Deadly Lies by Ann Girdharry (read me a book .TXT) 📕

He was snoring and she leaned over him, undecided, scratching at her palms. With all her willpower she tried to make herself reach out and hook a finger into his pocket only she couldn’t make herself do it. It was too risky. For one thing, he’d got a temper and for another, she was terrified of losing her supply of powder. Dependency did that to you. He was the one with the money and the drugs which meant he’d got a hold over her.

She stuffed the rubbish into the bin. If they pulled this thing off he promised her freedom and enough cash to call her own shots. Maria shuffled to the double bed crammed into the room next door. She scrunched the duvet to her chest and rocked herself to calm the jitters. Closing her eyes, she dreamed of a better life.

Emily was cradling Lisa’s head in her lap. The room was dark with a crack of light coming under the door. Lisa was afraid of the man in the mask, and the dark, which meant Emily’s little sister had cried herself to sleep. They were hungry and all they had was a bottle of water. Emily had been terrified the man would hear Lisa crying and come. He didn’t like crying. It made him shout. It made him angry. Lisa must have understood too because she’d tried her best to keep it muffled.

A chain tied them to the bunk bed and the metal cuff around Emily’s wrist was making a red mark although it wasn’t as bad as the mark on her other arm. The man had cut her with the knife he’d stabbed teddy with. He’d done it when she’d tried to pull away from him at Granddad’s house.

Emily wished now she’d screamed for help only she’d been too scared. Her voice had shut down. She’d obeyed him when he told her not to make any noise or otherwise he’d hurt Lisa. Why had she done that? Had she been silly? How she wished she’d screamed and screamed and then Grandma and Granddad would have come sooner.

Dropping Lisa’s hair band out of the car window had been a big risk. Emily had done it when the car slowed down and the man seemed distracted. She hoped Mummy and Daddy would find it.

The room was bare except the bed, the water bottle and a bucket. She and Lisa realised around the same time what the bucket was for and they hadn’t wanted to talk about it. When Lisa used it, Emily had tried to turn away.

What Emily liked was the window. It was high up and too high for her to get to because of the chain, but she could see the sky. It was getting all twinkly with stars. She knew it was the same stars she saw from home because she could make out the shape of one she recognised – Orion it was called. She’d learned it from her stars book.

The idea of home made her feel wobbly. No, she told herself, you must be strong for Lisa. Mummy and Daddy would find them. Mummy would come. They just had to be brave and wait.

Emily pushed up her sleeve. Although it had stopped bleeding, the cut hurt and her forearm was puffier than the other one. She mustn’t cry and when Lisa woke up Lisa mustn’t see it or the sight of it would scare her even more.

17

When forensics contacted Grant to say the blood belonged to Emily, Grant felt sick. He was glad he’d not had time to eat.

He spent the night at his desk scanning the information coming in – financial and phone records and background information. He could not afford to make mistakes. He read every docket and scanned every entry so far on the HOLMES2 database.

Grant interviewed the three men on Jack’s list and all of them told him the same story – Hardman Construction was a competitor, and Jack Glover led the company in a different way than his father-in-law, Ronnie Hardman. Jack’s adversaries didn’t like the way Jack conducted himself. Yet all three expressed their condolences at Ronnie’s passing away and their disbelief and horror over the abduction of Emily and Lisa.

Why had Jack put these men forward? With sound reputations, decent incomes and stable families, none of them were candidates to organise the kidnapping of two small children. What was Jack Glover playing at? Was he deliberately sending Grant down a blind alley?

Grant took a catnap at his desk midway through the night. It left him with a sore neck. At five o’clock in the morning, he took a fresh shirt from his emergency stock. As he buttoned it, he grimly noted the time. They had passed the twenty-four-hour marker.

True to form, Delaney arrived early and Grant was ready and waiting.

‘I want you to sit in on the interviews with Philip and Harry Hardman,’ Grant said. ‘I’ve asked them to be here for six.’ Grant rolled his neck.

‘Okay, boss.’

Delaney sounded nervous. It reminded Grant how anxious he’d been, back in the day, when his senior officer asked him to step up during high profile cases. It was the best way to learn. He patted Delaney on the shoulder.

‘Don’t stress. You know the drill and you know the case and the family. If something comes to mind, ask it. We’ll start with Philip.’

Philip Hardman and his son, Harry, arrived soon after. Grant cautioned them and explained he was conducting informal interviews.

‘We’re not under arrest then?’ Philip Hardman said, smiling broadly at his own joke.

‘Dad, stop messing around. Not with little Emily and Lisa missing,’ Harry said.

‘If you wouldn’t mind waiting here, sir,’ Grant said to Harry. ‘We’ll speak to you after your father.’

Philip Hardman resembled Ronnie, though he was a slighter build. His jacket was faded at the elbows and his shoes were scuffed. Ronnie’s brother was clearly used to being