The Doll's House

42

‘So what do we do now?’

Harwood was to the point as usual. Helen had informed her that Nathan had escaped his surveillance team, with predictable results.

‘Watch and wait,’ Helen replied evenly. ‘We’ve tagged the van, so if he comes back we’ll know and I’ve sent teams to his home, the job he’s currently on -’

‘And are we sure he’s worth all these resources? I’ve no doubt he’s a nasty piece of work, but he has no record to speak of -’

‘He’s the only face in the frame. He has a history of violence and an unhealthy interest in young women, and had access to both women’s flats. If we watch him, I think we’ll get results.’

Helen had soft-pedalled the possible connection between Ruby Sprackling and Pippa Briers until now, but with Nathan Price slipping off the radar, the need for extra resources had forced her to come clean with Harwood.

‘Possibly,’ Harwood replied without enthusiasm. ‘Two days max and I want to be kept up to speed, right?’

‘Of course,’ Helen countered, refusing to react to the implied criticism.

‘Was there something else?’

Harwood was clearly keen to get back to her paperwork and was both confused and mildly irritated that Helen showed no signs of leaving. Helen sized up the situation – it was far from ideal – then ploughed on nevertheless.

‘I’d like to take a POLSA team back to Carsholt beach.’

‘What on earth for? The beach has just been reopened to the public, we’ve got school holidays coming up. What could we possibly gain from sending a full search team down there?’

‘I’m worried about the interval between Ruby’s disappearance and Pippa’s,’ Helen continued quickly. ‘There could be a gap of four years or more between them and, well, that just doesn’t feel right.’

‘What doesn’t feel right?’ Harwood countered.

‘Both these girls share a look, they are vulnerable and lonely, both have vanished without a trace. Furthermore, they have both been kept “alive” through the use of texts, Twitter and the like. It looks like it’s the same perpetrator and if it is, then we can say that this guy is organized, determined and most of all driven. He’s looking for a certain kind of gratification that only these girls can provide and is clearly willing to go to great lengths and take great risks in order to get it. Stranger abduction of grown adults from the home is incredibly rare.’

‘So?’

‘So, do we believe he would abduct and murder Pippa, then wait another three to four years before trying again? The level of organization that goes into these abductions suggests to me a level of compulsion that is unlikely to come and go. All the studies show that these sorts of predator -’

‘Please don’t quote your courses at me. I know how well qualified you are in this territory,’ Harwood replied coolly.

‘I’m worried he may have targeted other girls -’

‘And do you have any proof of this?’

‘Not yet. But -’

‘Then, we’ll leave things as they are. I don’t want to alarm the public and until we know more about what we’re dealing with, we sit tight.’

Helen said nothing.

‘It does seem to be my day for saying no, doesn’t it,’ Harwood added breezily, ‘but you know what our budgets are like.’

Helen left shortly afterwards, with as much grace as she could muster. Was she being punished for her earlier outburst? For past crimes? Either way, Helen had the nasty feeling that they had just made a very bad decision and that their failure to act would cost more lives.