Lost Girls (24 page)

T
hey watched
as the ambulance pulled away.

Kim had the urge to throw the car into gear and follow, simply because no one else did.

As the ambulance exited the road a squad car entered. Officers would secure the property, enabling them to leave.

She had already called the scene in to Woody, who'd assured her he would dispatch a small forensics team to the house. She updated him on the state of the investigation. When she finished, the silence on the other end of the line had been heavy.

Woody's disappointment paled against her own.

Two small huddles of neighbours had gathered in the small street but no one had bothered to approach.

‘Look at 'em,' Bryant said. ‘They're all just relieved it's not them.'

Eloise would arrive at the hospital as she had left her home. Alone.

‘Did Woody offer anything useful?' Bryant asked, pulling away from the kerb.

She shook her head. ‘Can't really blame him,' Kim said. ‘Charlie and Amy should be home by now.'

‘Bloody hell, Guv, give yourself a break. No one could be working harder to get those kids back. You're living and breathing—'

‘They're just kids, Bryant. Little girls. Wherever they are they're terrified, confused, possibly hurt, God forbid even worse.' A picture of their clothing came into her mind. ‘I need to get them back. I need to keep them safe,' she said.

‘Keep, Guv?'

She didn't realise she'd said that. A vision of Mikey came into her head. ‘I meant make them safe,' she said, blinking Mikey away.

‘We're going to find them, you know,' Bryant said, staring forward.

‘How can you be so sure?'

‘Because you're not gonna rest until we do.'

Kim couldn't fight the smile that tugged at her lips. And there it was. The simple truth that dispelled all doubt.

‘Okay, Bryant, get me back to the house, now.'

‘
S
o
, what's that tell us, Doc?' Kim said, fixing her gaze on Alison. An aerial view of the Black Country had been taped to the wall. Plotted on the map was the snatch site, the start and end of the bus route, and the drop site, all marked out in red pins.

The impatience in her voice stemmed from the knowledge that the girls were not coming home tonight.

Her own timeline was beginning to blur. She was sure their last briefing had taken place at least three days before instead of first thing that morning. She reminded herself it was still Wednesday.

The vision of Eloise being taken away from her home would not disappear from her mind. Kim could kick her own arse for not even allowing the woman a minute. She resolved to call the hospital later. Just for her own peace of mind. Maybe if she'd just given Eloise a chance to speak she could have prevented this somehow.

The case was affecting them all. Her team surrounded the table in various states of disarray. Bryant's tie had dropped a few levels. Dawson's shirt was crumpled and the red lines in Stacey's eyes were like an Ordnance Survey map.

But tonight they had more work to do.

The blue pins noted the two snatch sites of Suzie and Emily and the point at which Emily had been found.

Yellow was for where Inga had been found.

Alison stood and studied the map for a minute.

‘I'm no expert on geographic profiling. Much of the data comes from the premise of how a killer will interact with a crime scene or where and how a body was disposed.

‘It's assumed that if a body is found at a site different from that of the murder the killer generally lives in that area. Alternatively, if the body is left at the murder scene it's possible the killer is not local.'

She covered her mouth briefly to stifle a yawn. The late nights were getting to her too, Kim thought.

‘A crime scene close to a major road can indicate the murderer is not familiar to the area. If the crime scene is a mile or more from a major road, this suggests the killer is local.'

Alison continued to speak while staring at the plot points.

‘But some things remain a safe supposition. One is that each criminal has their patch. Organised killers stay close but disorganised killers roam more. And most people have an “anchor point”.'

She turned and faced Kim. Her expression said,
That's all I've got.

‘Thanks, Doc,' Kim said. It wasn't a lot but that wasn't Alison's fault. There would be a pattern in there somewhere. It was just finding it.

‘Matt, any contact with the kidnappers?'

‘Trying,' he answered, without looking at her. His focus was on the dots.

‘Care to elaborate?'

‘No.'

Kim felt the irritation growing inside her. Her spelling of team didn't include the letter ‘I'. Obviously Matt spelt it differently.

