The young woman nodded, and actually managed a brief smile.
“Where exactly were you kidnapped?”
“About a mile and a half from Elephant and Castle, on Lambeth Road.”
Dee absorbed the information and asked another question. “From being kidnapped, how long did it take to get here?”
“About thirty five minutes,” Lavender said with some certainty.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. They didn’t take my watch. I was taken just after half past seven, and I was in this room being chained up at ten past eight.”
Dee smiled back at her encouragingly. “Excellent. Now, concentrate. Was the car moving quickly most of the time, or did it stop and start in traffic?”
“I guess we spent about five minutes at traffic lights and such, but most of the time the car was in fourth gear. It’s amazing what you hear when your eyes are covered up and all you have is your ears.”
“It certainly is,” Dee agreed. “Lavender, I suspect that if we were in West London they would have grabbed you closer to home. So, assuming we are North, South or East of London, thirty minutes at an average speed of about thirty miles an hour means you could have travelled around fifteen miles at the most. That would put us in Croydon to the South, Blackheath in the East or in North London or Essex. Did you cross a bridge?”
Lavender concentrated. “I don’t know. I couldn’t see.”
“Think back. If you crossed the Thames from Lambeth Road you would have crossed Blackfriars Bridge. Most of the bridges across the Thames have expansion joints. They allow the bridge structure to move a few millimetres without cracking the road surface. When cars cross these joints, there’s always a small shudder and a sound like this.” Dee banged her fists on the table a fraction of a second apart. “There would probably be four or more of these across the bridge. Do you remember anything like that?”
Lavender thought hard. “Maybe. I think I can remember that, but I don’t know whether I’m making myself believe it because you just told me about it.”
“That’s all right. Don’t worry. You’re doing very well,” Dee smiled. “Your dad will be proud of you. Take your time and try to remember. At the moment we can’t rule out any options. Did they say anything during the journey? Anything at all?”
Lavender’s brow creased in concentration. “Yes, they did, they were talking to each other, but nothing that’s any use, really. It was just a few minutes before we arrived.”
“Lavender, try to remember exactly what they said. It might be vital.”
“I think they said something about it being odd for the floodlights to be on when they weren’t even at home today. They also said Harry wouldn’t be pleased with the draw today and they would have to do better on Wednesday night. Does that even make sense to you?”
Dee took a deep breath. “Yes, Lavender, it does. You’ve done very well to remember all of that. I think I do know where we are, more or less. But we mustn’t let anyone know about this conversation, OK?” Lavender nodded, smiling properly for the first time.
***
Floodlights suggested a sports ground, presumably a large one. Not being at home today suggested football or rugby. A draw suggested football or cricket, but only football would be played again on Wednesday night.
Of course, Dee realised, it was probably Champions League. She remembered Josh talking about it to one of his friends at the match this afternoon. If only she could remember which team had drawn today and was also playing again on Wednesday.
Dee quite liked football, but didn’t know a great deal about it. She would certainly not have considered herself a fan, but some football news was hard to miss. She knew that Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea were the London teams in the Champions League, so it had to be one of those three. She had seen Chelsea beat West Ham today, and Chelsea had been away, not at home, so it couldn’t be them. The ground Lavender had passed was not Chelsea’s.
So that left the two North London clubs, Arsenal and Tottenham. She couldn’t recall what their scores had been today, or whether either one had been at home, but she did know that Spurs’ next home match was against West Ham. Tickets had been advertised for sale on the hoardings dozens of times during the match.
She had narrowed their position down to North London, which was something. The trouble was that the Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal, was close to the A1, and White Hart Lane, where Spurs played, was close to the A10, both quite fast roads and both easily accessible from the river.
Something else popped into her mind. She looked at her new friend.
“Lavender, did you mention someone called Harry?”
Lavender nodded. “Yes, they said Harry would have their guts for garters if they didn’t play better.”
“Harry could be their manager. I think Arsene Venger is the manager at Arsenal, but I don’t know if Tottenham’s manager is called Harry,” Dee mused out loud.
“Of course he is,” Lavender almost shouted. “Harry Redknapp. He’s Louise Redknapp’s father in law. I’ve done modelling with Louise a few times. She’s married to Jamie Redknapp. He’s really quite nice.”
“Lavender, I could kiss you!” Dee said as she realised that they were within a few hundred yards of White Hart Lane, in Tottenham, North London. She knew approximately where they were, and what kind of building they were in. Now all she had to do was work out how they were going to get out of there.
Chapter 6 6
Commercial Road, Tottenham, North London. Saturday, 10pm.
Lavender had been talking for a while and Dee had explained why she was dressed in a jumpsuit. Lavender didn’t need to explain why she was dressed the way she was.
The last hour had been something of a confessional, where Dee had listened to a little girl lost who thought she was an adult and so behaved like one. When Lavender listened to Dee and heard about her experiences, she suddenly realised that here was a substantive woman who was beautiful and tough and who felt no desire for celebrity.
Was her shrink right, she wondered for the first time? Was Lavender Fisher a lost soul seeking fame through notoriety, just as her mother and father had done? They had settled down eventually, and no doubt Lavender would, too, one day, but they had both enjoyed successful careers in the full glare of celebrity. Lavender had hosted a few TV shows because she was Don Fisher’s daughter, but she hadn’t actually achieved anything in her own right.
Lavender confided in Dee that when they eventually got out of this mess, she would go into rehab and come off alcohol and drugs.
Dee spoke to her like a kindly older sister. “Lavender, that’s the wrong move. All you would be doing is making someone else responsible for getting you sober and clean. Even if it works, because you didn’t do it yourself, you’ll slip back. You need to do something constructive, something to give your life direction. Why don’t you come and work with me for two months as an intern? Live at home. Get yourself sorted out and I’ll show you what a real job looks like.”
“You would do that for me?” Lavender asked, surprised.
“Yes, I would. Believe me when I say that I’ve helped girls in a much worse state than you. Girls who have been trafficked for sex and exploited by evil people in the name of profit or cult religion. It worked for them, and it can work for you, too, if you really want it to. Now, remember the plan. We have to stick with it, OK?”
***
From the first minute she had been taken, Dee had expected that this moment would come, and so she had prepared herself and coached Lavender.
Two of the masked men stood at the end of the table with a video camera. They were the two whom Dee had injured. They were clearly still suffering, judging by their fidgeting and complaining.