by G D Sanders
All was not lost. Soon Tyler would be pregnant and in nine months he’d be the father of a child he could care for from afar.
59
The CID team were gathered around the Incident Room table. Some were drinking their third coffee of the morning. Thursday’s CCTV of Tyler’s abduction had still not arrived. Despite her frustration, Ed began the meeting on a positive note.
‘In a day, two at the most, we’ll have the DNA match. For now, I’d like to see if old-fashioned police work can beat modern technology to the perpetrator. It’s five days since Tyler disappeared. If it’s the same guy and he plans to inseminate her, that leaves us five days in which to save her. What have you got on our remaining suspects? Mike?’
‘Some good news. Percy Lynn has come up trumps again. Years ago, while Podzansky was still with British Gas, the word was he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in woods bordering the estate where he lives in Hersden. There was no formal complaint and he was never charged. It appears to have been her word against his.’
Mike paused. Ed wondered how she could ever get him to be more succinct and was on the point of prompting when he continued.
‘A few weeks later, Podzansky was found outside A&E, badly beaten. He was unconscious next to a damaged scooter and a jumble of broken fishing rods. The word was her family had taken their revenge.’
‘At last, a bloody break!’
‘Hold on, Nat, this wasn’t an abduction, just one unsubstantiated allegation of possible sexual assault made at least five years before Teresa was abducted.’ Ed turned to Mike. ‘Has there been anything since?’
‘There’s nothing on record and no word on the street.’
‘Last week you mentioned annual holidays. Where does he go?’ asked Jenny.
‘That was tricky because he doesn’t use a credit card. But he’s a lone male going away for three weeks every summer. I took a guess: Thailand. The airline at Gatwick had him on passenger lists for direct flights to and from Phuket every August.’
Nat looked enviously at Mike. ‘That’s what I call luck.’
Ed thought it was a smart piece of detective work and was about to say so when Jenny spoke.
‘Assuming it is sex tourism, the trips could’ve satisfied his needs and kept him away from young girls at home.’
‘Or he’s become more careful,’ said Mike.
‘Hold up,’ said Nat. ‘The abductions have been cleverly planned and executed. Podzansky’s a caretaker.’
‘Nat!’ Ed fixed the young DC with a disapproving look. ‘Tomasz Podzansky is highly valued at the school. He’s got lots of practical skills and he’s very organized. He’s better equipped to carry out these abductions than some of the teachers.’
Nat raised a second objection. ‘What about suitable transport? He doesn’t have a car.’
Ed looked at Mike.
‘That’s something we need to check. He’s certainly got a full driving licence.’
‘Good work, Mike. Podzansky’s definitely capable of abduction but why the insemination? We need to give that some thought. What about the others?’
‘Grieves and Leaman, neither ever married. Leaman’s parents were shopkeepers in Maidstone but Grieves came from a broken home in Thanet.’
‘With that start, how did Roger Grieves get to be a successful teacher?’
‘He was bright, bookish and hard-working. Perhaps as a reaction against the feckless nature of his family, he exhibits a strong sense of civic duty. He used to organize school field trips and he’s been a volunteer at the local hospital for the past few years. As a teacher, he’s a valued member of staff, Head of Biology and Deputy Head of the Sixth Form, one of those rocks on which a good school depends.’
‘And Leaman?’
‘He was an only child who showed no academic flair but shone on the rugby field. He seems to be an established figure in the local rugby, cricket and pub-going sets, but whenever I’ve seen him he never seems to be fully part of those groups. It’s as if he is kept, or chooses to stay, on the fringes. He revels in his adopted hail-fellow-well-met role but to me he’s a loner, an outsider. Such people can do strange and unexpected things, especially if they feel society owes them whatever they perceive as missing from their lives.’
‘Thanks, Mike. By the way, how did you get on at Maison Rose last week?’
‘Rosie’s still hairdressing wives during the day but I think her evening trade is dropping off. She said Ray Leaman’s been visiting her late at night for ten to twelve years. He’s a regular, three or four times a week, but he never wants sex. Ray’s a talker, brings her a bottle of Black Label and the two of them drink and chat.’
