Текст книги "Jessica Daniel: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water"

Автор книги: Kerry Wilkinson

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 56 страниц)

17

Lloyd Corless was beginning to think that watching whatever he wanted on television and playing limitless PlayStation games was actually pretty boring. The strange thing was that, if someone had said to him a few weeks ago he would be able to spend all his time watching and playing, he would have been pleased. Actually doing it was a very different matter. The truth was, he missed his mum and he missed Marcus. If they came through the hatch that led into the attic, he might even admit that to them.

The hatch was something of a mystery. He had tried to pull it up from the inside but couldn’t get his fingers into the cracks around the wooden board that blocked the attic from whatever was below it. Once he had managed to squeeze two of his fingers underneath but it was really heavy, as if something was weighing it down to prevent it being pulled upwards.

A couple of times a day he would hear a metal ladder underneath being moved around. Usually it would be because food was arriving but, once or twice, it seemed like the person simply wanted to talk to him, asking if there was anything that would make him happier.

Lloyd couldn’t think of anything other than to see his mum and Marcus but the person got angry whenever he said that, saying his mother was too ill in hospital to see him and that he would have to get used to it. He asked for his phone back but that wasn’t going to happen, either.

He couldn’t work out what was going on. As long as it didn’t involve either his mum or Marcus, he was being offered anything he wanted. Lloyd had asked about his dad but the other person didn’t really answer, then the hatch would be closed again and he would be left to play for as long as he wanted.

Lloyd did try to play but he could never really focus. Instead, he spent hours inspecting the room, wondering if there was another door or something he had missed. He was fascinated with the low parts of the ceiling he could reach. He had never touched a ceiling before as he was too short. He found himself walking in circles, running his hand along the full distance of the lower part of the roof. He also made his bed every day. It was something his mum kept on to him about when he was at home but he rarely listened. Without her, it was something he did almost to show that he could. If she did appear through the hatch one day, he wanted her to smile and be pleased with him, not angry because his bed was a mess.

The biggest thing he didn’t like was having to use the toilet in the corner. There was nothing wrong with it specifically – it was just like the one they had at home – but it felt wrong to sit on it when the rest of the room was so normal, whether there was anyone else around or not.

Lloyd was in the middle of walking a lap of the room when he heard the now-familiar sound of the metal ladder clanging from underneath. The hatch lifted a small amount and Lloyd could see the person’s eyes peering around the room looking for him. It was something that happened every time. Once, Lloyd had been standing quite close but he was told to go and sit on the bed before it would be opened any further. They locked eyes and Lloyd backed away towards the bed as the hatch opened fully and a plate of food was passed into the room.

‘How are you today, Lloyd?’ he was asked.

‘I’m all right,’ the boy mumbled quietly.

‘Here’s some food for you. Sausages, fried potatoes and beans.’

Lloyd had eaten baked beans a few days previously. They hadn’t tasted quite right but, with nothing else on offer, he had finished them anyway.

‘I’m just going to leave the plate here,’ the person added. ‘I’ll be back later to pick everything up.’

Lloyd wasn’t in the mood to give a proper answer, mumbling something as the person exited back through the hole, lowering the wooden cover in place. He moved quickly across the room and tried to get his fingers underneath it. He had seen some sort of hook on the wood and figured the person was hanging something heavy from it when they left, stopping him lifting it. He desperately tried to squeeze his fingers into the small gap but could not manage it.

Turning around, Lloyd looked at the plate of food as steam gently rose. He had figured out a day or so ago that the reason he was feeling so tired was because something was being added into either his food or his drink. He had seen a television programme once where a tiger’s food had something added to it that made the animal go to sleep.

He had been left a large bottle of fizzy drink and some plastic cups a few days ago. If whatever was making him tired wasn’t in that bottle, it was either in the ketchup he had eaten previously or the sauce that went with the baked beans. Lloyd didn’t know what to do. He knew from school that you had to eat and drink so he didn’t have much option. He tried to drink as little of the liquid as he could and left most of the baked beans, scraping off the sauce from the rest of his food. He was beginning to think his mother wasn’t in hospital at all. Maybe the person who had taken him had done something to her? Maybe they had Marcus too? The only time he had seen the person unhappy was when he had made some noise by banging on the walls. Lloyd knew he had to get out but with the window so high and the hatch weighed down, it wouldn’t be easy.

As he finished scraping sauce from the sausage and ate it, he thought that, if he could stop himself from feeling so tired all the time, he might be able to think of a way out.

