‘Yesterday we were sifting information trying to find a solution. This morning I want you to get inside the head of the perpetrator.’
Ed left the table in the centre of the Incident Room and walked to the board to illustrate her points.
‘March 2002 he abducts Teresa. January 2008 he abducts Kimberley. June 2012 he abducts Lucy. July 2012 he abducts Tyler and she’s still missing. The chances are he’ll start to inseminate Tyler sometime this coming weekend, possibly Monday. Worst-case scenario, he errs on the safe side and starts in two days’ time.’
‘That just gives us today and Friday,’ said Jenny. ‘We’ve got to find her.’
‘Don’t forget the human blood,’ said Nat.
‘I’m not. The presence of human blood has ominous implications but it hasn’t given us any new leads because we haven’t found a DNA match with Missing Persons or the National Database. What we have is Tyler, a missing young woman held against her will. Her single mum is devastated. If we don’t rescue her in time the chances are Tyler will be pregnant and mentally scarred for life.’
Mike coughed. ‘It’s possible his dark side has picked her to murder and mutilate.’
Jenny gasped.
‘Maybe he’s a right sadist and mutilation comes first,’ said Nat, apparently oblivious to the picture he was painting as he tried to top Mike.
Ed knew this was a possibility but she’d stopped beating herself up about her initial underestimation of the significance of the bloody wrapping paper. She was hoping on hope that Tyler, like the other three girls, had been snatched for insemination and nothing worse.
‘Let’s not go there! The prospect that Tyler might be raped should be motivation enough.’
Ed looked at her team. Mike and Nat looked suitably chastened. Jenny repeated what was becoming her mantra. ‘We must find her.’
As the lead officer, Ed was only too aware she must direct her team. ‘He uses the same hideout and we’ll assume he’s using the same transport: the school minibus. Put yourself in his head. Can you see any problems, any difficulties he might face?’
‘He doesn’t want to be caught,’ said Nat.
‘He’d be cautious,’ said Mike. ‘He’d need it to be legal in case he got stopped.’
‘Valid tax disc, MOT, insurance,’ said Nat, ‘he’d need all three.’
‘He wouldn’t want to pay in his own name. Everything must be cash,’ said Jenny.
‘Post Office for the tax disc; out-of-the-way garage for repairs and MOT …’ Nat ran out of steam and finished lamely, ‘As for the insurance …’
‘High street brokers, you can buy insurance over the counter.’
‘Right, Mike, find out if he used a broker in Canterbury. If not, try nearby towns.’
Mike scribbled a note while Ed continued.
‘Nat, find the garage that has been doing the MOTs. Go there and get all the information you can. The person who drove the minibus to the garage is almost certainly the perpetrator but with three potential suspects we need to identify who that was. We also need the data from the MOT certificates.’
Nat, who was also making notes, asked, ‘Why do you need the MOT data?’
‘The MOTs for the school minibus will lead us to Tyler.’
Her colleagues looked baffled. Jenny was the first to speak. ‘How will MOTs help us to find Tyler?’
‘They’ll give us the annual mileage.’
‘And that will lead us to Tyler?’ There was no edge to Nat’s voice but he was squinting with puzzled scepticism. Mike slouched in his chair while Jenny leant forwards, confidently waiting for Ed’s revelation.
‘The perpetrator wouldn’t want to be caught. He’d be cautious. Using the minibus would be risky. The minibus would be readily recognized. The school logo’s discreet but well known around town. They stopped using the minibus for school trips some ten years ago, which is just before the first abduction in 2002.’
Nat interrupted. ‘Are you saying—’
Ed cut him off. ‘I don’t think the two events are directly related. The availability of the minibus didn’t precipitate the abductions.’
‘What do you mean then?’
‘If you’d just let me finish, Nat.’
Ed welcomed enthusiasm but Nat’s pushiness was beginning to annoy her.
‘I think it was only when the perpetrator planned to abduct Teresa that he realized access to the disused and neglected minibus would be useful. It was kept well away from the main buildings. Anybody using it was unlikely to be noticed.’
