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FORTY-ONE

Exhausted, Gina hurried back to Gary’s house where the team had come together. A PC ran over and Gina wasted no time in filling him in. ‘Get the team updated. We need patrol cars looking for the van.’

The PC headed back to his team.

Gina called over to PC Ahmed. ‘Shaf, keep any potential crowds away from the house. I know the neighbours are starting to come out in droves. Jacob and I are going in. Give the incident room a call with updates and get a search team over here. Tell them that Gary Pritchard is wanted for perverting the course of justice.’

Shaf nodded and stepped to one side.

Jacob slipped on a pair of latex gloves and Gina did the same. He pressed the back-door handle and opened it. She reached for the light switch, turning it on, and began to slide a few kitchen drawers open. They were messy, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

She followed Jacob into the living room. A large, framed photo of Elissa playing with a cat in Ruth’s garden adorned the wall above the fireplace. A sick feeling formed in her stomach.

Why had Gary lied and then run?

She headed over to the sideboard and opened the large top drawer. ‘Jacob, hurry, you have to see this.’

He abandoned what he was doing, jogged over and began staring at the made-up chessboard. ‘I didn’t expect to find that here. A chessboard, and the only piece missing is the… um, I don’t play chess.’

‘The white queen. And we found that exact piece on Ruth Pritchard’s kitchen table.’ She studied the pieces for a moment. ‘The other chess pieces we have in evidence come from a different set. This one is a bit more ornate, but it’s still a chess piece, which just happens to be a firm link to our kidnapper and the case. Can you take a photo? I’m heading upstairs to see if I can find a computer or tablet.’

A slight humming sound caught her attention. She turned the hall light on and began her ascent up the creaky steps. A moth began to crash into the wicker light shade. She ignored the creepy shadow it was casting on the bare magnolia stair wall.

The bedrooms were almost bare except for a single bed in the master room, but what did strike her as odd was the loft ladder being down.

She stood in silence for a moment, listening to the humming coming from above. ‘Jacob, we need to check out the loft,’ she called.

He took the stairs two at a time and furrowed his brows as he met her by the metal ladders. ‘What has Gary Pritchard been doing in the loft? It sounds like he has some electrical equipment whirring away up there.’

‘I’m going up. Follow me closely.’

She led the way, her boots clunking on the metal rungs. On reaching the top, she could see two large-screened computers whirring away. Grabbing a joist, she pulled herself in and bowed her head to avoid hitting any beams. She used the torch on her phone to light the way ahead and on reaching the desk, she nudged the mouse.

The screens came to life.

Messages galore in green writing filled the black screens.

She grabbed onto another beam and steadied herself on the uneven loft boards. Jacob came up beside her. She leaned in closer to the one screen and he read the messages popping up on the other. ‘He must be GazMan.’

White Knight: All you need to do is to take the bitch, mate. You want her, she’s yours.

GazMan: Where do I keep her? Can’t exactly keep her in my house.

White Knight: Lock-up, houseboat, hole in the ground, derelict building, cellar, garage, bookshelf hiding a cupboard door, use your imagination!

GazMan: Tell me how you do it. Always up for learning more from the best.

White Knight: I don’t give my inside intel away. A gentleman never tells, haha. Scare the bitch. Let’s have her details and we’ll get the boys onto her. A few messages will have her pissing her pants. Dox her. I love nothing more than the whole world knowing what a slut or bitch she is and telling her exactly that. Breaks the bitch’s heart, it does. We do it to those who deserve it. Police, lawyers, shop workers, mothers – whoever. If they deserve it, they get it. It’s all a game and it’s a laugh. It’s about the journey, mate, not the destination.

GazMan: But I want destination. I want to meet you.

White Knight: Without the journey, destination is an anticlimax.

GazMan: I’ve had the journey, more than once, I want more. I need it faster and more regular now. The addiction is real. Who are you? Let’s work together. We’ll be a force to be reckoned with. We can make the bitches pay. Come on, man, I need this. Hit me up privately.

