The Hunted Child Read online

  Maybe she’d been locked out by someone else. Clearly, the word wasn’t out about her, which she found strange. If the service had thought her to be rogue or if the service was operating on a different level, it’d be nothing to lock her out from the police station, advise them she wasn’t welcome. The police wouldn’t have to arrest her or anything, just simply advise where she stood and to keep her out of their own buildings.

  Kirsten started to delve online, searching up anything about the Waters family, but she found nothing of interest. They seemed to be a rather bland family in a lot of ways. Innocence probably had taken the most exciting step in their life by seeing someone killed in after what may have been the last fun instance of their life. Kirsten wanted to talk to the mother, see if she knew where they would go, where they would run, but she was feeling frustrated by having to keep herself in the dark. She tried accessing bank accounts, but without going through the service portal, it was difficult. Instead, Kirsten brought up the OS map of the area around Stornoway, working out where Ollie Waters and his sister could go. If they didn’t have a car, walking would be conspicuous. You would get seen as the roads heading out had no pavement. It was fairly obvious if you were on foot. They’d need to take something, something to get them on their way and clear. Could Ollie hire a car? Would he steal one? That was something to ask.

  They could have located themselves on the castle grounds, but that was about to be searched with the police taking the lead. If they hadn’t have gone there, they’d had to go into someone’s house surely. You wouldn’t have headed out to the moorland. Sure, there would be occasional shielings, small concrete houses used by peat cutters, more in the old days than currently. Or possibly the odd caravan stuck out by a peat bank, but it was a pretty bleak existence. Kirsten was unsure just how aware of the island structures the pair would be. It was doubtful they would go back to somewhere like Callanish, and Kirsten wondered, did they even know whereabouts it was on the island? But did they know anywhere? That was the key question, and one she was not resolving.

  Kirsten heard a knock on the door and invited the person to come in. Ellen stepped inside.

  ‘Sorry to bother you, Kirsten, but I had one of your guys on the phone asking if you were here. I said, yes, and I’m getting you to come to the phone, but the line seemed to go dead.’

  ‘Did he give a name?’ asked Kirsten.

  ‘Richard, that was what he said. Do you know him?’

  Kirsten nodded, clicked the close function on the screen in front of her and waited until she was sure that everything had shut down. She walked over and extended her hand towards Ellen.

  ‘Thanks for your help, but I need to get moving.’

  ‘Do you want me to say where you’ve gone?’

  ‘No,’ said Kirsten, ‘and I haven’t told you anyway, so don’t lie. Just tell them I didn’t say.’

  ‘Okay, are you in trouble?’ asked Ellen.

  ‘In this job, you can never be sure whether you’re in trouble, out of it, or causing it,’ said Kirsten.

  ‘If you need somewhere, you can always stop at mine.’

  The offer was a delightful one, born out of concern from a former colleague, but Kirsten shook her head. There was no way she would put the girl in the firing line. This was Kirsten’s path to walk, and she didn’t want to bring anybody else into it unsuspectingly.

  ‘No, I’m fine. I’m better off out on my own. Just say what you know.’

  ‘But I know nothing,’ said Ellen.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Kirsten. ‘Now I need to move. Thanks again for your help,’ and she shook the girl’s hand. As they walked back down the corridor to the front desk, Kirsten asked if she could leave by the rear exit.

  ‘Of course, you can.’ Kirsten departed via the rear door into the car park behind the station and pulled the baseball cap down over her face again. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching. When she couldn’t see anyone, she walked round and past the front of the building, clocking two men sitting in a car just up from the entrance. One was reading the newspaper and the other seemed to be scanning his rear-view mirror and both wing mirrors. For a stakeout, they were incredibly unsubtle.

  Kirsten kept walking, knowing she would’ve been tailed had she have come out the front. She made a left into the street, just above the police station. As she walked along, she saw another car, this time with a man and a woman in it. As she walked past it, the two started to embrace and kiss, but without looking to her right, she noticed that the woman’s eyes were open and looking out of the car, focusing on her. Kirsten reached the end of the street, turned left, and ran. As soon as she saw a street with rear gardens, she hopped over a fence into one, and started making her way along over each hedgerow. One older man was sitting, pulling a plant, when Kirsten popped up beside him.

