The Mother

by Jaime Raven

  And then it struck me that there was a third option. I could go to Hayes, which was where most of the action was taking place now anyway. I could be another set of eyes and ears on the ground. And I could speak to the reporters who were there and appeal again for people to come forward with information.

  Hayes was only about six miles south of Crystal Palace so it would probably take me about half an hour to get there, traffic permitting.

  By the time I’d finished the coffee, I’d convinced myself that I should go to Hayes. And by the time I’d showered, I’d decided there was no point going home first to change. The jeans and top I’d worn the previous night were a little creased but still clean enough. I made myself look presentable with what I kept in my make-up pouch.

  So at precisely nine-fifteen I walked out of The Bell Inn and got in my car.

  A strange feeling came over me as I started the engine. It was almost like a premonition that something bad was going to happen, and it was so strong that it made me tremble with trepidation.

  Later, when I looked back on the events that unfolded that day, I would remember the feeling and know that I’d been right to be worried.

  52

  DCI Brennan

  Brennan arrived at the Oaklands Copse at nine-thirty. Three police cars and two vans were parked up in the lane.

  Officers were already searching the woods with cadaver dogs and sticks. If they didn’t uncover anything, then Brennan had been given the go-ahead to bring in another team along with ground-penetrating radar equipment.

  The morning was dry and mild with not a cloud in the sky, the kind of morning for long walks or just appreciating the countryside. Not for sifting through the chaos of foliage for a dead body. But at least it wasn’t freezing cold or raining.

  The wood was thick with trees and bushes and wild flowers. There were no paths and it was pretty much off the beaten track.

  The nearest property was the one belonging to Tony Kemp. DC Foster, who had been on the scene for a couple of hours, pointed to the west and explained that the house was on the other side of the wood so they couldn’t see it from where they were. That was why they’d approached the wood along this country lane and not the other one. There were no homes on this side and hopefully it would take longer for the news to get out.

  ‘The search got started an hour ago,’ Foster said. ‘There are twenty-five officers in the wood and four dogs. They’re working from east to west.’

  The wood was about the size of nine soccer pitches so it was going to take quite some time to cover it.

  Brennan had been working flat out to get things organised since the anonymous call had come in. He’d spoken to the Commissioner who in turn had liaised with Kent’s Chief Constable and the wheels had been set in motion.

  Brennan had stressed throughout that it might be a hoax, but everyone agreed that it could not be ignored.

  Before coming to Sevenoaks, Brennan had driven to Hayes, which wasn’t far away, to check in with the team there. He’d come away disappointed because nothing new had turned up. Now he was becoming anxious because if both lines of inquiry led nowhere then they were back to square one. And that did not bear thinking about.

  Soon he would have to respond to Sarah’s message and give her a call. He’d been putting it off in the hope that he’d have some good news for her. But that was now looking unlikely.

  He wanted to shut off the fear, switch off the negative thoughts, but it was impossible to do that so long as little Molly’s whereabouts remained unknown. The poor kid was so helpless and so vulnerable. Every time he thought about her his heart ached.

  ‘It’s not going to be easy to keep the press away once they get a sniff of what’s going on,’ DC Foster said.

  Brennan took off his jacket and draped it over his forearm. Sweat had pooled on his back and under his arms.

  ‘Are you all right, guv?’ Foster asked him. ‘You look shattered.’

  ‘I feel it,’ he said. ‘But I know I’m not the only one. This case is taking its toll on all of us.’

  He and Foster spent the next hour trudging through the wood with the search team.

  The sun got stronger and the air grew heavier. He started to believe they were on a wild-goose chase and that his instincts were right about the call being a hoax. But then one of the police dogs started barking, a shout went up, and officers converged on a small glade among the trees.

  When Brennan reached it a tiny patch of undergrowth was being cleared.

  ‘The pooch has got the scent of something,’ a dog handler told him. ‘My guess is it’s not that far below the surface.’

  Two officers wearing forensic gloves removed broken twigs and leaves, then started scraping away the dry earth.

  Even before they uncovered anything, the smell of rotting flesh seeped into the air.

  ‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ someone shouted, stepping back. ‘That’s bloody awful.’

  The first thing to be revealed was a hand, followed by an arm covered in threadbare material that looked like saggy skin. Shortly after that the dirt came away to reveal a man’s face. The eyes were sunken, the muscles retracted, and the flesh was in the early stages of decomposition. It was evident that insects had been feasting on the soft tissue including the lips and gums. But even so, Brennan was pretty sure that he was looking at the putrefying remains of one Bobby Knight.

  53

  Adam

  Adam had been lucky. The knife that was used to stab him had a short, thin blade. It penetrated the flesh and muscle on his right side just above the hip bone. So there was no damage to vital organs or arteries.

  The speed with which they got him into a trauma suite meant that blood loss was kept to a minimum and the shock to his system was controlled.

  He’d lost consciousness for a while and spent some time on the operating table. But now, almost eight hours after the attack, the wound was stitched up and the drugs had reduced the pain to a dull ache.

