My Heart Belongs To You: A Psycho Thriller (15 page)

Each person at the Hanson Security’s command centre was lost in deep thought
.
Each
was working their own path, paths that all led to the same goal, saving Tom and Karen.  None of them allowed the demon of failure to approach the firelight of their endeavours, keeping it
on
the outer rims, hidden in the darkness where it scampered around testing their resolve,
and
their determination.  It would remain there
,
barred access until the clock on the wall of the command centre, all too quickly, counte
d down the life
of the
couple
by
reaching zero.  Then it could have cent
r
e stage
.
Then
all hope would be lost, the beast would have won again.

Chapter Fourteen

13 February
-
12
:
05

(
L
ife
remaining 30 hrs 55 mins)

‘A bad man’s got him
,
John, really bad.’

John had spent ten valuable minutes persuading the owner and his wife that he was legi
timate,
and
that he
was
officially
involved with the disappearance of the couple from their restaurant the previous evening.  The couple complained that they had been questioned last evening for over an hou
r when the restaurant closed,
and
that
there was nothing more they could add
,
but Hanson was persuasive.  Seven minutes of methodical questioning of Colin and Andrea Bartlett followed, each one carefully phrased, each
one approached
from many angles
, in an effort
to gather every tiny shard of detail
.
Each
answer washed around inside his head as if he were panning for gold
,
but not a single nugget was revealed
;
not a scrap of information of any consequence was uncovered.  Each minute was a trade for information
, because
time was his currency.  He had bartered and received nothing in return
,
apart from confirmation that the couple had seen Tom and Karen leave the restaurant the night before at around 8.50 p.m.
,
after the woman had received a call on her mobile
, a
call that had clearly caused Karen some distress according to the Bartlett
couple
.

John checked his watch, seventeen minutes traded, little received in return.  ‘I believe your brother Darren was working last night
,
Mrs. Bartlett?’

Andrea Bartlett immediately looked embarrassed, her wringing hands reflecting her discomfort merely at the mention of her brother.  ‘He
,
um… he’s not here at the moment
,
’ she responded with a tight smile.   ‘He
normally
works evenings.’

Hanson didn’t like the word
normally
or the inflection surrounding it.  ‘I need to speak to him.’  John’s tone left no room for misinterpretation of how important this was to him.

Colin Bartlett spoke up, ‘
Look
we may as well be honest with you
,
Mr. Hanson.’

‘Call me John, and by all means be honest, it will save me
from
coming back to see you a second time unnecessarily.’

Colin Bartlett swallowed involuntarily
.
Something
in the narrowing of this man’s eyes made the prospect of him coming back a second time unnecessarily a
“
must avoid
”
scenario.   ‘Darren is something
of a…
loose cannon, he…’

‘He’s a drug addict
,
Colin
.
Let’s
not try and dress it any other way
,
’ interrupted his wife
.
‘
We’ve
been struggling to get him clean for nearly three years
,
Mr. Hanson.’

Hanson could not help
noticing
the sagging shoulders
and
the tired expression as she spoke of her brother.
Clearly,
the struggle had come at a price.

‘Why do you keep him on?’

‘He’s my brother,
and
for all his faults
,
I love him.  Without this
job,
he would be dead in a month.  While he’s here
,
I can support him.’

‘I need his address so I can speak to him.’

‘He’s um… he’s not at home
.
’

‘How do you know?’

‘I call
at
his flat every morning, I have a key.’

‘You called this morning?’

‘Yes.’

‘And he wasn’t there?’

‘No, no he wasn’t.’

Hanson didn’t have time to waste
,
but he also didn’t want to miss a potential lead.  He had to decide if Simpson was worth pursuing.  ‘I’m told
that
he saw the couple leave last evening.’

‘Yes
,
we all did
,
Mr. Hanson
,
but Darren was closer.’

‘Show me exactly where he was standing.’

Colin Bartlett walked over to a table
that was
set for two next to the si
de door
.  ‘Darren was standing here taking an order
.
The
man you are asking about, Tom Wilson, had been to the
counter to pay his
bill
, and
then
he
left in a hurry with his companion, using this side door.’

Hanson moved to stand beside the restaurant owner and
he
looked through the large picture window next to the side door.  It gave a clear view along the length of the driveway to the area of parking for patrons.  ‘How long was your brother taking the order
,
Mrs. Bartlett?’

‘I… I’m not sure what you mean?’

‘Did the couple just have a bowl of soup each or was it a large order
.
Did
they have any wine
.
Did
they know what they wanted or did they dawdle?’

