Their Lost Daughters (DI Jackman & DS Evans #2)(20)

They could do little more until Toni was able to talk. Gary offered to stay with her at the hospital, while Jackman and Marie drove back to Saltern.

Jackman said very little during the journey. Marie knew that his mind would be working overtime. They had no choice but to take seriously Toni’s anxiety for this Emily, even though she was still high as a kite.

‘Neither the parents nor Gary Pritchard can place a youngster called Emily in Harlan Marsh, and Gary’s been working that patch long enough to know most of the little yobs and tearaways around there. Which makes this one devil of a situation. I’m not sure where the hell to start.’ Jackman sounded tired.

Marie slowed down as they approached a roundabout. ‘All we can do is start running the usual checks, hoping that this mysterious girl is known to us in some way.’

Jackman nodded. ‘My first job will be to wire Max up to his beloved computer and let him do his stuff.’

Marie agreed. Max was by far the smartest of the team when it came to IT. She pulled up in front of the station security gates and swiped her card through the machine. ‘Let’s hope we have more luck than Harlan Marsh, because if we hit a brick wall too, I guess we’ll have to go back there and take to the streets.’

‘I have an awful feeling that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.’ Jackman got out of the car and slammed the door. ‘Oh well, nothing for it. We’d better get started on some basic checks.’

*

Max came up with over twenty girls with the name Emily. Mostly teenagers, they were either missing persons or petty criminals that had crept onto police files via a variety of misdemeanours. A barrage of phone calls to private homes, prisons and young offenders’ institutions eliminated all but three names. One of them had died of an overdose and the other two were long-term mispers with no connection to the area.

Marie ended her last call and pulled a face. She really didn’t fancy traipsing the streets of Harlan Marsh, but they needed more information and that was most likely where they’d find it.

Jackman called out from his office door. ‘Marie, finish up there! We’re going back to the hospital. Gary Pritchard has just rung and Toni’s more or less ready to speak to us. I’ve told him to stay with her and not to let her talk to anyone else, not even her parents, until we get there.’

Marie pulled on her jacket and felt around in her pockets for the car keys. If Toni could say something specific about Emily, it would save them a whole load of shoe-leather.

They arrived at the hospital in seven minutes, and in another two they were standing looking down at Toni Clarkson’s bruised and tear-stained face.

‘Toni, this is DI Jackman and his sergeant, Marie Evans. Like I said, they are here to help you.’ Gary sounded warm and reassuring, like a favourite uncle. He’d clearly used the time before their arrival to try to gain the girl’s confidence.

Marie looked at Toni and saw a touch of belligerence in her eyes.

Jackman drew up a chair close to the bed and placed himself on a level with the girl, so as not to intimidate her. He assured her that she was not in any trouble, and all they wanted to do was find whoever had hurt her and punish them.

The belligerence in Toni’s eyes slowly disappeared, and only fear remained. ‘I don’t know anything,’ she whimpered.

‘Well, let’s start when you left your friends at the war memorial, shall we?’ asked Jackman softly.

Toni’s eyes darted around the room. She swallowed several times, but said nothing.

‘You told your friends you were going somewhere where you’d be welcome.’

Toni drew in on herself, and despite the almost unbearable heat of the room, she began to shiver.

‘Did you go to that place, Toni?’ Jackman asked.

Marie knew that if she did exist, with every second things were looking blacker for Emily. ‘And were you welcome?’ she added softly. ‘Were you given alcohol?’

Toni gave a long, shaky sigh and nodded miserably. ‘There’s always free booze if you want it.’

‘And where is the place?’

‘As if I’m going to tell you lot!’ Her defiance returned. ‘They’ll kill me if I grass them up, and anyway . . . It’s not that straightforward.’ She wiped a tear from her cheek and winced as she touched the bruised bone.

‘But I’ll tell you this, there were people there that I’d never seen before.’ She drew the bedclothes tighter to her and rocked backwards and forward. ‘They said they were going on to another party.’

‘And you went with them?’ Jackman looked at the girl.

She nodded again.

‘In a car?’

‘Yes.’

‘What kind? Was it a 4x4?’ Jackman asked.

‘No, just an ordinary car.’

‘Were you alone?’

‘I thought some of the others were going, but when I got into the car, it was just me with one of the men.’

‘It’s okay, Toni. You’re safe now.’ Jackman’s voice was gentle. ‘We won’t let anything else happen to you. But do you know where you went? Did you recognise the place where the party was held?’

‘There was no party.’ Her voice was heavy, flat. ‘And I don’t know where I was taken. We drove for ages, way out onto the fen somewhere. The place stank of rotting cabbage. It made me want to throw up.’