Faraday 02 Network Virus (21 page)

“
It certainly is, Mr Hawardine. We are looking for a missing twelve year-old girl called Tracey Bostock, whom I believe you know. She disappeared last Thursday morning about eight o’clock and was observed getting into a large dark blue car. Do you own such a car?”

“
I do.”

Charlotte was unhappy about carrying on the conversation outside and at a three-foot height disadvantage. “Can we go inside and discuss this in more detail, Mr Hawardine?”

“
Certainly, but please call me Charles.”

He ushered them through the front door and into a large cool sitting-room on the left of the entrance hall. Charlotte noticed the room was quite grand but rather fluffily furnished in fabrics which seemed to have a lot of pink in them and an excess of bows and frills. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

“
Please be seated. Would you like some refreshment?”

They both took a seat but declined the drink. Charlotte started the questions straightaway. “Can you confirm that you picked up Tracey Bostock on Thursday morning?”

“
I didn’t personally, but my chauffeur did.”

“
And where did he take her?” Paulson asked.

“
He brought her here.”

“
What was the purpose of bringing her here, Mr Hawardine?” Charlotte had no intention of calling him Charles.

“
The purpose? I wished to interview her for a post I had in mind.”

It was clear to her that the man had been warned in advance that they were coming, probably by a phone call from young Jason Smart, and he had fabricated a story which he hoped would satisfy the police.

“
What post would that be?”

“
Er - well - I wanted a maid to clean and change the beds - that sort of thing.”

She listened to the lie roll off his tongue. “What - a twelve-year-old girl?”

“
Precisely. She was far too young. Jason had got his information all wrong.” He shook his head. “I sometimes wonder about that boy.”

“
Does he often recruit young girls for you for various services you require?”

Hawardine raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know what you are suggesting, Charlotte.”

She ignored his familiarity. “And when you finished your interview, what did you do with young Tracey?”

“
Do with her? I had her transported back to the place where she was picked up from.”

“
What time was she returned?” asked Paulson.

“
Oh, I don’t know precisely. You’ll have to ask my chauffeur. He’s a very reliable fellow. I’ll buzz him for you.”

“
Please don’t,” said Charlotte. “I would prefer to talk to him privately myself. Where do I find him?”

“
He lives in the converted cottage in the stableyard, just round the corner at the side of the house. He’s probably cleaning the car at the moment. He does it frequently.”

“
Well,” she said, “We’ve finished here so we’ll go and see him now.”

“
Is there nothing else I can help you with?”

“
Not just now, thank you.”

He sniggered. “You don’t want to search the house to satisfy yourself I’m not holding the girl here against her will?”

“
That won’t be necessary today.” Charlotte knew that would be a waste of time.

Hawardine held out his hand. “Well it has been a pleasure meeting you. You are welcome to come again any time you wish but I would suggest you ring first to make sure that I am properly prepared to welcome you.”

She ignored the proffered hand. “Goodbye, Mr Hawardine.”

“
Goodbye, Charlotte.”

His unctuous manner made her flesh creep. She wanted to wipe the smug expression off his face. “I would be grateful if you would address me in future as Chief Inspector Faraday.”

“
Really?” He looked surprised. “You may be interested to know that I am on Christian name terms with your superior, Chief Superintendent Mark Lasham.”

Charlotte managed to keep the surprise out of her voice. “That must be very pleasant for you both, Mr Hawardine, however I would be grateful if you would deal with me in a formal manner.” She smiled sweetly. “But thank you for that interesting piece of information.”

She turned her back on him and walked out. Strafford Paulson, who had been more or less ignored by Hawardine during the interview, followed and closed the front door behind them. He was amused by Charlotte’s anger.

“
I guess Charles Hawardine is not your favourite person,” he ventured.

“
He’s an odious little man,” she grated, ignoring the facts of the fellow’s height of six feet two and his weight approaching fifteen stone. “The only problem is that he’s one step ahead of us at the moment and it’s going to be difficult to catch him out in whatever nefarious scheme he’s involved in.” She straightened her shoulders. “But let’s see what his chauffeur has to say for himself.”

However in this she was to be disappointed. Only his wife was home. When questioned she said her husband had been sent to Exeter ‘to get supplies’.

“
Hawardine knew that when he sent us round here and told us the guy was cleaning the car,” she fumed.

However there was nothing they could do but leave for now, with Charlotte promising herself that she would find a way to bring Charles Hawardine down a peg or two as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

- 26 -

As they left Stokewell House Charlotte said, “I’m sorry to have kept you out late, Stafford.”

“
Don’t worry. Mabel won’t be back from her mother’s till late and I told her not to leave a meal for me. I thought I’d drop in to the local pub for a bite to eat on the way home.”

“
Well, in that case do you mind if we make a quick call on Sidney Pullman? I want to check about whether he works for Harwardine.”

“
OK. But can we have a bite first. I’m famished.”

“
All right. Where was this pub that you were going to frequent?” She winked at him. “I’m paying.”

“
Oh, in that case I know a decent place on the way back to Torquay where I feel I can take a lady.”

“
Now -
there’s
a compliment.”

So they spent a pleasant hour discussing progress (or maybe the lack of it) on the various cases while they demolished a fillet steak and chips. Stafford was impressed that Charlotte seemed to be one lady unworried about her diet.

Thus it was getting dark when they turned into the street where Sidney Pullman lived.

“
What’s happening?” Charlotte burst out.

There was a crowd of people outside number fifteen. They could see stones were being thrown and they could hear the musical tinkle of broken glass. Even as they approached, three men came out of the front door, dragging a fourth who they threw on the pavement. A woman rushed out behind them but was held back by another couple of the crowd. The three men started to brutally kick the body lying on the pavement with their heavily booted feet. The man put his hands over his head to protect himself but the boots were hammering into his ribs and stomach.

