The Mother

by Jaime Raven

  ‘But even if that were true he didn’t go through with it. He couldn’t have. He went missing two weeks before that baby did.’

  ‘That’s correct, Mrs Knight. Your son went missing. But that doesn’t mean he was murdered.’

  She shook her head. ‘And it doesn’t mean he took that child either.’

  Brennan wasn’t sure how much of what Emily Knight was saying he believed. She was clearly distressed and confused, but there was a degree of calmness in her demeanour that seemed misplaced. Perhaps, he thought, it was because lying and covering up for her son came naturally to her. After all, he’d been a villain for most of his adult life.

  Brennan explained to her that there were more questions he needed to ask and that he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. He also told her that he was going to obtain a warrant so that the house could be searched more thoroughly.

  ‘I hope you can appreciate why we have to move quickly on this,’ he said.

  He took from his pocket a colour photograph he’d had printed of Molly sitting on the white sofa. He placed it on the table in front of her.

  ‘This little girl was abducted by a man wearing a mask. You’ll know from the news that he’s already subjected her to physical abuse. He actually sent a video clip to her mother showing him smacking the child. In his latest message he even threatened to rape her.’

  The muscles in her jaw flexed as she stared down at the photo.

  ‘My Bobby wouldn’t do that,’ she said. ‘Not to a baby.’

  Brennan tapped the photo. ‘Do you recognise that sofa and the room she’s in?’

  She drew heavily on her cigarette before leaning forward to have a closer look.

  ‘No I don’t recognise it,’ she said. ‘It’s not somewhere I’ve been.’

  Brennan left the photo on the table and took out his notebook and pen.

  ‘You said your son had another phone. Do you know where it is?’

  ‘He had it with him when he went out that day.’

  ‘Do you know the number?’

  ‘It’s in the address book in the living room. I gave it to the coppers who came here before. I’ve been ringing it since the day he left but it’s not switched on.’

  ‘Does he have a laptop or a tablet of some kind?’

  She shook her head. ‘He said he didn’t need one. His phone was enough.’

  ‘What about a car? Does he have one?’

  ‘He’s been using mine. It’s parked out on the road. On the day he vanished he said he didn’t need to take it.’

  Brennan made a note and said, ‘Now let’s assume for a moment that Bobby has not been murdered. That he’s alive but doesn’t want you or us to know about it. Where might he have spent the past two weeks?’

  She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray and gulped down a mouthful of tea.

  ‘I really don’t have a clue,’ she said. ‘I don’t know any of his friends.’

  ‘So where did he live before he went to prison?’

  ‘With Lauren. They rented a house in Eltham. A couple of months into his sentence she had all his belongings sent back here and moved to another place in Greenwich.’

  ‘Am I right in assuming that Bobby doesn’t have a job?’

  ‘He’s been looking around for one, but it’s not easy for ex-cons.’

  ‘So why didn’t he just go back and work for Tony Kemp?’

  Her eyes grew hard. ‘While Bobby was in prison he wrote lots of letters to Lauren pleading with her to wait for him. Some of them weren’t very nice after she told him their engagement was off and their relationship over. It pissed Kemp off and he got a couple of other inmates to rough Bobby up. They passed on the message that Kemp wanted nothing more to do with him.’

  ‘But that didn’t stop Bobby going after Lauren.’

  ‘Like I said before he was besotted with her still. He went to Lauren’s place within days of getting out and demanded to talk to her. He even followed her to and from her boyfriend’s house. She threatened to call the police and I feared he’d be arrested and sent back to jail. But instead Kemp came here one night and said he wanted a word with Bobby. I was told to go upstairs and I heard them shouting. Afterwards Bobby told me that Kemp had threatened to hurt him if he didn’t back off.’

  ‘When did this happen?’

  ‘Three weeks before he disappeared. After that he didn’t go to the house anymore, or so he told me. But I’m not sure if he stopped following her.’

