Danielle Ramsay - Vanishing Point

‘Well … when Simone contacted me and told me about the Russian girl’s murder and how she had heard talk that two of the men involved with the Brotherhood had moved up North, she wanted to know if I had heard anything.’

‘And had you?’

Claudia nodded reluctantly.

‘Macmillan … Ronnie Macmillan has seemingly got involved with some Eastern European gangsters who deal in sex trafficking.’

‘Since when?’ Brady asked, his mind reeling from the news.

‘Fairly recently. From the intelligence I have, maybe the past two months, even three.’

‘And Simone knew this?’

Claudia nodded.

‘The problem was, Simone was too keen. Too eager. Had something to prove. Whether it was to her old colleagues here at Whitley Bay station or even you, I don’t know. But she started doing some undercover work without my knowledge. She’d been up here on annual leave for three weeks before … before this happened to her. She made connections … connections that she didn’t share with me which led to her arranging to meet with the two men that Carl, the Blue Lagoon bartender, described.’

Brady had been intending to catch up with One-Eyed Carl and find out what he’d seen. He now saw it as a priority.

‘What did he say?’

Claudia shrugged.

‘Not much. Just that she was stood at the bar with two guys. Well dressed, in suits, throwing their money around. He said that she looked like she was enjoying the attention.’

Brady thought back to last night when he’d seen her in the Blue Lagoon with the two men. And Carl was right, she didn’t look as if she was out of her depth.

‘I can only imagine that Simone was trying to sell herself as a high-class hooker who had come back home from the South and needed to re-establish her career in the North East, with the help of Ronnie Macmillan and his associates.’

Brady nodded. He hated to admit it, but it made sense. The problem was, where did they go with it?

‘Have you told Gates all this?’

Claudia looked at him and shook her head.

‘What do you take me for? A fool?’

‘I don’t know. I thought you and he were tight? More so since your new role.’

Claudia frowned at Brady.

‘I’m careful, Jack. Always have been. If Gates believes I’m in his camp then fine by me. But the person I have loyalty to now … is myself.’

Brady knew that was intended for him. And it was intended to hurt.

‘What does he know then?’

‘That Simone came up here on some lead connected with the Russian girl’s murder. That’s it.’

Brady frowned.

‘So, he doesn’t know that she arranged to meet you?’

Claudia shook her head, causing some curls to fall over her face.

‘No …’ she replied.

‘Why not?’ questioned Brady.

‘I’ve got too much to lose. If they think that I somehow set her up to infiltrate Ronnie Macmillan’s goings-on then what do you think would happen? I’d be suspended while an internal investigation took place. If there’s any suspicion that I sent her in without any backup, let alone authorisation, what do you think would happen? Christ, Jack! Ronnie Macmillan’s a dangerous man. I may be career orientated but I would never sacrifice someone for my own gain. Especially another woman.’

Brady looked at her.

‘Come on, Jack! You know how hard I worked to set this project up; how much I need to do it … Without me, it would …’

She didn’t need to finish the sentence.

‘You know what you’re asking me to do, don’t you?’ asked Brady, taken aback.

‘I know … but if I get suspended the cases that I’m working on would be affected,’ she explained, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. ‘Jack, lives are involved here. Young girls’ lives … it’s not just about me.’

Brady sat perfectly still, thinking.

If he didn’t speak up, it would be him in front of a firing squad. He’d be the one to be suspended; he could even lose his job.

But then there was Nick. Whatever was going on there was guaranteed to fuck up Brady’s career anyway.

Brady thought about the message he’d received from Melissa Ryecroft’s murderers.

A severed head left in a black bin liner in his car with the chilling words:

KEEP YOUR HEAD JACK OR YOU COULD BE NEXT – ‘N’

Brady didn’t exactly understand the meaning of the message. Apart from the obvious – that it was a threat. And he didn’t know why they were targeting him. But it could easily be for the same reason that Frank Henderson had attacked him outside Simone’s room – because they had found out that Simone had returned to the North East on police business connected with Brady. If Henderson had got the wrong Brady, why not them?

Brady had no proof that the two Eastern European brothers had put the note and severed head in his car. But the fact that they waited for him to leave the hospital and then followed him was evidence enough in his books. That and the fact that the note was signed with the same ‘N’ burnt into Simone’s left breast and on the emblem of the signet ring they were both wearing.

The last thing Brady wanted was Claudia being targeted, or worse, ending up like Simone Henderson. He knew what he had to do. He had no choice and she knew it.

‘Okay,’ Brady conceded.

‘Are you sure?’ asked Claudia.

‘I said so, didn’t I?’ replied Brady irritably.

He was angry with her. Furious that she had kept all this back from him and yet was now expecting him to take the blame.

‘And you won’t take any of this to Gates or Adamson?’ uneasily questioned Claudia, needing to be certain.

‘I said I wouldn’t,’ assured Brady, but his voice was hard.

‘Thanks, Jack. I can’t say how much I appreciate this …’

But it wasn’t only Claudia he was protecting; he was also trying to protect his brother, Nick.

‘I need you to pull everything you have on Ronnie Macmillan. Understand? I want more information on these Eastern European men he’s gone into business with and I need it in the next hour or so.’

Claudia looked at him, about to shake her head and say it was an impossible task.

‘Don’t even try and tell me you can’t do it. Because I know you can. You’ve got a hell of a lot of information back at your office that I don’t have access to. You have informants and you have sex trafficked women that you’ve freed. Contact them. Interview them. Anything that leads us closer to these men, Claudia. And I mean anything.’

‘Jack. Do you know how difficult that’s going to be? It’s a Saturday for God’s sake! I’ve got no chance of getting all that you’re asking together on my own. And, Christ, most of the women have returned to their countries of origin.’

‘Ring them then,’ suggested Brady.

‘Do you fully understand what you’re asking me to do for you?’

‘Do you understand what you’re asking me to do for you?’ retaliated Brady, his face darkening.

He was in no mood to be messed with; and especially not by his ex-wife who was asking him to risk his career to bloody well protect her own.

Brady was under no illusions. Claudia and DCI Davidson, her new boyfriend, co-headed a groundbreaking new Human Trafficking Centre in Newcastle equal to Sheffield’s. It was clear that she would sacrifice Brady to keep her position, both professionally and personally.

‘Why?’ questioned Brady.

‘Why, what?’

‘Why keep my name? Brady. Is it just to piss me off? Or were you banking on there being a time like this one when you could use it to stitch me up?’

She looked away, refusing to answer him.

It was something that had been troubling him ever since he had figured out that the Brady Simone had been talking about wasn’t him.