by Tina Clough
The tension was mounting; she felt that she had never been under such scrutiny. Fish seemed to suspect that she was only telling him half the truth and she was unsure of what to say to convince him. She tried to sound indignant and upset that he was doubting her.
“But I don’t know how it works! I’ve no idea why I can predict some things and not others. It’s not a very comfortable thing to have. And I don’t think of it as a gift, it’s a horrible thing!” She had let her voice rise into a shrill tone to sound as if she meant it. “And as I said, I’ve only ever known a few disaster type things. Maybe the bit about my sister is the last thing I’ll see? I’ve no way of knowing, do I?”
She thought she had sounded realistically aggrieved and slightly whiney. She was desperate to make them believe that she was a reluctant prophet and did not know why she could predict some things.
Fish was frustrated and getting angrier by the minute. He ordered the driver to keep an eye on Mia and motioned Sam to follow him. The two of them retreated into the cab of the van and closed the doors. She could see them talking and it was obvious that Fish was insisting on something – he was banging the flat of his hand on the steering wheel and speaking forcefully, turning his head sideways to look at Sam. Sam seemed to be protesting, but spoke much less than Fish and after a few minutes they got out of the van and came over to where Mia was sitting on the pipe.
“We’re going to leave you in the tank and come back tomorrow and have another chat. And you’ll have some more time to think about what you might want to tell us! Nobody ever comes near this place. We’ll padlock the doors. This place hasn’t been used in years, so it’s no use making a ruckus.”
Fish was sounding nearly friendly; suddenly she felt more scared than she had at any time since they snatched her from the street. Fish was not a kind man and she did not for one moment believe that he felt any concern for her.
Sam was standing beside Fish right in front of Mia and she noticed the look on his face when Fish spoke – was it guilt or embarrassment or something else again? He came over and reached out to help her up from the pipe and the strange quartet made its way to the big tank. The driver swung the hatch inwards and Mia instinctively took a step backwards – the tank was totally dark inside and there was no way of seeing what was inside.
Sam took Mia right up to the tank. The lower edge of the opening was just above her knees. I’m going to have to bend down and clamber inside. Damn, she thought, that means the last thing they’ll see is my bum with my trousers pulled tight – and that means they might spot the mobile.
“What’s been in there? Will I be able to breathe?”
She tried to step backwards and her voice trembled, because she really was frightened now and she could see no way out. Now that I know they’re planning to do something at the casino they’ll never let me out. They’ll just leave me to die. I must keep that phone with me; it’s my only lifeline.
Fish was getting irritated. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, it’s just as safe as your own bedroom, probably safer. Don’t make such a bloody fuss! Sam, get her that water bottle and a torch from the van, so she has a light.” He grabbed Mia’s arm hard just above the elbow and pushed her forward. “Now, get in before I lose my patience!”
Mia kicked her shoes off and took a hobbling step right up close to the tank and stood side-on, bent down slightly and put her right leg in first, so she straddled the rim of the hatch. She could feel the bottom of the tank; at least it was dry. She bent forward, holding on to the upper edge of the opening with one hand and moved inside sideways, avoiding giving the men a view of her backside. Inside she straightened up, still holding on the edge. Sam bent down and passed her a plastic bottle of water and a small torch. She took both and tucked the bottle under her arm, while she turned the torch on.
Fish bent down and looked at her, pretending concern, but his smirk told a different story. “Don’t waste the batteries, we don’t have any spares to give you.” She turned the torch off and the driver reached in and grabbed the hatch and pulled it shut. It became completely dark. She heard the handle being turned to lock the door shut. Instantly she was battling panic – she felt her mouth form a scream and her heart beat faster. I must calm down! I can cope with this, I must not lose control. She could hear muffled voices and leant forwards with her free hand outstretched and touched the wall of the tank, trying to hear what they were saying. She could only make out the odd word here and there and a moment later the van started up and drove out, the big doors slammed shut and the silence was total.
There was a stale smell in the tank, a mixture of plastic and something vaguely acidic, a bit like vinegar. The air inside was cool and dry. She lit the torch and looked round, but the light only showed curving sides of matt black and a floor with slightly raised partitions like spokes from the centre of the floor to the walls.
There was no bucket and no more water. She shone the torch upwards. She knew the dimensions of the tank from looking at it from outside and thought it must be about four or five meters tall and perhaps four meters across. Looking at it from inside by torchlight created a strange illusion. No light reflected back from the walls and there was nothing to give it perspective. It could have been two meters across or ten. There were a couple of pipes or vents out through the top, but they were too high and too small for anyone to get out of.
She put the water bottle and the torch on the floor beside her feet, thinking that this wedge-shaped segment of floor would be home base, right in front of the hatch. There were five segments, and she needed to know where her things were in the dark.
The phone seemed perfectly normal when she got it out and turned it on. She had one voice message and several texts, but decided to ignore them for now. The battery indicator had only two bars and she did not know how much time she had left before it went flat. She would send a text message and then turn it off again to preserve what power she had left. The safest thing would be to turn it off right away and think of what she would say and then turn it back on to send it. She composed a text message in her mind with as much detail as she could muster, but still keeping it short. After a few minutes she turned the phone back on, keyed her text in and sent it jointly to John, Thomas, Lorraine and Paul.
