Cold as Ice

Chapter 18

Jeanie watched Carter arrive and park up before she left Tracy, and went out to talk to him in private. She waved for him to stay where he was and got into the passenger seat.

‘How is she?’ he asked.

‘She’s very shaken,’ said Jeanie.

‘Did he demand a ransom?’

‘No. Do you think he will?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Carter. ‘He had months to make contact in Emily’s case but the Styles were never contacted either to ask for money for her release or to taunt them like this. And yet we know she was alive all that time.’ Jeanie looked back at the house as she thought. The lounge was lit up. She saw Tracy hugging Jackson as they walked past the lounge window.

Jeanie looked across at Carter. His face was dark. The sky outside was grey. Overhead the clouds were full of snow.

‘He phoned Tracy to tell her he had her daughter and to involve her in her daughter’s suffering. If she’s in the loop we could use it.’

‘In the loop?’ Jeanie looked at him incredulously. ‘So we feed him Tracy to heighten his pleasure?’

‘I was thinking more that we could work on her being a human side to this. A mother figure, someone he might build a rapport with.’

‘We are talking Tracy – who gave away her only child for adoption and has more make-up than Boots the chemist?’

Carter smiled. ‘You’re a miracle worker, Jeanie – think about it for me at least.’

‘Yeah. I’ll file it under “more stupid ideas from Dan”.’

They watched Tracy come to stand at the window.

‘I’m going to have to tell her everything we know now,’ Jeanie said. ‘It’s only fair she is told about Emily Styles.’

Carter was nodding, thinking. He leaned forward and studied the other houses around. The curtain in a house across the road moved in the front window.

‘Do you think he might be watching the house?’ Jeanie asked.

‘I don’t think so.’ They sat in silence for a few minutes: both deep in thought.

‘I want you to push hard interviewing this little boy – Jackson. It’s a difficult process,’ said Carter, shrugging. ‘I understand it’s not going to be easy. But we can’t underestimate the importance of that little boy’s memory and we can’t afford to lose it.’

‘I don’t know much about Down’s, to be honest, or what his limitations are.’

‘You’ll have to work it out. Research it. Do it on the job. Use your intuition.’

Jeanie shook her head. ‘I don’t feel qualified to handle it. Have you talked to Child Protection?’

‘Yes, but I think you should handle the whole thing. You’re Family Liaison and you’ve been in Child Protection. Too many people in the house might just make him more worried and freaked out. We have a woman in the morgue, and one missing, and he’s the nearest thing we have had to a witness. What has he said so far?’

‘One man was in the flat that night. He was white with brown hair. Danielle tried to make him leave but he wouldn’t go.’

‘Anything else?’

Jeanie looked at him accusingly, then she turned away, shaking her head.

‘Look, Jeanie – bottom line, I have faith in you but if it gets too much we can pull you off it. Just remember we’re a team. We’re all in this twenty-four seven till it’s over.’

She turned on him: ‘I can’t stay round here twenty-four seven. I have Christa to consider. I have a life beyond the job.’ She looked across at Carter who was watching her. The old affection they had once had for each other gave them an intimacy. He studied her profile. It was hard not to remember what she looked like lying next to him. His eyes went past her to the large snowflakes that had started to fall, drifting so slowly down to earth.

Her eyes searched his. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come back after I had Christa. It’s been an uphill struggle since then. Then I left myself open to the mistake that nearly cost me my life. It’s a year ago I was stabbed. Maybe I should have called it a day then.’

‘No, Jeanie. You were meant to work in this field. It’s not a job for you, it’s a vocation.’

She rolled her eyes and groaned. ‘Don’t give me that crap please.’

But he could see she knew what he was saying was right.

‘You have to juggle life.’ She didn’t answer but stared out at the snow. ‘Look,’ Carter continued. ‘I understand. I don’t want to lose you. Just be here in the day to talk to the boy and someone else can take over the evening shifts if she needs someone to stay the night. She probably won’t. How’s that?’

