Doors Without Numbers (44 page)

Hammond listed the items found in Kelsey’s flat. “The DVD’s found were filmed for the benefit of potential buyers of cheap labour. The photographs found on Kelsey’s phone were probably intended to be downloaded onto the internet. We now have a confirmed link between Kelsey and Goodchild. “ He went on to explain to Morris about the package Kelsey had attempted to send back to himself at the post office. Kelsey had probably rushed and in his haste, didn’t notice he had written an incomplete address. When he realised his mistake he sent Goodchild to collect the package on his behalf but the post office wouldn’t hand anything over without permission. The package had contained seventeen passports from minors. Kids from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Morris’ eyes’ widened.

“So the motive behind Cheryl’s murder and the attempted murder on you was to cover up child trafficking?”

Hammond nodded. “I’m sure of it.”

“The kids were probably brought in via Eurostar. They can travel unaccompanied and there are no specialist police patrols in Ashford so they could easily have been brought over here from across Europe without too many questions being asked.” Morris’ left hand had abandoned its task of trying to continue texting on his mobile, instead he returned the phone to his trouser pocket as he stood up from the table, indicating Hammond do the same. They walked from the canteen, their heads bowed, as they attempted to compile a plan of action between them.

“We need to find Kelsey. I was hoping that Traffic had picked him up but his trail went cold five miles from his flat. The car was abandoned and I doubt that any vehicle search will prove fruitful.” Morris stopped walking suddenly and stood in the middle of the corridor, ignoring other pedestrians who attempted to get past him by shuffling sideways against the wall. Feeling it was necessary to apologise on his colleagues behalf, Hammond smiled at the irritated faces and stepped back to allow access.

“You know Kathleen better than I. Are you convinced she knows nothing about this? If she is involved...” Morris’s voice trailed off.

Hammond faced the other man directly. “Harris was adamant that Kathleen was kept in the dark about what he asked me to do. I presumed it was because he didn’t want her to remember about her childhood with Goodchild, but now I wonder whether it was to protect her from knowing what they were involved in.”

“Harris must have known that Goodchild was involved in trafficking. He told you about the girls brought in for prostitution, he was probably part of it.”

“No, I think Harris was a grass eater, not a meat eater.” He spoke the thoughts aloud but he was reassuring himself rather than Morris. He had wondered before how corrupt Harris had been but now he realised that Harris had simply pretended not to notice what was going on, rather than being directly involved.

“I hardly think his vegetarian preferences are relevant.” Morris scoffed as he resumed his walk down the corridor. His strides had lengthened and now he directed his speech over his shoulder. “Kathleen could have mentioned you sleeping with her the other night. She must have known that your indiscretion would compromise any court case later on which makes me wonder whether she values her friendship with you more than her desire to protect herself or Kelsey. That gives us something to work on.”

Hammond guessed what was coming next. “You want me to talk to her?”

Morris stopped outside the office door and turned around to face him. “It’s worth a try. Right now we need all the help we can get. If she knows anything that she wasn’t prepared to tell me in the interview, she may open up to you if you give her the opportunity.”

Kathleen was nervous, Hammond couldn’t tell whether it was her guilty conscience showing or whether it was his direct manner that was making her so hesitant but she welcomed him into the house. Galvin stood in the doorway, unsure whether to follow them into the hallway, he knew he was needed as a witness but that didn’t mean he needed to make it obvious he was listening to the conversation being played out in front of him. He stood by the front door, his hand wrapped around his mobile phone, just in case his wife called.

“Wallace, I..”

Hammond interrupted Kathleen before she attempted to explain herself. He wasn’t there to listen to her excuses, he needed facts.

“Kathleen, I need you to help us. We need to know where Bradley Kelsey and your Mother are. Can you tell us?” He knew his manner was short but enough time had been wasted.

Kathleen looked up at him, she looked bewildered by his tone. “No, I don’t know. Why should I?”

Hammond stepped closer to her, he wanted to appear intimidating. “Because it is only a matter of time before you contact them or they contact you. They are going to want to know what you told us in the interview. Am I right?”

