by Mistry, Liz
Eyes huge and bloodshot, the worry of the past day clearly etched in her face, Jessie looked up and shook her head.
‘Is Chelsea the sort to make things up?’
Again, Jessie shook her head. ‘No she’s the sensible one out of Molly’s friends. The worrier. She’d never make up something like this.’
Alice lowered her voice slightly. ‘Well, if Chelsea’s not lying, it looks like Molly was going to meet someone she thought was her father.’
Head bowed Jessie began to weep. Alice stood up and squeezed herself between the two women on the couch. Sadia, whose head had been down as she scribbled in her notebook, her expression hidden by a cascade of dark hair, immediately moved to the chair Alice had vacated.
Clearing her throat, Sadia leaned forward and began to speak, ‘Well, you must know something.’
Alice held up a single finger and narrowed her eyes in warning. She put her arm round Jessie’s heaving shoulders and squeezed reassuringly. ‘We’re working on the assumption that Molly’s abduction relates to what happened in 2003.’ She waited to let her words sink in. ‘That means that somehow, somewhere, your witness protection has been breached.’
Jessie gasped, her head jerked up and her hands flew to cover her face. ‘Oh my God, no!’
Alice exchanged a glance with Sadia. ‘Your key witness protection officer maintains the breach isn’t from their side. Do you have any idea how your true identities could have been revealed?’
Pale and shaking, Jessie grasped frantically at Alice’s hand. ‘Oh my God. But that was years ago. I’d never have done it if I thought this could happen. Never. I swear, never.’
From the depths of the house a bell rang, breaking the resultant silence. Sadia jumped up and cracked the door slightly. She turned to Alice. ‘It’s just Beth’s work colleague.’
Alice nodded and lifted Jessie’s cold hands into her own. Looking her straight in the eye, she said in a tone that demanded the truth. ‘You need to tell me what happened, now. We can’t waste time. We need to know.’
Gulping back tears, Jessie began to speak. ‘It was years ago. Probably about four years. I got a phone call from our operator at witness protection on the burner phone we use. Occasionally, she’d touch base to check that we were ok and to let me know any updates on my son. You know, like if he’d moved prison or whatever. I still write to him. He’s my son after all.’ Jessie swallowed hard and took the tissue Alice handed her.
Sadia shuffled in her seat as Jessie focussed her attention on Alice.
‘It’s a real palaver. I have to put my letter in an unsealed unaddressed envelope and then I have to put that in another unsealed unaddressed envelope. Finally, I put both envelopes in a third one. My operator texts a different address each month and that’s the one I use on the outer envelope. They check the contents to make sure I’ve not put any detail in that I shouldn’t. They black out anything that might reveal our whereabouts. I don’t send photos or talk about anything Molly’s involved in: no school plays, no sport activities. I’m really careful. When his letter arrives it’s always from a different address and it’s usually in a plain envelope, like a bank statement or something.’
Alice nodded. ‘That all seems really secure, Jessie, but you were going to tell me about something that happened four years ago?’
With desperate eyes, demanding understanding, Jessie maintained eye contact. ‘He’s still my son you know; even after all he’s done. He’s still my son.’
Alice nodded, ignoring the quiet tut from Sadia, but deciding to have words with her about it later.
Jessie sniffed. ‘Well, the operator told me James had been attacked by another prisoner and was in ICU in London. He told me he’d be ok and he’d keep me updated. But– you know… I couldn’t just sit and do nothing, so I went down to see him. I didn’t tell Beth.
‘When I got there he was out of ICU and in a side room with a guard outside the door. They’d handcuffed him to the bed.’ She blew her nose. ‘I stayed in the waiting room until the guard went to the toilet or for a fag break. He probably wasn’t supposed to leave, but James was handcuffed anyway. I thought James would be pleased to see me, but he wasn’t. He shouted at me and told me to get out. Said I was risking everything and that’s what they wanted. I was so shocked; I ran out and came home. I was scared for months after, but then nothing happened and I thought he was exaggerating and so I forgot about it. He wasn’t though, was he?’
Alice shook her head. ‘Perhaps not Jessie, but we’ll investigate everything.
Jessie began to cry again. ‘Oh my God, it’s all my fault. They’ve got Molly and it’s all my fault.’
