Eventually he said, ‘Your mum called me today.’
‘Oh?’
‘She told me about what’s going on with Sophie. You’re welcome to keep staying here... and Liam. But is there anything else I can do to help?’
‘Look, I’m not sure what mum told you about the people who are after Sophie, but they are really dangerous. They’ve worked out what I’m doing, and they’re looking for me too. I really appreciate the offer, but I’d prefer not to put you in any danger. I really can’t tell you any more, but I have been to the police.’
He sighed, leaning back in his chair.
‘Well if the police know, that’s something, but I don’t want you doing anything dangerous. And if you change your mind about needing help, I’m here, ok? I’ll leave you to it.’
He seemed slightly put out as he pulled himself off his chair and left the room. I felt like I was kicking him out of his own house, but there wasn’t time to worry about his feelings.
From the list of references for Bill Holland there was one site that looked promising. The reference was to him as the owner of ‘Cosmo’, a ‘hip new London night spot’. The club’s website gave a contact number. I felt brave after my success with finding Allen. Yes, I could do it again. Bill Holland could be friend or foe, but either way I was going to find out what he had to do with Sophie.
I logged back onto Liam’s Skype account, with the credit reduced to $7.80. I checked the time in London; 2:40 am. Would someone answer the phone in a nightclub at that hour? I typed the number in and waited. A woman with a strong London accent answered after three rings. There was noise in the background, but it wasn’t so loud that I couldn’t hear her; she must have been in a separate room from the main nightclub area.
‘Lucy speaking,’ she said, as if aggravated at having to answer the phone.
‘Hi, is Bill there?’ The lies had flowed so easily with Lily Cohen, but this girl’s tone made me nervous, and I rushed my question.
‘Who are you looking for? This is a bad line...’ No shit. I’m calling from a laptop in Sydney.
‘I’m looking for Bill Holland. Is he there? He’s a friend of mine.’
‘No he isn’t. He hasn’t been in for weeks.’ Ok, at least she knew who I was talking about.
‘Really? That’s strange. The reason I’m calling is to let him know I’ve lost my mobile so he won’t be able to contact me. Do you know when he’ll be back?’
‘No, I was just saying to our bar manager that someone ought to report him missing. He’s usually hanging around the place every afternoon, but no one has spoken to him in ages.’
Interesting. ‘Do you think it’s possible he’s gone on holiday, and not told anyone?’
‘No idea love. You’re his friend, shouldn’t you know that?’
Lucy suddenly sounded hostile, like there was something about me she didn’t trust. Time to get off the phone. But first I needed a contact number for him.
‘Yeah, but he hasn’t been able to call me since I lost my phone. Could you give me his mobile number? It saves me calling around for it.’ Did I sound casual enough?
Lucy wasn’t saying anything. But she hadn’t hung up either. I heard the bleep of mobile phone buttons. I exhaled, she was obviously scrolling through for his number.
‘0785 737 2052’ She recited it quickly, as if she didn’t quite trust that she should be giving it out.
‘Thanks so much, when I get onto him I’ll tell him to drop into the club and show his face.’
‘Ok, bye.’ She hung up.
So, that was a coincidence. Bill Holland was ‘missing’. I would have thought if he was planning a holiday or wasn’t going to be in his own club for ‘weeks’, he would mention to someone where he was going? I had got a bit flustered during the phone call, but managed to get what I wanted. A phone number. Liam’s account still had enough money for another call, but I’d have to make it quick in case there were other calls to be made. It was such a good run, I felt like I was jumping hurdles and getting close to the finishing line.
I entered Bill Holland’s number, and my momentum came to a dead end. The phone didn’t ring. Instead, a woman’s voice recited: ‘The phone you have dialled is currently switched off. To notify the person of your call, hang up after the beep. Normal call charges will....’ I hung up, not wanting to leave the Skype number. Would it come up as a private number or the number on Liam’s account? I tried calling my own mobile, the sound of the ring piercing the silence and reverberating around the quiet flat. ‘Private number’ showed up on the screen. Good. I was anonymous. I tried Bill’s number again, and again the phone was switched off. Maybe he was asleep. I would have to try again later.
I closed down the laptop, and put it back where Liam had left it. He would know I had been using it when he next logged onto Skype; the calls I had made were logged in the system and no doubt could easily be seen by anyone who knew where to look. I would have to come clean about the notebook, the codes and the people I had spoken to. But not until he came home. He was still staking out the hospital, and wouldn't be leaving until later in the evening.
So what next? I had been active all day and the hours had passed quickly, but now I felt suddenly useless. My days were so long and uneventful at home that I often had moments like these, when I had nothing better to do than sit and think about life. At such times I would usually sit down at Picasso and spend one or two hours practising just to pass the time. I was staring at my giant, ugly hands, which were flat down on the table in front of me, wondering when they would next play a piano, when Andy came out of his room.
‘Did I hear you talking on Skype?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I was using Liam’s laptop. Sorry, was I disturbing you?’ I hoped he didn’t over hear too many details.
