Deadly Business (19 page)

We returned to the other two, hoping to see him there, retrieved and chastened. I was even prepared to see his sister’s palm print on his ear, indeed I’d probably have sanctioned it, but no palm print, no ear, no wee Jonathan.

I was in a panic, and so was Janet. Even Liam seemed at a loss. Fortunately Tom had his wits about him and took charge. ‘Mum, one more place to try,’ he said. ‘Home. He may just have gone back to Conrad. He’s upset about his mum being away, and about that …’ he paused, then continued, leaving the epithet unsaid, ‘… Duncan, because he thinks he’s come back and he’s terrified of him.’

I looked at Janet. ‘Does he know Susie’s ill?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she insisted. ‘Not from me, Auntie Primavera; I didn’t say a word to him. But I suppose … he’s such a sneaky little sod, and he’s good with computers, maybe he could have found out some other way.’

‘He’s not sneaky,’ Tom said, firmly. ‘He’s unhappy. He just wants to be back in Monaco and for everything to be okay but it isn’t. And if he’s right about Duncan, then it won’t be.’ He looked at Janet. ‘What about Susie Mum?’ he demanded. ‘Is she ill?’

I didn’t want the poor kid being interrogated, so I answered for her. ‘Yes, she is, Tom. I had to tell Janet eventually, because I couldn’t keep the secret any longer. I should have told you at the same time.’

He frowned at me. ‘I thought we didn’t have secrets, Mum,’ he said, the equivalent of a sharp jab to the solar plexus.

I wanted to hug him and tell him that we didn’t, but if I’d tried that I knew damn well he’d just have shaken me off. So I did a girlie thing: I gave him the big doe eyes, bit my lip and murmured, ‘I’m sorry.’

He shrugged. ‘You thought it was best.’ An acceptance of sorts. ‘Come on, Mum,’ he said, more gently, ‘let’s you and I go back home. We’ll probably find him hiding behind Conrad; that’s what he usually does when he’s in a mood. Janet, you should wait here with Liam, just in case he’s off sulking some place we haven’t checked and decides to come back eventually. If he does, don’t be angry with him; that won’t help.’

Twelve years old and he was firing out orders like an adult; and none of us even thought of questioning them. Instead, I pulled my shorts on, picked up my shoes and set off after him as before. Charlie made his own choice and followed, his lead trailing behind him.

We kept our eyes open as we crossed the beach and passed the dodgy toilet, but saw no lone child, not even any accompanied, that gave us a moment’s pause. Once we reached the path, Tom broke into a jog, with Charlie on a short lead, and I followed suit, keeping pace with him, my flip-flops still in my hand, for they would have been worse than useless. If he’d wanted, he and the dog could have run away from me, but he bore my years in mind, another sign that he was well in control of himself.

I had to put my flip-flops on when we reached St Martí. It was only then I realised that I’d left my keys in my bag on the beach. If Conrad had gone out … and wee Jonathan had come home, we’d probably find him on the front step, or, him being him, holed up in Charlie’s kennel.

But we didn’t. There was no dark-haired kid moping at the door, and the doghouse was unoccupied. Conrad hadn’t gone out either. We found him in the kitchen, seated at the table, working at his laptop. ‘Hi,’ he greeted us. ‘I’m emailing the housekeeper in Monaco, telling her to get the place ready for a full invasion tomorrow morning. Audrey asked me to phone her, but she’s out.’ Then he looked at us properly. ‘What’s up?’

‘Has wee Jonathan come back here?’ I asked him.

‘No,’ he replied, his tone turning the negative into a question.

‘He’s vanished,’ I told him, then explained what had happened.

‘Jesus!’ Conrad exploded. ‘Primavera! He’s been snatched. Primavera, you know how careful we have to be. I only let you go without me because Matthews was with you. Matthews! Bloody showbiz wrestler! I will kill him.’ I believe that he meant it. I stared at him, not knowing what to say when …

‘No, Conrad!’

The voice that came from behind me could only have belonged to one person, and yet it wasn’t him. It was deep, it was full, it was unmistakable and it was impossible. It was Oz’s voice. In the crisis, Tom had metamorphosed into his father, and if there was a single person in the world who could command the very formidable Conrad Kent, it was him.

