by GS Rhodes
“It’s disgusting,” Janya said.
“If these are anything to go by,” —Kidd tapped the files with his forefinger— “it seems to have worked. But now, they’ve messed up. They’ve threatened the wrong person, someone who actually can’t afford it, someone who already knows that their partner was being unfaithful.”
They lived and worked in a pretty affluent area. He dealt with rich families all the time, people who had more money than they really knew what to do with, people who had money to spare, who could find a way to afford to pay up, if it meant keeping their secrets. Whether it meant keeping their secrets from their partners, or keeping them from the circles that they ran in to keep up appearances. It was a bombshell, if it was true. Now they needed to prove it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Kidd left Janya and Owen to get in touch with the people whose children had been kidnapped. If they could find even one or two of them who had been through the same thing that Cherise was going through now, they could blow open a whole serial kidnapping case. Whoever was responsible would go down for a very long time.
Of course, that would depend on those people coming forward, and he didn’t know if they’d be willing to out their secrets. Either way, they needed to try and see if the theory held up.
Kidd and Sanchez made their way to the address that Daniel had given them for Leigh Cremer. They’d given her a call beforehand and she had told them she was home and more than happy to speak to them. Kidd wondered if Daniel had called her when he’d left the station to give her a heads up. It sounded like the kind of thing he would do.
She didn’t live all that far from the station, in a block of flats that were a stone’s throw away from the town centre. It was only as Kidd was walking inside that he realised he was in the same building he’d been in a few days ago when he was dealing with the death of Stephen London.
There was hardly a single place in the whole of Kingston that didn’t carry the echo of a dead body somewhere. He tried not to dwell on it too much. If he did, it was likely to drive him insane. It was an occupational hazard. Every street corner was the site of a crime scene at one point or another.
The building was well kept, a gorgeous new build that towered over the rest of the town’s skyline. There was a concierge, and on the advertisement board outside: a 24-hour gym and underground parking, enquire within. It wasn’t the enquiry that Kidd needed to make today.
They made their way upstairs in the lift, all the way to the top floor. Whatever it was that Leigh Cremer did for a living, it was pulling her in enough money that she could afford what had to be one of the more expensive flats on offer.
She opened the door barely a moment after Kidd had knocked, a perfectly white smile plastered on her face, her makeup done, her golden-blonde hair pulled back into a clip. She eyed them both carefully, not letting the smile drop for a single second as they introduced themselves.
“Good afternoon,” she said, quickly checking her watch. “Hmm, or perhaps evening. Whatever it is, come in.”
They followed her inside to find an immaculate apartment. It was spacious, furnished in black and gold, with huge, full length windows stretching across the back wall showing off practically the whole of Kingston. It really was quite impressive. It made where Kidd lived look like a dump.
“Excuse the mess, I’ve only just moved in,” she said. “I used to be in a house share. This was…well…this was quite an upgrade.”
There was literally no mess anywhere. There was an empty glass on the coffee table, but that was the only thing that seemed to be out of place. Everything else was perfect, pristine.
“Have a seat,” she said, gesturing to the black, plush-looking sofa. Kidd and Sanchez obliged, Leigh taking a seat in the arm chair, crossing one long leg over the other. “What can I help you with?”
Kidd leant forward in his seat, taking his notebook out of his jacket pocket. “We’re here to discuss Daniel Walters with you, if we may?”
Leigh looked away from them for a moment, like she was thinking it through.
“Daniel, yes,” she said. “What is it that you need to know?”
Was she toying with them? Kidd couldn’t tell. Perhaps Daniel hadn’t called ahead after all.
“We wanted to confirm that he was with you yesterday afternoon, and the afternoon before that,” Kidd said. “We’re investigating the disappearance of his daughter, Maggie Walters.”
Her eyes widened. “His daughter?”
Kidd blinked. “You…you didn’t know he had a daughter?”
She offered them both a tight lipped smile.
“No,” she said. “I think it’s best not to pry into people’s personal lives. He…he never mentioned it, I never asked. An easy mistake.”
He never mentioned his daughter? Kidd thought. He’d gotten the impression that he was in love with this woman, or at the very least, cared for her. Maybe it was nothing more than sex after all.
“I’m sorry to hear that she’s missing,” she said. “That must be terrible for him. His wife must be in bits.”
“You didn’t know he had a daughter, but know about his wife?” Zoe asked, curiosity piqued.
“He never took off the wedding ring,” she said with a little laugh. “Some men do, others don’t. He obviously forgot. It’s none of my business really.”
“We’re investigating her disappearance,” Kidd continued. “And we wanted to confirm that he was with you yesterday afternoon and the afternoon before.”
“Yes, he was,” she said. “Do you think he’s the one who did it?” She looked practically giddy at the thought. It left a sour taste in Kidd’s mouth.
“We’re trying to cross him off our list,” Kidd said. “As part of the investigation there was another case we were looking into. It was another man who had a sexual relationship with someone who wasn’t his partner, and his child went missing.”
Leigh laughed.
