The woman looked up, wide eyed.
‘Savings? No. No none at all in fact. In fact she and Dad ran a shop, a bakery, for most of our lives. When Dad died, she sold up. She then gave all her savings to us, the three of us, equally.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. I bought this house at the time. I’m a single mother. I could never have afforded a house if it wasn’t for Mum. She was so kind to us. She did the same for us all.’
‘And she doesn’t have any money squirrelled away?’
The woman looked at the kitchen table, she seemed deep in thought.
The detectives waited.
‘If Mum has any money, I don’t know where she would have got it from. She doesn’t even play the lottery.’
Dave raised one eyebrow at Shirley when they got back to the car.
‘What do you think?’ he said. ‘Apart from that I’m an insensitive bastard of course. Thanks for pulling us back from that one.’
‘She needed to know the truth. You’re blunt. It does the job.’
‘And her? All truth-telling you think?’ said Dave.
‘Yeah, she’s visibly shocked and upset. It would be quite an act. Let’s go see the middle one. She’ll be warned we’re coming now but I reckon we can read her.’
They drove to a detached house with front and back garden. Dave wondered if this daughter got the bulk of the money. He asked Shirley.
‘Two incomes for this family, boss,’ she said.
Dave shook his head at his own stupidity. He knocked on the front door. There was a pause then a middle aged, well-dressed man opened the door.
‘Police,’ said Dave.
‘Have you found her?’ he asked.
‘Not yet sir,’ said Dave. ‘May we come in?’
They were taken to the family sitting room. Three faces looked at them. They had all been crying.
‘May I ask a few questions?’ asked Dave.
They nodded.
‘I take it you two are the grandchildren of Mrs Mckinckley?’ said Dave.
Two young men in their late teens or early twenties nodded their heads in unison.
‘Can I ask about Mrs Mckinckley’s character? Is she a good person?’ he asked.
The mother began to cry and one of the sons put his arm around her. Dave looked at Shirley. She nodded and took over.
‘We need to find out what happened to your mother,’ said Shirley. ‘If you have any information, we’d love to find out a bit more about her. It is possible she stood up to a mugger. Is that something she might do?’
The husband snorted from the doorway. Dave turned to size him up. The husband gulped.
‘Do you get along with your mother-in-law?’ he asked.
‘Of course I do. What are you insinuating. She has a very strong character. I can certainly imagine her standing up to anyone who crossed her. That doesn’t mean I don’t love her very much.’
Dave watched the man’s face turn purple. He saw the decanter on the side table. A whiskey drinker.
‘Whatever has happened to Mum, whatever could have happened, we have always been very much cared for by her. She has the most generous heart in the world. We love her. All of us do. And we can’t wait to see her again,’ said Susie.
‘Thank you,’ said Dave.
Dave turned to walk out. When he was outside, he realised Shirley wasn’t with him. He sat on the garden wall and kicked his feet on the brick. It wasn’t the family. They weren’t capable of it. So if it wasn’t a hitman it must have been a stranger. A stranger in a white van.
‘Hey you,’ said Shirley.
‘There you are,’ said Dave.
‘I just wanted to ask about the money. They did get money from her. She stumped up quite a bit for the house. But the husband is an accountant. He must earn enough. I can’t think it was money related.’
‘I don’t know. I suppose we should visit the youngest child seeing as we’ve seen the others. Not family though. I feel it. I’m concerned about this. It’s just not right.’
Dave walked slowly to the car.
‘Vans,’ he said. ‘It’s the van we need.’
The youngest daughter opened the door of a third floor flat. A cat rushed towards them and brushed against Dave’s leg.
‘You’ve made a friend there,’ said Shirley.
‘Come in, come in,’ said the daughter.
The flat was candle lit.
‘No electricity?’ asked Dave.
‘I’ve lit some candles for Mum. I’m praying and meditating for her.’
‘You must love her very much,’ said Shirley.
‘Well, she’s not an easy person. I think when she lived with Susie it put a lot of strain on her and her husband. We were all glad when she moved to the sheltered housing.’
‘When was this?’ asked Dave.
‘Oh maybe five years ago,’ said the daughter.
‘Tell me,’ said Dave. ‘This was before she offered her savings to you all?’
‘No, no. That was when Dad died. Long time ago now. I went travelling. The others were sensible with theirs, but I did just need to get away. It was heart-breaking to lose Dad.’
Dave nodded.
‘We’ll do our best to find your mother,’ he said. He looked down.
The daughter tapped her foot on the floor, anxious.