Jeanie sighed, rested her head back on the headrest. She closed her eyes, exasperated. ‘It’s bound to entail more than that. I’ll think about it. I have to talk to Peter.’

‘Peter knows it’s your job, Jeanie. He married a copper.’ Carter got out of the car. Jeanie caught him up. She was cross and she held him back by his arm.

‘Don’t be a tosser, Dan. Last year, almost to the day, I nearly bled to death on the job you say I was born to do – I nearly died doing it. There’s not a moment I don’t feel vulnerable. I have a hard job coping with the anxiety. You don’t understand what it’s like.’

He stopped and turned to face her.

‘I’m sorry… I do understand because I understand you. I know what you are capable of and how certain things are important to you. I know you can be very tough and still be your sweet, warm, loving, intuitive, wise-beyond-your-years, if not a little self-deprecating self.’

He could see a smile appearing – despite everything he’d managed to work his charm. He was pleased with himself as he turned and started walking towards the house.

She caught him up. ‘Smug bastard.’

‘We’ll get the phones fixed. Every call that comes into Tracy’s phone will go via us. Hello, Tracy.’ Carter stepped inside the house and Jeanie followed, closing the door behind her. ‘I hear you’ve had a phone call?’

She nodded: her eyes wide. Still reeling. ‘Is it Jackson’s dad?’ Tracy was whispering. Jackson was preoccupied with the new toys that Jeanie had brought over for him. Scruffy was lying beside him on the floor, in the corner of the lounge. Tracy had laid out a blanket for Jackson to keep his toys on.

‘No it isn’t him. He was in custody at the time of the call, Tracy.’

‘Who is it then? Who phoned me?’

‘Please, Tracy, keep calm. I know this is something you never imagined you’d have to cope with but you are coping with it,’ said Jeanie. She looked to Carter to continue.

‘We believe that the person who has taken your daughter was also responsible for the death of a friend of Danielle’s – a woman called Emily Styles. Do you know that name?’

‘She was the woman pulled out of the canal.’

‘Yes. She was.’ Tracy sat on the sofa, staring straight ahead. ‘What does he want with Danielle or me?’

Carter glanced at Jeanie. Tracy lifted her eyes. Jeanie shook her head.

‘I can’t answer that, Tracy. He didn’t contact Emily Styles’ family.’

‘Is he going to kill her?’

‘No,’ answered Carter. ‘Nothing is certain, Tracy. He kept Emily captive for months before he killed her. We still have time to find Danielle.

‘He knows who I am. Will he come here? What about Jackson?’

‘Someone can stay with you all the time. Or we can move you to a safe house but, for now, I’d rather you stay here because Jackson needs stability. It’s paramount we handle this right, this is now between you, your daughter and the person who has her.’ Jeanie reached out to try and reassure Tracy with a touch. Tracy had paled, her eyes wide. Jeanie sat beside her and placed her hand on her arm.

‘The phone call was distressing for you, I know, but it means she’s still alive and there’s hope.’

Tracy shook her head, uncertain. She was in a place of panic, fear, a trapped place that Jeanie often saw. It was her job to comfort and to guide families through the trauma of waiting for news about a missing child, of holding on to any hope, of facing facts in the new world they had been dropped into.

Carter tried to reassure her.

‘There is still hope that you will get your life back, Tracy, and Danielle will come back to Jackson, but we have to get it right. Let’s not scare this man off. He contacted you for a reason. We need to leave the door open for him to contact you again.’

‘Why is he phoning?’

Carter shook his head. ‘Could be a number of reasons.’

Tracy looked at Jeanie’s face. So far Jeanie had read Tracy as a no-nonsense, tell-it-straight type. That was the way she’d deliver news to her, she’d decided. Of course, as the days and sleepless nights passed Jeanie might have to change her tactics.

‘We are doing our best to put together a profile on him, Tracy,’ she said.

‘Yes.’ Carter kept his eyes firmly on Tracy.

Tracy held on to the sides of the sofa. ‘Is he going to kill her?’ she repeated.

