Forever Scarred (20 page)

Joe looked up at him
briefly, his eyes were red rimmed and he looked thoroughly beaten.

“How?
How do I put it right? She doesn’t even work for that slime anymore. I know because I checked. That awful woman Jessica Dennison took great delight in telling me that Lucy had been dismissed for irregular practices and due to the data protection act she couldn’t tell me her whereabouts. I’ve been through the obvious channels like the electoral register but she’s not listed in any of counties that surround her office. I can’t find her. The last night she was here I good as told her she was a fraud and a liar. She left without even saying goodbye. Whatever I want doesn’t even matter as it’s quite clear that she doesn’t want me. She could have rung me. She could have written, anything to give me some kind of hope, but I haven’t heard a word from her.”

Patrick snorted in derision.

“Women are sometimes like that Joe. If you remember, I nearly lost Ellen just because she hadn’t stuck her head in the right flipping post box for over three months! You’ll have to do all the running if you want her. You just have to dig deeper and look harder. We have plenty of people who can help. What about Alex? Have you asked him to have a dig about? He’s all into the computer stuff now. Since we were all blown up he’s been in the office. He’s an absolute demon with anything computer based. The U.S. agencies were even trying to poach him last year.”

David grinned and slapped Joe on the back.

“Come on Joe. You don’t want to miss this chance. You can’t let a little spat come between you and true love. You just wounded her a little. She’ll get over it if you find her and go after her. It was obvious that she thought the sun shone out of your backside.”

They
stopped talking as the kitchen door opened and Ellen walked through holding Rose in her arms.

“
Geraldine is sleeping now and Robbie appears to be quite happy with that bowl of ice cream. I was about to go home Patrick. Are you coming?”

Patrick shook his head
and pointed his finger at the back of Joe’s bent head.

“No, not for a while.
Need to help a lovesick comrade. We can’t possibly leave him in this state. It’s pathetic to behold.”

Joe had just enough
fight in him to land a quick elbow to Patrick’s stomach.

“Shut up Patrick. Ellen doesn’t want to hear any of my shit.”

Patrick rubbed his stomach and laughed as Ellen came to stand beside him. She looked at up at her husband quizzically. He answered her unasked question.

“He’s moping about Lucy. He’s getting desperate and doesn’t know how to go about finding her. They had a bit of a spat the last night she was here
when we were still in the hospital with Rose and what with the debacle of the next morning, he was unable to apologize. Now he’s like a complete flag and can’t get a thing right. He needs our help big time.”

Ellen looked down at Joe as he slumped over his arms again.

“I knew something must have happened but what with trying to calm all those people down that morning and being so busy since I hadn’t thought about how you might be feeling. Why didn’t you say something before and why haven’t you called her?”

Joe managed to roll his eyes.

“Couldn’t be anything to do with not having her phone number or anything could it?” He asked sarcastically.

Ellen gave a great sigh and moved over to the kitchen computer. She
passed Rose to Patrick then punched in a few numbers and scrolled down the screen for a minute. She stood up straight again.

“There you go. Lucy’s home telephone number. She gave it to me when we were sorting out the booking for the group. Apparently Freeman turns his mobile off a lot of the time.”

Joe sat stunned and then leapt for the phone that sat beside the computer.

The others all looked very please
d and began filing out of the room but then they heard Joe slam down the phone again.

“It’s been disconnected. The number
is no longer in use.” His voice had dropped to a mere whisper.

Ellen walked back to the computer screen and checked the number. She dialed it herself and then looked at the phone curiously as a mechanical voice told her exactly the same thing it had told Joe.

“Hmm.
That’s odd. People don’t often change their home telephone numbers. Hang on, I have another idea.”  She looked at some more details on her screen and then opened an internet search and began typing in the website of a bank. Then she stood for a couple of seconds tapping the side of the computer, obviously thinking. Three minutes later she had a copy of Lucy’s bank statement up in front of her.

“Well I’ll be damned!” Patrick breathed out. “And how on earth did you work out her password?”

Ellen shrugged.

“I remembered that Geraldine said she had left her banking details logged on the night she was stuck on the steps, so I just looked in the history initially. Then I just put her name in as an account holder. Her personal code was more of a guess.
I didn’t want to rush into it as banks normally only let you have three goes, but most people tend to use dates or names they know already. I just guessed her brother’s initials as he is marked as her next of kin on the copy of her passport that she left here as ID, plus her own birthdate. It worked first time.”

Joe stared
at the screen. His eyes were reading down the figures on the bank statement.

“Hey! Look at this. This can’t be right. Why is she paying all that mon
ey over to the company she worked for?”

Ellen peered over his shoulder.

“You’re not meant to be looking at her private affairs Joe. Just her address.”

He shrugged
and concentrated on the columns and totals.

“Can’t help it when you see figures like that, and look at this one at the bottom.
That’s the same monthly figure as her mortgage and now that’s changed to Freeman Investments too. That doesn’t seem very likely as she doesn’t even work for them anymore. Look, there have been no deposits since the transfer she made while she was over here.” Joe put his finger on a date and then stated the obvious. “She’s out of work with no income.”

Patrick frowned at the screen.

“That Freeman Investments is not a bank that I ever heard of before. Maybe it’s a subsidiary of Freeman’s own insurance company or something. Open a new tab and Google them Joe.”

