When Night Closes in (26 page)

With his hair tangled across his forehead, Timmy looked even younger than he was. She could not believe him capable of abduction, but then neither could she imagine Matthew, a responsible sergeant, capable of acting like a criminal.

‘Perhaps it would be a good idea to tell DI Lainey everything, Timmy.'

‘I can't. I've burnt my boats there, the man thinks I'm a prig.' He shrugged. ‘He's right.'

‘Lainey is very shrewd, he won't take things at face value, he'll use every little bit of information he can get his hands on.'

Timmy shook his head. ‘No, I can't. I don't know what's going on but I've a feeling it's something big. I might be in danger myself if I went to the police of my own accord.'

‘How would you?'

‘The man who took Sally might come back, find me and beat me up, even kill me.'

Timmy seemed past rational thought but Lowri tried to reason with him anyway.

‘You could always give the information over the phone, you needn't even give your name.'

‘It's too risky. I think I'm better off keeping out of it.'

Lowri leaned forward. ‘Look, if this man thought you saw him clearly and was worried, wouldn't he have come back right away?'

Timmy shook his head. ‘I don't care what you say, Lowri, I'm not going to the police and that's flat. I have some of Sally's things – will you come back to my room with me? It's near the college, not far away.'

‘What for?'

‘To take Sally's stuff. I can't bear to have anything of hers in my place now.'

‘Well, yes, I suppose so.' Lowri was surprised by the abrupt turn in the conversation. Timmy was behaving so strangely; perhaps she would be a fool to go with him. He looked at her pitifully, as if reading her thoughts.

‘I wouldn't hurt you, Lowri, you've nothing to fear from me.' He rose to his feet and swung his bag of books over his shoulder. Lowri hesitated for a moment and then picked up her handbag.

‘OK, Timmy, but if you have anything illegal that you want to palm off on me, the answer is no!'

As Timmy did not seem inclined to pay for the coffee, Lowri took some coins out of her purse and left them on the table. She followed him out into the unexpected sunlight, wondering if she was putting her head in the lion's mouth.

Timmy was glad when Lowri had gone, taking Sally's things with her. He showered and as he tied his bathrobe round his waist there was a loud knocking on the door.

Timmy stepped back a pace, looking round him, but there was no way of escape. He was on the third floor and never had been good at heights. The knocking was repeated and a voice called out harshly.

‘Police! Open the door or I'll break it down.'

Timmy felt a sense of relief; the police he could deal with. Nevertheless he opened the door on the chain and peered out.

‘Identification please.'

The man held out his card and, taking it, Timmy examined it. ‘OK,' he said, ‘you can come in.'

‘I have a warrant to search the premises.' Matthew Brown stood in the doorway, large and somehow menacing.

‘Well, this is a surprise!' Timmy said. ‘On your own, isn't that unusual?'

‘Not on a busy day, no.' Matthew looked round. ‘In any case, it won't take long to search two rooms, will it?'

‘Go ahead,' Timmy said. ‘You won't find anything here that's illegal, I assure you. I'm not one of those fools who take smack so if it's drugs you're after you're wasting your time.'

He sat in the armchair and watched as the sergeant made a systematic search of the sitting-room. ‘Hey, careful with those books, they cost money!'

Matthew ignored him and shook out the pages of each book. He was frowning. ‘Where's your CD player?'

Timmy pointed to the corner. ‘Over there. I haven't got much of a collection – it's here mainly for Sally's entertainment,' he said, but the jibe had no effect on Matthew who walked into the bedroom.

At last, the sergeant gave up. He returned to the sitting-room and stood in front of Timmy. ‘You're clean this time but I'll be back, don't you worry about that.'

‘Come back any time you like,' Timmy said dully. ‘I've got nothing to hide.'

Matthew left the door open as he departed and Timmy closed it with a bang.

Lainey was not in a good mood. So far Ken Major's efforts to find out what was in the pile of CDs had come to naught. There had been several bundles of CDs in the case: to try them out on a computer would take days, weeks. Ken Major knew it and Lainey knew it. Still, Major had stuck at it and was searching diligently through the packages.

