Mark Pearson - Hard Evidence

Jake Morgan had his head down, twisting and turning a napkin, his thick, powerful fingers flexing and tearing the paper. Howard Morgan looked up hopefully as Delaney walked into the room.

'Is there any news?'

'We're pursuing some leads.'

'What sort of leads?'

'Nothing certain. We're still trying to pinpoint her location.'

'They're still in London?'

'We don't know.'

Jake Morgan threw the paper napkin on the floor and stood up, his massive form dwarfing Delaney.

'She's not going to hurt her, is she?'

Delaney kept his voice calm, reassuring. 'Not if we've got anything to do with it.'

But Jake was not to be so easily mollified. He shook his head, blinking back the tears that were starting in his childlike eyes. 'She hurts people. She likes doing it.'

Delaney put a hand on his arm, gently. 'Tell me about her, Jake.'

'She just changed after Ma died, didn't she, Howard?'

Howard nodded, anger bubbling below the surface of his troubled eyes.

'And you have no idea where she might be? Where she might have gone? Any friends. Any relatives?'

'There's no one.' Howard's voice was harsh with pain.

There was something, though, Delaney thought; was it regret, was it fear? He looked at him trying to read him. Failing. 'You sure you haven't been in contact with her recently, Howard?'

Howard stood up angrily beside his brother. 'I told you.'

'You told us a lot of things. Not all of them were true, were they?'

'She's not my sister. Not any more.'

'You're still pretty angry with her, Howard, even after all these years?'

'Wouldn't you be?'

'She was fourteen years old at the time. She was just a child.'

Howard Morgan glared angrily back at him. 'She was never a child. She was born evil, that girl. Ma always said that, didn't she, Jake?'

Jake nodded, his skin reddening as he remembered, his eyes sliding back and forth just like his elder brother's. 'Born evil. That's what she said. And if evil is on the flesh then shall it be burned clean.'

'Shut up, Jake!' Howard glared angrily across at his brother, who was shaking his head slightly, lost in his own dark thoughts.

'If the water does not cleanse then the fire shall. And everlasting shall be the pain.'

Delaney watched as Jake Morgan shivered and his eyes seemed to clear. He looked up at Delaney and smiled incongruously. 'Have you found Jenny, then? Is that why we're here?'

'No, we haven't found her, Jake. But we need to. So if you have remembered anything at all, anything she might have said to you…'

'Tell her to stay away from the steam.'

Howard put his arm on his brother's shoulder. 'Don't worry, Jake. She's not going to burn her.'

'She burned you, though, didn't she?'

Howard nodded, his eyes narrowing at the memory. 'But Jenny's going to be all right. The police are going to find her.' He looked up at Delaney. Angry, challenging.

'We'll do our best.'

'Because if I find Candy first, I'll fucking kill her.'

Delaney looked into the hard, cold certainty of those eyes and recognised the truth in them. He'd seen that same cold hate many, many times in the eyes of killers who had sat opposite him across that desk or across others in other cities. He'd seen it in rapists, in wife-beaters, in murderers.

And he'd seen it in his own bloodshot eyes every morning since his wife was killed. If he could stand face to face with her killers they'd see that look and it would be the last thing they ever saw. That much he had promised her cold body.

A loud crack on the door startled Delaney out of his thoughts and he turned to see DC Cartwright coming into the room. She looked nervous.

'What is it, Constable?'

'You'd better come, sir.'

Delaney closed the door behind him. Trapping the foul air and the stale thoughts inside. Sally's youthful eyes sparkled with excitement.

'What have you got?'

'Candy Morgan, sir.'

'Go on?'

'She used a cash machine. Took out five hundred pounds.'

'When?'

'About an hour ago.'

'Could be someone using her card.'

Sally shook her head. 'We got the bank to check their security footage, it was definitely her.'

'Where?'

'King's Cross.'

'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?'

'Doesn't seem to. Stella Trant didn't move too far from Holloway either, did she?'

'Spitting distance from where Candy Morgan just made a cash withdrawal.'

'You think Stella lied to us?'

'I think what Bob Wilkinson would no doubt tell you.'

'And what's that, sir?'

'That they're all slags. And slags are born lying and slags die lying. Let's go.'

Sally reacted a little surprised as Delaney shrugged into his jacket. 'Shouldn't we coordinate this, boss? We don't want to go rushing in and lose her.'

'She's just drawn out five hundred pounds. What does that tell you, Sally?'

Sally shrugged.

'It tells me she's wedged up. She's ready to travel and now she's got the cash to do it.'

Delaney barrelled through the front door, Sally hurrying behind him.

Howard Morgan watched through the window as Sally and Delaney hurried towards the car. He could see the purpose in Delaney's long stride and the expectation in Sally Cartwright's nervously excited face. His fist bunched involuntarily and the muscles in his biceps strained, stretching the fabric of his shirt. He turned to his brother. 'Wait here, Jake.'

'What's going on?'

'You just wait here.' He fished his car keys out of his overall pocket and hurried after Delaney.

Delaney's fist landed on Stella's front door like Odin's hammer. Stella opened the door, her wide green eyes startled with fear.

'What do you want?' Her voice was a nervous stutter, her previous arrogance dissipated in the face of his violent glare.

Delaney pushed her back into the room and stepped in, Sally following closely behind and shutting the door.

'What the hell is going on?'

Delaney ignored her and swept open the bedroom door and looked around. There was no one there. Unless Candy Morgan was hiding in the kitchen cupboard, they had missed her. Maybe by minutes.

Delaney turned round and glared at Stella Trant, who crossed her thin arms defensively in front of her chest.

'I told you, I haven't seen her. What the hell are you doing here? You've got no right.'

Delaney ignored her again, opening the drawers in a small sideboard.

'Where's your warrant?'

'Shut it,' Delaney barked at her. He tipped the contents of the drawer on the floor and threw it to one side to smash against the wall.

'Guv.'

Delaney flashed Sally a look and she glanced away.

Stella laughed humourlessly. 'What is this? Good cop, bad cop?'

Delaney opened the next drawer and smiled at her. 'How would you like to go back to taking your showers communally, Stella? The governor told us you were popular with the bull dykes.'

Stella shook her head, unfazed. 'I doubt he said any such thing, but I was popular with everybody.' She smiled. 'Including the governor. Why do you think he takes such a special interest in girls like us?'

Delaney carried on searching through the drawer.

'Did you think it was just his good heart?' She cupped her crotch with her right hand. 'The truth is, this was just as valuable on the inside as it was on the outside.' She winked at Sally. 'You know what I mean?'

Delaney tossed the second drawer aside and opened the third. He smiled sourly as he pulled out a small clear plastic bag. 'What have we got here?'

'That's not mine.'

'Whose is it? Candy Morgan's?'

'No.'

'It's yours, then.'

Stella shrugged and folded her arms again. 'It's a bit of blow. Which is legal now, isn't it? Nothing you can do about it.'