Faraday 02 Network Virus (28 page)

“
Perhaps that gives him a motive. Either your Freddie stopped paying him or Gary wanted more and Freddie refused. They fell out and Gary’s using Tracey as a bargaining counter.”

“
But Freddie said he hadn’t had any requests for money.”

“
You asked him if anyone had got in touch with him to pay a ransom for kidnapping Tracey. That’s slightly different.”

“
But surely Freddie would have told me about any trouble with Gary.”

James shrugged. “Why should he? He may want to keep the whole thing quiet. If he’d told you that, you might have told the police. Perhaps he wanted to keep them out of it. Can’t you see that’s a possibility, Marion?”

“
I suppose so.”

“
Right, now just suppose he has got Tracey - where would he put her?”

“
I don’t know. He doesn’t spend much time in Torquay so I don’t think he knows many people who would help him. I don’t think he has a friend in the area who would let him use his property.”

“
What about doing things for Freddie? If Tracey’s father paid him to marry you, perhaps he’s used Gary for other things. Does Freddie own any other houses in the area?”

She shook her head. “Not as far as I know. He and his wife used to own a big property in Marine Drive but he sold that after she died.”

“
No other places?”

“
No. There’s the boat, of course.”

“
The boat?”

“
It’s called the
Sarah Jane
. Freddie keeps it in the marina.”

“
Would Gary have known about that?”

“
I think he would.” She thought carefully. “I seem to remember something that he did that involved the
Sarah Jane
but I can’t think what it is at the moment.”

“
Let’s go and have a look at it.”

“
Why?”

“
A boat is as good as any place to hide a person. There are cabins below the waterline on large boats. How big is this one of Freddie’s?”

“
Oh, it’s big.”

“
Are there cabins below the waterline?”

“
Some of the bedrooms just have small slits near the ceiling. You can’t see out of them. I don’t know why they have them, except to let light in, of course.”

“
There you are then. She could be hidden in one of those where nobody would see her. Are you ready?”

As they set off in James’ car he noticed that Marion was quiet, possibly thinking about how her daughter might be restrained and kept quiet on a boat in a busy marina. When they arrived there they went first into the office.

“
We want to visit the cruiser owned by Alfred de Billiere,” said James.

“
What’s it called?”

The
Sarah Jane,”
supplied Marion.

“
What type is it?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
It’s big,” said Marion. “It’s one of the biggest in the marina.”

“
That’ll be on pier D,” said the man, going to the big plan on the wall. He ran his finger down one of the rows. “Yes. Here we are.
Sarah Jane.
It’s a Fairwave 48. Berth D19.”

“
It’s not here, Bill,” called out one of his colleagues. “That’s the one that went missing last week.”

James looked up. “When did it go missing?”

“
I don’t know - about a week ago - perhaps Tuesday, Wednesday.”

Bill was looking it up in a book on the desk. “Here it is. It went some time Wednesday night or Thursday morning. There’s a note that says ‘report to police when next seen’. It hasn’t returned yet.”

“
Do you know how much fuel it had on board?”

He shook his head. “Not much, I reckon. He wouldn’t have refuelled before he left. Our pumps are locked from 8pm to 8am.”

“
Is there anywhere else he could refuel?”

“
I suppose he could try Brixham. They’ll be open all night. Or round at Dartmouth after about seven in the morning.”

“
OK, thanks.” James turned to Marion. “So Tracey, Gary and the
Sarah Jane
have all disappeared. I believe that’s taking coincidence too far. We’ve got something to look for now. If we find
one
, I bet we’ll find all three. The
Sarah Jane
isn’t that easy to hide and it’ll probably be short of fuel so it can’t go far.”

“
Shouldn’t we tell the police?”

“
All right. You can ring your lady detective as we drive. Tell her to look in Brixham first, then in Teignmouth and Dartmouth. Come on.”

James headed for Totnes. Marion tried to ring Charlotte only to find she’d left for a court appearance. So she left a message for her.

“
Why are you going this way?” she asked. “Why not Brixham?”

“
You’ve told the police to go to Brixham. I don’t think he’d take that big expensive boat in there anyway. It’s too close and too public. I’m guessing he hasn’t got much fuel on board so he’d head for one of the more private inlets. I think he’d either try one of the creeks upriver from Dartmouth or one of the side arms of the Salcombe estuary. So we’ll try the Dart first. Any objections?”

She had none. “You seem to be full of bright ideas. Why haven’t the police done this?”

“
Be fair. You haven’t told them most of what I’ve got out of you this morning. They seem to have been concentrating on these paedophiles. And you said Gary had been ruled out because he was with you at the police station when Tracey went missing. I hope, when your lady gets back from her court appearance, that she’ll get things moving and carry out a proper search of all the anchorages nearby. Besides which, this is only a guess on my part. We may be miles from the truth.”

They went round Totnes and turned south. Then they forked left to follow the high-banked Devon country lanes. From time to time they stopped and James climbed over gates to see if he could get views of the main river and its side creeks. At last the road dropped down through a little village and followed beside a stream which issued into a long, muddy creek with woods along the hills both sides. They came to a bend where the road turned away from the creek. James stopped again.

“
What’s that?” He pointed to a large white cruiser lying high and dry on the mud about a quarter of a mile down the creek. “That’s a big boat to be beached all the way up here.”

They pulled into a lay-by and got out. They walked a little way to a slipway and stared downriver.

“
What do you think,” he asked.

“
I think it’s a bit like the
Sarah Jane,
” she answered hesitantly, “but it’s a long time since I saw her last and I’m not quite sure. It looks much bigger somehow.”

