The good questions keep coming, Jack thought.
“Who knows? Maybe they have something on him. Some way they can blackmail him.”
“Is that likely?”
“Everybody has a secret – we both know that, hmm? Even English teachers.”
“Ha – them more than anybody, I’m sure,” said Sarah, laughing. “Got to watch the quiet ones. But the bad guys can’t blackmail everybody.”
“True.”
“So this ‘suspect’ – you think he was the guy who broke into my place the other night?”
“Yep. Either the drug-dealing suspect – or one of his boss’s goons,” said Jack. “That sounds possible?”
“Sure. Could have been,” said Sarah. “Whoever pushed me over could have been any age.”
She glanced across at Jack.
“Of course,” she said, “this doesn’t answer the really big question.”
“Which is?”
“Who killed Josh Owen?”
33. The Gloucester Connection
Jack stared out of the window. The countryside had given way to suburbs.
“Nearly there,” said Sarah.
“Been a while since I came here,” said Jack, thinking back to a couple of cases that had drawn them to the city. “You know your way?”
“Should be okay,” said Sarah. “And the nice lady in the sat-nav knows where she’s going.”
Jack spotted some familiar landmarks – and in the distance caught a glimpse of the cathedral.
Magnificent – even with the rough edges of the city that surrounded it.
“Oh, what happened yesterday with Chloe, by the way?”
He glanced over at Sarah: she shook her head.
“It started well,” she said. “We baked some cupcakes together. Daniel was home with his friend Abbie. We sat out on the deck and had tea in the sunshine.”
“And then…?”
“Then, I thought I could casually bring up the subject of where she and her pals disappear to most weekends.”
“Let me guess – it kinda spoiled the atmosphere?”
“’Spoiled’ isn’t the word. Destroyed. Smashed. Ruined. Happened in a heartbeat.”
“Ah.”
“Daniel and Abbie saw the storm coming and disappeared into the house. Chloe went into meltdown – ‘you don’t trust me, I’ve got a right to my privacy, when I stay with Dad in London he treats me like an adult’– on and on.”
“I’ve had a taste of that myself. Long time ago, thankfully. Had to have been rough for you. Ouch.”
“Felt like the worst mother ever.”
“So no closer to that friendship you used to have?”
Jack looked across at her. She swallowed hard.
“I think – a big step in the other direction. Maybe that’s just a silly dream, me and Chloe like best mates again. I think back to how I was at that age – and Jack, I was no angel. Just ask my dad!”
“Can’t imagine you were,” he said.
He saw her turn quickly to him – then laugh.
“Only you could get away with saying that, Jack Brennan,” she said. “Only you.”
“Why, thank you,” he said smiling.
He looked ahead. They were in the centre of town already.
He’d wanted to give Sarah some words of advice, hard won after years with his own daughter.
For now, that could wait.
“Guess we should get back to work,” he said. “What’s the address?”
“Should be down here – then a right.”
“Think we can park outside?”
“Should be able to – if Google’s photo is recent enough.”
Sarah took the turn, and they cruised slowly down the little street. On either side, Jack could see boarded up stores with rental signs.
The ones that weren’t boarded were mainly charity shops, second- and third-hand clothes for sale. And here and there – strangely enough – hairdressers.
There weren’t many people out.
Not exactly a prime retail area, thought Jack.
“There it is,” said Sarah.
He saw her gesture ahead: sandwiched between a mobile phone repair shop and an Oxfam charity store was a metal door marked “The Dive”.
Next to it another door, open, and above it Jack saw a flashing sign: “On Cue”.
And on the second floor, the windows were all blacked out with pictures of pool tables and beer ads.
A place like this in Manhattan, well, he’d click the safety off his revolver, and be on guard.
No revolver here…
“And what do you know…” said Sarah.
Jack saw her point ahead to a white van parked just beyond the pool hall.
“The van from the quarry?” he said.
“Yep, the very same.”
As they passed the van, Jack sat low in his seat and looked through the side window into the cab.
It was empty.
“Let’s go round again,” he said. “And pull in back, across the street. We can watch it.”
***
Sarah looked at Jack.
“Now what?”
“Well, in the Big Apple this is what we call a stakeout. We sit, we wait. If we had cups of coffee from a Greek diner, we’d drink.”
“Just wait?”
“Sometimes police work involves a lot of patience.”
“Never my strong suit.”
She turned back to the building across the street.
It was hard not to have her mind drift back to yesterday… and Chloe.
Nothing she could do about it now. Maybe not anything she could do about it full stop.
She almost wanted to ask Jack how did he handle it?
When his own daughter was a teenager. In the city, no less!
But she could see now that Jack’s face looked dead serious, eyes locked on the building, the van.
And she had to admit – despite the fact they were just sitting and watching – this was all pretty exciting.
