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  He reached the open plan office area and dumped his gear on the desk. DCI Brookbank had a glass-fronted office with a window, looking down onto the courtyard. There were renovations going on in the station, but they were taking a long time, and everyone had been moved around. DCI Brookbank’s temporary office wasn’t much bigger than a rabbit hutch.

  The DCI looked up, caught Mackinnon’s eye and then waved him over.

  As he walked over to the office, Mackinnon saw the familiar grey-haired head of DI Tyler.

  He opened the glass door, and Brookbank nodded at him.

  “Shut the door behind you, Jack.”

  Mackinnon did as he asked and then sat down in a chair beside Tyler.

  “There was an incident this morning. We believe a seventeen-year-old girl has been abducted. Her name is Ruby Watson. She didn’t arrive for work, although her parents told us she set off to go to work at seven forty-five this morning. Two hours ago, her mother received a text message.”

  Brookbank’s eyes drifted down to the paperwork in front of him, and he lifted up a piece of paper scrawled with his distinctive handwriting.

  “We have your daughter. Await further instructions.”

  “Is that all?”

  A seventeen-year-old going missing for a couple of hours wasn’t usually cause for alarm, but this text message certainly added a sinister aspect.

  “Yes, that was all,” Brookbank said. “We have already looked into the text message, and it originated from a pay-as-you-go mobile. Trying to ring that mobile number has not been successful. The phone is obviously switched off, but we’re trying to pinpoint where the text message was sent from.”

  “There was a case not long ago,” DI Tyler said. “A similar situation. A teenage girl didn’t show up for work, and her parents received a text message. It turned out the girl and her boyfriend were behind it. They were trying to extort money from the parents.”

  Brookbank nodded. “We don’t think that is the case here, though. Right now, we are treating this as a genuine abduction. Her father, Peter Watson, is an investment banker. He is worth a lot of money, and his daughter would be a valuable target.”

  “Have the parents heard anything more from the kidnappers?” Mackinnon asked.

  Brookbank shook his head. “No. There’s a police officer with them now, and I am assigning a trained family liaison officer. DI Tyler will be heading up the enquiry,” Brookbank paused to nod at DI Tyler and then looked back at Mackinnon. “He requested I bring you in, and I agreed. The team is assembling in incident room one. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you time is paramount in cases like this.”

  Mackinnon nodded.

  “Right, you’d better get started,” Brookbank said.

  DI Tyler and Mackinnon got to their feet, left Brookbank’s office and headed for incident room one.

  Mackinnon had been right; this case was a big one and time sensitive. Recovering the abduction victim within hours was the best case scenario. The longer the person was held, the less chance there was of a successful outcome.

  “We are going to get set up in incident room one,” Tyler said, “but we’ll spend a lot of time working closely with the Watson family. They are very wealthy and live in a penthouse just within the city limits. Their apartment even has its own rooftop garden, and they also own a number of other apartments in the building, and as one of them is currently empty, they’ve offered us the use of that if we need to set up a temporary base there. I think it’s a good idea to have officers there in case the abductors get in touch.”

  Mackinnon nodded. “Who is working the case?”

  “At the moment it’s just the City of London Police. The girl went missing in the city, and she lives about a quarter of a mile away. It’s our jurisdiction.”

  “Press?”

  Tyler frowned. “No press yet. We want to control the information that gets released to the media. We don’t want to spook the abductors, and we don’t want any have-a-go heroes.”

  As they reached incident room one, Mackinnon stood to one side to let Tyler enter the room first.

  Most of the team were already gathered inside.

  DC Webb was perched on the edge of a table near the front of the room, fiddling with his laptop. He’d overdone the hair gel as usual, and Mackinnon could smell his aftershave as soon as he stepped in the room.

  DC Charlotte Brown was already there, too. She looked pensive but offered Mackinnon a smile as he walked in. Her hair was tied back neatly, and she wore black trousers, black boots and a grey blouse.

