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  “We’ll be able to see where Janice and Claire have gone from the CCTV cameras. They could lead us straight to the abductors. This could be the breakthrough we need.”

  Tyler took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s hope so. I’ve just spoken to Collins and Charlotte, and they’re already on the case. They’ve got footage of Claire Watson leaving this building, and I’ve just heard by text message from Collins that Claire Watson entered Monument Underground Station. We don’t know if she’s still there, but there have been reports of an incident. The details are sketchy.”

  Before Mackinnon could reply, Tyler’s phone rang.

  He looked at the display with a grim face and then looked up at Mackinnon and said, “It’s DCI Brookbank.”

  He answered the phone, and Mackinnon moved a few steps away, giving him privacy to talk without being overheard.

  He thought it would be unfair of the DCI to blame Tyler for this, but in investigations this sensitive, a tiny mistake could have very far-reaching consequences.

  When Tyler hung up, he turned to Mackinnon and said, “We need to get back to Wood Street now. There’s going to be an emergency briefing, and I expect to get hauled over the coals for this.”

  Chapter 21

  Marlo leant back on the kitchen counter and grinned to himself. Rob wasn’t back yet, the girls were quiet, and brain-dead Benny was in the front room listening to some rubbish on the telly.

  He couldn’t wait till Rob got back so he could see the recordings. He knew he could trust Rob to do a good job. People like him were so easy to manipulate. Sometimes he thought he might like to have more of a challenge, but you couldn’t have everything you wanted in life, and at least he had the game. That was very entertaining. It was a stroke of genius on his part really, and it had all come about through luck, not planning. They hadn’t expected to get Lila George as well as Ruby Watson, and Marlo could hardly believe his good fortune.

  His plan had been to take Ruby and have a little bit of fun with the family before he asked for the money.

  He was still planning on asking for money. After all, who didn’t like having a bit of extra cash? But at the end of the day, it was the thrill of the game that excited Marlo. He had two sets of parents competing to see their daughters alive again. It was sheer brilliance on his part.

  He knew Rob didn’t approve. He’d made that obvious, but Marlo simply couldn’t care less. Rob was simple-minded, perhaps not quite as simple as his brother, but he would never understand the way Marlo’s brain worked. Marlo was intelligent, and he needed more from life than moving from one dodgy job to another.

  He opened the fridge and removed two cans of Coke. Carrying them out of the kitchen and along the hallway, he paused beside the bedroom door to check on the girls. He couldn’t hear a thing. The soundproofing was doing an excellent job. He could go in there now and terrify the life out of them, but he wasn’t interested in that. He knew that a lack of contact was one of the most terrifying things you could do to a person. Their imaginations would be conjuring up all sorts of horrors, far worse than anything Marlo could probably think up.

  Terrorising the girls wasn’t very appealing anyway. It was the parents Marlo wanted to torture.

  They had it coming.

  The Watsons, with their obscene level of wealth and their tiny contributions to charity, made him sick. They had their faces plastered all over the society pages when it was people like Peter Watson who had caused the last recession.

  Okay, so Marlo had never actually held down a job for more than a week, but that was beside the point. If he had wanted a job, he wouldn’t be able to get one thanks to bastards like Peter Watson, who had created such a mess of the economy. Plus the fact everyone was prejudiced against Marlo from the start just because he had a criminal record.

  He carried the drinks into the sitting room and looked critically at Benny.

  He really was a huge bloke. At first glance, he looked like somebody Marlo should avoid, but under more careful scrutiny, it was obvious to see his face was almost childlike.

  “Hello, Benny. I’ve brought you a Coke.”

  He held it out, and Benny looked at him distrustfully before leaning forward and grabbing the Coke out of Marlo’s hand.

  “What do you say, Benny?”

  “Thank you,” Benny muttered, staring down at the can. He seemed unwilling to look at Marlo directly.

  Rob had spouted off some rubbish about his brother not liking to be shouted at, but Benny was going to have to get used to it.

  “I thought we’d better get to know each other a bit better, Benny. It looks like we’re going to be spending a lot of time together over the next couple of days.”

  Benny looked horrified at that news. “No. I want to go home.”

  Marlo chuckled and popped the ring pull on his can of Coke before taking a long swallow.

  “Well, we don’t get everything we want in this life, do we, Benny? You’re not going to give me any trouble, are you?”

  Benny looked down at the floor and shook his head.

  “That’s good.” Marlo sat down on the sofa and ordered Benny to pass him the remote control.

  “Are you going to let Ruby and Lila go home now?” Benny asked.

  Marlo narrowed his eyes and turned to face him. “Why? What do you care?”

  “They are my friends. I don’t want them to get hurt.”

  Marlo barely resisted rolling his eyes. It was honestly like dealing with a five-year-old. He didn’t know how Rob managed to put up with it. “They’re not going to get hurt, and they are staying here until we get the money,” Marlo said and then smiled maliciously at Benny. “And so are you.”

  Chapter 22

  When they returned to Wood Street Station, Tyler went straight to Brookbank’s office with a look of grim determination on his face. Mackinnon was quite glad he wasn’t the one in charge of the operation. Choices like this were never easy, and mistakes were made as a matter of course. The trouble was, the consequences of mistakes were huge in a case like this.

