Page 67 of Stolen Ones

‘Okay, Bryant, we’re out,’ she said as he completed his first circuit of the room. ‘Mitch, special efforts for the hard drive that’s running the CCTV.’

He nodded his understanding.

‘Guv, don’t you think a secondary search—?’

‘She’s not here, Bryant,’ Kim said. ‘There may be some kind of clue, which I’m confident Mitch will find, but right now I want another chat with Mr Harte. I think I’ve worked out one of his secrets.’

Thirty-Seven

‘Anything on his phone?’ Kim asked once she’d taken her first sip of coffee. The day was moving fast, and every hour without evidence to charge Steven Harte was running down the clock.

‘Sent to Ridgepoint, boss,’ Stacey said. ‘I can’t get into it. I mean, he’s a software developer,’ she said as a defence.

‘That’s how he watches them,’ Kim said. His home was open and available because he knew he’d left nothing to find. If his phone was locked then there was a reason for it.

‘His phone must monitor the gate security system too,’ Penn offered. He’d known their every movement when they’d had him under surveillance.

‘Mitch has already prioritised trying to find the hard drive at the house, but gee up Ridgepoint, Stace, and make sure they understand the urgency of getting into that phone.’

‘Well, he sure couldn’t stay off it when you weren’t around,’ Alison said.

‘Fuck,’ Kim growled. He’d probably been watching Grace the whole time. The path to finding her was in that phone, and they just couldn’t get into it.

‘But if he’s watching her she’s still alive,’ Bryant offered as the printer kicked into life. Kim had asked Stacey to print off photos of all of the little girls. Little blobs of Blu-Tack were rolled and ready for her to put them on the board.

‘Okay, Penn, projects he’s undertaken?’ Kim asked.

‘We’re talking hundreds, boss. Some local, some national. He’s funded small projects and others costing thousands. I still haven’t got all of them.’

‘Narrow them down. By tomorrow I want to know every project that has involved any kind of construction, and at the top of the list I want the ones where he used Butler Building Limited.’

‘Got it, boss.’

‘Property?’

Penn groaned. ‘Another bloody maze of paperwork and red herrings. So far, I’ve found seven separate UK companies that trace back to Steven Harte, and three of them own substantial property ranging from disused warehouses to farmland and forestry. We’ve also got money being moved around the EU, so I suspect there are other companies abroad used for tax purposes. Any one of them could own land.’

‘Keep at it,’ Kim said, although the feeling in the pit of her stomach told her they weren’t going to find Grace that way. All it took was one small property on one farm in the midst of such a sizeable portfolio.

‘Once I’ve got all the properties listed I’ll do a radius travel assessment.’

Kim nodded her agreement.

There was a timeline between him taking Grace from the day centre to him arriving at the station. He could only have travelled so many miles and back in that time. Penn loved a puzzle, and he was bloody good at them.

‘Stace?’ Kim asked once the photos had been lined up on the wall.

Stacey had arranged them in chronological order starting with Libby Turner, the jewellery maker who was being abused. Suzie Keene, the architect who’d had a miserable home life. Melody Jones whose family appeared to love the money more than her. And Grace Lennard who had been taken from the day centre yesterday.

‘I’m down to sixteen potential victims after Melody was taken. Just need to cross-reference a few more things to narrow the list down further.’

‘Tomorrow morning?’

‘Absolutely, boss.’

‘Alison?’ Kim asked. The behaviourist had had a couple of hours now.

‘Well, he sure doesn’t like being called a sicko, so I’d stay away from that,’ Alison offered.