Gone Astray (38 page)

‘Do you know the man on the left?’

‘Yeah, that’s Adrian Farley, Ade.’

‘How do you know him?’

‘He works here. He’s a sports massager or whatever it’s called, for injuries. An osteo-summat.’

Maggie was seized by an overwhelming sense of apprehension.

‘Is he here now?’

‘I haven’t seen him since yesterday.’ Rob frowned. ‘Why are you asking about Ade? Where’s that picture from?’

‘I can’t say right now.’

His reaction to seeing Farley’s photograph convinced her Rob knew nothing about his involvement in Rosie’s disappearance. He wasn’t clever enough to lie with conviction. But
there was still something in his expression to suggest he knew more than he was letting on.

‘How well do you know him?’

‘I don’t, really.’

There was that look again.

‘You’re not in trouble, Rob, I just need to know.’

He shrugged. ‘Can’t help you.’

‘If he works here, does he have an office or a treatment room?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Show me.’

The door was locked.

‘I need the key,’ she told Rob. ‘We’ve got to get this open now.’

As she double backed to reception, she tried calling Steve outside. To her annoyance it went to voicemail and she hoped it was because he was already on a call to Umpire. The girl on reception
handed over a Chubb key after Maggie flashed her warrant card and explained it was an emergency.

Farley’s room was small but accommodated a treatment table pushed against one wall, a desk, two chairs and a filing cabinet. The walls were covered with posters featuring anatomical
diagrams of bodies stripped of skin and their muscles exposed, red and raw. She began searching through the papers stacked neatly on the desk.

‘Don’t you need a warrant to do that?’ Rob remarked.

‘Not if there’s a potential threat to life. If Farley’s got Rosie or knows where she is, I’d say that qualifies.’

‘I know where he lives,’ Rob suddenly blurted out. ‘Cedar Crescent. Number sixty-two.’

‘The road by the top end of the park?’

‘Yeah, that’s the one. It was his mum and dad’s place and he got it when they died.’

So not only did Rob know where Farley lived but he also knew the house’s provenance.

‘I thought you didn’t know him that well.’

Rob flushed red as Maggie crossed the room. Even though she was tall, she was no match for Rob’s height. Yet it was him and not her who cowered as they stood toe to toe.

‘Don’t fucking play games with me, Rob,’ she said in a quiet but firm voice. ‘I’m not in the mood. There’s a young girl missing and if you’re covering
for Farley I’ll nick you for obstruction. Just have a think about what it would be like for Mae and the boys seeing you once a month at prison visiting time.’

Rob’s eyes widened. ‘I’m not covering for him,’ he blustered. ‘I don’t know nothing about that girl.’

‘But you are keeping something back, I can tell. It’s written all over that ugly mug of yours.’

Rob squirmed. ‘I’ve been sorting him out with some gear, that’s all, I swear.’

‘You’re supplying drugs?’ said Maggie, shocked.

‘No, well, not really. Just steroids. Stuff you usually need a prescription for . . .’ He tailed off.

Maggie wanted to shake her brother-in-law for being so stupid.

‘
Just
steroids? Like that’s somehow okay? So what is Farley taking?’

‘You name it. It’s what’s known as stacking. It’s, like, mixing them up to make them work better, but he takes way too much. I’ve told him that.’

Maggie took a step back. ‘I can’t say I know much about steroids but I know enough that if he’s abusing them, he may well be experiencing violent mood swings, sexual urges he
can’t control, even psychotic hallucinations. They could be making him very dangerous and unstable. We need to find him before it’s too late, Rob.’

Her brother-in-law stared at her for a moment, his face creased in a deep frown. Maggie could almost hear the wheels turning.

‘You asking me about Lisa’s car . . . are you saying he was driving it?’

Maggie nodded. ‘How well does she know him?’

‘Only to say hi to when she’s on the front desk.’ Rob paled. ‘He must’ve stolen it and that’s why she’s not come home yet. If that fucking
bastard’s hurt her, I’ll kill him.’

‘Hang on, you said she’s at a friend’s in Manchester.’

‘She should’ve been back days ago,’ said Rob miserably.

‘Shit, is that why you were asking me about missing persons the other day? Is Lisa missing?’

‘I don’t know. She didn’t come home when she said she would and she’s not picking up her phone. I thought she was narked off with me about something. She’s like
that.’

