Danielle Ramsay - Vanishing Point

‘Christ!’ muttered Brady.

Claudia picked up the worry in his voice.

‘Jack?’

‘Are they alright?’ quickly questioned Brady.

‘Yes, the police there have moved them to a safe house for protection.’

‘Have they had any contact from her in the past twenty-four hours?’

‘No … they haven’t heard from her since she landed at Heathrow four months ago.’

‘What about her so-called boyfriend, Marijuis Dabkunas?’

‘He paid them a visit a few weeks ago. Claimed he was looking for Edita. That she’d left him and taken off somewhere.’

‘Very clever!’ muttered Brady. ‘Do they have any contact details for this Marijuis Dabkunas?’

‘No … nothing. I wish I could tell you more, but—’

‘But nothing … We have nothing. All we have is two missing Lithuanian girls, one whose identity we can verify. As for Nicoletta …’ His voice faltered.

‘Jack? Why are you taking all this so personally?’

‘Because I’m responsible for whatever they’re doing to Nicoletta right now! She was seen talking to a copper for Christ’s sake! Who knows what kind of sadistic punishment they’re meting out and there’s nothing I can do about it because I have no idea where they’ve taken her.’

‘Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun here?’ Claudia pointed out.

‘Have you forgotten what happened to Simone?’ demanded Brady.

He closed his eyes, blocking out the blur of the bright headlights as Conrad drove them back to the station.

He felt as if he was going to be sick. He couldn’t let go of the image of Nicoletta’s face when she described the brothers cutting off Edita’s fingers. And there was Simone lying in Rake Lane Hospital, mutilated and left … He couldn’t bring himself to think about what the future held for her now.

‘What has Simone Henderson’s attack got to do with this girl, Nicoletta, Jack?’

He breathed in deeply.

‘Those two suits,’ he began, trying to sound calm. ‘The ones I saw outside Macmillan’s club just now and then driving the Jag with Nicoletta in the back were the ones who were in the Blue Lagoon with Simone. I’m certain of it.’

‘Christ, Jack! Why didn’t you mention this before?’

‘Because I walked into the Blue Lagoon last night and saw Simone with two guys and walked straight back out. That’s why. That and I didn’t get a good enough look at their faces to work on a photofit of them. And … and I wasn’t sure … I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. Alright? I wasn’t sure …’

Brady sighed. He couldn’t remember a worse day than the one he was having now.

He opened his eyes and stared straight ahead as Conrad sped down the coast road towards Whitley Bay.

‘Look, Jack, from what I’ve found out about these brothers, they’re not to be messed with. They have contacts in areas you couldn’t even begin to second-guess. Who do you think buys these girls from them?’

Brady didn’t answer her.

He was thinking about Melissa Ryecroft. How someone had bought the right to fuck her up to the point of her death.

‘These are men in power. And they have money. It takes money to be able to choose a girl, buy her and have the reassurance that you can do whatever you want with her,’ Claudia stated.

‘What about those Eastern European brothers?’ questioned Brady, needing to move the conversation along.

He’d already spent enough time going round in circles about Nicoletta’s whereabouts. And the fact that he had promised her that nothing would happen to her.

‘The Dabkunas brothers?’ asked Claudia.

‘Yeah, them. What did you find out about them?’

‘They’re ex-military. Until a year ago they were part of the Lithuanian army’s Special Operation Forces, Aitvaras. Last known to be working as hired bodyguards. In other words, a euphemism for hired killers,’ stated Claudia.

‘Christ!’ muttered Brady.

‘I know,’ sighed Claudia.

Brady knew there was no way he would let Claudia’s name get caught up with men like the Dabkunas brothers or Ronnie Macmillan and his suits. Claudia would be easy meat. And he didn’t want to think of her lying in the same mutilated state, if not worse than Simone Henderson. And if that meant taking whatever crap Gates was going to throw at him for his name being connected to the reason Simone was up in the North East, it was a given.

‘Look, if it’s any consolation I’ll apply for a warrant for my team to search Ronnie Macmillan’s club. If there’s any evidence of sex trafficking or women being held against their will as sex slaves, we’ll find it.’

‘Make sure you search the cellar and his private quarters above the club. Nicoletta said that Edita hid in the cellar and that she was held upstairs.’

‘I’ll contact you as soon as I get any more information,’ Claudia concluded.

Brady knew that she didn’t like anyone telling her how to do her job. But he had to be sure that her team missed nothing. Nicoletta’s life was at stake – as was Edita’s. That was, if she was still alive.

‘Claudia? Be careful. Alright?’ warned Brady.

‘I know what I’m dealing with, Jack. Remember, this is my job,’ said Claudia evenly.

‘Yeah, thanks,’ answered Brady before she disconnected the line.

He didn’t expect to hear any more from Claudia tonight. Hopefully she would get back to him tomorrow with something concrete. Anything that could help them find Nicoletta.

Brady leaned back and closed his eyes.

He was worried.

Worried that Ronnie Macmillan was involved in Simone Henderson’s savage attack. He was certain that it had been him in the back of the Jag with Nicoletta.

If it was Ronnie, then word would get back to Mayor Macmillan that Brady was causing trouble for them, again. Brady was certain that Ronnie Macmillan, notorious drug dealer that he was before he diversified into the sex trade, had shot him in the thigh when Brady had been staking out a drugs deal. He was also sure that his brother Mayor Macmillan had ordered Ronnie to get rid of Brady because he was starting to ask too many questions about the Mayor’s nefarious lifestyle.

Brady wondered whether him showing up at Ronnie Macmillan’s newly acquired lap dancing club would reach Chief Superintendent O’Donnell’s ears. He and Mayor Macmillan had sealed a friendship over rounds of golf at Tynemouth Golf Club followed by gin and tonics in the clubhouse. Macmillan had O’Donnell’s ear, and not in a good way. Even O’Donnell seemed taken in by the politician; or was it that men of a certain rank looked out for one another, mused Brady. If the mayor complained privately to O’Donnell about Brady, he would certainly know about it through Gates.

O’Donnell had always been good to Brady. Looked out for him, so to speak. He’d always been in his corner, having known him since he was a kid. O’Donnell, a newly recruited PC at the time, had worked on Brady’s mother’s murder. So he knew Brady’s history. And O’Donnell knew what it was like to be different, to be seen as the outsider.

He was of African-Caribbean descent and had suffered intolerable racism in the force. But despite this, he had risen through the ranks and proved himself to be a formidable Chief Superintendent; respected by all under his command for his unerring sense of fairness, but also for his cut-throat attitude when one of his own crossed the line.

If DC O’Donnell, as he had been then, hadn’t cornered the teenage Brady one night on the hardened streets of the Ridges about the brutal murder of a young male from Wallsend, then Brady would have ended up like Madley. Somehow, O’Donnell had got through to him. Brady had never talked about who had killed the kid, but O’Donnell still stood by him. Aware that his silence wasn’t about protecting his neck, but someone else’s. Admittedly, it didn’t happen overnight, but O’Donnell had seen something in Brady as a teenager, enough to put his career on the line to risk helping him get out, never knowing whether Brady had in fact been involved in the murder. But the sudden disappearance of Brady’s brother from the North East at the age of fifteen, shortly after the killing, was evidence enough for O’Donnell that Brady hadn’t been involved. His brother’s disappearance made him look guilty, but Brady knew Nick had been set up and had had no choice but to leave. And O’Donnell saw a trait that he admired – loyalty. Loyalty even at the cost of sacrificing yourself. But Brady’s unquestionable loyalty to his brother was based on Nick’s innocence.