18

Jessica stood solemnly, listening to the voice speaking from the front of the church. She wasn’t taking in the words but whatever was being said sounded appropriately sincere. She was one of the officers representing the force at Isaac Hutchings’s funeral. It had taken time for the body to be released due to the post mortem and further tests but with everything now complete and suffocation confirmed as the cause of death, the family were finally allowed some closure.

Kayla was standing at the front with her husband Mike and their daughter Jenny. It was the first time Jessica had seen Isaac’s father. While Kayla had thanked the officers for coming, he had ignored them, refusing to shake hands. Jessica didn’t blame him. Even outsiders could see they had achieved very little in trying to find who had taken and killed their son. Jessica watched Jenny cling onto her father throughout the ceremony, refusing to let him go. It was as if each was a comfort blanket for the other. Even from the very brief greeting at the start, it was clear there was a lot of tension between husband and wife. Jessica remembered Kayla telling her Mike blamed her for not collecting Isaac from school. She wondered if it would ever be reconciled.

The end of the ceremony was as awkward as the initial greeting. Before everyone headed off for the wake, Kayla approached Jessica, Reynolds and Cole to thank them again for being there. Mike and Jenny were standing awkwardly, close to one of the cars that were carrying family members. He eyeballed the officers as if daring one of them to speak to him.

Sensing the unease, Kayla spoke quietly to Jessica in the churchyard. ‘Don’t worry about him,’ she said. ‘He’s angry with everyone at the moment, me especially.’

‘It’s okay,’ Jessica said.

‘Are you any closer to . . . ?’ Kayla didn’t finish the question but she didn’t have to.

Jessica shook her head without committing herself to anything specific. ‘We’re trying.’

‘I saw on the news that someone else had gone missing. Have you . . . ?’

‘Not yet.’

From the look on the woman’s face, it seemed as if Kayla was closely following Lloyd Corless’s disappearance. Jessica guessed she believed that finding Lloyd’s abductor would be the key to Isaac’s murder. She tried to offer a reassuring smile but false sincerity was something Jessica had never been good at. Kayla nodded and gripped Jessica’s hand as she shook it. Her palms were still feeling raw from the fall a few days previously but she tried not to wince. Kayla’s long black hair was clean and neatly tied back and she looked better than when Jessica had last seen her, although there were still heavy dark bags under her eyes, despite the concealer she had used.

‘Can you do something for me?’ Kayla asked.

‘What?’

‘Call if anything happens. If you find him or whatever, the other boy, can you let me know?’

‘I’ll try.’

Jessica didn’t want to promise because if they did find Lloyd, whether he was alive or dead, there would be a lot of people who would need to be spoken to. Kayla seemed to accept what Jessica was saying.

‘Okay, thank you. Are you coming to the hall?’

Jessica glanced across towards Mike, who was still staring at them. ‘I’m not sure that’s really for the best.’

Kayla looked behind her. ‘You’re probably right.’ She stared directly into Jessica’s eyes before turning and the look said more than her words could: ‘I need to go, but please find whoever did this’.

As she walked away, Jessica looked to her colleagues. ‘Are you off back to the station?’ she asked. Jack nodded but didn’t speak. Jessica had known him for years and he was looking older than ever, the stress of the past few days and lack of progress weighing on him heavily.

‘We’ve got more meetings later this afternoon,’ Reynolds said. ‘Are you coming?’

‘I think I’m going to visit Rachel Corless again and maybe Adrian too if you don’t mind.’

The truth was Jessica wasn’t enjoying the atmosphere at Longsight. To outward appearances, nothing had changed but everyone was feeling the pressure to make a breakthrough.

‘Are you on to something?’ Reynolds asked.

Jessica shook her head. ‘I’m just going to check in.’

She hadn’t told any of her colleagues but she had been text-messaging Esther each evening to swap accounts of what their respective departments had found out that day. There was very little but Jessica felt she probably knew as much as anyone given the tension between CID and the kidnap team. To the media they were presenting a united front but behind closed doors, they were blaming each other for not being able to find Lloyd. It was typical internal politics.

Jessica made her way back to where she had parked. The weather had been getting colder, the rain replaced by morning frosts and flimsy flurries of snow. None of it settled but each day seemed to be chillier than the one before.

