Dead of Winter

Chapter 51

Carter watched as Ebony did up her seat belt.

‘You okay, Ebb?’

‘Yes, Sarge. I feel okay. .’

He looked across at her as he pulled away from the parking space.

‘Spit it out, Ebb. What’s bugging you?’

‘Just that. . no one’s heard of Shannon before today; she was a nobody who ended up murdered. There was never going to be a Crimewatch story about a girl like Shannon disappearing. Kids run away all the time: normal kids even from good homes, from loving two-parent families. . Even they run away and are never seen again. What hope has someone like Shannon got and who cares? She’s just one more troubled kid from one more kids’ home.’

‘I understand what you’re saying, Ebb, and yeah. . you’re right. . a hundred and fifty thousand kids go missing every year in the UK. Some of them find their way home, some end up in snuff movies. It’s the society we live in; we accept it as normal but it shouldn’t be. Everyone failed Shannon. She was easy prey. But if this is personal with you and you want to talk to me about stuff. . you go ahead. I’ve been sounding off about Cabrina and the baby but I can listen too. . try me.’

‘I know you can. . thank you.’

‘If this is too difficult for you, Ebb. . you say. No one will think any less of you. This is your first case on the squad. There’ll be plenty more. If you’ve had enough, you say. I’ll take someone else to the kids’ home.’

‘I’m fine, Sarge. It’s not personal.’

They arrived at the home just before lunchtime. Mrs Warrell the manager greeted them.

‘So the kids catch the school bus from here.’ Carter let Ebony take over the questioning whilst he was busy looking at the place: the kids’ rooms had posters on the walls; he remembered the hassle it took to be allowed to put posters up when he was a boy. He had one of Chelsea football team and another of Pamela Anderson from Baywatch in her red bathing suit and with a sort of floating device in her hands. No one seriously ever looked at what was in her hands. Carter had shared the room with two of his brothers, one older, one younger. No privacy to admire Pamela. He had longed for his own room. Now these kids had privacy in this home but they didn’t have their family. Carter couldn’t imagine a world without family, so why was it so hard to think about starting one of his own? Maybe he just wasn’t ready. But would he ever be?

‘Here is where they do their homework.’ Mrs Warrell showed them around on each level. Ebony had gone quiet. She was looking at the locks on all the doors. . big locks everywhere. That was the bit she never minded. She liked being locked into her room, locked into the building. She knew she was safe.

‘How does any kid manage to run away from a place like this?’ Carter followed Ebony’s gaze to the locks.

‘It was the last day of the term. . Easter holidays. Shannon just didn’t get on the bus to come back here after school ended. We cannot be with the children twenty-four seven and we try and give them as normal a life as possible.’

‘Of course. . I can see that. Did Shannon have any hobbies? Did she support any football teams? Did you ever see her wearing an Arsenal top?’

Mrs Warrell shook her head. ‘I never saw her watch or play any sport really. She was a girly girl: a bit too much. We had to confiscate makeup. Her mother sexualized her way too young. . I expect you know.’

‘She had problems on the last home visit?’

‘Yes, her stepfather hit her. Her mother blamed Shannon, accused her of bringing it on herself — same old story really. We stopped all home visits and we were waiting on the court case when she disappeared.’

‘Did you see any problems leading up to Shannon’s disappearance?’

‘She hadn’t been the same since her stepfather assaulted her. She became withdrawn.’

‘Is there someone she confided in?’ asked Carter.

She shook her head. ‘She floated around at the edges of friendships but never really got close to people.’

‘What about the social worker assigned to Shannon? Can we speak to them?’

‘I’m sorry to say she was killed in a hit and run within days of Shannon disappearing. Someone just mowed her down near her home. The police never really came close to solving it. I guess that’s the problem with being so rural. There are no cameras, no CCTV.’

‘Did Shannon have access to outsiders?’ asked Carter.

‘What do you mean?’

‘She ended up dead in a house where there was a trafficked pregnant woman. She didn’t get there by accident. She was vulnerable, she was troubled.’

