Cold as Ice

Chapter 35

Carter met Ebony outside his house.

‘I would have stayed longer but I think he needs a change,’ she said.

Carter shook his head with mock disapproval. ‘I showed you how to do it.’

‘Yeah, but I know how fussy you are about things. I couldn’t risk getting it wrong.’

Archie woke up and grinned sleepily at his dad.

‘Hello, little man – handsome little devil.’ He turned to Ebony. ‘Hope you got a lot of compliments.’

‘Yeah – I did. They all thought he was the spitting image of me.’

Carter shook his head in disbelief.

He turned his key in the front door and then came back for the buggy. He unstrapped Archie and handed him to Ebony to hold as he folded the buggy and in one move lifted it and took it inside the house. He stacked it in a purpose-built cupboard behind the front door. She followed him into the house, trying not to look like she was holding Archie at arm’s length even though she was – he smelt. Archie was wriggling to see his dad. Carter took him from her and went to change him. He brought him back in a new stripy suit and held him on one hip as he called Ebony into the kitchen.

‘Come and talk to me while I get him some food.’ He put Archie into his high chair whilst he began banging about in the kitchen. ‘Tell me, what did you find out?’

‘Emily Styles was known to the group I’ve enrolled in.’

‘She and Danielle Foster were both at the college – we know that,’ Carter said as he searched for Archie’s bowl in the dishwasher. ‘Robbo said that they crossed over in a couple of their subjects.’

‘It’s a friendly group,’ said Ebony as she perched on a kitchen stool and played with Archie who was getting impatient for food and banging his hand on the table of the high chair. ‘They do a fair bit of socializing. I think it will be easy to get inside it. I have a couple of numbers; the women seemed really friendly. I’ll be meeting one of them tomorrow – she’s going to help me prepare for the course, catch up.’

‘Any men on the course?’

‘There’s one I’ve met so far – another single parent, Christian Goddard. He seems to be everyone’s answer to Brad Pitt, has the pick of the women. He’s a good-looking, natural dad type. He told me to look him up on Facebook. I think he probably scores with most of the new women. Robbo’s still working on a Facebook profile for me now. I don’t want to risk getting it wrong.’

‘Yep. No problem. Robbo left some stuff here for you. Plus he wants me to take some photos of you and Archie.’ He stopped stirring Archie’s food for a moment, went into the lounge and came back with a buggy. ‘You take this buggy – it’s an older version of Archie’s. And we got you a realistic doll.’ Carter unwrapped the doll and held it in his arms as if he were burping it. ‘It’s one of those realistic feeding, pooping ones that they give to teenagers to put them off having kids.’

‘Actually that’s not bad.’ She smiled. It was a mixed-race doll with black hair. ‘As long as no one wants to talk to it.’

‘You’re just going to have the best behaved but permanently wrapped-up baby there is.’

She looked across at Carter, who had put the doll on the worktop. ‘How’s Tracy coping? What’s happening with the investigation?’

‘We confirmed that it’s Danielle’s voice in the background when Hawk called Tracy. The phone call came from a mile radius of Tracy’s house. We can’t narrow it down any further. The phone is a pay-as-you-go mobile, bought in Swindon. We’re talking to colleagues down there just in case they’ve had missing women who might fit the bill. We might get lucky. They might have a suspect for us.’

‘What’s that you’re feeding Archie?’ Ebony screwed up her face. ‘Looks like puke.’

‘Sweet potato, sweetcorn and cod. I freeze it in batches. He loves it.’

‘Yuck.’

‘Ebb – you okay with this UC work?’

‘I think so, Guv.’

‘We’ll be with you every step of the way.’ She nodded. ‘And you have good friends on The Dark Side. You know that don’t you, Ebb? We care for you.’ She looked puzzled. ‘Not just Tina. I care. You know that?’ She nodded. She wasn’t sure where that came from.

‘Has Tina got a tattoo?’ Ebony was used to Carter’s random thought process.

‘You thinking about the Norse saying, the one on Emily Styles?’ He nodded.

‘Tina’s always threatening to get one but then she remembers there’s pain involved. She’s a big pussy when it comes to pain.’

‘What would she have – a shamrock?’

Ebony laughed. ‘How did you guess? She was talking about a four-leaf clover.’

Carter laughed. ‘Better put it on her bum, might bring her luck – she might get laid.’

‘Oy! Don’t be mean.’ Ebony looked away and was trying not to smile. ‘Besides, Tina is never short of male attention in the canteen.’

‘Yeah, that’s because men are greedy bastards and she’s dishing out the food. Ah, she’s a lovely girl, so she is.’ Carter tried an Irish accent. ‘I know I couldn’t manage if Tina didn’t help me out looking after Archie sometimes.’

‘She adores Archie,’ said Ebony. ‘She goes on about him when she’s been with him. She’s always disappointed if he doesn’t wake up.’

