Faraday 02 Network Virus (14 page)

In a sudden, surprising burst of energy he picked up the plate, carried it to the waste bin, scraped the remaining half of the meal into the bin and went to put the plate and the cutlery into the sink. He turned back to her, wiping his hands on the seat of his trousers.

“
Now then - what was it you wanted to ask I?”

John intervened. “You told me ten minutes ago, when I was at the door, that you had seen something yesterday morning which may be important.”

“
Eh?” Then the words seemed to get through. “That’s right, I did. ‘Ere. Come up ‘ere.” He gestured for them to follow him.

They went back along the corridor and turned up the stairs. He puffed his way to the top with only a single pause. Then he led them to the bedroom at the front of the house. Charlotte noticed the bed was sort-of made up and the rather tattered curtains were pulled open.

The old boy led the way to the window. “It was ‘ere,” he said and turned to face them.

There was a long pause before John politely enquired, “What was here, Mr Smithson?”

“
Oh. Oh, yes.” He nodded. “I’d just got up. I always puts my dressing gown on before I opens the curtains. There it is, on the ‘ook behind the door.”

Charlotte was catching on. “So after you put on your dressing gown, Mr Smithson, you pulled back the curtains and looked out of the window.”

“
Yes,” he agreed. “That’s right.”

“
And what did you see?”

“
I saw a big dark blue car - a beauty, it was.”

“
Where was it?” she asked.

He pointed. “Just over there, outside the paper shop. I thought he’d stopped to get a paper, but you’re not allowed to stop there. You get in trouble with the cops if you stop there.” He paused, exhausted by the long speech.

Charlotte encouraged him to go on. “This car, Mr Smithson, which had stopped where it shouldn’t?”

“
Yes,” he agreed. “He shouldn’t have done that.”

“
So what did you see next?”

“
I seen a little girl walk along the pavement and get into the big blue car.”

“
What? Just like that? Did she hesitate - er - stop before she got into the car? Did somebody get out and take her into the car? Or did she just walk up to the car and get in?”

The old boy shook his head. “I didn’t see no-one else. I think she just went and got in by ‘erself.”

John handed him the photo he was carrying of Tracey in her summer school uniform of a green check dress but without a hat.

“
Is this the girl?”

The old man studied it and handed it back to him. “Yes,” he declared. “That’s the one.”

“
Are you sure,” asked Charlotte. “It’s important that you’re sure.”

“
That’s the one all right.”

“
How do you know?” John appreciated the importance of getting a positive sighting. “Could you see her clearly?”

“
That’s the one,” repeated Smithson. “I know ‘cause she was wearing that frock.”

Charlotte and John looked at each other. They both realised there was no point in telling Smithson that about three hundred girls were currently wearing the same style and colour of dress.

“
Could you say how old she was?” Charlotte asked.

The old boy shook his head. “Sorry, my dear, I don’t know nothing about ‘ow old girls is.”

“
What about the hair?” That was John presenting the photo to him again. “Did the girl have the same hair as the one in the photo?”

“
Oh, I didn’t see any hair.”

Charlotte said, “But nevertheless you would be prepared to swear that the girl you saw was the same one as the one in the photo?”

”’
Course I would. I told you, ‘cause of the frock.”

Charlotte shook her head at John. It was most likely that the girl Smithson had seen
was
Tracey, but his evidence wouldn’t stand up to normal tests.

“
So what was this girl’s behaviour like?”

He looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

“
What I want to know is - did she seem happy or would you say she was frightened? Did she seem quite willing to get into the car?”

Smithson showed the first sign of truculence. “Well, I told you - she got into the car, didn’t she? I just seen her do it.”

Charlotte sighed. “What we’re trying to find out is whether the girl was happy to go with the person or persons who were already in the car. Did somebody get out of the car and open the door for her to get in or did she open the door herself?”

“
I told you that I didn’t see nobody else. She got in the other side of the car so I wouldn’t, would I?”

“
What happened after she got in to the car?”

“
What happened?” He looked at Charlotte as though she was a bit simple.“It drove off, of course. I told you, you can’t stop there. You get into trouble with the cops if you stops there.”

“
Do you know what type of car it was?”

“
It was a big dark blue one.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what type it was. It was big and it was posh. That’s all I can tell you.”

“
I suppose you didn’t get the number?”

“
I’m sorry, my dear. I’m afraid my eyesight isn’t very good these days.”

“
And which way did it go?”

“
Down that way.” He pointed down the gentle hill which led towards the town centre.

“
You didn’t see whether it turned off anywhere?”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t hanging about. I didn’t know you was going to ask me all these questions, did I? I wanted my cuppa. I just pulled back the curtings and went downstairs.”

“
OK, Mr Smithson. I don’t think there’s anything else we want to ask you. Thank you very much.” Charlotte took one more look across the street. “I think you are the last person to have seen Tracey Bostock before she disappeared. Now we’ve got to try and find the navy blue car.” She smiled at the old boy. “There’s a possibility that I may need to come back and get you to sign a formal statement, but I shan’t trouble you again unless I have to.”

With many a thank you they detached themselves from Mr Smithson who now seemed anxious to talk about everything from parking restrictions to the state of the weather. Five minutes later they had finally got away and were in the street.

“
What do you think?” asked John as they walked to Charlotte’s car.

She put her head on one side as she considered. “Well, although the old boy wouldn’t be any good in the witness stand, I’m fairly confident the girl was Tracey. The timing is right and it’s on her route to the school. At this stage we don’t know of anybody else who might be walking down the street at that time. It’s definitely our best lead so far in this frustrating search.”

“
That’s what I think too. That’s why I rang you.”

