Behind Dead Eyes (DC Ian Bradshaw #2) - Howard Linskey Page 0,118
they could see without being seen. The burger bar was dead, as you would expect for a Tuesday evening.
Occasionally a driver would pull up outside the cab office and go inside and once in a while someone went into the off-licence. Racially, they were a mixed bag, with white men and Asians who looked like they had been born locally mixing with other men who, judging by their appearance, may have been from Eastern Europe or a Mediterranean country. They had all adopted the same uniform of T-shirts, jeans and leather jackets or raincoats, which were mostly black. It was hard to tell a criminal from a normal person when everyone likes to dress like a gangster. They all wanted to look like a face – even the ones who were just popping out for a packet of cigarettes.
There were no signs of any young girls though.
‘It’s too early,’ Tom said, ‘let’s go.’
When they parked again it was within sight of Meadowlands, which was barely visible in the gloom. The building was lit by the single large light above its door. Whatever was going on inside was disguised by the thick window blinds. They settled down to wait.
Eventually the door swung open and a young girl emerged. Tom glanced at his watch. ‘Ten thirty,’ he said, ‘so much for a curfew,’ and they both watched her walk towards them. Tom had parked on the opposite side of the road under a broken streetlamp and he was pretty sure the girl would not notice his car among the row of others parked outside the houses. Sure enough she walked by without a glance in their direction, heading towards the cab rank.
‘What was her name again?’ he asked Helen.
‘Debbie,’ she said, ‘the one who told us to leave her alone, “for fuck’s sake”.’
‘You know if a beat bobby stops us we are going to have a lot of explaining to do,’ he told her.
‘I told you, I am not doing this on my own,’ Helen said. ‘It’s either this way, together, or not at all.’
‘Okay, I hear you,’ he said.
‘Anyhow, have you seen a single police officer?’
‘No,’ he admitted.
‘Exactly. I reckon this place is protected,’ she said.
‘You mean someone’s paying someone to—’
‘Turn a blind eye? Yes,’ Helen said, ‘but I don’t know how you keep every police officer in town away from a place like the taxi rank.’
‘Aside from the fact that no one seems to give a damn, that’s easier than you might think. The boys in blue can be ordered to stay away from certain locations to avoid prejudicing ongoing enquiries by undercover detectives,’ Tom explained, ‘or a politician can ask a senior policeman to go easy on vulnerable children to avoid a public scandal. Neither party wants to see the crime figures soar because of a raft of arrests of minors on drugs or prostitution charges.’
‘What a bloody world we live in,’ she said, ‘when people put crime stats as their top priority instead of arresting men who use vulnerable children.’
‘That’s how careers are made.’ Tom tensed then. ‘Here she comes.’ They watched Callie exit the care home and head unhurriedly along the path towards town.
Tom waited till she went round a corner then started the car’s engine. They drove into the main road, overtook Callie then pulled over to the side of the road, where Helen got out.
‘Callie.’
The girl took a moment to register Helen’s presence. ‘What do you want?’ she snarled.
‘I need to speak with you,’ she said, but Callie’s eyes were already darting around, as if she sensed this was a trap. Tom had not made his presence known yet. He hoped Helen, as a woman, would be a less menacing presence but Callie had clocked him sitting in the car.
‘What’s he doing here?’ she demanded as Tom opened his car window to explain. ‘You stole my photo, you bastard!’ she shouted at him.
‘I did,’ he admitted. He handed it back to her through the car window. ‘Borrowed it, really.’ She marched up to him and snatched the photo from his fingers. ‘I’m sorry. I just wanted to be able to identify Diane.’
‘To drag her back here?’ she accused him.
‘No,’ he shook his head, ‘why would I want to bring her back to this hell hole? Diane is better off in London and we both know it.’ That stopped Callie in her tracks. ‘I just want to know she’s safe and I’d like to speak to her about Sandra Jarvis. I need to find Sandra.’