The Stolen Girls

by Patricia Gibney

  Easing the door shut, she ran back to the kitchen. Eamon was sitting at the table. Chloe had placed a glass of water in front of him and stood with the hurley across her chest like a soldier on guard duty.

  ‘I’m telling you the truth,’ he said. ‘I think you broke my kneecap.’

  ‘Did you ring Mam?’ Katie asked Chloe.

  ‘She’s not answering.’

  ‘Probably busy with work. What’s he saying?’

  ‘I’m right here,’ Eamon Carter said, rubbing his knee furiously.

  ‘So you are. Why did you hit me?’

  ‘I said I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I was told to pick up the boy.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Chloe slammed the hurley against the side of the table.

  Carter jumped, banging his other knee on the underside of the table. ‘Ouch. Will you stop?’

  Katie said, ‘Chloe, take it easy.’

  ‘He’s telling lies. I don’t know what he’s up to. Probably going to take Milot and sell him to a gang of paedophiles.’

  ‘What paedophiles?’ Katie and Carter said together.

  ‘Just saying,’ Chloe said.

  Eamon Carter made to stand up. Katie put her hand on his shoulder. He sat back down.

  ‘I’m sorry. Honestly. I’m not long in this job. I didn’t ask for all this.’

  ‘Tell us what you didn’t ask for.’ Katie pulled out a chair and sat opposite him.

  He looked around.

  ‘There’s only the three of us. Go ahead,’ Chloe encouraged.

  He didn’t look at all sure but he said, ‘Okay so. I think there must’ve been someone either watching your house or following me, because in the middle of Saturday night I got a phone call from someone. Threatening me and my mum.’

  ‘What?’ Chloe said. ‘Who?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ He wrung his hands into each other. ‘My mum lives with me since my dad died. Up in Rathfarnham. I commute to Ragmullin for work. I don’t know how they got my phone number let alone my address.’

  ‘What did this mysterious caller say to you?’ Chloe remained standing, hurley clasped in both hands.

  ‘He told me to come here today, when your mum’s at work, and take Milot.’

  ‘If I believed that, I’d believe in Santa Claus,’ Chloe said.

  ‘Shut up and listen.’ Katie scowled at her sister.

  ‘I told him to get lost. He was very angry. Started swearing and shouting at me. I couldn’t understand him. But then he said… he said he’d hurt my mum to show me just how serious he was. I was so terrified, I actually hung up on him.’

  ‘Did you ring the guards?’ Katie asked.

  He shook his head. ‘Sure, what was I going to tell them?’

  ‘There have been three murders in Ragmullin and two girls missing, including Milot’s mother. Why wouldn’t you ring the guards? You shit-head.’ Chloe slammed the hurley against the table again.

  ‘I have to take the boy with me. I’ve no choice. Please listen to me.’

  ‘I’m all ears,’ Chloe said.

  ‘Yesterday afternoon I was sitting down with my mum to watch a football game on the telly and these two guys march in.’

  ‘What two guys?’

  ‘I don’t know who they were. Dressed in black jeans and T-shirts. They came in the back door, walked through the kitchen and into the sitting room. My poor mum nearly had a heart attack. They dragged me out of the room, told me I was to get the boy. They said I wouldn’t raise any suspicions because it was my job, and I was to tell no one. Or else…’

  ‘Or else what?’

  ‘They’d come back and kill my mum.’

  ‘Jesus.’ Katie felt the blood draining out of her face. ‘And you still haven’t contacted the gardaí?’

  ‘No. I can’t, that’s what they said. No guards or Mum gets it.’

  Chloe asked, ‘What happened after that?’

  ‘That’s it. They went out the back door and over the wall.’

  ‘What were you supposed to do when you had Milot?’

  ‘They gave me a number. I’ve to text it when I have him and then I’ll get further instructions.’

  ‘Do they think you’re Superman or what?’ Chloe was met with a steely stare. ‘I can’t believe you’d do this to an innocent child, and you a social worker and all.’

  ‘What choice do I have?’

  Katie went to the door. Listened. She could hear Milot shouting at his game. Just like Sean.

  Carter pleaded, ‘You have to let me take him.’

