No Going Back (22 page)

‘So who did you tell?'

Tom's face was impassive, and Daniel had a moment's fantasy that he was in fact Paxton's mole, that he would run to him and repeat everything. But that was ridiculous – he was no threat to Paxton now; the man had got what he wanted when he'd succeeded in forcing Daniel to throw in his career.

‘Well, just before we parted, Sid said that if I did go ahead and blow the whistle, I should go high, so I did.' Daniel paused, taking a sip of his beer. ‘But I still didn't go high enough. The DCI I chose to tell was full of praise for what he called my dedication to duty. He told me I'd definitely done the right thing in going to him and that I could safely leave it in his hands. It would be treated with the utmost urgency, he said. I left his office feeling satisfied that I'd made the right decision, and was prepared to go back to my unit and get on with my job. I didn't know I'd just thrown away any chance of a long and successful career.' He paused, his jaw tightening as he recalled the consequences of his action. The moral high ground had proven to be a cold and windswept place. ‘Three days later, Taz injured himself and was put on indefinite convalescence. Two days after that, my drugs dog, Bella, was reassigned and I was pulled from the Dog Unit and put back on to regular duties.'

‘And what reason were you given?' Tom wanted to know.

‘Apparently, my work wasn't satisfactory,' Daniel said lightly. ‘I was told there'd been several complaints, but unsurprisingly, nobody would give me any details.'

There was a moment's silence, during which the door to the kitchen opened and Meg appeared, carrying the large stockpot between two oven-gloved hands. Fred put down his beer glass and hurried to take it from her.

Daniel was grateful for the interruption. There was more to the story of his downfall, but some of it was still way too raw to let out of the safe padded cells of his mind.

Conversation during the meal was of an everyday nature and it wasn't until they settled down in the Bowdens' shabbily comfortable lounge with cups of fresh coffee and a bowl of broken mint chocolate that Tom returned to criminal matters, asking Daniel to tell him everything he knew about the runaway girl.

‘Dad's told me what he knows, but it's a bit sketchy. I'm assuming there's a fair bit more to it,' he said, rubbing his foot up and down the belly of the spaniel, who had followed them in and now lay supine at his feet.

‘There is.' Daniel hesitated. ‘I promised not to tell, but I think it's got beyond that now. If nothing else, this little incident?' he held up his bandaged hand – ‘proves that.'

Daniel gave the Bowdens the facts with as much detail as he felt was necessary. They listened in silence, apart from the odd question from Tom, who made copious notes in his pocketbook, and a small sound of disgust from Meg when she heard how Patrescu and Macek had tricked Katya and her sister into coming to the UK and of the methods they employed to force them to stay.

When Daniel came to the end of his tale, outlining his fight with Macek the previous night, she exclaimed in horror.

‘My God! He was actually going to kill you?'

‘Yeah, and he very nearly did. I can't believe I was so stupid as to fall for that old trick. I hadn't really considered that they'd come gunning for me – though why not I can't imagine. It's quite possible that I got caught on one of their CCTV cameras at the house, but even if I didn't, they were bound to put two and two together sooner or later. I mean, Katya doesn't know anyone in this country – who else would be trying to help her?'

‘Pretty easy to follow you in that lorry of mine too,' Fred commented.

‘Yeah, and the worst thing is, I think he might have been there a couple of nights before, but he got a taste of the dog that time, so he worked out a way to separate us, and I played along like a complete novice.'

‘We all make mistakes from time to time,' Tom observed. ‘Don't beat yourself up about it. But you're right – this has gone far enough. It may take a day or two, but I can confidently predict that Mr Yousef Patrescu will be getting a rather unpleasant surprise before he's very much older.'

‘And it can be done without involving Yelverton?'

‘I don't see why not. There'll no doubt be some friction about it when they find out, but we can live with that, especially if we can turn up some evidence of Naylor's involvement. Now the girl, Katya, do you think she's safe where she is, or should we bring her in?'

‘I think so.' Daniel felt as though a huge weight were lifting from his shoulders. ‘If they knew where to find her, they'd have picked her up by now. I'm the only one who knows where she is, so if she keeps her head down and I stay away until it's all over – so there's no possible chance of leading anyone there – I can't see any reason she should be in any danger. I'll phone Hilary and warn her.'

