Stolen Children

by Michael Wood

  ‘No. I mean, yes. Yes, I will. I’ll look into it.’

  ‘Is everything all right, Aaron? You seem distracted.’

  ‘Yes. No, I’m sorry. Everything’s fine. Leave it with me.’

  ‘Aaron, we need to know where Calvin is. That is paramount. Not just in connection with Keeley Armitage but because he’s broken his parole conditions. I’m aware this is different to what Calvin has done in the past, and, thankfully, Keeley doesn’t seem to have been sexually assaulted, but he cannot be ruled out yet.’

  ‘Ok. I said leave it with me,’ Aaron almost snapped.

  The room fell silent and all eyes turned to Aaron.

  ‘Where are we with house-to-house and finding out everything about the Armitage family?’ Matilda asked, bringing everyone back on topic.

  ‘I’ve found something interesting,’ Scott said. He flicked through his notebook. ‘Here we are: Julia Aspinall lives across the road and just a bit further up from the Armitages, and she used to work with Craig before he had his own business. He used to be a delivery driver for Parcelforce and Julia worked in the offices. Now, Craig was dismissed because of a large number of items going missing from the rounds he was on. Customers would call whoever they’d ordered from saying they hadn’t received their delivery, the company would investigate to see who the delivery bloke was, and Craig had a high percentage of so-called mislaid parcels.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘There was an internal inquiry and Craig left. Julia said it was all hushed up. However, Craig went on to set up his own business as a local courier, but he was bad-mouthed by a former colleague still working at Parcelforce. Craig had to change the name of his business several times before everything died down. But – and here’s the interesting part—’

  ‘About time,’ Rory interrupted.

  ‘Craig had a very public row with this colleague in a pub. Julia was there and overheard most of it. She heard the colleague say to Craig that if he ever went near his family again, he’d make him pay.’

  ‘So, Craig did something to this other guy’s family?’ Christian asked.

  ‘It sounds like it.’

  ‘Do you have the contact details of this colleague?’ Matilda asked.

  ‘Yes. A Dean Oliver. He lives at Gleadless.’

  ‘Great. Pay him a visit, Scott. See what you can dig up and find out where he was on the evening Keeley disappeared. Anything else?’

  ‘Yes,’ Sian said. ‘A few of the neighbours aren’t too complimentary about Linda.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘Some are saying she’s quite unhinged, volatile, quick to temper. They often hear her shouting, even when it’s only her and Riley at home.’

  Matilda thought for a moment. ‘I suppose we have to be careful here. Linda is in a difficult position coping with Riley twenty-four hours a day. It’s going to get to her at some point. Maybe she cries and screams to let off a bit of steam.’

  ‘Or maybe she’s abusing Riley,’ Aaron said.

  ‘We don’t know that,’ Matilda castigated. ‘Sian, have a word with their family GP. Nothing definite, just get their take on the family.’

  ‘I found out something yesterday evening after the search,’ DC Finn Cotton said, tentatively raising his hand. Finn was incredibly shy and still a new-ish member of the team. Although he seemed to get on well with everyone and joined in with conversations and having a laugh, he found it difficult to raise his head above the parapet when the whole team was assembled.

  ‘Go on,’ Matilda prompted.

  ‘One of the neighbours, two doors along, Mrs Rita Clover, invited me in for a chat.’

  ‘Is she fit?’ Rory asked.

  Finn blushed and cleared his throat before continuing. ‘At first she didn’t say anything bad about the Armitages. She was full of praise for how they raised the kids and the charity work Craig does, but then she threw doubt on the whole thing.’

  ‘In what way?’ Sian asked, hooked on his story.

  ‘She said she and a few of the other neighbours often wondered if all the money Craig raised went to charity. She pointed out that Craig changes his van every eighteen months, the girls wear designer gear and seem to have the latest phones, and, around Christmas time, there’s always loads of parcels delivered. Like Mrs Clover said, a courier can’t earn that much money, so where is it all coming from?’

  ‘So, what are they saying then, that he’s defrauding these charities?’ Scott asked.

  ‘It sounds like it?’