Tkn by fake mech in white van. In empty fctry, lckd in big plstc tank. Left mway Otahuhu exit then appr 10 min drive. No way out. Big job @ casino v soon. Names r fish and sam. Fish boss,. Has star tattoo R cheek. Dont call or txt. Ph off,low pwr.
She was just about to turn the phone off when she thought that the vinegar smell might be a useful clue if they tried to find out which old factory she was in. She sent a very brief txt to tell them and then turned the phone off again and put it on the floor. When the friendly little glow from the screen went out the darkness was intimidating. She felt unbalanced with no visual references and lay down on the floor. She was very frightened and very lonely.
CHAPTER 18
An hour earlier Thomas had rung Mia’s mobile once again. He had left a message for her to call him half an hour ago, and also sent two texts, but she had still not called back. He looked out his window, feeling vaguely uneasy. She could be busy or in a meeting, but just to make sure he rang her office. His brief conversation with Alice sent an instant surge of adrenalin though his system. He felt sure that something was very wrong and asked Alice to put him through to Alan. After what seemed like an eternity Alan answered.
“Sorry that took a minute. Alice was filling me in on Mia going missing and who you are. I’m afraid I didn’t even know she was out. Alice says she was only going out for a minute to show the mechanic where the car was parked, but she never came back. That was a while ago, perhaps 30 minutes.”
“But what on earth can have happened to her? She’s not answering her phone or replying to texts and I’ve no idea where she has her car serviced. The garage had a recall of the tyres she had put on the car a couple of weeks ago. They rang her last night.”
Alan broke in quickly
. “I know which garage it is. She and I use the same one – I recommended it to her when she started here – they’re very handy to the office. I’ll ring them right away. What’s your number, so I can call you back?”
As he waited Thomas sat rigid at his desk, unable to do anything or even move, until Alan called back. “They had no idea what I was talking about. They put the new tyres on her car, but they didn’t ring about a recall and they know nothing about it. What would you like to do? Should we report her missing?”
“I’m coming over right away. I want to see if her car’s still there and I’ll call a friend of ours, who’s in the police. I’ll be there soon.”
Thomas and Alan found the Civic, where Mia had parked it, now with a parking ticket under the windscreen wiper. The car was unlocked and the keys lay on the street just below the driver’s door, the ignition key detached from the key ring. Alan bent to pick them up, but Thomas stopped him.
“I think we’d better leave them for the police. Just in case they need to fingerprint them; we don’t know what happened yet. Someone must have made her leave, or why would the keys be here and the car unlocked? And what happened to that mechanic Alice told us about?”
“Right, of course! I wasn’t thinking, but you’re right. It’s a matter for the police.”
Standing on the pavement next to the car Thomas rang John, told him what had happened and promised to wait by the car. He told Alan to go back to the office; he would come and see him as soon as the police had turned up. He stood guard over the Honda with frantic thoughts racing through his mind, until John turned up in an unmarked car with a uniformed man driving it.
“Have you touched it?” Thomas shook his head. “I haven’t even picked the keys up from the street – I wanted you to see it exactly as we found it.”
The police machinery got under way. John told his driver to ring and arrange for the car to be towed and taken to be fingerprinted. He walked round the car twice while Thomas told him all he knew, before he started making arrangements.
“OK, we’ll go back to see that girl at Mia’s work and talk to her boss in a couple of minutes.” He told the driver to guard the car until the tow-truck arrived and rang for a couple of detective constables to make enquiries in the shops in the vicinity, in case someone had seen something. He got a plastic bag and gloves out of his car and picked up the keys and handed the bag to the constable. “Give these to the crew when they arrive and tell them where they were found.”
Peeling off the gloves and putting them in his pocket he turned to Thomas.
“We’ll go to Mia’s office and talk to the receptionist now. I need a description of the man who picked her up and I want to find out what Mia was wearing.”
They received Mia’s text message simultaneously as they walked through the foyer towards Alice’s desk. They stopped side by side and read the message. Thomas held out his phone and raised his eyebrows at John and he nodded – they had the same message. “What do we do? Do we dare send her a reply?”
“No, not if she thinks it could be risky. Maybe she’s worried they’ve left someone to guard the place. We can’t risk her losing the phone, it’s our only link to where she is or if she’s moved.”
He dialled a number standing there in the middle of the foyer. “Hi Lorraine. Did you get a text from Mia just now? Yes, that’s right. No, but she’s been taken by someone. From work, yes. It seems they tricked her out of the building. We’ve just started working on it now. Yes, of course I’ll let you know! Yes, Thomas is here with me. Can you tell Paul not to ring Mia or talk about this till we know more?”
He turned to Thomas. “God knows how she managed to keep that phone! Either they’re a bit stupid and didn’t search her or else she’s very clever and hid it somehow.”
Alice was watching and listening from behind the reception desk, looking increasingly worried. John explained who they were. “Are you comfortable answering a couple of questions here, or should we go and sit somewhere else? It won’t take long.”