‘It wasn’t Mum’s fault,’ he continued, in a tone that was more like his own, but not quite, with a serious edge to it. ‘It wasn’t Liam’s fault. It was mine. He told me he was going back to them and I didn’t take him, I let him go on his own, only he didn’t. So don’t be angry with Liam … and don’t ever shout at my mum again!’

Wow! I couldn’t love him any more than I do, but that put the cherry on it. He’d just nailed Conrad’s balls to the wall, and calmed him down in the process. ‘I’m sorry, Primavera,’ he murmured. ‘Tom’s right; that was uncalled for.’

‘And it’s forgotten, but tell me, why did you think automatically that he’s been taken?’

Conrad frowned and glanced at Tom, as if he was trying to give me a message.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think there’s anything you can say to me that I have to hide from my son, so shoot.’

‘There is,’ he countered, ‘but I’ll go this far. Two years ago I was warned that a group of English chancers were in Monaco, ostensibly on holiday, but in fact planning to snatch one of Oz and Susie’s kids and hold them for ransom. I was able to head it off.’

‘Well done the police,’ I said.

‘It had nothing to do with them. The tip came from a mafia kingpin; he approached me and told me about it. He said that the English team had approached a couple of his friends for help. It was a big mistake on their part. The mafia don’t approve of things like that, for two reasons: one, they have respect for children; and two, they wouldn’t do anything that would draw the kind of heat on them that a high-profile kidnap would bring. So they dealt with the problem.’

I didn’t ask how; Conrad was right in that Tom didn’t need to hear what I knew would be the answer. Instead, I asked him, ‘Why did he tell you about it?’

‘It was probably his way of letting Susie know that she was in their debt, but I didn’t tell her about it. I don’t plan to either.’

‘So these could be the same people?’ Tom suggested. He hadn’t picked up on the fact that the mafia don’t let people do encores.

‘Or similar,’ Conrad replied.

‘In which case, I don’t have any links to the local underworld,’ I told him, ‘but I am well in with the cops.’

I didn’t waste any time. I called Alex Guinart on his mobile, straight away. ‘Hey,’ he said as he answered, a smile in his voice, ‘sexy lady. How did your evening go, or shouldn’t I ask?’

‘No, you shouldn’t because this is serious.’

‘You want to make that complaint now? Couldn’t it—’

‘Bugger that! This is different.’ I told him what had happened and about Conrad’s suspicions.

He was all business, straight away. ‘Kidnapping would be unusual in this part of Spain. In the south, and around the Mediterranean, much less so. The first thing to do is set up roadblocks, and search the immediate area. Do you have a recent photograph of the child?’

‘Yes, on my computer. Tom and his sister are in it, but it’s only a week old.’

‘Then email it to me, and I’ll circulate it right away. Where are you?’

‘I’m at home, with Tom and Conrad. Liam and Janet are still on the beach, in case he shows up.’

‘Liam?’

‘The man you saw me with last night. If he had turned up, he or Janet would have called me.’

There followed a few seconds of silence. ‘This Liam, when did he arrive here?’

‘A couple of days ago.’

‘And now the child has disappeared. And you’ve left him on the beach with the other one?’

The enormity of what he was suggesting made me gasp. I turned my back on Conrad so that he couldn’t see my face and pick anything up from it. We were speaking Catalan, and he’d get nothing from that. ‘Forget that,’ I hissed. ‘He was one of Oz’s best friends, and I’ve known him for years myself.’

‘But you haven’t seen him for years either?’

‘No, but what you’re suggesting—’

‘I’m not suggesting anything,’ Alex said. ‘I’m only establishing facts. Send me that email, Primavera. There are two routes from where the boy was last seen; I’ll put blocks on those straight away and get his likeness to the people who are manning them. But we’ll need more than that; we have to search the surrounding area.’

‘In case he’s hiding there?’ I asked naively. ‘He wouldn’t do that.’

I heard an intake of breath. ‘No, Primavera; not in case he’s hiding.’

‘Oh,’ I murmured.

