‘I’m worried about the interval between Ruby’s disappearance and Pippa’s,’ Helen continued quickly. ‘There could be a gap of four years or more between them and, well, that just doesn’t feel right.’
‘What doesn’t feel right?’ Harwood countered.
‘Both these girls share a look, they are vulnerable and lonely, both have vanished without a trace. Furthermore, they have both been kept “alive” through the use of texts, Twitter and the like. It looks like it’s the same perpetrator and if it is, then we can say that this guy is organized, determined and most of all driven. He’s looking for a certain kind of gratification that only these girls can provide and is clearly willing to go to great lengths and take great risks in order to get it. Stranger abduction of grown adults from the home is incredibly rare.’
‘So?’
‘So, do we believe he would abduct and murder Pippa, then wait another three to four years before trying again? The level of organization that goes into these abductions suggests to me a level of compulsion that is unlikely to come and go. All the studies show that these sorts of predator -’
‘Please don’t quote your courses at me. I know how well qualified you are in this territory,’ Harwood replied coolly.
‘I’m worried he may have targeted other girls -’
‘And do you have any proof of this?’
‘Not yet. But -’
‘Then, we’ll leave things as they are. I don’t want to alarm the public and until we know more about what we’re dealing with, we sit tight.’
Helen said nothing.
‘It does seem to be my day for saying no, doesn’t it,’ Harwood added breezily, ‘but you know what our budgets are like.’
Helen left shortly afterwards, with as much grace as she could muster. Was she being punished for her earlier outburst? For past crimes? Either way, Helen had the nasty feeling that they had just made a very bad decision and that their failure to act would cost more lives.
43
They stared at each other, neither saying a word. Ruby was still furious at being dragged from the warm cocoon of her dream and enraged by her captor’s patronizing kindness.
‘I’m sorry to have left you alone for such a long time.’
He clearly wanted a response, but she wasn’t going to give him one. What right did he have to wake her up? To keep her here? He was a sick fuck, who deserved nothing but her scorn.
‘Summer?’
Still she stared at him.
‘Are you feeling ok? You look pale.’
‘I’m fine, how are you?’ Her tone was withering and she was amused to see that she had hurt him.
‘I’m trying to be nice, Summer.’
‘Go to Hell.’
She had wanted to sound angry, but her voice wobbled slightly. She cursed herself for her weakness.
‘Well, aren’t you going to say something?’ she continued, eyeballing him.
He looked at her for a long time, saying nothing in response. Then with a small shake of the head, he rose and walked back to the door.
‘Don’t go.’
Ruby found herself rising, the thought of being alone suddenly too much for her to bear.
He paused at the door to look over his shoulder.
‘You brought this on yourself, Summer.’
Then without another word he left, slamming the door behind him. The first bolt was pushed firmly into place. Then the next. Each one seemed to go right through Ruby.
‘Please. I didn’t mean it. Please stay.’
Ruby could hear him walk away. Then the dull sound of another door closing in the near distance.
‘Please,’ she moaned.
But there was no one to hear her now. And Ruby knew as she lay there that it was she who was in Hell, not him. With him, she was scared and uncertain, without him she was desolate. Like it or loathe it, there was no escaping the fact that he was her world now.
44
Charlie drummed her fingers on the table, shooting nervous looks at the entrance. Steve often passed by this way on his way to work. If he happened to spot her holed up in a coffee shop with Helen, when she’d explicitly told him she was meeting her mum, she would have some explaining to do.
According to Steve, their life was now back on track following past traumas. The right decisions had been made, with the right results, and now a long and happy life lay ahead of them. Was it just fear – of the birth, of what followed after – that made Charlie uncertain? Or was it that she was a worker at heart, someone with a vocation that could not easily be discarded?
She had been surprised – and excited – by Helen’s text. It read simply:
‘Can you meet this morning? Urgent and discreet if you can.’
With surprising ease, she found herself lying to Steve, slipping on her coat and heading out the door. Did she really miss police work so much that she would drop everything and deceive her husband because of a brief text? Suddenly, Charlie felt a pang of guilt, but before her misgivings could take hold, she saw Helen hurrying towards her.
‘I’m sorry I’m late. Blame Harwood.’
‘I usually do,’ Charlie replied, their shared antipathy for their station chief drawing a smile from her boss.
‘And I’m sorry to be so secretive, but what I’m about to ask you to do breaks all the rules and could land you and me in a serious amount of trouble.’
‘Sounds fun,’ Charlie said gamely, but was already a little unnerved by Helen’s manner.
‘If you want to say no – and you probably should – then that’s totally fine. But there’s no one else I can confide in.’
It had been a long time since Charlie had seen Helen like this. There was clearly a lot resting on this meeting. Helen didn’t keep her guessing, filling her in on her recent ‘discovery’ of her missing nephew and her subsequent clash with Harwood about her refusal to formally request the unredacted file. Charlie could already see where this was going.
‘I know it’s a lot to ask, but I don’t have any meaningful contacts in the Northamptonshire force, no one I can trust at least. I know this is completely irregular, but -’
Helen’s voice wavered slightly as she spoke, so Charlie put her out of her misery:
‘It’s ok, Helen, I know what you’re asking.’
Charlie’s oldest friend from police college had just taken a high-profile desk job with Northamptonshire police. DS Sally Mason was the keeper of the administrative gates up there – if anyone could lay their hands on the unredacted material, she could. But Charlie had no idea how she would react to such an outrageous request.
‘Let me mull it over,’ Charlie said.
‘That’s all I ask. If I could think of another way, I would. But… I need to know if he’s ok, Charlie.’
Helen left soon after, Charlie promising to be in touch. Truth be told, she already knew that she would do what Helen asked. Because she felt for her. Because it was the right thing to do in the circumstances. And perhaps – just a little bit – because it would be fun.
45
An hour later, Helen strode into the incident room. She was pleased to see that everyone was busy, the team finally finding its rhythm in the heat of battle. A major investigation had a way of forcing everyone to up their game, make connections and forge new ground together. It always gave Helen a quiet sense of satisfaction to observe it taking place.
Seeing that everyone was fully occupied, Helen seized the moment, pulling Sanderson aside. Marching her into the office would have excited people’s attention, so Helen guided her subtly to the water cooler and, lowering her voice, outlined her plans. For the second time that day she was committing an act of gross insubordination.
‘I need you to do a bit of digging – for my eyes only, right?’