‘What about the snaps of the girls getting dressed in the change room?’
‘No way!’
Stevie took from the file before her a photo of a young girl wearing nothing but underwear, bending down to pick up an item of clothing from the floor. She slid it across the table to him. Aware that he was under the light again, Holdsworth flushed and jumped to his feet. ‘That’s not mine, Jesus, I swear it! Maybe someone used my equipment. Maybe there’s a hidden camera, that’s it...’
‘Then I suggest you do all you can to help us find the guy who did it. Your reputation’s at stake in this.’
‘Help you? What do you think I’m doing?’
‘Have you seen anyone hanging around the modelling agency recently who shouldn’t have been there?’
Holdsworth sat down again and folded his arms. ‘There’s always creeps hanging around, hoping to get a glimpse of the girls. To her credit, Miranda insists that parents arrive on time for pick-up, that the girls aren’t expected to make their own way home.
‘They need to get a bouncer for the place. Christopher tells them to clear off when he’s there, but he’s not the kind to get his hands dirty. Christ, he was almost flattened by some bruiser the other night. I nearly called the cops when I saw them in the street, it looked like things were about to get violent.’
‘But you didn’t call the police?’
‘Well, they seemed to sort things out, ended up walking off arm in arm.’
‘Arm in arm? That’s sounds a bit strange.’
‘I thought so too, especially as earlier they looked like they wanted to tear each other’s throat out.’
‘Where did they walk to?’
‘A pub, a parked car, I dunno.’
‘Did you get a glimpse of this man?’
‘Not really, it was pretty dark.’
‘Short, tall?’
‘Smaller than Christopher I think, but powerfully built. And you know, I think there was a kid too, lurking around.’
A kid? The phone interrupted Stevie’s thoughts. She left Holdsworth and moved to the corridor outside the interview room to talk to Monty.
‘Thought you’d want to know that the final forensic report is in on Kusak’s van,’ he said.
‘Go ahead.’
‘The long dark strand of hair found in Kusak’s van has been identified as belonging to Emma Breightling. It was matched with hair from the brush in her bathroom.’
She told Monty she needed to talk to him, pocketed her phone and thanked Holdsworth for his help and sent him on his way.
But on her way to Monty’s office she received an urgent page from Clarissa.
Shit,
everything seemed to happen at once in this place.
‘Make it quick Clarissa, something’s come up,’ she said as she pushed through the swing doors of the ops room.
‘Yeah, well this is important too. I’ve done some more digging on the Katy Enigma site and some of the stuff is pretty shocking when you look closely. A lot of stories by kids obviously trying to deal with issues of abuse. The poem you found was just a start.’
‘Yeah, ok, ok, go on.’ Stevie was itching to get upstairs and see Monty.
Clarissa clicked her mouse and opened a link. ‘This is a new one, it only came in this morning.’
Stevie stooped to peer at the screen.
Katy Enigma knew that she was the only one up to the task of eliminating the monster. She devised a cunning plan, which involved the staging of her own abduction. The plan was very risky, but she knew she had to attempt it or die trying.
She left a series of clever clues in her bedroom. She wasn’t sure if the police would get them or not, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the monster would understand and the monster would follow her to her secret hiding place. Once across the drawbridge and into the castle there would be no escape, and no one to hear his cries. He would be as helpless as any of his victims and Katy would make sure he suffered even more.
To kill a vampire you use a wooden stake, to kill a werewolf you use a silver bullet, but to kill the monster from under the bed you work slowly, using an ancient set of silver blades...
Stevie didn’t have time to wait for the lifts and took the stairs up to Monty’s office two at a time. ‘I think I know where Emma is; she’s at Stoppard’s showroom. The postcard on the teddy was obviously a clue, and Stoppard knew it too, that’s why he took it,’ she said as she burst into the office. ‘I’m going there now, only I need Tash...’
Monty gave little reaction to her words preoccupied it seemed with trying to reach into the pocket of his jacket hanging on the back of his chair.
‘Just a minute, Stevie, let me just get this. Hell...’ He put his hand to his chest. Sweat glistened in a pool at the base of his throat. His face had turned quite grey.