At that second Paulson switched on the siren, the headlights and the flashing blue lights and roared up to the crowd. Startled faces turned towards them as the car screamed to a halt and the two police officers leaped out, leaving the car doors wide open. There were shouts of, “Watch out”, “It’s the fuzz”, and, “Get out of here”, as the whole crowd of twenty or so people rushed off up the road and disappeared into the side-streets.

The three characters kicking the body were a bit slower than the rest and Paulson chased after the nearest and brought the man down with a flying rugger tackle. But his two mates turned back to attack the floored policeman, opening up a gash on his cheek and half-dazing him with a couple of kicks to the head. They helped their friend up and all three ran off before the inspector could struggle to his feet, brush himself off and limp back to the car.

Charlotte was meanwhile down on her knees beside Pullman trying to check his injuries. His sister joined her. The man was groaning and crying in pain. He gasped that his ribs and his stomach, one of his arms and a leg hurt. He seemed unwilling to move.

“
I think he needs hospitalisation,” said Charlotte and stood up to make the call on her mobile. As she did so, Paulson staggered back.

“
Are you all right, Stafford?”

“
Nothing serious. Just a couple of kicks.” He took out his handkerchief to dab at the blood on his cheek.

“
Nevertheless I’m calling an ambulance for Mr Pullman. I think they’d better have a look at you when they come.” She made the call and turned to Pullman’s sister. “Can you describe to me what happened?”

The woman seemed quite calm. “I heard a lot of shouting outside. When I looked out through the front room window there was a crowd of people out there. They were shouting things like ‘Get the pervert out of here’ and ‘Where’s the little girl?’ and ‘Death to perverts’.”

“
When did this start?”

“
Only a few minutes before you arrived. I was just going to ring the police when I heard a window break. I rushed into the front room and the middle pane of glass was completely smashed and there was a brick lying on the carpet. Then another brick came through the window in the front door. I went into the hall and all the glass was being knocked out and an arm was reaching in to undo the lock.”

“
Sounds as though it was organised,” said Paulson.

“
Sidney was crying. ‘They’re after me’ he said. I told him to go upstairs while I rang for the police but as I picked up the phone, which is in the hall, three men pushed open the front door and rushed in. They grabbed Sidney and dragged him out. They were shouting, ‘Where’s the girl hidden?’ and, ‘We’re going to get it out of you’ and things like that. I shouted back at them that she wasn’t here but they took no notice of me.”

She paused to take a breath. “I rushed out after them to try and help him but two of the men grabbed me and held me back. I tried to hit them to make them let me go but they were too strong. I saw them throw Sidney on the ground and start to kick him. All the time they were shouting, ‘Where is she?’ and, ‘Tell us, or we’ll really hurt you’.” She placed her hand on Charlotte’s forearm. “Then you turned up.”

“
You were lucky,” said Paulson.

“
I’ve never been so pleased to hear a police siren. I thought they were going to kill him if he didn’t tell them what they wanted to know. And I didn’t know what they were going to do to the house. I was afraid they were going to smash the place up. Some of the crowd were shouting things like, ‘Torch the place’ and, ‘Get his woman as well’. But they ran away fast enough when you arrived.” She seemed to be getting more agitated as she turned to look at the house, “Oh, look at it. What’s going to happen to us now?” And she burst into tears.

“
Don’t worry, Mrs - er - what’s your name?”

“
Spender,” she sobbed. “Daisy Spender.”

“
You’ve not actually been hurt yourself, Daisy?”

“
No.”

“
Listen, Daisy. The ambulance is on its way for Mr Pullman. I think it’s only two or three windows that are broken in the house. I’ll ring the station and get them to contact a company we know. They’ll come round tonight and either reglaze the windows or temporarily board them up. They’ll also clean up the mess.”

“
I’ll ring them now,” said Paulson and took out his mobile.

“
But I can’t have Sidney back here any more,” said the woman. “Those men will come back again now that they know he’s here.”

“
How do they know that, Mrs Spender?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve not told anyone about Sidney’s - er - problems in the past. One or two neighbours have asked who he is and I just told them he was my brother and he was staying with me while he was trying to find some work. He used to be a lighting technician in the London theatres.”

“
But the men who attacked him called him a pervert and said he’d got the missing girl, so somebody must have given them that information. Do you know of anybody who could have known enough to tell them that?” Charlotte was beginning to have her own suspicions.

“
No. The only people I have heard talk to Sidney about what happened in his past were the inspector here and his sergeant.” She pointed a finger. “He’s a nasty piece of work, that sergeant. When he first came round to tell Sidney what he had to do now he’s on the Sex Offenders Register, he made all sorts of threats. Sidney was frightened to death of him.”

“
Did he threaten your brother when he questioned him on Friday?”

She shook her head. “Not really. He made some nasty remarks but I think he would have been a lot worse if the inspector hadn’t been here.” She pulled a face and repeated, “He’s a nasty piece of work, he is.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the siren of the approaching ambulance. Charlotte excused herself and went to meet the paramedics as they got out and explained the situation to them. They went down on their knees to examine Sidney Pullman before deciding how to move him.

While that was going on, Charlotte went back to Stafford and took him on one side. “This smells a bit,” she said. “Do you think Sergeant Mallinson may have had a hand in organising this attack?”

“
Surely not.” Paulson didn’t seem to be able to bring himself to believe one of his staff might do something like that.

“
Didn’t you say he believed Sidney had kidnapped Tracey?”

“
Well,” admitted the inspector, “he
did
seem to think the man was guilty, even though I told him I didn’t believe he had the guts for it.”