The Negotiator (28 page)

“How did your spelling test go?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “No, Mom. That’s tomorrow.”

“Oh, right.” She squeezed his shoulder. “So, I’m a day early.”

“Is Andy still on nightshift?”

“Yes, honey. He’ll be at work tonight.”

Jack’s face fell. “Darn, I don’t like it when he’s doing nightshift. I hardly get to see him. He’s asleep when I get home from school and then he’s barely awake and he’s gone. I’m usually at school again when he gets home.”

“I know, honey and I understand. But that’s just the way it is. At least he won’t be on nightshift forever and he’ll be off on the weekend.”

“Really? Do you think he might take me snorkeling again? Jimmy could come, too.”

Cally smiled softly. “Maybe, you’ll have to ask him.”

“I will. Is he asleep right now? I want to ask him as soon as we get home.”

“He was when I left to collect you and it would be better not to wake him. It’s important he get some rest. He has to work all night when he leaves home.”

They reached her old Toyota and she unlocked her door. “Hop in, sweetheart and don’t forget to put your seatbelt on.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mom.”

Climbing into the car, her lips tugged upwards. He hated it when he thought she was treating him like a child. He wouldn’t take kindly to the reminder that he
was
still child. With a soft sigh, she pulled out into the traffic and joined the queue of parents leaving after doing the school pickup. Glancing into the rearview mirror, her heart leaped into her throat. The blue Camry was right behind her.

A band of fear clutched at her belly. She glanced at the mirror again and read the license plate.
CHT 157.
It was the same one. It had been more than a week since she’d last seen it. She’d almost convinced herself her imagination had gotten the better of her.
Why had it shown up now?

“Are you all right, Mom?”

She plastered a smile on her face. “Of course, sweetheart. Why do you ask?”

“You’re mumbling under your breath.”

She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand in an effort to ease the tension and kept the forced smile in place. “I’m fine, honey.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Jack cried out in excitement. “I met someone today who said he was a relative of mine. You didn’t tell me we had relatives living in Sydney.” His voice was almost accusatory.

Knowing there were no such relatives, dread seized Cally’s belly in a stranglehold. Her pulse took off like a bullet and she took a deep breath in an effort to remain calm. “Sorry, honey. I didn’t hear you over the traffic,” she lied, hoping to buy more time. “What did you say?”

He sighed exaggeratedly. “A man called me over to the fence at school. I think he said he was your uncle.” Jack frowned. “Or maybe he said he
knew
your uncle?”

Tentacles of fear wrapped icy fingers around her heart. She forced another breath in her lungs.
Something was all wrong about this: She didn’t have any uncles.

“My uncle? Really? What did this man look like?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. He was pretty tall, but not as tall as Andy.”

“What color hair did he have? Was it short or long? Did you notice the color of his eyes?” She tried not to sound like an interrogator.

“His hair was short and black, I think. He was wearing a hat, so I didn’t get to see too much of it. And sunglasses. He was wearing sunglasses, too.”

She digested that information. It sounded like the man she’d spied in the blue Camry. “What else did he say?”

“Not much, although it was a little weird when he started asking me about my dad. I thought if he was my uncle, he’d already know I don’t have a dad.”

Dread weighed cold and heavy in her chest. Could Stewart be the man in the Camry? It didn’t make sense. As far as Stewart knew, she’d aborted their baby a decade ago, like he’d demanded.
But if not Stewart, then who?

She’d never elaborated on the whereabouts of Jack’s father to anyone in Sydney. When work colleagues, or the mother of one of Jack’s friends casually posed the question, she deftly side-stepped it and changed the subject. Every now and then, someone would become a little more curious, and she’d end up telling them his father lived in the country—which was true, as far as she knew.

Was it possible Stewart had discovered her secret?
Had he tracked her down in Sydney? But, why all the secrecy and subterfuge? She glanced in her rearview mirror and saw the Camry was still right behind her. Straining to get a look at the driver, she made out the dark form of a man. He wore sunglasses and a hat, just as Jack described.