  It sounded to Brennan as though Bobby Knight was obsessed with two women – Lauren Kemp and Sarah Mason. One he loved and the other he hated. And he seemed intent on putting them both through hell.

  ‘You mentioned your other son, Noah,’ Brennan said. ‘Are him and Bobby close? Would Bobby have confided in him?’

  ‘Noah’s the youngest and yes, they are close. Noah has always idolised his big brother. They tell each other most things.’

  As if on cue the doorbell rang and Mrs Knight said, ‘That’ll be Noah now. When I called him he said he’d come right over.’

  The man who walked into the kitchen introduced himself to Brennan as Noah Carter. In response to Brennan’s puzzlement he explained that he began using his mother’s maiden name some years ago because of his brother’s notoriety.

  ‘It was Bobby who persuaded me to change it by deed poll,’ he said, after hugging his mum. ‘He didn’t want me to suffer because he was such a high-profile face in the underworld.’

  Carter bore no resemblance to his gangster brother. He had soft features, a small mouth and ears that stuck out like jug handles. He looked fit and muscular in stone-washed jeans and a short-sleeved shirt that gaped at the neck. His hair was cut close to his scalp and when he spoke he had a slight lisp.

  He stood next to his mum with one hand on her shoulder as Brennan explained why he was there.

  Brennan expected him to react angrily to the fact that they had woken his mother up in the middle of the night. But instead Carter listened without interrupting until Brennan mentioned the phone he had found under his brother’s mattress.

  ‘It’s news to me that he had another phone,’ he said. ‘I only ever saw him with an iPhone.’

  ‘And how often did you see him before he went missing?’

  ‘At least twice a week. Either I came here or he came to my flat. We also went out to the pub a few times.’

  ‘Do you know what he got up to when he wasn’t with you?’

  ‘He went out looking for work and probably visited his old haunts, but don’t ask me where because I don’t know.’

  ‘Your mother doesn’t believe he’s disappeared of his own accord,’ Brennan said. ‘She seems to think that his former boss, Tony Kemp, killed him. Is that what you think?’

  ‘Of course. There’s no question in my mind and that’s what I told your colleagues when they came to see me. But they said that without a body and any evidence to prove that Kemp did it there’s nothing they can do.’

  ‘So how well do you know Kemp?’

  ‘I don’t know him. I’ve never met the guy. I’m a business consultant, Inspector, not a criminal. I love my brother and he’s always meant the world to me. But I’ve followed a different path in life and I’ve always steered clear of the people he mixes with.’

  ‘But you have met Kemp’s daughter, Lauren. Your brother was engaged to her.’

  ‘I only ever met her a few times when he brought her here. She’s a spoilt brat, but Bobby is – or was – madly in love with her. It broke his heart when she dumped him and he just couldn’t believe that she meant it. It became an obsession.’

  ‘Your mother told me all about that,’ Brennan said. ‘But I’m more interested in your brother’s obsession with Sarah Mason, the woman who arrested him.’

  He told Carter about what Victor Rosetti had said and about the photographs on the phone.

  Carter shook his head and when he spoke his voice was full of bile. ‘My brother told me that Detective Mason must have planted the
evidence that got him convicted,’ he said. ‘I know he stewed on it while in prison and he felt she destroyed his life. It’s no wonder he hates her.’

  ‘So do you accept that if he is alive he might well have taken her daughter as punishment?’

  He looked down at his mother before answering.

  ‘I suppose that in view of these photographs you’ve found it has to be possible,’ he said. ‘But I can tell you that Sarah Mason hasn’t been occupying his thoughts as much as Lauren Kemp has.’

  Mrs Knight had become even more distressed while listening to her son. Her sobs were now loud and pitiful.

  ‘My officers are going to be here for a while,’ Brennan said. ‘I’m obtaining a warrant for a proper search and a forensic team will be coming here. So it might be sensible if your mother went somewhere else until we’re finished.’

  Carter nodded. ‘I’ll take her upstairs and she can get dressed. Then we’ll go to my flat.’

