Faraday 02 Network Virus (27 page)

The man was quiet for a long time. The two police officers watched his brain working it out and waited for it to make a decision.

At last he said, “What’s in it for me if I tell you?”

“
We can’t do deals with you,” said Charlotte. “All we can do is put all the facts before the court. That will include if you’ve been helpful to us in pursuing our enquiries. They’ll decide what value to put on what we say. We know you’re guilty of several serious offences and you’ll be charged with those offences. But when you are sentenced the court may decide to be lenient if you have helped us to arrest the man who set up the attack. That’s all we can promise.”

“
What does that mean?”

Paulson said, “Your crimes are likely to result in a sentence of between five and ten years. Maybe - but we can’t promise - the court will decide to reduce the sentence by a couple of years.”

“
Mmm.” They could see his brain clicking. “Two years. It ain’t much.”

There was another long silence. Then he said, “If I do tell you, you won’t like it. It’s one of your own filth. They’ll give me a working over when you know who it is.”

“
Sean,” said Charlotte, “I can promise you won’t get any ‘working over’ as you put it while you’re on my patch.”

“
All right.” Suddenly he made up his mind. “It was Sergeant Mallinson. ‘E told me all about the guy, where ‘e lived, what ‘e done, when to do it. ‘E was supposed to be waiting round the corner to turn up and pretend to frighten us off.”

The two police officers looked at each other. Neither was pleased to hear the news, even though they had expected it.

“
Why did you do it?” asked Charlotte. “What were you going to get out of it?”

”’
E was going to let me ‘ave information about places what was easy pickings - owners away on holiday, up in London, that sort of thing.”

Paulson got to his feet and walked to a corner of the room and thumped his fist twice into the wall.

“
Interview terminated at -.” Charlotte also got to her feet and switched off the recording equipment. “All right. That’ll be all for now, Sean.” She gestured to the two uniformed officers who were also now standing. “Take this man back to the cells and I suggest you forget everything you’ve heard during this interview and don’t tell anyone about it. This man is to have absolutely normal treatment. If I hear anything to the contrary there will be one hell of a stink and you two will be the first in the firing line. Do I make myself clear?”

They both mumbled in assent as they shepherded the unusually submissive Sean Hendon out of the room.

Charlotte turned to the inspector. “I’m sorry, Stafford. I realise Greg’s been on your team for some years, but I’m sure you can’t excuse his behaviour any more than I can.”

“
I’m so bloody furious with the bloke,” said Paulson. “I want to have him in here now and beat the hell out of him.”

She sat down again. “We must keep calm. We have to decide what action to take. I think, for a start, that it’s essential you keep out of it. You’re too closely involved to be impartial. I think I must go and have a word with Superintendent Blackwood.”

He was head of the station and commanded the uniformed branch.

When she saw Blackwood a quarter of an hour later she explained the situation.

“
This is awful, Charlotte,” the senior officer said. “It seems to me that it’s something that must be handed to division. None of us must appear to be involved, either for or against. The mud could stick to any of us. I think it’s essential that Lord Harry is informed straightaway. In fact,
you
should do it because you know all the details. I will ring him now.”

Within two minutes he was talking to the DCC. He briefly explained the problem then handed the phone over to Charlotte.

“
This is a dreadful situation, Faraday. Please give me the details.”

She told him everything that Sean Hendon had said which was relevant.

“
Dear, oh dear,” said Lord Harry. “As if we hadn’t got enough problems to deal with. What does Paulson say?”

“
He’s absolutely furious, sir. In fact I would rather the two of them were kept apart.”

“
Has Sergeant Mallinson turned up yet?”

“
No, sir. He worked late last night, so he won’t be in until eleven.”

“
That’s a relief.”

“
Yes, sir. But it’s only putting off the confrontation. I would like Mallinson out of here as soon as possible. And this informer, Hendon, shouldn’t be kept here any longer than is necessary. I’ve warned the two PC’s who were escorting him to keep quiet, but you know how these things get around.”

“
Yes.” There was a long pause. “All right. I’ll send a car down with the appropriate ranking officer to collect Mallinson. I’ll try and get it there before eleven. Tell Blackwood to have the sergeant intercepted at the front desk and sent up to his office to be apprehended.” He paused again. “As for the informer fellow, I think we’ll put him in Exeter prison. He should be safe there. I’ll get a prison van sent for him as soon as possible. Will that do?”

“
Thank you, sir.”

“
OK, Faraday. Keep your pecker up.” He rang off.

Charlotte told Superintendent Blackwood what had been decided, then excused herself and went to prepare for her court appearance.

- 33 -

James arrived to collect Marion promptly at nine o’clock. She was ready for him, having been up since six o’clock. Her clothing and make-up were slightly more daring than yesterday - but only a small amount. She thought he looked very handsome in his open-necked, short-sleeved shirt and lightweight trousers. He also looked as though he’d had a better night’s sleep than she had enjoyed.

“
What did your mother say about me withdrawing the complaint?” she asked as she let him in.

“
She told me that I have to find some way of compensating you for what I did and rewarding you for your kindness.” He grinned. “She questioned me very closely about how you seemed. When I told her you were more worried about your missing daughter, she said how lucky I was that you had something else to take your mind off my behaviour.” He caught hold of her hand. “She also asked me to take you back for tea this afternoon after we’d finished our search. Do you accept?”

“
Goodness. Will I be all right dressed like this?”

“
Of course you will. I think you look lovely.”

She removed her hand. “I hope you’re only being polite. I didn’t intend to look attractive to you.”