Pulling the weeping woman to her chest, Alice jerked her head towards the door, telling Sadia to go and tell Gus what they’d discovered. Talking soothingly to Jessie, Alice rocked her back and forth as if she was a baby. Sadia had opened the door to leave when an explosion rocked the house. Alice quickly sprang up and with Jessie following, she and Sadia ran through the door, into the corridor to the kitchen.
Chapter 64
Wednesday 12pm, Bradford
DCI Nancy Chalmers gave a perfunctory tap on the door and walked in. DCS Charlie Bowles glanced up frowning, but when he saw who his visitor was, his face immediately transformed to a smile. He pushed the paperwork he was sifting through to one side. ‘Hello Nancy, it’s good to see you. Take a seat.’
As she walked across the room, Charlie noticed the slump of her shoulders and the dark bruises under her eyes. When she sat opposite him, he could see the tension lines around her mouth and eyes. He leaned forward, pressed a button on his intercom and asked his PA to bring in coffee for two.
Nancy smiled. ‘Just what I need, Charlie. It’s been a shit couple of days and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better any time soon.’
Standing up, Charlie moved round to the front of his desk and resting his bottom on the edge, he stuck his long legs out before him, crossing them at the heel. With his arms folded loosely over his chest he studied her.
‘Is it the trafficked kids or the abducted girl?’
He knew Nancy had tried to contact him the previous evening, but he’d been ‘unobtainable’ when she’d first been notified about the Beth Graves situation. It was too sensitive to put in a memo, so he’d given her the first free slot of the morning.
With a grimace, she said, ‘Well, actually, Charlie. The two cases are linked.’
Charlie rested his elbow on his folded arm, raised his hand to his mouth and tapped his lip with one finger. He was just about to speak when, with a perfunctory knock Julia, his PA, opened the door. Using her ample butt to wedge it open, she entered the room backwards carrying a tray filled with coffee, mugs and Kit Kats.
‘Oh Julia, you’re a bloody star. I love Kit Kats. Thanks so much’ said Nancy, her eyes lighting up.
Julia grinned, as she deposited the tray on the coffee table near the comfy chairs. ‘You’re looking a bit peaky today, Nance, so I thought a bit of spoiling was in order.’
Charlie winked at Nancy and put on a mock pout. ‘Hmm, so she gets preferential treatment does she? When was the last time you ever spoiled me?’
Julia threw a disdainful look at Charles. ‘Phew, when’s the last time you ever looked peaky? You and that fake tan of yours, you look like that bloke off Bargain Hunt.’
Hiding the slight spark of annoyance her cheek had provoked, Charlie flung back his head and released a huge guffaw. Best to keep on Julia’s good side. After all, she had control of his diary. No need to give her an excuse to scrutinise it too closely, not with all his extra-curricular activities.
Nancy laughed. ‘You’re a tonic, you know, you really are.’
Julia winked and made her way back to the door, hesitating only when Charlie called her name. ‘No interruptions till Nancy’s gone, ok?’
Julia nodded and left, closing the door behind her.
Charlie stood up and gestured for Nancy to follow him to the soft chairs. He mad
e himself comfortable, then began to pour coffee. Dropping a single sugar cube into one of them, he swirled a teaspoon round and then pushed the mug towards her.
Nancy grabbed a Kit Kat, ripped the wrapper off, snapped one of the chocolate fingers and rammed it into her mouth. Charlie watched her eat. Her voracious appetite was one of the reasons he was attracted to her. He found it incredibly sexy, the way she embraced everything with such fervour.
Lifting a biscuit, he carefully slipped the paper wrapper off and folded it in half. Then slipping a fingertip under the foil flap, he opened it with great care. Placing the chocolate wafer on the tray, he folded the foil in four before placing it neatly on top of the paper. Next, he lifted his biscuit and carefully snapped it in two, shook the excess crumbs off and began to nibble it slowly, interspersing each bite with a sip of coffee as he waited for Nancy to speak.
‘It’s bad, Charlie. You remember that case in 2003? The one with the paedophile ring? The Matchmaker?’
Charles pursed his lips and thought for a moment before nodding. ‘Yes, the one where the wife came forward and reported her husband?’