‘You and Tina are like chalk and cheese. You’re great friends though, aren’t you?’

‘Yes. It’s funny how it just works.’

‘I reckon she mothers you.’

‘Yeah, she tries. She has an inbuilt maternal mechanism she can’t switch off. I don’t mind – most of the time. The rest of the time I pretend I haven’t heard it when she tells me to remember my hat and scarf as I’m going out the door – it’s a bit annoying.’

He sighed as he finished washing up Archie’s tea things and went across to the high chair to wipe Archie’s face with a wet flannel. Archie was instantly furious.

‘Who’d have thought this time last year that things would have so changed for me, Ebb?’ He ruffled Archie’s hair.

‘Cabrina would have been a fool not to come back to you, Guv. You so missed her. You drove me mad talking about her all the time.’

He chuckled, embarrassed. ‘It took a lot though, didn’t it, Ebb? I put it down to her being pregnant at the time: hormones and shit. Now we have Archie and Cabrina is back and everything’s changed.’ He swivelled on his heels and looked around the kitchen that had been transformed from a bachelor’s pad to a baby’s nursery. ‘To think I worked so hard to get all this?’ Carter kissed Archie’s head. ‘Don’t mean it, do I, little man? I wouldn’t change this for the world. Now I just have my poor dad to worry about. Poor bugger, I can see how scared he is. He starts another round of chemo this week. It’s going to be a difficult Christmas, him watching us eat. But if we don’t go it will be worse. But… if it is to be his last Christmas I intend to make it a good one. What are you doing? Are you going to see your mother?’

‘They don’t allow visitors on Christmas Day. I’ll see her in the week after.’

‘Would you go if you could?’

Ebony looked down at her lap; she had clenched hands without realizing as soon as he began asking about her mother. ‘I would go because I’d feel it was my duty but I wouldn’t want to.’

‘So you’ll be spending Christmas here?’

‘Yes.’ She breathed out; her hands relaxed; she lifted her head again and smiled across at Carter. ‘With Tina and her brother Dermot who’s coming over. He’s supposed to be a really wealthy, self-made millionaire car dealer, but for some reason he wants her to buy his ticket over. That doesn’t seem right to me, but…’ She shrugged. ‘It’s not my business. I’m really looking forward to it anyway. Does Cabrina mind going to your family for Christmas?’ She looked across at his profile. He shrugged.

‘She’s happy not to have to do anything. Working full-time and doing the lion’s share of looking after Archie is really hard on her but what can I do? I can’t help my hours. I can’t ever be a nine-to-five and week-ends-off type of guy. Now that I’m an inspector there’s more pressure than ever.’

‘She knows what you are. She accepted it when she came back to you.’

‘Yeah – you’re right’ He winked at Ebony. ‘I am ninety-nine per cent perfect – got to make allowances for the one per cent.’ She laughed, rolled her eyes. ‘Ebb – how is the flat they got you?’

‘I haven’t been there yet. I’ll go there in a minute. It doesn’t matter what it’s like. Hopefully it’ll be warm. But I’ll manage whatever.’

‘Of course. You won’t be in there for long. But, just in case, I dug these out for you and Jeanie contributed.’ Carter handed her a sleeping bag. ‘And a ground mat for putting on the floor. This will do for tonight. Buy what you need tomorrow and expenses will cover it.’ She nodded. ‘The buggy is to have a camera and microphone attached. Here…’ Carter opened a packet and pulled out a toy puppy. ‘The camera’s hidden inside along with a microphone. You need to leave this attached to the rain cover at the top of the buggy and have it pointing forwards; leave the microphone on at all times. When you don’t have the buggy with you, you can clip this camera to your bag or your coat. You have your GPS?’

‘Yeah.’ She touched the pendant around her neck. ‘Robbo had the guys in PTU make me this piece.’ She held it up to show him the Tiger’s eye stone set in onyx.

Carter studied it for a few seconds.

‘That’s really clever. Is it a transmitter?’

‘Yes. But not the only one. I have one in my shoe, one on the phone. I have a radio in there but basically you’re going to hear whatever I say from almost every angle.’

‘Good. Here’s a mobile phone Robbo asked me to give you to use undercover – give out this number.’ He handed her a phone.

She looked at it. Her eyes lit up. ‘Can I keep it afterwards?’

‘No. You can’t. Get yourself a smartphone for Christmas, Ebb. Give out this number and we’ll monitor it. Get in with Danielle’s peer group as fast as you can now and let’s get this man out into the open. Get across to the flat. Take this laptop from work – Robbo’s waiting on the other end. I want you to keep in constant contact with me if you can but at least phone in to me at frequent intervals during the day. The flat’s going to be a safe place to phone from. Now, you ready?’ He handed Archie to her and took out his phone to take some photos. ‘Smile.’