‘Arm in arm? That’s sounds a bit strange.’

‘I thought so too, especially as earlier they looked like they wanted to tear each other’s throat out.’

‘Where did they walk to?’

‘A pub, a parked car, I dunno.’

‘Did you get a glimpse of this man?’

‘Not really, it was pretty dark.’

‘Short, tall?’

‘Smaller than Christopher I think, but powerfully built. And you know, I think there was a kid too, lurking around.’

A kid? The phone interrupted Stevie’s thoughts. She left Holdsworth and moved to the corridor outside the interview room to talk to Monty.

‘Thought you’d want to know that the final forensic report is in on Kusak’s van,’ he said.

‘Go ahead.’

‘The long dark strand of hair found in Kusak’s van has been identified as belonging to Emma Breightling. It was matched with hair from the brush in her bathroom.’

She told Monty she needed to talk to him, pocketed her phone and thanked Holdsworth for his help and sent him on his way.

But on her way to Monty’s office she received an urgent page from Clarissa. Shit, everything seemed to happen at once in this place.

‘Make it quick Clarissa, something’s come up,’ she said as she pushed through the swing doors of the ops room.

‘Yeah, well this is important too. I’ve done some more digging on the Katy Enigma site and some of the stuff is pretty shocking when you look closely. A lot of stories by kids obviously trying to deal with issues of abuse. The poem you found was just a start.’

‘Yeah, ok, ok, go on.’ Stevie was itching to get upstairs and see Monty.

Clarissa clicked her mouse and opened a link. ‘This is a new one, it only came in this morning.’

Stevie stooped to peer at the screen.

Katy Enigma knew that she was the only one up to the task of eliminating the monster. She devised a cunning plan, which involved the staging of her own abduction. The plan was very risky, but she knew she had to attempt it or die trying.

She left a series of clever clues in her bedroom. She wasn’t sure if the police would get them or not, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the monster would understand and the monster would follow her to her secret hiding place. Once across the drawbridge and into the castle there would be no escape, and no one to hear his cries. He would be as helpless as any of his victims and Katy would make sure he suffered even more.

To kill a vampire you use a wooden stake, to kill a werewolf you use a silver bullet, but to kill the monster from under the bed you work slowly, using an ancient set of silver blades...

28

Stevie didn’t have time to wait for the lifts and took the stairs up to Monty’s office two at a time. ‘I think I know where Emma is; she’s at Stoppard’s showroom. The postcard on the teddy was obviously a clue, and Stoppard knew it too, that’s why he took it,’ she said as she burst into the office. ‘I’m going there now, only I need Tash...’

Monty gave little reaction to her words preoccupied it seemed with trying to reach into the pocket of his jacket hanging on the back of his chair.

‘Just a minute, Stevie, let me just get this. Hell...’ He put his hand to his chest. Sweat glistened in a pool at the base of his throat. His face had turned quite grey.

‘Monty, what’s the matter?’ she said, her own throat tightening in panic.

‘Just get my thing for me, I’ll be okay.’ He seemed to be having trouble pushing out his words.

‘What thing?’ Stevie desperately groped in his jacket pocket—coins, car keys—finally pulling out a small orange canister. ‘This?’

Monty nodded and took the Nitrolingual pump from her and administered a couple of quick sprays under his tongue in a way that told her he’d done it before.

‘Just a bit of chest pain,’ he murmured. ‘It’ll go soon.’

Stevie clutched his shoulders, the whereabouts of Emma Breightling now the furthest thing from her mind.

The medication began to kick in. Monty rubbed his hands over his face, slowly straightened in his chair and looked at her blearily. She put her cheek against his and ran her fingers through his hair. ‘You scared me. Thank god, thank God,’ she murmured over again.

He took her hand and kissed it. ‘Get going,’ he said. ‘Go and find Emma.’

‘Not until I know you’re on your way to hospital.’

‘I’ve had my spray, I’ll be okay now.’

Stevie shook her head, reached for the phone and called an ambulance, despite his protests.

‘How long have you had this?’ she asked after she’d put the phone down, trying to keep her tone free of recrimination.

‘Not long, the doctor said it’s just a bit of angina. It started in my jaw, I thought it was toothache—’

‘The toothache, of course.’

‘I’m booked in for tests next week.’

‘A bit of angina and you didn’t tell me...’ she stopped as she noticed his colour change and knelt again at his side and stroked his face. ‘It’s okay, I know now, but I wish I hadn’t had to find out like this.’

The light from the window shone on his hair and made it glow like the slanting rays of autumn. It was an observation she’d often made before, but not for some time she realised, with dismay.

‘Emma,’ he said.

‘I’ll go as soon as I know you’re okay.’

‘What made you think...?’

‘Everything’s beginning to fall into place,’ she interrupted, deciding it was better for her to do the talking and save him the effort of asking the questions. ‘I think Emma’s been suffering long-term abuse from Aidan Stoppard. The message board she and Bianca belonged to was mainly for kids with these kinds of problems. She’s run away to Stoppard’s place in the hills and is planning some kind of ambush there. The scalpels—remember how they were missing from Breightling’s safe?’

Monty shook his head. ‘You’ve got to be kidding. The kid’s got them? How did you—’

‘Sorry Mont, but we don’t have time for this right now. You just have to trust me.’

‘Always in a hurry, there’s never any time...’

‘Listen,’ Stevie cut him off. ‘Any idea where Stoppard is now?’

‘No idea. Maybe still with the Breightlings.’ He reached for the phone. ‘I’ll check with the officer who’s waiting with them.’

Stevie stopped him with her hand before he could punch in the numbers. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get someone onto him.’

Just then, Wayne knocked and entered the office.

Stevie climbed to her feet, still holding Monty’s hand. ‘He’s not well, I’ve called an ambulance.’

Wayne took in Monty’s pale face, the sweat beading on his forehead, and his jaw dropped. ‘Fuck, shouldn’t he be lying down?’

‘No, he bloody well shouldn’t be lying down,’ Monty snapped.

‘Well, he should at least calm down then,’ Stevie said.

Wayne was shuffling his feet, she could tell he was searching for something positive to report.

At last he said, ‘I’ve got Sammy Nguyen and a social worker in the interview room downstairs, boss.’

‘Good. Before you start though, we need to bring in Aidan Stoppard. Get some people onto that pronto. See if you can organise a full scale search of his country place, Chateau-by-the-Lake’

‘On what grounds? I can’t just pluck a search warrant from the air, Mont, I need some sort of evidence.’

‘Then leave it to me for the time being,’ Stevie said. ‘Tash and I will conduct the preliminaries, see what we can find.’

Monty washed his hands over his face. ‘You’d better go now. If you think you know where Emma is, go and find her. Take whoever you need. And be bloody careful, Stoppard could easily slip through the net, and God knows how he might react if he finds himself cornered. In fact, you’d better sign out for some side arms.’