  ‘But is that a crime?’ he asked. ‘I mean, you run a marathon and collect donations and raise, say, two grand, but only hand over fifteen hundred to the charity. Is that fraud?’

  ‘It is if the charity has sponsored you,’ Matilda said. ‘I mean, we were told from the start that Craig raised money to pay for the things Riley needs to make his home life as stable as possible. Once he’d done that, he continued to raise money and donated it to the local hospital. From time to time I suppose Riley is going to need new things.’

  ‘In that case,’ Sian said, ‘the money should be going to buying Riley equipment, not designer gear for the girls and to make sure they all have a merry Christmas.’

  ‘Maybe they’re doing it for compensation,’ Christian said as he sipped his coffee. ‘Craig and Linda are going to spend a lot of their time and energy on Riley. The girls are going to feel left out. The only way they can think of to make it up to them is through material possessions. It keeps them quiet and happy at the end of the day.’

  ‘But they’re not happy,’ Sian said. ‘Look at the drawings and stories in Keeley’s sketch pad. She wanted a prince to come along and take her away from all this. It’s fine to wear designer clothes and have the latest Apple products, but a child of Keeley’s age needs a hug from time to time.’

  ‘I think what we can draw from this,’ Matilda said, going over to the white boards which held photographs of the family, ‘is that money is an issue with this family. If the rumours are true that Craig was stealing parcels, maybe he was selling them for the money. The same for the charity fraud too.’

  ‘And what better way to get your hands on a large amount of money fast than by saying one of your kids has been kidnapped for ransom,’ Finn said out of nowhere. ‘There’s already a GoFundMe page set up for them.’

  ‘Is there?’ Sian asked.

  ‘Yes. I noticed it this morning. Someone posted a link to it on Twitter. I don’t know who’s set it up but it’s to raise money to help the Armitages with the funeral. Already there’s more than three grand raised.’

  ‘Five grand now,’ Rory said, looking at his laptop.

  ‘And Linda went round to Sally Meagan quickly to beg for the ransom money,’ Finn continued. ‘Who knows how differently it would have played out if they’d handed over the fifty thousand.’

  The whole room fell silent and everyone turned to face the DC who quickly blushed and sank in his chair.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said quietly.

  ‘No. You’re right,’ Matilda said. ‘Every line of questioning always seems to lead us back to Craig and Linda. I wanted them brought in yesterday but then Keeley was found so that went out of the window. While we’re all here, what do we think of Craig and Linda?’

  Everyone was silent. They obviously all had an opinion, but nobody seemed to want to speak up first. Eventually, Christian cleared his throat and began.

  ‘Their reactions have been extremes of each other. Craig has remained staid, non-reactive, almost docile, whereas Linda has needed sedating. She’s screamed and wailed and collapsed to the floor. They’re complete opposite of each other. It’s almost as if they’ve decided on who is going to play which role.’

  ‘And Linda was at home on her own when the ransom demand came through,’ Rory said.

  ‘But BT confirmed that a call was made at the time she stated,’ Scott added.

  ‘Maybe Craig made that call from a burner phone,’ Christian said.

  ‘Craig was in Che
sterfield delivering parcels.’

  ‘Has the tracker on his van been looked at, or his phone?’ Matilda asked.

  ‘Yes. He was definitely there. CCTV confirms it, too,’ Sian said.

  ‘If this was just to get fifty thousand pounds, why kill her?’ Christian asked.

  ‘Maybe it was an accident. Fingers crossed the post-mortem will come up with something that can point us in the right direction,’ Matilda said, turning to face the board again. She looked at the smiling face of the family in happier times looking down at her. She glared into the eyes of Craig, moved on to Linda, then back to Craig. It was difficult for her to work out how she felt towards the couple. In this situation, she wasn’t seeing the true Craig and Linda. But if they were playing a cruel and murderous game, their real personalities would be deeply hidden beneath the guises they wanted the public to see.

  Matilda squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She could feel the beginnings of a tension headache creeping up the back of her neck. She felt sick to her stomach with this case.