‘I would like you and Tom to go back along there. Your man Conrad, the children’s guardian, have him remain at your house. Tell him he’s manning the phones or any other pretext. I know what he is, and I know what he’s capable of. If the boy has been taken and we find him with someone, I don’t want him around.’

‘Understood.’

‘I suggest that you bring the child Janet back from the beach. She and Tom should stay with Mr Kent. If you can vouch for your boyfriend—’

‘He isn’t!’ I snapped.

‘You fooled me, if that’s so. He should stay where he is and you should join him there. We’ll need volunteers for the search.’

That’s how it panned out. Tom wasn’t happy at first; he wanted to join the search, but when I insisted that he’d be of most use looking after Janet and keeping her as calm as he could, he accepted that.

I took my jeep along to collect Janet, and all the stuff I’d left along there. I’d have been almost as quick on foot, but I was taking Conrad’s story seriously. I knew she’d be safe with Liam, and in the house, but with me, on an open pathway, maybe not.

I left the car at home once I’d delivered her and ran back. By the time I got there, Alex had arrived; he was in uniform, and in charge. Liam was waiting for me where he’d said he would when I picked up Janet, at the foot of the iron bridge. He looked as distraught as I felt; I hoped that it registered with Alex and that he’d apologise later for ‘establishing the facts’.

I have to record here my appreciation for the way the beach people rallied around. As far as I could see, everyone who didn’t have children of their own to look after had volunteered to join the search. The Mossos had an inflatable, crewed by divers; their job was to probe the little green river with poles, and investigate anything solid they detected. The rest of us were split into teams to cover the ground behind the beach, and to trawl through the adjoining campsites. Liam and I stayed together, searching the fields. They were uncultivated and that made it worse, for the grass was waist high and tangled, hampering our progress. There was one very scary moment when a woman, no more than twenty metres away from us, screamed and put her hands over her face. We rushed across, to find her standing over the rotting carcass of what had been a large dog. We spent an hour combing our assigned area then another retracing out steps, but in the end it was all fruitless.

Finally a whistle was blown, and we all gathered back at the starting point, where Alex thanked us for our efforts, and stood us down.

‘What do we do?’ Liam asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I confessed.

Alex came across to us. He shook Liam’s hand, and gave me a quick hug. ‘Keep your phone charged and switched on,’ he told me. ‘When I know something, you will too.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think,’ he replied instantly, ‘that the fact that we haven’t found him makes it likely that Mr Kent was right, that the child has been taken. Has anyone been in touch with his mother? She’s in America, you told me, Primavera, yes?’

‘Yes, but she’s probably started the journey home by now. I could probably get in touch with her, but what would be the point, with nothing positive to tell her? She’s a very sick woman, Alex.’

‘Then I leave that judgement to you. For now, you go home, you wait and you pray, if that will help.’

I nodded, and he left. I looked at Liam, and he looked at me; we must have made a distinctly uncool pair, in our crushed and sweaty beach gear. Suddenly I felt exhausted. ‘I need some time,’ I murmured. ‘Let’s go to your hotel.’

‘Yeah.’ He slipped his arm around my waist and half carried me there. It wasn’t far, only a few metres along the path. He picked up his key from reception and led the way up to his room. As soon as he closed the door behind us, I collapsed into his only chair, and did something very un-Primavera-like. I burst into tears. He knelt beside me and hugged me as I cried it out, and I loved him for it. I couldn’t have done that in front of Tom and certainly not with Janet around.

When I’d composed myself, I patted his arm, to let him know I was all right. ‘I need to get back,’ I said, ‘but God, I’m filthy. Can I have a shower?’

‘Of course.’

I pushed myself out of the chair and stripped naked where I stood. He’d seen everything else, so there was no point in being coy about the rest. I went into the bathroom and stood under a barely warm spray for five minutes, flushing the grime, sand and sweat off me and shampooing it from my hair. When I was done, I wrapped myself in one of the robes that hung behind the door, and let Liam take my place. I was still wearing it when he came out in the other one, but I’d put my shorts back on. My bikini was definitely done for the day, maybe for ever. ‘Do you have a top I can borrow?’ I asked.