Convictions

Author’s note

I owe a massive debt of thanks to Steven Miscandlon for his invaluable assistance with this book. Not only did he provide thorough and timely research, insightful editing, and eagle-eyed proofreading, he also provided the photograph and carried out the graphic design work to create the cover. Thank you, Steven!

This book is a work of fiction. The story is not based on actual events and some liberties have been taken with police and prison procedures.

(This edition October 2011.)

PART ONE

The man stared through the windscreen of the car, one hand gripping the steering wheel, the other clutching the crucifix he wore on a chain around his neck. A private symbol of his faith, it normally sat unseen beneath collar and tie, but with tie removed and collar undone, he could hold on to the small gold cross, feel its power flood into him as he prayed.

God had brought him to this place on this night. He had listened to his prayers and had guided him here, here where there would be someone who needed to be saved. Someone who needed to meet Him.

The area of the car park he waited in was dark, the nearest lamp broken. There was no one nearby. Ahead, he could see the empty bus stops, a couple of taxis waiting for the last train to come in, the drivers chatting and smoking and hoping for fares that would tip well to round off the night. He watched and prayed.

Finally he saw them, the reason God had drawn him to this place out of all those he could have gone to. He fired the engine and the car crept forward towards the two small figures.

***

Penny awoke with a start. Something had disturbed her sleep, something out of place … there it was again, a tapping on the front door, the familiar sound threatening in the darkness.

‘Derek.’ She shook her husband awake. ‘Derek, there’s someone at the door.’

‘What time is it?’ Derek was groggy, full of ale and unhappy about being woken up.

‘Just gone two.’

‘Ignore it, Pen, it’s the middle of the bloody night.’

Seconds later he was asleep again. Penny touched the base of the bedside lamp just once to keep the light dim, then swung her legs out of bed and shuffled her feet into her slippers. Her head felt woozy and she regretted that last glass of wine: she’d be hung over in the morning and she had a busy day ahead of her, starting with picking the kids up from Derek’s mum’s house. The tapping began again. She sighed, pulled the bedroom door shut behind her and flipped on the landing light, sending shadows scampering back into the crevices where they lived.

‘Who is it?’ she called when she got to the front door. Her voice sounded frail and afraid, the unknown on the other side of the door making her fearful. No good news arrived by night. ‘Who’s there?’

She heard a strangled sob, then: ‘Mum.’

Penny fumbled the lock, panic making her clumsy, then yanked the door open to see her eldest daughter, bedraggled and tearstained, on the front step. Penny gathered her child to her, felt the little girl sag against her, pulled her through the door and into the hall, then on into the sitting room, shushing her and snapping on lights as she went.

Once they were seated, she brushed her daughter’s hair out of her eyes, fighting the swell of panic, trying to stay calm, trying not to frighten the girl even more than she was already frightened. ‘Tina, what’s happened, pet? Why are you not at your gran’s?’

‘Mum …’

‘Where’s Annie?’ asked Penny, suddenly very afraid. Her two girls were inseparable.

Tina shuddered. ‘She’s …’ she began, hesitantly. Then she cried out, ‘Mum, he took her! The man, he put us in his car and he took Annie!’

***

‘It’s okay, Tina,’ the policewoman said, ‘I just want you to tell me what happened.’

Tina shuddered, shot a sideways glance at her parents; her mum in the chair, her dad perched on the arm. The policewoman was sitting on the sofa next to her. She had a nice face, kind eyes. Not like her mum’s eyes just now: they were like ice, cold and hard; when they looked at Tina they stabbed and burned.

‘It’s okay, love, you’re not in any trouble,’ said the policewoman.

Tina doubted the truth of that statement. Her mum had already shouted at her, she’d go ballistic just as soon as the police were out of there. ‘We missed the last Metro to Sunderland,’ she told the policewoman. ‘The concert finished late and we ran all the way to the station, but we missed it.’

‘This was at the Arena … MC Boyz?’

Tina nodded. ‘They’re my favourite band.’

‘And you went there on your own, just you and your sister?’ The policewoman flicked a glance at the parents. ‘No adult?’

‘They weren’t supposed to be there at all,’ Penny said, her fingers gripping the edge of the seat cushion. She glowered at Tina. ‘You were told, “no”.’

‘I see,’ said the policewoman. She turned to Tina. ‘But you wanted to go, is that right?’

Tina nodded, kept her eyes down. She had been desperate to go, but her parents had already accepted an invitation to a house-warming party that evening. Tina had argued that having had her twelfth birthday last month she was almost a teenager and she could be trusted to go on her own. Her mother had hit the roof and the ensuing row, as Tina described it to her best friend, Hilary, had been ‘epic’.

