No Going Back (12 page)

He was in luck. Patrescu had indeed stored his most frequently used numbers. Quickly Daniel scribbled them down, interspersing the figures with forward slashes to disguise them, aware that Macek was now practically hopping from foot to foot. He could sympathise: he wasn't overly keen on being there when Patrescu got back either – especially with the written evidence of his prying in the notebook. He had a feeling Patrescu wouldn't be so easily taken in as Macek had been.

Finally he took off the earphones.

‘It is good, yes?' the Romanian asked eagerly.

‘No problems at all,' Daniel said, coiling the wire and replacing it in his tool case. With a smile he straightened up. ‘All done.'

Sliding thankfully into the car a few moments later, Daniel was relieved to find Kat waiting for him. Part of him had worried that, in spite of her promise, she might have been unable to resist the lure of the house and the possibility of finding her sister.

Tossing the black case on to the back seat, Daniel lost no time in getting underway.

‘So did you see Elena?' Kat asked impatiently. ‘Why were you so long?'

‘No, I'm sorry, I didn't see her. Tell me, Katya, how many sisters do you have?'

‘What do you mean?' All at once she was wary.

‘I mean I saw two others and neither of them was Elena, so who were they?'

Katya didn't reply, and shooting her a look as he drove, Daniel saw that she was biting her lip.

‘Well?' he prompted.

Her head tipped forward. She was still wearing the baseball cap and it shadowed her eyes.

‘I don't know.'

‘You're lying,' Daniel said, without heat. ‘When are you going to start telling me the truth?'

‘I . . .' She drew a big breath and sighed. ‘It's complicated.'

‘Were those girls being held there too? Who are they?'

‘I don't know! How do I know who you saw?'

‘So there
are
more. How many, Katya?'

Katya looked away out of the side window and didn't reply.

Daniel gave a groan of pure frustration. ‘How can I help you if you won't tell me what's going on?' His visit to the house had reinforced his own suspicions about what line of business Patrescu was in, but he wanted to hear it from her.

It would appear today wasn't the day.

Katya remained stubbornly silent, apparently watching the scenery, as they travelled the twenty minutes or so back to Briars Hill. It wasn't until they turned into the driveway to the trekking centre that she spoke.

‘When can we go back for Elena?'

‘I don't know. I'm not even sure we can.'

‘But you promised!'

Daniel parked the car in front of Hilary's forbidding stone house and turned to look at Kat. With a shock, he saw that she'd been crying. Silently he offered her a handkerchief.

‘Look, I said I'd help if I could, but that's before I saw the set-up there. There are cameras everywhere, to say nothing of Macek and Patrescu and quite possibly others that I don't know of.'

‘It's only them. I never saw anyone else.'

‘But we don't even know where in the house she might be, or even if she's still there.'

‘That's why we have to go soon. Before they move her on.'

‘On where, Kat?'

‘I don't know,' she said helplessly. ‘Anywhere. Please, Daniel, we have to go back for her.'

Daniel looked at her, moved – in spite of himself – by the utter desperation in her face.

‘And just how do you propose we do it?'

Katya brightened, taking hope from his words. ‘We can get in the way I got out.'

The window in the roof? Dear God!

‘I don't think so,' Daniel said dryly.

‘No, it's easy. You'll see. The tree hangs right over the roof,' she said, dismissing the objection as unimportant.

‘Yeah, well, look, before we do anything else, there's a couple of things I need to sort out, so you're going to have to be patient.'

‘If you won't help me, I'll go by myself.'

‘Don't be stupid!' Daniel said, more sharply than he meant to. ‘How would you even get there? And if by some miracle you did get your sister out, where would you go? Don't you think they'd hunt you down like they did last time?'

‘I'll think of something,' she said stubbornly. ‘If you won't help me . . .'

‘That's not what I said. I said I needed time to think. Look, if you try and don't succeed, you'll never see your sister again – I can guarantee that.'

‘But we've got to do something . . .'

‘We will,' Daniel assured her. ‘You just have to trust me.'

