Finders Keepers полностью

He was confused by Reynolds. He had seemed such a reasonable, friendly man when he’d been here before, but Jonas was starting to understand that in the company of DCI Marvel, Josef Stalin might have appeared similarly blessed with social graces, so he was having to re-evaluate Reynolds from the ground up.

‘I think that maybe he breaks the windows because the dogs are left in hot cars.’

Reynolds grunted, his arms crossed on his chest, and leaned on the door of the unmarked Peugeot.

‘I don’t know, Jonas,’ said Rice doubtfully. ‘Why would he bother doing that if he’s there to kidnap a child? If he’s that concerned, why not take the dogs instead? Or as well? Or just smash the whole window and let them out to run about?’

‘I don’t know. All I know is that when I saw that dog in the car at the show, even my first instinct was to pull open the door and get it some air.’

‘But breaking the windows only increases his chances of being caught,’ Reynolds pointed out. ‘There must be more to it than that. And what about Dunkery Beacon?’

‘No dogs there,’ said Jonas. ‘Only the hounds and maybe a few terriers, but they would all have been working. None would have been left in cars or horseboxes.’

Reynolds made another sour mouth. ‘Even if it’s true – even if the kidnapper has a sideline in … dog paramedics … how does that help us catch him?’

‘I don’t know,’ admitted Jonas. ‘But it’s something, isn’t it?’

‘At least it means he cares,’ said Rice.

‘Cares about dogs,’ said Reynolds. He was a cat person himself.

‘Caring is caring,’ she retorted. ‘If he has empathy then it shows he’s not a total psychopath.’

‘Myra Hindley had a poodle,’ said Reynolds. ‘Look, if he cared about those children he wouldn’t have taken them from their parents at all.’

Jonas shrugged. ‘You mean the parents who weren’t doing such a great job of looking after them in the first place?’

Reynolds and Rice both stared at him.

‘I’m just saying,’ said Jonas, showing his palms defensively, ‘maybe it’s not only about him and his desires. Maybe all he sees is kids left alone in cars and he thinks he could do a better job of protecting them. That’s what the notes imply, isn’t it?’

‘You just want to believe that they’re still alive,’ said Reynolds.

‘Yes, I do,’ Jonas shot back.

‘Me too,’ said Rice quietly.

‘So where’s he keeping them?’ demanded Reynolds. ‘Tell me that, if you know so much about him.’

Jones spread his arms in a hopeless gesture. ‘I don’t know. I suppose somewhere isolated. Somewhere on the moor—’

‘Somewhere like all the places a hundred people and a helicopter spent three days searching?’

Jonas chewed his lip by way of an answer. Reynolds sighed and said more gently, ‘Look, we’d all love to think that Jess and Pete and Charlie are all alive and happy and being well cared for, but we have to face facts, and that’s not likely to be the case.’

Jonas felt defeated. ‘I’m just trying to think about things from his point of view.’

‘That’s fine,’ said Reynolds briskly. ‘Let’s just try to keep it realistic.’

He pulled open the passenger door.

‘Good thinking though, Jonas,’ Rice said, and got behind the wheel.

Jonas watched them drive away.

‘You were a bit hard on him, weren’t you?’ said Rice, not taking her eyes off the road.

Reynolds looked at her in surprise. ‘I thought I was very tolerant, considering.’

‘Considering what?’

‘Considering all that rubbish about dogs.’

‘I thought it was interesting.’

‘Hmm.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘Nothing.’

She looked at him. ‘What does hmm mean?’

He shrugged and she clicked at him and stared at the road.

‘Look,’ he said at last, ‘I spoke to Kate Gulliver about Holly.’

‘Oh yes?’

‘She wanted to know how he was.’

Rice nodded and pretended she hadn’t known that. ‘What did you tell her?’

‘That he seems OK to me. Doesn’t he to you?’

‘I suppose so. Is she worried about him?’

‘I don’t think so,’ he said. ‘But when she heard what we were working on, she did say that she thought he had issues with children.’

‘Issues with children? What does that mean?’

Reynolds wasn’t sure because he hadn’t asked – so he told Rice that Gulliver wasn’t sure. ‘Just said she thought he had unresolved issues about children.’

‘But what does that mean?’ said Rice in exasperation.

‘Look, I don’t want to go into this too deeply. Obviously it’s confidential stuff. All I’m saying is that Holly’s been through a tough time, and he may not be the most objective or reliable person to have on this case or any case. I think we should treat anything he comes up with with a certain degree of caution.’

This is better. Much better. One was good and served a purpose, but it weren’t enough. Now it’s like I’m back in the swing of things. I missed the work, see? I missed the work; the routine; I missed the love. Now it’s starting to feel like I’m doing something useful again.

Three is good.

Four would be better.

24

THE BUS BUMPED into a pothole, and Ken Beard nearly wet his pants. He squeezed down hard and gritted his teeth.

That was close.