Liz Mistry - Broken Silence

Neither option was ideal, but if it had hit her shoulder, she might still be alive. The question was, how long would her abductors want to keep an injured woman alive? And if they dumped her in this weather, even if she was alive, the chances of her staying that way for long, were next to zero. ‘What did you find inside the car?’

‘Her phone was in the footwell of the passenger seat.’

That tallied with Nikki’s estimation of the recorded phone call. Springer seemed to somehow have lost her phone although thankfully it was on speakerphone so, although faint, they managed to pick up what she was saying.

‘Her bag’s in there too. Doesn’t look like it’s been rifled. A whole load of used tissues – more like she’d been crying than that she had a cold. We’ll find out when we get them back to the lab … not that her crying will necessarily have anything to do with what happened to her.’ The CSI moved back and pointed to the bloody slush. ‘She was dragged out of the vehicle. Blood trace on the car and onto the road. Difficult, because of the snow, to gauge exactly how much blood loss. Looks like they moved her to a larger vehicle – some sort of transit van, I reckon, judging by the car tracks. We’ll narrow that down when we get the casts back to the lab. But, if she saw a hand waving through the back lights, I’d reckon it was probably one of those ones you can borrow from any company, like Enterprise or the like. Those have an enclosed back and the doors open at the rear.’

‘That’s not going to make it any easier. We’ll have to check out van rental companies in the district as well as owners. Sooner you can get the make and model narrowed down the better.’

Ignoring Gracie’s annoyed tut, Nikki studied the rest of the scene as the CSI continued. ‘You can see blood drops and smears as her feet are pulled through the slush, then it looks like she was put into the back of the van. The vehicle skidded as it set off making these tread marks too blurry to cast effectively, however, one of my team got some better prints twenty yards down there.’

Nikki’s phone buzzed. She took it out and saw it was a text from Archie. Opening it she frowned. What the hell? Saj, who’d completed a circuit around the Kia, re-joined her. ‘You okay, Nik? Bad news?’

Nikki flicked her phone shut and smiled. ‘No, nothing like that. Just Marcus griping because I missed Sunday dinner,’ she lied.

Seeing that Saj looked sceptical, Nikki turned and perused the rest of the scene. She’d deal with Archie’s weird text later. Trying to replay what had happened, she cast her mind back to the recorded conversation she’d listened to numerous times on the drive to the scene. Seemed like Springer had a near-miss seconds before the final crash. The recording had clearly picked up the impact of the two vehicles. Now, seeing the scrunched-up front end of Springer’s car, it was clear that Springer had rammed the vehicle in front. Had she done it to try to stop them? If so, that was madness. On the other hand, had she been trying to retrieve her phone and not noticed that the van had stopped? Or there was another option that seemed more likely, for it was what Nikki would have done if she’d been the van driver. She’d have slowed imperceptibly, waited till Springer’s car was close and then slammed on her brakes, so the smaller vehicle would hit the larger one, engaging the airbags and disorientating the driver. Stupid woman hadn’t thought about how conspicuous she would be on these roads on a night like this. What the hell had possessed her to go rogue? Archie’s words rang in Nikki’s ears … was she to blame? Had Archie’s taunt about her needing to be more like Nikki, been what sent her into danger? Fuck! Springer was ill-prepared for any sort of fresh case. She dealt with cold cases … victims long dead … a desk jockey, who didn’t see a lot of active duty. Idiot! She should have waited for the damn back-up. Someone had been in the back of that vehicle … Springer had seen a hand and then an arm protruding from the taillight – someone trying to attract attention … someone who wanted to escape.

If she’d been driving a van with a prisoner of some description in the back and someone on her tail, she’d have waited till they were in an isolated space and done exactly what they did. Brake hard, hope for an impact, but not been totally reliant on that alone – quick out of the van, run to the car before the driver had the chance to get orientated, yank it open. That was it – maybe … ‘Fingerprints on the handle?’

The CSI winked. ‘Doing my job for me now, are you?’

