A constable shuffled in with fresh coffee.
Stevie went on. ‘Have you ever lost or suspected your photos stolen? Has someone ever tampered with your computer, you think?’
Holdsworth paused for thought. ‘No, but it wouldn’t be hard to scan the pics and put them back on my desk—my office door doesn’t have a lock, anyone could take them...’
‘They’re the kind of photos that would appeal to a paedophile—’
‘Oh come on, you’re not harping back to that again. I photograph what I’m told, nothing more, nothing less. And I don’t do porn. If you have a beef with anyone, take it out on Miranda Breightling, not me.’
‘What about the snaps of the girls getting dressed in the change room?’
‘No way!’
Stevie took from the file before her a photo of a young girl wearing nothing but underwear, bending down to pick up an item of clothing from the floor. She slid it across the table to him. Aware that he was under the light again, Holdsworth flushed and jumped to his feet. ‘That’s not mine, Jesus, I swear it! Maybe someone used my equipment. Maybe there’s a hidden camera, that’s it...’
‘Then I suggest you do all you can to help us find the guy who did it. Your reputation’s at stake in this.’
‘Help you? What do you think I’m doing?’
‘Have you seen anyone hanging around the modelling agency recently who shouldn’t have been there?’
Holdsworth sat down again and folded his arms. ‘There’s always creeps hanging around, hoping to get a glimpse of the girls. To her credit, Miranda insists that parents arrive on time for pick-up, that the girls aren’t expected to make their own way home.
‘They need to get a bouncer for the place. Christopher tells them to clear off when he’s there, but he’s not the kind to get his hands dirty. Christ, he was almost flattened by some bruiser the other night. I nearly called the cops when I saw them in the street, it looked like things were about to get violent.’
‘But you didn’t call the police?’
‘Well, they seemed to sort things out, ended up walking off arm in arm.’
‘Arm in arm? That’s sounds a bit strange.’
‘I thought so too, especially as earlier they looked like they wanted to tear each other’s throat out.’
‘Where did they walk to?’
‘A pub, a parked car, I dunno.’
‘Did you get a glimpse of this man?’
‘Not really, it was pretty dark.’
‘Short, tall?’
‘Smaller than Christopher I think, but powerfully built. And you know, I think there was a kid too, lurking around.’
A kid? The phone interrupted Stevie’s thoughts. She left Holdsworth and moved to the corridor outside the interview room to talk to Monty.
‘Thought you’d want to know that the final forensic report is in on Kusak’s van,’ he said.
‘Go ahead.’
‘The long dark strand of hair found in Kusak’s van has been identified as belonging to Emma Breightling. It was matched with hair from the brush in her bathroom.’
She told Monty she needed to talk to him, pocketed her phone and thanked Holdsworth for his help and sent him on his way.
But on her way to Monty’s office she received an urgent page from Clarissa. Shit, everything seemed to happen at once in this place.
‘Make it quick Clarissa, something’s come up,’ she said as she pushed through the swing doors of the ops room.
‘Yeah, well this is important too. I’ve done some more digging on the Katy Enigma site and some of the stuff is pretty shocking when you look closely. A lot of stories by kids obviously trying to deal with issues of abuse. The poem you found was just a start.’
‘Yeah, ok, ok, go on.’ Stevie was itching to get upstairs and see Monty.
Clarissa clicked her mouse and opened a link. ‘This is a new one, it only came in this morning.’
Stevie stooped to peer at the screen.
Katy Enigma knew that she was the only one up to the task of eliminating the monster. She devised a cunning plan, which involved the staging of her own abduction. The plan was very risky, but she knew she had to attempt it or die trying.
She left a series of clever clues in her bedroom. She wasn’t sure if the police would get them or not, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the monster would understand and the monster would follow her to her secret hiding place. Once across the drawbridge and into the castle there would be no escape, and no one to hear his cries. He would be as helpless as any of his victims and Katy would make sure he suffered even more.
To kill a vampire you use a wooden stake, to kill a werewolf you use a silver bullet, but to kill the monster from under the bed you work slowly, using an ancient set of silver blades...
28
Stevie didn’t have time to wait for the lifts and took the stairs up to Monty’s office two at a time. ‘I think I know where Emma is; she’s at Stoppard’s showroom. The postcard on the teddy was obviously a clue, and Stoppard knew it too, that’s why he took it,’ she said as she burst into the office. ‘I’m going there now, only I need Tash...’
Monty gave little reaction to her words preoccupied it seemed with trying to reach into the pocket of his jacket hanging on the back of his chair.
‘Just a minute, Stevie, let me just get this. Hell...’ He put his hand to his chest. Sweat glistened in a pool at the base of his throat. His face had turned quite grey.
‘Monty, what’s the matter?’ she said, her own throat tightening in panic.
‘Just get my thing for me, I’ll be okay.’ He seemed to be having trouble pushing out his words.
‘What thing?’ Stevie desperately groped in his jacket pocket—coins, car keys—finally pulling out a small orange canister. ‘This?’
Monty nodded and took the Nitrolingual pump from her and administered a couple of quick sprays under his tongue in a way that told her he’d done it before.
‘Just a bit of chest pain,’ he murmured. ‘It’ll go soon.’
Stevie clutched his shoulders, the whereabouts of Emma Breightling now the furthest thing from her mind.
The medication began to kick in. Monty rubbed his hands over his face, slowly straightened in his chair and looked at her blearily. She put her cheek against his and ran her fingers through his hair. ‘You scared me. Thank god, thank God,’ she murmured over again.
He took her hand and kissed it. ‘Get going,’ he said. ‘Go and find Emma.’
‘Not until I know you’re on your way to hospital.’
‘I’ve had my spray, I’ll be okay now.’
Stevie shook her head, reached for the phone and called an ambulance, despite his protests.
‘How long have you had this?’ she asked after she’d put the phone down, trying to keep her tone free of recrimination.
‘Not long, the doctor said it’s just a bit of angina. It started in my jaw, I thought it was toothache—’
‘The toothache, of course.’
‘I’m booked in for tests next week.’
‘A bit of angina and you didn’t tell me...’ she stopped as she noticed his colour change and knelt again at his side and stroked his face. ‘It’s okay, I know now, but I wish I hadn’t had to find out like this.’
The light from the window shone on his hair and made it glow like the slanting rays of autumn. It was an observation she’d often made before, but not for some time she realised, with dismay.