The Message Read online

  Gladstone gripped her hand as the taxi driver appeared in reception. Olivia dashed to her car and sped off toward Hamsterley Mill.

  *

  Tom hadn’t heard the notification or felt the vibration of Olivia’s voicemail, or the direct call. The noise inside the ground had been immense ever since Newcastle had gone 2-1 up against the mighty Chelsea side. Still, he wasn’t feeling as elated as he would expect to be at the prospect of the score staying that way. He liked Newcastle United, but being a Londoner at heart he supported Spurs, and wanted Chelsea to lose. He was trying to think of how he was going to tell Olivia about his problem. When the final whistle blew and the home team had held on to the result, David asked if he wanted one more for the road. He nodded, feeling slightly guilty, and decided to ring home to see if his wife was back and her father had headed off home. The last thing he wanted was to have Peter poking his nose in again. When he saw that he had a voicemail, his first instinct was to ignore it, thinking it could be Olivia saying she was going to be late. He relented and made the 121 call. He almost slipped on a discarded burger pack as he took in the full implications of the message.

  “Dave mate, can you drive me home please, Peter’s in hospital. I need to find Kieron. He ain’t at the hospital according to Olivia. How can that be?”

  “Do you know what’s wrong with Uncle Peter?”

  “Not really, but Kieron is my concern right now. Let’s go, we can go to the hospital once we’ve found my kid.”

  They were held up by the dispersing crowd and the gridlocked traffic, but arrived at Hamsterley Mill ten minutes after Olivia had left, without finding any trace of the boy. The neighbours knew nothing, and were perplexed by being asked the same questions twice in such a short time.

  *

  Gladstone was concerned on two fronts. He looked into the intensive care unit to check on Peter’s status first, hearing from the registrar that the prognosis wasn’t good. The spasms had ceased, but all of the equipment he was hooked up to was displaying negative data. He’d never shown any sign of recovering consciousness. Gladstone knew he shouldn’t interfere, he’d been drinking, and he was going to have to deal with the police next. He also had to make it clear to Olivia that she couldn’t interfere either, there was a conflict, because this was her father. He told the registrar that Olivia had just called him to say Kieron had possibly come with Peter to the hospital because he wasn’t at home.

  “So Connor, have you seen a little boy looking lost around here, or in the car park?”

  “Not around here, but bear in mind there was a hell of a lot of commotion in A&E when the stretcher bearers called for serious and immediate back up. I haven’t been in the car park. Consequently I didn’t know anything about a little boy.”

  “Mmm. In that case, see if you can get somebody to arrange a search. I have to see the police, and that appears to be them arriving now. Get Olivia to join me as soon as she gets here, keep her away from theatre. Do not let her go near her father regardless of what she might say. Well, are we clear?”

  “Of course, I’ll tell security to get the search going immediately.” Unfortunately he got distracted by another emergency.

  *

  Detective Inspector Alan Jones offered a very limp handshake as he introduced his sidekick DC Martha Hall, and two uniformed officers. Gladstone reciprocated by asking them to follow him to a more appropriate place to explain what had transpired.

  “That can wait, I want to see where this man was attacked and get it sealed off. People are on their way who won’t want anything to be disturbed or contaminated. You can tell me the rest of what you know on the way.”

  Gladstone wasn’t used to being contradicted, especially by a scruffy, malodourous plod. He restrained himself by indicating he would find some appropriate person to show him to the scene. “I don’t know exactly where it happened myself, and I’m expecting the victim’s daughter to arrive any time. She’s a surgeon at this hospital and I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s a very strange situation.”

  “I assumed you were in charge around here, are you?”

  “I’m a senior member of the trust board which runs this facility, but my remit is…”

  “Well, either get another member of your board here and we’ll deal with them, or come with us. Somebody needs to facilitate what we need done, what we don’t want done, and give us access to records and other information. So, as I said, make your mind up, either come with us now or get on the phone. Time is important here, we don’t often get to the scene of a crime just minutes after the event, and we have to make the most of it.”