‘When did you last speak to her?’

‘Monday night. She was due home on Tuesday.’

Now she wanted to throttle him for his idiocy.

‘You should’ve told me the truth. Right, I need to speak to my boss so he can get a team round to Farley’s house.’

Adrenaline surging through her, she dashed out of Farley’s office and headed outside to let Steve know what was going on. Rob followed her.

‘How long will it take to get your lot round there? What if he’s hurt Lisa?’ He was almost crying now. ‘I know you hate me for what I did to Lou, but I love Lisa.
You’ve got to help her.’

Maggie ignored him. As she passed reception the girl behind the desk called out to her.

‘DC Neville, I’ve got a message from your colleague DC Berry. He’s had to go home for a family emergency. His baby boy’s sick.’

Maggie groaned. ‘Please tell me you’re joking.’

The receptionist smiled prettily. ‘Sorry, that’s what he said.’

Maggie pushed through the revolving door into the street and, just as the receptionist said, Steve and his car had gone.

‘Shit, shit, shit.’

She called Umpire but he didn’t pick up. She left a breathless message: ‘Sir, I think I know who the crayon writer is. Please call me urgently.’

Rob hovered beside her.

‘That’s it? You’re just gunna wait for him to ring back?’

‘I can’t go round there on my own,’ she said. ‘I need back-up.’

‘I’ll come with you. We can go in my car. He won’t touch you if I’m there. Please, we’re five minutes away. I love her, Maggie. I’ll go mental if
anything’s happened to her.’

Maggie felt a sudden pang of sorrow for Lou. Her sister would be devastated if she could hear the way Rob was talking about Lisa right now. But she also knew Lou would want her, would expect
her, to do the right thing.

‘Okay, let’s go.’

Cedar Crescent was one of the more salubrious addresses in Mansell. A long cul-de-sac, there was no uniformity to the houses that lined it: some were made from flint, others
the standard red brick, while a few were painted varying shades of white and cream. Most of the driveways were empty of vehicles but Maggie imagined that whatever cars were usually parked there
were probably top of the range.

As they cruised slowly along the road in Rob’s old Ford Focus, Maggie scoured the front of the properties for house numbers. Frustratingly, most didn’t appear to have one. Was
Farley’s home the bungalow half screened by bushes or the impressive detached house that reminded her of a child’s drawing, its front door slap-bang in the centre and four windows
equally spaced around it? Or perhaps it was the ivy-clad semi on the corner?

‘This is it,’ said Rob as he pulled up outside a whitewashed detached house with a tarmac driveway that was empty. The front garden was neat and ordered. It looked like a house whose
owner took pride in it.

‘You stay here,’ she ordered Rob.

‘No fucking way. I’m coming too.’

She didn’t argue. Umpire still hadn’t called back, despite her also leaving a message at the incident room for him to call her, and Steve wasn’t picking up either. In
desperation, she’d called Belmar at the hospital and told him what she was doing. She’d expected him to talk her out of it but to her surprise his reaction was calm and considered.

‘There’s no harm in going to check out the address, but if for a second you think there could be a problem, you step down and call for back-up.’

‘What about Mack and Lesley? I should be there with you.’

‘It doesn’t take the two of us to sit around until Mack wakes up. Lesley’s fine for now. Go and make yourself useful.’

‘Thanks, Belmar, I appreciate you saying that.’

‘Well, it’s like you’re always reminding me – we’re still detectives when it comes down to it.’

Belmar’s encouragement didn’t change the fact Umpire would have a fit if he knew what she was up to. When she looked up, Rob was already at the front door and she had no choice but
to follow him up the garden path, which was wet and slippery from the rainfall.

Rob went to hammer on the door but she stopped him.

‘Let’s try ringing the bell first. If we go storming in, he might run.’

The bell was loud and Maggie pressed it twice.

‘Did you hear that?’ said Rob.

‘No, what?’

‘I can hear banging inside.’

He was right. As Maggie strained to listen, she could hear thumping coming from somewhere downstairs. She went to peer in the front window but the curtains were drawn. She rapped on the glass
and was answered by more thumps.

‘Let’s go round the back,’ she whispered.

She and Rob raced down the side of the house. There was a high wooden gate separating the narrow pathway from the back garden but mercifully it was unlocked. However, the back door to the
kitchen and the patio doors, also obscured by drawn curtains, were all firmly shut.