Thinking of the messages she’d been receiving, Gina knew that she, too, was a victim of men like White Knight. From her own research, she also knew there were thousands of others just like him. Stephen was out there somewhere, and Pete Bloxwich, well, she hated him. Trusting him had not been her plan until a few hours ago, but she had no choice. She made a mental note to quiz him about White Knight. If he wanted that memory stick, he’d have to work for it.

Gina clicked on the personal messages that Gary had sent from the forum to White Knight.

White Knight. Answer me. I know you’re there. I need your help. Come and find me and hurry!!! It’s about time we met IRL. I have an imminent problem. I’ll pay you anything. Message me on the burner, now.

She tried to scroll back through his previous messages but they’d all gone.

‘Damn. They planned to meet in real life – Gary Pritchard was picked up by a white van, and our attempted kidnapper has a white van. It looks like White Knight came to pick him up, all arranged on a burner phone. We have to consider that Gary has Ruth somewhere.’

‘Bloody hell, guv.’ Jacob kept reading the messages on the other screen. ‘This lot are talking about the women they see every day and how easy it would be to take one. They’re even talking killing methods. What on earth have we uncovered?’

‘Something big. The worst of it is, we already knew this was a problem; we knew these predators were everywhere. Most of it is talk, but occasionally they spill out into the real world. We know we lack people and funding to constantly monitor all this, and that’s the frustrating part. There are millions of forums just like this and they’re growing exponentially. As one gets shut down, another starts up.’ Her fists had become inadvertently clenched. ‘Sorry, it makes me angry.’

She saw silver poking out from between two sheets of paper. ‘I’ve found his phone.’

It didn’t need a password, she was in. She scrolled through his messages. There were a few to his colleagues and a couple between him and Ruth, and a missed call from Ruth.

She logged on to the internet, but it was as if he didn’t use it. There were no browsers open and no history. She checked the photos and there were only a few of Elissa as a child.

‘He obviously conducts all this’ – she pointed to the screens – ‘on a burner, probably using a VPN.’

An app flashed with an update. A picture of a smiling horse told Gina that it was Gary’s move. ‘He plays online chess using this phone, though.’

She glanced back at the main screens and took photos quickly just in case they vanished. No doubt Gary Pritchard could easily remote log-in if he wished.

Pressing on the top of the chair, she noticed the denim jacket hung over the back. It had two horses printed onto the back, with a lasso coming into the scene.

‘Molly mentioned something about horses. She said that John Doe mentioned Luna liking horses and they lived by them. I might be overthinking this one, but nothing about this case is easy, so we need to bag this jacket and log it into evidence.’

She sent all the photos to the incident room and Briggs, then called O’Connor.

‘You okay, guv?’ He yawned. Gina heard Mrs O murmur something in the background.

‘O’Connor, I know it’s early in the morning and you’re not due in for another couple of hours, but I need you and Wyre at the incident room now. Can you head in?’

‘What is it?’

‘A woman has been kidnapped. Her name is Ruth Pritchard and we’ve opened a huge can of worms over at her ex-husband’s house. I’ve just sent the details to the incident room, along with photos. It’s all hot off the press, so I haven’t managed to update the system. Jacob is here with me. Can you call Wyre and ask her to come in too, and liaise with Garth? I need a tech whizz on the case.’

‘Yes, leave it with me. I’ll have a quick wash and I’m all yours. See you soon.’ He ended the call.

Jacob moved in closer to the other screen. A message popped up in the corner of his screen. ‘Guv, did you see that?’

‘See what?’

‘It only flashed up for a moment. I don’t want to click on the envelope. We need Garth.’

Gina agreed. Clicking anything could erase data and they couldn’t afford to lose this information. They needed to dig deeper into Gary Pritchard and his online life. Only Garth, from digital forensics, along with his team, could tackle this.

‘Did you see what the message said?’ Gina asked.

‘It was from a group called Chess Club, from someone called the Bishop. All it said was “Your move.”’