Page 101 of Stolen Ones

He took a plain piece of paper and started making notes. His brain worked better if he could see it in black and white.

Grace Lennard had been abducted at 2.30p.m.

‘I’ve got a nine-year-old girl who went missing in 2002,’ Stacey said to no one.

Harte had arrived at the station at 4.30p.m.

‘She’s a perfect candidate for Harte’s MO.’

Penn tried to block out his colleague’s musings as he wrote down ‘30mph’ as the average speed. Now to try and convert speed and distance, taking into account both locations.

He heard his colleague’s exclamations of ‘oh shit’ as he reached into his drawer for his headphones.

Sixty-One

‘They’re here,’ Kim said, impatiently jumping out of the car.

From the second Rory Duncan had understood her intention, his face had lost every ounce of colour.

He had reached for his phone and so had she. They had walked away from each other like duellists, her trying to action what needed to be done and him trying to stop it.

Her first call had been to Woody, where she’d warned him of the possibility of a complaint from a convicted sex offender.

‘Always good to know when they’re coming, Stone,’ had been his response.

She’d explained her reasons and told him what she needed, and he had taken care of the rest. Her requests were starting to arrive right now.

The first vehicle contained racks of metal fencing.

Once Rory Duncan had understood that he couldn’t stop what was happening, he had switched to damage control mode and they had reached a compromise. The inside part of the site could remain open to the public, but all outside access would be prohibited. A fence would be erected to stop members of the public wandering around the outside of the building.

Rory Duncan appeared beside her as the excavator came rolling into the car park. The man looked as though he was about to cry.

‘If just one customer impedes the work, Mr Duncan, we will close the place down completely.’

‘I understand,’ he offered miserably.

She chose not to inform him that should they find anything looking remotely like human bones, the whole site would be shut down anyway. The poor guy had dealt with enough.

The excavator was followed by a loader and behind that were squad cars.

Bryant headed off to brief them.

Mr Duncan’s hand went to his stomach. ‘Oh dear, all this is really making me feel unwell.’

Kim didn’t care to think how the discovery of human remains might affect his delicate constitution.

The vehicles continued to arrive and were attracting the attention of visitors both entering and exiting the site.

A man in jeans and T-shirt with a satchel had stopped to speak to Bryant.

‘Is that your guy?’

‘Yes, yes, that’s Bradley,’ he said, with relief, heading off to meet him.

Duncan had called the guy from some kind of historical integrity site, to oversee works and ensure that the least amount of damage was being done. She understood Duncan’s concern for the fountain, but it didn’t trump her concern for what may lie beneath it.

Duncan was headed back towards her with the man named Brad. She turned her back and walked away as her phone began to ring.