‘Hello, Jackson, is Mummy there?’ Tracy looked past him. She was relieved to see him safe but was now feeling slightly cross with Danielle for letting everyone down. ‘Danielle? Danielle, they’re waiting for you at the park.’ She listened and heard nothing.
Scruffy came and tried to lick Tracy through the letterbox, knocking Jackson off his feet.
‘Scruffy, NO! Jackson? Jackson?’ Jackson came back into her vision; his little fingers clasping hers through the open letterbox. ‘Get Mummy for me.’
‘Nanny?’ There was dried blood over his hand. It was ice cold.
‘Are you hurt, Jackson?’ He started to cry.
‘It’s all right. There’s a good boy. Don’t cry. It’ll be all right. Nanny’s here, darling. Where’s Mummy, Jackson? Danielle? Is she in bed? Danielle?’ She looked past him and called through the letterbox. ‘Danielle, are you okay?’ Beyond Jackson she could see an upturned table in the hall, and she became aware of a long whine coming from the phone receiver, which was off the hook.’ Jackson, is Mummy in the flat somewhere? Is she sleeping?’ She called out again. ‘Go and get Mummy, Jackson.’ Jackson didn’t move. He held on to Tracy’s fingers. Tracy jammed the letterbox open as wide as it would go with one hand to stop it closing on Jackson’s fingers. With the other hand she scrabbled in her bag for her phone and managed to call Danielle’s number. She listened. She heard nothing. Oh God.
She knelt down again and looked at Jackson’s face.
Jackson’s fat little hand was wedged into the letterbox further. She looked at his face. He looked like he’d been crying a long time, thought Tracy. He was still in his pyjamas. Tracy kept her hand on his as she stood up and looked along the landing to see if anyone could help, but there was no one about.
‘Oh God,’ muttered Tracy. ‘Something’s definitely not right. I should have called the police then and I’m definitely calling them now.’ She started dialling 999 at the same time as Scruffy began non-stop barking.
Chapter 15
Robbo was on the way to see Bowie when he passed his old office. The man in charge there now was Griff, a softly spoken police officer who had come over from Organized Crime six months ago and was still learning the ropes. Robbo had taken him under his wing.
Griff was on the phone as Robbo passed. He was concentrating hard on a call. Robbo lifted his chin in a ‘I won’t disturb you – I’m just passing’ gesture when Griff’s hand went in the air to beckon him over. Griff finished up the call.
‘What’s the problem?’ asked Robbo.
‘Just got a call about a missing person. Thought you might be interested. It came via the police station next door. One of the officers was called to help break into a flat where a young mum wasn’t responding and her child was inside alone. When they got inside they found that the mum was missing. There were signs of a struggle. The name came up on the system – Danielle Foster, a friend of Emily Styles, but she is also one of the people who phoned in after the appeal on Thursday.’
‘Can I listen to her call?’
‘Yes, it’s just been sent to me.’ He turned back to his PC and opened a link. They listened to Danielle’s call.
Hello – thanks for calling our appeal line. Do you have information on Emily Styles?
Yes… well I don’t know. I am a friend of hers – was… I had no idea. I thought she’d just gone off for a while.
Have you made a statement already?
I did, at the time.
What did you want to add?
It’s just that I was out a couple of nights ago and one of the men who knows Emily was making jokes about what if it was her in the canal and wouldn’t she have hated getting her hair wet, spoiling her make-up, that kind of thing. It just seems much too big a coincidence to me. These are people I am very close to. Now I’m really worried.
Okay, Danielle, I understand. Would you like to come into Archway Police Station or if you prefer we can get one of our officers to come around and interview you?
I don’t want any police coming here. I’ll come in the next day or so and I’ll talk it through.
When you come in, ask for an officer from MIT 17. They are connected to Archway Police Station. I will leave a note and you will be expected. Thank you for your call.
Griff pressed the stop button. ‘She didn’t come in, but that’s not to say she wouldn’t have. What do you want to do?’
‘Good work, Griff. I’ll inform Inspector Carter and Willis so they can go round there now and decide whether we need SOCOs. Tell the first responder to stay put until someone gets there.’
Ebony and Carter arrived to a gathering of onlookers on the landing and people on the stairwell leading up to Danielle’s apartment. An officer was waiting for them.
Carter took him to one side. ‘You the first responder?’
‘Yes, Sir. My colleague and I.’ He turned to point out another officer further down the landing who was talking to neighbours.
‘What did it look like when you got here?’
‘We had to break in to gain access but the door was already damaged. It hadn’t been bolted from inside. The little boy was inside on his own with the dog. There’s definitely some kind of scuffle gone on in there. The lights were all off, curtains drawn. Looks like she’d been gone all night. The little boy was still in his pyjamas. Furniture’s not ransacked but a few things are knocked about. Enough to indicate she put up a struggle. There are also some blood splatters on the wall in the hallway, Sir.’
Carter looked inside the flat from the doorway. He turned to Ebony.
‘Let’s get Sandford and the SOCO team over.’ Then he turned back to the officer. ‘Make sure no one goes inside until they arrive and take over from you.’ Ebony took out her phone and called Robbo.
‘Robbo, we need SOCOs.’
‘How’s it looking?’ he asked.
‘She left a small child alone all night possibly and there are signs of a struggle. Beyond that, not sure – too early to tell.’
‘Okay, Sandford’s on his way.’ Ebony hung up. She looked over at the woman struggling to get a little boy into his all-in-one suit and then at the officer still talking to Carter.
‘Who’s that?’
‘This is Mrs Collins. She made the 999 call. It’s her daughter’s flat.’
‘She’s the boy’s grandmother?’
‘Yes.’
Ebony waited as Tracy finished getting Jackson’s suit on and zipped up.
‘Mrs Collins?’ Tracy nodded. ‘I am Detective Constable Willis and that’s Detective Inspector Carter.’ Ebony nodded towards Carter who was standing at the entrance to the flat, still in conversation with the officer there. ‘You made the 999 call?’
‘Yes. I think something’s happened to her. I know she wouldn’t leave Jackson on his own. And on Monday, when I babysat for her, three men broke in.’
‘Did they do that?’ Carter pointed to the door.
‘No. Someone else had already done that damage. The men broke the lock. They ransacked the place and frightened the life out of me and Jackson.’
‘Who did Danielle say they were?’
‘Friends of her ex-boyfriend, Jackson’s father. Jackson is so upset – he’s really cold…’ Tracy shook her head. ‘I knew I should have called the police but Danielle wasn’t keen. She didn’t want any trouble, she said.’