‘Any idea what we're looking for, guv?' Major said at last. Lainey shook his head.

‘No idea. Just something that doesn't fit, I suppose. A CD that appears different to the others. I'm hoping if we can narrow the search down to only a few of the discs we will find a code, a program you can't access.' He shrugged. ‘I have to admit I don't bloody know what I'm expecting but there's something fishy going on, I can feel it in my gut!'

He glanced at his watch. ‘Look, I'll have to push off. Do your best to sort this lot out and then come back to the station.'

Ken Major did not seem too happy but he made no protest.

Lainey drove back to the station and parked his car in the space reserved for the superintendent and got out, slamming the door behind him.

The corridors were quiet. It was getting late and there would only be a skeleton staff working.

In his office, Lainey turned his attention to the paperwork on his desk and opened the file on Jon Brandon; his researcher had traced the man back over the years to his college days. He had, predictably, been into electrical circuits and microchips even then. These days, progress in information technology had not so much as marched as sprinted forward out of all recognition. How had Brandon kept up to date? Easily, Lainey supposed, if it was bringing him in a fortune.

Something was teasing his mind. The name of Justin Richards had come up in a list of Brandon's associates. Lowri's brother, perhaps? The case of computer stuff had been addressed to Justin Richards: it was a coincidence.

Lainey stared at the file. He did not believe that Justin Richards ran a wines and spirits business. It would be easy to launder money through the legitimate books. There was a tingling feeling at the back of his neck, a sure sign that something was not right.

The duty sergeant peered into the room. ‘Someone to see you, sir, Timothy Perkins. I've put him in interview room three.'

‘Right.' He closed the file and slipped it into his desk. He might be getting paranoid but he had the feeling his work was being checked. As Lainey left his office, he reflected that life was never simple. He had at last found a girl whom he could fall in love with, and she would probably turn out to be a liar or worse.

As he walked into the interview room, Timmy Perkins looked up at him. He seemed terrified. His hand, holding a cigarette, was trembling.

‘What can I do for you, Mr Perkins?' Lainey asked and the boy looked up at him with haunted eyes.

‘I think I'm in danger,' he said. ‘My rooms were broken into when I went for a drink in the student bar. Books were torn, my papers thrown all over the floor.'

‘Anything stolen?' Lainey asked easily.

‘Just my laptop computer and some CDs.'

‘Sounds like some kid looking for something to sell, probably to fund a quick fix.'

‘I suppose you could be right. That sergeant called Brown had gone by then so the coast was clear for any petty thief.'

‘Brown?' Lainey asked. Brown was supposed to be taking his holiday – what the hell was he doing going to see Perkins?

‘What did the sergeant say he wanted?' Lainey asked. Perkins looked surprised.

‘Is this a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, DI Lainey? Brown had a search warrant, he went through my place like a dose of salts!'

‘Did you actually read the search warrant, Mr Perkins?'

‘Well . . . no, I didn't but it looked official enough.'

‘Tut tut, and you studying law.' Lainey switched on the recording machine. ‘We'd better go through this step by step. Just take it easy and start from the beginning.'

Lowri looked at the large handbag containing make-up and other odds and ends that Timmy had put into her hands with as much reverence as if it was the Holy Grail. There were a few CDs which she looked through idly. They were mostly pop music, some of Sally's favourite groups. One of the CDs was different from the rest. The plastic case was blank and when Lowri lifted the flap and drew out the disc she saw that the title of the music was in some foreign language. But nothing that Lowri could recognize. Strange, she shrugged, but then Sally could sometimes be a little strange.

Lowri pushed the handbag into the shoe cupboard along with a pile of discarded bags bearing the names of the various shops she frequented. Why Timmy had been so fanatical about giving her Sally's few belongings she couldn't fathom. There was nothing of importance among any of this stuff.

The phone rang and she picked it up.