  Gladstone sighed and asked for the stretcher bearers to be paged to meet them at the main entrance. Jones tapped his feet for a few minutes. “How long is this going to take? They do work in this building don’t they?”

  “Yes, but may I remind you, DI Jones, that we have people dying, waiting for operations, in serious pain, and undergoing diagnoses all of the time? A hospital never sleeps.”

  “Ok, Ok, in that case let’s split our resources. You can explain exactly what happened to DC Hall, and I’ll go to the scene with your stretcher boys. They are the ones who found him aren’t they?”

  “Not exactly, someone returning to their car saw the victim lying on the ground and alerted A&E by mobile phone, I believe. The stretcher bearers attended the injured man and deduced it didn’t look like an accident, oh, here they are now.”

  “Jesus, then where is this guy who found the victim?”

  “No idea, you’ll have to ask these chaps, I haven’t been here much longer than you have. By the way, has anyone told you there may be a boy missing, the injured man’s grandson?”

  “No, of course they haven’t. I was told there had been aggravated assault, and the victim was in a critical condition, nothing else. This changes the whole situation, and time is now even more important, and it’s bloody Christmas Eve in a couple of days! Change of priorities I’m afraid Mr Glad…?”

  “Stone.”

  “Yes, well, where can I find both parents? You said the victim’s daughter works here. I want to speak with her and her husband if she’s married, or is there a boyfriend? You know what I mean. Right, Hall, you go with the stretcher guys and wait for SOCO, then see what you can find out about the man who found the victim, and then get him back here to speak with me. You see Mr Gladstone, time is very much more important if this boy has been taken.”

  Gladstone rubbed his shiny hairless dome and contemplated why the police had sent a scatterbrain to deal with the case. “Yes Jones, I think I know what you mean. Olivia, the boy’s mother is on her way, she needed to speak with the neighbours first, and check that Kieron wasn’t left at home by his Granddad. I’d like to be present when you speak with her.”

  “That’s not going to happen. You already told me you have other things to do, so get on with what you do best. I want to speak with this Olivia alone. This isn’t a request.”

  Gladstone’s internal pressure valve was approaching meltdown, but he caught sight of Olivia arriving and waved her over. She got started without introductions. “I’ve had a text and a call from Tom. The text started by confirming what I already knew – Kieron wasn’t at home. Then he found out from the neighbours that I’d just been there and rang me, blaming me for everything. The bastard said if I hadn’t gone out with my ‘cronies’ none of this would have happened. He’s right in a way, I suppose.”

  Gladstone tried to shut her up, introducing DI Jones. Her phone rang again. “Tom, what the hell do you want now?”

  Jones let the conversation continue.

  “What? You’re in the hospital car park and you think Kieron was in the car with Dad. How can you know that for sure?”

  Olivia dropped her phone and turned to Gladstone, not having taken on board that the other person was police. “Tom says Kieron’s new computer tablet is in the back seat. He’s right, there’s no way my son would leave that behind. He just got it two days ago and it’s never b
een in Dad’s car before.”

  Jones slow smile belied his intent. He rang DC Hall and asked her to bring this Tom to reception. Turning to Gladstone he whispered, “I need two separate interview rooms, can you arrange that? Anytime in the next five minutes will do. This lady will stay with me until I say otherwise.”

  Chapter 3

  Jones was hell-bent on speaking with the parents separately. But first he had to regain control of his hospital phobia. The sight of dozens of people being wheeled around on trollies, suffering and moaning with pain unsettled him. Added to that, the omnipresent signage gaped at him in blood red letters, pointing the way to some department or other with the potential power to admit the unsuspecting pilgrim of faith in medicine. However, the most common route to his destabilisation was the smell, a waft of antiseptic mixed with body fluids usually did the trick. He struggled to guide Tom to an empty office, while DC Hall followed Olivia to her desk, and then closed the door. Tom queried the procedure. “I don’t get this detective, we’re supposed to help you find our son. He’s our son, so Olivia needs to be here. I want her here now.”

