Hidden In Plain Sight.
Chapter Eight.
Having left Winfield Hall on Sunday evening and seen Alex safely into school the following morning, Harry and Dempsey hadn't been at their desks five minutes before Spikings summoned them.
"Good morning." he greeted as they entered his office. "I understand you've authorised a tap on the phones of certain members of a family by the name of Steele. Care to tell me why?"
"Yeah Chief." replied Dempsey. "Hilda Steele, a five year old, has been kidnapped while in our care."
"And who's Hilda Steele when she's at home?" asked Spikings.
"She's a new friend of Alex's, sir." said Harry. "They met recently at school and Hilda came with us to Winfield Hall this weekend. She accompanied Abbott and Alex when he took the dogs for a walk on Saturday and disappeared."
"And what was Abbott doing?" asked Spikings, raising his eyebrows. "He's usually pretty efficient isn't he? He wouldn't have been in your father's employ for years if he were anything but."
"He became momentarily distracted and in that short space of time, Hilda had gone." said Harry. "We suspect they'd been followed and the kidnapper pounced at the first available opportunity."
"So, presumably you're expecting a ransom demand." stated Spikings.
"Not exactly, no sir." replied Harry.
"You've lost me." said Spikings, frowning. "What do you mean 'not exactly'?"
"We've done some diggin' boss." butted in Dempsey. "It looks like her grandfather is an ex Nazi - Gestapo - one of the worst. An' we reckon the kidnapper has one helluva grudge an' wants him to come clean."
"I see." nodded Spikings. "So you think this isn't about money but revenge."
"Yeah." agreed Dempsey. "But we ain't got no conclusive proof yet, although we're workin' on it."
"Daddy is in touch with Simon Wiesenthal." explained Harry. "And he has a lot of circumstantial evidence that Christopher Steele, Hilda's grandfather, is in fact Kurt Scheel, an ex SS Gestapo officer and who arrived in the UK, back in 1947, on a boat from Brazil. We're presently trying to establish his background prior to that date. It looks as though he was taken under the wing of ODESSA, but so far, we're no further forward."
"Well, if anyone can piece his history together, Wiesenthal can." said Spikings. "From what I've heard and read, he's like a human bloodhound once he's got a whiff of the slightest scent."
"Yeah, he is, an' I guess the kidnapper won't be wastin' much time in gettin' in touch either, so we're jus' waitin' til somethin' breaks." said Dempsey.
"It seems to me that whoever has taken the girl, must've known that she was the apple of her grandfather's eye." mused Spikings. "If he is ex Gestapo, he doesn't have any morals or compassion. And his heart will be as black as coal. Therefore the kidnapper, or kidnappers, must know more about him than we do right now."
"That's right. An' the only possible clue lies in Freddy's SOE files." said Dempsey.
"What do you mean?" asked Spikings.
"Freddy ran agents for the SOE during World War Two." continued Dempsey. "An' many got captured, tortured then either shot or packed off to a concentration camp. If we can find a link between one of those agents and a living relative, we might make some headway."
"The trouble is we've already cross referenced the files and still come up with a big fat zero." sighed Harry.
"Well, do it again." suggested Spikings. "You may have missed a clue somewhere."
"Okay Chief." replied Dempsey. "Freddy's meetin' someone from his war days this mornin' at his London house who also wants to find Steele. Guess we should shoot over to meet him an' run through those files again. He may spot somethin' we've missed."
"Yes, he might." agreed Spikings. "And I'll keep you posted should a demand come through via those phone taps. By the way, does the school know?"
"Yeah." replied Dempsey. "We dropped into the headmistress's office after seeing Alex in and told her the news. She's gonna get the staff together and tell 'em to keep schtum for the time bein'. She don' wanna get the school buzzin' with all sorts of stories and theories."
"But what about your daughter? Won't she say something?" asked Spikings.
"Nah!" said Dempsey. "We've told her it won' do no good , in fact it might put Hilda in danger. She understood. She's pretty cute for her age, Chief. She won' say nothin', trust me."
Spikings glanced across at Harry who also raised her eyebrows and nodded her agreement with Dempsey. That was enough to satisfy the Commander.
A little later, at the same time Harry and Dempsey were making their way over to Freddy's Belgravia mansion, Paul Lewis was being interviewed by a young female detective constable at his bedside.
"So why do you think this Steele family is connected to the attack on you and your business, Mr Lewis?" asked DC Yvonne Campbell.
"Because I've been having an affair with Mrs Georgina Steele." replied Paul.
"I see. And what relation is she?" asked Yvonne.
"She's Arthur Steele's wife." replied Paul, a thought suddenly crossing his mind. "Oh and incidentally, have you ever asked yourself why the alarms in my showroom premises never went off after those thugs broke in and systematically wrecked all my cars?"