  Chloe walked around the table, hurley under her arm. She tried ringing her mother again. Engaged. So much for contacting her any time she needed to.

  ‘I don’t get how they knew who you were. They even followed you to Dublin? It sounds made-up to me.’

  ‘You have to believe me. This man, when he rang me, he sounded like a guy who knows everything and everyone. He must have pull somewhere.’

  ‘Even so, you’re not getting Milot. Pretend you have him. Text and see what instructions you get.’

  ‘Are you mad? I don’t want my mum to die.’ He ran his hands through his hair, pulling at the roots.

  ‘We don’t want Milot to die either. I’m scared, but we have to think of something,’ Chloe said, thinking there had to be a way she could fix this.

  ‘Ring Boyd,’ Katie said.

  Chloe tapped her contacts with a tremor in her fingers, found Boyd’s number and rang. This time the phone was answered.

  ‘Boyd, thank God. It’s Chloe here. I can’t reach Mam. Tell her to come home quickly. It’s urgent. Carter’s here. I’m scared.’ She could hear Boyd arguing with her mother. ‘Fuck this,’ she said, and hung up. Her phone pinged.

  ‘What’s that?’ Katie asked.

  Chloe checked. ‘Shit, I thought I deleted this app. It’s just a Twitter notification.’ She handed the hurley to Katie. ‘Here, you hold this and don’t let him out of your sight. I’m going to check on Milot.’ She rushed up the stairs, stuffing the phone into her jeans pocket.

  SEVENTY-SIX

  Waiting on the steps outside Andri Petrovci’s home for the SOCOs to arrive, Lottie took her phone out of her bag to ring Kirby. The display showed that she had two missed calls from Chloe. Before she could ring her daughter back, her phone chirped. Kirby.

  ‘What’s up?’ Lottie shielded her face from the sun with one hand. Boyd ran down the steps to give the two uniforms a talking-to.

  ‘The call to Petrovci’s boss Dermody telling him to go to the pump house was made via a pay-as-you-go,’ Kirby said.

  ‘Impossible to trace. What’s the good news?’

  ‘I cross-checked Petrovci’s contacts with Dermody’s. No matches.’

  ‘That’s the good news?’

  ‘No, but then I cross-referenced their calls. Incoming and outgoing.’

  ‘Lottie,’ Boyd shouted up the steps, holding his phone out to her.

  ‘Not now, Boyd.’ She turned back into the doorway. ‘Sorry, go ahead, Kirby.’

  ‘So what do you want me to do about it?’ Kirby asked.

  ‘You’ll have to repeat that. Someone with no manners was shouting at me.’

  Boyd reached the top step, shoved his phone into her hand. ‘It’s Chloe. It’s urgent.’

  Lottie took his phone. Had something happened? Her children had Boyd’s number for emergencies only. Oh my God, she thought. She’d never organised a watch on her house.

  ‘Chloe, hun, what’s the matter?’ Looking at Boyd, she said, ‘She’s gone. The line’s dead.’

  Boyd said, ‘She sounded frantic. Do you know someone called Carter?’

  ‘That’s the social worker. I hope he hasn’t come for Milot already. I warned Katie not to let the boy go.’

  ‘She said she was scared. I’ll call round to your house now.’

  ‘No, I’ll go. You see what Kirby was on about. Then get your car and follow me.’

  ‘You’ve no car either.’

&n
bsp; ‘I’ll get Mutt or Jeff here to drive me. I’m sure the other one can watch a broken front door until SOCOs arrive. Oh, and when you speak to Kirby, get him to check Petrovci’s online history. There’s no laptop in there.’ She pointed back to the apartment. ‘He may have taken it with him or he might’ve used his phone.’

  ‘What for? Twitter?’

  ‘That and flights abroad. We need to work out where the hell he is.’

  Lottie sat into the squad car, yelling instructions at the uniformed garda.

  Boyd shouted, ‘And show Chloe a photo of Petrovci, if you have one.’

  She pulled the door shut. Why hadn’t she thought of that before now?

  * * *

  Jumping out of the car, Lottie ran up the front path and was struggling to get her key in the door just as Katie opened it.

  ‘What’s wrong, Katie? Is Milot here? Where’s Chloe? Jesus, what are you doing with Sean’s hurley?’