She remembered a stakeout she and Jack had done before, a year or so back – in North Oxford, trailing a dodgy academic. That leafy road so different from this deserted city street.
Working with Jack often brought moments like this.
But once again she reminded herself: Don’t get used to it, he’s going to be gone soon.
She looked at her watch.
Fifteen minutes.
Then twenty.
And just as she started to say: “Jack, do you–”
The door to “The Dive” across the street opened.
And Jack raised a finger, signalling, wait… and watch.
***
And when the first person walked out, she had to say in a whisper: “There’s Rikky.”
Jack nodded. Then, behind him…
“Ted. The brother.”
“Gotcha.”
The first word Jack had said in quite a while.
Then a third person came out.
A man in a crisp suit, short, nearly bald; the quality of the suit visible even from here.
The man – wasn’t smiling.
“Damn,” Jack said, “wish I had my binoculars.”
“Wait,” she said, opening the glove compartment and pulling out a small, but quality, pair of binoculars.
“Well – you are travelling prepared. And your phone camera… has good resolution?”
“Gazillion megapixels,” she said.
Jack opened the binoculars.
“Get a pic of that guy.”
Sarah raised her camera. If the trio across the street looked over here, they’d see the Rav-4 and the two people in it.
Had Rikky or Ted noticed what car she drove to their burger van?
That could blow their cover right away.
But, as she took the photos, she saw the three men were far too engrossed in their conversation – and it was obviously heated.
“Looks like Rikky is in trouble,” said Jack.
Sarah nodded. The burly burger maestro kept raising his hands in a gesture that screamed… I’m doin’ my best… what do you want me to do?
But the man in the suit was having no part of it, jabbing Rikky dead-centre in his chest with his index finger.
“I think,” Jack said, his voice so very low, “we have found our ‘boss’.”
“Really?”
“If our theories are right. That, over there, is not a little chit-chat about who will win the next Manchester United game.”
Then Sarah saw Rikky turn to Ted, who towered over both of them.
She noticed that the man in the suit didn’t give Ted the pointed finger treatment.
Instead, he kept gesturing at Rikky, while walking.
It was easy to make up your own captions for what was being said.
Probably something on the order of: You sort your brother out, fix this, or else.
But Sarah thought she noticed something else in Ted’s face. Or lack of something. Not the look of desperation that she saw in Rikky. Or the anger of the man in the suit.
Something else.
Which made her wonder: How involved was Ted in whatever they were doing here?
Then, finally, the man in the suit backed up a step.
One last hands-in-the-air gesture, and he stormed back into the club, leaving Ted and Rikky stranded.
Then, Sarah saw Rikky give his taller brother a hard tap to the shoulder.
Looking clearly like a reprimand.
All was not well with the burger boys.
Ted went around to the driver’s side of the van, while Rikky climbed into the passenger side.
“They’re leaving.”
“Yup,” Jack said.
The van pulled out.
“Wonder where they are going?” Jack said.
“Only one way to find out.”
Sarah put down her phone and started the Rav-4.
“Right. But easy, lay back.”
First a stakeout, now a… what was the word for this?
A tail.
And despite Sarah’s heart racing, she had to admit… this was fun.
34. A Special Driveway
Sarah did her best to stay well behind the van, which didn’t seem bothered by any speed limits.
“Jack – we’re going to hit a maze of twisty roads and hedges. It’s going to be impossible. Maybe you should drive?”
But, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack shake his head.
“You’re doing fine. Besides, I always like teaching you new skills relevant to our work, right?”
“But a police tail? Maybe that’s one skill too far…”
“Okay, now the trick is not to hug too close. If you do, and they turn or stop, you’ll be caught. Many a rookie has to call off the tail because their cover is blown. The target can just pull over and wait. Let the tail pass.”
“But those narrow lanes… they could disappear down any one of them.”
“Right. But here’s the flip side of that. You still try to keep them – most of the time – within eyesight.”
“But if they look in the mirror, and see us, won’t they–?”
“Sure. They might get a little paranoid. But in something like this, a little paranoia can be good. Scared people make mistakes. Do impulsive things. That could be useful.”
Sarah noticed that she had both her hands locked on the steering wheel as though she was driving through a blizzard.
She told herself: Breathe.
But then, despite both she and Jack having their eyes locked on the road ahead, the blob of white weaving in and out…
It disappeared.
And suddenly there was no van in front of them.
***
“Slow down,” Jack said.
“They’re gone!” Sarah said. “I blew it.”
“Not so fast. Just go slow.”
And then she came to a serpentine bend in the road flanked by what had to be the tallest hedges in the Cotswolds.
Perfect place for the van to disappear.
“Slow,” Jack repeated.
After another bend, they came to a junction.