As she sat in the driver’s seat, Jessica took out her phone and called Esther. After making sure she was at Rachel’s and not too busy, Jessica drove to the house. The giant Christmas tree and inflatable Santa across the road were still present and had been joined a few doors down by a huge snowman that looked as if it was made of polystyrene. Jessica shook her head and allowed herself a small grin, wondering how Esther had taken to the new oversized piece of tat.

She rang the doorbell and Esther answered. Before going inside, Jessica nodded across the road towards the snowman. ‘I know,’ Esther said with a wicked grin, stepping out of the house and pulling the door closed without locking it in place. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, and the suit had been replaced by a pair of jeans and woollen jumper. Because she was staying with Rachel as a permanent support figure, it made sense for her to dress more informally. ‘Still cold out then?’ Esther added, walking along the path with Jessica next to her.

‘Bloody freezing. I was up in Sunderland the other day and it’s worse up there.’

‘I heard you fell over . . .’ Esther turned, grinning.

‘Who told you that?’ Jessica was stunned the other woman knew.

‘Oh, I have spies everywhere.’

‘If we could channel all the energy that’s spent gossiping about me into actual police work, we’d have wrapped this all up weeks ago.’

‘Are you all right?’ Esther asked.

‘Fine. How’s Rachel?’

Esther let out a small sigh. ‘She’s just . . . difficult to read. I think she’s coming to the realisation Adrian isn’t involved after all. She’s been really calm because I think she was convinced Lloyd would be back any day and his dad would be in trouble. She was a bit upset last night and I think it’s dawning on her that it’s not going to happen like that.’

‘Does she know anyone else who might be involved?’

The two women stopped at the end of the pathway. ‘No, it’s difficult to get much of anything out of her. Having her friend around helps but she can’t be here all the time. She spends all day cleaning then watching TV in the evening. Then she keeps talking about getting the place ready for Christmas, as if everything’s normal.’

‘What about the other son?’

‘Marcus? He spends a lot of time in his room. I had a bit of a chat with him the other day but you’ve got to be careful talking to minors. I think he’s coming to terms with it better than his mother. How’s it going at your end?’

Jessica was perfectly happy to tell Esther the truth, knowing it wouldn’t go any further. ‘Shite. We’ve got nothing and, worse still, the papers know it. Everyone’s assuming they’re getting ready to lay into us. The chief super was around yesterday but it’s not as if he can do much. He’s putting loads more officers out onto the streets to make it look like we know what we’re doing.’

‘Sounds about right. Shall we go in? It’s bloody freezing out here. I’ve got this jumper on but it’s boiling in there. The heating’s permanently on full. I’d hate to be paying those gas bills.’

‘I was going to but it sounds like you’ve got enough going on. I think I’m going to nip up and see Adrian again. He might have some ideas now he knows we’re not looking into him.’

‘Have you formally ruled him out?’

Jessica blew into her hands to warm them. ‘More or less. You know what it’s like, you do as much digging as you can and, if you can’t find anything, you just assume they’ve hidden it well. The official line is “not a suspect”, the unofficial one is “keep looking”. The even more unofficial one is that we don’t have the officers to “keep looking” because they’re all out on the streets.’

Esther turned. ‘All right, let me know how you go.’

Jessica drove steadily up the motorway, not wanting to push her car too hard, and arriving just before sunset.

Adrian opened the door and invited her in. ‘No one’s been telling me anything,’ he said and Jessica knew he had good reason to complain. While Esther had been sent to stay with Rachel, Lloyd’s father had been left almost entirely out of the loop. The man offered her tea and Jessica waited in the kitchen with him while he made it. ‘Can you tell me what’s going on?’ he asked.

‘We’re still looking for your son, Mr Corless,’ Jessica said.

‘Just call me Adrian. Are you having any luck?’

Telling the man the truth would be fairly unprofessional, so Jessica fudged the issue as best she could. ‘We are following a few leads.’

‘That sounds like classic police-speak. “Proceeding in a westerly direction” and all that crap. Have you at least moved on from trying to go after me?’

‘You’re not on our list of suspects.’

‘That’s one thing at least.’

Adrian poured boiling water from the kettle into two mugs and took two teabags from an open box on the counter top, dropping them in. ‘I’ve been out driving each day,’ he said. ‘I know it’s a waste of time but you just hope you’ll spot something. Sometimes you see some kid with the same coat and your heart jumps until you get a bit closer and realise it’s someone else. The worst thing is, I can’t talk to anyone. Rach doesn’t answer my calls and then you lot go to her, not me. He’s my son too, y’know.’