‘Monty, what’s the matter?’ she said, her own throat tightening in panic.
‘Just get my thing for me, I’ll be okay.’ He seemed to be having trouble pushing out his words.
‘What thing?’ Stevie desperately groped in his jacket pocket—coins, car keys—finally pulling out a small orange canister. ‘This?’
Monty nodded and took the Nitrolingual pump from her and administered a couple of quick sprays under his tongue in a way that told her he’d done it before.
‘Just a bit of chest pain,’ he murmured. ‘It’ll go soon.’
Stevie clutched his shoulders, the whereabouts of Emma Breightling now the furthest thing from her mind.
The medication began to kick in. Monty rubbed his hands over his face, slowly straightened in his chair and looked at her blearily. She put her cheek against his and ran her fingers through his hair. ‘You scared me. Thank god, thank God,’ she murmured over again.
He took her hand and kissed it. ‘Get going,’ he said. ‘Go and find Emma.’
‘Not until I know you’re on your way to hospital.’
‘I’ve had my spray, I’ll be okay now.’
Stevie shook her head, reached for the phone and called an ambulance, despite his protests.
‘How long have you had this?’ she asked after she’d put the phone down, trying to keep her tone free of recrimination.
‘Not long, the doctor said it’s just a bit of angina. It started in my jaw, I thought it was toothache—’
‘The toothache, of course.’
‘I’m booked in for tests next week.’
‘A bit of angina and you didn’t tell me...’ she stopped as she noticed his colour change and knelt again at his side and stroked his face. ‘It’s okay, I know now, but I wish I hadn’t had to find out like this.’
The light from the window shone on his hair and made it glow like the slanting rays of autumn. It was an observation she’d often made before, but not for some time she realised, with dismay.
‘Emma,’ he said.
‘I’ll go as soon as I know you’re okay.’
‘What made you think...?’
‘Everything’s beginning to fall into place,’ she interrupted, deciding it was better for her to do the talking and save him the effort of asking the questions. ‘I think Emma’s been suffering long-term abuse from Aidan Stoppard. The message board she and Bianca belonged to was mainly for kids with these kinds of problems. She’s run away to Stoppard’s place in the hills and is planning some kind of ambush there. The scalpels—remember how they were missing from Breightling’s safe?’
Monty shook his head. ‘You’ve got to be kidding. The kid’s got them? How did you—’
‘Sorry Mont, but we don’t have time for this right now. You just have to trust me.’
‘Always in a hurry, there’s never any time...’
‘Listen,’ Stevie cut him off. ‘Any idea where Stoppard is now?’
‘No idea. Maybe still with the Breightlings.’ He reached for the phone. ‘I’ll check with the officer who’s waiting with them.’
Stevie stopped him with her hand before he could punch in the numbers. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get someone onto him.’
Just then, Wayne knocked and entered the office.
Stevie climbed to her feet, still holding Monty’s hand. ‘He’s not well, I’ve called an ambulance.’
Wayne took in Monty’s pale face, the sweat beading on his forehead, and his jaw dropped. ‘Fuck, shouldn’t he be lying down?’
‘No, he bloody well shouldn’t be lying down,’ Monty snapped.
‘Well, he should at least calm down then,’ Stevie said.
Wayne was shuffling his feet, she could tell he was searching for something positive to report.
At last he said, ‘I’ve got Sammy Nguyen and a social worker in the interview room downstairs, boss.’
‘Good. Before you start though, we need to bring in Aidan Stoppard. Get some people onto that pronto. See if you can organise a full scale search of his country place, Chateau-by-the-Lake’
‘On what grounds? I can’t just pluck a search warrant from the air, Mont, I need some sort of evidence.’
‘Then leave it to me for the time being,’ Stevie said. ‘Tash and I will conduct the preliminaries, see what we can find.’
Monty washed his hands over his face. ‘You’d better go now. If you think you know where Emma is, go and find her. Take whoever you need. And be bloody careful, Stoppard could easily slip through the net, and God knows how he might react if he finds himself cornered. In fact, you’d better sign out for some side arms.’
‘But the ambulance...’ Stevie hesitated.
