The Abduction: A Novel (7 page)

“Daniele,” she interrupted, “you lost me after Python.”

“Sorry. The point is, just because someone appears to have hacked a website, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve broken the coding. It’s far more likely to be social engineering – in other words, stealing someone’s password.” He hesitated. “These messages I’ve been getting. They make no sense to me. But they sound like some kind of threat.”

ELEVEN

“
DO YOU KNOW
where you are, Mia?”

She shook her head.
No
.

“Louder, please. Do you know what might happen to you here?”

No.

A hand smashed the table in front of her, making her jump. “Don’t lie to me, Mia. Think about your answers. Can you imagine the kind of things that might happen to you here? I’m sure you don’t like to think about them. But I’m sure you can. Correct?”

After an hour or so in her cell, she’d been taken back to the bigger room. A bed sheet had been draped across the end wall, like a banner. It had some kind of symbol painted on it, a big black circle with an A inside, similar to the anarchist symbol but with a smaller D and M just below the A. In front of it they’d placed a table with a chair on either side.

The man wearing the Bauta stood somewhere in the shadows, filming it all.

“Yes,” she said in a small voice.

“List them.”

“You might… hurt me.”

“Go on.”

“Kill me. Beat me.” A pause. “Rape me.”

“And if we did any of those things, what would you be able to do about it?”

Nothing.

Had she said that out loud, or just in her head? But the man opposite, the one in the Harlequin mask, repeated it, so she must have said it aloud.

“
Nothing.
That’s right. You can do nothing. But I have some good news for you, Mia. Do you want to know what it is?”

Another nod. Then, remembering his instructions, “Yes.”

“The good news is that none of those things will happen if our demands are met. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Now stand up and take off your clothes.”

She hesitated, but only for a moment. As she removed the clothes she’d been wearing at the nightclub, he took a pair of scissors and cut each one into small pieces. When she was down to her underwear, he placed something else on the table. Looking down, she saw a pair of overalls and a roll of grey duct tape. Relieved, she reached for the overalls, but he put his hand on them to stop her.

“Uh-uh. In here, Mia, you have to earn the right to wear clothes.” He picked up the duct tape. “And that means first, you have to help us make a little movie.”

TWELVE

“
I’M AFRAID I
can’t possibly discuss Mia Elston with you,” the student counsellor said, accompanying his words with a self-important frown. “My conversations with the students are privileged. They have to know that they can speak to me about anything, without fear of it getting back to their parents.”

“We quite understand,” Holly said.

The counsellor, Mr McConnell, was the last on their list of people to talk to at the American High School. So far, they hadn’t made much progress. Everyone had painted the same picture: Mia was hard-working, sporty and bright, although Kat thought it interesting that several of her friends had also implied she could be reckless. “You can dare her to do anything and she’ll do it,” one girl told them. “She’s braver than any of the boys round here, no question.”

“Actually,” Kat said now, “it’s
you
who doesn’t understand, Mr McConnell. ‘Privilege’ is a legal term which, in this country, can properly apply only to a lawyer, doctor, or state-licensed psychologist. I’m assuming you don’t fall into any of those categories.”

“I am a fully certified—”

“You can have all the certificates in the world,” she interrupted. “The law takes precedence. That means you’re required to comply with any criminal investigation ordered by the Italian courts, or be in contempt of those proceedings and suffer the consequences – up to eight years in prison.” She deliberately used somewhat formal language, in the hope he wouldn’t challenge whether or not the courts had ordered any such thing. “So tell me, counsellor, what is it that Mia Elston confided in you?”

McConnell blinked. “It’s, er, nothing specific, as it happens.”

“Then be non-specific.”

“Sometimes… how can I put this?” He looked up at the ceiling awkwardly. “It’s not unknown, actually. But not exactly common. She…
taunts
me, is the only word I can use.”

“In what way?”

“Students know I can’t repeat what they say. Sometimes that gives them a sense of power – they get a thrill out of trying to shock me. In Mia’s case, she tried to tell me about which male teachers she has a crush on.” McConnell made a gesture. “Oh, it was all under the guise of saying that she’s been having trouble concentrating, you understand. But she went into a little too much detail, if you take my meaning. And then, when I was trying to get her to open up a little, she tried to tell me she’d developed a crush on
me
. I don’t believe for one moment it was true. She simply wanted to see what my reaction would be.”

“What
was
your reaction?” Holly asked.

“I told her she’d have to see a different counsellor – which, since I’m the only one here, would mean my junior school colleague, Mrs Morales. Mia backtracked pretty quick after that, I can tell you. Came back next day and told me she’d decided it was just psychodynamic transference, if you please. She must have read it up on the internet – she knew all the jargon.”

