The Fourth Friend (DI Jackman & DS Evans #3)(44)

‘We spoke to Leah about five minutes prior to the super turning up,’ said a breathless PC Connor Waite. ‘And we’d done a walk round of the gardens a few minutes before that. He must have been watching from somewhere, but heaven knows where.’ He looked around and shook his head. ‘We haven’t relaxed for a minute. I just don’t get it.’

‘And you never heard anything?’ Marie asked.

‘Nothing, skip.’

Marie grimaced, and turned to Carter. ‘Time to go face the music.’

*

The superintendent was incandescent. She began by declaring that she had made a serious error of judgement in asking Carter McLean to find the pervert who was threatening her niece.

Marie watched Carter, ready to jump in if the old animosity boiled over again. But Carter just seemed bemused.

After a while, he simply said, ‘I’ll get her back, Ruth. I swear to God, I’ll get her back.’

The super stared at him. She didn’t seem to know how to react to this. She left them and went back out to the uniformed officers in the garden.

Marie took Carter’s arm and gave it a shake. ‘Talk to me, Carter.’

He looked at her long and hard, apparently incapable of uttering a word.

Marie followed him out of the hall, through the lounge and towards the conservatory.

A young WPC stood at the door, blocking their entrance.

‘We’ve left the scene uncontaminated, Sarge. No one in, no one out. SOCOs are on their way.’

Marie gazed around the bright, airy room where she and Leah had so recently been chatting. She glanced at her watch. Was it only an hour ago? ‘He’s never stopped watching this house. He was just waiting for us to let our guard down. He knows an awful lot about our routines, doesn’t he?’

‘How did he force the doors without alerting Leah to the threat?’ Carter seemed to be slowly returning to earth from wherever he’d been for the last half hour.

They walked around the house, looking for something to help them. Then Marie saw Leah’s mobile phone plugged into a charger on one of the kitchen units. ‘Just as I left her she said she needed to charge her phone.’ She peered at the battery icon. ‘Not fully charged. And there’s music playing in here. If he was quick and quiet, there’s a good chance she came to plug this in, and never heard him at all.’ She exhaled loudly then clenched her fists. ‘That poor kid! I really let her down.’

‘No! You haven’t! I let her down, not you,’ Carter shouted. ‘But I’ll get her, by God. I’ll get her back by nightfall.’

Marie stepped back, shocked.

‘I’m taking the car. Get uniform to run you back, or ring Max or Charlie.’

‘Where are you going?’ Marie was beginning to be afraid.

‘I’m not sure, but I think I know someone who might just point me in the right direction.’ He swallowed, then gripped her arm. ‘Trust me, Marie. I’m going to sort this.’

Marie made to follow him, then stopped. Whatever he was going to do, he clearly didn’t want her along. For a moment she had no idea what to do. Then she pulled out her phone and called Jackman.

*

‘I’ve never seen him like this,’ Marie told Jackman.

Jackman knew Marie very well. He’d seen her in a dozen different frames of mind, but he’d never seen her as confused as she was now.

They were sitting in his car, waiting for the forensic team to arrive, and Marie told him of Carter’s strange reaction to Leah’s abduction.

‘Do you know, just before this happened I was about to give him the go-ahead to talk to us about Suzanne and Tom Holland. I’ve had Laura Archer bending my ear about his final task.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Now I’m really not sure what to do.’

‘I was going to ask you the same thing. He’s been going on and on about helping with the Holland inquiry. He knew the Hollands. Tom was his best friend. We need his help, and he wants to give it. If he has a major setback, it could happen over anything. Maybe this is it.’

Jackman sat back, stared out of the window and watched the uniformed police officers securing the scene and knocking on neighbouring doors. ‘Maybe this outburst actually stems from his frustration about the Holland investigation.’

‘That, and the fact that Ruth Crooke asked him for help, and he believes he failed her.’ She grunted. ‘The super really tore into him, sir. And he just stood there and took it.’

‘I’m very twitchy about him going off like the Lone-bloody-Ranger. I’ve never liked having a loose cannon on the team, but I thought I could handle him.’ He looked at Marie. ‘Any idea where he might have gone?’

Marie shook her head. ‘Not a clue. All he said was someone he knew might have information that would help him find Leah. A snout, I guess.’

‘Do we have a list of names?’

‘I do, although he’s been office bound for quite a while now, so it might have changed. Street people do move on.’

‘Anyone you can recall who was well in Carter’s pocket?’

‘Not especially.’ She looked up. ‘SOCOs are here.’

A big white van with “Crime Scene Investigation” emblazoned on the side was pulling up outside the property.

‘Okay, let’s go sort this, then we’ll see if we can get a fix on our masked avenger, shall we?’