by Nigel Cooper
It wasn’t long before the police started trawling through the local CCTV footage, but the area where the twins had gone missing was lacking such technology, the main CCTV cameras seemed to concentrate around the High Street and Market Square in the town centre about half a mile away; besides, it could take weeks to go through all the local CCTV footage – it was highly unlikely they would get anything from it today. More time passed and the light started to fade as dusk fell and before long it was completely dark.
The search continued throughout the night and the next morning into Sunday, which saw more of the same with lots of overt and frantic activity going on in and around the park and in the town of St Neots in general. More police resources were brought in from the surrounding counties, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, to help with the on-going search, not only for the boys, but also for more possible evidence, besides the balloons.
Every second of CCTV footage was now being checked to identify people and vehicles with the hope of spotting the twins, but there was a lot to get through and it would likely take weeks. In an ideal world there would have been a CCTV camera on Rowley Road along the edge of the park where Jamie’s shoe was found in the gutter, but this was not the case. The police had done the usual door-to-door enquiries within a few hours of the boys’ disappearance, but none of the local residents who lived along Rowley Road or any of the cul-de-sacs or side streets off it had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. If the boys had been abducted from just inside the woodland area and taken, against their will, northwards a good few hundred meters through the woodlands to Rowley Road and then manhandled into a vehicle in a built-up residential area, then surely somebody would have seen or heard something? but nothing. The local residents were desperate to give the police something, anything, but when it came down to it, they couldn’t, simply put, there was nothing to give.
The initial viewing of the CCTV camera footage showing the area closest to the park, which was nowhere near Rowley Road, showed nothing out of the ordinary: regular people going about their lives and regular town traffic – certainly no transit van with a couple of four year old blonde boys crying at the back windows. The police decided to widen the area of CCTV camera checks. If the twins had been snatched and taken from the park in a vehicle, the kidnapper or kidnappers could have taken one of three routes away from the area. They could have either skirted west across the north side of the town and driven north up the A1 towards Huntingdon, or north straight up Huntingdon Road on the B1043 through Great Paxton and the Offords towards Godmanchester, or east around St Neots and then out past the Loves Farm housing development on to Cambridge Road and the A428 towards Cambridge. All routes and eventualities were being looked into.
The police held an emergency press conference and the ensuing media activity broke out like wildfire, not only locally, but nationally too, on both radio and television, then the following morning in the local and national newspapers. Recent photos of the Kramer twins were circulated, using a photograph that had been taken only a couple of weeks previously at a photographic studio in St Neots. It was a beautiful photograph with both boys wearing smart matching light blue tartan shirts, which brought out their big blue eyes, while the strategically placed backlight showed off their blonde hair. They looked like cute little models straight out of a Mothercare catalogue and they had huge beaming smiles on their faces – this photograph was going to tug very hard at the heartstrings of every person who saw it on the television and in the newspapers.
It was fast turning into another April Jones type scenario. In the days following the Kramer boys’ disappearance, a large search operation was mounted in and around the St Neots area, involving the police and search and rescue teams with specialised equipment as well as hundreds of volunteers, some local, others from further afield.
Even though the Soham murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman happened back in August 2002, their case came up often in conversation both locally and on the national news, as Soham was also in Cambridgeshire, just 35 miles away from St Neots. Though the April Jones abduction and subsequent murder happened further afield in Wales ten years later, it too was being talked about. Comparisons were being made and although these cases, especially the Soham murders, had happened a while back, brutal cases like these never really get forgotten, regardless of the passing of time.
Helen and John hated the comparisons that the media was making as they knew the outcome of those other cases and they didn’t want to believe that their twin boys were going to end up the same way. All they could do now was hope and pray for their safe return.
Chapter 3
Saturday afternoon
Two men in their mid to late twenties kept a low profile under cover of the woodland area that ran up the east side of Priory Park. They stood behind two large trees about twenty feet into the woods away from the edge of the open expanse of park, but they could see and hear the twins playing football some thirty meters away out in the open. About thirty meters beyond them, the twins’ parents were engaged in conversation with another couple – the mother watching over her boys and occasionally glancing in their direction.
‘Ok, so how do you want to play this?’ said Snowy, the slightly older of the two.
‘We wait,’ said Dean.
‘Wait for what?’ said Snowy, so-called because of his cocaine habit and the visible residues that could often be seen under his nose after a good snort.
‘For the right opportunity, we have to time this right, bide our time, we can’t just run across the park in broad daylight and grab them … Christ.’
‘Ok, keep your hair on. So do you have any kind of plan?’ said Snowy.
‘Yes, we wait and with any luck they’ll see the balloons and come over here to take a closer look,’ said Dean, looking at the multi-coloured bunch of helium-filled balloons that he’d pinned to a tree half way between where they were standing and the edge of the park. Dean had strategically placed the balloons so they could only be seen by people in the park who got close enough to the edge of the woodland area and who happened to look that way. If, by chance, one of the parents ventured over and spotted the balloons, Dean and Snowy were far enough back that they would have time to back deeper into the woodland area and out onto the road without being spotted.
