elaine met them, gushing over her grandson until Martha caught her eye and frowned. She got the message and let go of the boy and told them lunch was ready when they were.

  It was going to take time, they knew that. DI Radford was already pushing them to allow him to question Danny and they’d persuaded him to give their son another day to settle back home, but he wouldn’t wait much longer.

  Danny seemed unsure what to say and what his parents were expecting of him. He ate his lunch then asked if he could go upstairs to his room to sleep. It was almost a relief for them all; no one knew the protocol for such a situation and both of his parents were painfully aware that their lives, and Danny’s, had changed for good.

  The future worried them all, for varying reasons but they would take it a day at a time and count their blessings that their son was home again.

  Chapter 39

  The rain lashed down as DI Radford drove to work the following morning. He couldn’t remember a time when there’d been such torrential rain as during the last week or so. Must be all this global warming, he thought as he dashed from the car into the police station. Half of the team were already in and the communications office was already buzzing with activity. Best was on the computer logged into the ANPR system, while others searched footage from CCTV on the main roads out of Bristol.

  Radford’s last action the previous evening had been to ask the press office to release the Photofit picture of Pete Turner, which would hopefully be in all the papers that morning. Now that Danny was safe and he’d identified the image as Turner, there was nothing to lose in going public; they no longer had to pussyfoot around, keeping facts from the press and the general public.

  Radford went in search of the early editions of the national and local papers and found them already placed on his desk. The image was there for the entire world to see and would also be on the television news broadcasts throughout the day. Hopefully this would put pressure on Turner and Serena Murp
hy and they would attempt to leave the city. All their work now hinged on the supposition that the pair were still in the Bristol area and the publicity would panic them into making a move, a wrong move. Radford hoped his theory would prove true; he didn’t want to make another mistake like the original meeting with the kidnappers when there was no back-up plan in place.

  After reading the newspaper reports, Radford, satisfied with the way the case had been covered, walked from his room into the office and called the team together for a briefing.

  ‘With a bit of luck the publicity will flush them out,’ he began. ‘We’re working on the assumption that they’re still somewhere between Portishead and Bristol and now the publicity is out there, they’ll probably try to leave the area sometime today. You’ve done a great job so far and we’re almost there. When it’s over, I’ll stand you all a drink in The King’s Arms!’

  Radford smiled and there were a few grins and laughter in the room. The boss wasn’t known for his generosity and rarely went to the local with his team.

  ‘We’re close, so let’s be vigilant and catch these kidnappers before they strike again,’ he continued.

  A murmur of exhilaration rippled through the room, as it always did when a case was coming together. Each member of the team was completely focussed and determined to find the perpetrators as soon as they tried to make a run for it.

  As Radford was finishing his early morning briefing, DS Best came dashing into the office, his face beaming.

  ‘We’ve got them!’ he shouted. ‘They were picked up on CCTV joining the M4 at eight-fifteen am.’

  There was a huge cheer and Radford picked up his phone to request two cars to intercept and arrest the pair.