Cold as Ice (27 page)

‘Ebb? I think you can do this.’

‘I hope so, Guv.’

‘You can still back out, Ebb.’

Ebony breathed in loudly through her nose, shut her eyes and rested the phone on her cheek.

‘No. I’m not backing out, Guv.’

When the phone rang that night Tracy heard it in her sleep. She had put it just outside the bedroom door. She leapt out of bed and ran for it, breathless, stumbling in the
darkness. She saw it glow as it vibrated on the floor.

‘Hello?’ Tracy could not stop herself from shaking violently. She stood in the darkness of the lounge, listening. ‘Hello?’ she repeated.

‘TRACEEEEEE.’ She gasped as his voice boomed in her ear. ‘This is all your fault. You betrayed me today, Tracy . . . I thought we had a deal . . . an understanding.’ His
voice, liquid and deep, was distorted by his breathing. He was breathing hard. She had to listen hard to understand what he was saying. ‘Danielle’s told me how you abandoned
her.’

‘What? I didn’t. I had to give her up. I didn’t want to. Please let her go. She has her little boy Jackson.’

‘You make sure I don’t regret leaving him alive, Tracy. You make sure he forgets his mum fast. Now you tried to make a fool of me; you’re as guilty as I am for the killings. I
want to play a game with you, Tracy. It’s called tighten the noose. How tight is up to you.’

Tracy shook her head; she clutched the phone tight. She wanted to throw it down but she couldn’t.

‘You abandoned your child and then you married Steve. How did that work out for you, Tracy? I’ve stood outside your house. I know where you work.’

Tracy gasped. Her heart raced. She thought she would pass out. She leant on the wall for support.

‘You fascinate me. You epitomize everything I hate. You plaster yourself in make-up and spend all your time talking nonsense about this and that product. It’s all lies. You wear a
mask to trap men. You’re just a blow-up doll, Tracy – worthless. The one job you had in life – motherhood – you ran away from. The one thing nature made you for you turned
your back on; not even the vilest of nature’s creatures do that. You abandoned your child and created a false life for yourself. You’re ugly inside. You’re festering under your
skin. You should strip it off, all of it, get down to the muscle and bone and see what lies inside you. Skin and bone and bare flesh. Just liars, all of you.’

Tracy could hear him wheezing. She could hear him masturbating. She wanted to put the phone down but she had to keep him talking. She had to play along with him and give the team a chance to
trace him.

In the background she thought she heard the sound of squealing.

‘Ahhh. There she goes. She’s turning blue now. It’s all your fault. Shall I describe her to you? Her eyes are starting to bulge. Her face is swelling. Her tongue is protruding.
I think she’s ready for me.’ Tracy looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. Twenty more seconds to three minutes. ‘Are you ready, Tracy?’

The line went dead.

Robbo shuddered as he watched the line go dead on his screen. He had listened to the call. It came from a mile radius of the Angel Islington. A mile was a lot of ground in the
middle of London. Now he knew that the press conference hadn’t worked and that Ebony was their only hope.

When Jeanie arrived the next morning Tracy looked like she was desperate for her to get there. Jackson hadn’t been washed or dressed.

‘He phoned again – did they trace it?’ she asked, hanging on to her emotions by a thread.

Jeanie shook her head.

‘Nearly, Tracy. You did a great job.’ She had listened to the recording that morning before coming to the house. Jackson was pleased to see Jeanie. She gave him a cuddle. When she
could Tracy took Jeanie aside in the kitchen.

‘No I didn’t. I can’t do it.’

‘You can get through this, Tracy.’

Tracy shook her head slowly as she picked up a tea towel and began wrapping it around her hands. ‘He’s not ever going to let her live. He’s going to kill her slowly and make me
listen to it.’ She stared wide-eyed at Jeanie. ‘I can’t do it. I can’t bear to hear Danielle in pain. I can’t pick up the phone again. He’s torturing her for my
benefit. Maybe if I didn’t answer it he wouldn’t hurt her?’ She turned away from Jeanie and looked out of the back door. The ice had stayed on the patio for weeks now.
‘He’s punishing her for something that I’ve done. I’m killing my own daughter.’

Jeanie stepped forward and gently stopped Tracy twisting the tea towel.

