Faraday 02 Network Virus (29 page)

“
I don’t know. There’s a pub a couple of hundred yards back down the road. I don’t know if we’ll be able to see the boat from there.”

“
Well, as I said before, be very careful. Try and get your brother to come back from the
Sarah Jane.
Return the dinghy to the position it was in before and find yourselves somewhere safe to wait. As I said, it will only be for twenty minutes or so.” She had another thought. “Keep your mobile by your side and ring me the minute anything happens.”

“
All right, Charlotte. I’ll do that.” It appeared Marion was looking down the creek because she said, “Oh, James is getting back in the dinghy. I think he’s decided to come back. I’ll go down to meet him and tell him what you said.” She rang off.

“
I hope they’re going to be all right,” said Charlotte as she clipped the mobile back in its docking point on the dashboard.

Paulson was concentrating on his driving. “That’s the trouble with concerned citizens blundering into situations they can’t control.”

“
But be fair,” she pointed out. “They’ve moved things forward a long way. Why hadn’t we picked up on the need to find the
Sarah Jane?”

“
To have had the time would have been helpful.”

She didn’t respond. She was feeling guilty that she hadn’t done more to help Tracey’s mother to find her daughter. This was one situation where the computer seemed to have failed them. She’d have to see if she could tweak the program to cover a possibility outside their range of thinking.

She sighed and tried to sit back and relax as Stafford drove. To stop her worrying about what Marion and her brother might have strayed into she concentrated on the other main enquiry they had under way.

“
You haven’t had time to give me the details of what Lionel Hillman told you yesterday morning,” she pointed out.

“
No. Well, in the end he admitted that he and Joanne had been having an affaire for some time and she had decided to divorce Alfred and marry him. What she didn’t realise was that her husband had been having them observed for some time and was aware of all this, including her visits to the solicitor. The only thing he didn’t know was the details of the divorce petition.”

Paulson told her of the loan de Billiere had made to Hillman and the offer to get him out of it which bought his co-operation.

“
I’m very keen to have a thorough look over that boat,” he said.

“
Well,” Charlotte encouraged him. “It looks as though your wish is about to come to pass. That’s always providing you can get into it.”

“
Ah, I’ve brought my tool kit with my special bunch of keys. They’ll get me into most things with a little bit of application.”

“
Really?” She looked sideways at him. “Would your toolkit include a jemmy?”

“
Something like that - for use when necessary.”

“
OK. Let’s hope you can find justification for forcing an entry.”

By now they had passed Totnes and dived in to the back roads leading down to the river.

“
Should be there in five minutes,” grunted Paulson.

He concentrated on the road as he made the best time he could.

- 35 -

When James got back to the slipway and pulled the dinghy up above the high water mark Marion was waiting for him.

“
Well,” he said, “I think she’s there - or at least somebody’s there. I peered in through those little portholes. There are curtains drawn across them but I found one with a little slit and I’m almost certain I could see something moving. I listened carefully but there was no sound. So I shouted out, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get you out as soon as we can’. Then there was a definite thump as though she had perhaps kicked against a bulkhead or something similar.”

“
Oh, God,” cried Marion. “I hope she’s all right.”

“
I looked all round the superstructure but everything appeared to be shut up tight. The windows are sealed. There’s a door on the starboard side but that’s securely locked. Then at the stern there’s a pair of patio doors giving on to the afterdeck. They are locked as well. I’ve heard you can break in through those doors using a garden spade.” He raised his arms in frustration. “But I didn’t have a garden spade.”

“
The police should be here soon,” said Marion. “They’ll know what to do.”

She told him about her conversations with Charlotte and the arrangements which had been put in place. “She wants us to move the car somewhere where we won’t be noticed by the bloke who has stolen the boat if he comes back.”

“
Not likely. I want to confront the bugger when he turns up.”

“
But James,” she urged, “I think Charlotte is right. It’s not just that he might get violent if he thought you’d been out to the
Sarah Jane
. But he also might turn and make a run for it. We don’t want him to get away.”

“
When he goes on board he’ll see my muddy footprints.”

“
Don’t worry about that. By then he’ll be stuck on the boat which can’t move until the tide comes in a lot further and the Dartmouth Harbour people will be waiting down the creek. And the police should be here soon.” She looked at her watch. “From what Charlotte said, I think they should turn up in quarter of an hour or less. If they can get Tracey out and catch the man - that would be best. Please do what Charlotte asks.”

“
All right. I’ll need to drag the boat up and secure it and clean myself off.”

That was done in less than five minutes. James used a towel from the boot of his car to wipe off any mud which was left on his feet, then rolled down his trousers and put on his socks and shoes.

“
I wondered about parking in the car park at the pub which we passed a couple of hundred yards back,” she suggested.

“
OK. That’s a good idea.” They got in the car, he started it and they turned, using the slipway, and headed back to the inn by the creek-side. They got out and looked round.

“
Can we see the
Sarah Jane
from here?” she asked.

James walked to the river edge and tried to peer past the pub building. “I’m afraid not.” He pointed up. “If we could get up on that terrace we could probably see it.”

“
We’d have to go through the pub to get up there.”

“
So what? It’s after eleven. They’re probably serving drinks by now. Even if they aren’t, I’m sure they’d let us go out on the terrace if we explained what we wanted to see. It’s worth trying.”

He set off towards the road to find the entrance to the inn but, as he did so, Marion called, “Wait a minute. There’s Charlotte.”

In response to her furious waving Stafford Paulson pulled in to the car park and they got out. Marion and James explained what they had done so far.

“
I’m sure there’s somebody in there,” said James, “but I couldn’t find a way in and I didn’t have anything with me that would break a window.”