  It wasn’t an easy balance. The parents needed to be treated carefully and sensitively, and as he said, Tyler could hardly have put them under house arrest. They had stressed to the parents the importance of staying at home and communicating with the police.

  Mackinnon wandered over to Charlotte’s desk and noticed her unfinished cup of coffee. When Charlotte was busy tracking down information, she often forgot to drink. He’d lost count of the number of cups of coffee he’d made only for her to let them grow cold.

  It made him remember it had been a long time since his last shot of caffeine. His energy levels were flagging.

  “It looks like it’s going to be a late one,” he said, and Charlotte turned around and stretched, rolling her shoulders because she had been sitting in front of the screen for so long.

  Charlotte nodded. “Yes. Janice and Claire are both back home now. Claire was lucky to be the one who threw paint over her victim, and due to the circumstances, it doesn’t look like the victim will press charges. Unfortunately for Janice, there was acid in her container.”

  Mackinnon pulled a face. He’d heard the news on the way over. “How bad is he?”

  “It could have been a lot worse. He’ll recover, but he’s going to have some nasty burns and definitely some scarring. Understandably, he is distraught and in a great deal of pain.”

  Mackinnon nodded. It was almost as if the kidnappers were favouring one mother over the other.

  They both looked up as they heard the door to Brookbank’s office open, and Tyler came out with a stony-faced expression.

  “That didn’t take long,” Mackinnon muttered to Charlotte.

  Tyler headed over in their direction. “Briefing room now,” he said gruffly.

  The whole team, including the admin and support staff, filed into the briefing room. The lucky ones got a seat around the large table, and the less lucky people leant back against the wall as Tyler brought everyone up to date
on the investigation.

  “There’s a gold meeting tomorrow, which I have the pleasure of attending,” Tyler said, running a weary hand over his face. “I’m sure they’ll have plenty of ideas regarding strategy, but until then, let’s continue the investigation as planned. Charlotte, can you update us on the phone situation?”

  Charlotte nodded and said, “They are using a new phone for every text message they’ve sent so far. After using the phone, they are turning it off and probably removing the batteries as well, which makes life hard for us. We can’t trace the phone or its location. We should be able to trace where the text message was sent from eventually, but it’s going to take a little while.”

  Tyler nodded wearily and then moved on, clicking a button on the laptop in front of him, which displayed the second text message sent to Janice George’s phone on the white screen behind him.

  If you want to save your daughter, you must play the game. One girl will live, the other will die. Be at the corner of Tanner Street in one hour. Tell no one or your daughter dies.

  The message sent to Claire Watson was exactly the same except she was told to go to Merryweather Alley half an hour earlier.

  “He’s making them compete for their daughters’ lives,” DC Webb said, stating the obvious.

  “But why give one woman paint and the other acid?” Collins asked.

  “You mean other than the fact he’s a sick bastard?” DC Webb said.

  Tyler sighed audibly. “I don’t know. Is it because he resents Janice George more than Claire Watson?” Tyler let his gaze roam around the room. “How close are we to tracing the whereabouts of Benny or Rob Morris?”

  Collins shook his head. “We’ve spoken to their neighbours and checked out their local haunts. Apparently, Rob often visits the Kings Arms, but no one has seen him today. We do have an officer stationed nearby to see if they come home.”

  “Inconspicuously I hope?” Tyler’s voice was sharp.

  Collins nodded. “Of course.”

  Tyler turned to one of the admin support staff, Evie Charlesworth. “How are we getting along with the mobile technology?”

  “It’s all set up now,” Evie said confidently. “There were a few delays, but now we will get a copy of any text message Claire Watson or Janice George receives.”

  Tyler nodded “Good. It’s a shame it wasn’t set up earlier. That could have saved us some headaches.

  “When the women followed the instructions in the text message, both found a white container at the scene. From the crime scene photographs, you can see they look like the type of container to hold something like paint. The containers were plastic, not metal, which obviously would be important for transporting acid. They both found a note at the scene, instructing them to throw the contents over a person of their choice. Now, this leads us to believe that he is getting some kind of kick out of controlling the mothers. He’s not using them to hurt anyone in particular. He left it up to them to decide who to maim and who to cover with paint.”

  The anger in Tyler’s voice was obvious.

  “How many people do we think are involved in the abduction?” Mackinnon asked. “The slight time delay between both events is interesting. I would guess if he is doing this to exert control, he would want to watch, and he couldn’t be in two places at one time.”

  Collins nodded. “They are like his puppets, and he wants to be at the show. He couldn’t be in two places at once so he staggered them.”

  “That’s possible. But we can’t rule out the fact that there’s more than one, and they both wanted to watch. I’m still eager to talk to Benny Morris and his brother Rob. As far as we know, Benny Morris was the last person to see the girls before they were abducted. If he’s not involved, he could still hold very important information. Tracking them down and interviewing them is a priority. We also need to shadow the parents all day and make sure they don’t leave and try to participate in any more of these games. At considerable cost, DCI Brookbank has agreed to station plain-clothed officers outside the Watsons’ apartment building and the Georges’ block of flats. If they leave, we will know about it.”