  ‘What in blazes are you doing?’

  ‘Sorry, tad lost,’ said Kirsten and vaulted over the next fence. She heard the man grumble as she continued on her way, but soon she was down towards the castle grounds. Kirsten lingered by some of the emergency vehicles, and managed to pick up a yellow bib, putting it around her shoulders and marched off into the grounds as if she had a purpose. She continued to walk through the grounds, out the other side, until she got to a small patch of woodland, where she stepped off the path, locating herself behind a couple of trees. She would need to make a phone call quietly, but at least she knew she’d shaken her tail now.

  Somebody badly wanted her closed down, unable to complete her task of bringing the girl in. Kirsten wondered who. But one thing she was sure of was that these were not agency people following her around. She felt they were sloppy and she had been trained better than them, so much so that clocking them on the stakeout was obvious. That being said, she was out on her own as was Ollie and her sister. If she was doing her research, other parties would be too.

  The research was proving a problem. She was good at this sort of thing, but she didn’t have time and she didn’t have space to do it. If it was somebody inside the organisation that was trying to close her down, she might be able to assume that most of its workers were merely following orders. If they hadn’t locked her out, she might be able to talk to one of them, get some information like she normally would. Who strictly knew about her mission? Not many. Kirsten picked up her mobile phone, dialling a number for someone she knew within the service. Richard had always said that Anna never really trusted Justin Chivers, the section’s computer geek. The man could find anything, having great expertise in trolling through records, collecting data from here, there, and everywhere. He was perfect for what she needed. Even if he was a slime ball, it was time to talk to Justin.

  Chapter 14

  ‘Justin Chivers.’

  ‘Hi, Justin. I haven’t caught you at a bad time, have I?’

  There was a momentary intake of breath, and then what sounded like a little bit of scurrying. Justin gave a cough and Kirsten heard a door shutting. ‘You don’t normally call my phone, not this one. It’s the private number I gave you.’

  ‘And? If you gave me a number, of course, I’m going to call it.’

  ‘I gave you it for, how shall we say,’ said Justin, ‘romantic liaisons. Somewhere where you could ask me about things outside of work.’

  ‘What makes you think I’m not asking you about that now?’

  ‘You’re out on a job somewhere. I can tell this. If I really wanted to, I could probably hack in and find out where you are. I find it a little strange that you’re contacting me. Richard said you’d gone dark.’

  That was something, thought Kirsten, Richard said I’d gone dark. The agency wouldn’t be expecting me to contact, and yet it’s been blocked. Lines to Anna are blocked. If I phoned in, it would be directed to Richard or Anna anyway because of my status. That put a different face on it.

  ‘I am dark,’ said Kirsten, ‘and I need your help.’

  ‘You know I should refer you straight to Anna. It’s not my place to take stuff li
ke this. You’re meant to place it with Anna or Richard, and they filter it to me when you’re dark.’

  ‘Where are you at the moment, Justin? I heard a door close.’

  ‘It’s my special phone, so I didn’t want anyone to hear in case I had to put on my Romeo voice.’

  Kirsten found herself shaking her head. If she hadn’t been sitting behind a clump of trees, hiding away from the rest of the world, she might have burst out laughing. Justin Chivers was the world’s worst Romeo. If anything, he was a lech. Kirsten pitied the poor woman who ever got involved with him, but he wasn’t an idiot. If anyone was calling him, he knew how to keep separate private business from work, at least while he was in the office. What he would tell them in the bedroom was entirely another matter.

  ‘Justin, I need you to start looking into the Waters family again.’

  ‘I did that. We’ve searched them. I’ve put everything up on Anna’s desk. You should have it all.’

  ‘I don’t, so you’re going to have to run it to me.’

  ‘What do you mean you don’t?’

