Hard Evidence

Bonner led the terrified girl to the ladder as Delaney turned back to Candy, who was pressed into the eaves space, the rotten joist creaking beneath her feet.

Delaney, still braced against the rafter, held his hand out again. 'It's over, Candy. Take my hand.'

Candy looked at him for a moment and Delaney could see the defeat in her eyes, eyes that were far, far old beyond their years. Given what had happened to her in the past, he wasn't at all shocked to see the desolation in them. 'I'm not here to judge you, Candy.'

'You're a policeman, aren't you?'

Delaney gestured with his hand again. 'Not much of one.'

She stood up carefully and moved slowly around the gaping hole in the floor, then cried out suddenly as the footing gave way beneath her, tilting her forwards. She lurched desperately to clutch Delaney's outstretched hand and, gripping each other tightly, they edged step by step towards the ladder in the corner of the loft.

Delaney held the ladder steady as Candy climbed down. Sally Cartwright waited at the bottom, handcuffs dangling from her hands, a triumphant smile barely held back from her young lips.

Candy looked around, startled at the large number of police in the room. There was no sign of either Jenny or Bonner.

'Jenny!' She tried to push past Sally, but the DC held her arms and a uniformed officer blocked her way.

'You're going nowhere.' Sally's voice was heavy with disgust.

Delaney stepped down. 'Where's the girl?'

'Bonner's taken her down to her father.'

Candy struggled, furious. 'You've let him take her? For Christ's sake, what have you done?'

Delaney stepped in front of her. 'What are you talking about?'

'Why do you think I took her from him in the first place?'

'You can explain all that down at the station. Candy Morgan, I am arresting you-'

Candy screamed in his face. 'I took her away from him because she's not safe with him. He's ill! Don't you understand that? Don't you understand anything? He's going to hurt her.'

Delaney looked at the naked pain in her eyes and came to a decision. He nodded to Sally and Candy. 'Come on.'

He ran down the stairs, followed by the two women. Bonner was talking on his mobile phone.

'Where the hell is she, Eddie?'

Bonner held the phone away from his ear. 'Boss?'

'Where's Jenny?'

Bonner shrugged and looked around. 'She was with her father.'

'You said she was going to be safe!' Candy screamed at Delaney.

Delaney glared at Eddie. 'What the bloody hell were you thinking of?'

'He's her father, isn't he? What's the problem?'

But Delaney had pushed past him, and was running out the front door.

20.

Outside in the empty street, Delaney could feel the heat bunching his shirt uncomfortably under his jacket. He ran the palm of his hand across his forehead, wiping the sweat away, and closed his eyes. He opened them again as Bonner came up to him. 'They've gone.' He sighed wearily and flicked a cigarette into his mouth.

'Sorry, boss.'

Sally Cartwright came out of the house, shutting her mobile. 'A squad car is on its way to Morgan's house.'

Delaney nodded bleakly. 'Time to break out the raincoats.'

Bonner squinted up at the clear sky. 'Guv?'

'This is going to turn into a real shit storm.'

Jenny Morgan sat in the back of her father's car, watching his face in the rear-view mirror. She had never seen him so angry. The vein on the side of his neck was throbbing like a purple worm, and sweat was pouring off his furrowed forehead, staining his shirt. He gripped the steering wheel hard in his massive fists as if he was going to wrench the whole column out. She wanted to know where he was taking her, but she didn't dare ask.

At White City police station, the temperature in interview room one was no less cool. Candy Morgan took the cup of coffee that Sally handed her and smiled nervously as Delaney sat opposite her. She took a sip of the coffee and sat back in the chair, wrapping her arms around herself. She was shivering as though she was cold, but Delaney knew it was just the by-product of adrenalin kicking in. That and her memories. 'How long had you been speaking with her on the internet?' he asked gently.

'About two months.'

'And how did that happen?'

Candy looked down at the table, tracing her finger in small circles on the smooth wood.

'I'd been getting therapy.'

'Go on.' Delaney's tone was far from sympathetic.

Candy looked up at him, challenging. 'I guess you know my history.'

'Some of it. What's written in your records.'

'So I had some issues.'

'Yeah, I'd say you had some issues.'

'And I was dealing with them.' She shrugged. 'Trying to deal with them.'

'What's this got to do with Jenny?'

'It made me remember my childhood, what happened to me. And it made me think of Jenny and what would happen to her, and I wanted to stop it.'

Sally leant forward. 'So how did you make contact with her on the internet?'

'There are sites. Schoolroom contacts. Networking. It's not hard to track down someone if they are using their real name. And Jenny was.'

'But you didn't tell her who you were?'

'Not at first, no. I wanted to build her trust.'

Delaney loosened his collar. 'And what makes you think there was abuse?'

'She told me what was happening. I recognised the signs.'

'What signs?'

Candy looked away. 'I could see the way things were going. That's why I had to do something. Before it was too late.'

'What do you mean by too late, Candy?'

'I told you. He's a sick man.'

'You burned him?'

Candy snapped her head back up and met his gaze. 'That's right.'

'With a steam hose.'

'And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.'

'He must have really hurt you.'

Candy leaned forward. 'I tell you this much. If he's hurt that little girl, I'll finish the job. I don't care if you get to him first. He's not safe in prison. Not from me.'

Delaney looked at the feral anger in her eyes and didn't doubt it. 'Like I said earlier. Nobody's making any judgements here.'

Candy slammed her hand down on the table. 'I made a judgement!'

'Candy.'

'My father abused him and Jake. And because of that I guess Howard felt it was all right to abuse me. An old family tradition.' She looked at Sally. 'My mother died in a car accident; the brakes failed, they told me. I was twelve and Howard was twenty-four and it started the night of her funeral.'

'The abuse?'

'Kissing and cuddling and little games…' She broke off, swallowing the disgust that was rising in her throat.

Sally spoke soothingly. 'It's all right Candy. You don't have to say any more. Not right now.'

'Yes I do.'

They waited.

'Kissing and cuddling, just like Jenny told me he had started doing with her. And eventually…' She looked up at Delaney and smiled icily. 'And eventually he started fucking me. He got me pregnant.'

'What did you do?'

'What could I do?'

Delaney shrugged; again he had no answers for her.

'Howard had friends. An older woman. A prostitute.' She shook her head at the memory. 'She used a coat hanger. Howard reckoned it was just like cleaning a carburettor.'

'Do you think he would physically harm Jenny?'

Candy looked at him, her eyes wide. 'Haven't you been listening to a fucking word I've been saying?'

'We need to know what he might be capable of.'

Candy looked at him for a beat. 'I told you his father was physically abusing him.'

Delaney nodded for her to continue. 'But it wasn't just Howard; it was our mother too, and Jake. Not just sexual abuse. Real physical abuse; I mean, he really hurt them. All of them. Not me. I was too young, I guess, but I saw and I remember. And it didn't stop until I was five years old.'

'What happened to make it stop?'

'Howard happened.'

'Go on?'

'I guess he was seventeen, been out of school for three years, not that anyone cared, and was working with Dad in the garage.'