Lost Girls (31 page)

K
im could feel
the dissention in the room. Secret glances were being shared across the table.

‘Focus on the maps, please,' she said, without looking up. ‘The clock's ticking.'

Every time she tried to study the map her brain screamed only one question.

What the hell had occurred to prompt the release of one girl? Something had to have happened where the girls were being held.

‘Stace, get me more info on those old news—'

‘Marm, got a sec?'

Helen's face was peering around the door.

‘Come in, Helen,' Kim said.

The woman had earned the right to step over the boundary. In another life Kim would have been calling
her
Marm.

Helen moved towards the table, a puzzled frown shaping her features. ‘You asked me to let you know if I remembered anything about the day Emily was released; well, there's just one thing that just came back to me. I mean, it probably doesn't mean anything but …'

‘Go on, Helen.'

‘Well, I remember stepping outside for some air and there was an officer standing outside. His radio was on. There'd been an accident. Kidderminster way, I think. It was West Mercia but it must have been bad because we were getting traffic tailbacks and congestion as far back as Lye. I mean it's probably nothing but …'

Her words trailed away and Kim could see the anxiety in her jawline. Every one of them knew they were running out of time.

‘Thank you, Helen,' she said, as the woman backed out of the room.

Kim looked to Stacey. ‘The traffic accident report.'

Stacey started tapping keys. Kim stood behind her as the news article opened.

The first screen covered the basics. A man injured, etc.

‘Go to full report,' Kim said, feeling an excitement build in her stomach. Stacey opened it and Kim read quickly.

The half-ton lorry had careered off the dual carriageway, breaking through the barrier. ‘Aah, shit,' Stacey said, reading along with her.

‘Give me an aerial view.'

Stacey tapped again. The screen zoomed into the area.

Kim tapped the screen. ‘Right there, look at the terrain. The ground slopes away from the field into a ditch. That means they would have needed a crane to get the vehicle out of the field. And there would have been a lot of—'

‘Sirens,' Bryant answered, joining them. ‘There'd have been fire service, ambulance and police converging. Would've made quite a racket.'

Alison moved to her left and stole a glance. ‘Subject Two wouldn't have been spooked by that level of noise. Subject One definitely would have been. It wouldn't have been part of the plan, and so close to the drop time he might have panicked.'

Kim agreed with the behaviourist, but it still begged the question of why Emily had been released before the money had been received and why Suzie had not been released at all.

Stacey busily tapped away, zooming in and out of the map.

‘The two closest properties are either side of the dual carriageway. The sounds would have been heard further away but loudest here.'

Kim knew they were on to something. With so much activity the kidnappers couldn't have run the risk that someone was going to knock on the door.

‘Stace, I need you to carry on looking for clues. If we get no joy at either of these two properties we'll need to start working our way out. But it's here. I know it.'

‘Got it, Guv.'

It felt like someone had injected a shot of adrenaline into the whole room.

‘Okay, Bryant, Dawson, get your coats. It's time to find these children.'

K
aren held
tight to her husband as the footsteps thundered past. He had been home for almost half an hour and she'd been unable to let him go. No one else knew he was back.

Robert also looked towards the doorway of the kitchen but they didn't break apart. She turned to face him.

‘Rob …'

He shook his head. ‘It could mean anything, sweetheart. How many times have we seen them rushing in and out of the house?' He stroked her hair gently. ‘We have to do this. We have to know what's going on and we can only do that if we get the phone back. We have to save our daughter.'

Karen felt the relief flood through her body as he said those words. For the few hours Robert had been gone her world had held no meaning. Her beautiful daughter was missing and her husband had left her as well. In her heart she had known he would return; he would forgive her anything. Not immediately, she knew that. There would be many tears, explanations and apologies. He would need time to understand her deceit, but his love for the two of them would not be broken.

The fact that he had come back had calmed some of her fears.

Despite what he was proposing.