‘Normally, we’d have taken them,’ offered Derek. ‘But we had plans and the girls were staying with my mum. She couldn’t manage a do like that.’

‘She couldn’t manage to keep them in the house,’ said Penny. ‘She didn’t even know they were gone until you rang her and she checked the beds.’

‘That’s not fair, love,’ said Derek. ‘She does her best. She’s never had any trouble before.’

Penny scowled at him, then turned her gaze on Tina, who wisely kept her eyes on her slippers.

‘So, Tina,’ the policewoman persisted. ‘What happened after you missed the Metro?’

‘There was one that went just to Heworth, so we got on that. It meant we were halfway home. We thought there might be a bus.’

‘And was there?’

Tina shook her head. ‘There was a taxi, but I didn’t have enough money.’

‘Did you ask the driver to take you home?’

She shook her head again. ‘I knew I couldn’t pay, I only had two pounds. That’s just enough for a tip.’ She flashed a look at her dad. ‘Dad says you should always tip taxi drivers at least two pounds.’

‘Tina, what happened next?’

‘There was this man, he drove up in his car and he asked if we needed help.’

‘What did you say?’

‘I asked if I could borrow some money for a taxi and I promised I would pay him back.’ Tina chewed nervously on a fingernail. ‘But he said he had children himself and he’d be worried if they were out this late, so he’d take us home for free.’

‘So you got in the car?’

Tina nodded. ‘He sounded … posh and he seemed nice. I thought we’d be safe with him.’

‘Then what?’

‘He asked where our parents were and I said they were out at a party. He said they didn’t deserve two lovely little girls like us. Then I realised he was driving the wrong way so I told him. He said he knew where he was going and not to worry.’ Tina risked a glance at her mother. ‘But I was worried, so I started shouting and hitting him and telling him to stop.’

‘Where did you hit him?’

‘On the head and the arm. I was sitting behind him. I made him swerve the car and he stopped on the side of the road. I opened the door and shouted at Annie to get out, but she couldn’t open the door on her side. She tried to get out of mine, but he caught her.’ Tina pictured Annie frantically scrabbling for the door handle and not finding it, then diving across the seat. She saw the man’s arm snaking into the back of the car, his hand grabbing at Annie, heard Annie cry out in pain and fear when he caught hold of her bright blonde ponytail, her bid for freedom abruptly ended.

‘So you ran away?’

Tina nodded, saucer-eyed. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.

Annie had shouted at her to run for help, to get Dad. Tina had been frozen to the spot, horrified at the sight of Annie trapped like a fly in a web. When she realised the man would never release his grip, she turned and ran, tripped and almost fell, dropped her favourite bag with her door key, purse and mobile phone as she flailed her arms to keep her balance, then sprinted into the bushes at the side of the road. The man had dragged Annie through the gap between the front seats and bound her wrists. He locked her in the car and searched through the bushes at the edge of the road. Tina stayed very still and held her breath, even when he was so close she didn’t know how he could miss her, his fingers a fraction of an inch from her face. She closed her eyes and prayed to be invisible. After a while he got back in his car and drove off.

The image of Annie staring out of the window into the darkness, tears running down her face, would haunt Tina forever.

‘You left her.’ Penny said the words and they were a stark accusation. ‘Your little sister, who you’re supposed to look after, and you left her in that car with that man.’

Tina was sobbing. ‘Mum, I couldn’t get her away from him, I tried—’

‘She shouldn’t have been there in the first place!’ Penny shouted. ‘You selfish, stupid little fool. Have you any idea what you’ve done?’

‘Mum, please! I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.’

‘Pen, love, it’s not the bairn’s fault. You can see she’s upset.’

‘Not half as upset as she’ll be when I’m finished with her.’ Tina wondered that she didn’t melt under her mother’s incendiary gaze, her hatred burned so bright. Penny stalked out of the room and they heard her slamming about in the kitchen, no doubt making more cups of tea that they would allow to stand while they cooled and a skin formed on the surface, after which she would pour them down the sink and wash out the mugs for the next time.

Derek reached out to Tina and pulled her to him, gave her a hug. ‘She’s just upset, love. She doesn’t blame you, not really. Just give her a bit of time.’ He turned to the policewoman. ‘Do we have to do this tonight?’

‘Tina’s told us as much as she can for now about the car and the driver. We’ve got people out looking. We’ll be in touch first thing.’ She stood up, clutching an evidence bag containing the clothes Tina had been wearing earlier. They were destined for forensics, to see if they held any clues as to where Annie might be.