  ‘If Craig and Linda are this calculating, are Jodie and Riley in danger?’ Sian asked.

  Sian’s questions brought Matilda back from her reverie. She turned around. All eyes turned to Sian. That was a question nobody wanted to answer.

  Chapter 31

  Briefing has thrown up a few new lines of enquiry. C and L seem to have a lot of money worries. L asked Sally Meagan for 50k ransom money but was turned down. Could K’s kidnap have been a ploy to get money gone wrong? Try and do some digging.

  Ellen Devonport was in the kitchen of the Armitage home in Acorn Drive making tea for everyone when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She froze when she read the text from Matilda. Was it possible Craig and Linda had manufactured Keeley’s kidnap for money and the whole thing had gone terribly wrong? Ellen’s first thought was that she wouldn’t be surprised. The disturbing fact was that the majority of people murdered were killed by a relative or someone they knew and trusted. What troubled Ellen was, if that was the case here, how could Craig and Linda be so cold as to act the grieving parents when they knew what had happened to their daughter?

  Ellen composed herself. She finished making the tea and put the mugs on the tray to take into the living room. She walked slowly out of the kitchen, her hands shaking slightly.

  In the living room, Jodie was curled up on the sofa next to her father who had his arm around her and was staring into space. Linda was in the armchair. She looked physically and mentally drained. Riley was in a large bean bag, his glassy eyes darting around the room.

  ‘Would anybody like anything to eat?’ Ellen asked quietly as she placed the tray on the coffee table.

  Nobody replied.

  ‘I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.’

  She edged out of the room, closing the door firmly behind her. There was a dark atmosphere in the living room. She hoped to God it was genuine. What would happen to Jodie and Riley if their parents were arrested for Keeley’s murder?

  Ellen headed for the dining room. On the night Keeley went missing, Linda had been frantically looking through the drawers in the dresser for bank statements to see how they’d manage to pull together the fifty-thousand-pound ransom money. Ellen wanted to get a closer look at the statements. How financially solvent were they and what did they spend their money on?

  The house was deathly silent. The only noise came from the dishwasher and the hum of the fridge. She was sure she’d hear anyone leave the living room. She opened the cupboard of the pine dresser and pulled out the red folder that contained the bank statements. Everything was neatly arranged: joint current account, two savings accounts, accounts for the children, mortgage statements and credit card statements. A quick look at the current account told Ellen they had more money going out each month than they had coming in. They dipped in an out of their overdraft on a monthly basis, yet still managed to transfer a few hundred to their savings accounts each month. How was that possible? They had six credit cards, all of them with high credit limits and each card was almost at its limit. They paid the minimum amount required each month.

  Ellen went back to the bank statements and cast her eye quickly down the list of payments. Supermarkets and Amazon featured heavily, which wasn’t surprising, but the amounts were. Around two hundred pounds was spent each week in the supermarket. Was that necessary for a family of five? Some of the amounts to Amazon were small, a tenner here, twenty pounds there, occasionally around a hundred, but they all mounted up to a great deal of money – money they didn’t physically have.

  Would fifty thousand pounds have been enough to lower the debts they’d accumulated? Ellen didn’t think so. It would pay off a couple of credit cards and the overdraft, but unless they changed their spending ways, it wouldn’t be long before another fifty grand was needed.

  She put the red folder back in the drawer and pulled a buff cardboard file out. It was thick and filled with letters. The first was from a local firm of solicitors Ellen hadn’t heard of. It was a demand on behalf of a building contractor for alterations to the house going back two years. The letter threatened legal action unless the debt of three thousand eight hundred pounds wasn’t settled within thirty days. There was nothing in the file to show if the amount had been paid.

  Ellen looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being watched or that no one had crept up on her. She took her phone out of her back pocket and took a photo of the letter. It came out blurred as she couldn’t keep her hands still.

  Another letter from a different firm of solicitors demanded payment of four thousand two hundred and fifty-six pounds for a landscape gardener who had designed the back garden to make it more accessible for Riley. Again, there was no evidence to show if this had been paid or not. Ellen took another photo. Craig had told her he’d done the garden himself. What was the reason for telling such a pointless lie?