‘I do know it might not be good news,’ she said. ‘As much as I pray, I just can’t get it out of my head that she’s died, that she’s died horribly too. Please find her. I need to find her body. We need to do this properly, to bury her with Dad.’
Dave nodded.
Shirley was rubbing a tear away.
It made Dave want to cry too.
‘We’ll leave you,’ he said. ‘And we will find her. We will.’
Back at the station, Dave shook his head.
‘Who would kill an old lady like that?’ he said.
‘It must have been a mugging that went wrong,’ said Shirley.
‘It doesn’t sit right,’ said Dave.
‘A random attack? She got in the way of a crime? Who knows? With all the gangs around that area I wouldn’t be surprised,’ said Shirley.
‘No. It was premeditated. The way the van followed her then stopped. This is something strange. I’ve got a bad feeling.’
‘A bad feeling? You’ve been listening to that daughter with her candles and prayers. This isn’t the Mr Rational I know,’ she said.
‘No. It is. I am being rational. We need to find that van. There’ll be more otherwise,’ he said.
‘I can see your thinking. It isn’t the family.’
‘We need to go public on this one. I’ll have to talk to the Chief.’
Dave knocked on the office door.
‘Yes?’
Dave opened the door and walked into the messy office to see the red face of an alcoholic staring back.
‘We need to issue an alert to the public. We are looking for a white van. If we don’t approach the public now, well, I’m actually concerned about this one, sir.’
The Chief leaned back in his seat.
‘Is this about your missing dementia patient?’
Dave drew breath.
‘We have evidence that the lady in question had her wits about her. There is evidence that she was abducted. It is urgent that we find this white van before anyone else is abducted.’
‘Scaremongering, are we?’
‘It is my strongest recommendation, sir.’
‘I’ll think about it and get back to you,’ said the Chief.
‘Thank you,’ said Dave.
An hour later they issued an alert asking the public to phone in with sightings of a white van, last seen in the Camberwell area.
‘So now, we wait for the calls,’ said Dave.
It didn’t take long. Within three hours they had hundreds of sightings.
‘How we doing?’ Dave asked the police officer handling the calls.
He rolled his eyes.
‘Ever seen a white van with no markings in London?’ he said. ‘Every busybody in London has. Do you want us to follow them all up?’
‘Nothing interesting at all?’ asked Dave.
‘We even had a call from a woman to say she can’t get hold of her dad and can we go round and see if he’s OK!’ he said.
Dave stood up straight. This was it. His bad feeling.
‘What is the address?’ he said.
Shirley wished she had trusted Dave. If he thought there was a serial killer around, he was most likely correct. She followed him up the path to the ground floor flat in Peckham.
There was no answer from knocking. Shirley looked through the bay window. The net curtains were thick and dirty. She could make out silhouettes of furniture but no sign of anyone. Knocking on the window didn’t help.
‘I’m going in,’ said Dave.
Shirley waited for Dave to kick the door in. The wood splintered and the door swung open. They searched the flat. No sign of anyone. The bed was neatly made. The remains of a bowl of cereal and mug of Horlicks were the only sign that anyone had been here recently.
Shirley looked at Dave and shrugged.
‘Have we spoken to the daughter?’ she asked.
‘I haven’t. I’ll call the station and get her number,’ said Dave.
‘Nah,’ said Shirley.
She pointed at the telephone number attached to the fridge.
She got out her mobile and called the number.
‘Hello?’ said a female voice.
‘Hello. Did you make a call to the police about your father?’
‘Yes. Yes, I did. I can’t get hold of him.’
‘That’s unusual?’
‘Very. We speak every day. I’m in Scotland you see. I don’t see that much of him. So we talk. We talk every day.’
‘We’re at his flat now. There is no sign of him. Was he planning to go anywhere?’
‘Only to the hospital. He doesn’t get out much. He had a gall bladder problem. He was going for an appointment this morning. I’d expect him back by now. I did call the hospital. They said they hadn’t seen him. That he had missed the appointment. That’s why I’m so worried. Where is he?’
Shirley gulped.
‘We’ll check all the hospitals. We’ll make sure he didn’t have an accident on the way.’
‘But, he doesn’t live far.’
‘Which hospital was his appointment at?’
‘King’s. It’s not far. He would have got the bus there.’
‘OK. Try to keep calm. We’re going to have a look urgently. It is our priority and we’re not taking this lightly. We will need a photograph of your father. Is there a recent one in the flat?’
‘I saw him a month ago. I have photos on my phone.’
‘Can you email them?’