“
Well, I can’t help it if I enjoy the prospect of spending the day with you.”

“
Remember,” she warned him, “I told you there was to be no monkey business.” But she felt foolishly pleased that he seemed to appreciate her appearance.

Changing the subject, he asked. “Did you speak to Freddie?”

“
Yes. I couldn’t get him last night but I left a message that Tracey was missing and he rang back about half an hour ago.”

“
What did he say?”

“
Nobody’s contacted him. He’ll let me know if anyone does. He can’t come down himself. He offered to send someone down to help search if I wanted. But I told him I didn’t think that was necessary at the moment.”

“
So that means nobody’s abducted Tracey with the object of trying to get a ransom out of either of you. They’d have surely contacted one of you by now if that was the reason for kidnapping her.”

“
That’s what the police were worried about at first, but they agree that’s less likely now. According to Charlotte - she’s the chief inspector who rang me last night - they were also worried about the possibility of her being the victim of a gang of paedophiles who they were watching. But they’ve eliminated that idea now.”

“
So what’s left? You say you’re confident she hasn’t run away?”

“
Why would she want to? She’s never shown any sign that she wasn’t happy with her life as it is at present.”

“
Does she get on all right with your husband?”

“
Yes, most of the time. In any case she knows that he’s usually only back for a few weeks each time he returns home and then he disappears again for several months.” She shook her head. “I’m sure she would have told me if she had some sort of a problem with him.”

“
Nevertheless it’s a bit of a coincidence that he arrives back unexpectedly one night and the next morning she disappears.”

“
James, I’ve already told you that he was at the police station with me until about an hour after she disappeared.”

“
But then he disappears as well. I’m sorry, Marion, but that seems to be taking coincidence a step too far.”

“
The police have looked at that idea but they can’t see how it could have happened.”

“
I’ve been thinking about that.” He turned and walked to the window and looked out. “Let’s just assume he had some sort of grudge against you. What better way of making you pay would there have been than to disappear with your daughter?”

“
What grudge?”

“
I don’t know.” He turned back top her. “He didn’t like you working at The Red Garter. He blamed you for encouraging me to rape you. Didn’t he say that?”

“
Yes, but when we were having our row about that, Tracey had already disappeared.”

“
Nevertheless he might have been thinking about it the previous evening before you got back from the club.” He waved a hand. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just assume he decided to take her for whatever reason. Maybe she went with him willingly. Perhaps he talked to her on the Wednesday night when you were still out. Perhaps he persuaded her that there was a reason to go with him and he told her he would meet her somewhere after he’d taken you to the police station. That’s possible, isn’t it?”

“
Well, I suppose so. But why hasn’t one of them contacted me even if only to laugh at me?”

“
Did you see her on the Wednesday night when you got home?”

“
No. She was already asleep.”

“
What about Thursday morning before you went to the police station?”

“
I woke her up. I told her that her breakfast was ready and that her father and I were going to the police station so she had to remember to get herself to school before nine in case we were late back.”

“
Did she seem excited or different in some way?”

Marion shook her head. “I’m afraid I didn’t notice. I suppose I was too busy thinking about what was going to happen at the police station.”

“
She didn’t ask what was going on?”

“
No. She’d only just woken up.” She shook her head again. “Oh, don’t you think I’ve blamed myself over and over again for not spending a little more time with her.”

“
What time did you wake her up?”

“
About a quarter to seven. Gary was hurrying me because he wanted us to get to the police station early. Then we had to wait nearly half an hour before Charlotte turned up.”

“
Why was he hurrying you?”

“
I don’t know. I suppose he just wanted to get it over and done with. All I know is that he’d worked himself up into a right temper by the time Charlotte arrived. She dealt with him brilliantly.”

“
Perhaps,” James pointed a finger at her, “he wanted to get it over with quickly because he was going to pick up Tracey at a particular time. Isn’t that possible?”

“
Well, I suppose so, but she’d disappeared before she got to school.”

“
Perhaps she just bunked off school and sat in the park or something to wait for him.” He hurried on before she could interrupt. “OK. I know it’s all supposition so far, but if he did pick her up and take her somewhere, how would he have done it? Did he have a car?”

“
Yes. He collected a hire car before we went to the police station.”

“
Where did he get it?”

“
I think it was from Torbay Rentals, just down on the main road. That’s where he normally hires his cars.”

“
Have you told the police this?”

She shook her head. “You’re the first person to seriously suggest it might be Gary who took her.”

“
When did you get back home from the police station?”

“
I don’t know exactly. I think it must have been soon after nine.”

“
And then you had your row?”

“
Well, we sort of finished it. We’d been arguing in the car and the argument continued when we came indoors and something I said upset him badly and he accused me of encouraging you. Then he turned and stormed off again and I haven’t seen him since.”

James noticed she was dry-eyed about it. “All right, so he could have gone and picked up Tracey then. Did you notice if he had a bag with him when he went?”

“
I didn’t see him with one.”

“
So it
is
possible he took her, as long as he’d been able to persuade her to wait somewhere for him to pick her up. Can you think of anybody more likely to have taken her?”

“
No, except that I’m not sure about the reasons you’ve chosen.”

“
Well, he knows Tracey isn’t his daughter. Does Tracey know that?”

“
I
haven’t told her.”

“
So she thinks he’s her father - and daughters usually trust what their fathers say to them. Does your husband know who her real father is?”

“
Oh yes,” she said. “Freddie was the person who found him and persuaded him to marry me. I don’t know how he did it but I suspect he paid him a lot of money.”