DC Campbell glanced down at her notes and scanned the report posted at the time by the investigating officers.
"There's no mention of that here." she said, looking up at him, her face reddening as she realised an important fact had been overlooked.
"I'll tell you why constable." growled Paul. "Because the bastards who pulled out my fingernails before beating me half to death were after the combination. And I eventually told them, otherwise I'd be dead."
"So are you saying that someone in the Steele family arranged all this to warn you off seeing Mrs Steele?" asked Yvonne.
"Yes I am." confirmed Paul, then leaning forward and dropping his voice, he continued. "Listen, I pay protection money. It's no good you asking me who I pay it to 'cos I won't tell you. But suffice it to say, it prevents any bandits wishing to do me harm. So I know the attack hadn't anything to do with the underworld - get my drift, constable?"
"Okay Mr Lewis, I didn't hear that." smiled Yvonne. "So, any idea who's actually responsible?"
"I assume her husband, Arthur." replied Paul. "Although having said that, I'm not certain he knew anything about our affair. We were very careful and Georgina kept telling me he hadn't the slightest clue we were seeing each other. We always met during the day, never at night when she'd have to concoct some cover story and which could run the risk of being exposed as such. His days were always the same. Out of the door at eight thirty, back home at six, Monday to Friday, without fail. So we'd generally get together around mid morning."
"And how long have you and Mrs Steele been seeing each other?" asked Yvonne.
"About three months." replied Paul. "I tell you, I'm sure she knows who's behind all this."
"Oh really? How?" asked Yvonne.
"Because I asked one of the nurses here to telephone her and tell her what had happened to me." said Paul. "Apparently all she said was she was terribly sorry and that was it! No visit, no card, nothing. That leads me to believe she knows who's responsible. Otherwise she'd have popped in to see me before now if it had been a random attack, don't you think?"
"Yes I see what you mean." agreed Yvonne. "Well look, leave this with me. I'll pay her a visit and see if I can get some answers. If she does know something, I assure you I'll get it out of her."
"Promise me something constable." said Paul. "Make sure your interview is in private - one to one. She'll likely clam up otherwise and deny all knowledge, especially if her husband's present. Best time to call is sometime mid morning, after she's dropped her daughter off at school. The house should be empty."
"Alright Mr Lewis, you have my word." said Yvonne, gathering her papers together before standing up to go. "I'll be in touch."
At Freddy's, Harry and Dempsey were poring over his SOE files when Abbott knocked on the door of the study and announced Raif Fitzallan. Still incredibly handsome and charismatic, his black hair flecked with grey and tinged with silver at the sides belying his seventy-two years, he visibly caught his breath when introduced to Harry.
"My goodness, you are the image of your beautiful mother." he said, his hazel eyes drinking her in. "Quite the deja-vu moment."
Harry smiled, allowing him to take her hand and kiss it, his eyes never leaving hers.
"And still the dashing gentleman. You haven't changed a bit." chuckled Freddy, grinning at Raif then glancing at Harry. "He's quite harmless, darling. All bark and no bite where married ladies are concerned. Now, if you'd been single..."
"I would have pursued you relentlessly." laughed Raif, before turning to Dempsey and offering his right hand in welcome. "And you must be the lucky fellow who's captivated her heart."
"Sure am." smiled Dempsey, gripping the hand a tad too tightly and inwardly grinning at the slight wince on Raif's face. "Pleased to meet ya."
"Abbott, we don't want to be disturbed unless it's absolutely necessary." said Freddy. "But you could organise some more fresh coffee and a plate of biscuits for us."
"Of course, sir." replied Abbott, closing the study door quietly behind him as he left.
"Now sir." said Raif, turning to Freddy. "I believe you have something to tell me about Kurt Scheel."
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Hilda had spent a fitful night in her cell. Theresa Creighton had brought her a toilet roll, some more sandwiches and water along with a bucket, which she placed in the corner of the room. Then she'd crouched down in front of her and told her to use the bucket when she wanted the toilet.
"In the morning, I'll change it." said Theresa, her tone of voice turning cold. "Now, tomorrow, you'll hear a lot of noise and voices. Make the slightest sound and I'll beat you black and blue. Do you understand?"
Hilda nodded, tears beginning to fall across her cheeks.
"Good, now go to sleep." ordered Theresa, getting back on her feet. "I don't want to hear another peep from you." She switched out the light, exited the room and locked the door behind her. Silence followed. Hilda sobbed herself to sleep, but kept waking up every other hour, before crying again and eventually drifting off.