Nancy nodded, ‘Well, she went into WP and now, would you believe it; she’s turned up here in Ilkley. It’s her daughter who’s gone missing. It’s looking increasingly likely that the daughter’s been abducted and that the trafficked children are linked to this.’ She leaned forward, eyes anguished. ‘That bastard appears to have accessed her new identity.’
Charles, a sceptical look on his face, replaced his mug on the tray. ‘Oh come on Nancy, you can’t be sure it’s the same ring, surely?’
Face completely serious, she bit her lip. ‘I’ve never been more sure, Charlie. I’m convinced.’ Hands shaking, she put her half-full drink down, slopping some onto the teak table. Not noticing Charles’s quickly hidden glare she continued. ‘Never in a million years did I think I’d come across Cathy again – or Beth, as she’s now called. And now, here she is. It’s bloody awful. As if that poor kid didn’t suffer enough ten years ago. It’s bloody shite, that’s what it is, shite!’ She roughly wiped her sleeve across her face to get rid of the tears that had sprung to her eyes.
Charlie walked round the table and stood behind her, his hands gently kneading her shoulders. Staring into space, a half-smile on his face, he said in a voice that, even to his own ears, sounded doubtful. ‘Well, maybe you’ll have better luck catching him this time, Nancy.’
Shoulders tightening beneath his fingers, she said, ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence.’ She began to shrug his fingers off but he soothed her with a smoothly delivered ‘I’ve got every faith in your abilities. You know that. Just keep me in the loop.’
For a moment she resisted his ministrations and then as he increased the pressure on her muscles, she moaned and allowed his firm fingers to work their magic.
‘How’s Gus coping with it all? He’s had a busy first few days back at work.’
Eyes closed, she sunk farther into the chair. ‘Gus’s fine, coping remarkably well. Still looks in pain sometimes but he’s focussed and seems to be on the ball.’
‘Hmm, well I hope he is. We went out on a limb to get him back to work so quickly. I only hope it doesn’t come back to bite us on the arse.’
‘Tut tut, Charlie. It won’t. Trust me, Gus is fine.’
Stepping away from Nancy, he walked back round to his chair and sat. ‘And you’re sure this all links back to Cambridge all those years ago?’
She sighed. ‘It certainly looks that way, especially now they’ve abducted Beth’s daughter. It’s The Matchmaker at work again. I’m sure of it. Gus is trying to get to the bottom of who breached the Witness Protection protocols. WP say it wasn’t them and you know how stringent they are, so I suspect the family somehow revealed their true identities.’
Charlie grinned, wiggling his eyebrows nock suggestively. ‘Fancy a little, eh… physical activity to get rid of the last of your stress?’
Nancy grimaced and jumped to her feet. ‘How inappropriate, Charles. With Julia next door? Yeah right.’ She cocked her head to one side and bent over to caress his cheek gently. ‘You’ll just have to wait till Friday, as planned. Of course, that’s if I’m not too busy.’
She snatched up her bag and headed for the door. ‘Looks like the shoulder massage and Kit Kat did the business for me. Now you can get to whatever mega complex paperwork you stopped when I came in.’ And with a wink, she exited his office.
For a moment, Charlie remained by the coffee table, a thoughtful look on his face. Then, tapping a rhythm on the wood, he inhaled deeply. Nancy had out manoeuvred him and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit. Standing up he moved over to his PC and seconds later, calming flute music flooded the room.
Chapter 65
Wednesday 1pm, Ilkley
Sadia and Alice, followed more slowly by Jessie, burst into the kitchen. Gus, Janine Roberts, Beth, Wendy Horan, and Alex, mouths agape, stood round the large pine table looking at the scorched remains of a cardboard box that was still smoking in the centre. Gus held up a hand as they entered, stopping them from coming right in.
‘There’s a metal tin in the middle of the box. We don’t know what’s in it. Get the bomb squad out here ASAP, Alice.’ As Alice scurried out of the room to make the call, Gus turned to the other four shocked adults. ‘We better get out of here now. We don’t know what other little surprises the bastard who sent this has left.’
Beth gulped and suddenly jumped into action, rushing from the kitchen and up the stairs. ‘Got to get Sam,’ she shouted, her voice shaky.