  ‘That’s good. I’d like some officers to accompany you, though, and I trust you won’t mind if they take a look around inside.’

  Carter raised his brow. ‘Is that because you want to see if my brother is there?’

  Brennan nodded. ‘It’s necessary, I’m afraid, and it’ll be best for all concerned if we don’t have to obtain a warrant.’

  Carter forced a smile. ‘It’s no problem. I understand. I’ve got nothing to hide.’

  Brennan jotted down the address of the flat on his pad and watched Carter lead his weeping mother out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Then he took a moment to think through what he’d learned.

  The most significant discovery was that Bobby Knight had most definitely put in motion a plan to abduct Molly Mason. Why else would he have spent time taking photographs of Sarah’s flats and her mother’s house?

  But did he actually get to finish what he’d started? That was the million-dollar question and it served to complicate things still further.

  Brennan was highly sceptical of the idea that Knight had been murdered. But he knew the theory couldn’t just be ignored. It would now have to form part of the investigation and he’d have to take it seriously. But at the same time he would have to make sure that it did not distract the team from their main objective which was to find Molly Mason and bring her safely back to her mother.

  37

  Adam

  ‘So this is all your fault, Adam. Our daughter has been abducted because four years ago you did something that was stupid, reckless and downright criminal.’

  Sarah’s face was dark as thunder as she screamed at him. Tears burned in her eyes and her body shook with anger.

  Adam just stood there, rigid with shock, his chest so tight he could hardly breathe.

  He hadn’t intended to confess to planting the gun and drugs in order to ensure they got a conviction against Bobby Knight. But when she’d confronted him with the question, he’d suddenly discovered that his conscience wouldn’t let him lie.

  Sarah had a right to know that she was being punished for something she hadn’t done. It was entirely his fault. Not hers. He was the one who had fucked up. Four years ago he could never have imagined the appalling consequences of his actions.

  ‘I will never forgive you, Adam,’ she said, her voice dropping from hysterical to low and threatening. ‘I might never get my baby back because of you.’

  ‘I’m so, so sorry, Sarah,’ he said. ‘At the time I thought I was doing a good thing.’

  ‘Really? How in the name of God did you work that one out?’

  He swallowed a huge lump. ‘Knight needed to be brought down and I saw an opportunity to do it. He’d got away with murder for too long and the force had got nowhere playing it by the book.’

  ‘But that was my collar. I was the one who got the tip about the drugs and persuaded the powers-that-be to authorise the raid on his house.’

  He nodded. ‘And that was another reason I decided to plant the evidence. I knew it was unlikely he’d have drugs in his own home and I didn’t want you to look stupid. That was why I got you to search his bedroom. I wanted you to take credit for finding the gun.’

  Sarah narrowed her eyes. ‘But the gun had his DNA on it.’

  ‘I was the first up the stairs,’ he said. ‘I went into the en suite and found his toothbrush. I used it to contaminate the gun with his DNA.’

  She pointed a finger, said, ‘You had no bloody right to do that. And you can’t excuse what you did by saying he had it coming. You should be ashamed of yourself.’

  ‘Oh come on, Sarah. It’s not as if it doesn’t happen all the time in the Met. I did it once; others make a habit of it.’

  ‘That’s no fucking excuse either, and it still makes you a bent copper. And if I had known it back then I would not have married you.’

  Her words were tremulous, angry, vengeful and they hurt like hell.

  ‘You can’t make me feel any guiltier than I do already,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t possibly have known that the bastard would react like this when he got out.’

  ‘So what did you think, Adam? That he would thank you for stitching him up? Or after brooding on it for four years he’d forgive you? Or rather me, because I’m the one he blames. Which is why he’s made it his mission to punish me.’

  Sarah had been pacing the room. Now she dropped onto the armchair and gave him a look that made his stomach curl in on itself.

  ‘Look, I’ll let it be known that it was me,’ he said.

  ‘And what good would that do? You’re Molly’s father. So Knight is hardly likely to hand her back because the truth is out. He still went to prison as a consequence of what you did.’