Kathleen’s left hand released its hold where it had rested on her right shoulder. She was still in defence mode but wanted to appear willing to co-operate.

“Bradley sometimes comes here, I don’t know if he intends to come back. I don’t even know whether he knows I have been questioned, but if he asks I will tell him the truth, just like I told your Detective Chief Inspector. I don’t know anything!”

“But you didn’t tell us the truth Kathleen, you said that Kelsey was an acquaintance, you never mentioned he was your biological father.”

Kathleen’s face betrayed her astonishment. Hammond was surprised he hadn’t worked it out earlier, but when the thought had popped into his head it had made sense, enough to have voiced it aloud without fear of sounding as if he were bluffing, which of course he was. She hesitated for a second and glanced at Galvin who pretended to be studying his phone.

“I don’t know him, that much is true. Like I said, Lloyd was my Father. Bradley is more of an acquaintance who just happens to share my DNA. We only met a few years ago and we don’t see each other often. When we do, we don’t talk much. There is no relationship to speak of.”

“Yet you are protecting him by not telling us where to find him.”

“Because I don’t know! I only know his mobile number. What is going on? Why won’t you tell me what this is all about? I swear Wallace, that I am as confused as you!”

Her eyes were open wide but Hammond wouldn’t allow himself to be fooled again. “We need to find him Kathleen, if you don’t know where he is, then give us something you do know. When did you meet last? What did you say? Anything at all.”

“The last time I saw him was when Dad had his episode. I lied when I said that I had called the Doctor. I called Bradley.”

“Why?”

“I had left the daily newspapers for Dad to read when he woke up before I left to go to town. When I returned, he was shouting, kept waving the newspaper at me and bellowing. He was saying things that didn’t make sense to me. I tried to reason with him but he went crazy. So I phoned Bradley, I asked him to help me.”

“Why him? Why not the Doctor like you said?”

“Bradley had told me that if I needed help with Dad to call him first.”

“Did he help?”

“He came to the house. When he got here Dad was still ranting and raving. I was told to leave, to give Dad some time to calm down.” She looked at Hammond for reassurance. “I was upset, I didn’t know what to do. Bradley said that I needed to take a breather, that I would be more helpful if I gave Dad some space, so I waited outside on the drive until the shouting stopped.”

Hammond prompted her to tell more. “When you got back inside, where was your Dad?”

“I don’t know, I guess he was in the office. The door was open, but I didn’t see him. I only saw Bradley.”

“What was he doing?”

“He was collecting the papers that Dad had been waving about. When he saw me, he told me that Dad had hit his head accidently. He was unconscious and Bradley was going to take him to the hospital.”

“So why the secrecy? Why didn’t you mention this when you knew the Police wanted to talk to your Father?”

Kathleen’s voice caught in her throat. “Because I knew he was dead, I could see from Bradley’s expression that something was wrong. I tried to get to my Dad but he stopped me, told me that I shouldn’t look.”

Hammond studied Kathleen’s face for several moments, She was telling the truth, either that or she was a better actress than he had given her credit for.

“How could I tell the police? I didn’t know where Bradley had taken Dad, I was told to report Dad missing, to say that he had wandered off. I didn’t know that Bradley had taken Dad to your house, how could I have known?”

“Yet you tried to keep me from going there..it doesn’t add up Kathleen, you are not telling me everything.” Hammond resisted the temptation to continue questioning her, there was so much he didn’t understand but time was of the essence.

“We’ll talk about that later, in the meantime, I want to find Kelsey and I need to know where he is. Think Kathleen, this is important, we need to find him.”

Kathleen shook her head. “I have never been to his house. He approached me, never the other way round, but I do remember seeing an address in Aldington. I presumed it was where he lived.”

“Aldington? Where did you see the address?”

“He had written his mobile number on a scrap of paper that had been torn off an invoice for building renovations. It was addressed to him and I don’t remember the address, just that it was in Aldington.”

“What was the name of the building company?”