  ‘Mam, slow down. Come inside.’

  ‘And what happened to your face?’ Lottie followed her into the kitchen and saw Carter. ‘What are you doing here?’

  Eamon Carter stood up, put out his hand, then seemed to think better of it. He thrust it into his jeans pocket.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Parker. Detective Inspector.’

  ‘Sit down and tell me what’s going on. And I’m very busy at the moment, so you’d better make it quick.’

  After speaking on the phone with Kirby, Boyd ran back to the station car park. As he sat into his car, he saw Lynch running round the side of the building.

  ‘It’s impossible to get either you or the boss,’ she panted, bending down to the open window.

  ‘You have me now,’ Boyd said.

  ‘About those reports concerning unusual activity around the lakes.’ She shoved a page of print at him. ‘See there. Lough Cullion.’ She pointed.

  ‘I can read, Lynch. What do you want me to look at?’

  ‘Firstly, the lake supplies the town’s water. The council confirmed that recent samples have traces of cryptosporidium and if it gets any worse they’ll be issuing boil water notices.’

  ‘Okay. And?’

  ‘It’s not shooting season yet and there’ve been three reports of gunshots at night. Two reports of lights. Out on Monk Island.’

  ‘Never heard of it.’

  ‘Not many people have. It’s one of two islands on the lake. Church Island is more frequented as it has a little harbour area for fishing boats. But Monk Island is further out, a lot less accessible. In the Middle Ages it was used to incarcerate people—’

  ‘Okay, okay, Lynch. Anything else I need to know?’

  ‘Kirby wants to talk to the boss about phone records. Oh, and your ex-wife was here earlier, asking for you.’

  ‘She’s not my ex yet. What’d she want?’

  ‘Something about Jamie McNally. She couldn’t get through to you on your phone. You’ve to give her a call. Sounded urgent.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll be back shortly. Tell Kirby to keep digging.’

  ‘What will I do?’

  ‘Find out everything you can about Monk Island.’

  * * *

  Lottie ended her call with Rathfarnham Gardaí and faced the social worker.

  ‘Now, Eamon, your mother is safe. My colleagues in Rathfarnham have dispatched an officer to stay with her.’

  ‘But if they see a squad car, they’ll know I’ve told you,’ he cried.

  ‘Give us some credit. It’ll be an unmarked car. Anyway, your mother is safe. Milot is safe. And I’m going to arrest you for attempted kidnap and assaulting my daughter.’

  Katie said, ‘It’s okay, Mam, it was just a misunderstanding. I don’t want to press charges.’

  ‘You’re going over to Granny’s house, and this time I’ll make sure there’s an officer with you. I don’t like the idea of someone watching for this eejit here to leave with Milot.’

  ‘What about Sean?’ Katie asked.

  ‘Boyd can pick him up from school.’

  Boyd walked into the house. ‘Will I go for him now?’

  ‘Just a minute,’ Lottie said. ‘Katie, run up and get Chloe and Milot.’

  ‘What about me?’ Eamon Carter leaned against the back door. Looking for a quick exit?

  ‘You’re coming to the station. We need to trace the number of whoever contacted you.’ She shoved him towards the door. ‘You have to give a statement. And a description of the two men. Then we’ll see about letting you go home to your mum.’

  Katie rushed into the kitchen. ‘I can’t find them!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘They’re gone. I can’t find them anywhere.’

  Lottie rushed past her daughter into the hallway. ‘It’s not a feckin’ mansion. Chloe! Come down here this instant.’

  ‘Mam,’ Katie said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. ‘I think Chloe’s a bit unhinged. She was like a lunatic with that hurley. I thought she was going to kill Eamon.’

  ‘She thought he was going to kill you.’ Lottie took the stairs two at a time. ‘Chloe?’

  Minecraft flickered on Sean’s computer. No Milot. She glanced into Chloe’s room. Empty. Katie’s room too, as was her own. Running back into Chloe’s, she noticed the bed pushed up to the open window. The curtain hung limply, no breeze to blow it around.

  She leaned out, shouting hysterically, ‘Chloe? Chloe, where are you?’

  ‘Shh, Milot. I won’t let the bad man take you.’

