Well, it took me longer to hammer this one out than I had hoped - I can only hope it's worth the wait! This chapter is a bit more case-centred and with that comes a slight warning. It does contain some non-graphic references to child abuse so if that offends you or disturbs you, I apologise and promise that it is all handled in the most responsible fashion and necessary to where I see this story going.
As always, many thanks to all of you who have taken the time to leave feedback. It's always good to know if you're hitting the mark or need to improve on anything. So however you feel about this chapter, please feel free to let me know, I'd love to hear from you.
Oh and I've made references to CRB checks in this chapter - for anyone who doesn't know what they are, it stands for Criminal Records Bureau and they are applied as pre-employment tools for anyone working with vulnerable people or where a criminal record may preclude employment. It's supposed to stop people who shouldn't be in certain jobs from being able to get into them!
I'm going to go write some more now so I really do hope it won't be quite so long in between updates next time! Thanks for sticking with it.
"Grace get over to CEOPS, see if they've got anything on this website already. If not, encourage them to make full use of their resources to find out what you can. You've worked with them before, you should get their full cooperation I hope. Call me as soon as you know anything." Sam instructed urgently. "Jo, I need you to get the guys to pull off a screen print of that guys face, you can just about make out his reflection, see if they can enhance it and make the image clearer. Show it, as gently as you can to the mother, see if she recognises him at all. The Polish embassy should be able to tell you where she is. I'll distribute any picture we can get to uniform too, get them to do a sweep of the neighbours and see if anyone recalls seeing him hanging around the flat."
"I should have stayed. I shouldn't have left when I did last night, we could already have done the leg work by now and could be that much closer to finding where Dawid is. We need to stop them before they do any more broadcasts, I need to. Look at the time stamp on these pictures, Sam. Eight hours ago, this little boy was being treated like a cheap sex toy. No one should have to go through that, not a single living person." Jo berated herself as the other officers moved off to begin their day's work.
"You weren't to know that this would turn up, none of us were Jo. And there's no guarantee you'd have come across it the state you were in by the time you left. There's no point beating yourself up over what might and might not have been. Let's concentrate on putting 110 into finding Dawid today rather than dwelling on the past. The sooner we can find him, the sooner his ordeal will end, but running yourself into the ground isn't going to make that happen any quicker." Sam coaxed gently, urging the detective towards the door. Jo grabbed her jacket, slinging it casually over her shoulder as she strode out of the door purposefully without another word.
"Miss Podowska, I'm DC Masters, we met yesterday." Jo introduced herself as the missing boy's mother looked up from the sofa in the lounge of their new 'safe' house.
"I remember, you were kind. Have you found my Dawid?" The hope in the woman's eyes broke Jo's heart, even more so knowing that with every passing hour, that light, that hope would fade along with the child's chances of survival.
"I'm afraid we haven't, not yet. But I do have a photograph of someone we believe knows where Dawid is. I'd like to show it to you, see if you recognise him. Would that be ok?" Jo spoke clearly, wanting the distraught woman to understand her, not wishing to make the ordeal any more taxing for her.
"Of course I will look. I want to help find my son in any way if I can." Jo brought out the picture from the manilla folder she had tucked under her arm, holding it out to Zofia.
"Do you think you've seen this man before?" Jo asked as Zofia studied the grainy photograph intently.
"Yes, I know him. Where did I see him?" The pause as Dawid's mother wracked her brain seemed to stretch on for an eternity. "I think he is at Izzy's school. He copies pages from books for classes. Why would he have Dawid? He has his own family. We met them at a sports day last year, two little girls, I think they were four at the time." Izzy wandered into the lounge, her eyes bearing the same haunted sleepless look as her mother's, a look which Jo knew would take many years to leave her along with the guilt at having left Dawid alone.
"Izzy, do you recognise this man?" Jo watched the girl's reaction closely as she glanced at the picture brandished by her mother.
"That's Mr Kirk, he works in the reprographics department at my school. Has something happened to him too?"
"We just want to talk to him, he might be able to give us some idea of where Dawid is." Jo explained.
"He's a nice man, always talks to me and asks after Mama and Dawid, ever since last year at sports day. His little girl has been sick recently, she had to go away to a hospital in another part of the country. Mr Kirk was very sad because he couldn't see her." Izzy supplied. After getting some more details about the school, Jo thanked them both and prepared to leave. She pulled her mobile phone out of her pocket as she climbed back into her car and dialled the station.