‘You keep saying that, but I don't even know you!'

‘And
I
don't know
you
,' he retorted. ‘We're both of us taking a lot on trust.
I'm
telling the truth. Are you?'

Once again Katya's eyes betrayed the answer.

‘I trusted Yousef,' she said bitterly.

‘Yousef?'

‘Patrescu. He said he'd take care of us and I trusted him. He lied.'

That was a departure from her original story. Daniel made no big deal about the inconsistency, saying instead, ‘He's not your father, is he?'

Kat shook her head but volunteered no further information.

‘Where is your father?'

She shrugged. ‘I haven't seen him since I was very young.'

‘Well, I'm not Yousef,' Daniel pointed out. ‘Come on, this is getting us nowhere. I need to pick up Taz and you need to find Hilary. I'll ring later.'

‘You promise?'

Daniel rolled his eyes heavenwards. ‘Listen, Kat, if I say I'm going to do something, you can take it as a promise, OK?'

‘OK.' Kat smiled shyly. ‘Sorry.'

As they got out of the car, the door of the house opened, as if Hilary had been watching and waiting for them to make a move.

‘How did you get on? Did you find the house?' she asked as they approached.

‘We did. Tell you about it later,' Daniel said. ‘Where's my hairy hound?'

‘In the boot room. Exactly where you left him,' Hilary said. ‘He hasn't moved a muscle. I took him some water and a few biscuits, but he hasn't touched them. He's amazing.'

‘Well, I told him to guard my coat,' Daniel said, pleased. He'd never left him on duty for so long before and had half expected him to come bounding out when he heard the Mercedes. ‘I'd better go and release him.'

‘You'll stay to dinner?'

‘I'd love to, but I've got a few things to take care of. A few phone calls to make . . .'

‘I have a phone. You can use the one in my office if you want to be private.'

Daniel wavered. ‘I'll pay you.'

‘You bloody won't!' she exclaimed. ‘Next thing I'd be charging you for coffee, or dinner. Don't be ridiculous!'

Ten minutes later, settled in Hilary's office with a mug of tea at hand, Daniel made a start on working through the list of numbers he'd lifted from the telephone at Moorside House. He had no clear idea of what he expected to find, but a major part of police work was gruelling enquiry, trawling through a suspect's every contact in the hope that just one of them – however unlikely – might throw up a vital clue.

On this occasion he struck lucky with the very first call.

He had decided to begin with the numbers listed under Patrescu's speed-dial facility.

The first was a mobile number and it was answered after four or five rings.

‘Yeah. Naylor.' The two words were drawled so they became one. In the background, Daniel could hear a hum of voices and laughter that possibly denoted a pub.

‘Would that be
Sergeant
Naylor?' It had been no part of his plan to ask questions, but this one burned in his brain. Could it be?

‘Yes. Who is this?' Naylor had come sharply to attention now.

Daniel said nothing.

‘Where did you get this number?' Naylor demanded, but Daniel was not about to give him that information, and when there was no reply, Naylor cut the connection.

Daniel replaced the receiver and sat staring at the wall. It couldn't be by chance that Sergeant Naylor was on Patrescu's list of frequent contacts, and to Daniel, the fact reeked of corruption. Any lingering thoughts of enlisting the help of the local police on Elena's behalf vanished as if they had never been. It was disturbing, for although he personally had had no wish to involve them, and had promised Kat that he wouldn't without her permission, he was realistic enough to know that there might well come a time when their involvement was unavoidable. Now, it seemed even that failsafe was rife with complications.

Glad that he'd withheld the Briars Hill number, Daniel cracked on with the other numbers on his list.

‘Tonight? You mean it?'

It was the first time Daniel had seen Katya look truly animated. They were sitting at Hilary's kitchen table waiting for her to dish up a lasagne.

He nodded. ‘Well, early tomorrow morning, to be more precise, so you'd better get to bed early and try and get some sleep.'

‘I'll never be able to sleep. What time do we leave?'