  “Are they going to be there around the clock?” Mackinnon asked, already feeling sorry for the poor officers who were going to be posted to the Towers Estate all night.

  Tyler nodded. “Yes, we’ve had one screwup. I’m not going to allow another one.”

  Chapter 23

  Marlo decided it was time for a little entertainment. He left Benny in the sitting room and walked towards the bedroom where they were keeping the girls. He put his ear against the door but couldn’t hear anything.

  The soundproofing worked a treat. It was definitely worth the investment. He had bought it off the Internet and installed it himself. It was a pain in the arse and had taken him ages, but it needed to be done. He couldn’t let anyone hear the girls screaming because that would attract unwanted attention.

  They had two keys to the bedroom and kept one in the kitchen in case Rob needed to see to the girls, but Marlo kept his own key with him at all times.

  He extracted his set of keys from his pocket, selected a long thin key and slid it into the lock. The lock made a quiet clicking sound as the key turned.

  As he pushed open the door, light from the hallway flooded the bedroom, and he heard the girls scrambling, trying to get away. He grinned and stepped into the room. Both girls were huddled in the corner, looking up at him with wild eyes. He could smell the fear in the room.

  “Hello, girls,” he said. “I hope you can forgive my behaviour earlier. It’s your own fault really, though. You shouldn’t have been so difficult.”

  Ruby Watson’s eyes remained fixed on Marlo, but the expression on her face didn’t change. She looked guarded, cautious and afraid. On the other hand, anger flashed over Lila George’s face. She clearly had a temper.

  She would be fun to play with.

  He walked over to them, slowly, and smiled as they cringed away from him and tried to push themselves further back against the wall. It was pointless, of course. There was no way they could get away from him.

  “See, there’s no need to make me angry. It’s much nicer when you are good girls, isn’t it?” Marlo reached out a hand and stroked Ruby’s hair.

  She closed her eyes and turned her head away.

  “What’s wrong? Am I not your type?” he asked, licking his lips.

  “Please, just let us go. We won’t tell anybody what you did,” Ruby said. Her head was still facing the wall, and she refused to look at him.

  He tugged on her hair, not too hard, but hard enough to show her who was in charge here.

  “Now, now. We are getting along so well. Don’t ruin it.”

  “Get your hands off her,” Lila George spat. “You’re going to regret you did this. You’ll never get away with it.”

  He had been right. Lila George was definitely the most hotheaded of the pair.

  “Really?” Marlo drawled. “I seem to be getting away with it so far.”

  “The police will be out looking for us. They’ll find out where you’re holding us, and you will be going to prison for a very long time.”

  Marlo cupped a hand behind his ear. “That’s funny. I can’t hear any sirens. To be honest, I’m not sure anyone has even missed you, Lila. I mean, they might notice you’re gone when they need you to babysit again. Family, eh? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

  The look of shock on Lila’s face gave Marlo a thrill of pleasure. She had underestimated him. She didn’t realise he had done his homework and planned this abduction very carefully. Although they’d only been planning to take Ruby, Marlo wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He managed to get two girls for the price of one and used his smarts to find out about Lila George and her family.

  He’d been disappointed to realise the family didn’t have money. They wouldn’t be able to lay their hands on much cash to pay the ransom, but Marlo was determined to get his payment all the same by ha
ving a little fun with the girls.

  Marlo grinned at Lila. She wasn’t looking quite so brave anymore.

  Ruby still had her eyes closed, so Marlo reached up and ran his thumb gently along her cheek.

  She shuddered at his touch.

  “I guess I’m just not your type,” Marlo said. “I thought girls were supposed to like bad boys. Maybe you’ve got a crush on the retard? Is he more your type?”

  Marlo chuckled and lowered his hand, stroking Ruby’s neck before he slid his fingers beneath the material of her blouse.

  The front door slammed.

  Startled, Marlo let his hands drop to his sides and spun around. Rob appeared in the doorway, staring in at him accusingly.

  “What are you doing?” he demanded. “Get out here. We need to talk.”

  * * *

  Marlo left the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

  Rob had stalked off into the kitchen, and after locking the door, Marlo followed him in.

  Benny stood by the fridge holding a glass of milk. He cringed back against the wall as though he wanted to make himself smaller. But there was no chance of that.

  “Did you get the recordings?” Marlo asked.

  “Yes,” Rob spat back. “What the hell did you put in that last container? The bloke’s clothes were smoking. You really are sick, Marlo.”

  Marlo raised an eyebrow. Charming. He didn’t really care what Rob thought of him, but he was eager to see the videos, though. He was proud of the little twist he’d used to surprise Rob. Although Rob didn’t realise it yet, he was also participating in the game.

  Marlo had lulled him into a false sense of security by giving the first woman paint. He would have loved to have been there to see the look on Rob’s face when he realised the second container contained acid. Rob’s face must have been a picture as he watched the victim melting before his eyes.

  Marlo chuckled.