‘I’m not going to lie to you, Tracy – we don’t know.’ Jeanie put her arm around Tracy’s shoulders. ‘The last call you had with Danielle, did she mention that it was Emily’s body that was pulled out of Regent’s Canal?’

Tracy shook her head.

‘She told me that someone on her course had gone missing when I first went round to her flat for tea. She said that was really why she contacted me. She wanted a Plan B just in case anything happened to her. She wanted some assurance from me that I would look after Jackson. Oh God…’ Tracy hid her face in hands. ‘How terrible. Did she know then? Did she know that she would be taken like this?’

‘She phoned you on Thursday, on the day that the news about Emily Styles’ identity was released?’

‘Yes that’s right, in the evening. I was standing here watching the news with Steve. The identity of that young woman from the canal hadn’t come on the news at that time. It came on after I talked to her when I went back into the lounge – Danielle didn’t mention it at all. If she’d have known that it was her friend she would have told me.’

‘She must have seen the same news bulletin as you then, Tracy. Then the records show she phoned you back.’

Tracy shook her head. ‘I didn’t hear anything from her. I need to get my phone sorted. It hasn’t been working right since that thug threw it across the floor.’

‘We checked Danielle’s phone records. She phoned you here on your landline about twenty minutes after she’d spoken to you on your mobile. Did you check your messages on your landline?’

Tracy shook her head. ‘Steve told me the other day that the landline wasn’t working. I need to ring the company. She couldn’t get through, I suppose. Oh God, maybe I could have prevented this somehow?’

‘Tracy, don’t for one minute think anything like that. We are just piecing together everything we know about Danielle’s last known movements, that’s all.’ Jeanie gave Carter a look that told him to mind how he put things.

Tracy turned and watched Jackson playing with his toys on the floor by the telly. ‘Do you think he can help?’

‘I think so, but we need to do our best to keep things calm here. I will stay here with you,’ said Jeanie. ‘I’m going to be here for you and Jackson and I’ll continue our interviews with him and try to find out what he saw.’

‘It will be good for you to have you husband back here to help in the evenings,’ said Carter. ‘We’ll talk things through with him when he gets here. Tell him what he can do to help.’

‘I’d better phone him now.’

Tracy went into the kitchen, picked up her phone, and dialled Steve’s number. He answered at once.

‘What is it?’ She could hear the irritation in his voice already.

‘Sorry, love. Something’s happened. I just wondered whether you could come home now.’

‘What is it?’ Steve had that same disapproving tone in his voice that always made Tracy take a deep breath and talk slowly, precisely – wish she didn’t have to tell him anything.

‘Danielle has gone missing.’

‘Christ almighty… I knew she’d bring nothing but trouble. Where’s she gone? Run off to find herself? As long as she hasn’t dumped you with the kid… Tracy? She hasn’t, has she? For Christ’s sake, tell me she hasn’t?’

Tracy’s eyes were shut tight.

‘Please, Steve, it’s only for a while; just until things are cleared up. I had no choice. Jackson doesn’t have anyone else. It’s serious. The police are very concerned.’

‘Police?’

‘Yes. There was blood. Jackson was all alone overnight. She would never have left him like that. They are here now. They would like to explain things to you. I’ve been contacted – by the person who has Danielle.’

There was a silence on the other end of the phone. Tracy tried to keep her voice calm. She tried to make it sound like it was all going to be fine, even though she knew in her heart it wasn’t. ‘It’s all very difficult, Steve love. The police are going to tap my mobile. They don’t know what he wants yet. That’s why they need to brief you, talk to you. It won’t take long.’

‘Brief me? What do you want me to do about it? Christ almighty, Tracy. I knew she’d be nothing but trouble.’

‘It’s not Danielle’s fault.’

He sighed. ‘Okay, okay, but I’m not going to be part of it. I’ve got enough on my plate. I’ll find a hotel.’ Tracy didn’t answer straight away. Part of her was relieved not to have to deal with him as well as everything else.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Find a hotel and once you’ve booked in I’ll send along a case with your things in it, enough to last a few days. You can sit and watch football all evening. It won’t be so bad.’