Clearing her throat of nerves, she looked back at her son. “Honey, the man you were talking to in the playground today, did you see him get out of a car?”

“No, Mom.”

She tried to ignore the disappointment that surged through her.

“But I saw him drive away in one.”

Her brain suddenly registered what Jack said. Whipping her head toward him, she said, “
What
did you say?”

Jack sighed exaggeratedly. “You asked me if I’d seen the man getting
out
of a car. I said no because I didn’t. The first time I noticed him was when he called out to me in the playground. I went after a ball that had rolled near the fence. The man in the sunglasses was already there. He called me over.”

“I see. And he just started talking to you?”

“Yeah, I guess. But when he asked me about my dad, I felt a bit strange and picked up the ball and headed back. I looked over my shoulder to see if he was still there and that’s when I saw him getting
into
his car.”

“What kind of car?”

He shrugged. “A blue one. I’m not sure what kind.”

“Dark blue or light blue?” Her voice sounded strangled.

“Dark blue, kind of like Jimmy’s car, only it was a car like ours, not a big pickup like Jimmy’s.”

Panic seized her. It was one thing for the man to be parked alongside a busy road near her driveway, or even to follow her through heavy traffic, but to go to her son’s school and speak with him?

Her mouth set in a grim line. Fanciful or not, she was going back to the police. This creep, whoever he was, had overstepped the mark. If he thought she would sit back and ignore the fact he’d approached Jack without her permission, he had another think coming. No one interfered with her son.
No one.

She glanced behind her and flicked on her indicator to change lanes. The Camry was nowhere in sight. Relief surged through her. As much as she wished it were otherwise, her bravado was all a front. The man was getting bolder and the thought made her sick with fear.

Taking the next exit, she turned in the direction of the Chatswood Police Station, which was closest to her home. She hoped the detective who’d dealt with her house burglary would be there. He at least had some background knowledge.

She thought of Andy and suppressed the urge to call him. He’d barely closed his eyes when she left to collect Jack from school. She didn’t want to wake him. He had a full night of work ahead of him.

“Where are we going, Mom? This isn’t the way home.”

Cally closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. She needed Jack to tell the police about the man he’d spoken to in the playground. As much as her heart rebelled against the idea of adding extra worries to his young shoulders, it was time to tell him about the stalker.

She bit her lip. “Honey, there’s something I need to tell you.” She braced herself for his reaction.

* * *

Cally opened the door of the police station and was hit with a blast of icy air. She was pleased to see it raised a little color to Jack’s pale cheeks. He still looked shocked, as he tried to take in what she’d told him, but she was confident he was resilient enough to cope. At least, she hoped so.

“May I help you?” A male officer whose name badge identified him as Constable Nicholls addressed her from behind the counter. Her stomach sank. He looked barely out of high school.

“Um, yes. I’m Cally Savage. Is Detective Black in?”

“I’ll check for you.” The officer picked up a phone, pressed a button, and spoke into it. A few moments later, he ended the call. “You’re in luck. He’ll be with you shortly. Take a seat over there if you like,” he added and indicated the row of plastic chairs bolted to one wall.

Cally glanced at the seats and dismissed them. She was too agitated to sit and the constable had said the detective wouldn’t be long. A moment later, the tall detective she’d met a little over a month ago when he’d come to interview her over the burglary appeared behind the counter. His green eyes were full of curiosity and his mouth opened in a friendly smile, displaying a perfect set of white teeth.

If Cally hadn’t met Andy, she may have even been just the tiniest bit interested in the good looking detective. At their first meeting, she’d been too overwrought at the discovery an unknown man had been inside her home to take much notice of the attributes of the police officer investigating it. Now, with a little more balance in her life, she could appreciate what he had to offer…and remain entirely unmoved.

“Ms Savage, isn’t it? What can I do for you?”

“I… You investigated a burglary at my house a little while ago. I spoke to you last week when I believed I was being followed.”

