Page 48

FORTY-SEVEN

Jacob and Gina hurried towards the huge wooden front door to the house. Ivy coated the whole frontage, thick like a carpet of dark-green hues. She spotted a collection of industrial buildings behind it. Long buildings and greenhouses of factory-like proportions. ‘Everyone’s in place, so we’re ready to go,’ Gina whispered. The area was surrounded, just in case Gary decided to run.

Jacob rapped his knuckles on the door.

A woman in a wax jacket and green wellies opened it and smiled. ‘Hello.’ She looked them up and down. ‘You want to see the stable. Just let me grab my phone and I’ll take you across.’

Gina shook her head. ‘No, sorry. I’m DI Harte and this is DS Driscoll. We need to talk to you about an employee called Gary Pritchard.’

‘Okay. What’s this about?’

‘We’re looking for him regarding a case we’re investigating. Has he come into work today?’

‘Quite the opposite.’ The woman rolled her eyes and her messy bun began to shed a few strands of mousy-coloured hair. ‘He didn’t turn up, so I’m short-staffed, which is why I’m doing his work as well as my own.’

‘May we come in?’

‘Of course.’ She opened the door fully and led them to a farmhouse kitchen where something delicious and brothy simmered in a pot on the Aga.

Gina’s stomach rumbled slightly as she inhaled onion and chicken. ‘Could I take your name, please?’

The woman gestured for them to sit on the long bench seat at the rustic table. ‘Amelie Edmundson.’

‘When did you last see Mr Pritchard?’

‘He came in yesterday, but said he felt ill, so went home around eight in the morning. Actually, his absence is becoming an inconvenience. He’s had numerous warnings for being late, not turning up to work and generally skiving off. We keep finding him hanging around and smoking by the outbuildings, and I’ve even caught him drinking a few times. This is a problem because, as you might guess, we have machinery and vehicles. Should he be in charge of any of those and someone were to get hurt… it doesn’t bear thinking about.’ She paused and shook her head. ‘And, he’s been quite aggressive and angry. His ex-wife has met someone else, and since then, he’s definitely got worse. Has he done something?’

‘That’s what we’re trying to establish, and I’m grateful for your cooperation.’ Gina hoped that would continue when she asked for a look around the outbuildings and vans. It would make their lives much easier if they were granted access.

‘I hate speaking like this about him. Up until this year he’s been an asset to Edmundson’s, and he’s worked here for so long. We know he’s been dealt a bad hand, what with his daughter going missing all those years ago. I can’t begin to imagine how that would feel. We have two grown-up kids and grandchildren now, and if something happened to any of them, I don’t know how I’d carry on.’ Mrs Edmundson bit her bottom lip.

Gina pulled out the drawing of John Doe. ‘Do you know this man?’

She shook her head.

‘What does Gary do here?’

‘He looks after the cows and milking, and general farm duties. He’s very handy, so he does maintenance too. We all muck in and do a bit of everything around here.’

‘You have two white vans registered to the business. Can we take a look at them?’

‘Why?’

‘A white van with a side door was used in an attempted kidnapping.’ Gina didn’t know what vehicle had been used to take Ruth, but she suspected that, too, was a white van.

Mrs Edmundson opened her eyes wide and raised her brows. ‘And you think one of our vans was used for that?’

‘We just need to rule them out.’

‘Of course. Gary uses them all the time. You don’t think…?’

‘As I said, we just need to rule them out. Mr Pritchard ran from us this morning and got into a white van.’

Grabbing a set of keys, Mrs Edmundson led them back towards the main door. ‘Follow me. I’ll take you to the vans now. They’re both onsite.’

They followed her over the muddy driveway until they reached a churned-up tarmac car park full of farm vehicles and the two white vans. Damp began to seep through the side of one of Gina’s boots. Mrs Edmundson pulled out a key with a purple tab on it and opened the first van up. It was full to the roof with tools and parts. Cobwebs stretched across the opening like they’d been there for days or even weeks. Mrs Edmundson opened the door to the second van and that was in a similar state. She glanced into the cabs of both. There were no chess pieces dangling from the rear-view mirror.