‘About one o'clock, I should think. We don't want to get there while they're still up and about. But I don't want you to get your hopes up. It may be that we can't get in tonight – for whatever reason – and even if we do, it's possible we may not be able to find your sister.'

‘No. We will find her,' Katya stated with certainty.

‘Are you sure you're doing the right thing?' Hilary asked, scooping the lasagne on to plates. ‘It seems awfully risky.'

‘No,' Daniel said frankly. ‘I have a horrible feeling it might be one of the stupidest things I've ever attempted, but just at the moment, I don't see any option. We will be careful, though.'

‘Careful?' she exclaimed, pausing with the serving spoon suspended. ‘You're planning on breaking into someone's house by climbing on to the roof from a tree – how is that being careful? At least leave Kat behind.'

‘No!' Kat's protest was almost a squeal. ‘I won't stay behind! Anyway, Daniel needs me to show him how to get in, don't you, Daniel?'

Daniel made a regretful face. ‘I'm afraid she's right, but I promise you, we'll take no more risks than are absolutely necessary.'

‘I know you don't want to, my dear,' Hilary told Kat, ‘but I can't help thinking you
should
tell the police. I'm sure you wouldn't be in any trouble. You and your sister are the victims here, after all.'

‘No. You don't understand . . .' Kat said desperately.

‘Then why don't you help me to understand?' the older woman invited, but Katya just looked to Daniel for support.

‘You promised . . .'

Daniel sighed. ‘I did. And even if I hadn't, things have become a little bit complicated in that area.' He told them the result of his earlier phone call.

Hilary frowned. ‘So what do you think's going on?'

‘I don't know, but I can't imagine it's anything you'd find in the police codes of practice. I mean, it could be that Patrescu has been having a spot of bother with someone and needs a hotline to the authorities, but I'm struggling to believe that, and anyway, this was Naylor's personal number.' Daniel paused. ‘I suppose you could either take this as proof of Patrescu's godliness or of Naylor's corruption, and having met them both, I know which I'd put money on.'

‘Patrescu is evil!' Kat said suddenly, low-voiced and fervent.

Hilary glanced at her in surprise and then across at Daniel, eyebrows raised. With a minute shake of his head he tried to convey that she should leave it, and once again, to his relief, she did.

‘But if you think this Sergeant Naylor is corrupt, shouldn't something be done about it?' Hilary said presently, when they were all eating.

Daniel grunted. ‘Not without cast-iron proof, in triplicate and signed by two witnesses of impeccable character. And probably not even then. Before you know it they'll have closed ranks and suddenly you're the villain.'

Hilary looked at him thoughtfully but said no more on the subject.

Two o'clock the following morning found Daniel in the shadows at the foot of a towering beech tree in the grounds of Moorside House. The night was clear and bitterly cold, the moon three-quarters full and the sky a mass of stars. He'd left Taz with Hilary, once again, and the car was parked close against the hedge, in a turning some 50 yards back down the lane.

Daniel was feeling unsettled. Not only by the prospect of the task ahead, which seemed more foolhardy by the minute, but also because of a phone call that had come through just as he and Kat were preparing to leave the car.

‘Dad?'

‘Drew? What the hell? It's a quarter to two in the morning!'

‘I know. I almost didn't ring in case you were asleep.'

‘I should be, and so should you. Please tell me you're at least in bed.'

‘I
am
in my room, but I couldn't sleep. Can I talk to you?'

Daniel made a face his son couldn't see. ‘Well, no, not really. Not now.'

Drew continued as if he hadn't heard. ‘Why don't you want me to come and live with you? I wouldn't be a nuisance, I promise.'

‘Drew, we've been through this before. It's not that I don't want you – look, this really isn't a good time . . .'

‘Amanda says you don't – want me, that is. She says you think I'd get in your way, but I promise I wouldn't.'

‘Well, Mum's got it wrong. I never said that,' Daniel told him, inwardly seething at the below-the-belt tactics his ex-wife was employing. ‘You know you're the most important person in the world to me, but the thing is, I'm working a lot of the time. I wouldn't be around to look after you.'