‘But …'

‘It's the only way, Karen,' he said, gently. ‘But you have to help me do it.'

Karen took a deep breath and nodded.

Robert stepped away from her and picked up two plates, gesturing for her to step to the side.

She covered her ears as the plates were hurled to the ground.

S
tacey almost jumped
out of her skin.

‘What the hell …?'

She was on her feet immediately but Matt beat her to the door. Alison pushed her chair back.

Stacey ushered him out of the way. ‘Stay here,' she said to both of them as she opened the door. She didn't feel the need to state that she was the only police officer in the room.

‘You're a fucking liar, Karen. How the hell did you think I would feel?'

Robert's voice bellowed along the hallway. Stacey headed towards the kitchen.

The two of them stood on opposite sides of the breakfast bar. A pile of crockery lay in the corner.

Robert's face was dark with rage as Karen sobbed into her hands.

‘I'm s-sorry I lied to—'

‘Sorry,' he screamed. ‘You're fucking sorry? Ten years of my life you've stolen with your lies – and you're sorry? To let me believe that child was mine—'

‘Mr Timmins,' Stacey said, stepping forward into the room. ‘Please calm down.'

His look was filled with disgust. ‘Don't tell me to calm down,' he cried, sweeping his arm along the surface.

Utensils and coffee mugs crashed to the ground.

‘And where the fuck is that selfish bastard?'

Robert came striding towards her in the doorway. His size forced Stacey to step back but she held up her arms. He slapped them away and shouted over her head.

‘Stephen Hanson, stop hiding. Show yourself like a man.'

Matt appeared behind her. ‘Mr Timmins, calm down,' he urged.

‘Will everyone stop keep telling me to calm down? Where the hell is that arsehole?'

Elizabeth appeared at the top of the stairs. Robert started heading towards her. ‘Is the cowardly bastard up there with you?'

Matt was trying to get up the stairs in front of him but Robert kept pushing him back.

Helen stepped in from the lounge and looked to Stacey.

‘Is Mr Hanson outside?' she asked, as Robert continued his journey upstairs.

Helen shook her head.

‘Come on, Elizabeth, tell me where he is. I want the pleasure of kicking him the fuck out of my house.'

‘I swear to you, he's not with me and Nich—'

‘I'm right here,' Stephen said from behind Elizabeth.

Stacey thought that even Elizabeth looked surprised. Wherever he'd been, it hadn't been with her.

‘Robert … please …' Elizabeth said.

Everyone began moving towards the stairs. Robert was almost at the top, but Matt was trying to get there first.

‘How could you do it, you spineless bastard? Just to divert the attention away from the fact that you're broke and even your damn wife didn't know.'

Stephen stepped around his wife. Only three stairs separated them.

‘It's not me you should be angry with. It's that slut of a wife that lied to you.'

Robert's fist flew forward, missing Elizabeth by an inch, but hitting Stephen smack on the nose.

Stephen reeled backwards. He must have thought the placid Robert would never actually strike him.

Finally, Matt managed to get between them and held the two men at arm's length.

Stacey was halfway up the stairs when she heard Alison tell her to be careful.

Stacey stopped dead and turned around to see Lucas and Helen at the front door.

Robert, Stephen, Elizabeth and Matt were at the top of the stairs. She was in the middle and Alison was at the bottom.

Two questions jumped into Stacey's head immediately.

Who was guarding the war room – and where the hell was Karen?

K
im had barely driven
a mile when her phone rang. She passed it to Bryant. ‘Put it on loudspeaker.'

‘Boss, we have a problem,' Stacey said, breathlessly.

Great, because she needed another.

‘What is it?' she shouted, as Dawson leaned forward to hear.

‘It's all kicked off here. Robert came back, plates were smashing. He was screaming at Karen and then punched Stephen in the face.'

Kim knew that they had not yet reached the problem. This was the lead up and the punchline was waiting.

