The stretch of beach where Jade was last seen was right in front of the hotel where her parents were now permanently based. The new arrangement had been organized by Lyndsey Shepherd, who appreciated why they wanted to be close to the last place they’d seen their daughter and had persuaded the hotel’s manager likewise.
Maggie slipped off her shoes as she reached the sand and revelled in the warmth beneath her bare soles as she crossed to the sun loungers the Reynolds family and Mason had occupied two days ago. Walker wanted her to retrace Jade’s steps, so here she was, at the start of them. Another family, with two small children, were using the loungers now, so Maggie went as close as she could without attracting attention, then turned her back on the sea and stared in the direction of the walkway and the Eroski mini-mart Jade had left the beach to visit.
Her stride purposeful, Maggie walked back up the beach and went to the store. Its manager had given a statement to Jasso’s team to confirm Jade never made it inside, which was backed up by CCTV. Maggie stood in front of the entrance for a moment as she contemplated where Jade might’ve gone next.
The first supposed sighting of her was at a junction past the marina and the most direct way for Jade to have got there would’ve been by walking along the front. But, supposing the sighting was false and she had been snatched, it would surely have been somewhere far more secluded, where the abductor wouldn’t be seen or disturbed. There was a long, narrow street that ran up the side of the mini-mart, so Maggie set off along it.
She took her time, drinking in her surroundings and scouring every building facade. Most of them appeared to be residential properties, their balconies adorned with the paraphernalia of everyday life. On one she saw three adult-size bicycles stacked together; on another what looked like a week’s worth of washing was drying.
Further along, the sun’s reach diminished as the buildings grew taller and Maggie was grateful for the coolness that enveloped her. She wasn’t suited to a hot climate and she knew what Walker meant when he said the heat made it impossible to think straight.
She could see the main road up ahead and the buildings began to morph in anticipation, with shops replacing the apartments again. Most of them were derelict apart from one store selling tourist trappings, its front hidden from view by a vast array of inflatables. Had Jasso’s team spoken to whoever worked here? The door was locked, however, and a sign stuck to it declared that it would reopen in an hour’s time.
Frustrated, Maggie cleared a path back through the beach toys and looked up the street. The main road was about ten metres away, and parked cars lined the kerbside. Any one of them could be used as a getaway vehicle if someone wanted to make a quick exit. She looked around again and her gaze fell upon the building opposite, a former cafe that had been boarded up. Crossing the street to it, Maggie peered through a narrow gap where the boards didn’t quite meet. There was light coming from a window at the back of the cafe so the inside was illuminated; judging by the dust motes circulating, it didn’t look as though it had been open for some time.
Hang on, she thought. If the cafe wasn’t being used, why had the dust been disturbed?
She gave the door a shove but it wouldn’t budge, locked tight by an old, rusting padlock. But when she examined it more closely she could see it wasn’t as old as it appeared, but had been roughed up to look that way. Her pulse quickening, she decided there had to be a back way in, an entrance where deliveries could’ve been made, perhaps. She walked up the street to the main road, examining every doorway but rejecting them all as a possible means in. Then she rounded the corner and saw it – a wooden louvre door adorned with a sign that erroneously stated there was an electricity sub-station behind it. The hazard symbol stamped next to the words was probably enough to stop curious types venturing further, but not Maggie.
Kicking as hard as she could, she managed to cave the lock in and the door swung open. She moved slowly along the narrow passageway that led into the back of the cafe. There was a door right ahead and whoever had been there last hadn’t been bothered with security, because it was unlocked.
Inside, the first thing she noticed were the drag marks on the floor. Something heavy had been pulled along, creating tracks in the dust and grease that lined the tiles. Cautiously she ventured onwards, passing through a storage area that still held catering-size tins of tomatoes and olives. There was another door ahead that led into the kitchen area and, as she crept forward, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Peeking out from under one of the industrial-sized stoves was a bundle of diaphanous pink fabric that, unless she was very much mistaken, matched the sarong Jade had been wearing when she went missing.
Maggie scrabbled in her bag for her phone. Walker picked up on the first ring.
‘What’s up?’
‘Boss, you need to come. I think I’ve found where Jade was being held.’