DS Jessica Daniel series: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water – Books 4–6 (21 page)

Jessica stepped back towards the room, crouching to pick the weight up.

The door didn’t swing shut.

She could hear Sharon shuffling on the stairs. Jessica remembered a time when they had gone on a school trip to a local castle. One of her teachers had tried to measure how deep the moat was by
tying a similar weight to a string. As the children sat in a circle and watched, the teacher had slowly lowered the object into the moat before offering a quick ‘oops’ and pulling out
the string with no weight attached. Jessica still remembered the embarrassed look on the teacher’s face as she realised the piece of school property was in the process of sinking to the
bottom.

Jessica knelt and cupped the weight in her hand, bobbing it up and down to feel how heavy it was. She glanced around the room before noticing a hatch on the ceiling, a round hook in the centre.
She stood, still holding the weight, and walked over to the bed. The covers were hanging over the side, touching the floor but she pulled them back and reached underneath. As her hands gripped the
cool metal of what was undoubtedly a ladder, Jessica knew she was right.

She pulled it out with a clang and looked up to see Sharon standing in the doorway. Any defiance in her face was gone as the two locked eyes. ‘Why did you do it?’ Jessica asked.

Sharon spoke quietly. ‘I just wanted to see him.’

The change in the atmosphere around the station in the days since Lloyd Corless had been found was remarkable. No one thought Sharon had anything to do with the other
disappearances and the fact Lloyd’s name had been on the list found in the allotment shed seemed to be a coincidence. The senior members were delighted the boy had been found alive and well
– and the subsequent media coverage was very positive. Jessica thought a lot of the internal relief was because they had somehow managed to keep news of the list’s existence
in-house.

From her point of view, Jessica was still frustrated because they had only solved one mystery which it now seemed wasn’t even connected to the wider one they were supposed to be looking
into. Plenty of people around the station were happy to offer her a ‘well done’ and give the proverbial pat on the back but she didn’t share their enthusiasm, instead retreating
to her office.

Meanwhile, everything was being hampered by the weather. At least when it had been wet, they could get on and do things. As the winter freeze had taken hold, the ground where they’d
discovered Toby Whittaker’s clothes was becoming almost impossible to work on. They were no closer to finding the identity of the driver either.

Jessica was sitting at her desk when there was a knock on the door and Izzy entered. Jessica welcomed the constable in, who sat on the corner of DS Cornish’s empty desk.

‘Are you all right?’ Izzy asked.

‘Not too bad.’

‘Something else has happened, hasn’t it?’

‘What, with the case?’

‘No, it’s more than that. I can tell by the way you have been smiling to yourself the last few days when you think no one’s around.’

‘It’s just because we found Lloyd.’

The constable laughed. ‘There’s a man involved, isn’t there?’

Jessica tried to keep a straight face but cracked within a second, laughing out loud in a way she knew really wasn’t like her. ‘Maybe.’

Izzy started to laugh too. ‘My detecting skills are really coming along. Who is it?’

‘No one you’d know.’ Jessica was trying to be overly evasive but she didn’t want to talk too much about Adam either.

Izzy nodded and spoke with a big smile. ‘Like that then, is it?’

‘How’s the peanut?’

‘Getting bigger. I think I’ll start to tell people next week.’

‘Peanut’s a good name. You should think about using it. Pretty for a girl, solid enough for a lad. I’ll let you have it for free.’

‘I’m not that mean. Anyway, you seem to be at the top of everyone’s Christmas card list at the moment.’

Jessica shrugged. ‘This was the simple part. We still don’t know who killed Isaac Hutchings. Everything’s going so slowly. I’ve been tidying up the stuff with Sharon
Corless. She’s pleaded guilty but says her son was nothing to do with the abduction. The super isn’t convinced but we don’t have anything to prove differently.’

‘How’s Lloyd?’

