“I told you, I’m not police.”
“I don’t care if you’re Mrs. fucking Claus. It’ll get back to them.” His words were interrupted by a swift kick between the legs.
“You little bastard,” Karen screamed. “I’ll kill you!”
Suddenly Elea had a situation on her hands. Broken fingers she could manage. But she couldn’t afford for Phil to be murdered on her watch.
“Stop!” she shouted to Karen, panting from her exertions. “Trust me. This isn’t the way.” Karen had most likely dreamed about this moment for years.
“Where is she, you bastard? Who has her?” Spittle flew from Karen’s lips.
“I swear,” he replied miserably. “I don’t know.” Tears and snot drizzled down his face. “Oh God, it hurts so bad.” But he wasn’t crying for Chelsea, he was crying for himself.
“Hang on,” Karen said. “I have a list of all his dealers. It’s in his notebook.”
“No!” Phil shouted. “Don’t!”
Elea decided that she’d got enough out of him and shoved the sock back in his mouth. “You brought this upon yourself. If you’d been honest with the police, they might have been able to get her back.” She leaned down, pushing her knee between his shoulder blades. “Now you listen to me. I wasn’t here; this didn’t happen. I won’t rat you out if you don’t rat me out.” It was a phrase she liked to use, having picked it up from a black-and-white gangster movie when she was a kid dreaming of being a detective. She stepped off Phil’s hulking body and turned to Karen. “Ready?”
“God, yes.” Karen wiped her tears with the back of her tracksuit sleeve.
Curled up in a foetal position, Phil was recovering from the battering he deserved. Elea only hoped that the ferocity of her questioning wouldn’t get back to Swann.
Chapter 9
The dying fluorescent light blinked overhead as DCI Swann paced down the corridor. How could Elea have disappeared already? She only went out for a leak. He glowered as he recalled their telephone conversation.Reconnaissance mission, indeed.He’d just come out of another briefing and hated having to cover for her. She hadn’t been here a day and already everything was turned on its head. A hard knot formed in his stomach at the thought of her sleeping with Mitch Harding. His own DI, for God’s sake. After being fast-tracked into the role, Mitch was only weeks in. It wasn’t the best of starts. Swann’s frown deepened. He had no right to be jealous, but it raged within him all the same. Ever since he’d left Finland, Elea’s presence had felt like a phantom limb, aching with a frightening reality. God knows, he’d tried to move on, and now Alice was pushing for marriage. He’d hoped that by seeing Elea one more time, he’d be able to put his feelings for her to bed. But her dalliance with Mitch had made things a hundred times worse.
“Voi helvetti,” he uttered the swearword. The years he’d spent living and working in Finland had granted him a plethora of them. His move was meant to be temporary—respite after a particularly harrowing case. But a holiday turned into a sabbatical before he committed to the move. He’d enjoyed his time in Finland, but a messy break-up with Elea had left him wanting to return to the UK. So many times he wondered how his life would have panned out had he stayed. The case they were working on was treacherous enough, without the added weight of their complicated past. But it seemed that he and Elea were destined to be intertwined. He couldn’t believe that he’d lost sight of her already.
The burst of cold air was sobering as he pushed through the rear exit door. He glanced around the back yard, grateful for the trees that dotted the outside space. It used to be a smoker’s gathering space, but the smoking ban had turned it into a refuge from the pressures of work. He pulled his phone from his pocket and called Elea’s number. As he found privacy beneath a sycamore tree, he was met with the cold, impersonal tone of her voicemail. “I don’t know what you’re playing at,” he lowered his head, pressing his phone to his ear, “but if you’re not back here in the next thirty minutes you’re off the case.” He jabbed at his iPhone to end the recording, knowing it was a waste of time. Elea would come back when she was good and ready, but it washisreputation on the line. His future promotions hung in the balance. His plan of retiring as a superintendent wasn’t solely about the bigger pension on offer. The role would pave his way for better consultancy jobs after retirement, too. But one small misstep...He exhaled a long breath. It didn’t bear thinking about.
His phone buzzed in his hand, but his initial relief at receiving a message that he hoped was from Elea turned to guilt. It was Alice. Elea’s return had unsettled her. Her jealousy was palpable, even from afar.
Everything OK?she’d texted, most likely hoping for a conversation.
He responded with a thumbs-up emoji. He didn’t want her to detect the worry in his voice or to hear her say, “I told you so.”
Had he made a mistake by bringing Elea here? She was too close to the case, too consumed with finding her daughter to make rational judgements now. The pull of work tugged. He needed to get back. His desk phone was probably ringing, the tannoy echoing in the corridor as it called out his name. The barren branches above him creaked as they swayed in the breeze. The darkening skies did little to ease his discontent. Where had Elea gone? He’d never met Liisa, only knew her from the old photographs that Elea had given them to work from. She’d barely known Swann until he got involved in Liisa’s case. God, she’d been so broken back then. He recalled the first time he’d met her, anguish streaked across her face. “Don’t worry about me,” she’d uttered, her words sharpened by fear. “Put your energy into finding my daughter.” The rawness of Elea’s pain still clawed at his chest. She’d tried to stay strong, but identifying Liisa’s school bag almost finished her off. Yet she wouldn’t leave the police station until their commander forced her into the car one evening and drove her home himself. Heikkinen had stayed with her for hours that day, afraid to leave Elea alone.
Swann thrust his hands into his pockets. Was he being too hard on her? Having children of his own afforded him a deeper understanding of what she was going through. The Ice Angels would forever haunt them both.
“Boss?” Ness’s quietly respectful voice broke through Swann’s troubled thoughts. She stood before him, her colourful clothes contrasting sharply with his tailored suit. He’d always liked Ness and encouraged her to go for promotion, but she preferred doing the groundwork, and given the number of times that she was late, it was probably for the best.
“What’s wrong?” It had to be important for her to come looking.
“We had a call from a Ms. Baker. She said to tell you that she’s on her way back.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “I wouldn’t have bothered you, but she was very insistent.”
“That’s all right,” Swann rubbed a hand over his weary face. He hadn’t had time to introduce Elea to the rest of the team. Why hadn’t she rung his mobile? What had she done now?
He accompanied Ness back to the main office, his thoughts fixated on the case. “Any joy getting through to Sophie Miller?” Officers had frequently tried to speak to twelve-year-old Sophie since she had been discovered on the steps of Lincoln Cathedral clutching a small wooden Martta doll. The trauma of her kidnapping had numbed her, stealing her words as she retreated into herself. But she was a precious witness, and they needed her to catch the monster who had snatched her off the streets. They had to keep pushing.
Ness pressed her security tag against the panel next to their office door. “I’ve spoken to the FLO. No progress yet, I’m afraid.”
This was not the news that he’d been hoping for. Sophie’s parents wanted nothing to do with the family liaison officer.
“Keep putting the pressure on,” Swann replied. “If anyone can get through, it’s you.”
Ness smiled at the sentiment. Sophie’s family had built a wall around her and who could blame them? Their mistrust of the police ran deep. Right now, all they wanted to do was protect their little girl. Swann cast an eye over Sergeant Davies, who had just picked up the phone. He wondered if the call was real or a ploy not to speak to him. The office was busy with activity, with printers spewing out paperwork and phone calls in progress. The atmosphere in the room was tense, each officer focused on catching the monster responsible for snatching three young girls off the streets. They had managed to recruit assistance from other specialist teams, but the budget for this operation would only stretch so far, especially with Elea on the payroll.
