Their Lost Daughters (DI Jackman & DS Evans #2)(29)

‘No, this wasn’t it. This smells even worse than cabbages, it stinks like piss.’

‘Are you sure, Toni?’ Jackman had been so certain that this was the place.

‘Yes, this is bigger, and well, it looks like part of an old church. That place I was in,’ she gave an involuntary shiver, ‘it was a proper cellar, you know? Like there was old stuff around. Boxes and cases, that sort of thing.’

‘Do you see anything here that reminds you of where you were taken?’ asked Gary.

The girl walked further in, then stopped and looked around her.

‘There were bottles with candles stuck in them, like those.’ She pointed to a stone shelf lined with empty wine bottles with candle stubs in their necks. She walked towards them and picked one up.

‘Emily showed me this label! She thought it was funny, and we laughed at it.’

‘Put it down, please, Toni,’ said Marie. ‘We may need to check the prints on it. Are you saying you were offered the same type of wine?’

Toni nodded furiously. ‘I wouldn’t forget that name, would I?’

They leaned over her shoulder and saw the label. Old Tart.

‘There was one called Old Git. We laughed at that too.’

Jackman shrugged. ‘People buy the label not the wine, I suppose.’

‘Actually they are deceptively good wines, sir. One’s a Sauvignon blanc and Terret, the other’s a Grenache/Syrah,’ Gary said.

‘I had no idea you were a connoisseur. Are they hard to find?’

‘No, sir. A lot of the supermarkets stock them.’

‘They would, wouldn’t they?’ Jackman muttered.

‘Can I go home now? This minging place is making me want to hoop up.’

Marie put an arm around Toni’s slender shoulder and smiled at her. ‘Of course. I feel exactly the same. Thank you, Toni, you’ve really helped us.’

‘Have you found Emily yet?’

Marie’s smile faded. ‘Not yet. But when you’ve settled in at home, we really need to talk to you some more about her.’

‘Sure. Although I don’t know what else I can tell you. It’s all so fuzzy.’

Marie tried to sound positive. ‘Hey, you just remembered laughing over the wine labels, I’m sure other things will start to come back to you.’

‘Maybe.’ Toni glanced towards the doorway, where her father now stood, anxiously shifting from foot to foot.

‘I hope so. Emily was really nice.’

*

Gary and Toni drove away. Jackman needed to call the station so Marie slid in behind the steering wheel, started the engine and waited while he strode around trying to find a signal. She yawned, tapped her fingers on the wheel, and then eased the car round to face the road. When she looked up again, Jackman was hurrying across the grass towards her.

‘Rosie has found two incidents reported in the last few months where youngsters attended underground parties and finished up the worse for wear.’

‘Right. They were local?’

‘Local kids, but the venues were out of town. That’s all she knows. She’s still digging. Right now, we need to go interview the Barley boys, so put your foot down, Marie. I can’t wait to hear what baby brother has to tell us.’





CHAPTER ELEVEN

Whatever Ethan said to Nicholas, it had a profound effect. The boy was spewing out information like a broken tap.

‘I thought it was cool to start with. Make a load of wonga for getting a shitty key copied? I mean, who wouldn’t? It wasn’t till later that I got scared,’ Nicholas said.

‘Shame you didn’t think it through first, dickhead,’ murmured his brother. ‘What did you think they were going to do down there? Hold prayer meetings and plan World Peace?’

‘I didn’t care what they did! The place is a craphole anyway.’

‘So what was the story they gave you, Nicholas?’ asked Jackman.

‘They had crates and crates of booze and were happy to share it with us if we kids just hung out with them. No strings.’

Jackman’s gut twisted into a small, painful knot. ‘And what sorts of activities were involved in this hanging out?’

Nicholas shrugged. ‘Just drinking, dancing together. Bit of a feel and a snog.’ He bit his lip. ‘Though I think some of them went further.’

‘We saw the condoms, thank you.’

‘Well, I didn’t know that was going to happen, did I? The old guys, well, they just looked, didn’t they? I mean, they never touched us or anything like that. They just sat in the shadows and watched us.’ Nicholas stared down at the table. ‘Some of the kids wanted to give them their money’s worth. Kind of shock them, show them what they could do.’ He turned his acne-spattered face towards them.

‘It was the drink, wasn’t it? Most of them were hammered by that time.’ His eyes returned to the table. ‘I split when I saw one of the men had a camcorder in one hand and his di—’ he grimaced and pointed to his crotch. ‘If you catch my drift?’

‘Sorry, Nicholas, but we need to be clear on this, one of the older men was touching himself as he watched the youngsters?’

Nicholas nodded. ‘Wanker.’

‘You realise we have to stop this, don’t you? Before one of these kids gets . . . God knows what could happen to them.’