There was a clear frustration but Jessica thought she would probably be far angrier than he was if the roles were reversed. She certainly wouldn’t be making cups of tea.

‘I know we asked you the other day but is there anyone you can think of who might want to harm Lloyd?’ Jessica asked as sincerely as she could.

‘I’ve been trying to think,’ Adrian said, making eye contact. ‘I’ve not just been sitting around and wondering – I’ve made lists. I thought about everyone over the years who I’ve fallen out with and so on. The thing is, apart from Rach and her family, I’ve not really pissed people off. I’ve worked when I’ve had a job and tried to find something when I’ve not. I don’t owe anyone any money, I’m not in any gangs or anything and I hardly ever go out on the piss. Until I split with Rach, everything was simple.’

‘Why did you break up?’

Adrian opened a small fridge and took out a pint of milk, pouring some into each mug before putting it away and offering one to Jessica. ‘It was a build-up of things. Rach was happy when there was money coming in but when I lost my job, she couldn’t accept it. When I couldn’t get another one full-time and was relying on scraps from the job centre, she was furious. She thought I couldn’t find a job because I didn’t want one.’

He stopped to take a sip of his tea before waving Jessica towards the living room. He sat on one of the chairs at the dining table, Jessica taking another.

‘Is that why you broke up with her?’ Jessica asked.

‘Sort of. I knew she was really materialistic when we were together. She always liked spending money on things but it was fine because we had the money to spend. Our wedding was ridiculous. It got to the point where I didn’t even want to know how much she was spending because I wouldn’t sleep. Every time I brought it up, she’d go on about it being “her” big day. Never “ours”, always “hers”. I thought that once we got through that, it would change. Then Marcus and Lloyd came along and it was sort of better. She liked spending money on them. After I lost my job, she acted as if I’d failed her and the boys. She was used to a comfortable lifestyle and claiming benefits wasn’t something she wanted to do. Then it was all her mum in her ear about how I was never good enough and all that. But we stayed together for the boys until I couldn’t take it any longer. They were at an age where they were just about old enough to understand and I told her it was over. She’d been giving me all that abuse over the years but I still ended up being the bad guy because I was the one who split with her.’

Adrian tailed off, picking up his mug from the table. Jessica didn’t think he was looking for sympathy but she felt sorry for him nonetheless. From everything he said, he certainly had been harshly treated. It was as if he sensed her thoughts. ‘It’s fine,’ he added. ‘I’m used to it all now. I don’t want to bore you with my moaning, I’d rather you were out there looking.’

As he spoke Jessica heard the front door opening and a woman’s voice calling out, ‘Ade?’

‘Shit, that’s my mum,’ Adrian said. ‘You should probably leave.’ Jessica didn’t have time to ask him why before a woman burst into the living room with two bags of shopping. She was short and overweight, with shoulder-length greying hair, and wearing a dress that looked more like a curtain than an item of clothing.

‘Are you coming to help me or not?’ she demanded before noticing Jessica. ‘Who are you?’

‘This is DS Daniel, she’s—’ Before Adrian could finish speaking, his mother cut him off.

‘And you let her in here?’ She turned from Adrian and looked at Jessica, her eyes dark and wide with anger. She didn’t look that much older than her son and Jessica guessed she was a teenager when she’d had him. ‘Why aren’t you out there looking for my grandson instead of harassing my son? Why would he kidnap his own child? It’s that bitch wife of his you should be going after.’

Jessica stood, knowing it was time to go. The woman wasn’t ready to stop as she continued shouting. ‘Yes, go on, get out. And don’t come back until you’ve got my grandson with you.’

As she left the house, Jessica could hear Adrian trying to calm his mother. She wasn’t under an obligation to leave but seeing as the man wasn’t under suspicion and she had only dropped around to reassure herself, Jessica knew there was no point in causing a scene. She walked along the pathway, passing a car which had the doors open and shopping bags on the seat, thinking it seemed about right that Adrian’s mother did his shopping for him.

With everything that had happened over the past few days, Jessica was at a loss of what to do next. She unlocked her car and sat in the driver’s seat fiddling with her phone, scrolling up and down the list of contacts, sometimes focusing on one and trying to remember the last time she had spoken to the person. As the list of names fizzed across the screen, one in particular settled in the centre.

She stared at it, her heart beating quicker as she remembered what he meant to her. She didn’t know if it was fate or something she had done subconsciously but Jessica didn’t think twice before pressing the call button next to Adam Compton’s name.