‘Sounds like a right oddball,’ said Nat.
Mike swung round in his seat to face the young DC. ‘How would you know? With the pick of wannabe WAGS and your one-track mind you’ve no idea why other people might want company.’
Nat bridled, rearing his head but avoiding Jenny’s enquiring glance. Aware of an edge to Mike’s voice which she hadn’t heard before, Ed intervened.
‘Mike, I’m not interested in their domestic bliss. Did Rosie give Leaman an alibi for the Lucy and Tyler abductions?’
Mike was immediately deflated. He looked hurt. Inadvertently she’d struck too close to home. Quickly she repeated her question in a softer voice.
‘An alibi, did Rosie give Leaman an alibi?’
Mike reddened and, failing to look Ed in the eye, mumbled, ‘I didn’t think she’d remember specific dates and times.’
‘To ask is routine. That was the point of your visit. You should have checked.’
Mike slumped in his chair. There was an uneasy silence quickly broken by Jenny.
‘Rosie’s a businesswoman. She’ll have an appointment book for the hairdressing. I bet she has another one for her gentlemen callers.’
‘Go round this evening, Mike. Get this one sorted.’
Ed was sorry she’d chosen her words without thinking. She hadn’t intended to remind Mike of his home life but his lapse couldn’t go unremarked. She let her displeasure hang in the air before addressing the whole group.
‘Right, Drakes-Moulton, I want to focus on one aspect of his childhood.’
Ed knew she was about to say something that the others might disagree with but she couldn’t back out of saying what she thought.
‘It’s possible that Nigel might see himself as an abandoned child.’
‘Why do you say that?’ asked Mike.
Ed was relieved his voice and manner had returned to normal. Clearly, if Mike took offence it wasn’t long-lasting. Now, put on the spot herself, she tried to answer without revealing what Verity had told her.
‘Well … he was sent away to boarding school at eight.’
‘Ah … no, sorry, I don’t buy that. Families like the Drakes-Moultons have been sending their children away to school for generations. He’d be more likely to feel bad if he wasn’t allowed to go.’
Ed looked at the young DCs for support but they were both silent.
‘There’s another reason, which I was told in confidence. We should keep it to ourselves unless it becomes specifically relevant to the case.’ Ed looked at her team for assurance. ‘Agreed?’
The three detectives nodded.
‘Right, I have it from an impeccable source that he was adopted.’
Nat was the first to speak. ‘He’s not only a rich bastard, he’s a lucky rich bastard!’
Mike ignored him and spoke directly to Ed. ‘No, I don’t buy that either.’
‘I hear what you’re saying, Mike, but in an investigation such as this, where there’s something of an impasse, what’s needed is ideas. An incorrect idea may help switch our mindset to a new line of thinking. The only bad idea is an incorrect one that’s past its sell-by date.’
Ed was about to change the subject when Barry Williams poked his head round the door to say the CCTV tapes had arrived.
‘They’re locked in the evidence room.’
&nb
sp; ‘Finally!’ The word was uttered with a mixture of excitement and relief.
‘Thanks, Barry.’
Ed turned back to the team. ‘Right, we need a concentrated session tracking movement around the time of Tyler’s abduction. Get yourselves some sandwiches and we’ll work in pairs. Mike and Jenny, you trace the girls walking home. Nat and I will concentrate on the traffic.’
60
The junction of Summer Hill with Rheims Way was just beyond camera range. Ed and Nat were looking for vehicles seen driving in both directions, towards Summer Hill and, later, back towards town. There were none. Mike and Jenny had the easier task. Once they’d picked up the girls in the city centre, they could follow them from camera to camera. At the critical point Mike called Ed and Nat over to watch the screen.
‘We’ve got Tyler and Ashley walking up Rheims Way. Here they’re beside the recreational ground.’
Mike moved the tape on.
