Faraday 02 Network Virus (10 page)

“
Do you have a contact address for him when he’s in the UK?”

“
Yes. The regiment gave me his mother’s address. She lives not far from here in Dartington - a Mrs Grace Fisher, widowed. The address is on the computer.”

“
Does she possess a red Ford Mondeo?”

“
Yes, ma’am.” He gave the registration number. “Full details are on the computer.”

“
OK. I’d better go and visit her as soon as I can,” She turned to DC Howell. “Now Bobbie, you had the less pleasant task of wading through Marion Bostock’s rubbish bin.”

Bobbie Howell held up a large clear evidence bag. “Mrs Bostock has confirmed this is the bra she threw out. The straps are damaged, just as she claimed.”

“
Right. Get that sent to forensics in Exeter. I doubt they’ll find anything there to connect it with the suspect but at least it’s evidence of the violence of the attack.”

Paulson chimed in. “Is that going to be enough for us to get the army to send the man back to face charges?”

“
I don’t know, Stafford. Let’s see what his mother has to say first.” She nodded. “But I agree with you that I can’t see the CPS being prepared to take action without a lot more evidence and we can’t ask the army to release him without the CPS go-ahead.”

“
I reckon she was asking for it anyway.” Greg Mallinson paused as all eyes turned on him.

“
What do you mean?” asked Paulson.

“
Have you ever been in the Red Garter? Last time I was in there this Marion woman was working behind the bar and wearing a very revealing dress. Her boobs were virtually falling out, the neckline was so low.”

Charlotte’s eyes glittered. “Were you shocked, Greg?”

“
Yes, well.” He faltered. “If you dress like that what can you expect?”

“
I would think,” said Charlotte acidly, “that such clothing is worn for the titillation of the customers, not as an invitation to rape. We’re not in the Stone Age any longer - at least, most of us aren’t.”

There was a moment’s pause as Greg tried and failed to think of a suitable response.

“
I think that’s all we can say about the rape at present,” continued Faraday. “Let’s go on to Joanne de Billiere.”

“
OK.” Paulson took a breath. “I went to see the coastguard again yesterday and he told me he remembers finding a cigarette end lodged between the slats of the duckboards on the afterdeck. The thing is that the cigarette was a very unusual brand - a Gauloises Bleu, which is a very strong-smelling brand traditionally smoked by French workers. I haven’t yet established whether Joanne smoked, but I think it unlikely that she would smoke Gauloises Bleu.”

“
Is this important?” asked John.

“
It could be. I spoke to Jimmy Tate who is a security guard at the marina and who looks after the Billiere cruiser. He says he cleans the decks every Monday and is confident the fag-end wouldn’t have been there two days before Joanne died. He also says that she was careful about keeping the boat clean. So there’s a possibility (I can’t put it any stronger) that there was a man who smokes Gauloises on the boat with her when she fell off and drowned.”

“
So we’ve got to find a bloke who smokes Gauloises,” said Greg. “What hope is there of that?”

“
It’s not going to be easy. Jimmy Tate says he doesn’t remember seeing anybody in the marina smoking them but he’s going to keep a more careful check in future.”

“
What about tobacconists who stock Gauloises?” That was John. “It’s an unusual brand, so they may have noticed customers who buy them.”

“
Sounds like a job for you John, now you’ve become so proficient on the computer,” said Caroline.

“
All right. I’d like to do that.”

Paulson continued, “The other slightly odd thing is that de Billiere’s cruiser left the marina some time the night before last or the following morning and hasn’t returned yet. I checked on my way in.”

“
Would de Billiere have taken it out?”

“
Not according to Jimmy Tate. He says the man always rings him to get it ready before he comes down from London. I tried to ring de Billiere yesterday afternoon to check whether he was using the boat and also about whether Joanne smoked and what brand, but his secretary said he was in a meeting.”

“
Sounds as if it’s unlikely to be him,” said Charlotte. “Are there any other key-holders?”

“
Jimmy Tate thinks he’s the only one locally.”

“
I presume you’ll have another go at contacting Billiere this morning. OK, you check the tobacconists, John, and we’ll wait for further information.” Charlotte paused briefly. “Now we come to the most urgent case - the disappearance of Tracey Bostock. At the moment we have very little information on this one. I rang her mum this morning and she’s heard nothing from the girl overnight - or anyone else for that matter.”

“
Is the mother the same woman who was raped?” asked Paulson.

“
Yes, it’s a very unfortunate coincidence. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of connection between the two cases except Marion Bostock, of course.”

“
So what do we do next - inform the media, put up posters in likely locations, organise house-to-house questioning?”

“
I’d like
you
to do that, Stafford. Greg and John can help you and I think we can call on the resources of uniform branch and possibly get some people allocated from Exeter. But I have a few channels I want to explore. The sooner we can crack this, the better for us all.”

“
What channels are you going to try?”

“
I’m going to the school first thing this morning to have an informal chat with her friends. I’ll take Bobbie with me.” She checked her watch. “We’ll leave about nine. When I spoke to the head just now he suggested the best time would be when Tracey’s class returns to the classroom from school assembly at about 9-30 to 9-45. He said he would be there and so will the form teacher - a Mrs Ellis.”

“
Do you think it’ll do any good?”

“
I think it’s our best hope. Torbay is a big area. We don’t know where to start looking. If we can get as many of her contact names and places as possible and put them on the computer, it should produce some connections which we can follow up. Tracey seems to be a quiet, well-behaved girl - not the sort of person who would have doubtful contacts behind the scenes.”

“
I bet I know who’s got her.”

“
What do you mean, Greg?”

“
Well.” He looked a bit sheepish. “I haven’t got any actual evidence yet, but I reckon it’s likely to be this pervert guy I had to go and see on Monday. I reckon if we had him in and leaned on him a bit heavy we could soon get a confession out of him.”