The daughter took the email address.
‘Thank you. I’ll come down. I’ll come down tonight with my husband. Can I give you my mobile number in case you find him.’
‘Certainly.’
Shirley took the number and hung up.
‘We’ve wasted a lot of time,’ said Dave. ‘Mrs Mckinckley was not killed by her family.’
‘Can we call the station and put them on alert?’ said Shirley.
‘Done,’ said Dave.
In the car, Dave put the lights on and they sped to the hospital.
‘We need CCTV,’ said Dave.
The receptionist sniffed.
‘Can we speak to security?’ said Dave.
‘Yes, alright, I’m phoning through now. Take a seat and wait.’
Shirley walked off and Dave followed. They looked around the entrance area. It was wide and open. Shirley counted the ratio of staff to patients. Staff came in and out in uniform. A cleaner pulled along a yellow mop bucket.
‘Excuse me,’ said Shirley.
He turned and stopped, surprised.
Shirley got out her phone with the picture of Mr Thompson.
‘Have you seen this man?’ she said.
He looked at it closely.
‘Don’t think so. But I see hundreds of men in here. I don’t pay much attention.’ He waved a hand at the many people walking through to appointments.
Shirley nodded. ‘Thanks anyway,’ she said.
She watched a man with a hospital gown show his boxer shorts as he walked. The cleaner seemed not to notice. Anyone could walk in here.
‘Shirley,’ said Dave.
He beckoned her. She saw a man in security uniform shake hands with him.
‘Hi,’ she said as she walked over.
‘You’ll have to ask at reception for appointments,’ said the security guard.
‘I’m a police officer,’ she said. She smiled politely and held out her hand.
‘Oh,’ he said. He shook her hand. ‘CCTV you want? Well, we’ve got a lot of cameras here. It’ll keep you busy.’
He took them to a room of screens showing many angles of the hospital.
‘Which do you want?’
‘Reception first,’ said Dave.
They went through footage of the hospital entrance. They looked for elderly men arriving alone. There were a few.
‘I’m thinking white van,’ said Shirley.
Dave nodded. He requested the car park CCTV.
‘Look,’ said Dave.
They fast forwarded a white van arrive at 7am, and they saw it leave an hour later.
Shirley took the footage and zoomed in.
‘Let’s take this back to the station and see if we can get the number plate,’ she said.
She felt adrenaline run through her. She’d never been on a case like this before. She wondered if Dave had.
‘Oh my God,’ she said. ‘I think the white van driver might have got to Mr Thompson in the hospital before he got to his appointment. How did no one see?’
Her mobile rang. She answered it without looking.
‘Sergeant Palmer,’ she said.
‘Shirley, it’s your father here. Are you at work still?’
‘We’re on a big case, Dad. I might be working late for a while.’
‘Well maybe now isn’t the time.’
‘Why? What’s wrong?’
Shirley forgot the missing people.
‘Is Mum OK?’
‘It’s your Granny. She’s been diagnosed with cancer.’
‘What!’
‘It doesn’t look good I’m afraid.’
‘Is she there? Can I speak to her?’
‘She’s sleeping. I think she’s in shock.’
‘I’ll come and see her as soon as I can,’ she said.
She hung up and sat staring into space.
‘Bad news?’ asked Dave.
‘My Granny. She’s got cancer.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Dave. ‘Are you OK? You’re shaking.’
‘She practically brought me up. I can’t believe it.’
‘If you need to go to your family, go. You can take time off.’
Shirley looked at the CCTV on the computer screen.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ll visit at the weekend. Come on. Let’s find this bastard.’
They scrolled through the footage.
‘How did he know where to park? He parked outside of the CCTV area.’ said Dave.
‘I think this guy is our guy,’ said Shirley.
She pointed to a man in a green hoody.
‘Can we get his face?’ asked Dave.
They scrolled through as he walked to the cafe.
‘No,’ said Shirley.
‘So he’s turned his face away from every camera. Interesting,’ said Dave.
‘Look at him,’ said Shirley. ‘Here he is, sitting in the cafe, behind a newspaper. And look – here we have an elderly man sitting on his own.’
She got out her phone and checked the picture sent by the daughter. She held it up next to the screen.
‘Looks like a match to me,’ said Dave.
‘Shit,’ said Shirley. ‘If he was in the cafe, why didn’t he make his appointment?’
‘Because this man,’ said Dave, pointed at the screen. ‘Got to him first.’
Shirley scrolled forward.
‘And here they are together. Mr Thompson and our green hoody guy are walking together,’ she said.