‘Stace, I want you to draw a circle around all those dots and look at any recent criminal activity in that area. There might be something that jumps out. I still want to know what brought the incident to a close the last time. Why was Emily released without any payment and not Suzie? We have two murders and an attempted murder clearly carried out by someone else. And who the hell is Subject Three?'

Everyone nodded their agreement.

‘I want everyone thinking about who this third person could be.'

‘Difficult when we don't know who the first two are,' Bryant offered.

That was the stumbling block in her mind every time. If even one of the kidnappers was known to them they could work off known associations but they didn't even have that.

‘Kev, anything from Inga's post mortem to help?'

‘Clothes are a bit of a history lesson: traces of engine oil, wood preserver and rodent shit. In total seventeen broken bones, thirty-eight points of contact with either a foot or a fist and nine circles around her neck.'

Kim noted that Dawson didn't need to refer to his notes to read off the statistics.

The numbers told her that the woman had worked hard to avoid the inevitable.

Her killer was a monster with no empathy for human suffering. He was volatile, with no regard for human life. He was taking unnecessary risks and there could only be one reason to have such a man on the team.

The realisation hit her in the stomach.

‘They're not coming back,' she whispered, looking around the room. ‘That's the purpose of Subject Two. His job is to kill the girls.'

All eyes fell on her. In her gut she knew it was true. It was the only reason to have such a liability on the team. Subject Two had to have a necessary purpose. It was his job to clean up the mess.

‘I would agree,' Matt said.

‘So, what's the point of the auction?' Bryant asked.

‘Drives up the price,' Kim said. ‘There's a difference in fighting for your child and doing so before someone beats you to it. It injects a note of speed, desperation.'

Matt turned to Bryant. ‘Imagine a guy running a ten-thousand-metre race on his own, secure in the knowledge he'll come first. He'll run the race. Put another eight guys on the track with a hunger to win and our guy is going to dig deep. He'll find reserves of energy he didn't even know he had.'

‘So, this is all just to push up the price?' Stacey asked.

‘And then they'll take both,' Kim said. ‘They'll each be given a different drop-off point and time. And they'll take the lot.'

Matt nodded his agreement.

‘That's a heck of an assumption,' Alison said, doubtfully.

‘Said the profiler,' Kim noted, as Matt's police-issue phone sounded the receipt of a text message.

The room stilled and all eyes bored into him.

‘It's them,' he said.

Kim followed his eyes as it moved across the message.

He raised his gaze to meet hers. ‘Damn it. This is not good.'

H
olding her rage in check
, Kim gathered all the parents in the lounge. Helen stood at the window. Matt leaned against the door frame. The rest of the team had remained in the incident room.

Her gaze passed over them all individually. She lingered on Elizabeth's lip for a few seconds. Elizabeth looked to the floor.

‘Who made contact with the kidnappers?'

The faces of Elizabeth and Stephen dropped. They looked at each other before turning their gaze accusingly on their friends.

‘I did,' Robert said, calmly. There was no apology in his voice. He was just stating a fact.

‘How could you do that?' Elizabeth cried.

He turned to her and met her gaze. ‘How could I not?'

Stephen crossed the space at speed but Matt inserted himself between them quicker.

Robert didn't flinch.

‘You devious bastard,' Stephen spat over Matt's shoulder. ‘How the hell could you do that? You fucking know—'

‘Stephen, calm down,' Robert said, cutting off his words.

Robert knew what? Kim wondered. Judging by the puzzled expression on Elizabeth's face, she was wondering the exact same thing.

Stephen allowed Matt to push him gently to the other side of the room and Karen turned to him, eyes blazing. ‘If you can't control your temper then please leave my home.'

Kim could see that Stephen's rage was not yet spent, so quickly said, ‘If we can all calm down, the problem we now have is that the kidnappers won't deal with the negotiator. We have just received a text message stating they would prefer to respond to the parents' request.'

Robert nodded his understanding. ‘I'm sorry but I just—'

Kim held up her hand. His apology was sincere but wouldn't help. They could only move forward now with what they had. Kim's only surprise was that it was Robert and not Stephen who had broken first. Her gut told her there was a reason for that but she left it for now.

‘Have you received a text message back?'

Robert nodded. ‘Fifteen minutes ago.'

‘Which said?'