  He was lying on a bed in the recovery area, waiting for DI Hughes from West End Central to come and speak to him. He was still feeling light-headed and confused. But at least he was alive. If he’d been stabbed elsewhere on his torso the wound could have been fatal.

  There was a lot he still didn’t know, like who the guy in the suit was and why he had tried to kill Eddie Lomax by putting a pillow over his head.

  What he had been told was that Lomax was still alive and that the perp had been brought down by the security guard. He was now in police custody.

  Adam hadn’t had a chance to let Sarah or Brennan know what had happened and he saw from a missed call on his phone that Sarah had tried to reach him.

  He was eager now to find out if there had been any developments, but as he was about to call her back, the curtain around his bed was tugged open and a tall black guy stepped into the cubicle.

  ‘Hello there,’ he said to Adam. ‘I hope you’re feeling better. I’m DI Jason Hughes.’

  They were the same rank so there was no need for the introduction to be any more formal. Adam held out his hand and Hughes shook it.

  The DI was middle-aged and had a face that was open and welcoming. He was wearing a sharp blue suit and his dark skin stood out against the crisp whiteness of his shirt collar.

  ‘I’ll have to take a statement from you at some point,’ Hughes said. ‘But before we get around to that you need to tell me why you’re here and if it has anything to do with your daughter, Molly.’

  Hughes sat on the bed and listened to Adam explain how he had come to be at the hospital.

  ‘It’s possible that Eddie Lomax, in his guise as The Keyholder, made a property available to Bobby Knight,’ Adam said. ‘If so, then there’s a chance that that’s where he’s keeping Molly.’

  ‘So why didn’t you just pass that information on to the investigating officers?’ Hughes asked as a frown gathered on his brow.

  ‘They’ve got enough on their plate,’ Adam said. ‘And besides, I don’t have
to fuck around with protocol so I can get things done more quickly.’

  Hughes grinned. ‘I can see where you’re coming from.’

  ‘So are you going to let me speak to Lomax?’

  ‘I don’t see why not, but it won’t be for a while because the doctor has put him under again. The shock of what happened gave him a bad turn.’

  ‘So what did actually happen?’ Adam asked. ‘All I saw was the guy come rushing out of the room.’

  ‘Well it was lucky for us that you were on the scene or I’m pretty sure he would have got away.’

  ‘If I’d known the bugger had a knife I might not have been so determined to stop him.’

  ‘I very much doubt that,’ Hughes said. ‘Anyway, he’s in a cell now and he’ll be charged with attempted murder. If the nurse hadn’t entered the room when she did it would have been murder.’

  ‘I need to know if this has got anything to do with Bobby Knight,’ Adam said.

  Hughes shook his head. ‘Nothing whatsoever. I managed to have a brief chat with Lomax before they put him back to sleep. The guy who tried to suffocate him is the same guy who attacked him with a knife and left him for dead. He came to the hospital to finish the job so that he couldn’t be identified. He claimed he was a relative and managed to walk in without being challenged. I regret now that I didn’t post an officer outside the door. It was a mistake on my part.’

  ‘So who is this bloke and what’s his problem?’

  ‘His name is Stefan Buzek. He’s a Polish national and he claims Lomax has been shagging his missus. The woman works behind the bar in the casino where Lomax is a regular. He likes to gamble, apparently, and is also a bit of a ladies’ man. Well, the other night, Buzek waited for him to leave the casino and confronted him. There was a scuffle and the Pole pulled out a knife and stabbed him twice.’

  Hughes went on to explain that Buzek had a criminal record and a history of violence. He’d served time for slashing another man’s face with a knife during an argument in a pub.

  ‘Thanks to you we’ll now be able to lock him up for a long time,’ Hughes said.

  Adam shrugged. ‘That’s all very well, but it doesn’t bring me any closer to finding my little girl.’

  54

  Sarah

  When I got to Hayes I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It was a pleasant town for sure, with nice shops and a friendly atmosphere. But that was the problem. It didn’t look or feel like a place at the centre of an horrific news story. I had expected it to be buzzing with uniformed police officers and TV satellite trucks. But it was like a normal weekday morning. There were people window-shopping, pushing prams, chatting to one another, drinking coffee at pavement tables.

  I’d parked behind the railway station and had already walked up and down the main shopping street. And so far I hadn’t seen a single copper or TV crew.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I would have expected a police presence here, since there was a constant stream of people coming and going.

  I popped into a newsagents and went up to the girl behind the counter. She was in her twenties and wearing too much lipstick. I asked her if she’d seen many police officers in the town.

  ‘There were quite a few around earlier this morning,’ she said. ‘One of them came in here and showed me a picture of that bloke on the news.’

  ‘Do you know where they are now?’ I asked.

  ‘I gather they’ve moved off into the housing areas. They’re looking for that little baby that’s been kidnapped. I hope to God they find her, the poor thing.’

  She didn’t recognise me even though my picture was on the front pages of at least three of the newspapers spread across the counter. Perhaps that was because I’d applied enough make-up to fool anyone who didn’t really know me.

  ‘What about the man in the picture you were shown?’ I asked. ‘Has he been in here?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not that I can recall. And I’ve never seen him in The Queen’s Head either. That’s where I drink. I saw the video of him on the telly. Bloody creepy.’