‘Don’t think it, Tracy. He doesn’t want to take responsibility for what he’s doing. He wants to shift the blame on to others and you’re one of them, but it’s
all down to him.’

‘He knows things about me. He knows I gave Danielle up for adoption. How does he know that? He says he’s been here, been watching me at work.’

‘He might have followed Danielle in the days or weeks before he abducted her. He may well have seen you both together. Danielle could be under pressure to tell him things,
Tracy.’

‘Tortured, you mean?’ Tracy stared at the back yard. The ice gave it a look as if all life was suspended and they were in a dream. Stuck in a cloud.

‘Danielle needs all your strength now and so does Jackson. Even if she hadn’t found you he would have come for her anyway. Somehow you have become part of the process for him, Tracy.
If he stops calling then I think we will lose her. We need to sit this out. We need to wait. I think we should insist on Steve coming home now. You have too much to cope with. Let him bear some of
the burden.’

She shook her head. ‘I have to weather this storm on my own. It’s me and Jackson and Danielle against this man, whoever he is. You get a sense of perspective, don’t you?’
She turned to look at Jeanie.

‘This is a tough time for everyone, Tracy. How people react in a crisis like this doesn’t always bring out the best in them. I’ve seen couples really struggle to stay close
when something this big hits.’

‘Not sure how close we were before it happened. I feel like I’ve got a bigger baby than Jackson to look after. At least with Jackson you get a cuddle now and again.’

Jeanie smiled. ‘Why didn’t you have any more kids, Tracy?’

‘I don’t know. We just never reached a time when we thought it was a good idea. We’ve become stuck in a rut now, me and Steve; sometimes I wonder what’s left for us. We
don’t even own our own home; this place is rented.’

‘Steve must earn good money as a manager?’

‘Not bad but we have a lot of debts; we struggle to pay them.’

‘Debts? From what?’

‘Credit cards mainly – a few loans. Steve got in trouble with them. We owe sixty thousand pounds still. It cost us our house. I thought Steve was paying the mortgage but he
wasn’t. I don’t even know what he was doing with all the money. He says he can’t remember, that the debts just mounted and he used one card to pay off another. I had a beauty
salon until it all happened. I had the garage converted into a treatment room. It was so beautiful: candles, potted palms, lovely and relaxing. I had hoped to expand – get a proper premises.
I lost my studio and my clients when it all blew up and we had to sell the house and move in here. So now I work in Simmons full-time.’

‘I’m sorry, Tracy. Life sucks sometimes.’

‘It’s not too bad. I’m grateful for the job and you never know what’s around the corner, do you?’ As she said the words Tracy realized how ridiculous they sounded.
She turned away, turned on the tap and began washing the sink.

‘You’re right, and sometimes things just force you into decisions. Life could turn around for you. You could still have a baby. You’re young enough,’ said
Jeanie.’

‘Maybe we’ll think about having a child in a few years if the money situation improves. I have big regrets. I wish I’d kept Danielle. I was just a kid and I thought the Fosters
were lovely: I thought they were much better than me; they’d do a better job than I could. What did I know about babies? I was just fifteen. But it sounds like she had a horrible childhood. I
could have given her better than that. I realize that now.’

‘Tracy, when Danielle talked to you about Gerald Foster, do you remember her making any actual allegations against him?’

‘She said she and him didn’t get on. She said he kicked her out when she got pregnant. She continued to see Marion Foster. I’m not sure if Gerald knew that or
approved.’

‘Nothing improper though?’

She looked at Jeanie. ‘Improper? You think he assaulted her?’

‘We don’t know anything at the moment, Tracy. We have to look at this from as many angles as we can.’ Jeanie went across to the table in the lounge and picked up the bag
containing the puppets. ‘I think that it’s best to keep Jackson here for now.’

Carter walked down the corridor to Bowie’s office. Bowie looked ready to leave.

Carter popped his head inside the door.

‘You off?’

‘Yeah, but not for ten minutes. Come in, Dan.’ Carter closed the door behind him. ‘Sit down and tell me how it’s going with the undercover operation.’

‘It was test day today, so she’s had a lot to cope with, getting her legend right, juggling a lot of balls in the air at once but she’ll be okay. She’s home now so
I’m off the hook for the evening. I need to go home and get some rest.’