“Something funny?” Kidd asked.
She shook her hair free from its clip, moving it all over one shoulder before she returned her gaze to the two detectives.
“I know a lot of people who do what I do,” she said. “There are women, and men for that matter, who are there to take care of the needs of married men. I’m not saying it’s savoury, I’m not saying it’s not frowned upon, but I am saying that a girl needs to make a living.” She gestured around the apartment. “And I make a rather good one.”
“We’re not here to judge you, Miss Cremer,” Sanchez said. “We just want to get to the bottom of this, figure out exactly what it is that’s been going on.”
“Well, I’ve been sleeping with Daniel,” Leigh said with a shrug. “It is what it is. Two consenting adults enjoying each other’s bodies. There are a lot of people who don’t understand that. And there are the kinds of people who expose people who do it. I lose more clients that way.”
“And I take it that you’ve never exposed anyone?” Kidd asked.
“Of course not,” she scoffed. “It’s not my place to judge their choices. I’ve known girls who…try and get a little bit more money for keeping secrets.”
“You do?” Kidd asked. “How much?”
“An extra hundred pounds or so, nothing serious.” She eyed them carefully. “Why do you ask?”
Kidd took a breath. It was a risk, but maybe it was worth it if she could get them one step closer to finding Brody and Maggie.
“We have reason to believe that someone is extorting cheaters after kidnapping their children. Holding them for ransom.”
Her eyes widened.
“Bloody hell,” she said. “That’s a little bit deep, isn’t it?”
“It’s shocking what some people will do when they think they’re doing the right thing,” he said. “Do you think any of the girls you’ve worked with would be capable of doing something like that?”
She genuinely seemed to think about it, going through a mental list of names before she looked back at them. She shook her head.
“Anyone is capable of anything, I suppose. I don’t know what people do in their spare time.”
“How did you afford this apartment, Miss Cremer?”
She raised an eyebrow into a perfect arch, pursing her lips.
“I work very hard,” she said. “There are a lot of people who don’t approve of what I do, DI Kidd, and there are possibly even more who do not approve of what people like Daniel Walters do. His assistant, for example.”
“His assistant?”
“Louise, I think her name is?” She all but rolled her eyes as she mentioned her name. There was clearly some bad blood there. “I think she’s a very sweet girl, I do, but she…she doesn’t enjoy dealing with me.”
“How do you mean?”
She lowered her voice, like Louise would hear her or something. “I don’t think she quite understands what Daniel and I are doing. It’s just fun. She doesn’t seem to know what fun is. Might not even be able to spell fun.”
“I’m sorry, can you be a little more specific?” Kidd asked. “What do you mean by that?”
“She is always very snippy when I’m the one that calls her,” she said. “I don’t know why she still works there, she hates it. We used to talk when I called, I don’t know why, I imagine she would talk to anybody. But I think she got worried that I would tell Daniel that she didn’t like her job and she would lose it. Then she got snippy.”
“You used to call the office?”
Leigh laughed. “What Daniel and I do isn’t always in person, sometimes she needs to put me through to his office or something like that. She really doesn’t enjoy speaking to me.” A smile snaked its way across her face. “She gets very short with me. Very snippy. But I can handle her. Maybe it’s jealousy. Maybe she wants what Daniel and I have.”
Maybe she wants Daniel, Kidd thought.
“You said you knew of other people who do what you do?” Zoe asked.
“You looking for a recommendation?” Leigh said with a smirk.
“No,” she replied, a little pink colouring her cheeks. “We’d like to speak with them if that’s alright. It might be useful.”
Leigh seemed to hesitate. To say that sex workers and the police had a tense relationship would be something of an understatement. But maybe the thought of helping find a child was enough to tug on her heartstrings. She got up from where she was sitting, slinking over to her desk. She took out a piece of paper and wrote something down before returning to them. She handed it to Kidd.
“Of course,” Leigh said. “But don’t tell the boss that I sent you. She’s not so keen on visitors. Especially when they come with a badge.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Do you think we need to talk to Daniel’s assistant again?” Zoe asked as they made their way back to the station. “She might know something more about this than she was letting on.”
They had stayed with Leigh a little while longer, learning about how long she’d been seeing Daniel, and more about the place she was sending them to. Kidd promised not to tell anyone that she was the one who had told them about it.
“She might be a good shout, yeah,” Kidd said. He had half a mind to turn around and go speak with her now, but the day was getting on. He didn’t know if she would still be there, and given the reaction they had gotten last time, he couldn’t imagine they would be rolling out the welcome mat for them when they arrived again. “First thing.”
The Incident Room felt like a hive of activity when they walked inside. The board had been updated with the information they had gathered from the case files earlier on in the day. Janya and Campbell were at their desks, concerned looks on their faces, phones pressed to their ears.
Janya finished first.
“I’ve got a couple of confirmations,” she said, looking down at her notebook. “The pattern seems to be as follows: Whoever wasn’t with the child at the time, the parent that wasn’t there, is normally the one who is cheating. So once I managed to get a hold of one of them and talk to them about the intricacies of this case, they told us what happened.”
