Convictions (18 page)

Ruth nodded.

‘I warned her against doing anything rash, but she just said she had more sense.’

‘We’ll have to check your story out, but for now you’re free to go.’ Hardcastle stood. ‘Thanks for coming in.’

‘No problem. If there’s anything I can do …’

Ruth nodded. ‘Come on, I’ll drop you back at work,’ she said.

Jimmy was lost in his own thoughts most of the way back. As Ruth pulled into the car park outside his office building, he broke the silence. ‘Christ, Ruth, I’m worried.’

‘We all are, Jimmy. We’re doing everything we can to find her and her car.’

‘Her car’s missing, as well?’

‘Yes. We know it went from the car park at the station at some point between Saturday lunchtime and Monday morning, but that’s as far as we’ve got.’

‘You don’t think she just took off somewhere, do you?’

‘No, not like her.’

‘Do you think she’s been working on the case on her own time and got into bother?’

‘I hope not, but I wouldn’t rule anything out at this stage. She can be pretty tenacious once she gets an idea in her head. Do me a favour, Jimmy? Keep an eye out for her car when you’re travelling around, and let me know immediately if you hear from Karen?’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said. ‘You let me know, too, yeah?’

‘Will do.’

***

‘What do you think?’ Hardcastle asked Ruth when she got back from dropping Jimmy off. ‘Do you believe him?’

‘Yes, sir, I do, as it goes. They split up, but there was no trouble between them. He certainly never raised his hand to her.’

‘She’d have knocked him out cold if he’d tried.’ Rob Winter came over, a cup of tea in his hand. ‘Not that he’s that sort of bloke.’

‘It’s a mixed blessing that we know him, I think. Still, carry on.’

‘What’s next?’ Winter asked Ruth.

‘A trip to
The Travelling Man
to check out Jimmy’s story about seeing Karen last week.’

Winter nodded, then downed the last of his tea in one. ‘Come on then, let’s get this sorted, then we can forget about Jimmy unless Karen gets in touch with him.’

***

‘We’ve got Karen heading out of town at tea-time on Saturday,’ Mills told them when he and Gray got back to the office. ‘He rubbed his eyes. ‘I hope I never have to check that much CCTV footage ever again.’

‘Good work, lads,’ said Hardcastle. ‘What about Jimmy’s story; does it check out?’ he asked Crinson and Winter.

‘The barmaid says she remembers seeing them, but she couldn’t swear to it that it was Wednesday night.’

‘Well, we’ve got Karen safe now until Saturday tea-time, so it’s not the end of the world. Have you still got the key to Karen’s place?’ Hardcastle asked.

Ruth nodded. ‘I’ve got it, sir.’

‘Good. I want you and Winter to go over there and have a good look around. See if there‘s anything at all that might suggest she was planning to take a trip.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Ruth and Rob Winter headed straight back out. As they walked towards the door, they heard Hardcastle instruct Mills and Gray to find out what activity there had been on Karen Fitzgerald’s bank account, and if, when and where her credit and debit cards had been used.

‘I’m starving,’ Rob announced as he pulled out of the car park and onto the main road. ‘Fancy stopping off for a sandwich or something?’

Ruth looked at her watch. It was three o’clock and she hadn’t eaten all day. Her stomach growled to remind her of the fact. ‘We could get something to take to Karen’s. And I’m sure she wouldn’t begrudge us a cup of tea while we eat.’

A short while later, they were munching sandwiches and crisps at Karen Fitzgerald’s dining table, mugs of tea at their elbows.

‘Is it just me, or does this feel weird?’ Rob Winter asked.

‘I keep expecting her to come through the door any minute.’

Rob looked round as he ate. ‘Mind, she wasn’t very tidy, was she,’ he observed, taking in the piles of books, DVDs and CDs, the clothes stacked high on the chair next to him, waiting to be ironed.

Ruth smiled. ‘No, tidiness wasn’t Karen’s strong suit. She reckoned she cleaned properly three times a year: Christmas, Easter and the weekend of the Sunderland Air Show in the summer. They were the times she tended to get visitors.’