  ‘I had certain details when I started this job, the briefing and that, but I need something deeper.’

  ‘I’m all ears,’ said Justin, ‘Go on.’

  ‘The girl that saw the killing, Innocence Waters.’

  ‘You mean the one tied in with Collins?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘You’re involved in that? I heard there was a couple left dead in Stornoway this morning.’

  ‘Justin, don’t talk about it. I need you to do something for me.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Justin, ‘but you know I’ll have to flag it up. I’m happy enough to get you this stuff, but you know I have to put it up the line. You’re dark, and you’re coming to me for information. That’s fine, but I have to flag it.’

  ‘No, Justin. You don’t.’

  ‘What do you mean, I don’t?’

  ‘I said you don’t. You need to keep this between you and me.’

  ‘Kirsten, what’s going on?’

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘In work. Where do you think I am?’

  ‘That’s not what I meant,’ said Kirsten, ‘I mean whereabouts in work are you.’

  ‘Inverness. They pulled us up here when everything went down with Collins. I’m working out of your office.’

  ‘Where’s Richard?’

  ‘What is this?’ said Justin. ‘He’s here with me, but what is this?’

  ‘Are you due lunch soon?’

  ‘Well, yes.’

  ‘Maybe you want to go for lunch,’ said Kirsten, ‘and I’ll call you.’

  ‘I can call you. I’ve got the number here. I take it this is a pay as you go.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well,’ said Justin, ‘I’ll call you back, hang on to it, and you can dump it after.’

  ‘You know I should dump it now.’

  ‘Hey,’ said Justin, ‘you’re the one coming to me. You’re the one saying you can’t talk here. I’m open. I’m ready. I’m available.’

  ‘Do you tell all your women that?’ Kirsten couldn’t help herself. She knew she shouldn’t have done it afterwards.

  ‘Hey, there’s no need for that. You’re asking me to go out here on my limb for you. You may not want to take me into your bedroom, but the least you could do is show me a bit of respect.’

  He is right, thought Kirsten, but he’s such a lech it’s hard to give him credit when credit’s due.

  ‘Okay, I’ll ring you in twenty minutes. Is that enough?’

  ‘Yes, but what are you going to need from me? Should I be taking my laptop with me?’

  ‘I’m going to need you to delve into things, and I want you not to have it on any record.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ said Justin, ‘I’ll take my own then, not the work’s.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Kirsten, ‘Twenty minutes. I’ll call you in exactly twenty minutes.’

  ‘Yes, yes, I know the protocol, but this better not get me into any trouble. You know some of them here are just looking for an excuse to kick me out.’

  ‘You shouldn’t put your hands where they’re not wanted,’ said Kirsten. She then heard him take a deep intake breath. ‘Before you say anything, no smutty jokes about me and where your hands are going.’

  ‘As if I would,’ said Justin in a completely unconvincing tone. ‘Twenty minutes.’

  Kirsten hung up the phone. Something was going on. She hadn’t declared herself to have gone dark. They knew she was operating and trying to find someone, but she wasn’t dark. She didn’t have the asset properly, not anymore. She’d called in to deliver, and it was somebody completely different who tried to kill her.

  The next twenty minutes were a hell for Kirsten. She had questions to ask, things she wanted Justin to talk about, but she had to wait patiently. She would ring him, make it look as if he was getting an opportune phone call. She really hoped nobody was watching him as he went for his lunch.

  Exactly twenty minutes later, Kirsten placed her call. ‘Hi, mum,’ said Justin.

  ‘I hope that’s not the way you really see me,’ said Kirsten, ‘but don’t say anything else. I’m looking for anything around the brother, Ollie Waters. He’s got a Facebook page. I want to know where else he is online. I need you to dig out anything connected to the Isle of Lewis, possibly the Isle of Harris as well. In fact, expand out to the Hebrides, anywhere he can get to from Stornoway.’

  ‘I take it you mean the car’s running well. That’s how you would get there to get your flowers, isn’t it?’

