mistake.’ He left his desk so he could see Tom to the door and place him in the care of the doormen. ‘Safe journey home, Mr Carney. I hope you find the girl you’re looking for.’
When he said that, Tom realised exactly what had been going on here.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Meadowlands was veiled in a fog rendered almost impenetrable by the street lamps. Their yellow glow served only to illuminate the moisture in the air, making it thicker and more ghostly. Bradshaw could make out little beyond the building’s shape. Meadowlands was a boxy eighties construction that could have been a small school or community hall. It was set back from the road, with a thick barrier of laurel bushes placed between to protect the residents – or possibly the outside world, depending on your point of view. From his car, which was parked in a residential street, Bradshaw could see through the metal gate that kept the entrance secure. The building’s windows all had blinds drawn down over them and a single light above the main door illuminated the entrance.
The detective had driven down here on a whim to check the place out but there was really nothing to see, particularly in this fog. He thought of Tom then. The reporter would be in London now, checking out Mirage, and Bradshaw ruefully imagined his friend surrounded by semi-naked girls while he shivered alone in his car. ‘Short straw again,’ he told himself.
He could have flashed his warrant card and gone in but he didn’t want anyone to know that Meadowlands was attracting renewed police attention just yet. Instead he watched and he waited. Half an hour later, Bradshaw was just about to give up and pull away from Meadowlands when he was startled by a sudden thump on his side window. He turned to see a young girl peering down at him and wound down his window.
‘Two packs,’ she told him.
‘What?’
‘Of cigs,’ she said, but he was none the wiser. ‘And a bottle of vodka.’ She grew impatient with him then, as if he was supposed to understand her meaning. ‘Look, if you ain’t got them you can buy them at the shop.’ She waited then seemed to get annoyed. ‘If you want something, go to the shop first. You can’t just park here.’ Bradshaw belatedly realised his presence in a static car had been misunderstood.
‘No,’ he told her, ‘I’m not looking for that.’
‘Ain’t you here for …?’ She looked flustered then when she realised her mistake. ‘What are you here for then?’ she demanded angrily.
He wasn’t about to let her know he was a police officer. ‘I was waiting for my girlfriend,’ he said as he started the ignition, ‘not that it’s any of your business.’
‘Yeah,’ she sneered, ‘she stood you up then, didn’t she?’ She was amused by this but Bradshaw was happy for her to accept the lie. She sauntered off then without a care in the world and when he saw her slim figure more clearly now that she stepped away from his car, he wondered if she could be any older than fourteen.
Bradshaw watched her before driving away. A moment later she reached the bottom of the street and swung the metal gate open so she could walk into Meadowlands.
‘We’ve been taken for mugs, Helen,’ Tom told her almost before he was through the door of her flat. ‘I’ve been thinking about it all day.’ And he had, apart from an hour’s doze on the train back from King’s Cross, which partially made up for a sleepless night. The cheap hotel he had chosen was too close to the station and trains had rattled by it constantly. ‘Someone has played us.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I’ve been an idiot,’ he said and he told her about his meeting with Andre Devine. ‘That farce with Callie and Susie.’
‘You think it was staged?’ she asked. ‘It looked pretty bloody real to me.’
‘I think the fight was real,’ he said. ‘Callie would have to be Meryl Streep to fake that level of anger and the violence was all too real, but think about it. Susie said Diane gave her the jacket when she left for London months before, even though Callie said it was Diane’s favourite. Callie just happens to see Susie wearing it for the very first time on the day we visit and, predictably, flies off the handle, but Dean quickly intervenes. He puts Susie in her room with you and drags Callie away, leaving me with the jacket.’