  DC Collins was there, too, looking neat and tidy as usual. He was sticking a photograph to the whiteboard and was the only one who actually called out a greeting to Mackinnon and Tyler.

  Tyler walked to the front of the room and put the folders he’d been carrying on the table in front of him.

  “Right, let’s get down to business. We’ll have support staff joining us shortly. This morning, seventeen-year-old Ruby Watson didn’t arrive for work at Rose Hill Community Centre.” Tyler paused to nod at the photograph of Ruby Watson on the whiteboard. She was a fresh-faced girl, smiling happily in the photograph. “She has been working there on a voluntary basis for the past three weeks. It’s a summer placement. She is an A-level student at City College.

  “We are considering this an abduction because her mother, Claire Watson, received a text message from an unknown individual claiming they had her daughter and to await further instructions.

  “The text message hasn’t given us much to go on at the moment. Other than we know it was sent from a pay-as-you-go sim card. The tech team is working on that.

  “Ruby’s parents are extremely well off. Her father, Peter Watson, is an investment banker. He also owns properties within the square mile, residential and commercial. The family’s money could be the motive behind the abduction, but we can’t rule out other possibilities at this stage. It’s possible that this could be a revenge attack, perhaps the abductor is someone the parents or Ruby herself has upset.”

  He turned to Charlotte. “DC Brown I’d like you to start looking into Ruby’s background. Boyfriends, friends, Social media. Did she have any enemies?”

  “How many enemies could a seventeen-year-old girl have?” DC Webb piped up.

  “You’d be surprised,” Charlotte said dryly as she sat down at a desk and opened her laptop.

  DI Tyler turned to Collins next. “I want you to trace her last known movements. She was last seen by her parents leaving their apartment this morning. We need to get hold of all CCTV that could show us where she went next. We know her usual route to work, according to her mother. She left home at seven forty-five this morning.”

  Collins nodded. “I’ll get on it straightaway.”

  Finally, Tyler turned to Mackinnon. “You’re with me, Jack. We’re going to go and meet the parents and ask them some very difficult questions.”

  Mackinnon nodded and picked up his jacket. It was warm and muggy today and he’d prefer to be without it. He’d like to ditch his tie, too, but appearances were important in their line of work. If you dressed well, people had more confidence in your abilities. DI Tyler always wore a suit and tie but looked a little crumpled and worn around the edges.

  So despite the heat, Mackinnon shrugged on his jacket and straightened his tie.

  Mr and Mrs Watson were living through every parent’s worst nightmare, and Mackinnon knew things were going to get worse.

  Their daughter was missing, and they’d want to be out there scouring the streets. Instead, they’d have to sit in their apartment and be grilled by two policemen, prying into their personal lives. It wasn’t a part of the job Mackinnon enjoyed, but he knew questioning the Watsons would give them the best chance of getting Ruby back unharmed.

  And at the end of the day, that was the most important thing.

  Chapter 4

  Tyler drove to Moor Lane, which was on the very edge of the square mile. It was within walking distance from Wood Street St
ation, but with a case like this when every moment counted even a few minutes saved by taking the car made a difference.

  He parked the Mondeo in the underground car park. Parking in the City was scarce, but the basement car-park was vast and full of Range Rovers and Porsches. Like most things in life, if you had enough money, you didn’t have to worry about trivial things like finding a parking space.

  They got out of the car, and Tyler pointed to the right. “The entrance is over there. There is a private lift to the penthouse. How the other half live, eh?”

  Mackinnon didn’t answer. He was too distracted by the Audi R8 they were walking past.

  A short man, wearing a navy blue uniform, with security printed above his breast pocket, stood beside a set of glass doors. He looked at them warily as they approached until they held up their warrant cards.

  “DI Tyler and DS Mackinnon. We’re here to see the Watsons,” Tyler said.

