Danielle Ramsay - Vanishing Point

Claudia followed Brady’s eyes as he turned to the images of Melissa Ryecroft’s decapitated head and body.

‘How and why Melissa Ryecroft ended up in this condition is what we’re here to find out, people,’ Brady said as he looked back around the table. ‘As of yet, nothing’s come back from the lab. Wolfe said that he didn’t find traces of sperm in the victim’s vagina and rectum as condoms were used. And industrial bleach was used after the victim’s death in an attempt to destroy any DNA evidence. I’m not holding out much hope, and neither is Wolfe, but we’ll see what comes back from the lab.’

Brady turned his eyes on Daniels and Kenny.

‘I need you two to check Newcastle Airport security cameras for Thursday. Both inside the airport and any footage by the pick-up point outside. Also, look at the Metro surveillance footage. If she did go to the airport I imagine she would have taken the Metro there.’

Kenny and Daniels nodded.

‘Right, any questions?’ Brady asked, keen to get moving.

No one said anything.

‘Alright, you know what you’ve got to do,’ Brady said.

He watched as they pushed their chairs back and stood up.

Brady looked at Claudia who had remained seated. ‘My office?’ he said.

‘Alright, but I haven’t got long,’ she said. ‘There are some details on Melissa Ryecroft that I want to cross-reference and to do that, I need to be at Pilgrim Street to access it.’

‘Why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re cross-referencing?’ Brady asked.

Claudia looked at Brady. ‘Perhaps we should continue this in your office.’

Chapter Thirty

Brady sat down at his desk and watched as Claudia closed the office door and then took a seat opposite him.

He was worried that Claudia had found out about Nick somehow. That she and her team had been watching him. That they had made the connection that he had come up from London with the two Lithuanian brothers and was working for them. But even worse than that was the thought that she had somehow figured out that he was Brady’s brother.

‘Jack? I need to tell you something about Simone …’ Claudia delicately began as she met his eyes.

‘What about Simone?’ Brady interrupted, surprised.

‘She was one of the detectives involved in investigating the murder of the Russian girl, Katya. The one that took place a few weeks back in the London hotel.’

‘Go on,’ ordered Brady, aware of the adrenalin beginning to course through his body.

‘She was the one who got the information out of the Russian victim before she died …’ Claudia paused, as she tried to gauge his reaction.

Something in her voice made him uneasy. Then it hit him.

‘Simone’s father thought it was me …’ Brady began, shaking his head in disbelief.

‘Jack? Look …’ Claudia attempted to explain.

‘No. Let me think!’ snapped Brady. ‘Frank Henderson said that Simone had come back up to the North East to talk to me. She had told her flatmate that she had a meeting up here with someone who worked in the Northumbrian force, named Brady.’

Claudia didn’t say anything.

‘It was you … wasn’t it? You’re the Brady she was meeting. Of course, Claudia Brady. You’re the head of a major sex trafficking unit. The biggest in the country. So who else would she share the information she had with, if it wasn’t you?’ demanded Brady, raising his voice.

Claudia remained silent.

‘Did you meet with her?’ he shouted, angry at her refusal to answer him.

He stared at her. His dark brown eyes cold.

‘Of course you did, otherwise you wouldn’t know what you know,’ he muttered quietly. He frowned. ‘Don’t you think it’s crossing a line? The woman you caught me in bed with contacting you?’

Distressed by the suggestion, Claudia looked away.

‘So … what happened?’ demanded Brady. He wasn’t going to let her off that easy. ‘Did you send her into Madley’s, is that it? Did you know they were going to be in there that night and so you sent her in as bait? Is that it? See if they bite and take her to wherever they’re holding the other trafficked girls? Was that it?’

‘Jack! Please … you’ve got it all wrong,’ Claudia desperately insisted.

‘Have I? Have I really?’ questioned Brady harshly, unable to disguise the contempt he felt. ‘If it had all worked out, imagine where you’d be now. Not sat in my office with a mutilated copper fighting for her life.’

She shook her head, her eyes now looking at him. They were filled with tears.

He stared back at her. It was a cold, hard look. One that Claudia didn’t recognise.

She shook her head. A spark of anger firing within.

‘I didn’t send her to Madley’s nightclub. Alright? She did this off her own back.’

Brady narrowed his eyes at her, clearly not believing her.

‘Don’t you dare turn this on me, Jack! This was a malleable – gullible even – rookie who was desperate to impress you. And what did you do? You took her to bed!’

Brady clenched his fists trying not to react.

‘You shared with her your paranoid, delusional suspicions about Mayor Macmillan and his drug-dealing brother, Ronnie Macmillan, who you claimed procured prostitutes for his politician brother. Young girls, like the ones we try to help off the streets in the West End and down by the quayside in Newcastle. Girls as young as eleven being worked by pimps. But the problem is, Jack, it was all hearsay. Nothing has ever been substantiated against Mayor Macmillan. He has no connection with his brother. Nothing. You should be more careful when it comes to listening to idle gossip. Politics is filled with lies and rumours, all aimed at bringing a man down for the sake of the opposition. Mayor Macmillan has made it very clear that he’s not responsible for his background or the family associated with it. He’s a man who has made good for himself, regardless of the odds stacked against him—’

Brady interrupted her furiously. ‘What the hell has this got to do with Simone being attacked? You’ve already suggested that you think she was targeted by this Nietzschean Brotherhood you were talking about,’ he pointed out accusingly, his eyes dark and threatening.

‘I know exactly what I implied. And I still stand by that – it’s why she’s been branded with the “N”. However, it was a combination of what you had told her about Ronnie Macmillan and the new information she had that he was branching out from drugs into the sex trade.’

‘What new information?’ demanded Brady.

‘I got word from some of the women I deal with about what Ronnie Macmillan was up to. He’s a nasty piece of work and gets a great deal of pleasure out of humiliating and beating up his girls. Likes them to “respect” him, allegedly. Anyway, he’s creating quite a cartel for himself. He has other pimps and drug dealers working hand in hand with him. And he’s buying up a lot of local businesses and unused land—’

‘What for?’ interrupted Brady.

He had no idea that Ronnie Macmillan was capable of running such an empire. Then again, thought Brady, was it really Ronnie Macmillan or was he just the front man? The target if it all went wrong. His brother, Mayor Macmillan, had the brains and the looks in the family, whereas Ronnie had always been the ugly one with a lot of muscle. Too much muscle by the sounds of it.

‘I don’t know,’ answered Claudia uneasily.

She shook her head as she thought about it.

‘It doesn’t make any sense to me … but it’s all kosher. We can’t get him for anything. And believe me, we’ve tried. Which is what I told Simone. But …’ Claudia faltered.

‘What?’ questioned Brady.