"Jo, have you seen Hannah?" Nikki Wright asked as Jo passed her in the corridor.
The brunette stopped and shook her head. "No? Not since lunchtime anyway, Sarge."
"It's just that Smithy spoke to her about the misper case she was investigating and arranged for Tony and Leela to pick her up in the area car on the corner between Oxon Street and Mayler Place at about three o'clock." The Sergeant told her slightly distractedly. "She wasn't there when they arrived and they haven't been able to get hold of her since."
Glancing at her watch, Jo paled. "That was an hour and a half ago… why hasn't anyone picked up on it 'til now?"
"We all know what Hannah's like, Jo. We assumed she'd gone off on one of her missions, following up her own leads." Nikki reasoned.
"She would have phoned Smithy."
"You and I both know she probably wouldn't." The blonde said. Forced to admit that it was highly unlikely that Hannah would have remembered to inform the Sergeant of a change of plan, Jo sighed. "Look, I thought I should ask you because you seem to be one of the only people around here who can keep track of her."
"Yeah, thanks… I'll try and find out where she's got to."
The brunette detective had just turned to head towards CID to find out whether anyone else had seen or heard from Hannah, when a voice called after her. "Jo!"
"Guv…" She muttered, turning and seeing DCI Meadows striding towards her.
"We've just had a call from a child-minder called Jasmine Carter. Apparently one of the children she looks after has just been abducted." He said. "She was in such a state that we couldn't get much else out of her. I want you and Sam to get down there and check it out. PC Fletcher's got her details on the desk."
"No, Guv, it's alright… I know where Jasmine lives." Jo replied, feeling sick to her stomach with dread.
"Really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jo nodded. "She looks after Hannah's daughter, Molly. I've been there a couple of times."
"Where's Hannah?" Jack asked, frowning slightly. "I don't want her getting wind of this and going in all guns blazing."
"I don't know, Guv. Sergeant Wright just informed me that she was supposed to be meeting Tony and Leela a while ago but she never showed up. She's probably just gone off to follow a lead or something." Not wanting him to dig any deeper, she smiled. "I'll go and get Sam."
She bolted towards CID, moving as quickly as she could without attracting too much attention. Sam was sitting at her desk in her office, laughing at something Phil had said. Jo glanced at her with such an expression on her face that the blonde instantly sat up straighter.
"Jo? What is it?" She demanded anxiously.
"Hannah's child-minder's just phoned in an abduction and Hannah's gone AWOL; no one's seen or heard from her for about an hour and a half."
"Is it Molly?"
"I don't know… Jasmine was too shaken up to give details. We need to get over there now."
Phil grabbed his jacket as well. "What? I'm not staying here."
With a sigh, Jo nodded and the three of them headed quickly to one of the pool cars. Phil jumped into the driver's seat before either woman could complain. Barking directions, the brunette kept hitting redial on her mobile, desperately trying to get hold of Hannah. Every single time she tried, it rang before going to answerphone. Frustrated, Jo tried phoning Ellie instead.
"Jo? What's wrong?"
"Is your mum with you?" The brunette demanded.
"No?"
"Where are you? Who's there?"
"I'm at home with Freya and the boys… what's going on, Jo?"
Breathing out a sigh of relief that they were safe, Jo smiled weakly. "Don't panic, but I'm going to send someone round to pick you up and take you to the station, alright?"
"Has something happened to Mum? Jo! Tell me!" The teenager shrieked, obviously ignoring the woman's request not to panic.
"Sweetheart, I'll explain when I see you. Get some things together to keep yourselves occupied. Don't open the door until you know that it's a police officer, understand?"
When Ellie had agreed to do as Jo asked and the detective had arranged for Mickey to go and pick them up, she returned her attention to trying to get hold of Hannah. It was still ringing out and going to answerphone, worrying the woman more and more.
"That one…" Jo muttered as the car slowed down, pointing out Jasmine's house. She opened the door and was out almost before Phil had drawn to a halt.
"Jo!" The young woman exclaimed, opening the door and staring at the detective with red eyes.
"Is it Molly?" When Jasmine didn't respond to Jo's question, the brunette knew that her fears had been confirmed. "What happened?"
"It was that guy that was here last week… he said that Hannah had asked him to pick Molly up and got really angry when I said I couldn't let him have her unless I heard directly from her mother." Jasmine allowed herself to be steered into the kitchen while Sam pushed Phil into the living room to keep an eye on the children in the young woman's care. "He punched me and I fell. Before I knew what was going on he was putting Molly in the car."
"Did you get the licence plate number?" Sam asked gently.
Jasmine nodded. "I wrote it down."
She scrabbled on the counter and passed the blonde a scrap of paper. With a smile, Sam took it and quickly called Stuart, asking him to run a check on the number. No sooner had the DI started reading out the number Jasmine had given her, than Jo's mobile began to ring. She glanced down at the display and felt her knees go weak.
"Han? Where the hell are you?" She snapped. Sam, who had just ended her own call, turned quickly and fixed Jo with a hard stare.
Putting her mobile on speakerphone so the DI could hear too, Jo listened to the reply. "I don't know. I've been abducted by someone called Alison Hardcastle. Apparently her brother is convinced that I'm his girlfriend and we've been together for five months. I don't even know anyone called Simon."
"Wait… Simon Hardcastle?" Jo muttered, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why does that name sound familiar?" There was a long pause as she tried to work out why she knew the name. Sam seemed to be frowning too. At exactly the same moment, realisation dawned on the two women. "The very first case we worked on together… the drugs in Canley Market. Simon Hardcastle was the stall holder suspected of dealing."
"Of course! We proved he had nothing to do with the drugs. So why is he doing this?"