“So she prickteased you a little,” Kat said. “It doesn’t explain why she might go missing.”

“Indeed. And your language, Captain… I don’t mean to suggest that her behaviour was anything more than a young woman starting to realise how attractive she is, and testing the limits of that. But I was struck by the way that she seemed able to inhabit both versions of herself simultaneously, if you like: the demure honours student on the one hand, and the girl who’s growing up fast on the other. Mia can flip between the two in a heartbeat.”

“Have there been any boyfriends?”

He shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of, although I’m sure she could have her pick.”

“Major Elston mentioned a soldier who takes her to parties.”

“Oh, yes. Specialist Kevin Toomer. Her father’s ‘guard poodle’, Mia called him. I got the impression she wasn’t very keen on him.”

The two women exchanged glances. Getting to her feet, Kat said, “We’ll talk to him. Thank you for your time, counsellor.”

“You were right. She
was
too good to be true,” Holly said as they left the school for the base.

Kat made a face. “Winding up that lecherous creep hardly makes her a devil child. I’ll bet it was
se non è zuppa è pan bagnato
– six of one and half a dozen of the other. Did you see the way he was looking at my legs? I think she riled him by calling his bluff.”

“You’re thinking maybe this soldier felt something similar?”

“Could be. It can’t have been easy, being the father’s hand-picked bodyguard-cum-boyfriend substitute. Maybe he’d had enough.”

Specialist Toomer was waiting for them in an interview room. Kat was struck by how young he looked. It turned out he was nineteen, a couple of years older than Mia.

He wasn’t an easy interviewee. Every answer was replete with military jargon and delivered in a depersonalised monotone, as if Kat and Holly were sergeant majors on parade. Yes, ma’am, he sometimes accompanied Mia Elston to barbecues and movies. It was an honour to do so, ma’am. He had never personally served under Major Elston but it was his ambition to apply for Recon training just as soon as he had achieved sufficient seniority. Recon Red, the major’s troop, was known to be one of the tightest units in the 173rd.

“What did you and Mia talk about?” Kat asked.

Toomer looked blank. “Army stuff, mostly.”

“Were you romantically involved?”

The boy seemed shocked. “No, ma’am.”

“What about sexually?”

Toomer looked as if he might explode. “Major Elston entrusted me with his daughter’s honour. And Major Elston is, like, a legend.”

“But you do find her attractive?”

The soldier hesitated.

“You’re gay, aren’t you, Kevin?” Kat said. Next to her, she sensed Holly stiffen. Toomer only stared at her, speechless.

“I know it’s not something you usually talk about in the army,” she continued. “But you see, I need to understand the relationship between you and Mia. From what I’ve heard, she was pretty good at picking up on things like that.”

After a moment Toomer nodded. “Yes, ma’am, she was.”

“So you two were just friends?”

“Kind of,” he said warily.

“Meaning?”

“Once Mia had worked it out…” Toomer hesitated. “Mostly she was fine. But occasionally she’d go off on one. You know, ‘Why couldn’t my dad find a straight guy to take me out?’ Kind of like a joke, but not a joke. And she’d say stupid stuff.”

“Like?”

“Like, maybe she’d give me a blow job to find out if I really am gay,” he mumbled.

“So she
is
sexually active?”

Toomer squirmed uncomfortably. “Maybe. I know she’s told her dad she’s going to stay a virgin. But she’s into some sexual stuff, for sure. She’ll talk about things she’s seen on the net, y’know? Like, ‘Oh, I saw this hot gay clip, you should check it out.’” He made a face. “It’s to shock me, mainly. But I don’t think she’s making it up. She told me one time about a message board on Carnivia where you can post pictures of yourself and people rate them. Like, semi-nude, but you don’t show your face so people don’t know who you are. That gave her a thrill, I think.”

“What about drugs?”

“I don’t know anything about that,” he muttered.

“Yes, you do. Or do you want me to tell your platoon buddies about you?” Kat felt, rather than heard, Holly’s involuntary indrawn breath.

Toomer bit his lip. “I know she’s tried a couple of things. I’ve never talked to her about it. I hate drugs. Her father does too. He told Mia he’d thrash her if she so much as touches them. I don’t think that’s stopped her, though.”

“Why did you go on taking her out, if you’re so different?” Kat asked curiously.

He shrugged. “Her dad, I guess.”

“What about last weekend? Did she tell you what she had planned?”