Nat cut in. ‘That’s why it was easy for Grieves to get away with it.’
‘Grieves isn’t our only suspect,’ said Jenny. ‘Don’t forget Drakes-Moulton is the owner and Podzansky has access to a set of keys.’
‘But he only has a scooter!’
‘As far as we know, yes,’ agreed Jenny, ‘but we also know he has a full driving licence and that he used to drive a van for the Gas Board.’
Ignoring Nat’s growing annoyance, Ed gave Jenny a brief smile before continuing her argument.
‘My point is that the abductor would be more conspicuous when driving the school minibus. So if he’s bright, and I think he’s very bright, he’d restrict his use of the vehicle. He’d use it only when he needed to snatch and dump the girl.’
‘So at other times he would use his own transport,’ said Jenny.
‘That’s my hypothesis. The first three abductions were years apart. If I’m right, we should be able to match the MOT mileage against the journeys the perpetrator made to abduct and return the girls.’
‘That could work but, if it’s ten miles, the hideout could be anywhere on a 60-plus-mile circle around the city.’ Nat spoke with grudging appreciation, showing he was on top of Ed’s reasoning.
‘I like your maths,’ said Ed, ‘but we can do better than that. The girls were abducted from different parts of the town. Teresa was taken from the southeast; Kimberley from the northeast; Lucy from the southwest; and Tyler from—’
Mike cut in before Ed finished her sentence. Upright in his chair, he leant forward enthusiastically as if his brain had slipped into overdrive.
‘If his hideout is to the north the journeys for Kimberley would be shorter than those for Teresa. On the other hand, if it’s to the south …’
‘Exactly, if it’s to the south the journeys will be shorter for Teresa than for Kimberley.’ Ed paused and looked round the table.
‘Let’s get moving. Back to our desks and bring me info as you get it. Remember, two days ’til the bastard starts using his syringe.’
Jenny was first with data from the DVLA, which she spread in front of Ed. Bubbling with excitement she pointed to the dates covered by tax discs and those covered by SORNs when the vehicle was off the road.
‘The pattern exactly matches the dates when the girls were abducted. Look.’ Jenny pointed to the bottom line as an example. ‘The tax and MOT were last renewed in May 2012, which covers Lucy and now Tyler.’
‘That’s great, Jenny. Now we need the mileage data for each MOT period.’ Ed called across the room. ‘Nat, how are you getting on with the garages?’
‘Zilch with the places in Canterbury but bingo with a small place off the Ashford Road near Chartham. The minibus was taken in earlier this year for a service and MOT.’
‘Good work, Nat. Mark the garage location on the wall map and drive over there. Get as much as you can. Don’t worry about a full MOT history. Jenny’s got the V5C number. We can get the annual mileage data online.’
Mike was writing on his notepad with the phone held between his ear and shoulder. He stopped speaking, put the phone down and called across the desks.
‘Grieves used a high street brokers in Whits—’
‘Grieves!’ Ed felt a rush of animation and relief. ‘They know it was Grieves?’
‘Sorry,’ said Mike, ‘I should have said the perpetrator used a high street brokers in Whitstable. They’ve no record of cheques or credit cards. Whichever one of the three it was, he first insured the minibus in February 2002. Then let it lapse for five years before renewing it in December 2007. He next re-insured it in June this year.’
Ed’s disappointment was fleeting. They were moving forward.
‘That’s great, Mike. It’s an exact match with the tax discs and MOTs.’ Ed turned to Jenny. ‘Download the MOT data and bring the annual mileages to the map in the Incident Room.’
Ed and Mike were at the map when Jenny joined them. She was carrying a printout.
‘In 2002, which covers Teresa’s abduction, the minibus covered 26 miles. In the 12 months covering Kimberley, it was 31 miles.’
‘Assuming the garage trip was the same each time,’ said Ed, ‘Teresa was abducted closer to the hideout than Kimberley.’
‘But how does this help us locate the hideout?’ asked Jenny.