  The short man moved to open the door for them as he said, “What’s happening then? You’re the second lot of police to turn up today.”

  “It’s a private matter,” Mackinnon said. They would have to question him at some point, but right now they wanted to keep things as quiet as possible until they had more details.

  The man looked offended. “Well, if it involves the security of this building, I really should be in the loop.”

  Mackinnon smiled. “Of course. When we have some information to share, you’ll be the first to know.”

  The man frowned as though he didn’t know whether to be mollified or annoyed. “This way.” He led them around the corner to a mirrored hallway and the lift. “Just press P for the penthouse.”

  “Thanks,” Mackinnon said.

  Tyler didn’t bother to respond. He was too busy scrolling through messages on his phone.

  “Collins has managed to find Ruby Watson on a CCTV camera outside the building at seven fifty this morning. He’s tracing her route now,” Tyler said after the security guard was out of earshot.

  They stepped inside the lift and pressed the button. The walls were mirrored, and the floor had a lush carpet.

  Stepping out into a luxurious lobby covered with marble, Mackinnon found it hard to believe this sumptuous apartment block was less than a quarter of a mile away from the notorious Towers Estate.

  There was only one door on this level. Tyler knocked, and the door was opened by a uniformed officer. They held up their warrant cards, and the officer took a step back.

  “The family liaison officer has just arrived, sir. She is talking to the family now.”

  As the officer spoke, a young woman appeared behind him. “I’m Kelly Johnson, family liaison officer. I’ve been speaking to Ruby’s parents. If you want to follow me, I’ll introduce you to them.”

  They followed Kelly along a wide corridor and into a room with huge, floor-to-ceiling windows that gave a panoramic view of London, with St Paul’s taking centre stage.

  Sitting on a cream sofa, with at least a foot separating them were Ruby Watson’s parents. Claire Watson had recently been crying. Her eyes were red, and she clutched a tissue in her left hand. She looked up at Mackinnon and Tyler hopefully as they entered the room.

  “Have you found her,” she asked, her eyes darting from Mackinnon to Tyler.

  “Not yet,” Tyler said. “But we are doing everything we can. We are currently tracing Ruby’s movements.”

  Her face fell, and her dismay twisted Mackinnon’s gut.

  Peter Watson’s face was unreadable. He sat stiffly on the sofa as though he would rather be anywhere but sitting beside his wife.

  “Surely there is something we could be doing. It’s ridiculous to be stuck here, while Ruby is out there somewhere…” The rest of his sentence faded away as he stared miserably at the ground.

  “It’s best if you stay here. Because the people who have taken your daughter will probably try to contact you again,” Tyler said. “Now, we’re going to ask you both some questions. They may seem intrusive, and I apologise in advance, but the more information we have, the better chance we have of getting Ruby back home safely.”

  Claire Watson nodded. “Of course, we’ll tell you anything.”

  Peter Watson nodded. He wasn’t as openly emotional as his wife, but it was clear he was struggling to hold it together.

  Tyler nodded at Mackinnon, indicating he should begin questioning the couple. He started with a couple of easy ones.

  “You’ve checked with all of Ruby’s friends?”

  Claire Watson nodded. “Yes, that was the first thing we did. We’ve already told the other police officer this.”

  “It might seem like our questions are rehashing old ground, but it’s important we confirm the facts as quickly as possible. Our colleagues are already tracing Ruby’s movements, and this won’t take long.”

  “To be honest, the friends we called were Ruby’s classmates from school, but she is seventeen years old, Detective,” Peter Watson said. “We don’t know every single one of Ruby’s friends.”

  His wife bristled as though her husband’s words were an affront to her mothering skills.

  “I know all of her friends, at least, everyone who is important in Ruby’s life. Her best friend, Kirsty, is in Capri for the summer. In fact, most of Ruby’s friends are abroad.” Claire Watson began to pull apart the tissue she’d been clutching.