‘Lowri, it's Ken Major. Can I come over for a drink? I've had one hell of a day. Lainey's had me searching through boxes of rubbish, CDs, that sort of thing. He doesn't even know what he's looking for.'

‘Ken, is this a joke? No, you can't come over and don't ring again because I've got company.'

She put the phone down and looked round her empty sitting-room. Company, she should be so lucky. So Lainey was interested in CDs all of a sudden. Why? She went to the shoe cupboard and rummaged in Sally's bag, pulling out the small pile of discs. Perhaps it would be just as well to look them over again.

If only she had a computer at home she could try out the one with the foreign title. She turned it over in her hands but could see nothing suspicious. Still, there could be something on there that Sally did not want anyone else to see, then she had better keep it safe.

Lowri looked around the room, wondering where was the safest place to hide it, then she made herself a cup of coffee and sat down to watch her favourite soap.

‘Look, guv, if anyone had wanted to flash any sort of information around the world, wouldn't they have used the Internet? I mean, why handle CDs when a telephone line can take the message for you?'

Lainey looked out at the early morning sky through the one small window in the back room of the warehouse. He had wanted to take another look at the case. He glanced at Ken Major. ‘Apparently, as soon as anyone goes online, the address of their computer is logged. It wouldn't be too difficult to trace it.'

‘Oh, I know that!' Ken's tone was disparaging and Lainey concealed a smile. ‘But it would take an awful lot of time, wouldn't it, especially if the user had a code name or had encrypted the information? All the same, surely it would be easier than exporting all this stuff.'

Lainey looked down at the neatly packed case. It had been late when the search was abandoned the night before, and though he had taken a second look he had found nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed that he had been barking up the wrong tree.

‘Nothing but kids' computer games,' he said. ‘Though there could be just one CD hidden among the rest that's different.'

‘That's possible.' Ken flipped the last of the CDs into the case. ‘But if so, it's not here. I've done my best but I can't find anything remotely interesting.'

‘You're sure?'

‘I'm sure, guv.'

Lainey wondered if he had been wrong all along. When the case of goods Jon Brandon was sending to Justin Richards had been found, he had high hopes that it would yield some answers, but a thorough search had proved him wrong. But no, his gut instinct told him he was on the right track. Some time ago, he had begun to suspect what the scam was all about, and this episode had reinforced that suspicion. The CDs were part of the scam and, maybe, Matthew Brown had guessed it. Or was Brown somehow involved in it all? It was not a pleasant thought.

‘I still think information is being smuggled out of the country,' Lainey said. ‘Something of import. It's either financial or political, could even be Secret Service stuff.'

Ken glanced at him. ‘You been watching too many police soaps, guv.' There was a smile on the officer's face and Lainey grimaced.

‘I know it sounds far-fetched but we need to consider all possibilities. Could anything from the case have gone missing? I mean, could anyone have pocketed one of the CDs?'

‘I don't know, guv.' Ken smiled. ‘But it's not likely, not with your eagle eye overseeing things.'

It was true he had been present at all times when the boxes inside the case were opened. But then, there had been a lot of boxes, all but one containing computer parts. Only one box had contained software. It was just possible that one CD could have been slipped in with the hardware. Alternatively, perhaps the relevant disc had never reached the case, and that was why the case had been abandoned at the warehouse.

It was like trying to unravel a ball of string and never coming to the end. He hated being beaten by a puzzle, and this was a cracker. He had been on the investigation for months and as yet had made very little progress. At least, that was how it would appear to his superior officers. Lainey knew otherwise.

‘We might as well get back to the station,' he said. He turned to the customs and excise man and nodded. ‘Thanks for your help.'

Lainey had scarcely sat at his desk in the office when the door opened. ‘Guv, the Perkins boy's come in again. Are you going to interview him or what? To be fair, I think he's been cooling his heels long enough.'

‘Oh do you!' Lainey said sharply. ‘Well, I'll decide that without any help from you.'

Ken Major grinned. ‘Sorry, guv. What about Perkins?'