‘Now they’re approaching the roundabout with Knight Avenue and the London Road. Ashley would normally turn into Mill Lane to reach Prioress Road. However, she’s talking with Tyler, so she continues up the hill and they stop here.’
Mike froze the frame to show the two girls standing on the pavement between the road and two trees. The screen showed the time as 19.32. Mike moved the image slowly forwards. At 19.34 Ashley turned away to walk between the trees towards her home in Prioress Road while Tyler continued up Rheims Way towards Summer Hill. One minute later she disappeared from the frame at 19.35.
‘At that point she’s only five to ten metres from the Summer Hill turning,’ said Jenny. ‘The bastard must be waiting round the corner with his transport parked nearby.’
‘If he’d driven there from the Rough Common end,’ said Ed, ‘he couldn’t be certain what time Tyler would arrive. The longer he was parked the greater chance someone would see him. He’d need to watch the girls walking home.’ Ed looked at the others. ‘How did he do it?’
‘He’d have to be on foot in the town centre,’ said Jenny. ‘We know Tyler and Ashley went to the cinema but they didn’t usually do that on a Thursday evening. It was a one-off. They’d been let off school for the Olympic Torch Relay.’
‘This one was opportunistic,’ said Nat. ‘The interval between Lucy’s return and Tyler being snatched was short. He had less time to prepare. He must have parked unobtrusively near the centre, latched on to them when they left the cinema, raced back to his vehicle and overtook them on their way home.’
Ed turned to Mike. ‘Check to see if you can see any of our suspects near the cinema or following the girls.’
‘We thought of that,’ said Jenny. ‘Nothing.’
‘He’s too bright to be caught on camera,’ said Mike.
‘Okay, if he drove from the city centre, which route would he take to Summer Hill?’
‘Well … he could take St Dunstans Street and London Road or go via St Peter’s Place and Rheims Way.’
‘Which would you favour?’
‘The girls would take the second route – it’s shorter. In his shoes, I’d opt to take that route and overtake them on Rheims Way.’
‘Right, let’s watch the girls walking up Rheims Way and concentrate on the vehicles overtaking them. If only the cameras covered the entry to Summer Hill.’
‘Wouldn’t he slow a little as he passed the girls to check them out?’
Jenny looked at Nat in an odd way. Ed found it impossible not to comment.
‘Why? What’s to check out? Our man’s a meticulous planner. He’d never draw attention to himself by slowing down beside his prey.’
While Nat and Ed were talking, Mike had been looking increasingly thoughtful.
‘I agree, but he would slow down a bit further on. We can’t see vehicles turning into Summer Hill but any vehicle planning to make that turning would begin slowing down as it passed the trees where the girls stopped to say goodnight.’
They reran the tapes and logged 19 vehicles passing the girls on Rheims Way. Nat tracked each vehicle to the point where it disappeared. After rerunning the tape the team agreed that only three vehicles were slowing down as they passed the trees: the first was a saloon car, the second a van and the last to pass the girls was a minibus. Sure that it must be one of these three vehicles, they called in an IT expert from forensics who was able to produce readable prints of the registration numbers. The team traced ownership of the car to a resident of Upper Harbledown and the van to a builder in Rough Common. There was an exclamation of success when Nat, who was checking the minibus, said it belonged to the school.
‘If it’s the school’s minibus, Drakes-Moulton’s in the clear,’ said Mike. ‘It must be Grieves, Leaman or Podzansky.’
Nobody disagreed.
Ed breathed an inner sigh of relief. Barry Williams was also in the clear.
As usual, Nat wanted to act. ‘Shall we pick them up now?’
Ed preferred caution. It was her first case in Canterbury, the Super didn’t want feathers ruffled and she’d said point blank Ed was on trial.
‘They’re not going anywhere fast. We’ll wait until tomorrow morning for the DNA report and then pick up the one guy who did it rather than three guys on spec. I also want to look at the minibus in situ before letting forensics loose.’
‘At this point we usually have a sweepstake,’ said Mike looking brighter than he had for a long time. Ed could sense he’d been emboldened. His local knowledge had made significant contributions to the team’s analysis of the CCTV footage and his blunder with Rosie had receded.