‘Do you mind if we call forensics to take a look?’ She had to rule them out, but she was almost certain that the vans she was looking at hadn’t been used by the kidnapper.

‘Do whatever you need to do.’

Gina nodded to Jacob to send the message. Within moments, PC Smith turned up to wait with the vans while they continued looking, and two more PCs came to assist. ‘Can you wait for someone in forensics to arrive?’

‘Yes, I’ll let you know when they do,’ PC Smith said as they left him with the vans.

‘Can you show me your outbuildings?’

Mrs Edmundson swallowed. ‘What are we looking for?’

‘We are hoping to find Mr Pritchard.’

‘He, err, he’s mostly been loitering around by the bunker. That’s where I always find him smoking and sitting.’

‘Do you use the bunker for anything?’

She shook her head. ‘Our kids used to use it as a den when they were little, but we have no reason to use it, really. We use the barn and other outbuildings for storage. We have another barn just for the horse stables and consumables. The factory is self-contained. That’s where we make the ice cream and butter. We don’t go to the bunker.’

‘What I haven’t told you is that Mrs Pritchard has also been taken, and we are worried for her safety. I’m going to make sure backup is in place. Could you keep everyone in the factory and stay there until I come back out.’

‘Yes, oh my goodness, poor Ruth. That’s awful. I’ll take you to the bunker.’ She pulled out a huge bunch of keys, removed one from the ring and passed it to Gina. ‘You’ll need this.’

‘Does Mr Pritchard have a copy of this key?’

‘Yes. He wanted to store some things in there years ago, so I gave him a copy and said he could use the space. It was to be used to store tools that he didn’t have room for in his shed, and he didn’t want to sell them as they’d be useful in the future.’ As they walked across a small field, they reached the treelined edge of the land. ‘It’s there.’ She pointed.

Gina scrunched her brow. She couldn’t see anything and neither could Jacob or the three PCs by the looks on their faces.

‘Sorry, I forgot, it blends into the landscape. See the slight mound of grass, just before you reach the trees? If you walk around it, there’s a muddy dip. It’s steep and damp so be careful. Just unlock the metal door and enter.’

‘Thank you.’

‘I’ll head back to the factory, then.’

Gina nodded for one of the PCs to go with her.

‘If you need me or my husband, just come there and ring the bell. I best go and let him know what’s going on.’ The woman began clumsily jogging back in her wellies towards the main buildings. Gina glanced to the right and saw the paddock with a single horse running in it.

The two PCs remained poised, hands on truncheons, as one radioed their position back to the others. Gina peered at the road through the treeline and saw a police car. ‘We’re going in.’

The booming of her heart got louder and louder as she popped the key in the lock and opened the bunker, leading the way with her torch.

Was the girl in there, with Ruth?

‘Hello,’ she called out. There was a wall and another door ahead. A bench either side made the tubular structure feel tight as they all piled in, apart from one PC.

‘Ruth? Gary?’ She placed her almost-shaky hand on the door handle and it fought back with a spine-tingling creak.

Gina flashed her torch at bags of rubble stacked up at the far end.

‘Guv, look.’ Jacob flashed his torch at the wall to their left where a garden chair had been folded up and leaned against the wall.

Stepping in further, Gina could see the pile of empty cans of cider stacked up behind the door. She closed the door halfway and on the back was a wall of photos and notes stuck to it with tape.

There was a photo of Elissa, of Eric and of Ruth. Eric’s photo had one word written across his face: bastard . The one of Ruth almost took her breath away: devil horns had been drawn onto her head.

Gina almost felt her breath escape her as she read a name he’d written on the A3 sheet of paper: Marie Paulson. Next to her name, he’d written Fantastic Snacktastic . Marie’s surname had changed, if it was the same Marie.

Gina took a photo as Jacob held his torch at the back of the door. ‘I think we have what we need to find Marie.’

She sharply inhaled as she saw the pile of rope on the floor next to a metal chain that had been embedded into the concrete.

A knife had been stabbed into a chessboard. The only piece at the scene: the white knight.