‘Good.' Tom closed his pocketbook. ‘I'll set the wheels in motion, but don't worry if you don't hear from me for a day or two. It all takes time, as you know.'

‘Patrescu made a big mistake when he called you to help find the girl,' Meg said to Daniel, getting up to pour more coffee. ‘From his point of view, he couldn't have picked a worse person. But it was Katya's lucky day, that's for sure.'

‘It certainly was,' Tom agreed. ‘Unfortunately, there are thousands like her who aren't so lucky.'

Fred cleared his throat. ‘I think—'

They were never to find out what he thought, for at that moment Daniel's mobile started to ring.

The number wasn't familiar to him and – after apologizing to his hosts – he stepped out into the hall to take the call.

‘Daniel?' A woman's voice, the accent vaguely familiar.

‘Yes.'

‘It's Sarah. At the vet's.'

Daniel glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner of the lounge. It was almost eleven, and his heart started to thump heavily as an icy foreboding drained all the strength from his body.

As if from a distance, he heard himself say, in a surprisingly normal tone, ‘Hi, Sarah. Is anything wrong?'

‘I'm afraid there is. I'm sorry to ring you so late, but there's a problem with Taz,' she said, and suddenly Daniel couldn't breathe.

TEN

F
or a long moment, time seemed to stand still for Daniel, his mind recognizing a kind of tragic inevitability about it all, while his heart rebelled against a reality it didn't want to face.

He should have been there. He should have stayed close. He had owed Taz that much – he owed him far more than that, for God's sake! He would never have left him if the dog hadn't seemed so much better, but then Emma had impressed on him, more than once, just how unpredictable head injuries could be.

Sarah spoke again. ‘Daniel? Are you there? Look, I'm sorry to land this on you at this time of night, but I don't suppose you could come and collect him now?'

‘Er . . . yes, OK.' It seemed an odd request, but Daniel was past logical thought.

‘Oh, thank you. I wouldn't ask but it's completely manic here,' Sarah said apologetically. ‘He was fine until the Staffie came in.'

‘A Staffie?' Confusion began to permeate his ballooning grief. Had there been a fight, then?

‘Yes, it just came in half an hour ago,' Sarah went on. ‘Suspected poisoning, poor chap. He's too ill to make a nuisance of himself, but Taz is going crazy, barking and growling.'

The relief was almost as overwhelming as the sorrow had been. Daniel closed his eyes. His hand, holding the mobile phone, was visibly trembling.

‘I wouldn't mind,' Sarah's voice came again, perhaps misinterpreting his silence, ‘but we've got a bit of a full house tonight and he's upsetting some of the others. I don't suppose it's doing him much good either, come to that.'

Daniel pulled himself together. ‘No, you're probably right. I'll come and get him immediately.'

‘Brilliant. Thanks.' Sarah sounded almost as relieved as he felt, but for a completely different reason.

The call over, Daniel leaned against the wall in the hall, closed his eyes and took several deep, steadying breaths before returning to the lounge.

‘Everything OK?' Meg asked.

‘That was the veterinary nurse – I'm afraid I've got to go.'

‘Oh, no, not Taz?' she said softly.

‘Yes, but it's all right – he's OK. Actually, he's causing havoc. They've had a Staffie brought in and Taz can't bear Staffies. He was badly bitten by one as a youngster and he's never forgotten. Anyway, I've got to go and pick him up so they can get some peace.'

‘Where will you go then?' Fred wanted to know. ‘You won't go back to your flat at this time of night?'

‘It's a bit late to go anywhere else,' Daniel said, thinking briefly of Tamzin, but she kept early hours. The same applied to Hilary, and anyway, he could no longer go there without compromising Katya.

‘Well, he'll come back here, of course,' Meg said, looking at Fred, who nodded. ‘We've got a spare room. Would Taz be OK with Mosely?'

‘Yes, it's only Staffies he has issues with,' Daniel assured her. ‘But I can't do that. For one thing, it'll be past midnight before I get back.'