"DI Nixon."
"Sam, it's me. I've just left Miss Podowska's house. The guy in the room with Dawid works at Izzy's school. I'm going to head over there and see if I can get an address for him. His name's Mr Kirk, don't have a first name as yet, but I'll see what the Head Teacher can tell me about him. Can you let Mickey know he needn't go to the school?"
"Ok, let me know if you need anything or if you get any further information. And Jo, call before you go round to his house, you'll need backup." Sam asserted, hoping that for once, her DC would listen to reason and obey her authority.
"I know my job Sam, trust me to do it." Jo replied, not reassuring Sam in the slightest as to her intentions once the brunette knew the home address of her chief suspect.
"Don't give me a reason not to and I'll trust you to do your job." Sam responded making it perfectly clear to the detective that she meant business, that this was not one of those occasions where her superior would let it slide.
"I know Sam, we have to play it by the book to get the result everyone wants to see." The pair disconnected their call, both anxious in their own heads about the course of events which could easily transpire. Sam was concerned that Jo, in her eagerness to prove she was capable, would overstretch herself and misjudge the situation. Jo was apprehensive that she would get so caught up in wanting to find the missing boy that she would resort to any means necessary to get the information about his whereabouts.
"DI Nixon, Beth here has been talking to some of the neighbours about this photograph." Gina turned to WPC Green as Sam halted in front of them, "tell DI Nixon what you just told me."
"There's quite a few people who remember seeing this man coming to the house over the last couple of months, always when the mother's at work apparently. Whenever he arrives, there's always loud music playing for a couple of hours and then it stops and he leaves again. Some of them thought it strange that a man of his age should be alone in a house with a 15 year old, none of them thought about Dawid being the one at risk from him." Beth reeled off the details which had been grudgingly imparted to her during her trawl around the estate. Not many people had been keen to talk to her at first but once she found the local busy body, she had more than enough information about the goings-on on the estate to keep her head spinning for days.
"Thank you, Beth, good work. I think it's time I had a little chat with Izzy, without her mum present, see if she will be more forthcoming about Mr Kirk's visitations." Sam moved off towards CID, slipping her mobile from her pocket and hitting the speed dial she had assigned Jo's number to.
"I appreciate that you're loathe to give out any confidential information about employees or students without a warrant but time really is of the essence here, Mr James. A young boy is missing, the brother of one of your students, and the only lead we have so far is this picture which has been identified as being a Mr Kirk who works here. Right now, we need to speak to him to find out what involvement, if any, he has had in this child's disappearance." Jo spoke passionately, appealing to the man's compassion.
"We screen our staff very carefully. Every person who sets foot through those doors and has any contact with our students, no matter how minimal, is subject to an Enhanced CRB check. I can assure you that no one who works here would do anything to endanger the welfare of any child." Mr James insisted, attempting to steer Jo out of the office and away from the ears of his administrative staff.
"All a CRB check shows is convictions, not behaviour, not predilections, nothing that has not been prosecuted. And whilst it is the best we can hope for at present, it is unfortunately not infallible, as I'm sure you are aware. Nobody will think that it is any reflection on you, your school or your screening policy if Mr Kirk is found to have any involvement in this case." Jo pleaded.
"You might believe that DC Masters but unfortunately, I don't. History has taught me to be sceptical I'm afraid so if you wish to view the records of my staff, you will have to come back with something to compel me to show them to you. I am sorry I can't help you at this time but I would have an outcry on my hands from my entire staff body if I showed their personal files off to any Tom, Dick or Harry who came in requesting to see them." Mr James spoke with an air of finality which left Jo in no doubt that she would not be getting any assistance from this quarter.
"I'll be seeing you very shortly then, Mr James." Jo made to leave and was surprised when the head teacher extended his hand to shake hers. She took the proffered hand and was even more astonished to find a crumpled slip of paper sliding into her palm.
As she walked out of the school building, Jo reached for her mobile as it buzzed against her side.
"DC Masters," she answered absently, not having bothered to check the caller display.
"Jo, it's Sam. How did you get on at the school?"