“I’m OK here,” said Alice. “What do you need to know?”
“First I want to know what Mia was wearing, with as much detail as you can remember. We need a good description. And I want you to try and remember everything you possibly can about the man who came to fetch her car. Start with Mia’s clothes.” He got a pad and a pen from his inside pocket.
“All right.” Alice narrowed her eyes and pictured Mia walking across the foyer with the man from the garage. “She was wearing dark grey tailored pinstripe trousers, high heeled black shoes and a lime green jumper with a fairly deep scoop neck. I think she had something in her hand, but not anything big like a bag. I suppose she would have had her car keys, but I’m not sure, I didn’t notice.”
“We know she has her mobile,” said John. “And don’t ring her! It’s important that she gets to keep her phone, so we don’t want anyone to call her. And that’s a good description. Alice – you are very observant. Now for the man: What can you remember?”
“He was about this much taller than Mia.” She held her hands out and John said “About 15 centimetres taller. How tall is Mia, do you think?”
Thomas put his hand horizontally at the level of his collarbone. “Exactly to here without high heels. About 160 centimetres, I guess.”
John turned back to Alice. “What did this chap look like, how did he talk and what was he wearing?”
She responded without any hesitation. “He had dark brown hair, slightly wavy, very nice haircut, not long or anything, and tidy. He was quite slim, and he had a navy blue overall, you know, the kind they wear in workshops.”
“Was there a logo or any writing on the overall?”
“No, nothing that I noticed. But I did think it was funny that a mechanic was wearing a fancy gold bracelet on the job.”
“I’d like you to work with the police artist to get a likeness sketch of him. Do you think you can remember his face well enough?”
“Yes, of course, but you don’t need to send an artist. Just find a picture in some magazine of Adam Sandler – he was the spitting image, but with shorter hair.”
John looked at Thomas and then they both looked at Alice. “Remind us!” said John. “I know he’s an actor. What does he look like?”
“Longish face, very masculine, pretty definite nose. Good looking in an interesting kind of way, looks intelligent. Truly – this guy was the spitting image, could have been a very look-alike younger brother, probably only twenty-four or twenty-five, I’d think.”
John was making notes and nodding as he wrote. “Well done – that’s very useful - you have a good eye for detail.”
Alice responded with her usual dead-pan honesty. “Well, it does help if they are nice looking, doesn’t it? I mean you always have another look and check them out properly. Not that I’m interested - call it a spectator sport.”
She stopped abruptly and looked past them towards the street, her worried frown returned. “What do you think’s happened to Mia? Has she been kidnapped?”
There was not much they could tell her but Thomas realised that she was fond of Mia. “It looks like it. I’ll let you and Alan know as soon as we find out something.”
“Thanks!” Alice’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. For the first time since she had got to know Mia better over the last few weeks she realised the important part Mia played in her life now. Alice was an only child and Mia filled a gap in her life, which she had never realised was there before; Mia supported but never criticised. Alice had a lot of friends but nobody else like Mia. She knew that she was a couple of years older than Mia, but somehow Mia was the stronger and wiser.
They found Alan in his office and John filled him in on what they knew so far. Alan was baffled. “What on earth can it mean? It’s dreadful - I don’t understand why someone would want to snatch Mia. And how could it happen on a street full of people in broad daylight?”
It was clear that to Alan it seemed like a completely random mystery, an
d they could not tell him Mia’s strange story – for a start it would take an hour to make sense of it and they had neither the time nor Mia’s permission.
John tried to calm him. “I’m going to try to get the text message location and we’ll proceed from there. We have a good description of the man and what Mia was wearing – Alice is an excellent witness. Thomas, can you come with me in my car? I told the driver to wait as close as he could once reinforcements had arrived. We can talk in the car and I’ll organise a search for the location that text was sent from.”
As they left the room Thomas turned to Alan. “I promise I’ll keep you informed, Alan. But don’t ring me unless something new comes up – I’ll call you as soon as we know more.”
John’s driver waved from a parking space a bit further down the street. The area round Mia’s car had been fenced off with yellow tape and a young constable was standing guard, waiting for a tow truck to take it in for examination. When John stopped briefly to speak to him he already had a theory. “I reckon they grabbed her just as she had unlocked the door, perhaps they drove another car alongside.”
“She probably took the car key off her key ring as she walked towards the car, ready to hand over that key and then keep the rest – which is what everyone should do. And then when she was grabbed she dropped the lot. Lucky the car’s still here.”
As they drove John rang his team and issued a stream of instructions and requests. Thomas sat silent and listened to a list starting with tracking Mia’s mobile phone to try and pinpoint where the text message had been sent from, asking for the crime register to be searched for local armed robbers not in jail, a search for criminals with history and the names Fish and Sam. He finished the call and turned to Thomas.
“As soon as we know where that text came from we’ll get someone down to the Council’s planning department. “Somewhere in that cell there’s a disused factory or warehouse. And whatever used to go on there involved storing something in a large tank or tanks. Clever Mia telling us all she knew!”