It took only a few seconds to discove
r that Freeman Investments was essentially a short term loan company. The interest rates were high and the company’s customers were locked in for years. It was clearly the last option left to the clients before bankruptcy. The company used several different names but it all boiled down to the same thing in the end. Short term lending with sky high interest rates.

Joe sat back on the chair and slapped his forehead with his hand.

“Shit! She was in deeper trouble than I thought. That last night she was here I heard them arguing. I climbed up into her room and he was there. He was trying to get her to sleep with him. She kicked him out after she slapped him. When she saw me she said that Freeman was blackmailing her, but I had overheard him saying that she had only slept with me to get me on her side. I thought she was using the blackmail thing as an excuse for him being in her bedroom again. I called her a liar but she was telling the truth and he’s pulling the rug from under her. She’ll be left homeless and penniless by that vile piece of crap and I let it happen to her.” He stood up. “I’ll get the overnight ferry. Now I know where she is maybe I can convince her to change her mind and come back here.”

David frowned
as he stared at Lucy’s bank statement.

“That’s
all fine Joe, but it won’t get rid of her debt. That bastard has obviously pulled a fast on her. He owns her house, her car, he even holds all the markers on this previous stuff. That’s in joint names but it seems that she’s paying it all. Who’s this Stewart MacDonald person? His name is on these debts but it doesn’t look as though he pays a penny. I can’t see anything coming into her account from him.”

Joe looked up.

“That must be the old boyfriend. She said that she had escaped from one awful relationship. Seems like Freeman wants her to start another. I need to see this leech and convince him to let all this stuff go. I don’t know how I can prove the blackmail bit but he has been trying to get her in his bed…” He suddenly staggered out of the chair. “My God! He’s leaving her with no choices at all. If she doesn’t do exactly as he wants then she really will be homeless. She’ll have to go to him, she won’t have any other choice.”

Ellen quickly moved in front of the screen.

“That last payment was made at the beginning of the month. She still has two days before the next payment has to be made. Freeman can’t do anything until she misses a payment, but she doesn’t seem to have any money coming in so she won’t be able to pay this months’ direct debit. I’ll check out the brother. If he’s nearby maybe he can go and see she’s okay. In the meantime I’ll transfer some funds to cover the next payment.” She glanced at Patrick who nodded immediately and then she began tapping away quickly. A few seconds later she let out a groan. “I checked with land registry for her brother’s house too. His mortgage is also held by Freeman Investments. The man has just taken over a new finance company. The whole family will be completely in his hands.”

David shook his head.

“A single man can’t have this much power. It shouldn’t be allowed. I wonder how many others he’s doing it to. I wonder if we can get a client list up.”

Patrick picked up the telephone.

“We might not be able to but I bet Alex can. I’m calling him now. We need to get a team onto this. He can’t be allowed to get away with it. Blackmail is illegal and so is demanding money with menaces. I think trying to persuade someone into your bed by stealing their home and income counts as menacing, especially with a creep like that.”

Ellen looked up at David.

“Call the boys and Gemma too if she’s home. She should be just about finished her latest tour. We need all the people we can get. I’ll pack a bag and be with you in twenty minutes.”

Patrick shook his head and handed Rose back to her.

“Ellen, you had a baby only two months ago. We have twenty two guests arriving in four days and Geraldine is too tired to lift a finger. You are staying here tonight to keep our business running and we will inform you of everything that goes on. Hopefully we will all be back by Friday.”

Ellen looked slightly annoyed but didn’t protest.
She knew Patrick was right.

Joe frowned at the two men at his side.

“What do you mean? Back by Friday? You don’t need to come with me. I can handle Freeman on my own.”

David grinned at him.

“Yeah! We know that but Freeman doesn’t. He might be better persuaded by force of numbers, and I feel like kicking his slimy arse too.”

Joe rolled his eyes.

“He thinks we’re just rubbish anyway. I doubt if a whole platoon of our mates are going to change his ignorant mind about anything.”

Patrick breathed in deeply.

“You weren’t in Special Services Joe. I don’t mean to sound as though I am showing off, but no one here has ever seen me in action. I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve. If I tell Freeman he is going to give this up, he will give it up. No question. But it would be nice to have some back up. There’s always safety in numbers and we are going to need an alibi for what I have in mind too. I think a reunion party at the Cat and Fiddle is required. Oh, and don’t bother with the ferry either, it’ll take too long to get us there. There’s nine o’clock flight out of Brest. If we hurry we can just about manage that.” He kissed both Rose and Ellen and was already on his way to the door.

David ruffled Ellen’s hair.

“Do you mind putting Robbie to bed before you turn in for the night? Tell Geraldine I’ll call her later. Get the team on the blower sis. Have them all waiting up at Luton airport for us. We’ll be there at about eleven.” He followed Patrick and Joe out of the room.

Chapter Fourteen

James strode up to David and grabbed him in a bear hug. He cuffed Joe over the top of his head and then stood back as he looked up at Patrick.

“Major Reeves! Haven’t seen you since your wedding. You’re looking well. How are Ellen and baby Rose? Dave has been keeping me up to date with the news.” He took Patrick’s outstretched hand and shook it warmly.

Patrick smiled back at the man.