“And?”
“It’s been the same, boss,” Campbell said. “The ones that I called mostly denied it. I almost thought I got one guy, but he seemed to change his mind pretty quickly. Maybe he was worried his secret would come out anyway. I don’t know, though.”
“It’s possible that the connection wasn’t there in the first place for those,” Kidd said. “We’re going out on a limb here.”
“But I got a couple,” Janya said. “And it seems like it’s the same pattern as what happened with Brody Wade. We can’t confirm for Maggie yet, but…well…since Daniel is having an affair, then maybe it is.”
They went about updating the board. At some point he would need to talk to DCI Weaver about it, let him know everything that had happened, everything that had changed since he’d last been updated. He wasn’t going to be happy about them muscling in on DCI Reid’s case, but he was going to have to get over that. They had uncovered something much bigger.
Kidd’s phone started to buzz in his pocket. He grumbled and took it out to see that it was John trying to call him. Sanchez was at his side. She looked at him, an eyebrow raised. Now really didn’t feel like the time to be talking to him. They had a case to solve.
“He’ll be asking about tonight,” Kidd said. “We’re supposed to be meeting after I finish work.”
“And you should have already finished,” she said, pointing to the clock on the wall. “You’re pulling overtime and he’s waiting for you. Don’t ignore him. We’ll finish up here if you have to go.”
He sighed and answered the phone.
“Hey,” Kidd said. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call, I didn’t realise what the time was. Wait until you hear about today, it’s been…it’s been a lot. How are you?”
“You can tell me about it later,” he said. His voice was low, concerned. It wasn’t the John that Kidd recognised.
“Are you outside? I won’t be a second.”
“I’m at your house.”
Kidd froze.
“What are you doing at my house? I thought you were going to meet me at work?”
“I was,” John replied, chuckling a little. “But I got there and the guy behind the desk said he thought you’d already gone home because it was late, so I thought you’d forgotten or something, and just came straight here.”
“Okay,” Kidd said. “Just…just wait outside and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Ben, I already knocked on the door,” John replied. “Who is Craig and what is he doing in your house?”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Kidd wrapped up everything he could at the office. He almost felt like he was stalling, delaying the inevitable, because right now, John McAdams was stood outside of his house with the knowledge that Craig Peyton was inside.
He’d told John that he would be there as quick as he could and that he’d explain, but John seemed upset. He could hardly blame him. He was just thanking his lucky stars that John hadn’t done what was probably the quite obvious thing here and just walked away.
If it had been Kidd, he probably would have gone home and never spoken to him again. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve John, but…he hoped that he would continue to deserve him for at least a little while longer.
His route home was agonising. And turning the corner to see John sitting on the wall of his front garden was heartbreaking. He had neglected him. He’d neglected him so badly and kept so much from him that it had come to this.
Secrets had a habit of coming out, and this particular one was finally sick of hiding in the shadows.
John looked up as he heard Kidd approaching. His eyes looked a little bit red, which wasn’t altogether surprising, but made Kidd feel all the worse. John ran a hand through his light brown hair, pushing it away from his face before the two locked eyes. Kidd didn’t really know where to start.
“Hey,” he said as he got close enough to be within e
arshot.
“Hello,” John replied. “So…what have I missed?” he asked, gesturing to the house and then looking back at Kidd. He really did have a lot of explaining to do.
“How much do you already know?” Kidd asked.
John shrugged. “I know enough.”
“Right,” he said. “And you’re still here.”
“I’ve clearly lost my mind,” John replied with a laugh. It sounded hollow. Kidd hated what he’d done to him.
“Shall we go inside?” Kidd asked. “No use doing this on the street.”
“I don’t know if I want to,” John said. “Not while he’s in there. I don’t want to have this conversation while he’s in the other room.”
“That’s fine, I’ll get rid of him.”
John opened his mouth to reply but seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll wait.”
Kidd unlocked the door and walked inside. Craig was sitting on the stairs, basically right next to the door, like a puppy waiting for their owner to come home. When the bloody hell did Kidd’s life get so complicated?
“Ben, I’m sorry—”
“You don’t need to apologise,” Kidd said. “I’m the one who didn’t tell him that you were here.”
“I didn’t think, I just answered the door,” Craig said. “I thought it was you and you’d forgotten your keys or something.”
“Nope,” he said with a heavy sigh. “That would be my boyfriend, John. Or ex-boyfriend, I don’t know at this point.”
“Right.”
“He’s still here,” Kidd said. “He wants to come in and talk.”
“I’ll go upstairs.”
“He doesn’t want you here,” Kidd said quickly.
Craig cocked his eyebrow. “He doesn’t want me here?” he repeated. “So what are you going to do, just throw me out of your house for a little bit, is that it?”
Kidd let out a heavy breath, a rage started to pulse through his veins. He was already having to deal with Craig being here, now with the fallout of John finding out, the last thing he wanted to do was get into a fight with Craig about him pissing off for a couple of hours.