Charlotte looked at Paulson. “I haven’t heard about this.”

“
Oh, it’s routine stuff.” Stafford shrugged. “We were notified last week that some bloke - I’ve forgotten his name -.”

“
Sidney Pullman.”

“
That’s right. We had notification from the Home Office that Sidney Pullman had been released from Calstock Open Prison early on grounds of good behaviour and was coming to live with his divorced sister in Torquay. I sent Greg round to explain to him what he was required to do, now that he’s on the Sex Offenders Register.”

“
What was the man’s crime?”

“
Caught trying to have sex with an under-age girl in Manila,” said Greg. “He pleaded guilty and co-operated with the Philippine police in getting her pimp arrested, so he had his sentence reduced and was returned to the UK to serve most of it. The thing is he lives less than half a mile from where this girl was abducted.”

“
How long has he lived in Torquay?”

“
Got here last Friday.”

Charlotte shook her head. “He’s hardly been here long enough to find his way round.”

Greg scowled. “You know what these perverts are like. They’ve always got contacts where they can get together and practise their revolting behaviour.”

“
I presume you warned him of the consequences of getting caught again carrying out a similar offence.”

“
Oh, I did that all right. I put the fear of God up him, I can tell you.”

“
Yes,” She looked at him carefully, wondering just what he’d said to the man. “Well, I can’t believe he would be so foolish as to start again so soon after he’d had the pleasure of a visit from you, Greg. However, we must leave no stone unturned. Perhaps, Stafford, you’d go round and have an informal talk with him and his sister and take Greg with you.”

“
OK. We’ll do that as soon as we’ve got the other things arranged.”

“
Right. We’d better get started. I’ll leave you to get the search organised, Stafford. Meanwhile Bobbie and I will be off to the school and afterwards I’ll go and call on the mother of this army officer.” She stood up. “See you later.”

The meeting broke up.

- 12 -

Charlotte had been thinking about her approach to the children in Tracey’s class on her way to the school.

“
What I’d like to do is talk to the kids in a relaxed, informal setting,” she explained to the headmaster as they met in his office in the former manor house which he explained was known as the Old Building. “I want them to feel they can say anything they like without fear of being told off. Is there anywhere we can do that?”

He thought for a minute. “I suppose the library is the best place. Sixth formers use it for personal study time but they can find somewhere else for an hour or so.”

“
That would be very helpful.”

“
It’s a pleasure for you, Chief Inspector.” He was obviously a bit of a charmer. “The library is just downstairs. I’ll take you there first and you can organise an area where you can talk while I go and collect the youngsters.”

They went down to the pleasant old room on the ground floor. Charlotte appreciated the open shuttered windows and the peninsulas of bookshelves which cut up the room into quiet private areas. The head introduced her to the librarian.

“
This is Miss Hambrough. She also teaches English in the Upper School.”

The lady rose and shook hands with Charlotte and Bobbie. “I’m just leaving, Headmaster. I have a lesson with the sixth form English group,” and she departed with a bundle of books under her arm.

“
Well, Chief Inspector, make yourselves at home. I’ll go and collect the children. Do you want the whole class?”

“
How many are there?”

“
There will be about thirty.”

“
Let’s do it in two halves,” decided Charlotte. “Oh, and can you include Nina Makepeace in the first group plus any of the kids who think of themselves as Tracey’s particular friends.”

He winked. “I think we can arrange that.” He departed.

Charlotte chose the large space at the end of the room where she thought they could have an easy, relaxed atmosphere in which the children would be encouraged to talk. Before the first fifteen youngsters arrived the two policewomen arranged a circle of chairs so that everyone would feel equal.

Charlotte instructed Bobbie, “You can sit a little behind me. I want you to note down as many names and places as you can from what they say.”

“
Yes, ma’am.”

“
We’ll put away the recording mobiles. Kids are sharp. They’ll soon catch on that they’re being recorded and we may not be able to get them to open up if they suspect us of taking advantage of them.”

A few minutes later the youngsters filed in and Charlotte introduced herself and her assistant to them. There was a buzz of excitement as they took their seats.

“
I’m sure you all know why we’re here,” she began. “Tracey Bostock has gone missing and we have started a search for her. But to point the searchers in the right direction, we want to find out as much as we can about her - who she knew, where she went, what and who she liked and also what she didn’t like. So I want you all to rack your brains and see if you can come up with some useful information. We’ll start with you, Nina, since we already had a short chat last evening. Are you all right with that?”

“
Yes, miss.”

“
By the way, we’ll be informal during this session. I’m Charlotte and this is Bobbie.” She indicated DC Howell. “Now, Nina, I expect you’ve been thinking a lot since we last talked. You told me then that you hadn’t seen Tracey since Wednesday afternoon as you left school. What time was that?”

“
About quarter to five.”

“
And she left to go straight home. She was alone?”

“
Yes, miss - er - Charlotte.”

“
We know she got home and was there all night. Did anyone see her after she left Nina?”

There was a chorus of “No’s” and shaking of heads.

“
The last person to see her was her mum at about 7a.m. on Thursday - that’s yesterday morning. She was just getting out of bed at that time. We presume she had her breakfast and left for school at her normal time of about a quarter to nine. Did anybody see her yesterday morning?”

They all agreed that they hadn’t.

“
What about the phone? Did anybody ring her or receive a call from her?”

Nobody had.

“
Tracey doesn’t have a mobile, but I expect a lot of you have. What about you, Nina?”

“
Yes, Charlotte. I’ve got one.”

“
We’re not allowed to bring them to school, Charlotte,” volunteered one lad.

“
I see. How do you contact Tracey when you’re not meeting her in school, Nina?”