“
It’s a good job you didn’t. You must leave that sort of thing to us lot. I’ve got the gear for that.” Paulson patted him on the shoulder. “Come on then. Let’s get down there and see what’s what.”

Leaving their own car in the car park, Marion and James were given a lift down to the slipway. Paulson looked at the dinghy and the
Sarah Jane
and the rising tide and said, “I’ll need a hand with this.”

“
I’ll come with you,” volunteered James.

“
Wait a minute. I’ll check what’s happening at the Dartmouth end,” said Charlotte. She rang them and talked for a couple of minutes. When she disconnected she pulled a face. “Apparently the squad car they are sending encountered an accident on its way and has been delayed while the guys are helping at the scene. It’s likely to be another half an hour.”

“
What about my little girl?” wailed Marion.

James turned back to Paulson. “I’ve told you - I can help you.”

“
Are you sure about that, young man?”

“
Certain. I’ve already been out there once. It won’t be a problem to do it a second time.”

Stafford came to a decision. “All right, but you must do exactly as I tell you, for your own safety.”

“
OK. You’re the boss.”

They manhandled the dinghy down the slipway to the point where the rising tide was starting to lap onto the foot of the concrete ramp. This time they were able to avoid taking their shoes off and getting muddy feet as they climbed into the dinghy. They set off with Stafford wielding the oars and James seated in the stern.

Meanwhile Charlotte and Marion retreated in Paulson’s car to the pub car park where they kept watch on the roads for the other vehicles.

The inspector had a stiff pull in the little dinghy against the rapidly rising tide as they crept downriver towards the
Sarah Jane.
James had a hand on the plywood transom but said nothing as he watched Paulson struggling with the oars. He noticed the big cruiser was starting to straighten up as the tidewaters seeped under the hull.

As they neared the boat James said, “There’s a transom ladder which has been folded down so it’s not difficult to get on board.”

They pulled round to the stern and James grabbed the dangling rope which he had used on his previous visit. The inspector shipped the oars, stood up and tied the painter from the bow of the dinghy to the ladder. Then, breathing heavily, he climbed slowly and laboriously on to the deck. James skipped up behind him in half the time carrying the inspector’s toolkit.

He found Paulson already peering at the lock to the patio doors at the stern of the superstructure. He took the toolkit from James with a grunt, opened it and extracted a bunch of skeleton keys. He checked through them and started to try some in the lock. When he had tried about three he suddenly said “Ah-hah!” There was a click in the lock and the key turned. A few seconds later he slid back the left hand patio door and they were inside.

Paulson carefully removed the bunch of keys and returned them to his toolkit. Then the two men entered the large lounge. At the far end were three open doors. To the right a flight of steps led up, presumably to the control room. On the left a staircase descended into the bowels of the vessel. Stafford took these, followed by James.

“
Which room do you think she’s in?” asked the inspector.

“
I would say this first door on the left.”

Sure enough, they found the girl lying on her side on a double bed facing the door. Her ankles were strapped round with duct tape and her wrists were similarly tied and secured to the headboard. Her mouth had been taped over to stop her shouting. Large, worried eyes watched them as they entered.

“
Don’t be frightened,” said Stafford as he approached the bed. “I’m a policeman and we’ve come to rescue you.”

He took a knife from his pocket and slit through the tapes round her ankles and wrists and then applied himself to carefully peeling off the tape over her mouth. “Don’t worry. You’re safe now.”

James started to remove the tapes round her ankles with as much care as he could manage while she burst into tears and hugged the inspector.

“
Your mum’s waiting for you on the slipway,” said Paulson. “You’ll soon be safely back with her.”

Having finished removing the tapes from her ankles James turned his attention to her wrists and she was soon free of the horrible clinging stuff. They helped her to her feet. She had already stopped crying and was just sniffing a bit. He thought what a sensible little girl she seemed. They took her through to the outer deck and led her round to the side where she could wave at her ecstatic mum.

“
Now,” said the inspector. “I want to have a careful look round the boat and take some photos. Do you know Jimmy?”

She shook her head.

“
Oh. Well, I believe he’s actually your uncle so you’ll have to get to know him. In any case he’s your friend. He’s going to row you back to your mum.” To James he said, “Be very careful with her. And, as soon as you’ve handed her over, I want you to come back here to pick me up. I should have finished my inspection by then.”

“
OK.”

They helped Tracey down into the dinghy, undid the painter and pushed off. The rising tide helped James to paddle upriver more quickly than Paulson had rowed down to the
Sarah Jane.

Seated in the stern, the girl watched James speculatively as he rowed. She seemed to have recovered remarkably quickly from her ordeal of imprisonment.

After a while she said, “You’re not my uncle.”

“
How do you know that?”

”’
Cause Freddie’s my uncle. Who are you?”

James was defeated for a moment. Then he decided to duck the question. “I think you ought to ask your mum to tell you the whole story when you have her on your own.”

“
All right,” she said. “I will.”

As they neared the slipway they could see Marion and Charlotte waiting for them at the water’s edge. Tracey’s mum got her feet wet as she helped the girl out of the dinghy and into her arms. Tears of relief were streaming down Marion’s face but her daughter was dry-eyed.

“
Who is James?” she asked her mum.

“
Didn’t he tell you?”

“
He said to ask you.”

“
When you have some time together on your own,” said James.

“
But who is he?”

Marion said, “James is a friend, my darling. He helped me to find you.”

“
The policeman said he’s my uncle but I know he’s not. Freddie’s my uncle, isn’t he?”

James noticed that Charlotte seemed to be taking an interest in Tracey’s questions so he pushed the dinghy off with one oar. “Inspector Paulson asked me to go straight back and pick him up,” he said. “I’ll be back with him as soon as he’s ready.”