"I've just left there now, Mr James wouldn't let me look at the file without a warrant but he did slip me something on a piece of paper as I was leaving." Jo unravelled the scrap of paper as she spoke, looking at the digits written on it. "I think he gave me Kirk's CRB reference number. He made a big song and dance about getting everyone CRB checked just before I left." Jo read the reference out to Sam over the phone so that staff back at the station could be chasing it up before she made her way back.
"That's something at least. I'll get on to DCI Meadows about the warrant for Kirk's personnel file. Before you head back, could you go and pick Izzy Podowska up and bring her back to the station? We've reason to believe that she's not telling us everything about her relationship with Kirk. Witnesses have seen him visiting the house regularly over the past few months when the mother's out." Sam informed her officer of the latest developments.
"I'll bring her in. What should I tell the mother?" Jo asked, wondering how to separate the two, Zofia having become increasingly protective of her daughter in the past 24 hours.
"Tell her that because he worked at her school, she might know more than she realises that could help us find where he is."
"DC Masters, back already. You have news?" Zofia rose from the sofa, wringing her hands in front of her, face a mask of hope and concern once again.
"I'm afraid not, we are getting the address for Mr Kirk as we speak. I just need to ask Izzy to come to the station with me for a little while, my boss wants to ask her some more questions about Mr Kirk. There might be things she can tell us that will help us to find him, things that they've talked about and she doesn't think are important." Jo did her best to reassure the mother, without revealing the real reasons for the need for her questioning, or the importance of it.
"I will get my coat. We will come with you now, yes?" Zofia strode into the hallway of the house, calling for her daughter to come downstairs.
"Miss Podowska, we would like to talk to Izzy on her own. There might be things she has to tell us that she can't talk about in front of you, things that she might be uncomfortable telling us if you're in the room." Jo broached the subject as carefully as she could.
"I will be at the police station for Izzy, she is not used to being there, it will frighten her. You ask your questions without me, but I need to be there for my girl." Zofia adopted a defiant glare as she wrapped her daughter in her arms.
"What is it Mama? What questions?" Izzy asked, her face losing it's colour.
"My boss would just like to ask you some more questions about Mr Kirk, if that's alright with you? Anything you can tell us about him might help us to find Dawid." After a few moments of deliberation, the teenager nodded apprehensively and Jo was able to usher them out of the door.
"DC Masters, a word?" Gina Gold called from the doorway of her office as Jo bustled through the station on her way from leaving Sam to interview Izzy, the strain of the case plainly showing on her attractive face.
"Ma'am?" Jo hovered in the corridor.
"Come in, shut the door," the Inspector ordered. The brunette obediently obliged, a slight frown creasing her smooth brow. "Don't look so scared, I'm not about to eat you!" Gina wisecracked, secretly loving how her reputation made even the most robust officer tremble in her presence.
"What can I do for you Inspector Gold?" Jo questioned.
"You can take a seat for a start, you look like you're fit to drop. And don't give me any of that macho bull about being fine, you're talking to an expert bullshit detector." Jo couldn't help but let a wry grin spread across her face as she sank gratefully into the chair on the opposite side of the desk from her superior officer. "Now, I'm sure DI Nixon has already told you but I'm telling you myself. My door is always open, no matter what, no matter when. Don't make the same mistakes I did Jo and try to soldier on by yourself. There's a lot of good people in this station who will do anything to help you, if you only dare let them know you'll accept it."
"Thank you Ma'am, I was hoping to get chance to say thanks in person but I've been caught up with this missing child case…" Gina cut Jo off with a nod, not being one for mushy sentimental conversations.
"So long as you know. And don't take any notice of the cretins who treat you differently. You get any problems for them, just tell them from me I've got an available post in uniform for them if they'd care to take it! Right, now that I've convinced myself you know where my office is, I'll be getting on. Off you trot, go find that missing kiddie and bring him home to his mother." Gina brusquely but warmly dismissed her colleague, the twinkle in her eye softening the tough words.
"Izzy… is it alright that I call you Izzy?" Sam begun, trying to break down the walls the young girl had built up and establish some sort of rapport with her. At the tentative nod, the DI continued, "how well would you say you knew Mr Kirk?"
"Well enough I guess. We always say hi in the corridor, if I take anything for photocopying, he'll chat to me for a little while about Mama and Dawid." Izzy responded, her eyes flicking around the room.
