Siege

Forty-seven

ARLEY TOOK A deep breath. She was taking an immense risk confiding in someone like Tina Boyd, a woman for whom the term ‘loose cannon’ might as well have been invented; but she knew too that she was running extremely short on alternatives. ‘I’m in real trouble,’ she whispered into the phone, keeping one eye on the incident room, twenty yards away, ‘and I don’t know where else to turn.’

‘What is it?’

There was no sarcasm in Tina’s voice, even though she and Arley hadn’t spoken for a long time. Just genuine interest.

So Arley told her everything that had happened, keeping it as brief and businesslike as possible.

‘Jesus,’ said Tina when she’d finished. ‘You’ve got to tell your superiors. You can’t deal with something like this on your own.’

‘I can’t, Tina. The government will sacrifice my family if they have to. They won’t let their safety stand in the way of an assault on the hotel.’

‘But why are you calling me?’

‘I want you to find them. I want you to find my husband and children. I know it’s a long shot—’

‘It’s more than a long shot, Arley. It’s a physical impossibility. I’m one woman. One woman who no longer has a warrant card or access to any police resources.’

‘I’ve got access to resources.’ Arley could hear the desperation in her own voice. ‘I’ll give you every assistance I can.’

‘We haven’t spoken for nearly a year.’

‘I know we haven’t. And I know I should have helped you over that Philippines thing. But you’re a bloody good detective, Tina. One of the best I’ve ever come across. And you get things done. Where are you now?’

‘I’m at home.’

‘That’s near Ridge, isn’t it?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Well, that’s only twenty minutes away from me. I’m in Mill Hill.’

‘I know where you are. You could have called, or visited, or something, couldn’t you? In an unofficial capacity, so that it wouldn’t have affected your career.’

‘I’m sorry. I truly am.’ Arley looked towards the incident room door, knowing she was going to have to go back soon. ‘But they have my family. Can you imagine what that must feel like?’

‘I still don’t see what I can do.’

‘I know I’m putting you on the spot, Tina. I know I’m asking you to risk everything. But I’m completely trapped here, and you’re the only person I could think of to ask. The only one I know who might just be able to find them.’

There was a silence at the other end.

Arley waited, not knowing what else she could say.

‘When did you last have contact with them?’ Tina asked eventually.

‘This morning. I left the house at seven thirty. They were all there then.’

‘Nothing suspicious? No unfamiliar vehicles? Anything like that?’

Arley wrenched her mind back to earlier that morning. ‘No. Nothing.’

Tina was silent again. ‘I’ll go over there. But listen, Arley. I would think really carefully about telling your bosses about this because the chances are I’ll turn up nothing. You have to understand that.’

‘I do. Just please, please, do what you can. And call me, will you? As soon as you find out anything at all.’

Arley ended the call, dabbed the corners of her eyes with her sleeves, pulled some more cold air through her nose into her lungs, and turned back towards the incident room.