‘I suppose.’

‘I’m sorry, love.’

He grunted something and hung up.

Tracy went back to see Jeanie sitting on the sofa with Jackson on her lap. She was reading him the Spot the Dog book. He looked very tired, thought Tracy as she saw him rub his face into Jeanie’s fleece. Carter had his keys in his hand. Jeanie looked at Tracy questioningly. Tracy shook her head, then smiled.

‘He’s going to stay in a hotel. He feels more comfortable with that.’

Jeanie nodded. ‘We’ll get some extra help for you for the evenings when I leave.’

Tracy shook her head. ‘We’ll be okay.’

‘Okay, you can change your mind whenever you like,’ said Carter. ‘The Technical Support Unit will set the phone surveillance up so you don’t need to worry about doing anything this end. I’ll leave this phone for you to ring family and friends on, use it for all your usual calls and ask people to call you on it instead. If he telephones you just keep him talking on the phone for as long as you can so we have a chance of tracing the call.’

‘What shall I say? I’m frightened to say the wrong thing.’

‘Ask for proof that he has Danielle. Ask to talk to her. Try and sound soft on the phone. Try and stay calm. The more upset you get the more he’s going to enjoy it. Let’s take some of the rules away from his control. I am pretty sure he’ll ring again. When he does, remember – stay calm. Deep breaths and be business-like.’ Tracy nodded but her eyes were panic-stricken.

Carter left and Tracy took Jackson in to lie down in the spare room on a bed that Jeanie had brought for him. Jeanie could hear her talking to him. It was her job as a Family Liaison Officer to be the bridge between the police force and the victim’s family. It was her role to offer support, to gain trust and to keep the family informed of the investigation. Most of all, she could gain information that might prove vital to the enquiry. Today she would spend the time gaining Tracy’s friendship. Jeanie looked about at Tracy’s possessions. The place was super-tidy and fussy. It was a woman’s choice of décor; a woman’s furnishings. That told her that Steve and Tracy had been together a long time and that he wasn’t the driving force in the relationship. The only evidence of him in the flat was the massive television set with an armchair facing it. Jeanie looked at the wedding photos on the walls. Tracy didn’t look much different now than she had done then. She just looked a little fuller in the face now. Steve had a handsome-looking face, an attractive smile – quite a catch. They looked an attractive couple. Jeanie looked around the rest of the lounge and was thinking how she couldn’t bear to live in this flat with its French-style white bric-a-brac and satin cushions everywhere. She wondered how long it would be before Jackson started wrecking everything. Christa would have already done it by now – gotten her grubby little hands all over the furnishings. Jackson was much more reserved. Jeanie reflected on her own life. Even before Christa, Jeanie would never have had a fussy flat. Looking around the lounge, it struck Jeanie that if she didn’t watch it, if she let her guard down, Pete would be straight in there with the French bric-a-brac. She smiled to herself. Dan and clutter – no way, thought Jeanie. Archie must have the most washed hands on the planet.

Tracy came back from settling Jackson down for a nap. She closed the bedroom door and stepped back out from the hall into the lounge.

‘Jackson’s so tired. Is it normal for him to want to sleep like this?’

Jeanie nodded. ‘He’s going into shut-down mode because he’s in shock.’

‘I’ll pack a bag for Steve while things are quiet.’

‘Okay, I’ll join you.’

Tracy led the way through to her bedroom. She pulled down a suitcase from the top of the wardrobe and unzipped it, started to fill it. Steve’s neatly ironed pyjamas went in first. Then T-shirts, then she took his shirts from the hangers in the wardrobe and zipped them into a suit bag. Jeanie was impressed by her methodical packing.

‘You been together a long time, Tracy?’

She stopped mid folding a T-shirt into the bag. ‘Seems like forever.’ She looked up and smiled. ‘In a nice way, of course.’ Jeanie smiled, waited. Tracy busied herself with repacking the case. ‘We’ve known each other since college. That’s what I mean.’