  “She could have a few casual acquaintances we don’t know,” she added grudgingly.

  “And has she been going to work regularly before today?”

  Both Peter and Claire nodded.

  “Yes, when I got the text message, I didn’t phone the police straightaway,” Claire said. “I thought it was some sort of horrible hoax, and I phoned the community centre. I spoke to Diane, the woman in charge, and she told me Ruby wasn’t there.”

  Claire Watson’s voice quavered, and her husband took over.

  “She told us she hadn’t arrived for work this morning, but Ruby has never missed a shift before. She’s never even been late. Diane said she was one of her most reliable volunteers.”

  “Why is Ruby working at the centre?” Tyler asked.

  It was a good question. The Rose Hill Community Centre catered for adults with learning disabilities and adults who struggled to find steady employment due to a lack of education. A skeleton staff ran the programs and were assisted by unpaid volunteers like Ruby.

  It was a commendable job, but as a well-connected seventeen-year-old girl with rich parents, a holiday in Capri with her best friend would have been tempting. With her friends holidaying in Europe for the summer, why had Ruby chosen to remain and volunteer for a program in London?

  Claire Watson let out an impatient little huff. “It’s voluntary work. Ruby thought it would be helpful on her university application. Just because we have money, it doesn’t mean our children don’t know it’s their duty to contribute to the community.”

  Tyler nodded but didn’t make any further comment.

  “Is Ruby’s passport still here?” Mackinnon asked.

  Peter Watson nodded. “Yes, and she wouldn’t have left the country to join her friends on holiday without telling us if that’s what you’re implying.”

  Mackinnon sensed Peter Watson was close to losing his temper. As far as he knew, they were wasting time with pointless questions while his daughter was missing. He couldn’t know the extent of the investigation and how many police officers were working to bring his daughter home. He saw the family liaison officer and Tyler and Mackinnon, but there was a whole team of support staff working behind the scenes.

  Mackinnon took a breath and prepared to ask the next question. He had a feeling Peter Watson wasn’t going to like it.

  “Is there anyone you can think of who would do this?” Mackinnon asked.

  “No! We’ve already been through all of this,” Claire Watson said as she shredded her tissue into small squares. “Why would anyone want to take our daughter?”

  Mackinnon didn’t answer
her question, but he looked at Peter Watson. The lines around the man’s mouth became more pronounced as he clenched his teeth. Mackinnon suspected he was holding something back.

  “Any problems at work? Disgruntled employees?” Mackinnon prompted.

  Peter Watson hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. “No. Nothing like that. I can’t imagine who would want to do this. To be honest, I assumed it was down to money, but we haven’t had a ransom demand yet. What do you think that means?”

  Peter Watson was obviously used to taking charge. In his profession, he was the one who asked questions and directed the meetings.

  “I’m not sure we can read anything into that just yet,” Tyler said. “It’s quite possible we will have a ransom demand in the next twenty-four hours.”

  Mackinnon asked, “Does Ruby have a boyfriend?”

  Claire Watson shook her head. “No. She was seeing someone last year, but it fizzled out. It wasn’t anything serious. She’s still young. She has plenty of friends but not a boyfriend.”

  “Not that we know of,” Peter Watson added.

  His wife turned to look at him. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Just that she could have a boyfriend we are unaware of.”

  Claire Watson looked away and shook her head again. “No, she doesn’t. I would know if she did.”

  Mackinnon pressed on. “Any problems with friends recently? Had she fallen out with anyone?”

  Peter Watson’s hands tightened into fists at his sides, showing his frustration. “No. This isn’t some kind of silly teenage tiff. Someone has taken our daughter.”

  In the awkward silence that followed, Mackinnon was aware of the steady, thumping beat of music. It had to be coming from somewhere in the apartment. The soundproofing in this place had to be very good because if you’d paid a few million for a three-bed apartment, you’d be pretty miffed if you could hear your neighbour’s music.