"Have you ever spent time with Mr Kirk outside school?" Sam pushed, knowing the answer but wanting to see how open the teenager would be about her involvement with the man suspected of abducting her younger brother.
"Once or twice I saw him in the street when I was shopping with Mama."
"So Mr Kirk never came to your house?" Sam pressed.
Izzy shook her head, though the movement of her eyes became more erratic as she twisted a lock of her hair around her finger constantly.
"How can you explain your neighbours seeing him come to your house on a number of occasions when your mum was at work?" Sam asked gently, careful to keep her tone interested rather than accusatory.
"I can't. They must be confused." Izzy insisted, tears forming in her eyes.
"Do you have a boyfriend Izzy? Could they have thought your boyfriend looked like Mr Kirk?" Sam suggested, seeing if Izzy would latch on to the explanation.
"No, I'm not allowed boyfriends. Mama says I'm too young."
Sam thought for a moment before trying a different line of questioning. "Is this the first time you've left Dawid alone in the house?"
Izzy nodded miserably.
"And you want to do anything to help find him don't you?" Again the young girl nodded, a single tear escaping from her eyes and trickling slowly down her cheek. "Then I need you to tell me the truth about Mr Kirk coming to your house, Izzy. How many times did he come to see you at home?"
"I don't know. Please!" Izzy's tears were flowing more freely now.
"Did he hurt you? If you tell me, I can make sure he never hurts you or anyone else again."
"No you can't. Papa said he would make sure no one ever hurt me but he died. No one can keep promises like that, you should never make promises you cannot keep." Sam suspended the interview to give Izzy chance to regroup, wondering if it would be wise to bring someone in to talk to the distraught young girl who was used to dealing with abuse victims. She left the room to get fresh drinks for everyone, seeking out Jo to get her advice.
"How's it going in there?" Jo asked as she helped Sam carry the drinks she was juggling.
"I think I need someone more suitable to talk to Izzy. I get the impression from her that whatever was going on with Kirk was not consensual." Jo nodded gravely, sighing at man's ability to inflict pain and suffering on one another.
"Well we just found an address for Andrew Kirk from his CRB check, I was just about to head over there but I can always ask Mickey and Kezia to check it out for me, if you want me to have a word with Izzy?" Sam looked at Jo, weighing up the options.
"Give it a go, tread gently and if you don't get her to open up to you, we get someone else in who's used to dealing with these cases. Deal?" Sam suggested, willing to give anything a chance and knowing how good Jo could be at coaxing information out of people without them realising that they were sharing it.
"Deal. I'll just go and pass this address on to Mickey and then I'll be right with you." Jo said as she walked into the CID office. Just as she was about to head into the interview room containing Sam and Izzy, Jo's mobile buzzed against her hip. "DC Masters," she answered in her usual abrupt style.
"Babe, you really oughta check which mobile you're answering before you pick up!" Lucy giggled at the other end of the line.
"Sweetie, is everything ok?" Jo knew that Lucy never called her at work unless it was something important.
"I'm fine, don't panic. I was just ringing to say don't worry if I'm late in tonight. We've been having major computer problems all day so we're going to have to stay back and catch up on inputting details, updating property information, etcetera. I didn't want you worrying that something had happened to me." Jo's partner explained, knowing how the older woman fretted.
"Ok, thanks for letting me know. I'll probably be here 'til late though so you may well still beat me home. You've got your key, just make yourself at home if you want to stay over tonight." Jo was anxious to clear the line, as much as she loved talking to her lover.
"Sorry if it's a bad time to call you love, I just didn't know when I'd get chance again. I'll let you get on and I'll see you later at your place." Just before they hung up, Lucy called, "don't wear yourself out Jo, you still have four more days before you get any time off. Don't pretend to be the Bionic Woman, ok?"
"I love you, Luce," was all Jo would say in response, knowing full well that she would be exhausted and fit to drop by the time her days off rolled around. Another call came through on her mobile as soon as she had disconnected the last one, a private number flashing on the small screen. Deciding that Izzy and finding Dawid were more important than someone trying to sell her whatever they were trying to sell her, she hit the reject button and let her answer-phone pick it up.
"This is a message for Miss Joanne Masters. I'm calling from St Hughes Hospital regarding the appointment you were due to attend today. If you could call me back as soon as you get this so we can reschedule another appointment at your earliest convenience."