The following day, they learned that the arm belonged to Jeremy West, the missing boy in the case DI Watkins was pursuing. Watkins issued a new appeal, hoping the recent disappearance of Christie Taylor would stir up more interest in Jeremy West, who had disappeared over two weeks earlier.
Lewis studied the air a while, then rose from his desk decisively. Hathaway cocked his head, curious.
"I need to hit the street, Hathaway, see if any of the more criminally-aware populace knows something about this that we don't. I'll call in every two hours; if I don't, something's happened." When Hathaway learned the areas Lewis planned to visit, he balked at the idea.
"Sir, you shouldn't be on your own for this. I'll drive separately, just so I'm close."
"They'll see you, Hathaway. As it is, I'll have to loiter for an hour to get approached. They can smell the cop on us, man. I'll be okay. It's not even dark yet."
Although he did not have any luck finding the first two informants he sought, Lewis did not have to wait as long as he had expected in the run-down area of the council estate.
"Robbie! You must be looking for me. Either that or they've pulled your badge and you're on the dole and going to be my new neighbor?" A rather thin, middle-aged woman approached him as he loitered on a street corner.
"Sparkle, love. You look good." She snorted at his blatant lie. She looked ill-used and hardened, but her smile for Lewis was genuine.
As was his. "Seriously, are you doing alright? How's your daughter?"
"Doreen is in nursing, did you know? Up in Manchester. She's met a fancy man who's quite in love with her, and he's paying for it. Imagine, my daughter, a nurse!"
"That's great! My daughter, Lyn, is in nursing at Manchester, too. I wonder if they've met. What a small world."
Sparkle eyed him with a twinkling look. "Now I suppose you want something from me. And I don't suppose it's what men always used to want. Though I wouldn't mind a little bit with you, Robbie. What can I do for you?" She took his hand and pressed it to her left breast.
He kept it there while he spoke, squeezing her a little. "You're trying to distract me, aren't you? What I'm wondering is how much you can tell about some recent child abductions. Not just here, but Surrey and Wiltshire, maybe London. What's going on?"
She was clearly enjoying his touch. "Mmm, how nice can you be to me? I might know quite a bit if you're very nice."
He took his hand away. "Aw, now, you know I can't have fun while I'm on the job. Would this do instead?" He took several notes out of his wallet.
She sighed with exaggerated disappointment. "One of these days, Robbie, I'll get in your trousers." She took the offered money and grew serious. "There's a kiddie porn operation, moved in from the north, I think. Out west of Hinksey somewhere. Most times, I mind my own business and let other people mind theirs, but this is nasty stuff. They've been flogging their garbage around here and down in Blackbird Leys, but most of the higher-quality product goes to London."
"What kind of product, everything?"
"Pretty much, yeah. Print, DVD, I've heard they even do live stuff on the Internet. They sell direct with their own salesmen, no set location." She peered at him. "Robbie, they're going to be tough to track down. And they're not nice men. They've roughed up a few would-be competitors and one of my neighbors, who threatened to report them."
"So they're kidnapping their child stars, is that it?"
"I don't know where they get the children from, but it's not a regular job for a boy or girl, now, is it?"
"What do they do for their . . . 'retirement' plan, shall we say?"
"They're not nice men, Robbie. That's all I'm saying."
"West of Hinksey, nothing more specific than that?"
"Sorry. An empty building somewhere west of Hinksey is all I've heard. I'll try to find out something more specific, love. You come back and see me again, okay?"
Lewis returned to the office and reported what he had learned. As they were writing up their new notes, Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent came over to the white board and read over their shoulders.
"You'll be wanting to compare notes with DI Haines, I should think, Lewis. Vice may have information on the material being produced by this operation." She continued to read, then frowned.
"You've only talked to the mother, this Jenny Taylor, once so far? Maybe she has a boyfriend who's involved in this pornography ring."
Lewis scowled. "I've talked to her one or two other times, but she's had no new information. I'm quite certain there's no boyfriend. But I'll call her again."
When they were back in the office, Hathaway just had to ask.
"I didn't know you'd talked to Jenny Taylor again, you never said."
"Oh, aye, I wanted to make certain she was doing alright. She seemed pretty broken up when we took her statement. I took her for a drink a couple times is all."
"A couple of times? When did you even have time for that?"
"Well, the night the appeal aired, for one. I thought it might have upset her to hear it. And then when I went to get the hairbrush from her. She's not from here and doesn't have anyone else to talk to." His eyes lost focus with the present.
Hathaway was quick to pick up: And neither does he. A wicked little smile played at the corners of his mouth. A little teasing might be fun here.
"You know, I got the impression she fancies you."
"Did you?" Still wrapped in his thoughts, Lewis totally missed the wind-up.
Hathaway shifted strategy with the new information this response provided.
"I rather think you fancy her, too."
Lewis was visibly pulled back to the conversation at hand.
"Mind your own business, alright?"
Hathaway knew when to stop prodding.
Lewis put Hathaway in charge of seeing what DI Lizzy Haines could provide regarding contacts in the pornography trade and any other information she might have concerning a relatively new, child porn operation in the Oxford area.
"Take me out for a pint, James, and I'll tell you everything I know, okay?"
While they sipped their beers at The Trout, she filled him in on what she knew about the sales side of the business.
"They've filled a vacancy that opened up after we took down a big operation last year. They're fairly mobile and hard to track. Even the production side can pack up and leave wherever they're squatting at a moment's notice. The product features children of both genders, pre-teen. Most of it is pricey stuff and attracts what you would think of as a better class of clientele if you didn't know what they were up to in their free time."
She took a long pull from her pint.
"We think the brains of the outfit is a man named Matthias Jackson. He's a member of the Blackbird Club, and that's where he makes contacts for high-profit, high-volume sales."
"Oh, I've heard of that club. I think the Chief Super's husband is a member. Can't you set up a sting?"
"Unfortunately, all the Vice officers are known and it's not something we trust to a civilian plant. He's a dangerous man. No one actually dealing with him would ever admit to it, the potential penalties are too great. We simply don't have the right person to get him. Membership in that club is incredibly exclusive. My men would stand out a mile. What would be perfect would be a cop who isn't with Vice, who can masquerade as an Oxford gentleman. Someone with genuine breeding."
They sipped their beers a while, and the same idea struck them both at once.
Lewis was also enjoying an evening out. Jenny had delighted in their dinner at Lewis's favorite Italian restaurant, and now they were finishing the Lambrusco he had selected to accompany the meal. Despite her anxiety over Christie, she was relaxed and seemed to be having a good time. And, he noted happily, so was he.