  Kirsten reckoned Justin must be being watched. He was starting to talk like he was communicating with his mother. Maybe answering the questions could be a bit difficult.

  ‘I’ll just take a look for you, mom. You really should learn to do this surfing yourself. You’re lucky I’m in a cafe at the moment, and I’ve got my laptop with me. Yes, of course, I can use the phone, but you know how things are.’

  Kirsten sat and listened to Justin rabbiting on as if he was speaking to his mother. There was talk about the dog, what had happened to it. The lady across the road who had got run over the week before, and then the pensions were going down again. For fifteen minutes, he rambled on the phone without Kirsten saying a word. After the conversation took a spin into politics, and then back to general reasons for hospitalisation, Justin said something that made Kirsten suddenly hone in, ‘Forty-five miles to the west?’

  ‘Is that a place?’

  ‘That’s the thing about staying in these places, the sort of place you would go to if you wanted to get away from it all, mum. It certainly is. It’s like when you go down to the toy store if that was your starting point, you’d take the road out to the southwest. Oh, it’s well down. Well down. Well down past that fishing place, and then on out. A right after the terrace housing, you keep going down, then before you get to that load of rocks, you take the left and it’s the island on the right. The bridge? Yes, definitely the bridge.’

  Kirsten thought, Starting point, Stornoway and the roundabout at the toy store. Southwest road out, the terrace, Cameron Terrace, where she’d been. Towards the rocks, the Callanish Stones, take the left. You would drive out towards Uig taking a right onto Bernera, and it had a bridge.

  ‘Whereabouts.’

  ‘Wendy’s. That’s where it was. Wendy’s.’

  Kirsten thought quickly. Wendy’s, he must mean to the west over the bridge, where then? ‘How far west?’

  ‘250? It never cost that much.’

  250 metres to the west, thought Kirsten. ‘Then?’ she asked.

  ‘Nellie was there too, wasn’t she? What age is she now? Maybe two?’

  ‘North, two miles. Would it be two miles? Is that the spot?’

  ‘That’s where I would go, mum, if I was you. It’s certainly a great-looking place.’

  ‘How many people are watching you?’ asked Kirsten.

  ‘I’m not sure when they went, the Joneses, but I’m thinking it was
possibly three years ago. It seems a nice place.’

  Three people watching him. ‘You’re a star, Justin. Why are they there?’

  ‘It was their cousins that first recommended it. I’d always go and stay with a cousin if I could.’

  Kirsten got the message loud and clear, it was a place owned by Ollie and Innocence’s cousin. ‘Are they the same name?’

  ‘Yes, that’s what I said, the Joneses.’ Kirsten memorised the location detail. She needed to get a car, take it out towards Bernera. From what Justin was saying, he must’ve discovered a cousin called Jones out in Bernera, 250 metres west of the bridge, approximately two miles north.

  ‘I guess I better scrap this phone. I might need you again. Have a good lunch.’

  ‘Okay, mum.’

  ‘Thanks for that.’

  ‘You know anytime, I’d do anything for you.’

  Kirsten didn’t miss that one either. It wouldn’t be Justin if he wasn’t holding out his arm for a woman. She shook her head, closed down the call, and took the sim card out of the back of the mobile. Carefully, she snapped it and then threw it into the undergrowth. She took another sim card out of her pocket and placed it in. It was fresh and ready to go. Looking inside her jacket pocket, she picked out an ID and noted the driving license that came with it. She’d either have to walk up to the airport or down to the ferry terminal to pick up a car, which wasn’t ideal.

  Then she thought of the other hire company, the one that did the pickup trucks. Maybe that’s what she wanted. She’d certainly be much more in disguise driving around in a pickup truck, especially from the hire company. They were everywhere up and down the island.

  With that, Kirsten picked herself up and walked into town. Twenty minutes later, she was sitting in the front of a hire car. It turned out that they had no rucks but there was a car available. As she took the road out of Stornoway that she’d only come back on that morning, she felt tired again, but now at least she had somewhere to go. She would try and rest as she drove. Not always easy to do, but she needed to get on the move.