‘I’ll kick the back door in,’ said Rob, raising his foot to take aim.

‘No! If you do that, you’re breaking and entering. I’ll have to do it. It’s legal forced entry then.’

Rob stood back. ‘Be my guest.’

But Maggie wasn’t going to kick the door in. She pulled her baton off her belt and crouched down by the patio doors. Remembering the advice given to her by Craig, the firefighter
she’d dated last year, she hit the corner of the glass – the weakest part – until it shattered. Then she held her breath, convinced an alarm would start screeching at top volume
and Farley would suddenly appear. When neither of those things happened, she grabbed one of the metal garden chairs and continued to smash through glass until there was a hole big enough for her to
climb through.

The room she entered was long and open plan. Baton still raised, she eased round the dining-room table and crept towards the living area where the sofa and television were. She suddenly stopped.
Face down on the floor, hands tied behind her back, was a girl dressed in a T-shirt that was at least three sizes too big for her. She didn’t appear to be wearing any underwear. Small and
slight, her dark hair fanning across her back, she was using her feet to bang on the floorboards.

Maggie’s heart skipped a beat.

‘Rosie?’

She raced forward and gently lifted the girl up off the sofa. But when she turned her round to sit her up, she was stunned.

‘Lisa!’

Her face was battered, swollen and tear-stained but there was no mistaking Rob’s girlfriend. Maggie removed the gag from her mouth.

‘Get me out of here before he comes back! He’s a fucking psycho. Please, get me out of here!’

‘Lisa? What the fuck?’

Rob had followed Maggie inside.

‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,’ she sobbed over and over as Maggie quickly untied her wrists and ankles with trembling fingers. ‘Don’t hate me, please
don’t hate me.’

Rob dropped to the carpet next to his girlfriend and held her in his huge arms.

‘Sssh, it’s okay, you’re safe now.’

As touching though the reunion was, Maggie needed answers.

‘Lisa, is Rosie Kinnock here?’

‘No, she’s not, but he knows where she is. He’s keeping her somewhere until the parents give him some money.’

‘She’s alive?’

‘I think so.’

‘But you don’t know where she is?’

‘It’s somewhere close to where she lives. He thinks it’s funny that she’s right under your noses. He’s a fucking nutter.’

‘She could still be anywhere. We need to narrow it down, Lisa.’

‘It’s somewhere to do with a client of his.’

‘Are you sure?’

Lisa started crying again. ‘He’s got a client he treats in Haxton every Thursday. I’ve met him a couple of times at the Swan Hotel after the appointment.’

Rob looked crushed. ‘You’ve been seeing Ade behind my back?’

‘Not now,’ Maggie urged him. ‘We don’t have much time. How did you end up here?’ she asked Lisa.

‘I really did go to Manchester to see my friend but I stayed a couple of extra days.’ She shot Rob a look. ‘After that row we had about you wanting Mae to come on holiday with
us. I don’t want to look after the baby for that long,’ she explained to Maggie, who said nothing but shot Rob a look of her own. ‘Yesterday I got back and came straight round
here because Ade had borrowed my car again,’ Lisa continued. ‘Anyhow, he got really angry when I turned up because he told me I was never allowed to come to his house.’

‘You’ve never been here before?’ asked Maggie.

‘No, he said he didn’t like visitors messing the place up. He lets me in but then he starts laying into me, like hitting me and I blacked out for a bit. When I woke up he started on
me again and I couldn’t get to the front door so I ran upstairs thinking I could lock myself in the bathroom and call the police. But I ended up in a bedroom by mistake and that’s when
I saw it.’

‘Saw what?’

‘The missing girl’s picture on the wall, with her mum and dad. Ade found me and lost the plot. He started screaming that it wasn’t his fault the girl got injured and he’d
been the one who’d saved her and taken her to safety because he thought he could get some money from her parents by looking after her.’ Lisa shivered violently. ‘When I told him
I’d tell the police, he tied me up.’

‘Did he harm you in any other way?’ asked Maggie gently.

Lisa squeezed her eyes tightly shut as she nodded.

‘But he said it didn’t count because we were already sleeping together. Oh God, if he’s done the same to her . . .’ She broke down again and Rob held her tighter.