“Yes, I remember. We sent a car around, but there was no one there. I take it you haven’t seen the offending vehicle since?”

“Yes…no. I mean, I hadn’t seen it since I spoke to you and I’d almost convinced myself it must have been a coincidence, but…something else has happened.”

The detective nodded. “Okay, would you like to tell me about it?”

Cally bit her lip and glanced down at Jack. He stared up at her, his eyes wide and solemn.
She had to do it.
If she said nothing, something could happen to Jack and she’d never forgive herself. She drew in a deep breath.

“Yes. The man who’s been following me has approached my son at his school.”

The officer’s expression turned serious and he leaned closer to her over the counter. “Why don’t you come inside so you can make a proper statement? Is this young man your son?” He nodded in Jack’s direction.

“Yes.” She remembered Jack had been at school when the detective had come around. She drew her son close against her side. “This is Jack.”

“How old are you, Jack?” Detective Black asked.

Jack peeked at him nervously. “I-I’m ten.”

Cally tightened her arm around Jack’s shoulders, offering him silent reassurance.

The detective gave him a friendly grin. “Do you think you could come in with your mom and tell me what happened at school today?”

Jack nodded cautiously, staying close to her side.

“Good. Now, if you walk over there, I’ll come and unlock the door for you.” The detective pointed to their left. Cally and Jack walked over and a moment later, the door was opened from the inside by the detective. “Right through here.”

He led them through a twisting confusion of corridors and rooms until they arrived at an interview room. It was small and sparsely furnished in a similar fashion to the ones at the station in North Sydney. A cheap, Formica-covered table and four hard, plastic chairs took up most of the space. Cally looked up and saw a small camera positioned high in one corner. There were no windows and all four of the off-white walls were bare.

Icy air from the air conditioning vent made the temperature of the room uncomfortably cool. She shivered as much from the cold as from nerves. Being deep inside the bowels of a police station was intimidating. In silence, they took the seats that were offered.

She supposed that was all part of it. There were probably as many offenders as witnesses brought in here and to have them off-balance in a room like this was more than likely part of the
modus operandi
.

When Detective Black took a seat across from them, her nerves multiplied. She shot a quick glance at Jack seated next to her. Her son’s face still held concern, but there was also fascination. She was glad he wasn’t as apprehensive as she was. Her fear and discomfort must have shown on her face because the detective suddenly leaned toward her, a friendly smile on his face.

“Relax! I’m just going to ask you some questions about what happened, all right?”

She nodded and took Jack’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze, not sure which one of them she was trying to reassure.

“Okay, are we ready?” he asked, looking from one to the other.

She glanced down at Jack who nodded. Lifting her gaze to the officer, she took a deep breath and said, “Yes, let’s get this over with.”

“Good, we’ll start with you.” He indicated Cally and she forced air slowly out of her lungs.

“Tell me again, when did you first notice you were being followed?”

As she began to relate the incidents, the officer continued to take notes. When she got to the part about the license plate number, he paused and looked up at her.

“So, you got the plate number?”

She nodded. “Yes, it’s CHT 157.”

“That’s great. We can run a check on it and see who the car’s registered to. It’s a good starting point.” He wrote down the number and circled it. “When did you see the car again?”

“Last week. Then I saw it again today. It was right behind me as I left Jack’s school. In fact, now that I think about it, the car must have been parked somewhere outside the school. It’s a really busy time of day and there’s always lots of cars pulling up and leaving as parents come to do the afternoon pick-up. It couldn’t have pulled in behind me so quickly after I left unless it was already close by.”

Turning to Jack, Detective Black gave him a smile. “Okay, buddy, why don’t you tell me what happened today?”

Jack glanced up at her, his eyes now wide and uncertain. She smiled down at him reassuringly and squeezed his arm.

“It’s all right, honey. You tell the officer exactly what you told me. He needs to know what happened, okay?”

Jack nodded and looked down at his hands.

“Where were you when you first saw the man?” Detective Black asked.

“Me and Jimmy and a couple of the other boys were playing handball near the oval.”