DS Jessica Daniel series: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water – Books 4–6 (17 page)

‘Haven’t you already heard the story from everyone around the station?’

Jessica was still annoyed at how quickly Reynolds’s version of events had spread.

‘Yeah, but I want to hear yours.’ Izzy picked up her mug of tea and took a gulp before shuffling forward in her chair. Jessica thought it was as if the constable was settling herself
down for story time. She finished off the sausage and pushed the plate away, wondering if she would regret eating the station’s food later in the day.

‘All right, fine. What do you want to hear first?’

‘Definitely the falling over.’

Jessica shook her head slightly. ‘It was basically just that. I saw Simon Hill, went running across the road, slid on some icy-frosty stuff and fell onto the pavement.’ She held her
palms up for the other woman to see. Diamond did purse her lips into an ‘ooh’ shape but her eyes told a different story of hilarity.

‘It’s way funnier when Jason tells it,’ she said. ‘Is it true there were kids laughing?’

‘Yes, little bastards.’

‘Jason reckons he’s going to contact someone up there to see if there’s camera footage anywhere.’

‘There better not be.’

Izzy was clearly trying to hold it together, flicking her red hair over the back of her ears. ‘All right, so what happened when you did catch up with that Hill bloke?’

‘I was in the process of arresting him when this kid came out of the house and said, “Dad”. I knew then we were in the shite. The child I’d seen him bundling into the
back seat of the car was his own. It took some getting out of him but when he realised there could be much more serious charges to face, he came clean about having two lives. Not only is he married
to Paula down here, he’s got another wife with children up there.’

‘So the lorry-driver thing is all just an act?’

‘Sort of. He does it part-time which allowed him to tell both women he was off on business. He could get away with spending a couple of weeks at a time with one wife, then disappear back
to the other.’

‘Christ, that sounds like hard work.’

‘I know. All that and he’ll be charged with polygamy at some point in the next week. I don’t know what is worse – that, or having to admit what he’s been doing to
both of his wives. They’ll chop his boll . . . bits off.’ Jessica toned down her language as a few uniformed officers walked by. It wasn’t something she’d usually care about
but, with the story of her falling over flying around the station, she was trying to keep a low profile.

‘How long has he been doing all that?’ Izzy asked.

‘Fifteen years or so. When I spoke to Harry, he said there was something not quite right about the guy and I guess it was this.’

‘Rather him than me. I find it exhausting just having one husband and . . .’ The constable tailed off but held a hand just below her stomach.

‘Are you telling people yet?’ Jessica asked.

Izzy leant in, whispering, ‘About my peanut baby? Soon.’

‘At least I’ve not blabbed it yet. How’s it all going?’

‘Not too bad. We’re just beginning to get things sorted. There’s so much to think about. There’s all the obvious stuff like a cot and that kind of thing but we need a
child seat ready to take him from the hospital back to our house because you’re not supposed to just carry them. I only found that out yesterday.’

‘Did you see that story in the news about the woman who had a twelve-pound baby girl the other week?’

Izzy pulled a face. ‘Why would you tell me that?’

Jessica held a hand up to concede she had said something stupid. ‘Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I’m sure yours will be a normal size.’ Before making things worse, she hastily
tried to change the subject. ‘What happened around here yesterday while I was up north being an idiot?’

‘The chief super was in. He was upstairs for most of the day with Jack and Superintendent Aylesbury. Everyone was shitting themselves about looking smart and all that kind of
stuff.’

Jessica knew DSI William Aylesbury from when he was a DCI at the station. He had been her boss but, since his promotion which meant he oversaw the wider area instead of just their station, she
rarely saw him. Their relationship had been awkward at first but she had come to respect him before his elevation.

‘Have you ever met the chief super properly?’ Jessica asked.

‘No, I didn’t even see him yesterday. It was just what people were saying. You?’

‘I’ve met him a couple of times. There was some function thing last year. I’m always worried when senior people know my name.’

Izzy grinned. ‘He knows who you are?’