‘Doesn’t sound like much of a plan to me, I knew this was a stupid idea.’
‘Look, there won’t be any better opportunities than this, trust me. Besides, we’ve been over this and we both agreed that we stand the best chance of grabbing them unnoticed right here.’
‘What if they leave?’
‘They won’t, not yet. They’re usually here for about two hours … just be ready ok,’ said Dean.
‘Don’t worry, I’m ready,’ said Snowy, waving his black balaclava in his hand.
‘Put that away until we’re ready, you’ll draw attention to us,’ said Dean, annoyed.
Snowy unzipped his jacket, noisily, and put the balaclava in his large inside pocket. Dean shot him a look as his yanked the zipper up on his coat again, making just as much noise.
‘Sorry,’ whispered Snowy, his Geordie accent harder to detect when he whispered.
‘Wait!’ said Dean, watching intently as one of the twins kicked the ball right past his brother – who failed to stop the speeding football with his foot – towards the edge of the woodland where Dean and Snowy were hiding. ‘Keep quiet,’ whispered Dean. Snowy kept perfectly still and perfectly quiet and continued to watch as the twin closest ran closer to the edge of the park to retrieve the ball. He kicked it back to his brother, but now the boys were playing much closer to the wooded area. Dean and Snowy waited with baited breath, hoping that one, or both, of them would spot the balloons and venture into the woods to get a close look.
‘Boys, keep the ball over this way where Mummy can see you,’ shouted Helen. The twins looked over towards her, but continued to kick the ball back and forth right where they were.
‘Ok, get ready in case
they move further this way, quietly,’ said Dean, removing his own balaclava from his jacket pocket. Then it happened.
‘Jamie, look, balloons,’ said Edward, pointing, excited. Jamie turned around and followed his brother’s line of sight into the woods towards the large bundle of balloons pinned to the tree. At that exact moment a piercing high-pitched scream came from across the park. Dean and Snowy looked, the twins turned to look also. About eighty meters away from them, a further thirty meters or so away from where the twins’ parents were standing, a young girl had fallen over and was screaming out in pain. The girl’s mother ran over to her and stooped down, then she yelled, ‘HELP, SOMEBODY HELP ME!’ The twins’ parents and the couple they were talking to ran over to see what had happened. The twins stood and looked for a moment and when the screams of pain started to decrease in volume and the twins could see that their mum and dad and the other couple had the situation in hand, they turned back to the more fascinating balloons.
‘Come on,’ said Edward, running towards the woods, his brother in hot pursuit.
‘Get ready,’ said Dean, pulling on his balaclava. Snowy took his out, quietly this time, and pulled it over his head. ‘Remember, just as we planned, hand over their mouths, we don’t want them screaming the place down.’ The twins ran into the woods and stood, in awe, looking up at the large bunch of multi-coloured balloons.
‘I can’t reach them,’ said Edward, standing on his tiptoes. Jamie stood next to him, being exactly the same height, he wasn’t much help. They didn’t have any more time to contemplate the task in hand as, almost simultaneously, large grown-up hands clapped over their mouths, while strong grown-up arms grabbed them around their waists from behind. In an instant they were lifted off the ground, their legs and feet dangling in mid air as the two men ran deeper into the woodland area and ran north towards Rowley Road, where their vehicle awaited parked up on the road, just a few feet from the edge of the woodland. The boys tried to scream and shout, but only muted and muffled snotty noises came out as panic set in and tears started to flow. Dean and Snowy continued to run through the wooded area while praying that there were no dog walkers or ramblers en route – there weren’t. They arrived at the edge of the woodland area and glanced out onto the road for passing traffic and up and down the pavement for pedestrians; it was all clear. Dean lowered his twin onto the ground, keeping his hand clapped over the child’s mouth while fishing the car keys out of his jacket pocket. He pressed the key fob to unlock the car, an old Volvo estate with heavily tinted limo-style after-market privacy film on the rear doors and windows.
‘Go,’ said Dean, stepping out of the cover of the wood. He quickly opened the rear door, Snowy dove right in with the kid, Dean bundled the other one in next to him and slammed the door. He ran around the other side – safe in the knowledge hat he’d flicked the child security lock levers on both rear doors – and jumped into the driver’s side. He started the car and calmly drove off.
In the back, the twins were sobbing uncontrollably, crying for their mummy. Snowy sat between them so anybody who might look into the car through the front windscreen, at crossings or lights, would only see him sitting there and not the little twins, who would be obscured from view because of the front seats and headrests.
As planned, Snowy quickly took out two pillowcases and proceeded to put the first one over the head of the twin to his left, securing it with gaffer tape around his neck, but not so tight it would choke him. He turned and quickly did the same with the other, his little arms came up to protest, but his resistance was futile against the adult. Dean looked over his shoulder and, knowing he could not be identified now, removed his balaclava, Snowy did the same.
The twins continued to cry for their mother as the car headed down Hawkesden Road past the station. The twins didn’t let up for a second as the car drove along the A428 towards Cambridge.
