‘Are you sure you’ve entered the right search parameters?I only want cargo vehicles that entered Southampton from Rotterdam on those three specific days?’
‘That’s them.I did say that it mi—’
He declined to finish his sentence, clocking the darkening expression on Charlie’s face.She’d been hoping for a breakthrough, revealing the human trafficker by a simple process of elimination.But the list of vehicles numbered north of fifty trucks, possibly as many as a hundred.Would they have to track them all down?Interrogate a hundred hauliers?On the face of it, there seemed little else theycoulddo, and DC Roberts’ pained expression said it all.
It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Chapter 47
Emilia marched swiftly down the corridor, determined to put as much distance between herself and her father as possible.She had never actively contemplated murder, but any more exposure to his toxic presence might persuade her to change the habit of a lifetime.She’d had enough of him, she’d had enough of Winchester prison and now she just wanted to be away.
Retrieving her various personal security items from the front desk, she shoved them deep into her handbag, only latterly becoming aware that the custody sergeant was grinning at her, as she gave him back her pass.
‘Will we be seeing you again?’he enquired, running an eye up and down her form.
‘Sadly not,’ Emilia replied, ignoring his leering.‘I’m done here.Others are not so lucky …’
For a moment, a frown creased his features, the prison officer seemingly uncertain as to whether she was referring to the inmates or to him.But then, shrugging off his concerns, he smiled sadly at her.
‘That’s a pity, because your old man has so few visitors.’
Emilia had already turned to go, but now paused, looking back at him.As she did so, her gaze settled on the well-thumbed visitors’ book that sat on the desk before him.It defied beliefthat the systems in this place were so old fashioned, but wasn’t that the criminal justice system all over?
Thinking on her feet, Emilia frowned, shaking her head as if annoyed with herself.
‘You wouldn’t believe it, but I’ve left my reading glasses in the visitors’ centre.My dad wanted me to read some legal docs to him and I must have put them down.’
Her companion was already crossing his beefy arms, shaking his head in mock disappointment.
‘You couldn’t be a love and send someone to get them, could you?I literally can’t function without them …’
She offered up her best impression of a ‘pretty please’ smile.It probably looked forced, but it seemed to do the trick.
‘Well, seeing as you asked so nicely …’
Smiling, he bustled off into the back room.Emilia didn’t hesitate.As soon as his back was turned, she started running her finger down the line of inmates’ names.She swiftly found her own visit today, then pressed on.Ernesto seemed to have had no other visitors, so she kept going, flicking through the pages, running fast down the long list of names.She found herself again, two days ago now, but still no sign of any other names.It was possible of course that the threats and ultimatums had been delivered to her father via other inmates, but the duty officer had clearly suggested that he had had at leastoneother visitor in recent weeks.Perhaps one of the thugs who stole the gold from her?
In the background, she could hear the duty officer’s voice, chortling at something he’d said, probably some sexist joke about her forgetfulness, but she kept her eyes glued to the page, scrolling down, down, down.And now she paused, suddenly breathless and excited.A week ago, her fatherhadhad a visitor.A man called Tommy Barnes.The timing would fit for sure.Was it possible that this visit was the prompt for her dad to contact her?
Heavy footsteps made Emilia look up.Her saviour was on his way back, presumably excited to deliver the news that no glasses had been discovered.She refused to give him the satisfaction, however, turning on her heel and hurrying towards the exit.She had come here expecting nothing but rage, anguish and recrimination.
But she was leaving with a name.
Chapter 48
She paced back and forwards, a dozen confused thoughts tumbling one over the other.Having walked out on Christopher, Helen had headed straight back to the sanctuary of her flat.Usually, the serene quiet of the place, the familiar surroundings, had a calming effect on her.But today it afforded her no such relief, hence why she now found herself pacing back and forth, cursing herself.
How had she not seen through Christopher’s lies?How had she allowed herself to fall into a relationship with a man who was neither committed nor honest?They had met infrequently, but always Helen now remembered mid-week, usually on a Wednesday night.Did that coincide with some regular commitment of his wife’s – a book group, a gym class?Or had he invented some engagement of his own to disguise his duplicity?Staff training?Mentoring?Something operational even?The very thought sickened her, the grubby, premeditated duplicity that had facilitated their liaisons.What had once appeared fun, spontaneous and exciting, now seemed sordid and soiled.
Angrily pushing aside thoughts of her faithless lover, Helen stalked across the room to her desk.There were many questions to be answered – what to do about the baby?Whether to sever contact with Christopher completely?Whether to tell anyoneelse about her predicament?– but they would have to wait.There were more pressing matters demanding her attention, now that she finally had a lead as to the whereabouts of Selima and her fellow workers.
Firing up her laptop, Helen seated herself at the kitchen table.There was only one way to further her quest for the mystery van and it would take her into murky waters, with potentially damaging consequences for herself and her old friend, but Helen could see no other practical way forward.Steeling herself, she pulled up the familiar portal, the Hampshire Police logo springing to life on her screen.Technically, she should have deleted this application from her computer, making good on a promise she’d made to Rebecca Holmes in the wake of her sudden departure from the Force.But she hadn’t and HR had not followed up on it, which meant she potentially still had access to the Police National Computer.
The problem of course was that her personal access had been rescinded, as she was now a civilian.Which is where Charlie came in.Her friend would go berserk if she got wind of what she was up to, but as Helen knew nobody else’s access details off by heart, this was the only way.Swallowing her misgivings, Helen typed in Charlie’s username and password, waiting while the screen buffered.If Charlie was already logged in, then Helen would be in trouble, denied access to the system, her digital trespass flagged.Happily, however, the screen now sprang into life, opening up its riches to her.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Helen started typing.Speed was of the essence now if she didn’t want to be detected.Hammering the keys, she fed in the transit van’s registration details, then punched ‘Enter’.It didn’t take long for the system to react, but the results were disappointing.The van was legally owned and had not been linked to any recorded crimes.It was clean.
Annoyed, Helen read on.The only notes of any interest pertaining to the van were to be found a little further on – three unpaid parking tickets accrued within the past nine months, all for the same location.Intrigued, Helen leaned in closer, drinking in the details.On three separate occasions, the van had been ticketed for parking across a hatched loading bay at South Hants hospital.More interestingly still, all the offences took place late at night – 11.05 p.m., 11.12 p.m.and 11.17 p.m.respectively.This was well after visiting hours, suggesting to Helen that the van’s presence there was work-related, especially given the haphazard nature of the parking.If the van was planning on lingering, they would presumably have parked properly.Parking illegally in a loading bay suggested a brief, temporary pitstop.Were they delivering something?Picking people up?Dropping them off?