‘Fancy a drink?’

Carter shook his head and laughed. ‘I’m too tired.’

‘Yeah, we both know that’s a lie. You’re under the thumb.’

‘Maybe. But I have to give my relationship with Cabrina my best shot. What I don’t need is complications.’

‘If you change your mind text me.’

‘I have to go.’ Carter stood, took his buzzing phone from his pocket and looked at the message on the screen. ‘I would say I hear my conscience screaming in my ear but
it’s actually Robbo – just got a message he wants to see me. Have fun.’

Robbo was on his own in his office when Carter walked in. Pam and the other two researchers had gone home.

He looked up as Carter entered.

‘I was double-checking the timeline of events. I thought it looked familiar – check out his address.’ He showed Carter a piece of paper. ‘Remember the man who was there
when the boys discovered Emily Styles’ body?’

Carter looked at it and squinted for a few seconds as he thought about it.

‘You’re kidding me?’

Carter parked up outside Gerald Foster’s house and watched for a few minutes from the street. The place looked unlived-in; it was dark but Foster’s van was in the
driveway. It was just gone ten. He rang Robbo again.

‘Any news of the hit-and-run driver who killed Niall Manson?’

‘None.’

‘I’m tempted to get a forensic team over here to check out Foster’s van.’

‘Discreet for now,’ answered Robbo. ‘If he is Hawk the main thing is to get Danielle back. We scare him off we could blow it. He hasn’t done anything wrong that we can
book him for.’

‘He’s connected to two parts of this inquiry.’

‘Could just be coincidence.’

‘There’s no such thing as coincidence. I’m sure I learnt that from you!’

Carter walked up the drive and as he did so he took a good look at Foster’s van as best he could in the light from the streetlights. Even in this light he could see it had been recently
repaired – there was fresh paint and a new bumper. Carter took out his phone and photographed the repair work. The flash lit up the night. Foster appeared from around the side of the
house.

‘Can I help you?’ he said frostily as he stood watching.

Carter walked around the van.

‘A fair bit of damage on the bumpers?’

‘It’s a works van. It doesn’t have to look pretty. What can I do for you, Officer? Have you found Danielle?’

‘Not yet. I believe you were there when the young woman’s body was pulled from the canal? Can we talk about it? Can I come in?’ Gerald Foster grunted and opened the front door,
led the way inside the house. He flicked on a light in the hallway. Carter followed him in. ‘It must have been pretty horrible.’

It was dark and cold inside.
Not exactly homely in here.
Carter was thinking how there was no way Foster had been in the front of the house for a good while. He peered into the rooms
either side as they walked through to the back of the house. It had a forgotten feel and smell. Foster put the light on in the kitchen.

‘The lad found her. I was just there.’

‘What were you doing there?’

Foster looked at Carter with contempt. ‘What do you think I was doing there? Do you think I always hang about canals in the hope some body will float to the surface? I was working. I was
making my way to the Canal Museum to start my tour. I show people around. I told you I’m a guide.’

‘Of course. I remember. I didn’t realize you were also an expert on the canal system in London.’

‘Yes. I normally show people around, take them up the canal on a barge, but it’s been impossible for weeks. I like to do a job properly; I like to be thorough. I can walk people up
the towpath instead so I like to think of as many interesting facts relating to that as I can. I wanted to take a look at the ice.’

‘So you were with people when the boys were playing on the ice?’

‘No, the weather meant people cancelled. I was merely checking on things. I saw the boys larking about. Bloody hooligans; should have been at school. I shouted at them to stop throwing
rocks on the ice.’

‘They didn’t listen, obviously.’

‘No, then one of the little bastards got pushed on the ice. I thought for a moment I was going to have jump in if the ice cracked.’

‘Would you have?’

‘No. But there’s a lifebuoy. I might have thrown that for him. If he was lucky.’

‘Sensible. Did you suspect anything was in the canal there?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You told my colleague, Detective Willis, that you know every inch of the canal; maybe something had caught your eye in the last week or so?’ Foster shook his head and stuck his
hands further into his pockets as he stared hard at Carter.

‘No. Is that where you think Danielle is? Is that what this is about? You think I had something to do with that young woman’s murder and that I have even more to do with my own
daughter going missing?’