Chapter 4
Monday morning
‘Ok, everyone, listen up,’ said DCI Neil Bailey, as he strode across the Major Incident Room and took up the prominent position on the small podium at the front to give his morning briefing. It was 7 a.m. on Monday, which wasn’t an unusual time for a morning briefing, especially during this early stage of a serious investigation, a crime in action.
‘For those who weren’t here for last night’s briefing I’ve been appointed SIO on the missing Kramer twins case, codenamed Operation Vanguard. This isn’t a case I’m going to be taking lightly and I don’t expect anybody else to either. As evidence suggests, it’s starting to look like a kidnapping so I expect everybody to push the envelope on this one, be vigilant, no stones left unturned,’ he said, scanning the room of about 40 police staff of varying CID and uniform ranks.
‘Edward and Jamie Kramer went missing from Priory Park in St Neots on Saturday afternoon at approximately 1500 hours so they’ve now been missing for 40 hours. The evidence so far suggests a kidnapping. The mother of the twins, Helen Kramer, found one of the boy’s discarded training shoes in the gutter on Rowley Road, which runs along the north edge of the park. We also found a bunch of balloons pinned to a tree in the woodland area that runs up the east edge of the park, close to where the boys went missing. There might not be any connection but there’s every possibility that they were put there to lure the boys from the open park and into the cover of the woodland area. Forensics are working on the balloons as I speak,’ said Bailey. Four large monitors showed the recent photograph of the boys, the training shoe and the balloons in situ pinned to the trunk of a large tree. DCI Bailey continued for another forty minutes before wrapping up his morning briefing.
‘Finally, we have a new man on the team, Detective Sergeant Rhodes,’ said Bailey, gesturing to Rhodes, who was standing over to Bailey’s right near the wall. The room turned to glance over at the new arrival. ‘DS Rhodes has joined us today having been transferred up to Cambridgeshire from the Met. He’s going to be stationed here at Hinchingbrooke FHQ so make him feel welcome. Sorry you’re been thrown in at the deep end, Sergeant, but I’m sure it’ll be a breeze for you after the hustle and bustle of London. Ok, they’ll be an evening de-brief here at 1900 hours, I’ll see you all back here then. Right, let’s get to work, we’ve got two twins to find.’
* * *
After the briefing, DS Damon Rhodes headed back to his desk to get up to speed on the missing Kramer twins case and familiarise himself with the way things worked in his new workplace. The Senior Investigating Officer, DCI Bailey, hadn’t assigned anything in particular to Rhodes, which was just as well as he hadn’t slept well the night before – three hours of broken sleep in his strange new two-up-two-down rented end of terrace house. It was going to take a little while before his new lodgings felt like home, especially now that it was just him. Having just moved into his new house – conveniently located in Godmanchester, just outside Huntingdon, but still quite close to FHQ – the week before, and with a shed load of boxes still to be unpacked, he would have preferred a quiet first week in his new job in the CID Major Crime Unit at Hinchingbrooke FHQ. However, setting up his new life in Cambridgeshire was a very distant second to two missing four-year old twins – his personal life and a load of unpacked boxes would just have to wait, so would sleep. Something told him there was going to be quite a few double shifts coming up.
‘Sergeant, this is Detective Inspector Carver,’ said DCI Bailey, striding over to Rhodes’s desk. ‘He’s going to be your immediate boss during this case and he’s got something he wants you to help him out with this morning. Ok, gentleman, I’ll leave you to it,’ said Bailey, heading back across the office and out the door.
‘Ok, sergeant, grab your coat, we’re going to meet the Kramer parents,’ said Carver, turning on his heels. Rhodes grabbed his coat and put it on while chasing after him. Outside in the corridor two female Detectives were waiting. ‘This is Detective Constable Dubois and Detective Constable Dobson, the appointed FLOs who are going to be working closely with the Kramer family,’ said Carver. Rhod
es nodded to acknowledge them and received a brief ‘Hello’ in return, Carver barely stopped to do the introductions. Rhodes strode alongside Carver while the two lady detectives had to practically break into a jog to keep up, taking three steps to every one of the DI’s quick leggy strides. Vince Carver had to be six foot three and his lanky legs seemed to take up a disproportionate amount of that – this guy was the best of Per Mertersacker and Peter Crouch combined and judging by the speed he walked he could probably move across a penalty area and stick one in with his head just as well.
Outside they all hopped into an unmarked pool car. Rhodes held back for the briefest of moments, not wanting to assume that he was going to take the front passenger seat just because he was a man and held rank over the women, and, this wasn’t London, things might be done a little different here. But, before he could blink the two acting FLOs were getting in the back, almost certainly out of respect for Rhodes higher rank, at least that’s what Rhodes assumed.
After a short 20-minute drive they arrived in Abbotsley. Carver drove up the High Street past the Tavern On The Green pub. Just as Rhodes was admiring the beautiful white cottages with thatched roofs on the left, Carver seemed to read his mind. ‘It’s a far cry from the grimy streets of London right?’ he said.