‘Fair enough.’ He laughed. ‘Actually, if I’m honest, it looks a lot like my place.’

‘Well, we’d better get on,’ said Ruth. She gathered up the plates and mugs and took them through into the kitchen. ‘I’ll take upstairs, you start down here, all right?’

Rob nodded. He hadn’t fancied going through Karen’s knicker drawer. He had a bit of a crush on her and his fantasies might well have been shattered.

Ruth headed upstairs to start her search. She had the bathroom, Karen’s bedroom and the spare bedroom to check. It shouldn’t take long. Rob had just the sitting room and the kitchen to deal with, but she reckoned there was probably more for him to go through. She started with the bathroom where, as far as she could see, all Karen’s things were in place. Toothbrush, face cream, shampoo … she couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad one. Ruth had stayed in the spare bedroom herself on a few occasions and everything seemed just as it should be. Karen’s bedroom was the same: there were still a couple of suitcases under the bed, the drawers and wardrobe hadn’t been emptied. She went downstairs to see how Rob was getting on.

‘Upstairs is fine, untouched so far as I can tell. How are you doing?’

‘Well, I’ve found her passport, so she hasn’t flipped and buggered off to a beach in the Mediterranean. Everything just seems normal. Like she was going to come back again and open a bottle of wine and order a pizza.’

***

At six everyone who could gathered together in the office and Hardcastle, as promised, updated everyone on what was known so far. Ruth was interested to hear that Karen’s cards had been used on Saturday in a couple of clothes shops in Sunderland town centre.

‘I didn’t see any bags or new clothes at the house,’ she told Hardcastle.

‘Looking at the times, she shopped before she picked her car up here, so it looks like she didn’t make it home,’ he observed.’ Assuming that’s correct, she’s been missing around seventy-two hours now.’

‘I’ve tried her phone several times today,’ Rob Winter said. ‘It’s always switched off.’

‘Why can’t we find her car?’ Mills mused. ‘You’d think one of us would have noticed it parked up by now.’

‘It could be anywhere,’ Winter told him. ‘In some random company car park, on an industrial estate, hell, it could be in the river for all we know. And that’s assuming it’s still in the area.’

‘Okay, folks, get on with whatever you were doing. Going home, most of you, I should think. Rob, Ruth, my office.’ Hardcastle strode off, his expression one of extreme concern. Ruth Crinson and Rob Winter shared a look then trailed in his wake.

‘Out of everyone here, would you say you two are closest to Karen?’ Hardcastle asked.

‘Yes, I should think so,’ Ruth said.

‘I’ve got the right people, then. Look, I want you to be completely honest with me. Is there anything I should know about that might impact on this investigation? Secret boyfriends, dodgy Internet stuff, drugs, private investigations …? Anything, anything at all?’

‘Honestly, sir, there’s nothing. Karen’s life was an open book. An ex-husband, a little house and the job. That’s it.’

‘Well then, it must be the job, mustn’t it? She had a thing about this church. I wouldn’t, couldn’t, in all conscience, get a search warrant without compelling evidence, which we don’t have. What are the odds, in your opinion, that Karen got impatient and took matters into her own hands?’

‘She was frustrated by not being able to go through the place and search the buildings. She was convinced they were involved in some way and that there must be some evidence there, if she only got the chance to look for it,’ said Ruth.

‘I wonder if she went snooping and they caught her,’ mused Hardcastle.

‘Even if they did, it’s a church, sir,’ said Winter. ‘How bad could it get?’

‘Well, if Karen’s suspicions were on the right track, potentially very bad indeed,’ said Hardcastle.

‘Sir,’ said Ruth. ‘Do you really think Karen might have gone to the church and got into trouble?’

‘I’m starting to think that’s all we’ve got.’

‘Well, then, surely a missing police officer is grounds for a search warrant?’

‘Leave it with me, I’ll see what I can do. You two be here bright and early tomorrow, you hear?’

***

‘If you’re going to keep me here, I need some stuff,’ said Karen.