Jeanie watched Tracy as she smoothed out creases and folded into perfect neat squares. It struck her that Tracy would have a hard job maintaining her level of perfection with Jackson running around. For now, she was still clinging to her lifestyle and making him fit into it but it was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

‘You’ve done that before.’ Jeanie stood beside Tracy and looked into the perfectly packed suitcase.

‘One of the many jobs I’ve done in my life – worked in retail. You learn how to fold a shirt. It’s funny how you collect skills. But I don’t have a clue how to look after Jackson.’

‘You’re doing a good job, Tracy. No one gives you a rule book. You just learn along the way.’

‘That’s what Danielle said to me. There isn’t a right way of doing things.’

‘She’s right. Has Steve got any kids?’

‘God no.’

‘Not keen, huh?’ Jeanie smiled.

‘You know what? We’ve never really sat down and said, shall we?’

‘Did he know about Danielle?’

‘Yes – well he knew I had a baby but we didn’t talk about it much.’

‘What was it like when you gave her up? You were very young?’

‘I was fifteen.’ Tracy’s voice came out shrill. She took a breath, closed the suitcase and sat on the bed. ‘It was very difficult. I came from an ordinary family; I was one of two kids. My sister never did anything wrong.’ Tracy sat on the edge of the bed and tucked her hands beneath her thighs. Jeanie could see Tracy didn’t have a lot of practice when it came to talking about her past. Tracy looked up at Jeanie. Her eyes distant, sad. Gone was the super-efficient Tracy, in control. The fifteen-year-old, caught out and cracking up, sat before her on the edge of her girly white satin bed. ‘I was just unlucky, I guess. The first boy I felt deeply for and I ended up “up the spout”. I left it too late for an abortion; I had no idea what was happening to my body. My parents had never really told me much. I’d have done that if I’d had the choice – got rid of it – I mean, I was just a girl. I knew nothing about parenting. I lost so much schooling. My academic side just came to a standstill. I suppose… if I’d been really bright, really keen, I might have made it to uni but…’ She shrugged. ‘It wasn’t really talked about. It wasn’t on the cards.’

‘It must have been a difficult time.’

She didn’t look at Jeanie.

‘Devastating. My mum and dad were so upset. They couldn’t look me in the eyes after that.’ Tracy’s hands spread out along the satin bedspread as if she looked for comfort in its silky touch. ‘No more princess for me!’

‘They helped you in making the decision to give Danielle away?’

‘She wasn’t called that then. I named her Clare.’ Tracy flashed a look Jeanie’s way then smiled, embarrassed. ‘Yes they decided, with me, that I was too young. I couldn’t have coped. They decided it was best.’

‘Did you think it was?’

She shook her head. ‘I did at the time, or rather I didn’t know what to think.’

‘But you picked yourself up afterwards and went back to college?’

‘Yes, sort of – we papered over the cracks. We tried to behave like it never happened. I went to do a course in beauty therapy and I met Steve. He was doing a mechanics course. My parents were really anti him in the beginning but he was a friend more than anything else and I needed that.’

‘Is he still?’

‘What?’

‘A friend? The love of your life?’

Tracy gave a half smile but didn’t answer.

‘Marriage is hard work, isn’t it, Tracy?’

‘Yes. You need to do it when you’re young, that’s for sure. You compromise then, don’t you? You’re willing to bend an awful lot to accommodate someone. Too much, really. Then, before you know it you’ve lost yourself and you kind of hate them as much as love them.’ She turned her face away. ‘But you can’t imagine life without them, that’s the trouble. You get caught in a love trap.’

Jeanie could see Tracy’s reflection in the window, she could see that she was thinking hard what to say; her expression was a sad one.

‘Love loses something along the way, doesn’t it?’

Tracy shut the case and looked earnestly at Jeanie. ‘I certainly wouldn’t do it again.’ Jeanie smiled. They looked out at the street outside. ‘Is Jackson safe?’

‘Yes. I don’t think he’d come near Jackson here.’ Jeanie smiled. ‘You’re doing a good job, Tracy.’