The Escape (Detective Jane Sparrow Book 2) (3 page)

“How did he escape?”

              “He was in transit to another facility.”

“Why were we not notified? And why were they moving him in the first place?”
 

             
“He was in Belmarsh facility. So protocols when moving a prisoner is you notify the county police service, which is London, so the MET police were informed. The other prison they were moving him to happen to also be in the London borough so no other police forces needed to be notified. So protocol was followed. MET police were aware. Stupidly when Thaddeus and the other fathers were convicted they were all prosecuted by the same courthouse, which meant they all got sent to the same prison. James York is being held in solitary confinement for the rest of his term for his own safety. He has already been stabbed twice since being incarcerated. The other fathers seemed to gang up on Thaddeus. They did from the minute prosecution started. It seems they hatched a plan to attack Thaddeus. The fight broke out in which five of them set an attack on him. But Thaddeus got the drop on them. He killed two; one is seriously injured and doesn’t look like he is going to make it either and the other two made a run for it. The chief warden at the prison made the executive decision that it would be easier to rehouse one inmate than say five. So he decided to have Thaddeus transferred out to a different facility to control any more violent outbreaks.”

“Well did they not foresee any of this when they were sentenced? It’s madness that they were ever housed in the same facility. You were either going to get something like this or heaven knows what else they could of plotted or planned while being in prison.”

              “Well they seemed to have spent their time plotting and planning against each other. Unfortunately they all played in to Thaddeus hands. What’s the best way to escape from prison? When you’re already being driven out the front door. He killed the three guards and the driver that were escorting him. He then drove off in the van. It does have a tracker fitted, which he must of realised, because he dumped it at a train station. When they realised the van was in the wrong location and hadn’t arrived to the other prison on time they radioed through to the police officers. When they got no response they knew something was awry. They found the van no problem parked up at the station but they had to track back to the last location on the route that it showed them following, which is when and how they found the officers bodies.”

“Wait a train station so Thaddeus is open to anywhere in the country and we have no idea where he is at?”

              “That is the situation as it stands at the moment yes. We are trying to get hold of CCTV security footage from the train station. I can’t imagine he bought a ticket either.”

              “Ok I think one of the most important subjects we are failing to talk about is how are we going to keep Jane safe?”

              “Well I think it would be wise and the best thing if we placed Jane into protective custody along with Layla and her family. As Superintendent I will take the role of Detective and work to get this resolved as quickly as possible.”

              “I agree I think that would be best for Jane’s safety as well.”

“There is one thing you are both forgetting to take into consideration. I understand your reasoning but I’m more worried about what that may make Thaddeus do. If you take me out of his reach and focus completely he may start killing randoms. Essex police hasn’t been long out of the spotlight for his last misdemeanours. If we end up back in the spotlight for crimes committed by a man that should already be in police custody we would have a full-scale uprising and panic that we will never live down. If we keep Thaddeus attention on me at least perhaps maybe we can control the situation better, use it to our advantage at least. We would be able to do some damage control at the same time.”

              “Ok Jane we will play it to your terms to a certain extent. You don’t have to go into protective custody but you will have a police escort everywhere you go. And you are to remain safely in this station on desk duty. You will be escorted to and from work and you are to move your living arrangements around regularly. So if he is watching you there is no pattern. And there will be no discussion on those terms ok?”

“Ok no discussion. No argument. I accept your terms. Another question for you have you changed my number yet?”

              “No not yet why is that? Once I learned he had escaped I thought it would be best first to see if we could try and trace the call. If we can get where he phoned from it may help narrow down a location later on.”

“Ok that’s good I wondered if we could leave a trap and trace ready on my phone
. In case he calls again and perhaps maybe see if we can get hold of the phone number he called from.”

              “I’ll get onto the phone company see if I can access our records to see who called at that time and left a message.”

“Thanks Amy that’s great once you have the phone number see if you can get hold of the provider for it. We can then sapina the rest of his phone records to see whom else he has called. A friend maybe, an old colleague, anyone that could help gets us a possible location. Plus as well once we have the phone number there is an app on my smart phone that as soon as he calls me again I can click into and it will tell me what the nearest phone towers he is pinging off of to help with a location.”

              “That’s a good idea Jane I’ll get onto it. Layla should be here soon.”

“Ok thanks did you want me to sit in on the debriefing as well sir or have you got it?”

              “I’ll handle it with Ian thanks Jane. I umm don’t mean to sound callous but if Thaddeus is after you and wants to get to Layla as well it would be safer for her if you don’t know where she is. I’m sorry it’s the best way to keep her safe if less people know her location.”

“No your right sir I wasn’t thinking. I’m going to need to explain to her about the no contact thing that’s going to be quite different for us for a while and she may not take that well.”

              “Ok once you have explained that I think it would be a good idea for you to go home now. Collect some of your belongings up and stay somewhere else for at least the first few nights. Move around never stay in the same location for too many nights in a row just in case he is watching you. You can go back to your own apartment sporadically throughout but again never stay there too long and definitely no more than a night at a time. And probably be best if you treat Perry’s apartment the same. We have no idea whether he is watching you or not at the moment but safety wise its best if we act like he is.”

“Perry’s apartment is probably the safest place to be. He has the best home security system. But I’ll keep moving hopefully it won’t be for long.”

Jane went to pour herself and Perry a cup of coffee. He followed her through into the kitchenette area of the station and as they stood there side-by-side Jane could feel the tension pouring of Perry.