‘I spoke to Esther from the kidnap team earlier. She said that when Rachel and Lloyd were reunited, the son seemed all right and the brother was pleased. But rather than being overjoyed,
Rachel was apparently really angry, saying Adrian would never see his kids again and all that. Her mate was trying to calm her down but she wasn’t having any of it. To be honest,
there’s something not quite right with them all. The grandmother was giving some sort of drug to Lloyd to make him stay quiet and not cause trouble. When I found him, he was asleep, even
though it wasn’t that early. She let me look around the house but I think that was because she knew her grandson was out like a light and wouldn’t make any noise. She came quietly in
the end but it’s all a bit odd.’

‘How did she manage to take him without anyone noticing?’

‘We’re not really sure but, if you know the area, you could figure it out. The cameras only covered the school gates so if she parked away from them, she was unlikely to be seen.
There are so many kids getting into so many cars on roads outside schools, who would really notice someone going voluntarily?’

‘I guess. And a result’s a result.’

Diamond was trying to be cheery but Jessica wasn’t particularly in the mood. While things were moving slowly, she wanted to get away from the office to spend the evening with Adam. For the
past few nights, with Caroline still staying at hers, she had been stopping at Adam’s house. Caroline had sensed something wasn’t quite right and sent Jessica a text message saying she
had a new flat lined up but wouldn’t be able to move in until the new year. Jessica told her friend not to worry and that she could stay for as long as she wanted. In truth, she was
practically living with Adam in any case, even though they had only been back together for less than a week. They had slotted straight back into the way they had been, as if nothing had happened in
between.

Jessica’s ambivalence seemed to spur the constable into action. ‘I do have one thing for you. Your teacher guy, I might have found out who he is.’

‘Ian Sturgess?’

‘Sort of. I stumbled across a “Benjamin Ian Sturgess”. “Ian” is the guy’s middle name. He’s more or less the right age and lives fairly locally. If he
taught using his middle name, he could be the right person – and it would explain why we didn’t find him before because we were searching for the wrong name.’

Jessica stared at her colleague. It wasn’t the first time she had spotted a piece of information everyone else had missed.

‘Have you told anyone else?’

‘Not yet, it could still be the wrong person. I’ve been busy too.’

Izzy reached across and handed over a sheaf of papers that had details of the man she had found. Jessica skimmed through the pages. She knew roughly where the area was.

‘Do you want to come for a drive?’

‘Sorry, Jason’s got me following some things up. He says that digital artist’s impression of the driver is finally due today. It’s cost them tens of thousands,
apparently. Something to do with “3D digital remodelling” according to Jason. It’s no wonder it took so long. Dave’s probably free.’

‘Yeah, but he’s so loved up he’ll be talking about learning to play the guitar or something stupid.’

‘He did say he was writing a song.’

‘Oh for . . . you’re joking?’

Izzy laughed. ‘I am actually. He’s not been too bad with the whole Chloe thing this week.’

‘If he starts talking about marriage or anything like that, I’m emigrating. I can’t take a world where Dave Rowlands gets married before I do.’

The constable smiled and cupped an area just under her stomach in her hands. ‘I didn’t think you went for the whole marriage and babies thing? That is unless . . .’

Izzy had a small grin on her face as she looked at Jessica, who glared back in a silent but friendly warning. Jessica took another look at the top paper, ignoring the insinuation.
‘I’m going to go talk to this Benjamin Sturgess and see if he’s our man. Keep me up to date if anything happens around here and if that image arrives, send a copy to my
phone.’

Rowlands drove out to the address with Jessica in the passenger seat, trying and failing to wind him up. Since his relationship with Chloe had become serious, he seemed utterly
unflappable.

Already thinking ahead, Jessica noted the Sturgess house wasn’t very close to the area where Daisy Peters lived. She still had her own theory that the person who stole her car must have
been local to know Daisy’s movements.

As they arrived, Jessica saw straight away there was a car parked on Benjamin Sturgess’s driveway. It was similar to the one that had been crashed, relatively new, dark in colour and
powerful. Jessica knocked on the front door and rang the doorbell but there was no answer. The main curtains in the front window were open but netting prevented her from seeing much. Despite the
car, it didn’t appear as if anyone was in. There was no gate preventing access so both officers walked through to the rear of the property where there was a small unkempt lawn and patchy
grass. Jessica tried the side door but it was locked. Peering through the kitchen window revealed nothing except for the fact Mr Sturgess had the usual array of white goods.