‘Cut to the entrance.’
The man held Mr Thompson’s arm. They set off towards the car park.
‘Where’s the last sighting?’ said Dave.
‘In the car park,’ said Shirley. ‘Before the white van drives off. As far as I can see, Mr Thompson doesn’t return from the car park.’
‘Motive?’ said Dave.
‘I really don’t know,’ said Shirley. ‘It seems quite random, except that Mrs Mckinckley and Mr Thompson are elderly. That’s the only connection.’
Shirley’s mind flitted to her Granny for a second. She took a deep breath. She tried not to imagine her not being there anymore.
‘We need to tell elderly people to be careful. How do we do it without scaring people?’ said Shirley.
‘I’ll phone press relations,’ said Dave. ‘Let them deal with it. We should talk to the staff now, at reception and the cafe. They might have seen something.’
‘I’ll request a list of staff on shift this morning,’ said Shirley.
‘Ah yes,’ said Dave.
Shirley left him calling the station to update them and went to speak to the receptionist.
‘What time did you come on shift today?’ she asked.
‘Eleven.’
‘Do you know who was here between 7am and 8am this morning?’
‘Sam.’
‘How can I get hold of Sam?’
‘Here.’
The receptionist passed over a list of names and numbers.
Shirley took it and walked off.
‘I need that back,’ said the receptionist.
‘OK,’ said Shirley.
She put the number into her phone and dialled. There was no answer. She left a message asking him to call urgently.
‘He’ll be asleep,’ said the receptionist as she took the sheet of paper. ‘He was on a night shift.’
Shirley nodded and walked away. She walked down the corridor to the cafe. It smelt of coffee. There was a warmer, friendlier atmosphere with loved ones and patients laughing together. She went to the till and asked who was working earlier.
‘I was,’ said the young man serving.
‘Long shift,’ said Shirley.
‘I’m jacked up on coffee all day so I get by.’
‘I know the feeling,’ said Shirley. ‘Do you remember this man?’
She showed him the photograph. He took the phone from her hand and looked carefully. He grimaced and looked to the side.
Shirley waited, hoping for a positive.
‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘I’m trying to think. Was he the guy with the stick?’
‘Yes he did have a stick,’ said Shirley.
‘Yeah, I remember. He had tea. He was a pleasure to serve. Little joke, little smile. Looked quite frail.’
‘Was there another man with him?’ asked Shirley. ‘A younger man, in a green hoody?’
He put his hand under his chin. Shirley could see the other staff member looking over as the queue for coffee grew.
‘He was on his own. He sat there. On his own. I’m trying to think. Was he talking to someone? On another table? Oh, I’m not sure. We weren’t that busy but I might be mixing things up. Every day is the same in here. I do have a good memory for customers. I might remember his face. Do you have a picture?’
‘Not yet,’ said Shirley.
She took his number and ordered two coffees. Then she made her way back to the CCTV room. She took strong strides, lost in thought about nasty little men who steal grandparents from their families. She felt pressure build up as she walked along.
‘OK,’ she said to Dave. She handed him a coffee. ‘We’ve got a white male, wears a hoody – a green hoody and jeans. Surely we can get his face somehow.’
Dave sat down and took the lid off his coffee looking into it then taking a gulp.
‘We’ve looked through all the footage of him. He has scoped the CCTV out. It’s totally premeditated.’
Shirley sucked her teeth.
‘I need to see my Granny some time this week,’ she said.
‘Go,’ said Dave. ‘What more can we do here?’
‘These people were grandparents. These poor elderly people are in danger. Dave, there might be more.’
Shirley turned away. She felt tears starting and looked at the ceiling concentrating on her breath.
‘Every victim has a family,’ said Dave.
‘I know,’ said Shirley, still staring at the ceiling.
‘It’s good to care,’ said Dave.
Shirley sniffed as she came back to herself. She smiled.
‘We’ll find him,’ she said. ‘London’s a small place.’
Dave nodded.
‘If he’s hurt these two,’ he said.
‘We’ll bust his balls,’ said Shirley.
She high-fived him.
‘Oh, my phone,’ said Dave. He looked at the number. ‘Please be a lead,’ he said.
Shirley watched as he nodded and wrote down an address. She looked up the postcode. Elephant and Castle area. Not far from Camberwell.
‘Shall we go?’ asked Shirley.
‘It’s the address of the car registration. I can’t imagine it is the man’s real address.’
‘We should check it out,’ said Shirley.
‘I don’t fancy a wild goose chase. We’ve got a lot to do.’