‘What did he say to you? Try and remember the exact words.
‘At first I couldn’t understand what the person was saying. It was muffled, didn’t sound right.’
‘So it was a man?’
‘It sounded like a man. He had a really deep voice but it was slowed down, distorted like one of those kids’ toys that makes voices sound strange.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He asked if I could hear a noise.’ Tracy’s face paled again. She had started to shake. Her eyes lost their focus. Jeanie was beginning to think she’d have to get ready to catch her if she fainted. ‘It was a knocking sound.’ Tracy took some deep breaths. ‘He said it was the sound of Danielle trying to get out of her coffin.’
She turned away and clutched the edge of the kitchen sink and her face crumpled.
‘It’s all right, Tracy. You’re doing okay. Tell me, did you hear Danielle’s voice?’
Tracy began to slowly move her head, nodding as her eyes focused on some horror that was locked in her mind. She turned to Jeanie. ‘I heard someone scratching, someone screaming. I don’t know if it was her.’
Ebony looked around as the door to the interview room opened and Robbo called her outside into the hallway. She closed the door behind her.
‘What is it?’
‘Just got a call from Jeanie: It’s Hawk, he’s made contact. It seems he’s got Danielle Foster.’
‘Guv – a word?’
Ebony called Carter out of the interview.
‘Tracy Collins has had a phone call from Hawk. He told her he has her daughter. She heard the sound of someone knocking on wood.’
Carter turned to Zoe. ‘Have you got an office we can use? We need to talk.’
‘Sir – the interview room across the corridor is free?’
Robbo sat; Willis stood and Carter paced.
‘The only way Manson could be involved is if he’s Hawk’s accomplice. I don’t see it, do you?’
Ebony answered with a shake of the head. ‘He’s not the sharpest knife in the rack, Guv. Plus – you know what he cares about in life? His wallet. He’s still got a habit by the look of him and he sells drugs to feed it. No way is he into something this big without a payoff of some kind.’
Robbo crossed his arms around himself and his foot tapped. He was uncomfortable with the closed door but was too preoccupied to give into it.
‘You’re right – if he was going into the kidnap business it would be for a big ransom. Could Hawk have manipulated him somehow?
‘How?’ asked Carter. He stopped and looked at Robbo.
‘He could have used Manson to draw Danielle Foster out. We need to ask him about Emily Styles.’
‘The lawyer won’t like it,’ said Ebony.
‘No, but we may not get another chance to ask him,’ Carter replied as he stood to open the door. Robbo wiped the sweat from his face.
Willis and Carter went back into the interview room and Carter sat and leaned across closer to Niall.
‘Do you know a friend of Danielle’s called Emily Styles?’ Carter showed him her photo.
‘My client chooses not to answer that.’ Manson looked across at his lawyer. ‘My client has come in here to help with the disappearance of Danielle Foster, not to answer questions in a murder case.’
‘That’s the girl who was fished out of the canal?’ asked Manson.
‘Yes.’ The atmosphere in the room changed. Carter’s eyes hardened on Manson.
‘Never heard of or seen her before.’ Manson stiffened. He began looking nervous again.
Carter watched Manson as he displayed all the attributes of someone who was lying. His breathing pattern had changed; he was sweating.
‘You better start telling me the truth, Niall, because I got witnesses that say they saw you and Danielle arguing. They heard you rowing and you turned up outside the college where she’s studying. Did you see this woman there?’
Niall sat back in his chair and stared at the wall defiantly.
‘CCTV footage will confirm it, Niall. You want to save me the time, time that could cost your Danielle’s life?’
Niall rocked on his chair and then sat forward, elbows on his knees.
‘All right. I went there. So what? I went there to see the bloke she’s seeing.’
‘What for? You said you didn’t care.’
‘She’s still mine. My property,’ Manson corrected himself. He sucked air in behind his front teeth. ‘Tsss. I wanted to frighten him a bit.’
‘Did you see her?’
‘Yeah. I saw her.’
‘And him? Who was she with?’
‘Some weedy fucker.’
‘Describe him to me.’
He shrugged.
‘Was he white, black?’
‘White, six foot, average.’
‘Colour of his hair?’
‘Brown.’
‘What did you do? Did you follow them?’
‘Yeah. I wanted to see; make sure.’
‘Did you?’
Niall shrugged. ‘I saw enough. That dead woman – Emily Styles – that’s the only time I’ve seen her. They went their separate ways at the station. I’m not saying it was definitely something going on but there could have been. You know what I mean?’
‘So you went to her flat to talk about it? Yeah, and?’
‘We rowed, sure. She told me to fuck off.’
‘Did she admit to seeing someone from the college?’
‘She didn’t deny it.’
Carter watched Manson – he was telling the truth.
Chapter 18
Jeanie watched Carter arrive and park up before she left Tracy, and went out to talk to him in private. She waved for him to stay where he was and got into the passenger seat.
‘How is she?’ he asked.
‘She’s very shaken,’ said Jeanie.
‘Did he demand a ransom?’
‘No. Do you think he will?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Carter. ‘He had months to make contact in Emily’s case but the Styles were never contacted either to ask for money for her release or to taunt them like this. And yet we know she was alive all that time.’ Jeanie looked back at the house as she thought. The lounge was lit up. She saw Tracy hugging Jackson as they walked past the lounge window.
Jeanie looked across at Carter. His face was dark. The sky outside was grey. Overhead the clouds were full of snow.
‘He phoned Tracy to tell her he had her daughter and to involve her in her daughter’s suffering. If she’s in the loop we could use it.’
‘In the loop?’ Jeanie looked at him incredulously. ‘So we feed him Tracy to heighten his pleasure?’
‘I was thinking more that we could work on her being a human side to this. A mother figure, someone he might build a rapport with.’
‘We are talking Tracy – who gave away her only child for adoption and has more make-up than Boots the chemist?’
Carter smiled. ‘You’re a miracle worker, Jeanie – think about it for me at least.’
‘Yeah. I’ll file it under “more stupid ideas from Dan”.’
They watched Tracy come to stand at the window.
‘I’m going to have to tell her everything we know now,’ Jeanie said. ‘It’s only fair she is told about Emily Styles.’
Carter was nodding, thinking. He leaned forward and studied the other houses around. The curtain in a house across the road moved in the front window.
‘Do you think he might be watching the house?’ Jeanie asked.
‘I don’t think so.’ They sat in silence for a few minutes: both deep in thought.
‘I want you to push hard interviewing this little boy – Jackson. It’s a difficult process,’ said Carter, shrugging. ‘I understand it’s not going to be easy. But we can’t underestimate the importance of that little boy’s memory and we can’t afford to lose it.’
‘I don’t know much about Down’s, to be honest, or what his limitations are.’