A rope around her right ankle was securely tied to the bedframe and her hands were cuffed in front of her. The cheeky buggers had used her own cuffs to do it with, a fact that she was not at all happy about. They’d caught her going through the contents of a filing cabinet in the office at the church, something else she hadn’t been at all happy about. She’d been engrossed in what she was reading, looking for evidence of their involvement in the child abductions, when somebody had whacked her on the back of the head and the lights had gone out. She’d woken up here, in this room, no idea where she was.

‘What do you need?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘What do you think, dipshit? Clothes, toiletries, books, my laptop—’

‘You can have some clothes and toiletries. But please, moderate your language.’

‘Fuck you!’

The man took a step towards her, but the expression on her face stopped him from going any closer. ‘I’ll arrange it,’ he said.

***

Next morning Hardcastle was in possession of search warrants for Cotter’s house, Surtees’ house, and the church and its outbuildings. The team stood around expectantly, each waiting to hear what their role would be.

‘Beggs, McAllister, go to the Cotter house with DI Jackson. Question Mr and Mrs Cotter and search the place thoroughly. Keep him busy for an hour or more. And don’t let either of them anywhere near a phone: I don’t want the jungle drums going.

‘The rest of you, I want you to deal with Mr and Mrs Surtees. Craggs, Bester, go with DI Webb and question Mrs Surtees and search the house, garage, shed … whatever they’ve got. Crinson, Winter, follow them and pick up Mr Surtees. Take him to the church and go through everything, every building, every cupboard, hell, rip the floorboards up if you feel it would help. You four,’ Hardcastle indicated a huddle of uniformed officers. ‘Go directly to the church and wait for Crinson, Winter and Mr Surtees. Remember, people, we’ve got six missing kids and one missing copper. Anything you can find, no matter how small, might help. Take no chances and discount nothing. Good luck, people.’

***

‘Mr Surtees,’ Ruth said, showing her warrant card.

‘DCI Crinson,’ Surtees said, reading the card. ‘How very nice to meet you.’ His eyes flicked over the assembled personnel on his front path and the look on his face suggested he wasn’t being entirely truthful. ‘Now, how can I help the police this time?’

‘This is DI Webb, and he has with him PCs Craggs and Bester. You’ll remember DI Winter.’

Surtees nodded at them. ‘Will you be coming in?’

Ruth showed him the search warrants. ‘These warrants grant us permission to search both your home and the church, and the grounds and outlying buildings of each. PCs Craggs and Bester will be searching the premises here and DI Webb will be speaking with Mrs Surtees. We need you to come with us to the church. Bring all the relevant keys with you. We need to leave now.’

Surtees’ mouth was working but no words were forming. He moved back into the house. ‘Oh my,’ he said. ‘What on earth could you possibly think you might find in my home or my church?’

‘We have a situation, Mr Surtees. We are looking for six missing children, one of whom is Annie Snowdon, last believed to have been in the company of one of your flock. We also have a missing police officer.’

‘Well, I can assure you, you won’t find any of those people, no matter how long you search. They simply aren’t either here or there.’ He reached out toward the telephone on the hall table. Ruth got there before him and placed her hand over it.

‘No calls, sir.’

‘But I should call ahead, let people know we’re coming.’

‘Please get your coat and keys, sir.’ She looked at his feet. ‘And you probably want to put your shoes on.’

Surtees looked down at his slippers. ‘Yes, yes, of course. I won’t be a moment. Wait here.’

He started up the stairs and Ruth nodded to Craggs. ‘Go with him. Keep him off the phone.’

Craggs took the stairs two at a time and reached the top just in time to snatch Surtees’ mobile out of his hand. ‘No calls, sir,’ he said. ‘As per DCI Crinson’s instruction to you.’

Ten minutes later Winter pulled up at the church and he, Crinson and Surtees got out of the car. He was joined by the waiting officers and they all followed Crinson as she hustled Surtees towards the main building.

There were two youngsters and a young woman in the office and PC Gray shepherded them out into the main church and sat them in a pew where he could keep an eye on them. Within a few minutes, another couple of kids and two adults were sitting alongside them and Gray was having a quiet word with the young woman.