  “Calm down Mr Radford-Wickham, we’ll get to that in good time. Just a few….”

  “I said now! And my name is Wickham. Look, when you’ve done your homework you’ll find I already have a criminal record for something I didn’t do, so we may as well get this out of the way now. I know how these things work. If I’m suspected of anything you have to explain what it is to me, if I ain’t a suspect then I’m just helping you with your enquiries. In which case I’m free to choose whether or not I want to do that at this time. Kieron is missing and we need to be looking for him now. So, unless Olivia is present and we quickly tell you everything we can about our son, I’m walking out of here. He might be hurt, or lost, or God forbid someone might have harmed him. He was in Peter’s car. He’s gone, probably terrified, otherwise he wouldn’t have left his computer in the bloody car. Has anyone told you he has neurological problems? For him, this situation is like a pet being forced close to a fireworks display. Are you hearing any of this?”

  “Yes, I mean no. Yes I hear you, and no, I wasn’t aware of the boy’s medical condition. Let’s join your wife and DC Hall. But we’ll have to speak with you separately at some time, simply because you were apparently at two different locations when Peter Radford was attacked. Also, we can’t rely purely on your supposition that because one of your son’s gadgets is in the car that it is proof he was there as well. The forensics may confirm that, but we can’t assume anything yet.”

  They marched along to Olivia’s office and Jones was treated to a lecture on the technical nature of Kieron’s affliction by his mother. Jones asked DC Hall to check with the uniformed officers to determine whether they had located the man who’d found Peter Radford lying injured, and if so, find out whatever else he’d noticed. Turning to Tom and Olivia, he was about to speak. Tom intervened yet again, on the verge of losing all self-control

  “I apologise in advance for telling you how to do your job, detective, but if we, the parents are being prevented from helping to search for Kieron, you have to tell someone else to get on with it. He has no road sense and will just jaywalk without thinking. This is a busy area, surely you can get some of your squad cars to comb all of the hospital exits for a start. I’m talking pronto, or we may have another casualty on our hands which could have been prevented. Olivia and I can tell you our bloody life story at any time, even as we’re looking for Kieron. Come on man, are you made of fucking stone or what? Well? Answer me, or I’m going to walk out of here and start asking questions myself.”

  Olivia recognised the pattern. Tom regularly shifted from being sanguine and calm, to some other person, threatening yet still logical. The next ramp up would probably involve kicking out at inanimate objects and becoming uncontrollably abusive, even to those he loved. In this instance however, she had to agree with him. “Inspector, Tom’s right, that little boy will be distraught by now, and I’m going to join my husband in looking for him. You’ll have to arrest us to prevent us. Don’t you have any children yourself?”

  Before he could reply, the door opened and a breathless DC Hall stuttered uncharacteristically, “S-Sir, the man you wanted to speak to ha-has had a seizure, and is with, with a special…specialist. They won’t w-won’t let me speak to him. You’d better come to reception.”

  “Ok, calm down Martha, good work. Take Mr and Mrs Radford-Whatever to the uniformed boys for now, and get back on to HQ for assistance in searching the grounds for the boy.”

  He raced to reception and demanded to see Gladstone. He was casually informed that the man who’d found Peter Radford had been to the hospital for a regular battery of tests for a serious heart condition. The discovery of the injured man had triggered a delayed trauma build-up, and he couldn’t be disturbed at this time.

  “I still want to speak with Gladstone.”

  “Very well, I’ll page him, but Mr Wallace isn’t under his supervision.”

  “Wallace, well that’s a start. First name?”

  “Let me see, aha, Derek, Derek James Wallace.”

  “Now please get me Gladstone, he can still help me. Chop-chop darling, we’ve got two punters who might not make it, and a little boy’s life might be at stake. I know it’s a bit inconvenient but that’s what we’ve got. Two stiffs can’t help me.”