  Chloe didn’t trust Eamon Carter. She hadn’t believed one word out of his mouth. She’d seen what had almost happened to Sean in January at the hands of a madman. Knew what had happened to Jason, Katie’s boyfriend. She wasn’t taking any chances with little Milot. She had been so caught up in her own misery, cutting herself, causing herself pain, that she’d ignored the little boy since he’d come into her home. Now was her chance to be brave and get him to safety. Her mother was too busy; she had to do this herself.

  Her biggest fear was the man who called himself Lipjan. She’d felt an awful helplessness when he’d pinned her to the tree, and she believed he knew where Maeve was. He possibly had her captive and maybe he’d already killed her. She gulped down a cry. No, she couldn’t take any chances with Milot. The message she’d received on her phone moments earlier confirmed it.

  A surge of fear fuelled by adrenalin had intensified her need to get out of her room, and not via the front door. Grabbing Milot from Sean’s room, she’d brought him into hers and dragged the bed over to the window. Wrapping the boy’s arms round her neck and his legs around her waist, she’d stood on the bed, eased out of the window and dropped onto the garden shed roof. Her ankles had jarred with the thud. At least she hadn’t fallen through. Disregarding the mild pain, she’d edged to the eaves, hauled herself over and slipped to the ground. She’d shrunk into a narrow space behind the oil tank and hunkered down with Milot snug to her body. Above her head she heard the rumble of the railway and knew a train was slowing down to enter the station.

  Milot whimpered. Chloe held him closer. The poor child. What must he have gone through in his short life? Too much, she thought. While all she had done was indulge in self-pity. She physically shook herself and the boy let out a small cry.

  ‘It’s okay, little man. I won’t let anyone take you.’

  A voice rang into the evening air. ‘Chloe? Chloe, where are you?’

  She looked up to see her mother hanging halfway out of her bedroom window. Should she go back? Should she stay hidden? What was best for Milot?

  No sound of sirens. No guards rushing around her house to protect them. What could her mother do? She began to cry, and Milot looked at her, his dark brown eyes filling up.

  ‘It’s all right, petal. I’ll mind you. No one will hurt you ever again.’

  Sniffing away her tears, she momentarily wished she had her little blade. Just one cut. To feel the blood oozing slowly from her flesh. Giving her relief from her mental anguish. But the little boy needed her more
than she needed her blade.

  Chloe took her phone from her jeans pocket. Checked the text once more and made her decision.

  ‘We’re going somewhere safe and I need you to do what I tell you.’

  She put the boy on her back. Winding his arms and legs tightly around her body, she scrambled up the bank at the rear of the house and through the bramble hedge. Once she was on the railway tracks, she began to run.

  SEVENTY-SEVEN

  ‘Boyd! Boyd!’ Lottie ran down the stairs. ‘They’re gone. Where could they go? Oh God. Chloe. What will I do?’

  Boyd gripped her by the upper arms and shook her. ‘Breathe, Lottie. Look into my eyes. Now, slow breaths.’

  Lottie stared into the brown depths with their hazel flecks. She took her breaths and counted every one. Feeling slightly calmer, she said, ‘We have to find them. Quick. Look out the back. She must have jumped onto the shed from her bedroom window. It’s not that far, is it? I hope she’s not lying hurt somewhere. Oh God.’

  ‘Wait here.’ Boyd ran out the door. He returned in a few minutes.

  ‘No sign. She could’ve run round the side of the house or through the neighbour’s garden. I’ve contacted the station. The whole force will be searching. We’ll find them.’

  ‘But why would she do something like that?’

  ‘Maybe she feared for Milot’s safety. She didn’t stop to think.’

  ‘It’s more than that. All that stuff I went through over my brother, everything that happened with Sean, even Maeve… I think it’s seriously impacted on Chloe.’

  ‘Don’t go there, Lottie. Now’s not the time for analysis. First we have to find them. Are you all right?’

  She scrunched up her shoulders and blew out a long, loud breath. ‘I’m okay. Honestly.’ She thought for a moment. ‘I need Sean picked up from school. He’s to be brought to my mother’s house along with Katie. Get someone to guard her house and at least I’ll know they’re safe there.’