‘Yeah, the DSI probably told him because they’d worked together but it’s like being at school. The headmaster only knows who you are if you’re a really good student, or
really naughty. I’m definitely not one of the really good ones, so I dread to think what he’s heard.’

‘I wonder if he’s heard about you falling over?’

‘If he has, I’m going to start my own internal investigation into information leaks.’

Izzy laughed again. ‘What time did you get back?’

‘About one in the morning, then back in first thing today for a meeting. From what was said, things will pretty much carry on as normal for us. Orders will be coming from on high through
the DCI though.’

‘So what’s going on at the moment?’

Jessica leant closer to her colleague, lowering her voice. She wasn’t uncomfortable telling the constable information but didn’t want to be overheard just in case. ‘Basically,
not much. There’s no sign of Lloyd. Nothing’s come back from the students at the school, the CCTV cameras didn’t see anything and the traffic cameras are still being viewed,
although no one’s really expecting much from those. The dig at the woods is crawling along because of the weather but they’ve not come across anything yet. They’re looking for
remains of Toby Whittaker but I’m not sure they’ll find him. Meanwhile, the allotment lead, along with the hunt for the Glenn Harrison guy, has turned into a bit of a dead end. The most
important thing is to find Isaac’s murderer but that’s going nowhere either. How have you been doing with that Ian Sturgess teacher guy?’

Izzy finished off the contents of her mug and put it on the table. ‘I’ve not really had time. First we had people coming in to help with the workload, then they were taken away.
I’ve been working on other things. All I know is that there’s no one called “Ian Sturgess” who matches the age group we’ve been looking for. I can’t find any
teacher in the country called that either. It’s like he vanished.’

‘Just like Lloyd . . .’

Jessica spoke without really thinking. After the experience they’d had chasing one loose end with Simon Hill, it seemed unlikely her bosses would let her work on another. ‘How busy
are you at the moment?’ she added.

Izzy smiled. ‘About sixty per cent of my time is being taken up with telling people about you falling over. Other than that, I really am snowed under.’

‘It’s nice to know I have the support of my colleagues,’ Jessica said sarcastically. ‘Is there any chance you can keep hammering away at this Ian Sturgess guy when you
get some time? Don’t do anything that could get you in trouble but, if you find anything, let me know.’

‘Do you think he’s important?’

‘I don’t know, probably not. I think mobilising most of Sunderland’s police force to find a guy guilty of polygamy has probably soured things a little when it comes to
following these old leads. The word from this morning’s meeting was to focus on finding Lloyd and we can come back to the rest.’

‘Aren’t we doing that anyway?’

‘Yeah, but it’s all about appearances. Kid goes missing and the press want pictures of police officers trawling through fields or walking the streets. It looks better than a load of
people sat at desks . . .’

‘. . . or falling on their arses,’ Izzy interrupted.

‘Yeah, or falling on their arses. Either way, it’s all about looking good at the moment. We could do with people here to follow everything up but instead they’re going around
in circles hoping for the best. I think they’re worried about news of that list of children getting out too. There wasn’t much else we could do other than tell the parents to be
vigilant – which we did – but if it gets leaked we had Lloyd’s name before he was taken, everyone’s in trouble.’

‘What have they got you on?’

Jessica allowed herself to smile slightly. ‘I’m sort of being allowed to do my own thing. As long as I stay broadly within the remit of looking for Lloyd, I’ve got a bit of
freedom. It’s all because the kidnap squad are also involved. Neither side wants to hand over jurisdiction to the other. They’ve got an officer staying with the mother while we’re
doing the legwork. Like most things, I think it’s all about budgets. If we give way to them or the other way around, it could seem like we’re passing on responsibility, meaning the
other side needs more money. You know what it’s like, everyone’s really laid back until money comes into it, then they just scrabble for whatever they can get.’

‘Have you met the kidnap person?’

‘Yeah, she’s called Esther. She’s pretty sound. We’ve got each other’s numbers. I don’t think she’s too arsed about office politics either.’

Izzy sighed and checked her watch. ‘I’m going to head back. Are you okay?’