She was interrupted by Nat returning from the garage. He let the door swing closed behind him and stomped to a chair.
‘What took you so long?’ asked Ed.
‘First, I had to wait for the manager to get back from a test drive. Then it turns out she’s the daughter of the owner and a waste of space.’
‘Someone had to visit the garage,’ said Ed. ‘We need the driver identified and corroboration of their involvement. Didn’t you get anything useful?’
‘Did I hell! The daughter couldn’t remember and nor could the mechanic. She told me to check with her father.’
‘And …?’
‘He’s on a cruise and not back until the end of next week.’
‘Shit!’ Another setback thought Ed.
‘What’s the problem?’ asked Mike.
‘We know Grieves was the registered keeper, but we need confirmation the driver was Grieves and not Drakes-Moulton or Podzansky posing as Grieves.’
‘I guess so,’ acknowledged Nat, noticeably calmer. ‘Did the mileage data help?’
‘It fits with the hideout being somewhere to the south,’ said Ed.
Mike pointed to the wall map. ‘If you go along the Nackington Road, passing the spot where Teresa was grabbed, there’s a choice of woods that would fit the MOT mileage.’
‘What about CCTV?’ asked Nat. ‘We know he’s using the minibus, CCTV pictures would confirm he’s leaving the city via Nackington Road.’
‘There’s no CCTV from the time of Teresa’s abduction,’ said Jenny, ‘and the tapes from Kimberley’s time will have been wiped. When we checked for Lucy the Nackington Road camera was down.’
‘What about the Nackington Road tapes for the time of Tyler’s abduction?’
‘Great idea, Nat.’ Ed looked at him appreciatively. ‘You and Jenny get those tapes from the evidence room and check them as fast as you can. See if you can confirm the minibus left town via the Nackington Road.’
As the two DCs left the room, Ed joined Mike at the wall map.
‘In this area south of the Nackington Road, where is the most likely spot for a hideout?’
‘The route south crosses the A2, continues onto Faussett Hill, and into Stone Street. Given the mileage, I’d say that Whitehill Wood is too close to the city so that leaves three possibilities, Bursted Wood, Gorsley Wood and Upper Hardres Wood.’
‘Are buildings shown in the woods?’ asked Ed.
‘Not here but older maps might show buildings.’
‘Let’s think of it from the perpetrator’s point of view. With an unconscious victim he’d want to get to his hideout before they’d recovered. Say a 10- to 15-minute drive, which fits with the MOT mileage.’
‘He’d want a building that’s well hidden,’ said Mike, ‘but he’d not want to carry an unconscious girl too far. He’d need an access road.’
‘Come on, let’s see the Super and get uniform organized. I want them searching the perimeters of the woods while the four of us wait nearby to investigate any likely access roads they find.’
Chief Superintendent Addler authorized two teams to operate under the direction of DI Ogborne. Ed’s only concern was that they were going to the right location. CCTV confirmation of the route the abductor took out of town would be good. On leaving the Super’s office, Ed and Mike went straight to Nat and Jenny.
‘Any luck?’
‘No sign of the minibus on the Nackington Road tape as yet,’ said Nat, his eyes glued to the screen. ‘Given the time we saw the vehicle coming back into the city via the Whitstable Road he should be here by now.’
Ed’s heart sunk but Mike was still hopeful.
‘Remember we lost him after Westgate Towers and assumed he turned off through back streets. That would take longer than a main road.’
‘There’s also heavy traffic after the Olympic Torch Relay,’ said Jenny.
‘Got him,’ cried Nat.
Ed felt a surge of adrenalin. ‘Grieves, Podzansky or Drakes-Moulton?
‘Impossible to say, he’s driving away from the camera.’
The others crowded round the screen as Nat reran the tape. There was no doubt it was the school minibus heading south along the Nackington Road.
‘Let’s get moving,’ said Ed. ‘We may not know who he is but we’re closing in on the bastard. I want us all at the Upper Hardres Wood by 15.30. We’ll take two cars, Nat with me, Jenny with Mike.’