Kathleen shook her head as if trying but failing to remember.

“Think Kathleen!” Hammond was infuriated by the slow progress he was making. He resisted the urge to shake her by the shoulders. Whether it was his wounded pride that had got the better of him or whether it was the need to have the answers in one go, Hammond felt desperate. He could feel Galvin’s eyes fixed on him from behind and forced himself to breath slowly through the nose.

“The name was written in orange lettering. Champion. I think the name was Champion. Or was it Chapman? Yes, I think it was Chapman and Son’s.”

“And the renovation work was definitely for an address in Aldington?”

Hammond turned away from her, he directed Galvin to forward the information to the station. Kathleen’s reached out her hand hesitantly until it rested on his forearm.

“Wallace, that night.. I want to explain.”

He removed her hand from his arm firmly. “Kathleen. I want you to go back to the Station, speak to DCI Morris and tell him everything you just told me and anything you didn’t. Everything.” He met her eyes and retained the gaze until she nodded in agreement.

“I know you think I can’t be trusted Wallace but...”

Hammond interrupted her again. “The newspaper article that agitated your Dad, do you remember what it was about?”

“It was about benefit fraud.”

Hammond turned towards the exit, but stopped as Kathleen called his name. Her voice had a renewed confidence in the tone, it caused him to take notice and turn back around to face her.

“They knew her as Goodchild, but really her name is Gutkin.”

He nodded his thanks, reminded her to return to the station and left the house as abruptly as he had arrived.

As Galvin steered the car southbound. Hammond updated Dunn over the phone and explained they were heading towards Aldington. He knew that it would be sensible to return to the station and debrief Morris but he didn’t know how he could convince his colleagues that he had found a lead worth concentrating all their attention on. By debating the plausibility of his theories, they would be losing time and enable Kelsey to get away. Dunn ended the call promising to call back with any update on her enquiries with the building company. Galvin kept silent. He was concentrating on driving but occasionally his head would turn towards Hammond with a perplexed expression. Hammond felt the heaviness of Galvin’s lack of faith in his actions rather than heard it but he pretended not to notice. He knew he was acting as a one man band again but reckoned this time, he had justifiable reason to do so. During the twenty minute journey the light had faded and Galvin turned on the main beam of the headlights as he navigated the car through narrow country roads. They parked the car in front of an entrance to a field just outside the village awaiting Dunn’s call. Minutes passed during which time Galvin made several checks on his mobile.

“Why don’t you call her?” Hammond motioned to the phone.

“We agreed it was easier if Anne called me when the time came, otherwise she’ll have to keep answering the phone every time I call to check.” The car was silent for several minutes before the pressure of Galvin’s thoughts forced themselves out of his mouth.

“Where you there, with your wife?”

Hammond looked at Galvin unsure what the other man meant. He raised his eyebrows enquiringly.

“At your son’s birth.”

“Ah.” Hammond wasn’t sure how to answer. He knew the man needed reassurance but he couldn’t give it to him. If he said he was there the moment Paul was born, Hammond would be asked to describe the scene which he had forced to the back of his mind as soon as it had happened, but if he lied and said Lyn had given birth before he had got to the hospital in time, Galvin’s desperation to know what he should expect would present itself with more questions which Hammond would be expected to answer. He decided not to answer at all.

“Look Galvin, if necessary, just leave me here and get home if you need to. Don’t worry about me, I will find my own way back.”

Galvin smiled and shook his head. “That’s not necessary, if it happens I will drop you back on the way.”

The conversation stalled and the car was quiet. Hammond wondered why Dunn hadn’t called and said so. He felt stifled in the car, his body was riddled with nervous energy, part apprehension that Galvin would ask more questions about Paul’s birth. He wound down the passenger window and leaned his elbow over the edge of the door frame. The waft of farmland manure seeped into the car.

“Don’t you think it would have been better to have organised surveillance on the place first? You don’t intend to go and confront him if this is where Kelsey is staying do you?”

Hammond didn’t answer, he was embarrassed to admit he hadn’t thought that far ahead.