The two detectives shrugged at each other. It was mid-afternoon so if the man did have a job, he could be at work, even though most people wouldn’t leave a car on the drive.

Jessica pointed to the neighbouring house. ‘You go knock on that door,’ she said to her colleague. ‘I’ll take the one on the other side. If we don’t get any luck
we’ll go over the road. Just ask if they know the guy who lives next door and if they’ve seen him recently.’

Jessica walked to the adjacent house and pressed the doorbell. It sounded a loud old-fashioned ‘ding-dong’ and was soon answered by a woman who looked as if she had long since
retired. She was short with grey curly hair and looked quizzically at Jessica. ‘I don’t buy anything,’ she muttered.

She had already started to close the door, so Jessica spoke quickly to say she was a police officer and took out her identification. After closely examining it, the woman introduced herself as
Sue.

‘Is this about those people at number thirteen?’ she asked.

‘What people at number thirteen?’

‘I phoned you because of all the people they keep having over.’

Jessica looked at the woman with her eyebrows raised. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Sue leant in. ‘I read about it in one of my magazines. I think they’re
sex
people.’ She spoke the word ‘sex’ quietly, as if embarrassed, although she was
clearly relishing telling the story. Of all the doors she could have knocked on, Jessica realised she had stumbled across the local busybody. She wanted to steer the conversation around to the
woman’s next door neighbour but she couldn’t get a word in.

‘They have all these cars parked up and down the road a couple of times a week,’ the woman continued. ‘They park in front of everyone’s house. The other week, someone
parked outside mine at ten o’clock at night. I was watching from my top window and this couple got out. You should have seen what she was wearing.’

Against her better judgement, Jessica asked the question she knew she shouldn’t. ‘What was she wearing?’

Sue shook her head in mock indignation. ‘I did phone the police that night so you should know. She had these big boot things on. It was outrageous.’

‘Right, um . . .’

Seemingly oblivious to Jessica’s lack of enthusiasm, Sue was gleefully continuing her tale. ‘She and her husband, well I assume it was her husband, they walked over the road to
number thirteen.’ She pointed behind Jessica, who looked around to see Dave crossing the road. ‘Anyway, I stayed up and watched all these couples parking up and they all went to the
same house. They didn’t start leaving until one in the morning. Can you believe that?’

Jessica tried to make an interested noise but knew anything she said would be largely irrelevant as Sue kept speaking. ‘It’s been going on for weeks now. All these couples coming and
going. It’s not right.’

‘Okay, well, I’ll look into the report but, from what you’ve said, I’m not sure it sounds like any offence has actually been committed.’

‘No offence? What do you mean?’

Jessica couldn’t tell if the woman was actually shocked or feigning it. ‘It does sound like it’s just a couple who have had friends around late at night. As long as they
weren’t making a noise or causing a disturbance, I’m not sure there’s an awful lot we can actually do.’

Sue stared at Jessica as if unable to take in what she had been told. ‘Well, I never. And you’re a police officer?’

Jessica couldn’t be bothered explaining the nuances of what her role actually was. She pointed towards Benjamin Sturgess’s house. ‘I was wondering if you know much about your
neighbour.’

Sue still seemed annoyed but her eyes lit up at being invited to gossip. ‘Benjamin? Ooh yes, he’s a very nice man. He painted my skirting boards for me.’

Jessica struggled not to laugh because of the obscure nature of the statement. She wondered if she would ever reach an age where painting skirting boards became a concern. ‘Have you seen
him recently?’

‘Ooh, I can’t think . . .’ As the woman paused and looked to the skies, Jessica thought it would be her luck if the one thing the local busybody couldn’t remember was the
only thing she actually needed to know. Just as Jessica thought she had lost five minutes of her life she would never be able to get back, Sue finally answered. ‘I don’t think I have,
come to think of it. I don’t remember seeing him at all in the past week or so.’

‘Do you know if he usually leaves his car at home during the day?’

‘I don’t know. He does some writing but I think he does that from home.’

‘Does he have a wife or a—’