‘But there are four of us and we’re down to three suspects,’ Jenny reminded them.
Mike wouldn’t be denied.
‘We’ve only just dropped Drakes-Moulton. Let’s resurrect him for the sake of the draw.’
‘Okay,’ said Ed, ‘we’ll have a sweepstake as long as the winner buys a round of celebratory drinks. A fiver a head and draw the names from this envelope.’
Ed drew Drakes-Moulton, smiled and refocused the meeting.
‘We’re all assuming that Tyler was abducted in the minibus, which points to someone at the school being the abductor, but where has he taken her? We’re going to have a late night checking all the CCTV for that evening, concentrating on the period from 19.35 onwards. We must pick up the school minibus elsewhere in the town going to or coming back from the hideout. Nat, phone through our takeaway orders. Tonight the pizzas are on me.’
As Nat scribbled down their orders, Mike asked Ed if he should pop out to see Rosie.
‘Not now, Mike. Rosie and Leaman can wait. I need your local knowledge when we’re working on the CCTV. If you can show us where he’s likely to have his hideout, we can prioritize the routes we check.’
‘The problem is there are woods all round the city. We’ll have to cover all the main exit routes.’
The first success came when Nat saw the minibus coming back towards the city centre on the Whitstable Road. He followed it to the Westgate Towers at 20.04 but then lost it in the back streets.
‘This is so soon after Tyler was taken,’ said Ed, ‘I doubt his hideout’s to the west or northwest.’
‘That still leaves a lot of routes out of the city,’ said Mike.
‘Nackington Road goes south to wooded countryside,’ said Jenny. ‘That’s where Teresa Mulholland was taken. Who’s got that tape?’
‘The Nackington Road camera was out for the time we want,’ said Mike. ‘And remember we’ve only got cameras on the main routes. He could get out via back streets and not be picked up.’
Mike seemed to be right. After a long stint of mind-numbing screen-watching there were no further sightings of the minibus. Ed sensed a growing feeling of frustration and disappointment.
‘Let’s call it a night. I want everyone in early tomorrow for the DNA report.’
61
By the time Mike left the Station it was late in the evening. When he arrived at the car park in St Peter’s Lane, Maison Rose was in darkness, but the
re was a light in the flat above the shop. He rang the bell and waited. There was no sound of feet on the stairs and no light came on in the hallway but he heard a muffled voice from behind the door exclaim, ‘Michael!’
The hall light came on and the door opened.
‘Michael,’ said a smiling Rosie, ‘I didn’t expect to see you so soon and at such an hour. Come in, come up, will it be a scotch or a cup of tea you’re after?’
‘Hello, Rosie. I’ve been working late at the office.’
‘That’s what they all say, Michael, but you I believe.’
He followed Rosie up the stairs and collapsed into one of the armchairs.
‘It looks like you’ve had a long day. I’ll get you that tea with a small drop of scotch in it, no arguments.’
‘I can’t stay long, Rosie.’
‘Of course you can’t, love.’ She turned her back and walked towards the door before adding, ‘I noticed you began feeling a bit edgy last Friday. It’ll take time to feel comfortable.’
The alcohol in Mike’s cup was barely perceptible. Rosie poured a small tumbler for herself. The drinks gave the situation a purpose and normalcy. Mike relaxed.
‘As it happens, I haven’t got long myself. I’m expecting someone about ten-thirty.’
‘Ray Leaman?’
‘Now, now, Michael, that’s confidential unless you’re about to flash your Warrant Card.’
‘It could be difficult.’
‘Don’t worry love. Before I put the light on in the hall I’ll let you out the back through the yard.’ Rosie took a sip of her scotch. ‘So, what can I do for you tonight?’
‘I’m here about Ray, Rosie.’
‘Of course you are, love.’
‘You said he visits three or four times a week. What time does he usually get here?’
‘When it’s quiet, around ten to ten-thirty; the husbands have all finished walking their dogs by then.’