“Happy to help Sergeant,” he replied, desperately wanting to ask for the key, too embarrassed to do so.
“Call us if he comes back,” the sergeant shouted getting into his car.
“That’s bloomin’ weird,” mumbled George, scratching his nose, staring at Roger’s house, then he headed for Mrs. Ramchuran’s to bring her up to date.
As soon as he turned out of Junction Road the staff sergeant punched the “recall” button on his phone and was patched through to Superintendent Edwards. “Nothing here, Guv, nothing at all as it turns out, though the nosy old bugger across the street reckons the house is definitely our boy’s. If he’s right, I’d like to know why he didn’t tell his family he’d bought it—that’s pretty odd. Anyway, I’m on my way back. Any news from Holland?”
The superintendent had no news from Holland and was still attempting to contact D.I. Bliss, who had failed to call back as promised nearly two hours earlier and was verbally abusing a frightened secretary in retaliation. “Stupid girl—is this the best you can do?”
Bliss was far too busy to deal with Edwards and, in any case, was delaying the call until he had better news. He had none. They had been in Holland for five hours and he still didn’t know if Roger LeClarc had been kidnapped, drowned, or twigged, he was being followed and gone into hiding. His Renault had provided few clues, although, as Bliss explained to Yolanda, while standing beside it tapping his fingers on the windshield, “The most significant evidence in any case is often the total lack of evidence.”
Yolanda’s pinched eyes and furrowed brow suggested she was having difficulty with the concept, so he explained, gripping an imaginary wheel, “King was driving LeClarc’s car. Right? But none of King’s belongings were in the car.” Comprehension turned her frown to a smile and they started to laugh.
“Christ!” he shouted. “That means that wherever King’s things are we might find LeClarc. King wouldn’t have taken LeClarc’s car and just abandoned his own stuff. He hasn’t got anything with him because somebody has got it for him, somebody else must have brought it ashore.” Then he completed his train of thought, speaking almost to himself. “Motsom—it has to be Motsom.”
Yolanda had no idea what he was talking about as he reflected on what had occurred. His eyes, wide open, were not looking at anything as he scratched an imaginary itch on his forehead. “King was talking to a man in the bar,” he began slowly, pausing for thought between each phrase.
“King went on deck and saw, or said he saw, a man fall overboard … I know he lied about the man in the bar … He went to Motsom’s cabin as soon as he left the bridge … He drove LeClarc’s car, but why?”
Catching Yolanda by surprise he grabbed her arm, looked her straight in the eye, and said triumphantly, “Motsom paid him. And,” he continued enthusiastically, “I bet Motsom has got his luggage. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Motsom has got LeClarc, or at least knows where he is.”
Yolanda, managing to keep up with him for the first time, cut into his deliberations. “So, where is Motsom and what car does he drive?”
Taking her hand, he dragged her across the dock-side toward the car deck of the ship. A crewmember tried to stop them. “You can’t come on this way, Sir. No passengers are allowed on the …”
“Police,” shouted Bliss, refusing to stop, but having to yank Yolanda’s arm to prevent her being hit by one of the huge containers manoeuvring off the ship. Once inside, they ran along the empty steel deck, their footfalls reverberating like automatic fire around the massive chamber, taking the elevator to the purser’s office.
The purser was expecting them. “Saw you on the monitor,” he said, nodding in the direction of a bank of security screens. “A lot of people get killed on the car deck,” he added, as if it were a daily occurrence.
Ignoring the admonishment, Bliss breathlessly asked for the list of registration numbers from the voyage.
“He knew exactly what I wanted,” protested Bliss, as he and Yolanda headed to the captain’s office a few minutes later. “He was just being bloody awkward.”
“Would that be ship’s registration, crew registration, Custom’s …” the purser had started, but got no further.
“Passenger’s cars and trucks from last night,” Bliss had shot back angrily.
With the list of vehicle numbers obtained from the captain, Bliss and Yolanda had made their way back to the main police station in her white BMW 325i convertible.
“Company car?” he asked, impressed.
“Mine,” she replied, as if it were a Ford.
The entire ship had been searched, “bow to stern, mast to bilge,” according to the captain, when they found him in his cabin, and no trace of LeClarc had been found. “I don’t see what else we can do,” he had said, clearly anxious not to be delayed further. Failure to sail within the next two hours would make it impossible for the ship to ever regain its schedule, he explained. An entire two-way crossing would have to be scrapped, leaving more than four thousand people stranded—two thousand each side of the North Sea.
Bliss had considered his request gravely, as if he alone shouldered responsibility for releasing the vessel. “I don’t see any point in holding you up any longer,” he had said authoritatively. “We can search the vehicles and containers once they’re ashore.”
Back at the station, D.C.s Wilson and Smythe were snoozing off the alcohol when Bliss found them, spread-eagled on the leather benches in the room where he’d first met Yolanda. He would have woken them, annoyed he was still working to clear up the mess that had been, in large part, due to their negligence, but Yolanda restrained him. “The poor things, zey are exhausted.”
Bliss relented, conceding there was little left for them to do. The list of vehicle registration numbers had been faxed to Scotland Yard for a search of the massive computer database; inspection of all the passengers’ cars had been completed, apart from those that had got through the Custom’s control point before the alarm was raised. “Zhey will be picked up at the check points,” explained Yolanda; and the Dutch police were now concentrating on the massive trucks. Sniffer dogs, more used to searching for dead bodies than live ones, had been brought to assist.
Fresh coffee was brewing in the briefing room. “I need that,” said Bliss as a phone rang. Yolanda tapped him on the shoulder, he turned, still stunned by her looks, half wishing she would stop touching him—no intention of saying so. “It’s for you,” she said, glancing in the direction of the man holding the phone.
“Detective Bliss?” he introduced himself into the mouthpiece, listening attentively in case the voice should have a foreign accent. Then a dreadful noise exploded in his ear and he felt his hands shaking, his heart pumping, and the heat rising in his face as it reddened.
“Bliss. What the bloody hell are you playing at?” Superintendent Edwards screamed into phone.
“Sir …” Bliss tried, but was cut off immediately.
“It’s taken me two effing hours to get hold of you. What the hell is going on? Why didn’t you call me?”
“Sorry, Sir,” he lied, not in the least sorry, “I couldn’t get to a phone.”
“I’ll have you court marshalled for this you pompous little git,” the voice on the phone was carrying on, forgetting he was no longer in the armed forces. “How dare you put the phone down on me. You are relieved of duties immediately, do you understand?”
“Yes, Sir,” he replied., feeling relieved. “Thank you, Sir.”
“Put one of the others on. Let me speak to Wilson.”
Bliss glanced at the figure crashed out on the couch—it’s tempting, he thought, but inexplicably decided against it. “Sorry, Sir. He’s not here at