‘So? It's not the end of the world if we lose an hour or two's sleep. I don't have to be up early and Fred can go to bed if he wants. Go on. Go and get him and bring him back here. We'd love to have you both. And don't rush. I'm going to do some beadwork while I wait, and I'd happily do that all night.'

‘I can vouch for that,' Tom put in, getting to his feet. ‘Anyway, I'm blocking you in, so I'll be on my way too.'

‘Are you sure?' Daniel asked Meg, hugely grateful.

‘Go.'

Outside, in the frosty air, he shook hands with Tom.

‘Thanks, for . . . well, you know.'

‘No problem. I'll be in touch. Meantime, try and stay out of trouble, if you can.'

Daniel nodded. ‘Oh, I will, believe me. Look, there's just one more thing. Remember I told you about the girl Marika, who helped us when we went looking for Elena? Well, yesterday there was a woman's body found on Dartmoor and there was some talk of an overdose. I just wondered . . .'

‘OK. I'll see what I can find out.'

With a wave of his hand, Tom Bowden headed for his car and, moments later, backed out of the drive and was gone.

Feeling more optimistic than he had for weeks, Daniel slid behind the wheel of the Mercedes and set off to pick up his partner.

Taz's recovery was swifter than Daniel could have hoped, and as his own hand was sore rather than incapacitated, they both returned to part-time work a couple of days later.

Climbing into the cab out of a steady downpour at eight thirty, with a full load in the back and Taz already settled on his blankets, Daniel was glad to be doing something useful again. Both he and the dog had started to chafe at their inactivity.

Apart from a text giving a description of the body found on the moor, he hadn't heard from Tom Bowden, and could only trust that the wheels were turning in whatever department had taken on the investigation into Patrescu. From Tom's description, Daniel confirmed that the dead woman was almost certainly Marika and, in the absence of any available relatives, was asked to informally identify the body.

As he expected, it was indeed Marika, the scar on her face showing livid against her sallow skin, and he was saddened to think that she'd paid so terrible a price for helping them escape. Mentally he added her death to the score he had to settle with Macek.

Pushing aside the memory, Daniel started the lorry, gave a wave to Fred Bowden in the office and headed for the gateway. The cab lifted slightly as he turned out of the yard on to the road and the powerful engine tackled the climb of a mile or so to the top of the hill. Once over the brow of the hill, it was downhill all the way to the main road, but as Daniel's lorry neared the crest of the rise, his phone began to ring and a glance at the display told him it was Amanda. Groaning inwardly, he accepted the call, hoping that she hadn't just rung to have another go at him.

‘Amanda, I'm driving—' he began, but she interrupted him, her voice sharp, urgent.

‘Daniel, is Drew with you?'

Daniel's heart missed a beat. ‘No. Why would he be? It's a school day, isn't it?'

As he spoke, Daniel indicated left and pulled into a shallow lay-by. There was already a minibus parked there and it was a tight fit, but it couldn't be helped.

‘It's half-term.' Amanda sounded impatient. ‘He went to stay the night with Ryan last night – at least, that's what he told me he was doing – but Ryan's mum says she didn't know anything about it.'

‘And you didn't think to check with her before he went?'

Daniel turned off the engine, seeing a figure in a hooded waterproof jacket come round the back of the vehicle in front.

‘No!' Amanda had clearly taken his query as an accusation. ‘He's been there dozens of times. How was I to know he was lying?'

‘All right. Calm down.'

The man in the waterproofs lifted binoculars from round his neck and got into the driver's seat.

‘Are you sure he's not staying with another friend?'

Amanda's voice rose an indignant decibel or fifty. ‘Of course I'm sure! Don't you think I'd have thought of that?'

‘OK. Well, look, I'm working, but I'll swing by the flat and just make sure he's not turned up there.'

‘But it wouldn't have taken him that long to get to you. It's only an hour or so on the train to Plymouth – if that's what he's done. He'd have been there last night.'

‘Yeah, well, I wasn't at home last night,' Daniel told her. ‘But presumably he's got his phone, so if he
did
come and couldn't find me, I imagine he'd have rung. What time did you last see him?'