‘No, I was just wondering why you weren’t using your mobile?’
‘I’m trying to do some investigating without using my own number. Skype comes up with a private number when you call people, and I’d prefer to remain anonymous.’
‘That makes sense.’
He took a few steps closer and picked up my mobile phone from the table.
‘But you do know you can use your mobile phone to make private calls. You just need to set it to withhold your number. It will come up as private.’
‘Really? Can you show me how to do that?’
‘Sure, I’ll set it up for you.’
He sat next to me, and took me through my phone menu, into settings I never knew existed. He sure knew his way around a mobile.
‘See, now you are set to ‘withhold’ so your number won’t come up.’
I could use my phone now, instead of Skype. I wouldn’t need Liam’s laptop.
‘Thanks, that’s really useful.’
Andy seemed like he genuinely wanted to help. ‘Are you trying to call people who might have seen Sophie recently?’ he asked carefully, aware of the tense vibe I was always letting out when asked too many questions. But I was at a dead end. It wouldn’t hurt to tell him what I was trying to do.
‘I need to contact some people who were listed in Sophie’s notebook. I found it at a flat she was living in. It had the names as codes, but I worked out who they were.’
‘Good one. So where have you got with the calls?’
‘The one I was just trying to call has his phone off. I think he might have something to do with the people who are after Sophie. I can’t tell you why, it’s all too complicated. But since his phone is off, I can’t really do anything else for the time being.’
Andy had his hand on his chin again. He looked like he was fertilising an idea.
‘You know, there are a lot of things you can find out about a person from their mobile phone. Even when a phone is turned off, just the number can be useful... if you have the right software...’
‘What software do you mean? Do you have something I could use?’
‘Depends. What do you want to find out?’
‘Everything! Could you tell
me when this phone number was last used? Who it has been calling?’ This was sounding too good to be true. Andy looked more cautious all of a sudden.
‘I worked as a contractor on a program the police and government agencies use in investigating crimes, potential terrorist threats and all that. It basically coordinates with all the phone providers and requests information on particular numbers. If you have the right password, you can get information on any phone in the world.’ Andy spoke quietly, as if he could be in trouble if overheard.
‘That’s amazing! Please tell me you’ve got the password.’
He exhaled deeply, preparing me for an answer in the negative.
‘I don’t. It changes every day, and the people authorised to use it are given a new password each morning. But I can hack into the system and find out what it is. I got authorisation to use the system, back when I was working on it. I still know how to get in without them knowing I have. It would be completely illegal... but if it would help to find Sophie...’
I could have hugged him.
‘That is brilliant! Let’s do it!’ My mind raced forward, wondering what information we could gain from this software. First, I needed to know where Bill Holland was. Then I needed to know who he was speaking to. But what could we find out? Was it going to be a list of unknown numbers? I couldn’t believe this sort of information was available to the authorities. So many people would stop using mobile phones if they knew it existed.
I followed Andy into his bedroom, where a built in desk covered an entire wall. There were four computer monitors, a couple of keyboards, and various other bits of equipment I didn’t recognise spread out along the huge work area, and two office chairs. The room wasn’t very large and the desk was obviously the focal point, leaving only enough space for a single bed crammed into the corner. I wondered why he didn’t put the desk in the spare room I was sleeping in. Then I realised I was sleeping in his room. This was the spare room.
Andy was already typing furiously. An array of numbers and letters filled one of the screens. He was either writing or unlocking code. It was more complicated than a foreign language; it looked like a cat had been walking to and fro across the keyboard for hours. But Andy could obviously see what it all meant, and it wasn’t long before he turned his head and said to me, ‘we’re in.’
I clapped my hands together, and said: ‘Right. You need the phone number. It’s 0785 737 2052.’
Andy entered the number so quickly his fingers reminded me of mine gliding over piano keys. The computer program didn’t look like anything I’d seen before. There were all sorts of lists and menus all over it. I didn’t know where to look. Andy was filling in the blank sections and getting the software to request information on the number.
‘So what do you want to know?’ he asked.
‘First, when was the last call made? Second, where was it made?’
‘That should be easy enough.’ Andy seemed to be enjoying himself now. ‘Ok. The system should have those details in a sec.’ He used the mouse’s cursor to point at places on the screen, as he scrolled down the page. ‘Ok, the last call was made on the 25th November.’
‘That’s odd. The person I spoke to at his workplace said he hadn’t been around for weeks. And he hasn’t made any phone calls for almost two months. Maybe he has another phone?’
‘Possibly. Or he’s no longer around.’
That was the other option. Mum must have told him about the murders of Sophie’s friends. He was right to consider the person I was looking for was potentially another victim.
‘Can you tell me the phone number that was the last to call him, and the last one he called?’
‘They are the same number, a mobile.’
I jotted down the number as Andy read it out to me, wondering how it might be useful. I had to remind myself we still weren’t sure how this Bill person was involved, if at all.
