Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(16)

Cabrina laughed.

‘The key will be under the mat and I’ll make sure Archie sleeps in with Mum and Dad. Love you, babe.’

‘I’ll see you later, honey.’

Jeanie appeared at the door to the flat and mouthed, ‘Can I have a word?’ Carter nodded. He watched Jeanie walk across towards him. She smiled and looked away. The awkwardness between them always caught her off guard. He knew it. Sometimes she was able to forget it, ignore it. Other times she looked like it was going to affect their working relationship but it hadn’t, because, in the end, she went home to Pete and he went home to Cabrina. He looked away. He didn’t want her to think he was still smarting.

‘Okay?’ he asked, as she got within hearing distance. She stood by the landing window and gave a small shake of the head. ‘What’s bothering you?’

‘He can’t sit still for a minute. He’s forever jumping up and going off into the next room. He makes calls that he’d prefer I didn’t hear.’

‘Shall we bug his phone?’

‘Yes, we have to. Willis told me that Lauren confessed her and Toby’s relationship is not the best. He definitely didn’t marry her to carry on his name.’

‘Why did he, do you think?’

‘Maybe he was trying his hardest to fit into a certain-shaped mould. Maybe he knows he can’t but he’s too frightened to face it.’

‘Gay, you mean?’

‘Gay, bisexual, apparently. Lauren suspects there could be someone else. He’s had relationships with men in the past.’

‘Most likely to be someone at work, if he doesn’t meet people online, that is. What are your thoughts about the missing suit found in the bin?’ asked Carter. ‘I’ve been thinking about what kind of person would risk changing the child rather than bundle him into a car and get away fast?’

‘They obviously didn’t have a car within a few feet,’ answered Jeanie.

‘But, they threw the suit in a bin nearby the scene. Didn’t they realize we would find it?’ Carter said.

‘I don’t think they could have,’ Jeanie answered.

‘Which means this is an amateur or a first-timer, do you think?’ asked Carter. ‘The established paedophile network is too slick to make a mistake like that.’

‘But if it was opportune?’ asked Jeanie.

‘Can’t have been, can it? Because they had a change of clothes ready and they had an exit planned.’

Back inside the flat, Willis was waiting for Carter. ‘Robbo’s come up with some interesting stuff to show you on film.’

‘Okay, good. I think we’ll grab ourselves a respite and regroup.’

They said goodbye to Toby, Lauren and Jeanie and drove towards the centre of Greenwich. They parked outside the Cutty Sark museum. When they walked past it, it was winding down for the day and a young male assistant was cashing up at the desk.

Carter cocked his head towards the entrance.

‘Let’s just go and chat; see how his day has been.’

Willis smiled to herself as she followed. She knew Carter would have many ‘off-piste’ episodes, as he called them, on the way through an investigation.

They walked across and Carter knocked at the window and showed his badge. The young man looked nervously around but Carter’s broad smile had opened many doors and the lad nodded and came forward to unlock.

They stepped inside. ‘Getting brass monkeys out here.’ Carter gave an exaggerated shiver. He showed his warrant card. Willis showed hers.

‘Okay if we take up five minutes of your time?’ Carter asked. The youth nodded cautiously. Carter wandered around the displays of London souvenirs and the plastic rats, the miniature glass bottles with tiny Cutty Sark models inside.

‘Do people still buy all this stuff?’

The lad nodded.

‘What’s your name, mate?’

‘Rex.’

‘Well, Rex, you’re obviously doing a grand job here. We’re not here to cause you any trouble. I just need your help with something. Yesterday, about this time in the afternoon, a man walked past here pushing a buggy. He was probably walking quite slowly. Look, let me show you a photo.’ Willis took out a folded sheet of paper, which had been given to the search officers, and opened it. It was a still from the CCTV cameras around the museum.

Rex studied it. ‘He’s the man whose kid was snatched?’

‘Yes, that’s him.’

‘I was already asked if I saw him and I didn’t.’

‘Good – good that my officers are doing their job, but I just want to ask you about the other people you had in that afternoon. Was it busy?’

‘It was. We seemed to have large groups of foreign tourists in. I think it must be cheap to come to London in February. We had a big party of Japanese, some schoolchildren from France. There was a Dutch tour.’

‘What about UK accents? Did you hear any of those?’

‘Yes, I did. Some people up from Cornwall.’

‘Cornwall? You’re sure, not Bristol, not Exeter?’

‘I’m a hundred per cent sure. I go down there all the time. My mum’s from there.’

They thanked Rex and walked towards the Cutty Sark pub on the corner. Willis ordered a Coke.