Miss No One by Mark Ayre (interesting books to read TXT) 📕

from Lucky Draw. They’re very much in the pocket of the bastards up there.”

DS Moore. Abbie recognised the name immediately as that of the man who had told Ndidi about Isabella's kidnap. Between him, Franks and Evans, they'd been watching over Ndidi, ensuring he knew what he was supposed to know when he was supposed to know it.

Except, if these three officers worked for Lucky Draw, why did they seem to be doing the work of Orion? Not only Isabella's kidnapper but a man who planned to rob the casino.

Had Orion Becker turned the police officers' heads with large sums of cash? Great news for him, if so, but a risky game for the corrupt cops to be playing, betraying their long time and dangerous paymasters.

Which led Abbie onto Christine’s primary objective: the other corrupt officer, Hammond, and his hundred grand. Had Christine discovered the reason for the DCI's payday?

"No," said Christine. "Come yesterday, I was despondent. My time was almost up; I was going home. I knew of a few corrupt officers, but they weren't going down. Nor was Davesh, and I had no idea why Lucky Draw had paid Hammond a hundred grand. I was desperate."

Abbie smiled. "So you threw a Hail Mary?"

Christine pointed a finger to Abbie: You got it.

"You broke into Davesh's dealership?"

"Not my finest hour," confessed Christine. "I knew whatever I found, evidence-wise, would be inadmissible, but I remained convinced the people refusing to investigate Davesh weren't turning a blind eye because they were corrupt, but because they believed Hammond over the insubstantial evidence I was showing them. Breaking in, I thought I could find something so incriminating that it would force my colleagues to take this crook seriously. I wanted to leave town knowing someone was going to get off their backside and investigate this vermin."

"And if you could find an indication of why Lucky Draw had paid Hammond into the bargain," said Abbie, "all the better. A two birds, one stone scenario."

"Exactly. Like I said, Davesh and Hammond were close. Maybe more than close. They might even have been best friends. It's hard to tell because they both played down the relationship. Especially Hammond. So, yes, I thought maybe Davesh would have some information which might reveal why Lucky Draw had paid Hammond 100k, but as you know, my Hail Mary couldn't have gone much worse."

"Because Davesh was dead when you arrived," said Abbie. "Then Orion's people showed."

"Yeah. Until then, I had no idea another party was involved. As I've probably shown, I didn't have much of an idea of anything."

With a sigh, Christine drank half her wine and pointed the remainder in Abbie's direction.

"As it turns out, I throw my Hail Mary too early. You've probably heard that most criminal cases that are going to be solved are solved with the first couple of days. After a 48 hour window, the case gets colder and colder—your chances of solving it lower and lower. Police work is a numbers game, as far as those at the top are concerned. Your experienced, less idealistic officers will try to palm off cases they've been unable to solve early to get the fresh ones. Idealistic idiots like me keep ploughing away even when the situation seems hopeless."

"But," said Abbie, "it isn't always hopeless."

"Right," said Christine. "Like I said, it's a numbers game. The odds are against you the older a case gets, but sometimes, when you least expect it, something will happen that causes a cold case to burn red hot. In my case, it wasn't finding Davesh dead or learning about Orion Becker, if that is who's in play here. It wasn't anything I found."

"It was Isabella's kidnap," said Abbie.

Somewhat enthusiastically, Christine nodded. It was the nod of someone who had finally fallen into tipsiness and was moving closer to drunk than sober.

"Suddenly, everyone's on red alert. Everyone wants to find Isabella. Then Ndidi comes in, half in a daze, half determined, and he goes straight to the station head, Superintendant Norris."

"And tells him," said Abbie, "that the kidnappers want to rob Lucky Draw."

"That's it," said Christine.

"And to keep Isabella safe, the police have to stay out of the way."

"That's what they demanded."

Raising an eyebrow, Abbie said, "What they demanded?"

"Yeah, they want to rob the place and make their getaway. Once they're free with the money, they'll release Isabella."

"But..."

"But Ndidi suggested something different. He doesn't want to keep the police away."

Christine leaned forward and lowered her voice, talking conspiratorially.

"Ndidi suggested a full-scale operation. He doesn't just want to save his daughter. He wants to catch the bastards who took her."

Twenty-Eight

Abbie wasn't sure she could have heard that right.

"Ndidi said that he wanted not only to save his daughter but also to capture the people who took her?"

"He said the kidnappers had told him to get the police to stay out of the way. This was a case of crooks robbing crooks, which the kidnappers thought should make it easier for the police to accept. But it's not that simple. Not everyone who works with or for Lucky Draw are criminals. For the higher-ups, it's not a question of morals but of PR. What if an innocent dies and the public discover the police knew about the heist and did nothing to prevent it?"

"So what was Ndidi's suggestion?" asked Abbie.

"Rather than ignore the raid completely, the police go but stay well out of sight. The heist is due to occur at night, so there shouldn't be any innocents in the building. If there is, and if they appear to be in danger, the police can move in. But all things being well, the heist would take place, and the kidnappers would get away with the money."

"Which night?" said Abbie, though she was sure she already knew.

"Tonight."

Abbie nodded for Christine to go on. She had other questions but was willing to let them lie for the moment.

"Once the heist is complete, the police would follow the kidnappers back to their base. They would confirm Isabella was there then move in. Reclaim the money, arrest the bad guys, save the child."

"And