“
That’s because when you’re in the marina you’re at deck level and a lot of the boat is below the water. He looked at the big cruiser again, then suddenly came out with, “Wait a minute.”

He rushed down the muddy slipway and pounced on a little dinghy tied up on one side. Marion followed more cautiously.

“
Bingo!” he shouted. “Look at this.”

The dinghy was no more than a big blow-up boat to Marion’s eyes but it had a piece of wood across the back end and on it were painted the words
Sarah Jane.
There were two short oars lying in the bottom.

“
So you think this belongs to the big boat out there?” she asked.

“
I’m prepared to bet it does.” He started to take off his shoes and roll up his trousers.

“
What are you doing?”

“
I’m going to row out and see what I can find on board. Here take these.” He handed her his footwear and the car keys. “Ring your police lady and tell her we think we’ve found the
Sarah Jane.
Have they got any river police they can send to investigate?”

He slid the dinghy down the slipway and started to push it across the mud towards the trickle of water in the middle of the creek. His feet sank into the filthy stuff.

“
Can you really get to the
Sarah Jane
without any water?” she called.

“
Yes. The tide’s just starting to make. Now get on the phone. Your daughter may be out there.”

Marion hurried back to the car and picked up her mobile. She rang Charlotte. Luckily the DCI had returned from her court appearance.

“
Oh, Charlotte,” she gasped. “We’ve found the
Sarah Jane.
”

“
What?”

“
Oh, you don’t know. That’s the boat that belongs to Mr de Billiere. It was taken away from the marina in Torquay about the same time that Tracey went missing. We think she may be imprisoned on the boat.”

“
Are you sure? Be careful, Marion. If her kidnapper’s there he may be dangerous. Wait for me to get a policeman to you.”

“
It’s all right. James - er - Jimmy has found the dinghy so he’s rowing out to her. We don’t think anyone else is on board.”

“
Well, tell him to be very careful. And he mustn’t break in unless he can actually see Tracey inside. It would still be wisest to wait for the police. Now, where are you?”

Marion explained, as best she could, their exact location. She added, “James - er - Jimmy says can you send the river police. Is there such a thing?”

“
We’ll arrange with the Dartmouth harbour-master to ferry some local police to the boat. Meanwhile I’m about to get on my way. Stay where you are and I should be with you in less than half an hour.”

Marion returned to the slipway to check on James’ progress. He was in the main stream now and rowing strenuously. Gradually he got closer to the big cruiser. The water was just starting to swirl round its fat hull when he reached it and clambered out of the dinghy. She could see him tie the little boat to a rope hanging down the side. Then he disappeared round the back.

He must have found a ladder there, because a few minutes later she saw him appear on the deck. He started to go round the big boat, looking in through the windows. Then he got down on his knees and hung over the side to peer in through the little slits which would be the windows to the lower bedrooms. He spent a lot of time looking through one of the slits, then he jumped to his feet and waved to her and gave the thumbs up sign.

At that moment her mobile rang. It was Charlotte.

- 34 -

Charlotte had just got back to the office when Marion’s call came in.

DI Paulson was sat at his desk surveying the stack of paperwork he needed to put on the computer. “They collected Mallinson half an hour ago,” he told her gloomily. “I hope they throw the book at the bugger.”

“
It’s out of our hands now, Stafford. Somehow we’ve got to cope without our DS.”

Then her phone rang. She talked to Marion for a few minutes then she turned to Stafford. “Did you get that?”

“
Most of it. Well,
there’s
a turn-up for the book. Maybe we’ve got lucky at last.” He stood up. “Can I come with you? Even if the girl isn’t there, I still want to give that cruiser a close going over.”

“
Of course you can. In fact, you can drive while I get things moving on the phone. You know these lanes better than me.”

She asked DC Prendergast to put as much of Paulson’s work as he could on the computer while they were gone. “I’m really impressed with the way John’s taken to the computer program,” she said as they went downstairs.

When they started toward Totnes, Charlotte rang Dartmouth police station and the harbour-master’s office. Following that she was able to ring Tracey’s mum back a few minutes later.

“
Marion, I’ve been in touch with Dartmouth police and they are sending a panda car with a couple of constables who should be with you in less than half an hour, probably about the same time as we get there. The harbour-master says they won’t be able to get a boat that far up the creek for an hour or two because they’ve got to wait for the tide. What’s happening? Where you are at the moment?”

“
Well, James has paddled out to the
Sarah Jane
in the dinghy which was tied up here on the slipway. He’s climbed on board and at this moment he’s waving at me and giving me a thumbs-up sign. I don’t know exactly what that means.”

“
Has he got inside the boat?”

“
Not yet. I can see him looking round the deck as if he’s trying to find a way in.”

“
Tell him he mustn’t break in to the boat or smash anything. Technically he would be committing an offence if he did that.”

“
Charlotte, he’s too far away for me to shout to him.”

“
Well, beckon him to come back. I think you ought to wait for us or for the Dartmouth police to arrive before you do anything more.”

“
What - just sit here?”

“
That really would be the best thing to do, Marion. It’ll be less than half an hour now.”

“
Warn her about the possibility of the bloke coming back and perhaps being violent,” said Stafford.

“
Yes. That’s the other thing, Marion. Don’t forget that whoever has taken that boat is already breaking the law himself if he
has
kidnapped Tracey. When he finds you there he may turn rough, so you might be putting yourselves in danger. The best idea would be for you both to get in your car and withdraw a little way to somewhere safe where you can observe what happens without putting yourselves in danger. Is that possible?”