  Meanwhile, Tom and Olivia joined the uniformed police and stretcher bearers in asking everyone entering or leaving the car park if they’d seen a small child wandering around alone or with an adult, or even in another car. David, unaware of all the frenetic activity, was still consuming caffeine from a machine, waiting for news on his Uncle Peter. He caught sight of Olivia through a window and she waved at him, to help in the search. It suddenly struck Tom, in one of his fleeting moments of crystal clarity, that neither he nor Olivia had made a thorough check of the house. Driven by concern for Kieron, panic had dictated their actions, independent of one another.

  “Olivia, did you check the landline when you went home to look for Kieron?”

  “No, I didn’t want to waste any time, because I thought he must have been with Dad. I expected to find him here in the care of one of the nurses. Why?”

  “Because I did exactly the same. We ain’t had time to find out why your father came to the hospital. By ‘we’ I mean ourselves, the police, and the hospital staff. I’ve just fully appreciated at this moment that he wouldn’t have left his grandson with anybody, whatever the reason might have been, in order to drive here. Think about it again, he should have called you at the dinner. Failing that he could have tried my mobile, but there’s no missed call on my list. You found out about your father from the hospital people, and you said you left a message on our home phone because nobody picked up. You also asked Kieron to send you an email if he picked up the message later. All of our landline calls are recorded, but we haven’t checked to see if anyone actually called while your father was home with Kieron. Something must have happened to convince him to drive here without informing either of us. We have to go back there and check it out, at least one of us does.”

  She nodded and suggested he should go. “One of us needs to stay here Tom. You’re more likely to wind up Jones if he doesn’t get a grip of things here, so I’ll keep on his case. You’d best just sneak off quietly. Ring me when you get there. Here, take my car.”

  *

  An exasperated Ian Gladstone confronted DI Jones. “Just what is it that you think I can do for you detective? I should remind you that I’m not here in an official capacity. I came from the Christmas staff dinner to support Olivia, in this awful business. I’ve had a few drinks, so for professional reasons alone, I should not be involved in any ongoing procedural activity, not even in an advisory capacity.”

  “Yeah, Yeah. But you still want to help Olivia and all of her family don’t you?”

  “Of course. In what way do you think I can do that?”

  “Well, it seems as if Pe
ter Radford isn’t going to help anytime soon, but this other chap, Derek Wallace, he must have spoken to several people before he suffered a delayed seizure. The emergency switchboard for starters. Then the stretcher guys. Then he must have come back here before he had a bad turn, surely?”

  “Maybe. So you want me to use my knowledge of who he may have spoken to after the stretcher bearers took Peter Radford to admissions.”

  “That’s exactly what I’d like, we’re on the same team Doc. The sooner I can establish who said what, and the order they said them in, the sooner this investigation is likely to move away from the hospital. That is, except for the forensics squad, that could take a bit longer. Oh, and I’d like anyone who has been, or will be within touching distance of Peter Radford to give DNA swabs. We have to start eliminating people so that we don’t waste time later. I guess that includes this Wallace chap, and yourself of course. ”

  “Very well. Follow me.”

  DC Hall ran along the corridor and tapped Jones on the shoulder. “We’ve got units at every exit now sir. One of the uniform lads we brought with us has found a scarf. In the grounds. I’ve bagged it and given it to forensics, but we should let the parents see it.”

  “Great, well done Martha, do it.”

  Chapter 4

  The allocation of squad cars from Traffic Division had trickled up the chain of command. In the wake of this, two aspects of the case changed dramatically. The media had, until now, shown lukewarm response from their field sources over a GBH incident at one of the city’s hospitals. Such events weren’t uncommon, even in a hospital car park, road rage wasn’t always left out there on the streets. However, links to a missing child was something entirely different. It wasn’t clear if some busybody from the hospital itself had leaked Kieron’s disappearance, but it directly provoked change number two. Jones’ mobile vibrated, and then his demeanour became equally ‘irritable.’ It was his direct superior, DCI John Prentice.

  “Where the hell are you Jonesy? I’m at reception, and I’m looking at a mess. There are people everywhere looking for this boy. You should be on top of this. Get your arse to the main entrance, like yesterday!”