Luke Delaney - The Toy Taker

‘I can’t remember,’ she told him. ‘I don’t understand. Do you think the man from the toyshop could have taken Victoria?’ Sean’s silence answered her question. ‘No,’ she pleaded, suddenly tossing the toy monkey to the ground as if it had magically transformed into a poisonous snake, kicking it away with her feet. ‘He picked that for her,’ she told him, staring disgustedly at the discarded toy. ‘Took it off the shelf and gave it to her. He touched it with his hands and now he’s touching my …’

‘The shop?’ Sean stopped her. ‘I need the name of the shop.’

‘I can’t,’ she begged him. ‘I just can’t.’

‘OK,’ he relented with a sigh. He hurriedly pulled his phone from a coat pocket and searched it for Sally’s number, pacing the bedroom while he waited for her to answer.

‘Sean,’ she snapped at him. ‘What’s going on? I’m hearing all kinds of rumours back here and none of them good. I’m hearing you’re off the case. I’m hearing you’re off the team, Sean.’

‘Never mind that now,’ he told her. ‘I need you to do something.’

‘Of course, but where are you?’

‘Mornington Crescent — at the fourth abduction site.’

‘Bloody hell, Sean! If Addis finds out he’ll go fucking spare.’

‘Not if I get the children back first,’ he explained.

‘What?’ Sally asked, barely believing what she was hearing. ‘You know where the children are?’

‘Almost, but I need your help.’

‘What d’you want me to do?’

‘We still have Family Liaison Officers with the other three families, right?’

‘As far as I know.’

‘Good. Get them all lined up on a conference call and make sure they have the parents of the children with them, then call me back fast.’

‘Even the Hargraves?’

Sean paused for a second before answering. ‘Yes,’ he told her. ‘I understand where you’re coming from, but I can’t take the chance of leaving them out. They may be the only ones who can tie this all up. I need them on the call.’

‘OK,’ Sally told him. ‘I’ll get it sorted and call you back.’

Sean hung up and turned his attention back to Helen Varndell. ‘Is it possible the man from the shop could have followed you home?’

‘I don’t see how,’ she answered. ‘When we left the shop he was busy serving other customers.’

‘What about someone else? Did anyone else follow you from the shop?’

‘I don’t … I can’t remember.’

‘He knew where you lived,’ Sean told her brutally, ‘so either he followed you or he had you followed … or,’ he stuttered for a second as another thought entered the maze of his mind, ‘or you told him your address.’

‘Why would we have done that?’

‘I don’t know,’ Sean admitted. ‘Maybe you filled something out in the shop — some kind of form. Something you wrote your name and address on?’

Her eyes darted in all directions as she struggled to remember, not wanting to rush her recall and scare her memories away. ‘My husband — he filled something in. The shopkeeper said it was for a competition.’

‘So he knew where you lived? You told him where you lived?’

‘Yes,’ she confessed, ‘but how could we possibly have known?’

‘You couldn’t,’ he replied softly.

For a few seconds they stood in silence, each trying to comprehend. Then his vibrating, ringing phone broke the trance.

‘Sally?’

‘I have the Family Liaison Officers standing by,’ Sally told him. ‘What d’you need to know?’

Sean took a breath and steadied himself. ‘I need you to ask whether any of them have recently been to a toyshop in Hampstead.’

‘A toyshop?’ Sally quizzed.

‘Please, Sally,’ he snapped, ‘just ask.’

He listened as she put the question to the Family Liaison Officers on the conference call, and then he waited in silence for the answer. He heard Sally breathing into the phone before she spoke and already knew he had his man.

‘Jesus Christ, Sean — how did you know?’

‘Long story,’ he answered, unwilling and unable to dwell on his success. ‘You need to ask if any of them can remember the name of the shop. Mrs Varndell was in it too, but she can’t remember what it’s called. Can any of them remember?’

‘Hold on …’

Again he could hear Sally repeating the question into the other phone. This time there was a longer pause, each second making him fear the worst, before Sally came back on the line. ‘Sorry, no. None of them can remember its name.’

‘Damn it,’ Sean answered, before recovering his optimism. ‘Never mind. We know it’s an old-fashioned toyshop in Hampstead — it can’t be too difficult to find.’

‘Sean, wait!’ Suddenly Sally was back on the line, cutting across him. He listened to more voices, straining without success to follow the conversation. Then Sally returned. ‘Mrs Fellowes says it’s called the Rocking Horse and it’s in Heysham Lane, Hampstead. She bought a doll from there for Bailey. She says you know which one.’ Sean’s mind filled with the picture of the ornate doll he’d lifted from amongst Bailey’s other toys. ‘Sean?’ Sally prompted him.

‘It was there all the time,’ he told her. ‘In Bailey’s bedroom — the answer was always there. I held it in my hand, Sally — I held the answer in my hand, but I missed it.’

‘We all did,’ she reminded him, ‘but you’ve put it together now. I don’t know how, but I know nobody else could have. Question is — what d’you want to do next? Surveillance? Have the TSG take him out?’

‘No. This one’s no Thomas Keller. He’s no danger to me.’

‘And the children?’

‘They’ll be close. He’ll be keeping them close.’

‘But if he sees us coming?’

‘If he sees us coming I’m not sure what he’ll do — so we don’t let that happen.’

‘How can we-’

‘Meet me in Heysham Lane as soon as you can. Just you, Donnelly and one other. Travel in two cars and park out of sight at either end of the road, and then wait for me. Tell nobody where you’re going or what you’re doing. Understand?’

‘I understand. I’ll update you with his description en route,’ she assured him. ‘Travelling time from the Yard,’ were her last words before she hung up, leaving him alone once more with Helen Varndell.

‘Have you found him?’ she asked as soon as he lowered the phone from his ear. ‘Have you found Victoria?’

‘I can’t promise that.’ Sean’s voice was shaking in the effort to suppress his excitement, he was almost beside himself, wanting nothing more than to get to his car and attach the magnetic blue light to its roof, parting the late-morning traffic like a wolf cutting through a flock of sheep. ‘But I promise I’ll do everything I can to bring her back to you — whatever it takes.’

Sean walked slowly along Heysham Lane, his collar turned up against the persistent cold, one more local businessman late for work or on his way to a meeting. He walked straight past the Rocking Horse toyshop with barely a glance inside, but it was enough. He found Donnelly’s unmarked car behind a van and tapped twice on the window before jumping in the passenger seat.

‘What took you?’ Donnelly asked.

‘Been walking the area a bit,’ Sean told him.

‘And?’

‘And we’re in the right place.’

‘You sure?’

‘I’m sure,’ Sean assured him. ‘He’s skilled enough to make clockwork toys. Not much of a stretch from that to picking locks. He lives in the right area, he knew all their addresses and he understands children and toys. Last but not least, he’s the only thing that connects all four families. He feels right. He just feels right.’