‘I left the room first to find out what was going on but it all got a bit crazy …'

‘Stace, get to the point,' Kim said. But she had a feeling she already knew.

‘The phones are gone. During all the fracas Karen disappeared. Helen is looking for her now. But the two mobile phones are missing from the war room.'

‘Shit,' Kim shouted. A bloody diversion so they could get the phones – there was only one reason for that. ‘They want to take control and they're going to see the text with the two million demand,' she said.

‘And offer it, probably,' Dawson added.

‘And thereby seal the fate of the girls,' Bryant said.

Kim realised that the parents also had access to the screams of pain that she had chosen not to share.

Now they had the problem.

‘But why, boss?' Stacey protested. ‘They might honour the—'

‘Stace, once the kidnappers engage the parents in an offer, they no longer need the girls.'

W
ill stared
at the text message and a slow smile began to spread across his face. The planning and execution that had led him and Symes to this moment had all been worth it. They were about to get paid.

Both of them.

Now the parents had accepted the terms, it was a straightforward drop. He saw no reason to change the drop plan he'd had last time.

Will felt the victory of the game in his blood. Two million pounds and neither of his partners wanted a cut. They each had their own motivations for their part in the crime. He already knew Symes's incentive: he just wanted to hurt, to cause pain and eventual death. The vision of snuffing out the life of two little girls had carried him through the week.

About the boss, Will wasn't so sure.

He had made two separate deals – he had to double-cross someone. He had promised Symes their death and he had promised the boss their lives.

Will had to decide which double-cross worked best for him.

Symes was here with him now. The boss was not.

‘Is it time for me to get paid?' Symes said, pacing back and forth across the room.

Will hesitated for the briefest of seconds.

‘Yes. This time you can do whatever you want.'

‘
E
rr
… just to mention, Guv, this isn't the way to Kidderminster.'

‘Thanks for pointing that out, Bryant, but you saw the aerial view. The noise caused by the accident would have been heard for more than a mile in every direction. We have to narrow it down. Emily said the noise was in the distance so the location of the accident is the wrong place to start. But Emily also said something else,' Kim said, bringing the car to a halt.

‘I don't get it,' Dawson said, from the back seat.

Bryant was looking around. ‘This is where Emily was found,' he said.

The road was an entrance to a new residential estate built on the edge of the green belt just outside Harvington.

‘And what she said was left, left, right, left.'

‘You sure?' Bryant asked.

Kim took out her phone and began to play the recording. She forwarded closer to the end. Ten seconds later Emily's voice confirmed Kim's words.

Realisation dawned on Bryant's features. ‘We're going to track backwards from where they dumped her.'

Kim nodded. ‘Kev, get Stacey back on the phone. As we move keep telling her where we are. She can let us know if we're warm or cold in relation to the target area.'

Dawson took out his phone.

Kim started driving slowly.

‘I get what we're doing,' Bryant said. ‘We're gonna go right, left, right, right, reversing Emily's memory, but we don't know if it's first right, second right, third right.'

Kim could hear Dawson explaining to Stacey what they were about to do.

‘Where they dropped Emily isn't important,' she explained. ‘The most important thing was not being seen. They won't have used main roads or residential streets so they can be ruled out.'

‘Aaah, got it.'

‘All set, Kev?' she asked.

‘Set, boss.'

Kim continued to drive until she saw a narrow lane on her right. She turned. Now she needed a left that was rural.

The next four left turns were residential. The fifth road was flanked by bushes. She took it.

The lane stretched for a third of a mile before hitting the village of Belbroughton.

‘Too populated,' she said. ‘This isn't the way.'

She turned the car around on a pub car park and went back looking for another left turn.

Kim continued along for another quarter mile, but her gut told her something didn't feel right.

‘Boss, Stacey says we're almost three miles from the crash site and moving further away.'

‘Shit,' Kim said, stopping the car.

She had made a mistake. Eloise's warning rang in her ears.

Damn it, she was going to be too late.