Deadly Lies by Ann Girdharry (book recommendations .TXT) 📗

you. Please signal if you’re inside. Tap on the walls.’

There was silence. They toured the outside and did a double-check of the entrance area and it was there Tom spotted something bright in the grass. He bent close, being careful not to touch. It was a child’s pink hair elastic, the sort used to tie back a ponytail.

Diane put on gloves and marked the spot. ‘We’ll get this photographed in situ.’ She glanced at Tom. ‘I say we go straight for a front entry. Do you agree?’

She was double-checking with him because cutting the locks might destroy DNA or fingerprint evidence though it was their quickest way into the container.

‘Agreed. It’ll take way too long to torch through the side,’ he said. ‘If the children are trapped we don’t know what state they might be in. Besides, cutting the locks won’t necessarily destroy DNA.’

Diane turned to the constables who were readying the cutting gear. ‘I want everyone double gloved to preserve what evidence we can. Now get this thing open.’

‘Looks like you could be spot on, Diane. Phone the station and get the forensics team here,’ Grant ordered.

It took twenty long and tense minutes for them to get in. Grant could feel the tension mounting and he had to order everyone to step back. Something or nothing? A dead end or a thread he could unpick? Grant’s heart was thumping.

When the door finally creaked open Grant could see the rear end of a dark blue estate car.

‘It’s the same registration as the getaway vehicle,’ he said.

Meanwhile Tom had retrieved an evidence protection suit and coverings from the car and he had suited up.

‘In you go, Delaney, and I want you to call out a running commentary,’ Grant said.

Tom went in. ‘The back doors of the car are open, boss. There’s blood on the back seat and in the footwell. I’m opening up the front driver’s door. I don’t see any blood in the driver’s seat nor in the front passenger area. Going around the back to open up the boot.’

Grant held his breath.

‘Nothing. There’s no sign of the children.’

‘Shit,’ Grant said.

‘Checking the glove compartment now. Damn, it’s empty.’

Grant swore under his breath. Any old receipts or papers would have been too much to hope for.

‘There are no obvious items in the rest of the area. I’m walking around the perimeter. There’s nothing here.’

Tom came back outside and took off his mask. ‘It’s empty, guv.’

The assembled group almost screamed in frustration and Tom was trying to force back his disappointment.

‘Look carefully,’ Grant said, nodding towards the open lock-up. ‘There’s space in there for a second vehicle. The way the first one is parked makes me think there was already another one in there when he drove in. You see the angle of the car? He manoeuvred it to get it in. He would only have done that if there was something else already inside. Otherwise he’d have driven straight in.’

‘Oh God, sir, you’re right,’ Diane said.

‘Stay focused, people. Finding the car is a break because it means we’re on the right track. Now forensics can get at it and all we need is one hair with a match on the database and we’ve got our key suspect.’

‘Yes, sir,’ everyone chorused.

‘This becomes our second focus point. I want the public questioned with this lock-up as a new epicentre. Someone must have seen something and we’re relying on you to find it. Collins, take the constables and get a door-to-door started straight away.’

Grant checked his watch. Emily and Lisa had been missing for over fourteen hours and they’d had no word from the kidnapper. Was it a kidnapping? Or were they dealing with something else? Grant’s stomach grumbled, reminding him he’d not eaten since mid-morning. It made him think of Emily and Lisa and how frightened they would be. Were they hungry? Were they dumped in the cold? Collins started to organise the constables. There was no question of anyone going home to rest, and anyway no one wanted to.

Twenty minutes later, Grant had only just set foot in the police station when his phone pinged. It was DCS Fox summoning him.

Fox hardly waited for him to get through her door.

‘I heard about your little escapade.’

Ah, he thought, and she doesn’t sound pleased.

‘It was a calculated decision, ma’am. Based on the evidence from the surveillance cameras there was a high likelihood the abductor had used the lock-ups.’

‘A high likelihood? Is that what you call it and you didn’t think it important to run your splurge of precious time past me first?’

Strictly speaking he wasn’t obliged to do that. Yet he judged it more diplomatic to stay silent.

Fox was on a roll. ‘Six constables, specialised equipment and three detectives on site. Vital resources taken from the coal face and for what? A hair ribbon?’

‘It was a hair elastic, yes, and we found the getaway car. Forensics are–’

‘Forensics are doing their job.’ She spat the words out. ‘Which is a hell of a lot more than you seem to be doing. The kidnapper had been and gone, Grant, long gone and I’ve got ACC Treadgold and the Chief Constable breathing down my neck. They want results. I want results. I want those children found. The whole goddam nation is watching.’

Well then, if she’d just let him get on with it instead of dragging him in here for a telling off. He stood to leave and her icy glare followed him to the door.

‘We’re fourteen hours in and we don’t have a key suspect? Is that all you’ve got for me? Quit trailing behind the perpetrator like a goddam lame dog.’

That was a new one. Fox sure liked to roll out the insults. Grant hoped soon he’d be laughing about it. Except, right now, he didn’t feel so confident about that.

15

As I drive out of Himlands Heath I congratulate myself on a job well done. My plans have been cooking around my head for so long they’ve a stroke of genius