  Adam felt the life drain out of him. He wasn’t thinking straight. It was as though the guilt and the shame had knocked all the sense out of him.

  He snapped his gaze away from Sarah and went over to the drinks cabinet to pour himself another whisky.

  ‘I would rather you didn’t,’ Sarah said.

  He turned back to her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’d like you to go. Right now. I really don’t want to have to talk about this any more tonight and if you stay we will.’

  ‘But what I’ve told you doesn’t change the fact that we need to help each other through this,’ he said. ‘Now is not the time for either of us to be alone. If we’re going to help find Molly then we should work together.’

  ‘I don’t think you understand how upset I am, Adam. It’s taking every ounce of my willpower not to come over there and smash my fist into your …’

  She trailed off mid-sentence because her mobile phone message alert sounded. The phone was resting on the coffee table and they both heard it.

  The atmosphere in the room changed in a heartbeat from anger to fear.

  They both stared at the phone and then at each other. Adam was the first to speak.

  ‘It’s not necessarily him,’ he said.

  She shook her head. ‘My gut tells me it is.’

  She reached for the phone, and Adam dashed across the room to stand behind her. What had been happening between them a moment ago was instantly forgotten as she opened up the message.

  ‘There’s another attachment,’ Sarah said, but she went to the text first and as soon as Adam started reading, his heart froze over.

  Thought it was time I introduced myself. I’m Molly’s new dad, here with my little angel. We’re gonna have so much fun together. I hope it causes you unbearable pain, Sarah. It’s no more than you deserve.

  The attached photo then filled the screen. It was a grotesque selfie of someone wearing a black balaclava. It had three small slits for the eyes and mouth. The eyes were squeezed almost shut so you couldn’t see their colour, and the mouth was stretched into a thin smile that showed just a hint of teeth. The camera was angled so that in the background you could see Molly lying fast asleep in a cot.

  38

  Sarah

  I felt a sickening wave of despair rush through me. The evil bastard had don
e it again; he’d managed to raise the fear factor inside me to a whole new level.

  I wanted to howl and scream, but I was too shocked to do either.

  Adam took the phone from me and studied the photo as he walked over to the sofa. He sat down and I could see the pain in his eyes.

  ‘If I ever get my hands on this evil fucker I’ll kill him with a thousand cuts,’ he exclaimed.

  I was tempted to remind him that he was indirectly responsible for what was happening and there was a part of me that wanted to beat the shit out of him no matter how sorry he was. But anger was an emotion I couldn’t afford to indulge right now. So instead I closed my eyes and tried to mentally erase the image of the man in the balaclava from my mind. But it wouldn’t budge and I realised it never would for as long as I lived.

  ‘I wonder when this picture was taken,’ Adam said. ‘Molly is spark out by the look of it so it could have been tonight.’

  I tried to respond but the words wouldn’t form, and I felt the hot sting of acid in the back of my throat.

  ‘It terrifies me to think that he wears that hood when he’s around her,’ Adam said. ‘Can you imagine how scared she must be and what it will do to her little mind?’

  The thought of it caused my blood to surge. I pictured Bobby Knight’s grinning face beneath the mask and remembered how he’d grinned when four years ago I’d produced the bagged semi-automatic pistol from behind my back and held it up in front of him. But his amused expression instantly turned to one of abject horror when I told him I’d found it in his bedroom.

  I knew now that his reaction had been genuine and it was the first time he had seen it. So I could understand why he’d kept insisting he was innocent. And I could see how his rage must have festered and grown while he languished behind bars for all that time. But I couldn’t accept that he was justified in pursuing such a brutal act of revenge that impacted on my child as well as on me. Adam was the one who planted the evidence against him, the one who had committed an act that to me was wrong and shameful.

  Molly had played no part in what was done to him. She hadn’t even been born, for Christ’s sake. And yet she was paying the price, mentally and physically. What he was doing to her negated any sympathy I might have had for the man.