  The file was full of similar letters. Final demands, threats of court action and enforced bankruptcy. How had they got into such a financial mess? Ellen could understand them wanting to do the best for their children, but not to the point of financial ruin where the only solution was fake-kidnapping your own daughter.

  She heard a noise from the living room. She stuffed the letter back in the folder, threw it into the cupboard and slammed the door closed.

  She stood up and ran into the kitchen, breathless.

  ‘Hello. How are you feeling?’ she asked Craig.

  ‘Numb,’ was all he could say. He looked ready to drop.

  ‘Would you like something to eat? A sandwich maybe?’

  ‘I don’t know what I want.’

  Ellen went over to him, put her arm around his shoulders and guided him to the table. She pulled out a chair and sat him down. She squatted in front of him and placed her hands on his lap.

  ‘Craig, I won’t pretend to know what you’re going through right now, but I’m guessing you feel like you’re in hell. I’m here for you to talk to, about absolutely anything. If there’s something you want to get off your chest, you can tell me. I’m not here to judge or take sides. I’m here purely for you.’

  ‘I … I …’ he choked. His mind was obviously wanting him to say something, but his mouth wouldn’t allow it.

  ‘What is it? What do you want to say?’ Ellen pleaded.

  ‘Dad?’

  They both turned to see Jodie standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Jodie asked.

  ‘Your dad’s upset, Jodie. I was trying to get him to share his feelings. It’s not helpful to keep things bottled up.’ Ellen stood up. ‘Is there anything I can get you, Jodie? A sandwich?’

  Jodie ignored her. She went over to her father and sat on his knee, burying her head in his chest. Craig put his arms firmly around her and held her close, stroking her hair.

  Ellen turned back to the sink. It was sparkling and shiny from her over-cleaning it, but it didn’t stop her from picking up the Flash and squirting the
draining board once again. How much longer was she expected to stay in this house? She knew the role of Family Liaison Officer was not an easy one, but Ellen was physically chilled to the bone in the company of this family. She frowned as she thought. On jobs like this, Ellen was full of sympathy for the grieving parents, but in this case, she couldn’t warm to Linda or Craig. She felt great sadness for Keeley and Riley and it pained her to see Jodie’s lost childhood, but why were the parents causing her such consternation?

  Ellen looked up. Dark clouds loomed over the city and the light in the kitchen turned the window into a mirror. She could see Craig and Jodie’s reflection reversed behind her. Jodie was curled up on her father’s lap, more like a toddler than a teenager. Her eyes were closed, a faint smile playing on her lips. She was comforted. They were seeking solace in each other in a traumatic time. So why was a cold shiver running up Ellen’s spine?

  Chapter 32

  Matilda pulled up outside the mortuary on Watery Street just outside the city centre in her Range Rover. She opened the door and felt a sudden gust of cool wind. She looked up and saw a heavy grey sky looming above her. Summer was definitely over. Autumn would quickly descend into winter which would be long, dark, and arduous. Adele was right; she had made a mistake in moving so far out of the city. Hopefully, with Scott and Chris moving in to the apartment and a potential relationship developing with Daniel, things wouldn’t seem quite so lonely.

  As she approached the building, the main doors opened and two women stepped out. She recognised the first woman straight away.

  ‘Bev,’ Matilda called out to her.

  The taller of the two women turned at the sound of her name. Bev was in her late forties but looked at least a decade older. Years of working on the streets in all weathers and smoking like a chimney had ravaged her appearance. She layered herself in make-up to hide the wrinkles. She dyed her thinning hair light blonde and over-plucked her eyebrows. She was painfully thin with prominent cheekbones and a turkey neck.

  ‘I told you this would happen,’ she immediately launched into a tirade at the sight of the DCI. ‘I warned you. You wouldn’t listen and now a woman – a girl – is dead. She was nineteen, Matilda.’ Bev’s voice was hoarse and deep from a lifetime of cigarettes. Usually she sounded harsh and authoritative, but this morning there was a catch of emotion in her voice and tears in her eyes.