  Before leaving the shop I bought a copy of the Daily Mail. Molly’s picture featured on the front page alongside Bobby Knight’s ugly face and it caused a shiver to pass through me.

  With the paper tucked under my arm I went outside and looked up and down the street. Still no sign of any uniforms or media types.

  My rational self told me I might as well go home, that I wasn’t going to achieve much by staying here. Sergeant Palmer had already called my mobile to tell me she was ready to meet me there. I told her I’d let her know when I was back. But I wasn’t ready to go just yet. I intended to talk to shopkeepers myself, showing them the front page in the hope that it would jolt someone’s memory. After all, if Knight was staying in the area then it was likely that The Queen’s Head wasn’t the only place he had visited.

  I started working my way back along one side of the street, dropping in at a charity shop, a butchers, an estate agents, a betting shop, a florist. I showed my ID along with the newspaper’s front page.

  Uniformed officers had been to all the businesses before me and none of the people could recall seeing Knight.

  The woman in the florist recognised me and told me how she was praying for Molly’s safe return. But rather than prayers I needed answers and leads.

  By now my hangover was kicking in again and I was feeling like a flat battery. I needed some more painkillers so I bought a new box of paracetamol in the chemist and slipped into a café to take them with a strong coffee.

  When I was seated at a table by the front window I took out my phone and rang Adam. I was curious to know what he had been up to since last night as he still hadn’t returned my call. But this time he answered and when he told me where he was and what had happened my heart dropped to the floor.

  ‘Oh, Adam you should have let me know. Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m all fixed up now so don’t panic,’ he said, his voice remarkably calm considering. ‘It could have been a lot worse, but no serious harm was done. All I’m left with is a small scar.’

  I was sure that he was playing it down for my benefit. But the shock hit me hard and I began to tremble with a flood of emotions.

  I hadn’t forgiven Adam for what he had done to Knight, but I didn’t want him to come to any harm while trying to redeem himself.

  ‘I’ll be talking to Lomax soon,’ he said. ‘If he knows where Knight is then you can be sure I’ll get it out of him.’

  He asked me where I was and I told him and then I went on to tell him about my visit to Knight’s mother, the latest photo of Molly and my binge at The Bell Inn.

  He was shocked that so much had happened and wanted to know more about the photo and what Knight’s mother had said. I gave him a detailed account and forwarded the photo to his phone. He then asked me if I’d spoken to Brennan.

  ‘Not today. I’ve left messages but he hasn’t got back to me.’

  ‘Well maybe you should go home, Sarah. There’s no point hanging around in Hayes just for the sake of it.’

  We agreed to talk later and I ordered another coffee, which I needed to steady my nerves. I was feeling completely overwhelmed again, as though my body was on the verge of closing down.

  In my mind was an image of Adam lying on his back with a knife sticking out of his body, blood dripping onto the floor. And on the table before me was a blazing headline that read: IS THIS MOLLY’S KIDNAPPER?

  I shook my head and told myself that this nightmare had to end eventually, that it couldn’t keep getting worse.

  But just minutes later it did – when I answered my phone to DCI Brennan and he said he had something important to tell me.

  55

  DCI Brennan

  He’d been dreading having to break the news to Sarah. But there was no way he could avoid it any longer. In a short time the news would be out there and he didn’t want her or Adam to find out from the TV or radio. That wouldn’t be fair on them.

>   ‘I’ve been trying to reach you, guv,’ she said.

  ‘I know and I’m sorry, Sarah. But things have been really crazy. Where are you?’

  ‘In Hayes.’

  ‘What the hell are you doing there?’

  ‘Trying to make myself useful. I thought I could work alongside the team you sent here, but I haven’t seen any police, at least not in the town centre.’

  ‘That’s because we’ve had to switch some officers to another location and the rest are checking out the residential districts.’

  He heard her breath catch and before she could jump to the wrong conclusion about Molly, he said, ‘There’s still no sign of Molly, Sarah, but there is something you need to know.’

  ‘What is it?’

  His jawline pulsed as he spoke. ‘We’ve found a body and we’re 99 per cent sure it’s Bobby Knight.’

  ‘Oh God. Where? How?’

  ‘We received an anonymous call late last night. Guy who distorted his voice told us Knight had been murdered and dumped in a wood near Sevenoaks. I didn’t call you because I wanted to be sure it was a credible lead first. We started searching this morning and a short while ago we came across a shallow grave.’

  ‘So how can you be so sure that it’s him?’

  ‘Most of the body has been uncovered and decomposition has been slow, thanks to the dry earth. So he’s recognisable. Plus, he was still fully clothed and there was a wallet in his trouser pocket containing his probation officer’s card and his old driving licence.’

  ‘Was he murdered?’

  ‘That will have to be established by the pathologist. But it would appear so. We’ve spotted an injury to the back of his head that looks bad enough to have been fatal.’

  ‘So his mother and brother were right,’ Sarah said.

  ‘Looks that way. And the state of the body suggests he’s been in the ground for a couple of weeks, which tallies with when he went missing.’