A cool hand strokes her head. Thirsty
A plastic bottle presses against her lips and wet dribbles down her chin. Jenny swallows. Some of it goes down the wrong way. Splutter. Choke. Cough. Barbed wire in her throat.
Mummy helps her sit up. Are you OK?
She can see the bandages wrapped around each foot. Big lumps of white, with faint yellow-and-pink stains. Pins and needles stab and jab and tickle her little toes Which is silly, because she doesnt have little toes any more. She saw them go into the envelope with the shiny CD circle.
This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed at home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none.
And these little piggies are gone
The monsters are back. Theyre standing in the corner of the swirly room, with their names stuck to their chests and their metal voices. Maybe theyve come for more toes?
Im just saying, OK? I dont see why I have to be Sylvester.
Jesus, not again The one called TOM shakes his smooth plastic face from side to side.
I want to be Tom.
Tough: Im Tom. He settles back against the wall and crosses his white papery arms. Anyway, could be worse: you could be Christopher, thats like being Mr Shit.
Hey! COLIN hits him in the arm. He was a great Doctor!
My arse. Doing a runner after only one series. Only seems better cos they threw all that money into special effects.
Yeah. SYLVESTER nods. Sylvester McCoy wouldve been a great Doctor if theyd given him a decent bloody budget.
Silence. You are so fucking gay!
Yeah, more Gaylord than Timelord.
Fuck the pair of you
The door opens and everyone stops talking. They stand up straight like pale white soldiers. DAVID walks into the room.
He looks around, breath hissing in and out. Then the same, dead, robot voice as all the other monsters. Has she been given her antibiotic yet?
COLIN looks at the other two, then takes a step back. I was erm just about to start-
Well get on with it. He steps up so close that Jenny can almost see the horns under his crime-person suit. But she can see his tail: long and red, with a forky bit on the end, swishing back and forward like an angry cat.
COLIN picks up his little plastic box and hurries over. Opens it up. Pulls out another needle. Fills it with milk. I He glances at DAVID, then kneels down at the side of the bed.
Mummy flinches back. Dont hurt her!
COLIN reaches out and strokes Jennys hair with his rubbery purple fingers. Its OK. I just I have to give you a little injection to stop you getting sick. Is that all right? I cant give you tablets in case you throw them back up.
Jenny looks at him. His face looks like a dead person. Like Daddy in the box. Like the goldfish on the bathroom floor.
She reaches for him, little fingers grasping his sleeve. Please, dont dont take my toes away
Fuck COLIN rests his head against the stripy mattress. I wont, OK? Youre going to be fine. Its just a little scratch. He holds it against her skin. Sorry
She barely feels the jaggy needle as it goes in. Doesnt feel the bees sting. I want to go home
I know you do, sweetheart. I know you do. COLIN stares at the floor for a bit, then stands. Makes himself look bigger by putting his shoulders back, bringing his head up. He turns, and walks across the swirling room to DAVID. Then slumps. I cant do this any more.
Mummy strokes her forehead. Shhhh Itll all be over soon, and well go home. Dont be scared.
You know fine what you signed up for, Colin.
It Its different, OK?
Dont be an arsehole, we-
Youre not the one had to cut off a little girls toes!
Here, look, its Teddy Gordon. Mummy holds that horrible stitched-on smile in front of her. Twitches his head left and right, like hes having a fit. Like that girl in primary three they have to watch in case she bites off her tongue.
So what, youre chickening out? DAVID pokes COLIN in the chest.
Im He looks at his feet. You know what? Yeah, Im chickening out. Ive had it. Ive had it with this whole fucked up-
DAVID moves fast as a tiger. Grabs COLIN and thumps him into the scribbly wall. BANG the room goes left to right for a couple of twists.
You listen to me, you rancid little wanker: you dont get to chicken out. You do what your fucking told, understand?
You cant make me-
DAVID slams him into the wall again. And again. Then punches him in the tummy.
DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND? DAVIDs robot voice fizzes and crackles.
He lets go, and COLIN falls to his knees, crying. Holding his head in his purple hands.
DAVID backs away. Do your bit.
TOM twitches, then walks over and puts his arm around COLIN. Come on, you just need a bit of air, yeah? Yeah, course. Well go outside, get you a can of Coke, or something, OK?
He helps COLIN to his feet and out the door. It slams shut like a fist.
DAVID rolls his shoulders back, then walks over, till hes standing over Mummy, looking down at them both. Breath hissing in and out.
Mummys voice wobbles. Please, shes not feeling-
The antibiotics will take down her fever. Shell be fine. DAVID tilts his head to one side. As long as you both do as youre told.