“
You were quite right. Now we’ve got to try and trace this dark blue car, even though we haven’t got much information to go on. I think I’ll take you back to the office and you can start trying to trace it using the computer.”

“
OK, ma’am.”

“
I’ll tell Greg I’m taking you off the house-to-house enquiries.” She nodded at him “Well, let’s get going.”

- 17 -

When they got back to the office after lunch Stafford Paulson was there but he told them he’d already sent Sergeant Mallinson back to continue the house-to-house enquiries.

Charlotte brought him up to date with their chat to Smithson and explained that John had been brought in to issue a new bulletin to the media. He would also try and find out some information about dark blue cars on the computer to see what matches he came up with.

“
So how did you get on with this pervert guy?” she asked him as soon as John had left them.

Paulson shook his head. “The poor bugger seems to be frightened of his own shadow. I can’t believe that he’s got the guts or the resources to grab some passing twelve-year-old and imprison her somewhere. Greg’s absolutely sure of his guilt and thinks I should have arrested him on the spot.”

“
I don’t have a lot of faith in Greg’s judgement.” Charlotte snorted. “I’m sure you did the right thing.”

“
The only problem is that his sister can’t vouch for him in the period when Tracey disappeared because she was working as a cleaner at the Black Bear pub. And it appears that Sidney went and bought a paper while she was out, which was unusual for him.” He pulled a face.“I also suspect that he’s not revealing everything that he should be telling us. Apparently last Tuesday afternoon he took a three-hour walk. He says he was just going round the town, but that doesn’t ring true.”

“
Nevertheless, that’s hardly enough to justify an arrest.”

Paulson changed the subject. “Did you find out anything when you talked to the kids at the school?”

Charlotte smiled. “Well, I can’t claim we came up with anything that immediately pointed us in the right direction. Bobbie’s been putting all the contact names and locations which they suggested on to the computer. One intriguing little thing is that Tracey apparently had a private chat with a nubile miss in the fourth form called Karen Tilt. It seemed an unlikely pairing because Tracey looks young for her age and the other girl appears to be fifteen going on twenty. When I questioned Karen she claimed the discussion was because Tracey had been seen with her boyfriend, but I’ve got to say that doesn’t ring true with me. And, from the look in her eyes, I would definitely say she was lying.” She shrugged. “However, like you and your pervert, I don’t know whether I’m justified in pursuing the matter further without some additional information.”

“
So what do we do now?”

“
I think we’re justified in waiting until tomorrow morning to see whether we can come up with any information about this car before we start the serious searches of the cliffs, woodlands and common areas in the region. Then we can begin to get the public involved.” Charlotte shook her head. “Meanwhile I don’t know what’s happened to that damned father of hers. He, of all people, ought to be getting involved.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Ah - you wouldn’t know about that. Tracey’s mother and father, Marion and Gary Bostock, were in the station making the complaint about her rape when the girl disappeared. Marion told me that she and her husband had a hell of a row when they got back home. Apparently he told her that she didn’t put up enough resistance to the rapist and he accused her of encouraging him.”

“
Do you think that’s correct?”

“
Hmph,” she snorted. “In some men’s minds, if a woman wears a revealing dress she’s asking to be raped.” She shook her head. “Anyway, he ended up stumping off and saying he wasn’t coming back and she hasn’t seen him since. Of course neither of them knew about their daughter’s disappearance at the time of the row. Marion doesn’t know where the father is. He hasn’t got a mobile with him, so he can’t be contacted.”

“
Is that suspicious? If he had fallen out with his wife, do you think he might have made off with the girl to teach her a lesson?”

“
No. That’s not possible. We know that Tracey had disappeared before her parents got home and had their row.”

Paulson shook his head. “They sound like a pretty dysfunctional family to me - the mother’s a barmaid in a sex club, the father’s a sailor spending most of his time on the other side of the world - no wonder the girl wants to get away from home.”

“
I don’t think you’re being quite fair there, Stafford. My judgement of Marion is that she’s doing her best to bring up Tracey correctly without a lot of help from her husband.”

“
Hmm. Her job at The Red Garter isn’t a very good example to her daughter.”

“
But it’s not a sex club. I’ve checked the licence and they are only allowed music and dancing - no floor shows. I accept that the female staff wear titillating clothing but the place has a good reputation and there have been no previous complaints.”

“
Well, I wouldn’t like my wife to work somewhere like that or to wear dresses like that.” He sniggered. “Mind you, she’s not exactly got the figure for that sort of thing.”

“
Perhaps you don’t approve, but we mustn’t sit in judgement. A low-cut dress doesn’t give the clientele the right to rape the woman.”

“
Don’t get me wrong,” Paulson hastened to assure her. “I’m as keen as you are to bring this army man to justice. How did you get on with his mother?”

“
The poor woman was devastated, especially when I told her I was taking her car in for forensic examination.”

“
Do you expect that to yield anything of help?”

She shook her head. “Not a chance. The fellow gave it a thorough clean first thing on Monday morning. He’s taken all his clothing back to Germany for laundering and he even put his bedding in the washing machine before he left. It seems to me that we really haven’t got any useful evidence.”

“
In other words you won’t get anywhere without a confession.”

“
That’s right. I think I’ve convinced Mrs Fisher that she should contact her son and tell him that he must come back and submit himself for interview. I told her that it would look very bad if he had to be arrested by the Military Police and dragged back to the UK in handcuffs.”

“
I doubt if he’ll come back,” said Paulson.

“
Even if he does, he’ll probably say she agreed to it and the poor woman’s reputation will be dragged through the dirt.” Charlotte smiled bleakly. “It’s not a fair world.”

Paulson sat down. “I’m sorry, but that rape case sounds like a dead duck to me. Can we discuss Billiere for a few minutes?”