Dick Francis - The Danger

In view of John Nerrity's change of heart I guessed he wouldn't be too pleased with the morning newspapers' money columns, where the financial editors had done him proud. The word 'Nerrity' sprang out in large black letters from every paper I'd visited, which were mostly of the sort that I guessed the writer of the kidnap note would read.

'Nerrity Home and Dried', 'Nerrity's Nag to the Resale, 'Nerrity Floats on Stud they said, and 'Nerrity Solvent by Short Head', To kidnappers nervously scanning the press for signs of police activity, the bad news couldn't be missed. Creditors were zeroing in on the Ordinand proceeds, and there would be precious little left for other sharks.

Eagler telephoned me in Miranda's room while I was still reading, These papers… Is this your doing?' he asked.

'Er, yes.'

He chuckled. 'I thought I detected the fine hand. Well, laddie, we're doing a spot of rummaging around the classifieds in the local rags of a week to two weeks ago, and we're checking through all the properties to rent. We'll have a partial list for you any time today.' He paused. 'Now I'm putting a lot of faith in your friend Tony Vine, and I want to be sure it's not misplaced.'

'He's an ex-S.A.S.,' I said. 'A sergeant.'

'Ah, He sounded relieved.

'He prefers working at night.'

'Does he now?' Eagler was almost purring. 'I should have a fairly complete list for you by late this afternoon. Will you fetch it?'

We arranged time and place, and rang off; and when I went downstairs to breakfast Tony was walking in through the front door, yawning.

Over bacon, eggs and kippers he recounted what he'd found. 'Did you know there's a whole internal water system behind the coast here? Itchenor Creek goes all the way to Chichester. But there's a lock some way up, and our fellows didn't go through it.' He chewed. 'I hired a rowing boat. Sneaked around a bit. Reckon it's an effing needle in a haystack we're after. There's dozens, hundreds of likely houses. Holiday flats. Chalets. You name it. And on top of that the water goes clear to somewhere called Hayling Island, with thousands more little bungalows, and there are uncountable places where a car could have met the boat and taken the nipper anywhere.'

I gloomily ate some toast and told him about Eagler's impending list.

'OK then,' Tony said. 'I'll swim this morning, sleep this afternoon, work tonight, OK?'

I nodded and passed him one of the newspapers. Tony read the financial news over the rim of his cup of tea. 'You hit the effing bullseye. No one could miss it,' he said.

Nerrity himself certainly hadn't missed it. Gerry Clayton telephoned to say that Nerrity was furious and insisting we dropped the case. He wanted nothing more to do with Liberty Market.

'He admitted he'd agreed to your getting the story into the papers,' Gerry said. 'But he didn't think it would happen so quickly, and he had intended to cancel it.'

'Too bad.'

'Yes. So officially you and Tony can break off and come home.'

'No,' I said. 'We're working for Mrs Nerrity now. She specifically asked for us to continue.'

Gerry's voice had a smile in it. 'I thought you might, but it makes it all a damn sight more tricky. Both of you… take care.'

'Yeah,' I said. 'Fold some nice paper. Try a boat.'

'Boat?'

'A boat to thrust a small boy into so that you can put a tarpaulin or some such over him, a boat to chug noisily away over the breaking waves so that no one can hear him crying out.'

'Is that how is was done?' Gerry asked soberly.

'We think so, yes.'

'Poor little blighter,' Gerry said.

Tony and I in true holiday-making fashion spent the morning in or out of water, although the day was not so warm nor the beach so fruitfully crowded. The policewoman, now in a white bikini, came to splash with us in the shallows but said she hadn't been able to find anyone who had seen Dominic carried off. 'Every single person seems to have been looking at the dinghy,' she said disgustedly. 'And all we know about that is that it was stranded on the sand when the tide went out, and it had a large piece of paper taped to the seat saying "Don't touch the boat, we'll be back for it soon".'

'Didn't someone say they'd seen who left it?' I asked.

'Well, yes, but that was a boy playing up on the shingle, and all he could say was that they were two men in shorts and bright orange rainproof sailing jackets, who had pulled the dinghy up the sand a bit and been busy round it for a while and then had walked off north west along the beach. The boy went down to the dinghy soon afterwards and read the note, and after that he went off to get an icecream. He wasn't here in the afternoon when it went up in flames, much to his disgust. When he came back it was burnt and black.

The policewoman was shivering in the rising breeze and turning a pale shade of blue. 'Time for a sweater and thick socks,' she said cheerfully. 'And I might as well chat up the ancient ladies living in the Haven Rest Home along there.' She pointed. 'They've nothing to do but look out of the windows.'

Tony and I picked up our belongings and moved to the shelter of the hotel, and in the afternoon while the clouds thickened overhead he slept undisturbed in Miranda's bed.

At five I drove to Chichester to collect the list of rentals from Eagler: he came to meet me himself, looking insignificant and slow, and climbed into the passenger seat at my side.

'These top eleven are the most promising,' he said, pointing. They are collected from all the agencies we could think of. They are all holiday homes on or near the water and they were all rented at the last minute. The weather was so bad in July and at the beginning of August that there were more properties than usual available, and then when it turned warmer there was a rush.'

I nodded. 'Miranda herself decided to come here only a few days in advance. The hotel had had cancellations because of the weather, and could take her.'

'I wonder what would have happened if she hadn't come?' Eagler said thoughtfully.

'They'd have grabbed him at home.'

'You'd have thought they'd have found it easier to wait until he was back there.'

'Kidnappers don't try to make things easy for themselves,' I said mildly. 'They plan to the last inch. They spend money. They're obsessional. There's never anything casual about a kidnap. Kidnappers would see a good chance of success while the child was in charge of his mother alone down here, and I bet once they'd done the planning they waited day after day for the right minute. If it hadn't presented itself they would have followed Miranda home and thought up a new plan. Or perhaps have reverted to a former plan which hadn't so far borne fruit. You never can tell. But if they'd wanted him, they would have got him in the end.'

'How would they have known she was coming here?' Eagler asked.

'Kidnappers watch,' I said. 'They're obsessional about that, too. What conclusion would you come to if you saw Miranda load suitcases and a beach chair into her car, strap Dominic into his seat, and drive away waving?'

'Hm.'

'You'd follow,' I said.

'I expect so.'

'Miranda in her nice red car, driving at a moderate speed, as mothers do with their children in the back.'

'True,' he said. He stirred. 'Anyway, the next bunch of houses on the list are all at least one street away from the water, and the last lot are further inland, but still in the coastline villages. Beyond that…' he stopped, looking doubtful. 'This whole section of Sussex is one big holiday area.'

'We'll try these,' I said.

'I've some good men,' Eagler suggested. 'They could help.'

I shook my head. 'They might just possibly enquire of one of the kidnappers themselves if they'd heard a child crying.

That's happened before. The kidnapper said no, and the child turned up dead on some waste ground a week later. It happened in Italy. The police caught the kidnappers in the end, and the kidnappers said they'd panicked when they found the police were so close to their hideout.'