“Perry are you ok?”

              “Seriously your asking if I’m ok when all this is happening again. Some nut job has escaped from prison and has the cheek to come after my girl. I’m furious. The bloke wants to count his lucky stars that I’m not willing to sacrifice all the hard work I put in so that we could have a relationship. Otherwise I would be out there hunting him down. And I wouldn’t rest until I had his whack job cuckoo brain mounted on a spike.”

Jane couldn’t control herself the overwhelming love she had for Perry in that instant moment made her forget where she was. She threw her arms up and around his neck and planted a deep and passionate kiss on his lips.

              “Well I don’t know what I did to deserve that very public display of affection but hell I’ll kiss you all day my sweet little skirt.”

“I just umm you now love you sometimes you know.”

             
“You only love me sometimes. Well looks like I’m going to have to work on my game a bit more if it’s only sometimes.”

“Don’t tease you big brute. you know I meant I love you all the time I’m just not used to saying it.”

              “Well you better get more used to saying it because now you have I’m going to want to hear it all the time. But seriously Jane my number one priority is your safety so you have to promise me that you are going to be a good girl and do everything the Superintendent says ok I don’t want you trying to play the hero.”

“I will, I promise don’t worry.”

As Jane dropped her arms and her gaze from Perry she noticed that Layla had entered the station closely followed by her new family. Jane could see Layla scanning the room trying to find the familiar face of Jane and when their eyes met the relief that spread across Layla’s face was immense.

“Layla, Gabby and Mike it’s great to see you. I’m so sorry this is happening but right now your safety has become very important. We just need to confirm that we were right in believing that Thaddeus has made no attempts at contacting Layla?”

              “No we have had nothing, no strange phone calls, no messages, no contact at all.”

“Good that’s great. Now he may have no intention of trying to get anywhere near Layla. He may never have the interest in contacting her at all. But we are not willing to take that risk. Unfortunately that does mean for you that we are going to put you in protective custody while we track him back down.”

              “We completely understand and are more than willing. Layla means the world to us and we just want to do what is best for her and keeping her safe.”

“Good I’m pleased. Layla I don’t know how much you understand about protective custody and safe houses
. But one of the main points is you cant have access to people in the outside world. Other people, in particular me, don’t get to know where you are going. And we won’t be able to speak while you’re in protective service. It will only be while we track him back down and apprehend Thaddeus. And I promise I will do that as quickly as possible. Do you understand what I mean?”

              “Yeah ok no talking to you for a while. But what about you are you going to be safe?”

“Yeah I’m going to be fine sweetie. I’m a tough cop with a bad ass team. I’m more than safe.”

Layla couldn’t help but crack smiles at that which made Jane relax a bit better at the situation. Although she could still tell Layla wasn’t completely happy with their new arrangement. The Superintendent and PC Ian Watson led the family off into an interview room to debrief them and prep them more for protective custody. Jane hated to admit that as much as she thought Layla wasn’t happy with the new arrangement she actually believes its more herself that needs the contact more. Layla had become almost a safety net. A helpful reminder to Jane, which proved they had escaped alive and were free from Thaddeus grasp.

Jane felt like she had been standing there for hours when in reality it had only been about forty-five minutes before they came back out. Jane had never been one for patience is a virtue
, as it wasn’t one that she possessed. And she was even worse when there was something to be anxious about like saying goodbye. As soon as they came out Layla came over with tears streaming down her face, Jane pulled her in tight for a hug. To the surprise of Gabby and Mike she pulled them each in for a hug as well.

“Take care of her. Keep her safe.”

              “We will we promise. You just catch the son of a bitch so we can come home. You stay safe as well.”

“Don’t worry you have my word on that I will.”

Jane pulled Layla in for one more hug and kissed her on the forehead. Then she had to stand back and watch them turn and walk out of the station door. For how long Jane had no idea. It all depended on what kind of game Thaddeus wants to play this time.

Chapter 4

Every tiny cell in Jane’s body wanted her to walk out that door with Layla and go into protective custody as well. But Jane knew that she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t do everything within her power to re
-catch Thaddeus. Especially if he did go onto murdering anyone else, it wasn’t within Jane to be scared and be in hiding when something like that was going on. Jane could still hear Amy on the phone to the stations phone provider. At several points throughout her conversation Jane could tell that Amy was getting more and more frustrated. Jane could tell Amy was angry as the phone call and her manor was turning frostier by the second. At one point Jane heard yet again Amy explain the situation to another supervisor at the company that they needed access to their phone records for a certain number and extension code. They wanted to see who phoned at a particular time and left a message. When what Jane suspected was another supervisor fobbing Amy off with an excuse as to why it couldn’t be done. Amy became exceptionally frustrated and Jane heard her shout down the phone that if they carried on with their less than helpful manor she would have them all arrested on suspicion of obstruction of justice when it comes to apprehending a wanted criminal. Jane couldn’t help but laugh at what appeared to be a rather smug smile spreading across Amy’s face as the supervisor on the other end of the phone was back peddling so fast he must have been tripping over his own tongue. He was almost grovelling with helpful ideas, as he now fully understood the seriousness of the request and situation that they are in. The conversation ended with Amy explaining she didn’t care how long it took to find the information that they needed. He had to find it and ring her back. Jane heard the phone slam back down on the receiver