‘Not an option.'

Kim was confused. She assumed that Robert had offered a monetary value.

‘What did you ask?'

Robert met her gaze squarely. ‘I asked how much for both.'

A small sob escaped from Elizabeth's lips and Stephen's head snapped around. Karen stared forward with no reaction. She had known.

Everyone looked at each other for a moment.

‘Okay,' Kim said. ‘Matt is going to work with you both on how to communicate with them. He'll be negotiating through the two of you.'

‘That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard,' Stephen exploded.

An exasperated sigh travelled around the room.

‘Why is this all on us? What exactly are you doing to get our daughters back?'

Kim was now weary of his questions. She didn't get this much shit from Woody.

‘Mr Hanson, my team and I—'

‘I don't want to hear about how hard your team is working. I want to know where you are in the investigation. I want to know when you will concede defeat and go to the press. Will they have to come home in body bags before …?'

‘Outside, now,' Kim snarled.

She almost felt the rush of air as every head whipped around towards her.

She stormed past Lucas and threw the door open. Stephen followed closely behind, matching her pace.

He started speaking before she'd stopped walking. She'd wanted more distance between the house and the sound of her voice but she stopped walking. Here would have to do.

‘Detective Inspector, I do not appreciate—'

‘I couldn't care less about what you appreciate but don't you ever speak about your daughter or theirs like that again.'

‘My thoughts are—'

‘Best left in your head. Now, listen to me carefully. I have had enough of you second-guessing my every move on this case. It is distracting and I will not be pushed around like some women, Mr Hanson. Do we understand each other?'

His look was defiant. ‘No, Inspector, we do not.'

She stepped closer, into his face. ‘Then let me spell it out for you. I am not your wife and I will not put up with your bullshit. If you do anything else to disrupt this investigation, including hitting your wife, Karen won't be the only one asking you to leave.' Kim stepped even closer. ‘Only I'll be doing it with handcuffs and a police escort.' She paused, her face an inch from his. ‘Now, do we understand each other?'

He stepped back, giving her his answer.

She had tried to be empathetic to his plight but Stephen's constant badgering had pushed her one step too far.

‘Inspector, you should know that I don't think you're capable of running this investigation.'

Kim bit her tongue and followed him towards the front door.

Stephen disappeared back into the lounge. Bryant blocked her entry into the house.

‘Guv, a minute,' he said, closing the door behind him and coming outside.

‘Bryant, whatever this is, it can wait.'

‘No, it really can't.'

‘What?' she snapped, eager to get back to the war room.

‘You're losing it, Guv,' he said, turning to face her.

‘Who the hell do you think—'

‘Okay, I'll rephrase. You're losing it, Kim. Because I'm telling you as a friend. You're not eating, you're not sleeping, you're snapping at everyone and you just brought one of the girls' fathers outside for a verbal kicking. Talk to me.'

She glared at him. ‘You do know there is a line and you are seriously close to overstepping it?'

Bryant shrugged. ‘Yeah, deal with me later but for now will you just bloody well let it out?'

‘There's nothing to let out and you need to back the hell off. If you dare undermine me in front of—'

‘Never gonna happen and you know it – but if it helps to take it out on me, do it. I can take it. But you've got to release it somehow.'

‘There's nothing—'

‘For fuck's sake, Kim,' he snarled.

Kim was stunned. Bryant rarely cursed and hardly ever shouted. And he'd never done either at her.

‘I know exactly what you're doing. You're taking everyone's frustration and turning it on yourself. Every negative feeling is your responsibility because those little girls are still out there. You're trying to shoulder the fears of a dozen people and, as strong as you are, you just can't do it.'

Kim felt the familiar rage building. ‘Take your analysis and shove it up your arse. How dare you presume—'

‘I'll dare because no one else will and you need to be told that it's not your fault.'

Kim knew this was her opportunity to tell him how she was feeling. And Bryant would find some way to make her feel better. He always did.

But as well as being her friend, he was a member of her team. And she would not allow any of them to see her fear. Two people were dead and a third was fighting for her life. Charlie and Amy were still out there, frightened and at risk.

She couldn't allow herself to feel better.

Not until she brought them home.