‘How often did he call that number in the past? Was it likely a number of someone he knew well?’
Andy obediently scrolled through the list, and pressed a key to put all the phone numbers in order.
‘He’s had the number for five years, according to these records. It looks to me like he only started calling this number regularly in the last year. It is called at least once a day, some days a lot more often. He also received calls from this number often.’
‘Probably a girlfriend,’ I suggested.
‘That would make sense. Or a colleague. What else do you want to find out?’
‘Can you find out about text messages?’
Andy grinned. We were onto something.
‘That’s what I was working on when they contracted me. I installed a function that was able to read the memory off a phone and recreate text messages that have been sent to and from the phone. Even ones that have been deleted.’
‘No way! That’s incredible! You could rule the world with that sort of information.’
‘People do.’
Andy’s fingers were dancing again, and within seconds, there was a list of hundreds of entries of text messages. I thought back to the information we knew about when Sophie first got into trouble. Mum had got the email from her at the middle of October.
‘Can you search for a particular word, or set of numbers?’
‘Sure can’.
‘Ok, search for ‘black mail’.
Andy looked puzzled, but he didn’t question, and typed in the commands.
‘There are literally hundreds of text messages here’, he said. ‘This guy was a text freak. It will take a sec to search through.’
The computer slowed down as it tried to process the search. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try. After about a minute, the screen showed something even I understood; ‘your search brought up 0 results.’
‘What about black mail in one word?’
Andy typed it in and again it took an age to come up with ‘0 results.’ Andy shrugged.
‘What about 35,000?’ I suggested.
‘As in 35k?’
This time the computer seemed to whiz a bit quicker. and suddenly honed in on a message, highlighting the ‘35’ it had found in yellow so it jumped out at me. I quickly read the message, recognising who it was from. Danny.
‘We know what you have been up to and we know lots of people who would be interested. Give us 35k to guarantee we keep it to ourselves. Will text later with details’.
There is was. The blackmail threat. As clear as day and as straightforward as it needed to be. Was it possible Bill never paid that money, but didn’t want his secret getting out? Andy’s face showed he understood, and I could tell he was dying to ask me what it was all about. But he didn’t.
‘What was the message sent next? Did he reply? What was the next phone call?’
‘The next phone call was the number that you’ve written down. The one he called regularly over the last year.’
Didn’t that make it less likely to be his girlfriend? It would be the last person he would tell about a threat from some pimp.
‘What about text messages back to the number that sent that one?’ I asked.
A couple of clicks on the keyboard brought up a new message. It was sent back to what must be Danny’s phone a day after the original message, and it said: ‘Don’t threaten me you stupid fuck. You and your friends are dead. You don’t know who you are dealing with’. And there was proof of the threat.
‘Is there any evidence of phone calls between the two numbers? Or just text messages?’ I asked, wondering if Danny ever called Bill to organise the exchange of cash, as he had said he would.
‘No, it looks like the second number called the first a few minutes after the original text, but the first number didn’t answer. Then the next day this text was sent back.’ Andy pointed to the threat from Bill. His face had gone quite pale and he looked like he was regretting getting involved in this mess.
‘Can we just look up one last thing?’ I asked, trying not to push Andy too hard. He nodded, but I
could tell this was the last bit of information I’d get.
‘What about the activity on the other number that was called regularly. The one he called after the text message with the 35,000 turned up.’
I read out the number, and Andy filled it into his software. Then, in a subdued manner, he gave me an outline of the activity.
‘There are over a hundred phone calls made with this number every day. The account has been active for about a year. There have been no calls made, and none received, since last night. It appears the phone was based in London until the 20th December last year, when it started making calls in Sydney.’
‘Sydney? Can you tell where it is in Sydney?’
I’d heard of police using mobile phones to track the location of criminals. Could Andy possibly give me enough information to lead me directly to this person?
‘I can tell you where the closest phone tower is to most of the calls. The person seems to be making and taking calls from somewhere near Wollongong, on the south coast.’
‘Wollongong? How far away is that?’
‘About one and a half hours south of Sydney I guess.’
That was odd. Maybe I was wrong about the relevance of this number. But it was the first person Bill called when he got Danny’s message. And then it turned up in Sydney exactly 10 days after Sophie and Katie arrived. Was this the person sent to get rid of them? Could they have pushed Katie under a train? And why hadn't they made any calls since yesterday if the account had been so active before then? Why had Bill not been seen or heard from, or used his phone, since the end of November?
‘Thanks so much for your help Andy, I seriously had no idea software like that existed.’
Andy grunted an acknowledgement as he shut down his computer and said: ‘As far as you are concerned, this software doesn’t exist. I have no idea what you are going to use that information for, but you can never tell anyone where you got it. You have to promise.’
The worry in his voice made me feel bad. I hoped he wouldn’t stress that I was going to slip up and get him into trouble. I felt like we had bonded over the last few minutes, but now he seemed ill at ease.
Times of Trouble Page 20