Janine, quickly recovering from her initial shock, began to herd the others from the room. Before Alex could follow his wife upstairs, she was running back down with a squawking, blanketed bundle in her arms. Gus quickly herded them through the front door and down to the end of the garden, where he reckoned they would be safe. On Gus’s instructions Alice and Sadia ran back and started up the two unmarked police cars that sat in the drive in front of the house. Quickly, they reversed them until they rested half on the cobbles and half on the lawn, throwing up sods of icy grass and leaving huge welts in the turf and. Once there, the Graves family and Wendy piled into one car. Leaving the engine on for warmth, Alice got out and approached Gus.
‘Bomb squad’s on its way.’ she said, as Sadia climbed out of the other car and joined them. Gus, panting with the adrenalin rush, gathered Sadia and Alice a few feet from the car. In the distance they could already hear the sirens approaching. Alice pale and shaking slightly said ‘What the fuck happened there?’
Gus ran his fingers through his dreads, ‘Bloody bastards left a parcel at the bottom of the drive and Beth’s friend brought it into the house with her when she came.’
Alice glanced at the woman who was comforting Beth in the car. ‘Yeah, that’s Wendy Horan. She’s doing Beth’s job at Carlton Wood while she’s on maternity leave.’
Gus nodded. ‘That’s right. Anyway, before I had a chance to stop her, Beth began to open it. As she pulled the lid open, there was a flash and a hellish bang. The bastards wanted to frighten her, so she wasn’t hurt, but God knows what’s in the tin. I’m taking no chances.’
Sadia, who’d remained quiet, spoke for the first time. ‘I’ll get someone on to checking CCTV and their personal security cameras to see who dropped it off. There’s no CCTV on this road but we may catch something on the access roads.’
Gus nodded. ‘And get forensics here too. They might find something, once the area’s been cleared by the bomb experts.’
Sadia walked down the garden to meet PC Owens, who was walking up the drive towards them, having abandoned his car on the lawn near the bottom to allow emergency vehicles access.
Rubbing his shoulder, Gus looked at Alice. ‘I got sod all from Beth and Alex about the WP breach. They’re both adamant that they’ve not breached it in any way. Did you get anything from Jessie?’
Alice explained what Jessie had told them.
‘Shit’ said Gu
s when she’d finished. ‘Good job I’m meeting with their WP agent tomorrow. I want you to grab Sadia and get over there and re-interview Molly’s friend.’ He chose to ignore Alice’s disgusted expression when he mentioned Sadia. ‘Get as much detail as you can. Try to find out how this bloke made contact with Molly and see if we can catch that bugger.’
‘Do you think he’s The Matchmaker, then?’
Gus shook his head. ‘Nah, that’d be too fucking easy. Whoever he is, he’s just a minion. Maybe even the same bloke that shot at Jamal.’
He frowned and tapped his lip. ‘Get Compo to check CCTV to see if the car abandoned on Cemetery Road has been spotted in Ilkley in the last couple of days. And tell Owens to request some extra bodies. When the newspapers get wind of this they’ll come sniffing around like dogs after their own arses.’
As Alice walked away, Gus spun on his heel and walked over to speak to the bomb squad officer who’d just arrived in record time. He was just getting out of an open-backed army truck when Gus reached his side.
Extending his left hand to the burly man in army fatigues, he said, ‘DI Gus McGuire. Didn’t expect you within the hour, but I’m glad you’re here.’
The man took in Gus’ injured shoulder, smiled and shook Gus’s hand with his left one. ‘Sergeant Cecil Ormerton.’ His voice was pure English public school. He nodded to Gus’s strapped arm. ‘Looks like you’ve been in the wars?’
Gus shrugged. ‘Minor injury.’
The other dipped his head and moved round to the back of his truck. ‘I was on the moors, doing controlled explosives training with a bunch of squaddies when your call came through. Lucky for you, really, or you’d still be waiting.’
Gus grinned. ‘Could do with a bit of luck on this case.’ He looked into the truck’s cabin. ‘You on your own, then?’
Pulling equipment out of the truck Ormerton said, ‘Someone’s heading over from headquarters, but I’ll do an initial assessment on my own. If necessary, I’ll wait till they arrive before dismantling it. Now, is the house completely cleared?’