Burton frowned. 'Pin-point it?'
'I'm not sure how they do it,' said Frost, 'but they can pin-point the location of all the mobile phones on their network — cross-bearings from their transmitters or something. Never mind how they do it, just get on to them.'
They waited impatiently as Burton made the call. A lot of hanging on, then being transferred to someone else with even more hanging on and Burton getting more and more uptight. Frost crushed out a barely smoked cigarette and lit up another one. At last Burton put the phone down. 'They'll get back to us. It could take a few minutes.'
'You did tell them it's a matter of life or death?'
'Of course I bloody did,' snapped Burton testily-Then he flushed. 'Sorry, Inspector.'
'It's all right, son,' soothed Frost. 'We're all uptight. I was a prat to ask.'
Silence as they all stared at the phone, willing it to ring. Frost was constantly glancing at his watch. How long had the bastard had Liz? What was he doing to her now?
'Inspector!' The angry voice of a furious Mullett from die doorway. He had just been told by Sergeant Wells of the men from other Divisions standing by and the time bomb of a mega-overtime bill ticking away. 'My office — now!'
'Later,' grunted Frost, his eyes back to the phone.
Mullett's face furrowed with annoyance. 'I said now!'
'And I said later,' snapped Frost. 'When I can fit it in.'
Mullett's mouth opened and closed. He couldn't think of what to say. Conscious of all eyes in the room witnessing his discomfiture, he forced a smile and nodded. 'Keep me informed.' He stamped back to his office. Frost would pay for this.
Burton snatched up the phone on its first ring. The mobile phone company. 'What?' He spun round to survey the large wall map of Denton behind him. 'Are you sure? Thank you.' He banged the phone down. 'We're in luck. They've traced it.' They crowded round as he tapped a section of the map. 'The phone is somewhere in this area here — the outskirts of Denton Woods.' He peered again at the map. 'It's nearly all trees and scrubland, but there is one house. There!' His finger jabbed the position. 'That's got to be it!'
'Right,' said Frost, rubbing his hands briskly. 'First thing is to find out who lives there. If it's a nunnery or a home for castrated clergymen, we could be sniffing up the wrong tree.'
Burton dashed out to the computer in Control to check. 'Occupants a Mr and Mrs Gerald Vernon,' he informed them. 'Vernon's had a couple of parking tickets… nothing else known.'
'Anyone know the house?' Frost asked.
Jordan pushed forward. 'I do, Inspector. We were called there a couple of months ago for a suspected burglary. Big, posh place, dirty great lawn at the front, double garage, massive garden round the back.' Frost chewed this over. 'We'll all go. The more the merrier. If he manages to get out, we could be combing the woods for the sod, so we hem the place in tight and block all escape routes.' He squinted at the map. 'We don't want them to know we're coming, so once we get to this point…'he tapped the map, '… headlights off. We'll park well away from the house… here.' Again he tapped the map. 'We go the rest of the way on foot and we keep very quiet, so no talking, no torches, no car doors slamming and no bleeding sirens.' He snatched his scarf from the hook and wound it round his neck. 'One other thing. If he listens in to taxicab radios, he could listen in to police broadcasts, so we maintain radio silence.' He buttoned up his mac. 'Let's go.'
Burton was the first out, dashing to his car. Frost hung back for a quick word with Bill Wells. 'Get a doctor standing by, Bill. If we get to the poor cow in time we might need one. And if we don't get to her in time… the bastard who did it is going to need one because he's going to be seriously injured while resisting arrest, come what bloody may!'
22
It was freezing cold in the car. 'You didn't fix the heater,' Frost grunted.
'Sorry, guv.' Morgan spun the steering wheel and turned off the main Bath Road into the side road that skirted the solid black mass of Denton Woods.
They weren't saying much to each other, both eaten up with guilt, Morgan for abandoning Liz, Frost for letting him do it. Frost tried to close his mind to self-recrimination so he could concentrate on the task ahead. What state would the poor cow be in when they found her? Would she still be alive? From time to time he twisted round to make sure the other cars were following. Morgan was driving much too fast and nearly missed the lay-by, having to brake hard and reverse into it.
The rest of the team joined them, some having to park up on the grass verge. Only one forgetful, silly sod slammed his car door and had to be hissed into silence.
The night was dark with clouds obscuring the moon, but as they reached the top of a slight rise, the moon found a gap in the clouds and slid through, dousing the landscape in silver and black. Before them stood the house, imposing and isolated… Scream as loud as you like, love — no-one can hear you… In front of the house a gravelled drive cut through a large lawn which had in its centre a fountain in the shape of a nude nymph, trickling water from a cornucopia into a circular fish pond.
Frost looked anxiously up at the night sky. Everything was too flaming bright. They needed the cover of darkness to get across that expanse of lawn unseen. Then, to his relief, heavy black clouds scudded across the moon face and friendly darkness returned.
'Here's where we split into two groups,' whispered Frost. 'Take your lot round the back, Arthur, the rest come with me.' Burton grabbed Frost's arm and pointed. A gleam of light suddenly splashed out of an upstairs window, then a figure in silhouette drew the curtains together and all was black again. 'The bastard's still up,' whispered Frost, 'so let's be extra quiet. Arthur, signal with your torch when you're in position.'
A cold, anxious wait until the torch flashed its signal. Frost jerked his head to the others. 'Let's go.'
The scrunch of their running feet on the gravel drive decided him to veer across the lawn. A mistake. Half-way across, a ring of security lamps suddenly clicked on, flooding the lawn with blinding light. They froze stock still, holding their breath. They had triggered a sensor. Frost could hear his heart drumming away as he looked towards the house, waiting for the shaft of light from the window. Nothing. 'Back to the path,' he hissed. As soon as they left the lawn, the lights went out, leaving them with a brief attack of night blindness. Frost blinked and rubbed his eyes.
An estate car parked by the front door was locked, but the radiator was still warm. It had been driven recently. 'That's not the car that picked her up, guv,' whispered Morgan.
'They'd have swapped cars,' said Frost. He looked up the ivy-covered wall to the upstairs windows where the light had shown. 'That's the room we try first.'
'I reckon I could climb that ivy, guv.' Frost's withering stare was sufficient answer. 'We go in through the front door.' He looked round for Burton who had the pneumatic battering ram. 'Sod the noise, son — it's all speed from now on.' He stood back to give the DC room. The noise was deafening, but at the third blow the woodwork splintered and the door crashed back. Led by Frost they charged down the passage and up the stairs.
The first room they burst into was empty, but a muffled scream sent them hurtling into the next one. Curtains drawn, the room was lit only by the glow from an electric fire. The smell hit Frost, cloying tartish perfume mingled with sweat and stale cigarette smoke. His torch picked out white, naked flesh as he fumbled for the light switch.
On the bed, wide-eyed with terror, a naked woman. Leaning over her, a hand clamping her mouth to silence her cries, a man, also naked, his head twisted round, blinking at the night. Frost snatched the man's hand from the woman's mouth. It wasn't Liz.
'There's no money here,' said the man, trying to keep his voice steady. 'I've called the police. They'll be here any minute.'