Trying to think of a response she glanced at the scrap of paper Sam pushed towards her, reading the writing quickly. 'The car is registered to Simon Hardcastle. I've got an address for the house he shares with his sister.'
"Sam's found an address, sweetheart. We're coming." Jo told her quickly.
"You better. Where are the kids? Please tell me they're safe." Hannah begged.
Jo glanced sideways at the blonde DI, wondering how she could possibly tell Hannah that everything was alright. Her dilemma was increased as, from the other end of the phone, she heard a loud bang and then the sounds of a muffled struggle.
"Han? Hannah!" She demanded anxiously as she heard the red-head swearing loudly at whoever she was with. In spite of her concern, Jo couldn't help the tiniest smirk to appear on her lips at the stream of obscenities that met her ears. "Babe, what's happening?"
There was a scream and loud slapping sound and then the line went dead. Jo stared at the mobile in horror, before snatching it up and hitting re-dial. It rang several times before going to answerphone.
Assuring Jasmine that they'd let her know what happened, Jo and Sam retrieved Phil from the clutches of the children in the living room and headed towards the address given for Simon Hardcastle. The Uniform car was already parked outside when they screeched to a halt and Beth and Sally walked towards them quickly.
"Anything?" Jo demanded.
"No… we've spoken to the neighbours and she saw the car here about five minutes ago. She went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and when she went back into the front room it had gone." Sally told them as she led them round the side of the house. "We checked round the back and he's obviously forgotten to lock the back door."
"Have you been in?"
Beth shook her head. "We only got here a couple of minutes ago, got no answer and the neighbour came over to find out what was happening."
Holding out her hand, Sam motioned for Beth to hand over her radio.
"All units from DI Nixon; request attention to a missing child, Molly Leanne McKay. 2-year-old IC3 female with black hair tied in bunches, wearing jeans and a pink hoody. She was abducted from 22 Maycroft Street approximately forty minutes ago. Suspect's name is Simon Hardcastle. The vehicle she was taken in is a black Peugeot 306, licence plate number: Victor Uniform five two Papa Lima Mike. Molly is DC McKay's daughter and we believe that Hardcastle may also have abducted DC McKay herself."
There was a crackle on the radio and then Smithy's voice reached them. "Hannah's missing?"
"We think so, yes." Sam agreed. "I want everyone on the lookout."
As Sam handed the radio back, the three members of CID headed towards the backdoor. Pushing it open cautiously, Jo headed through the kitchen, looking for anything odd. She clenched her jaw at the sight of an overturned chair in the centre of the tiled floor, offcuts of rope and discarded duct tape scattered around it. Spotting a small pool of crimson liquid on the ground, she took a steadying breath, following the trail of small drips to the sink. Blood was smeared over the counter beside it, as though someone had pressed up against it. Jo shook her head, pulling herself together before turning and grabbing Hannah's jacket from the work surface beside the door. Her determination rising, Jo moved into the living room as Phil headed upstairs with Sam, leaving the brunette to explore the ground floor. She picked up a photo frame and looked at it with distaste, recognising the man as Simon Hardcastle and assuming the blonde woman with him was his sister.
"JO!" Sam shouted from upstairs.
At once the DC dropped the frame and sprinted from the room, taking the stairs two at a time in her hurry to see what her superiors had discovered. She stopped as she saw what it was; her heart hammering in her chest. Horrified, she entered the room Sam and Phil were standing in, looking around slowly.
The walls were plastered with photos of Hannah and her children. Some were partially obscured by bushes and others were unobstructed. They were all obviously candid shots that the subjects did not know were being taken. Feeling bile rising in her throat, Jo strode forward and ripped down a photo of Hannah and herself taken outside the station and stared at it.
"This photo has to be three months old… Hannah said she lost that scarf during the Peterson assault case in November." Jo muttered, showing it to Sam and Phil quickly. "I nearly threw her out of the car she was moaning that much."
Phil turned around and picked something up. "Well someone found it."
Jo took the patterned scarf from him and compared it to the one in the picture, realising with a jolt that it was identical; it even smelt of Hannah's perfume. She moved past Phil, looking down at the collection of items on the table where he'd noticed the emerald green pashmina. Jo felt sick as she looked at the objects Hardcastle had collected. Hannah's reward card from the coffee shop down the road from the station was on the table, beside a shopping list written in the red-head's handwriting. There was also a half-full bottle of her perfume, an umbrella, a hairbrush, a t-shirt, several nail varnishes and a pair of boots, amongst other things. Jo picked up one of the black, high-heeled items of footwear shakily, wondering how it could possibly have come into Hardcastle's possession. Until a short while ago Hannah had been wearing the boots pretty much constantly.
"Hannah's middle name is Coco?" Phil asked, snorting with laughter and pointing at a scrap of paper pinned to the wall between the photographs. "That's hilarious! But look… he's got a full biography here… date of birth, parents' names, everything…"
"Look at this…" Sam muttered, ripping down a photo with a look of pure disgust on her face.
The picture showed Hannah lying in bed, clearly fast asleep. Beside her, Hardcastle was lying with his eyes closed, one hand on her hip. After glancing at it, Jo bolted from the room and Sam and Phil heard her throwing up. They glanced at each other before Sam left the room and followed the brunette into the bathroom. She crouched beside her, holding her hair out of the way and rubbing her back gently.
"That's Hannah's bed, Sam." She muttered when she had washed her mouth out and perched on the edge of the bath shakily. "How did he get into her room?"
"I don't know… but we're going to find him and he'll be going down for a very long time if I have anything to do with it."
Nodding, Jo allowed herself to be guided downstairs and out of the front door.