Jessica looked at her scuffed palms. Her hip had been stiff that morning but considering how hard she had hit the concrete, she was actually feeling all right. ‘I’m fine, just a
couple of grazes.’

‘I meant, are
you
okay?’

Jessica knew her colleague was talking about her state of mind. They had become good friends and, although it wasn’t something she would talk about, Izzy knew Jessica could become
emotionally involved in cases.

‘I’ve just . . .’ Jessica paused to sigh. ‘. . . I’ve just never known a case with so many leads before. Usually if you had half of what we’ve got, we’d
have someone charged in the cells and be moving on. Here, there’s almost too much: Toby, Isaac, Lloyd, the woods, the allotment, the driver, “Glenn”, Toby’s clothes, Ian
Sturgess, that list of names and so on. I’ve worked on cases with no leads where I’ve felt like I’ve got more idea what I’m doing.’

There wasn’t much Izzy could add, other than offering a smile and a vague suggestion about meeting up after work one evening. Jessica knew the constable had enough on her plate considering
the pregnancy, while her own problems weren’t isolated to work either, with the tension she was feeling around Caroline. Altogether, she wasn’t having a good time of it – and that
was before she had fallen over in the street.

Lloyd Corless was beginning to think that watching whatever he wanted on television and playing limitless PlayStation games was actually pretty boring. The strange thing was
that, if someone had said to him a few weeks ago he would be able to spend all his time watching and playing, he would have been pleased. Actually doing it was a very different matter. The truth
was, he missed his mum and he missed Marcus. If they came through the hatch that led into the attic, he might even admit that to them.

The hatch was something of a mystery. He had tried to pull it up from the inside but couldn’t get his fingers into the cracks around the wooden board that blocked the attic from whatever
was below it. Once he had managed to squeeze two of his fingers underneath but it was really heavy, as if something was weighing it down to prevent it being pulled upwards.

A couple of times a day he would hear a metal ladder underneath being moved around. Usually it would be because food was arriving but, once or twice, it seemed like the person simply wanted to
talk to him, asking if there was anything that would make him happier.

Lloyd couldn’t think of anything other than to see his mum and Marcus but the person got angry whenever he said that, saying his mother was too ill in hospital to see him and that he would
have to get used to it. He asked for his phone back but that wasn’t going to happen, either.

He couldn’t work out what was going on. As long as it didn’t involve either his mum or Marcus, he was being offered anything he wanted. Lloyd had asked about his dad but the other
person didn’t really answer, then the hatch would be closed again and he would be left to play for as long as he wanted.

Lloyd did try to play but he could never really focus. Instead, he spent hours inspecting the room, wondering if there was another door or something he had missed. He was fascinated with the low
parts of the ceiling he could reach. He had never touched a ceiling before as he was too short. He found himself walking in circles, running his hand along the full distance of the lower part of
the roof. He also made his bed every day. It was something his mum kept on to him about when he was at home but he rarely listened. Without her, it was something he did almost to show that he
could. If she did appear through the hatch one day, he wanted her to smile and be pleased with him, not angry because his bed was a mess.

The biggest thing he didn’t like was having to use the toilet in the corner. There was nothing wrong with it specifically – it was just like the one they had at home – but it
felt wrong to sit on it when the rest of the room was so normal, whether there was anyone else around or not.

Lloyd was in the middle of walking a lap of the room when he heard the now-familiar sound of the metal ladder clanging from underneath. The hatch lifted a small amount and Lloyd could see the
person’s eyes peering around the room looking for him. It was something that happened every time. Once, Lloyd had been standing quite close but he was told to go and sit on the bed before it
would be opened any further. They locked eyes and Lloyd backed away towards the bed as the hatch opened fully and a plate of food was passed into the room.

‘How are you today, Lloyd?’ he was asked.

‘I’m all right,’ the boy mumbled quietly.

‘Here’s some food for you. Sausages, fried potatoes and beans.’

Lloyd had eaten baked beans a few days previously. They hadn’t tasted quite right but, with nothing else on offer, he had finished them anyway.