‘Did this man touch you at all, Jenny?’ asked the WPC.
‘Once, when he came into the room, I tried to run away but he caught me and carried me back. He threw me on the bed and said I wasn’t to try that again or it would be the worse for me.’
‘Apart from that?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Did he ask you to do anything for him, Jenny?’
‘He said to keep quiet. I was crying a lot and he said I should be quiet. He said I was a pain in his arse and I was getting on his nerves.’
‘Was there just the one man, Jenny?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you tell us what he looked like, Nutkin? Was he young or old?’ Steven asked.
‘Old.’
‘Old like Granddad or old like Daddy?’ asked the WPC.
‘Like Daddy.’
Jenny gave a reasonable, although childish, description of a well-built man in his thirties with dark hair who had taken her from the park, driven her to a cottage out in the country somewhere and kept her there all day. She had been fed and given colouring books to play with and, after falling asleep at some time during the evening, she had been woken up and returned unharmed.
‘It’s weird,’ said Grant.
‘Maybe he got cold feet when he thought about what he was doing,’ suggested his sergeant. ‘Abducting a child still gets you a lot more than a slap on the wrist, even in these “enlightened” times.’
‘Possible, I suppose,’ said Grant. ‘But I feel there’s something we’re missing here.’ He looked towards Steven who was also deep in thought and not liking what he was coming up with. ‘Jenny,’ he asked. ‘Did this man say anything to you when he brought you back?’
‘He said, “Here we are, kid. There’s no place like home. Tell your daddy that.’
Steven felt his blood run cold. Everyone was looking at him and he didn’t quite know what to say. He was suffused with feelings of guilt as he realised that he’d got the whole thing completely wrong. Jenny’s abduction had not been the work of some child-molesting weirdo from the darker wastelands of society, as they’d all been assuming. The whole thing had been a ploy to get at him. It had been another warning from Sigma 5 to get out off the case.
‘I think we should talk,’ said Grant.
Steven handed Jenny over to Sue and went through into the kitchen to speak with Grant who demanded, ‘What’s going on?’
‘They took her to get at me,’ said Steven. ‘It never occurred to me that they’d do anything like this.’
‘Who’s “they”?’ asked Grant.
‘I’m not sure myself,’ replied Steven although he was thinking about Childs and Leadbetter. ‘I’m working on a Sci-Med investigation in Blackbridge in West Lothian, a problem with GM crops. Let’s say my interest is not appreciated in some quarters. They’ve already had a go at wiring my car. I think this was yet another way of expressing their disapproval.’
‘You mean they kidnapped your daughter just to warn you off?’ exclaimed Grant.
Steven nodded.
‘Bloody hell, man. Whose toes have you been stepping on? The Mafia’s?’
Steven felt that to reply, ‘No, the government’ would sound even more ridiculous so he did not furnish an answer, instead he said, ‘The family’s going to need protection. I’ll square it with Sci-Med and get the paperwork rushed through but I’d be grateful if you’d put your best on it. We’re not dealing with amateurs here.’
‘I’ve a couple of officers who’ve done a stint with the Royal Protection mob,’ said Grant.
‘Just as long as they’re not republicans,’ said Steven.
‘How long are we talking about, here?’
‘Things will come to a head in Blackbridge quite soon,’ said Steven. ‘I can’t guarantee it but I feel it in my bones.’
The police left and Sue put Jenny to bed. The house became quiet as befitted the early hours of the morning and Sue and Peter made some tea and toast. Amazingly, Mary and Robin had slept through all the excitement.
‘God, what a relief,’ said Peter, when they were all seated. ‘It’s just so good to have her back. I must confess now that I feared the worst.’
‘I didn’t dare let myself,’ said Sue. ‘I just couldn’t bear to think about it, poor little sausage. Now are you going to tell us what it was all about, Steven?’
Sue caught him by surprise but Steven recognised that she and Peter were entitled to an explanation. He took a sip of his tea before putting the cup back down and resting both hands on his knees. ‘When you phoned me in Edinburgh and told me that Jenny had disappeared, I imagined the worst too,’ he said. ‘My mind was filled with nightmare thoughts about why she’d been taken and whatever way I looked at it, I feared the most likely outcome would be that they’d find her in some field in a few days time. It never occurred to me that Jenny’s disappearance had anything to do with me and my job but that’s what it looks like now. They took Jenny to get at me. They did it to warn me off the investigation I’m working on at the moment. I’m just so sorry that it has affected you and your family too.’
‘I didn’t realise your job could get you mixed up in anything like this,’ said Peter.
‘Neither did I,’ said Steven.
‘Can’t you ask to be taken off the case in the light of what’s happened?’ asked Sue.
‘I could but I think I’m in too deep,’ said Steven, ‘and it wouldn’t be fair to a new investigator. I’ve spoken to DCI Grant and he will provide police protection for all of you from now until the investigation is resolved but I do realise that this may all be a bit more than you bargained for…’
Sue held up her hand to stop him. She said, ‘Jenny is part of our family too, whatever daft things her father gets up to, so don’t go suggesting anything silly about moving her away. We’ll cope, won’t we, love?’ Sue took Peter’s hand and he smiled his assent.
Steven felt a lump come to his throat. ‘Thanks,’ he said, ‘I appreciate it.’
‘How would it be if we were to go away for a bit,’ suggested Peter to Sue’s obvious surprise.
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘We haven’t had a proper holiday this year as yet so it strikes me that this would be an excellent time. What d’you reckon, Sue?’
‘Sound good to me. Where?’
‘We could all go down and stay with my parents in Norfolk without telling anyone where we’re going. What do you think?’
‘Knowing that all you folks were all away somewhere safe would certainly be a load off my mind,’ said Steven.
Steven said that he would have to let DCI Grant know of the plan but apart from him, no one else need know.
‘Then it’s settled. Let’s all get some sleep.’
Jenny came out of her shell a little on the following morning under heavy questioning at the breakfast table from Sue’s children about her experience. ‘Did he have a gun?’ Robin wanted to know. Had she been tied up and blindfolded? Was she put in a sack?
Mary asked about the cottage she’d been taken to. Was it like the witch’s cottage in Hansel and Gretel? Was there a black cat there? All Jenny’s replies seemed disappointing to them. The whole experience had been much more prosaic than they had imagined. Steven was pleased however, he thought that talking about it to the others would be therapeutic for Jenny. She was still very subdued however.
This was even more apparent when they all went for a walk in the village to thank the people who’d taken part in yesterday’s search. Instead of scampering ahead with Sue’s children, as she would normally do, she positioned herself between Steven and Sue and held on to their hands tightly. At one point, when the whole family was laughing at something Robin had said or done, Steven noticed that Jenny wasn’t smiling and that her mind seemed to be on other things. He asked her gently what she was thinking about and she started to cry. ‘I was frightened Daddy,’ she confessed. ‘I didn’t like that man.’