‘Go,’ Monty urged. ‘I’m all right.’ He gave her a smile that made her throat ache. Fighting back tears she kissed him, squeezed Wayne’s arm and left the room.
EXCERPT FROM CHAT TRANSCRIPT 210107
HARUM SCARUM: I know some1 who does gross things 2
BETTYBO: do u want 2 kill him 2?
HARUM SCARUM: oh yeah that would b sooooo sweet
Emma Breightling no longer heard the frogs croaking in the lake or the night-time warbling of the magpies in the trees. To her, the only sound was the gravel crackling under the Porsche’s tyres and her own heart thumping in her ears. She held her breath as she stood behind the Chateau door, peeping through the crack. The purr of the engine ceased and the car door slammed.
A key turned in its lock and the Judas door creaked open. She heard the slap of footsteps on the front path, the whistle of a jaunty tune.
When he came into her line of vision, the whistling stopped. He shot a smile in her direction, as if he had X-ray vision, as if he could see her jammed there behind the front door. Oh God, he knew she was there! She wanted him to think that she was waiting for him, but she hadn’t planned on getting herself trapped here behind the door—
stupid, Emma, stupid!
Before she could even attempt an escape, his foot hit the door with a crash, slamming her into the wall. He ducked from the falling pot as it shattered to the floor sending a shower of muddy water splashing across the quarry tiles. By the time he’d grabbed her arm and spun her around he was laughing out loud.
‘You silly little girl! Did you really think I’d fall for that? We read the story together, don’t you remember—the Famous Five wasn’t it?’
Emma tried to yank her arm from his grasp but his fingers sank deeper into her flesh. She screamed, ‘Let me go! The police will be here soon—they know all about you!’
‘They know nothing about me, darlin’, nothing at all; they didn’t even see your post card. A little cryptic for a simple plod I’d have thought. I guess you wanted me to think you’d changed your mind, that a little tumble in the hay with good old Uncle Aidan wasn’t quite as bad as you’d first thought.’
He chucked her under the chin and studied her face. ‘You really are an intriguing little thing, so different from your mother.’ He burrowed his face in her hair. ‘The lovely smell of a brand new dolly, straight from the box...’
She tried to recoil but he held on to her tight, pushing her against the wall with one hand as his other worked its way down her body until he reached the packet of scalpels and removed them from her pocket.
‘Well well, what do we have here—looks like daddy’s missing heirlooms.’ He examined the felt-wrapped packet and laughed. ‘Oh I see now. The idea was to lure me here, overpower me and carve me up with these.’ He clicked his tongue. ‘And your parents think you’re so bright. Well it seems you’re not so bright about everything, eh Emma? Underneath it all you’re just a silly little brat with an over-active imagination.’
She braced herself as he pinned her arms to her sides and pulled her against his body. Pressing his open lips to hers, he rammed his tongue into her mouth. She gagged as she attempted to tear her mouth away, struggling at the same time to drive her knee into his groin.
When he finally drew back he smiled and said, ‘Oh yeah, and a fighter too. We are certainly going to have fun with you.’
Her lips stung. She choked down a sob and wiped her mouth on the shoulder of her T-shirt and forced herself to look at him. What was he talking about—we?
She noticed a ripe bruise on his cheek. Maybe the pot had nicked him after all; she hoped it had. Maybe the wallop on the head she’d given him last night would finally take effect. Maybe any minute now he’d keel over and drop dead at her feet.
‘Your father,’ he put his finger to the bruise. ‘It seems the great ice man, your precious, talented, silver-spoon-in-the-mouth father is starting to melt.’
‘He’ll tell the police. He’ll tell them what you’re really like!’
‘But he doesn’t know what I’m really like, darlin’. As far as he knows, I’m just the guy who screws his wife and screws him out of his money. He doesn’t know I’m going for the trifecta—his little girl too. And even if he did, he wouldn’t dare. Your father is a coward. He won’t be helping you, even if he could.’
Emma swallowed and filled her voice with false bravado. ‘But I know about all the gross things you do up here, and it’s not just the things you try and do with me. I’ve already told the police. They know everything. I told you, they’re coming.’