Brock handed the paper to Kathy and glanced at Rudd. His face was very pale, lips pressed tight, and he looked as if it did bother him a great deal.
‘Actually, I was referring to news reports today of new developments in our investigations, Mr Rudd. That’s why we wanted to speak to you.’
As Brock began to explain, Rudd looked first perplexed and then agitated.‘You arrested someone, is that what you’re saying?’ he interrupted.
‘There’ll be a press statement later today, but I can tell you that we believe we have found two men responsible for the abductions of Aimee and Lee. One of the men is under arrest, and the other died while trying to escape. We’ve found Lee alive, but it seems probable that Aimee was murdered some weeks ago.’
‘My God!’ Rudd sat stunned, eyes unfocused. ‘Aimee… she was the first, wasn’t she? But Lee is alive? So Trace must be too, yes?’
‘I’m afraid we haven’t been able to find any sign of Tracey so far. We’re following up a number of leads, but at present there’s nothing to connect her disappearance to these two men.’
‘What? But that’s impossible, surely? It must be them. Or… you mean there may be others? A ring? A network? Oh my God…’
‘We’re considering every possibility.’ Brock opened a folder on the table in front of him and took out the two photographs that had just been delivered. ‘Have you ever seen this man?’ He slid the first picture across the table, and added, ‘I’m showing Mr Rudd a photograph of Robert Wylie.’
Rudd showed no sign of recognition, nor with the second picture, of Abbott.
‘Is that them?’ He stared at the pictures with fascination, and when Brock made to put them away again he said, ‘No! Wait, just so I’m sure,’ and went on staring. ‘Which one died?’
Brock pointed to Abbott.
‘How? Did you shoot him?’
‘He fell from a building. Have you ever visited the Newman estate in Bethnal Green?’
‘No, no. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it. Is that where they lived?’
‘We’re still gathering information. What we now have to do is review every aspect of Tracey’s case in the light of this new development. And I need you to help us by going back over what happened the night that Tracey disappeared. I want you to try to remember every detail you can, from the time Mr and Mrs Nolan returned Tracey to you on Sunday afternoon.’
Rudd met Brock’s stare, eyes wide and innocent. ‘Oh, right. Well. .. if you think that’ll help.’
He began to repeat the story he had told them before, almost word for word, while the two detectives listened impassively. When he finished, Brock turned to Kathy and said,‘How would you rate that story, DS Kolla?’
Kathy gazed at Rudd and said,‘Well, to be honest, as an art critic, I’d have to say that it seems hurriedly cobbled together, weak in concept, unimaginatively presented and short of ideas.’
Rudd’s pale face flushed pink. His mouth opened, but before he could speak Kathy went on, ‘You didn’t go to bed at ten that night, Gabe.’
Brock leaned forward and said, ‘We know about your evening with Poppy Wilkes and Stan Dodworth; we know about your meeting with Yasher Fikret. Now I’m going to give you one last chance to tell us the truth before I arrest you for obstruction.’
The pink leached from Rudd’s face, leaving it almost as white as his hair.‘Yasher? You know about Yasher?’
‘From the beginning, Mr Rudd. Let’s have it.’
Haltingly, the bravado gone, Rudd described much the same sequence of events that Poppy had related to Kathy- supplemented, at Brock’s insistence, with an impressive list of everything he’d smoked, drunk and taken during the course of the weekend.
‘Why didn’t you tell us this at the beginning?’Kathy said.
‘I panicked. I knew I’d be in trouble. I’d left Trace alone for most of the night, and somebody had snatched her. Her grandparents would have murdered me. This was exactly the kind of thing they’d said would happen. They’d have tried for custody again. Christ, I might have gone to gaol, I don’t know.’
‘Hmm.’ Brock, sceptical, scraped his beard with the end of his ballpoint. ‘Bad things do seem to happen to the people around you, don’t they? Whether by neglect or something worse.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Your wife, Tracey’s mother-did she die because you weren’t around at the critical time? And was that just another unfortunate coincidence?’
‘Jane had been depressed for months. They gave her the wrong drugs. You should read the coroner’s…’
‘Yes, I’ve read his report. No suicide note, no cry for help to her parents. She just walked out one night, leaving her toddler behind, and jumped in the canal. And you were out drinking with your mates that night too, weren’t you? The parallels are striking.’
Rudd sagged, a hank of white hair flopping over his eyes. ‘You think I don’t know that?’he said softly.‘I’m not proud of it. That’s why I wanted to keep quiet about Sunday night. I didn’t see how it would make any difference to your investigation. They took Trace, whether or not I was there. Okay, I was useless as a father, I neglected her, but in the end it doesn’t matter, does it? These…’ he gestured at the photographs, ‘… these monsters just do what they want anyway.’
‘There’s another parallel with your wife’s death, Gabe,’ Kathy said. ‘You told us before that Tracey was a happy child, but that isn’t true, is it?’
‘She’s all right. She has her ups and downs, like anyone else.’
‘Other people have described her as withdrawn and depressed, especially in the last few months.’
Rudd seemed genuinely surprised. ‘That sounds like her grandparents talking, because if it is…’
‘Other people,’ Kathy repeated. ‘Can you think of a reason why she might be unhappy?’
‘Not at all.’
‘They say she spoke of being afraid of a monster. That was the word you used just now, monsters. What was she talking about, do you know?’
‘She didn’t mention it to me. She had dreams, I suppose. Just dreams.’
‘Dreams, you think. Nightmares. Like her mother.’
Rudd stared at Kathy for a moment, then turned his head away.
‘And one other similarity,’ Brock said. ‘Both of these tragedies have happened at times when your career was in decline, and you’ve exploited both to get publicity and interest in your work.’
‘Oh, come on, now you do sound like the Nolans. You’ll be spouting garbage about Munchausen by proxy next.’
‘You know about that, do you?’
‘How could I avoid it? Len and Bev have been accusing me of it for years. To listen to them, they’re the world’s greatest experts on the subject. And this will only confirm it in their eyes. But I can’t help that.’He sighed.‘Look, you can’t honestly believe that I would deliberately do anything to Trace,’ he gestured at the newspaper review, ‘for the sake of this? I don’t know you,’ he said to Brock, ‘but I’ve been watching her,’ he nodded towards Kathy, ‘and I reckon we’re much the same.’
‘How do you figure that out?’ Kathy said.
‘Everything I do, everything that happens to me, goes into my work. My work is everything. I am nothing else. We’re all obsessive about our work, and I reckon that describes you, too, doesn’t it?’
Kathy leaned forward, holding his eye. ‘I don’t think I’m so obsessive,’ she said, her voice quiet and dangerous, ‘that I’d rent out my six-year-old daughter as a nude model.’
Rudd looked stunned for a moment, then began to splutter,‘Now look, that’s rubbish! Who told you that?’
‘The sculptures of giant cherubs on show at The Pie Factory last week were modelled on your daughter. Do you deny it?’
‘They were based on her, yeah. Poppy needed a live model to work from and Trace was ideal. I didn’t rent her out! It was a favour to a friend. Trace thought it was all a big giggle. She loved seeing what Poppy made of her. There’s nothing wrong with it at all.’
‘Nothing wrong? Your child’s naked body was put on public exhibition at five times its actual size and you don’t think there’s anything wrong with that?’