Their Lost Daughters (DI Jackman & DS Evans #2)(28)

‘Yes, I do. Shall I go over to the hospital and ask her?’

Jackman shook his head. ‘No offence, but why not ring Harlan Marsh nick and get Gary Pritchard to do it. He seems to have a way with that kid.’

‘Good point. I’ll contact him. And I’ll ring that friend of Ethan’s too.’

Jackman walked back out to the CID room and saw Rosie, Max and Charlie all gloomily staring at computer printouts. ‘I guess from your faces that we’ve nothing more on Emily?’

Rosie looked up. ‘Sorry, boss. We are running out of options to explore.’

‘I’m beginning to wonder if that drug messed with Toni’s head. We could be hunting a hallucination.’ Max pulled a face.

‘We can’t rule that out, but the kid is remembering more every time we speak to her. I’m sure Emily exists. Sorry, guys, just keep looking.’

Marie joined them. ‘Ethan’s friend isn’t answering his mobile, so I’ve left a message on voicemail. Let’s hope he gets back to us.’

‘And Gary?’

‘He’s on his way to the hospital now, and he was certain that he could get her to visit the chapel.’

‘Excellent. We’ll meet him there, and then go back to the chapel with Toni. If she recognises that cellar, it will tell us something definite. And we’ll ask her if she can remember any more about Emily.’ Jackman straightened up. ‘Right, time to move. Rosie, you check our own records and see if we have anything logged here in Saltern-le-Fen about illicit parties or drinking clubs. Keep me updated on anything you unearth, and Max, you and Charlie keep digging regarding mispers, and listen out for this call from Ethan Barley’s friend. Get as much as you can from him about the Emily he chatted up in the pub, okay?’

Max nodded. ‘Wilco.’

‘Then go to it. We have to find out what happened to Toni Clarkson, and particularly whether we have another missing girl. We need something to corroborate Toni’s story about the beautiful Emily with the long dark hair.’

*

Jackman tossed Marie his keys. ‘You drive. My phone’s ringing.’

He pulled his mobile from his pocket and walked around to the passenger door.

‘DI Jackman? I’m sorry, but I need to understand something.’

It took him a moment to realise it was Ethan Barley. ‘Sure, Ethan, fire away.’

‘Can you assure me that it really would help my brother if he spoke to you? I mean, it’s not some kind of trick on your part, is it? I know a bit about entrapment and shit like that. It does happen, so don’t tell me otherwise.’

‘I wouldn’t lie to you, Ethan. That sort of thing does go on, but not with my team, okay? If Nicholas knows something, and he comes to us freely, it will go well for him. Likewise, if he knows something and hides it from me, I’ll hit him harder than a speeding lorry. Is that clear?’

The line went quiet for a long time. Finally, Ethan said, ‘Then I think he needs to talk to you.’

‘If he needs a bit of persuasion, Ethan, you can tell him we have lifted an awful lot of fingerprints from that cellar. If his are there, on a bottle maybe, and he denies knowing about the party . . . I guess your father won’t be too pleased to see his younger son in handcuffs.’

‘I’ll bring him down.’ Ethan sounded scared.

‘In two hours, okay? I’ll meet you at the front desk.’

‘Yeah. Oh, and forget the girl my friend chatted up, I’ve just heard from him and she was a blonde with spiky hair.’

The line went dead.

‘Well, thanks to a little arm twisting from big brother, young Nicholas is about to pay us a visit.’

Marie smiled. ‘Perfect. Could save us a lot of legwork.’

‘And if Toni recognises the crypt, then everything could fall into place pretty quickly.’

But Jackman sounded more confident than he felt.

*

Marie managed to persuade the Clarksons to wait in their car while she and Jackman showed Toni the chapel. She would probably be much more willing to talk if her parents weren’t hovering in the background.

Toni held onto Marie’s arm as she led her along the gravel path, and Marie felt her growing more and more tense with every step.

She patted the girl’s hand. ‘You’ve nothing to fear, Toni. Just tell us whether or not you recognise the cellar, and then we’ll get you out of there straightaway.’

‘I hate not being able to remember everything. It’s so scary. I mean, those freaky perverts could have done anything!’ Toni winced and touched her side with her free hand.

‘But they didn’t, Toni, hold on to that.’ Marie stopped, took the girl by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

‘It’s bad enough that they hurt you, but they never sexually assaulted you, okay?’

Toni nodded, and mumbled, ‘Yeah, I suppose.’

They walked to the top of the steps and looked down. ‘Okay, let’s get this over with.’ Toni stepped down, touching the wall tentatively with her fingertips as if she were reading Braille.

Gary was waiting at the bottom, and he held out his hand to her.

‘Good lass. Well done,’ he said. ‘Just a quick look round, and then we’ll get you on your way home, okay?’

Toni stood at the entrance to the crypt and stared about her. She wrinkled her nose as the smell hit her.