Perfect People

117

On a computer monitor, in a room at Sussex Police Headquarters, Luke and Phoebe stood side by side, each with an arm around the other. They appeared to be in a small studio, with a plain grey background, which gave nothing away about their location. Luke wore a sweat shirt, jeans and trainers, Phoebe a purple tracksuit and trainers. Clearly visible beside them was a television screen, with the CNN morning headlines of today.

The children looked, Naomi had to admit to herself, happy and relaxed.

‘Hallo, Parents,’ Luke said. ‘See! We’re fine!’

‘Hallo, Parents!’ Phoebe said. ‘Actually, we’re great!’

At the end of the clip the image froze. Naomi stared at it through tears. My children, she was thinking. Luke, Phoebe, my babies. Then she closed her eyes, unable to look any more.

Please, God, let me wake up and find out that this has all been some horrible dream.

Pelham, Humbolt, Renate Harrison and the computer geek, Cliff, were in the room with John and Naomi, seated around a table.

‘What are your chances of tracing the email, Cliff?’ the detective inspector asked.

Cliff, in clothes as grimy and crumpled as before, looked no less tired at two thirty on a Monday afternoon than he had at ten o’clock on Saturday morning. Pushing his hair back with his hands, he said, ‘The thing is, if you want to make an email anonymous and you know what you’re doing, you can make it anonymous. It’s not a problem.’

‘Can you explain how to us?’ Tom Humbolt asked.

The computer analyst gave a nervous laugh, then, blinking furiously at the table, said, ‘There are several different ways. They mostly involve routing an anonymous email from server to server around the world, with software designed to delete its own footprints as it goes. If I’m right in the way I think this has been sent – and it’s the way I would have done it – you’d have to physically send me round the world, tracking it back, trying to find the footprints in every server it’s been through.’

‘How long would that take?’ Naomi asked.

‘Assuming we could even find every server, gosh, I don’t know.’ He gave another nervous giggle. ‘Months.’ Then, staring at the table again and blinking furiously, he said, ‘That’s not the answer you want to hear, is it?’

Dave Pelham leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table, then pressed his fingers together to form a bridge. Resting his chin on it, he said to Humbolt, ‘The lab have a copy of this?’

‘Yes, sir.’ The detective sergeant directed much of his reply at John and Naomi. ‘They’re enhancing the sound to see if they can pick up any background noise that might give us clues about where they are.’

John glanced at his watch, then caught Naomi’s eye. They were going to have to leave soon for the airport.

Pelham said to both of them, ‘I really think someone should accompany you, in the background.’

Naomi shook her head adamantly. ‘You read their instructions, Detective Inspector. We can’t take the gamble.’

John said, ‘They haven’t given us much time, have they?’

‘That’s deliberate,’ Pelham said. ‘We barely have time to get anything in place. OK, if we don’t send anyone with you, then we need to get the cooperation of the Italian police.’

‘NO!’ Naomi was emphatic. ‘You have to let us handle this the way they are telling us.’

‘Mrs Klaesson, let me make this clear. We never accede to demands of kidnappers.’

‘What demands? They’re not asking for anything. They’re saying if we wish to meet them. What kind of demand is that?’

‘These people, whoever they are who have abducted your children, are clearly highly professional and well organized. If you do what they are requesting without adequate police back-up, you and Dr Klaesson would be taking an unacceptable risk with your safety.’

‘My children come above everything,’ she replied. ‘I don’t care what risks I have to take to get them back. With respect, doing anything less than they ask in that email is what I would call an unacceptable risk.’