Little did she know, she was completely alone, Theresa having gone back home, sure in the knowledge Hilda wouldn't be going anywhere. Anyhow, she couldn't stay in the school all night - she'd have to be seen arriving as usual at eight-fifteen.
It was still quiet when she got to school the next morning, only the headmistress's car in the car park, so Theresa quickly went down to the basement cell and unlocked the door. She'd already made some more sandwiches at home and placed them, along with a fresh bottle of water, next to Hilda's bed.
"Now, remember what I told you." she said. "Not a sound!"
Hilda nodded, and looked at Theresa, her eyes red from weeping and lack of sleep. If she had hoped it would have brought some compassion from her jailer, she was mistaken.
Theresa had also brought another bucket, but seeing that the original was still empty she carried it out of the room when she left. Once more the door was locked. Hilda would never forget that sound and wouldn't ever want to be in a locked room again for as long as she lived.
At morning break, while the children bounded around the playground, Agatha Hargreaves-Wilson, the headmistress, called a meeting of all senior staff and told them of Hilda's disappearance, stating that her absence was due to illness as far as everyone else was concerned.
Theresa brazenly asked if there was anything she could do, but was thanked and told there was nothing anyone could do right now. As the day wore on, she became more excited at the thought of the impact her note to Christopher Steele would be having and began nervously awaiting an announcement on the national news bulletins that he had turned himself in. As a result, her libido was rampant, so she'd left a message for one of her female lovers to be ready for her later that day.
For his part, Christopher Steele had ripped the note into little pieces before dropping them into the waste paper bin.
No-one blackmailed Kurt Scheel!
He knew he could be playing with the life of his beloved granddaughter, but he suspected the blackmailer, or blackmailers, wouldn't actually carry out the threat to kill her, if he didn't do as he was told, because it would all be in vain. It was obvious they were simply using Hilda as leverage to get what they wanted.
If she were dead, their power base was gone in an instant.
'Oh, as instructed, I'll get in touch with the national dailies and the TV networks alright' he thought. But he'd tell the world his granddaughter had been kidnapped and a ransom had been demanded for her safe return.
'That would shoot their fox!' he thought.
It was now his turn to take a pair of scissors, a selection of newspapers and a tube of glue and put his plan into action.
Snarling under his breath, he said out loud "Let's say five million pounds as payment for her release unharmed. That'll get everyone's attention!"
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When DC Campbell arrived at the gates of the Steele mansion to interview Georgina, she was surprised to see several cars in the driveway and hesitated. She had promised Paul she'd conduct the meeting in private, but some sixth sense told her those cars didn't belong to casual visitors.
She decided to find out just what was going on - after all, she was a detective and she didn't have to go ahead with grilling Georgina right now - she could make some excuse and return another time.
So she pressed the intercom button and waited for a response. Instead of an answer, the front door opened and a man appeared. He stared at her, then stepped out and walked over.
"Can I help you love?" he asked.
She held up her ID card. "Detective Constable Campbell." she said. "Who are you?"
"I'm with SI-10." came the reply, his ID card confirming it. Yvonne was momentarily speechless. SI-10 was notorious as the best of the best and every detective she'd come across always hoped that one day they might be selected to join that elite group of operatives.
"What are you doing here?" she eventually asked.
"More to the point, what are you doing here?"
"Er, I've come to have a word with Georgina Steele."
"About?"
"Erm, her association with a man whose recovering in hospital from a severe beating." replied Yvonne. "The suspicion is she knows who arranged it."
"I see. Well, best you tell me who it is in hospital and where and we'll take over."
"His name is Paul Lewis and he's in the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead." replied Yvonne, knowing she'd gain nothing by playing hardball with SI-10. They had jurisdiction over just about every department in the Met and, in any case, this guy was superior in rank. "Look, can I tell you something?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"He was having an affair with Mrs Georgina Steele and he suspects someone in the family found out." explained Yvonne. "So they sent in the heavies, beat him within an inch of his life and pulled out his fingernails. They also demanded he give them the code to the alarm at his garage in Hampstead then went and trashed all his cars, Ferrari's, Porsche's and the like."
"Bunch of muppets! Okay, Yvonne, leave it with us now. We'll get over to the hospital and have a word with Mr Lewis. And when the opportunity arises, we'll talk to Mrs Steele."
"Why wait?" asked Yvonne, a little irritated by the apparent lack of urgency.
"There's more going on right now, love. But, no worries, we'll get onto it, you'll just have to trust me. Okay?"
"Okay." replied Yvonne. "Thanks."
He watched as she returned to her car and drove away. Then he patched himself through to SI-10 on his radio and reported what he'd been told as he walked back to the house.
Chas picked up the call, listened intently then went in to see Spikings.
"Get hold of Dempsey and Makepeace." he instructed. "This one's for them."