Straight ahead, more twists and turns. To the left and the right, more of the same.
“Hmm,” Jack said.
“They could have gone anywhere.”
She saw Jack lean forward, then quickly look left and right.
“Okay. Another trick. Straight ahead – see any dust catching the afternoon sun?”
She didn’t.
“And to your left…?”
And there, the faintest bit of gritty vapour was suspended, like house dust catching a brilliant sun slicing into a sitting room.
“They went left?”
“You got it.”
And now Sarah turned, picking up her pace a bit, but knowing that too much speed and she could be right on top of them, the tail blown.
Then, finally, this maze–like stretch of road straightened out, and she caught a glimpse of the white van.
“Wow.”
“Well done, detective,” Jack said.
And Sarah felt as if she had landed the biggest fish ever.
But now – to reel it in.
***
The road straightened even more.
“We anywhere near Cherringham?” Jack said.
“Still some way away. Nothing out here, really, but cows and sheep and wheat fields.”
And Jack laughed at that.
“Think you might be getting close to their destination.”
“Gotcha.”
And then she saw that the van was slowing.
Had Rikky and Ted spotted the car behind them? Were they even now arguing about who it might be? What it meant?
And yes, Sarah could see that fear would be useful.
Squeezing, pressuring Rikky and Ted after their meeting with what looked like a very important and powerful man.
The van slowed even more.
“Jack – there’s a driveway ahead.”
“Better eyes than me. Slow down a bit – but not too much.”
“Right.”
And as she did so, she saw the van take a tortuous turn off the narrow, hedge-lined road onto what had to be a driveway.
Can’t be another road, she thought. There’s nowhere to go out here!
As she got close, she slowed down to 5 miles an hour, then not even that.
“Oh – hang on,” Jack said. Then quickly: “Keep going. Don’t go up the driveway. Don’t stop.”
He had seen something – but what?
And now she kept her speed steady, while shooting a quick glance to the narrow entrance to the driveway.
Seeing something.
Like a pole. Or…
What was it?
***
Only when they were well past the driveway did Sarah take a big breath, and say: “You saw something.”
“That I did.”
“And?”
“Can you find a place to pull over? We need to talk.”
She shook her head at that. “Not going to be easy out here. Maybe at the next junction. But we lost them, right?”
“Maybe not.”
After another series of twists and turns, she came to a T-junction, and there was just enough room to one side for her to pull the Rav-4 over.
Then, car idling, she turned to him.
“Okay – what did you see?”
“Security cameras on the drive. Probably wired to alarms.”
“What do we do?”
“Gonna have to find another way in.”
Sarah tried to think about where they were.
Where the roads led, where one village ended, and another began…
She turned to Jack.
“I think I know a way round.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.” She let the handbrake go. “It’s been a few years, but… we’ll see.”
And she pulled out, back onto the road.
35. Th
e Farm
As soon as Sarah took a few turns, Jack realised they were driving in a big arc to come round behind the house.
“Ah,” he said. “This goes to the high ground on the other side of the place, huh?”
“Should do. A lot of these roads are just big zig-zags, twisting their way through the farmland. There’s a hill up here that I used to bring the kids to on picnics when they were little – and I think it looks down on that valley.”
Now Jack saw Sarah take a turn – rather quickly, he thought – putting them on a road that began to rise through woods.
Every now and then he could just catch a glimpse into the valley through the trees.
Quite the view.
“This road would take us back to Cherringham, if we stuck with it,” said Sarah. “Comes out eventually at the back of Mabb’s Hill.”
“You think… we’ll be able to see their place from up here?”
“Almost sure of it.”
Sarah pulled into a small parking area on one of the curves in the road.
“See the path through the trees?” she said. “Should bring us out just above the valley.”
Jack got out, but he turned to see Sarah open the glove compartment.
“Best bring these?” she said, dangling her binoculars.
“Yup.”
And they headed into the woods.
***
“Take a look,” Sarah said. “What do you think?”
Jack took the binoculars, adjusted them for his eyes.
Lying here at the edge of the trees, in the cover of low gorse bushes, they had a great view of what looked like a farmhouse, just a couple of hundred yards away across bare fields.
And not just a house. An expansive barn, well-maintained outbuildings, with the only access from that driveway.
Jack went from the house, to the barn, then back again.
“No sign of the van.”
“Think they’ve been and gone?”
“Could be. Or…”
“Yes?”
“Doesn’t look like a working farm. No tractors. No animals.” He brought the binoculars down so he could look at Sarah. “Right?”
“Quite a farmhouse, though.”
“For a burger guy? Yes. So maybe that barn serves as garage. Certainly big enough.”
He handed her the binoculars. “Now, look at the farmhouse itself… tell me what you see.”
Jack looked at her as she scanned the building.
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