‘Take it that’s a no?’

‘Gloves probably, only picked up smudged prints.’

Nikki let out a half-laugh. ‘Ha! Well, worth a try.’

Sajid followed the tracks a little down the road and stood talking to one of the CSIs.

Nikki turned to Gracie and, voice low, said, ‘You manage to get blood samples?’

‘Yeah, course we did.’

Glancing down to make sure Saj was still out of earshot, Nikki continued. ‘Orders from above, get it tested for these.’ She turned her phone so Gracie could see Archie’s text. ‘Keep it on the QT, eh? Results for my eyes only, okay?’

Gracie glanced at Saj who was striding back, blowing on his hands as he surveyed the area around the crash, and nodded. ‘Very mysterious, but you got it. Your eyes only … very 007.’ And she began humming the theme tune.

Nikki scowled; now she’d be humming the damn tune too for the rest of the day, no doubt.

Saj glanced at the CSI’s departing back with a quizzical expression. ‘Something you’re not telling me, Nik?’

‘Loads … but I didn’t think you’d be interested in my sex life.’

Saj snorted, and catching her eye, waited before speaking. ‘Really? You’re going with that?’

With a shrug, Nikki grinned. ‘Can’t share everything with you, now can I?’

‘Yeah, but if it’s to do with the investigation then you should, yeah?’

Nikki mentally cursed Archie. Why the hell the secrecy? She wasn’t used to not sharing things with Saj. He was her partner and she trusted him, but Archie was her boss and she trusted him too. Feeling like a shit, she shrugged. ‘Don’t know what you mean. You know what I know.’

‘Okay. If that’s how you’re playing it. Nothing else for us to do here and it’s bloody freezing. Let’s head back … see if we’ve been lucky. Maybe someone else saw something odd. Maybe a van with a dented rear end has been spotted on one of the feeder roads.’

Sighing, Nikki nodded and did a slow circle of the scene. How the hell would Springer survive this? They just had to hope she’d been alive when they took her, but who knew what condition she would be in now. ‘Yep, right, let’s go.’

As they walked together to their vehicles the faint sounds of a helicopter approaching got louder and both Nikki and Sajid placed their hands on their foreheads and followed its progress. ‘Hope they have some luck.’ Her tone betrayed her lack of conviction and once she’d shrugged out of her overalls and got into the car, Nikki waved bye to Sajid, who was already driving down the snowy lane. She flicked her key in the ignition, only to hear a grating sound. Great! Damn battery was dead. She slammed the heel of her hands on the steering wheel and screeched. If there was one thing Nikki hated, it was to ask for help with her car. Stepping back out onto the wet road, she glared at the young PC who approached carrying a set of jump leads and a huge smile. She glowered at him. ‘Just get it started and if this gets round Trafalgar House, I’ll know whose guts to add to my garters, right?’

Running along parallel to the industrial estate, the only sounds Stefan could hear were the wind, the sound of his own breathing and the occasional swoosh of cars as they passed him, their beams lighting up the path in front of him. After the third car passed him, stirring up a flurry of slush and drenched his thin trackie bottoms in the process, Stefan realized he was too visible on the main road. He should have stuck to the periphery of the estate where shadows and bushes offered some cover from any would-be pursuers. He’d just changed direction to head back into the estate via a gap in some bushes when he heard the sound of a larger vehicle approaching. The hairs on the back of his neck sprung up and he dived flat onto his belly. He had no idea if they were after him or not yet, but he couldn’t help feeling on edge. From his prone position on the grass he eyed the van as it neared. It was a white transit and it was driving more slowly than the weather conditions necessitated. Stefan held his breath, praying they wouldn’t see him and, when they continued past the spot where he lay, he exhaled slowly. He was sure it was Bullet and he was equally sure he was looking for him, so it was just as well he’d decided to head back into the estate. How the hell had they been alerted to his absence so quickly? Then he puzzled it out. One of the men he worked beside, slept beside, was a snitch.