But she-
Misbehave, and Ill execute the pair of you. Do you understand?
We-
Do we need to have another fucking talk about how this works? Silence. Well, do we?
He throws an arm out, it leaves oily trails in the air. Sylvester: key.
SYLVESTER shuffles his feet. Are you-
Give me the fucking key!
SYLVESTER holds out a little bit of metal and DAVID snatches it, then grabs Mummys ankle and unlocks the padlock that holds the chain around her ankle.
I didnt mean any-
Youre not on TV now. He grabs her arm and hauls her off the bed. This is my house, and in my house you do what youre fucking told.
The rooms spins.
I didnt mean any-
Youre not on TV now. He grabs her arm and hauls her off the bed. This is my house, and in my house you do what youre fucking told.
The rooms spins.
Teddy Gordon smiles his horrible smile.
Jennys missing toes throb. Oh yeah. DAVID drags Mummy away. Im going to enjoy this.
Please! I dont-
The door bangs shut. Like the lid on Daddys box.
Jenny feels warm tears rolling down her cheeks.
SYLVESTERs chin drops against his chest. Fuck
The room lurches like a drunk man.
Chapter 23
Well? Finnie folded his arms and stared around the room.
Logan tore another sliver of Sellotape from the roll and fixed up the last sheet of A3. That wall over there, he waved a hand at the dusty plastic sheeting covering the exposed breezeblocks and cabling, is all the notes and transcripts of the videos. That wall, he pointed at the corkboards hed managed to salvage from the builders skip out the back, is all the door-to-doors. Next to it youve got the interviews with Alisons friends, colleagues, and the people on her university course. Then its the TV people
He took two steps back, arms held out wide. And this is the timeline. Well, as much of it as we can piece together. Starts over there underneath the window three weeks before the kidnapping and ends with the toes being delivered to the BBC yesterday.
Superintendent Green pointed at the whiteboard propped up by the door. And this?
Kidnappers. We know theres at least three of them because of the first video one to hold the camera, one to haul Alison McGregor down the stairs, one to hit her over the back of the head. Im assuming theres one more to drive the getaway car. Well need to go through every report of a stolen vehicle for the last week: I dont see them being stupid enough to use their own car or van. We might get lucky.
Logan nodded at the whiteboard, split into four vertical columns headed: DAVID, TOM, #3, #4 with a small list of bullet points below each. One of them has medical training and access to a hospital or veterinary pharmacy. Ones probably a hacker, or an IT security specialist thats how they can send the emails and post footage to YouTube without leaving a trail. Ones highly forensically aware, which is why weve got no DNA, fingerprints, or trace evidence.
Green folded his arms across his broad chest, the fingertips of his right hand stroking the dimple in his chin staring at the list of bullet points under the #4 heading. Whos Ralph?
Logan tapped the whiteboard. Not who, what. Ralph is one of the text-to-speech voices that come bundled with the Macintosh operating system. Its the voice they use on the videos.
I see Green sniffed. And is this all youve done? Logan gritted his teeth. Next Im going to cross-reference the individual skills with every registered sex offender in-
You see, thats the trouble with never having investigated a kidnapping before. All this unfocused energy, flailing out in all directions.
He stared at Finnie, but the head of CID just rolled his eyes. Play nice. Dont rock the boat. Dont tell Superintendent Green to go ram a filing cabinet up his arse.
Logan cleared his throat. And what would you do, sir? With your wealth of experience?
Either Green wasnt very good at sarcasm, or he just didnt care. Id go back to the start.
What? With all due respect, you posing tosser thats what Ive been doing.
A smile. No, Sergeant, not the start of the investigation, the start of the crime. Dig into similar events: not just in Aberdeen, but Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle. Put it into context where did Alison and Jennys kidnappers get their inspiration from? Did they have a practice run? Is that where the first toe came from?
Silence. Search the archives. He patted Logan on the shoulder. Ten years or so should do it.
Bastard. This was just Greens revenge for making him look like an idiot last night.
Logan turned to Finnie again. You cant be serious, this is a complete-
In the meantime, I hear you have three sex offenders with access to veterinary practices. I take it youre planning on doing due diligence to make sure theyve been thoroughly checked out?
But DI Steels already doing-
Now, now. Finnie held up a finger. Superintendent, would you excuse us for a moment? Theres something I need to discuss with Sergeant McRae.
because hes a prick, thats why. Hold on. Logan jammed his Airwave handset into the gap between the steering wheel and the instrument panel, changed down, and swung the pool car around the roundabout onto Mugiemoss Road. Windscreen wipers going full pelt. You still hear me?