The care home manager was flustered and looked as though she suspected a hint of accusation in Carter’s tone. She replied curtly:

‘Shannon was a difficult child, Sergeant, who needed watching like a hawk — that’s why she was sent to a rural location. The only contact she had with the outside world was on organised outings.’

‘What kind of outings?’

‘To the zoo, the museum. We even took her to Thorpe Park as a treat paid for by our sponsors, the Chrissie Newton Foundation.’

On the drive back Ebony phoned Robbo. She had two missed calls from him.

‘I tried to reach you.’

‘Sorry. . there’s no signal out here. . We found out that there’s a connection to Martingale here. The Chrissie Newton Foundation sponsored trips for Shannon.’

‘I was just about to say that.’

‘Okay. . we’ll be back in a couple of hours.’

‘Okay, but if you’re looking for something to do on the way back I have Martingale’s home address if you want to ask him about Shannon Mannings? I checked at the hospital; he’s not due in today. The receptionist Ivy says he takes Mondays off.’

‘Okay, thanks. . text it to me and I’ll talk to Carter.’

She hung up and turned to Carter.

‘I have Martingale’s private address.’

‘Ahh?’ Carter looked interested.

‘But is it harassment, Sarge? Davidson’s keen for us to avoid upsetting Mr Martingale.’

‘Is it on the way?’

Ebony looked up the postcode on her phone.

‘I guess we could go back into London that way. It’s North London. . Hampstead. It could be on the way.’

‘No problem then. . it’s only polite to keep him informed. Let’s go and see what he can add to the story.’

‘Do you need me to put the sat nav from my phone on loud speaker?’

‘No I don’t. . Christ almighty, Ebb, you are gadget girl with that thing. Can it make us a cup of tea? You know, something I would really find useful? My dad was a cabbie. He read me the Knowledge instead of nursery rhymes. I know every road in and around London.’

‘Really, Sarge?’

‘No of course not bloody really.’ He smiled. ‘Keep it to hand, Ebb. If we get lost you can ask the oracle for directions.’ Ebony sat looking at it in her hand. Carter glanced across. ‘You don’t need to hold it; I’ll let you know if we get lost.’

‘It’s not that, Sarge. . It keeps turning on by itself.’ She looked across at Carter. He was alternating between looking at the road, at her face and then her phone.

‘What do you mean?’

‘It means someone could have put spyware on it.’

‘What would someone do that for? Hack your bank account?’

‘My bank texts me if any sum of money goes out of my account that’s more than a hundred quid. It can’t be that. Anyway, I don’t have any overdraft facility and I never have any money in the bank. It must be to do with the investigation.’

‘How does someone put spyware on your phone?’

She was still holding the phone in her hand and staring at it. ‘It would have to be loaded on manually. It can be done in a few seconds.’

‘At home then. . who do you live with?’

‘Tina from the canteen. Two other girls, one’s a nurse, the other’s a teaching assistant. I’ve never had trouble before. It doesn’t seem likely they would start it now. Tina would need to go on a course to be able to do it and she wouldn’t bother anyway. The others? Just can’t see it.’

‘Did you take that phone up to Carmichael’s?’

‘Yes. But I never left it anywhere for a minute. I made sure of it.’

‘You sure?’

‘The only time I didn’t have it on me was when I was helping him sew up his dog after a fox tried to tear it apart.’ She looked across at Carter. ‘He wouldn’t do it then?’

‘Take the battery out and the SIM card. Use my phone; ring Robbo back now — he’ll know what to do.’

Carmichael was still reading through the latest from Micky whilst tracking Ebony when he lost the GPS signal, but he already knew that she was in the car with DS Carter and they were driving away from the children’s home where Shannon Mannings had gone missing at Easter seven months earlier.

Carmichael had known it couldn’t last for ever. He’d known that at some point he was going to be shut down. He’d already downloaded all the case files and much more. But now he knew he was on his own.