“I knew she had something on – she said she needed to give her dad the slip. I told her I couldn’t help. She kind of laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s not something
you’d
want to go to.’”

“‘To go to’? As if she was talking about a party?”

“Yeah… or maybe a rave. I think she’d been to a few things like that without her parents finding out.”

When they’d sent Toomer back to his unit, Kat stood up abruptly. “Come on. It’s lunchtime.”

They walked in silence towards the main gate. “Kat—” Holly began.

“Yes, I know,” Kat interrupted. “‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’ And as for threatening to tell his platoon, that probably isn’t in the rule book either. But you wanted my help. So that’s what you’ve got.”

Their route was taking them through Main Street, the base shopping mall. All around, people were carrying bags from the concessions on either side. Kat was reminded of a medieval citadel: soldiers and their families all billeted together in one defensive encampment, but instead of carrying regimental flags, these were marching behind the banners of modern retail: American Apparel, Gap, Old Navy.

As they passed a Baskin-Robbins she noticed how the flavours that were available in her favourite Venetian
gelateria
just then – blood orange, hazelnut
gianduiotto,
artichoke – were replaced here by over a dozen varieties based on cookies, many proudly proclaiming themselves to be low in fat. Next to it was a Burger King.

“I take it you don’t want to recommend somewhere to eat on base?” she enquired innocently. Holly only laughed hollowly.

They found a little family-run
trattoria
a few minutes away, in Stanga. Inside, there was space for no more than half a dozen tables, and the menu chalked on the blackboard consisted of just three items. One was
bigoli al ragù d’asino
. “Let’s have the pasta,” Kat suggested.

“Great,” Holly said, perfectly aware that Kat was testing her. “Which wine, do you think? Would Amarone or Valpolicella go better with donkey?”

“Valpolicella, for sure.” Kat gave Holly a sideways look. “That’s if you don’t think it’s a crime to drink wine at lunch-time?”

Holly chose to ignore that. “So… I take it we don’t think either McConnell or Toomer has anything to do with Mia’s disappearance?”

Kat shook her head. “But it still seems significant to me that she lives this double life – being one thing to her parents, and another to those who really know her.”

“I think it’s often the case in army families. My dad wasn’t as strict as Major Elston. But you were always made aware that any trouble you got into would go on your parents’ record. So you learn to keep your private life very private.”

And sometimes it’s a hard habit to grow out of
, Kat reflected. But she kept the thought to herself.

Their wine came quickly, and the pasta soon followed – the sauce dark as duck, but with a gamey tang similar to venison. Rather to Kat’s irritation, Holly ate it with every sign of enjoyment. Donkey and horse meat were considered delicacies in the Veneto, and although tourists tended to turn their noses up at such dishes, it was rare to find a
trattoria
that didn’t offer
sfilacci
, smoked shredded horse rump on a bed of rocket, a
primo
of donkey meat pasta, or a main course of
spezzatino di
cavallo
, a hearty stew made with tomatoes, horse steak and paprika. Perhaps, Kat thought, the second lieutenant was actually more Italian than her uniform would suggest. Not that it made any difference. Their friendship was still definitely over.

“Not bad,” Holly said when she finished. She took a deep breath. “Kat… I think we should talk about what happened. When I was staying with you, I mean.”

Kat considered. “Why?”

“Because I miss your friendship,” Holly said simply.

There was a long silence. “Then let’s be friends,” Kat said.

“Great. But we should discuss—”

“No, we shouldn’t,” Kat interrupted. “Don’t be such a tight-assed American
sboro
. We had a stupid row over a frying pan, that’s all. And now we’ve made up. So let’s just forget it and find Mia.”

Holly said nothing. The row had been over rather more than a frying pan, but if that was how Kat was choosing to remember it, so be it. “You don’t still think she’s gone off with a boy, do you?” she said quietly.

Kat shook her head. The fact was, ever since she’d seen Mia’s too-neat bedroom the certainty had been growing in her that this was more than just another teenage runaway. Daniele’s comments about Mia’s Carnivia account being hacked had only reinforced that.

“No,” she said. “There’s something more to this. I’m sure of it.”

But she wasn’t yet ready to admit that her own reaction to that growing certainty wasn’t simply alarm at the fact that a young woman was missing – at least, not entirely.

What she felt was, in part, a reaction to all the faceless men back at the Carabinieri headquarters, the ones who scrawled “Piss Off Whore” across her locker, or who thought that investigating fake handbags was a productive use of her time.

What Captain Kat Tapo of the Carabinieri was feeling at that moment was a mounting sense of excitement.

Mia Elston, you may just be the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.