‘It was a large order
,
’ responded her husband
,
snapping his fingers suddenly, ‘I remember Darren complaining about it.’

‘So he would have been standing here for some minutes?’

‘Yes
,
probably a good ten minutes.
’

‘Is the driveway well lit at night?’

‘Yes
,
we have three halogen lights that come on at dusk.’

Hanson looked from the table to the end of the driveway.  He could imagine Darren Simpson standing here fourteen hours previously, bored
and looking
out the window as Tom and Karen walked towards their car, only they never reached their car.  Somewhere along the length of this driveway
or in the parking
area,
they were snatched.  The couple
sitting
at this table would have been engrossed in the decision between prawn cocktail and pate
,
so
they
would have
their
heads
bent
down.  ‘Were Tom Wilson and his partner a walk in or did they pre-book?
’

‘It was a booking
,
’ responded the wife, ‘I remember putting out the reserved note at 8 p.m.’

‘Yes that was odd
,
’ frowned her husband
,
remembering, ‘Mr. Wilson telephoned around 6.30 p.m.
to confirm his table
, and
then called again about half an hour later to confirm again.’

Hanson ran that through his mind for just a second, ‘
Did
you take both calls?’

‘No
,
I took one
,
’ answered his wife.

At that instant
,
Hanson knew this was an ambush.  Someone knew that Tom and Karen were coming to this restaurant and called to confirm that fact.  One call was probably from Tom
and
possibly,
the other from Cupid.  The call to Karen’s mobile during the meal was to lure them out to the car park where they were bound to have parked their car.  Tom didn’t do taxis and Hanson suspected that if someone had been observing him, as clearly they had been doing, they would have known this.  There was no on-road parking here
,
so it was a safe bet that they would use the rear car park.  The thing that bothered Hanson was that
while
Tom was nowhere near as big as him
,
he was
well-
trained.  It would have taken a good man to take him down
,
or a lot of luck and surprise.  ‘You said that your brother wasn’t at his flat this morning
.
Had
he been there since last night?’

Andrea Bartlett looked pale as she shook her head, the first glistening of tears forming at the corners of tired eyes.

“He’s done this before
,
’ sighed her husband
,
placing a comforting arm around his wife`s shoulders.  ‘He would just disappear for a few days
,
then resurface full of apologies and promises to get clean. I’ve tried his mobile dozens of times
,
but it’s switched off.’

‘There’s something you need to know
,
Mr. Hanson
,
’ sniffed the wife
,
pulling away from her husband and reaching for a tissue from her handbag.  ‘Darren came to me last week and asked to borrow money, said he needed to pay off a debt.  I knew what that meant.  It was to pay his supplier
,
so I refused.  He had asked me for five thousand pounds.’

‘
What
!’
snapped her husband, ‘but you never said a word
,
’ he accused.

‘
I told you I refused
,
’
she retaliated sharply, ‘
What
does it matter?’

‘You think this has something to do with his disappearance?’ probed Hanson.

‘Yes, yes I do
,
’ came the reply between sniffs, ‘
l
ast
time he got in over his head to his supplier
,
he was made to work off the debt by running drugs up and down the country for a week. I
think that might have happened again
.’

‘I need the name of his supplier.’

‘We
,
um, we don’t know who it is
,
’ took over Colin Bartley all too quickly.

‘You’re a bad liar
,
Mr. Bartlett
.
Now
I need a name.’

‘Mr. Hanson these are vicious people
,
’ responded his wife.

Hanson had seen fear in all its guises and he was seeing it now.  ‘I guarantee you
that
both
of
you will have nothing to fear from these people.’

‘You can’t watch us twenty four seven
,
Mr. Hanson.’

‘That won’t be necessary.’

‘If we give you a name and he finds out
,
he’ll… he’ll kill us
.
’ Andrea Bartlett had gone deathly pale.  Years
of working unsociable hours,
dealing with her drug addict brother had robbed years from her features.  Hanson couldn’t help but feel for her and her husband
.
They
seemed like decent people.

Hanson leaned down and whispered into Andrea Bartlett’s ear.  ‘I promise you, on my life
,
’ Hanson paused and allowed her to look deep into his eyes where truth lay, ‘that you wil
l never be bothered by this man
.
’  Two minutes later
,
he was walking out of the restaurant with a piece of paper
.
Written
on it was the name of her brother’s supplier.  As he strode towards his car parked in the rear car park
,
he pressed a button on his
earpiece.
Three
blips brought him into the command centre through the speaker system.