Blood Money by Chris Collett Read Free Book Online Page B

of telling then whether this was a random snatch or if Jessica had been targeted.
    ‘Thanks, Leanne, you’ve been a great help,’ Mariner lied. He motioned Tony Knox to one side of the room.
    ‘I’ll have a quick word with Miss O’Brien then I need to know what progress Charlie Glover is making with the rest of the staff,’ he told Knox. ‘Find out from him if anyone else encountered this woman entering or leaving the nursery at around two thirty. Let’s hope to God that they did and we can get a half-decent description, otherwise we’re fucked. What we’ve got so far is less than useless. We can’t hit the streets until we’ve got it sharpened up or we’ll be bringing in just about every woman in south Birmingham. Let the team covering the CCTV footage know that, at the moment, we’re looking for any woman in the area carrying a baby in a car seat around two thirty this afternoon, probably, though not necessarily, walking up to the hospital site, maybe behaving strangely.’
    Out in the hall it was chaos. PC Mann was trying to take details from the remaining parents, but had a backlog and a queue had formed around which the unoccupied children were running and squealing.
    ‘Leopold do stop!’ shrieked one of the mothers in desperation. She wore a hospital name badge so presumably was on her way home from work.
    ‘Please tell me that isn’t really that child’s name,’ Mariner murmured to Samantha just behind him.
    ‘You’d be amazed,’ she replied.
    Leaving the mayhem temporarily behind him, Mariner climbed the stairs to the first floor and found his way to the staff room. Pushing open the door, Emma O’Brien’s eyes were on him immediately, filled with a desperation Mariner had seen etched on many faces over the years, and which today he could do little to alleviate. He wanted to reassure her with what they knew, but in this case it wasn’t much. Someone had made her a drink and she was clutching the mug like a prop, but it remained full almost to the brim, an oily skin forming on the surface.
    Mariner sat down on one of the low seats facing her. ‘What we know is that at around half past two this afternoon a woman came into the nursery and took Jessica as if she was her child.’
    Emma O’Brien let out an involuntary moan.
    ‘It may not sound like it, but it’s good news,’ Mariner said, quickly. ‘Because once we’ve firmed up the description we will know, to an extent, who we’re dealing with. We also have at least one witness who may be able to recognise her.’ He wouldn’t tell her yet that what they had so far was practically worthless, or that without some clue about motive they were peeing into the wind. ‘The woman also cared enough about Jessica to ask about when she’d been fed and changed, so is concerned about her wellbeing. What I want to do next is release information to the press so that we can enlist the help of the public,’ he went on, gently. ‘Do you have a recent photograph of Jessica?’
    Like any proud, new parent Emma O’Brien carried several in her bag. Her hands shook and her eyes dripped as she fumbled for them. Mariner isolated the one that presented the clearest shot of Jessica, blond and blue eyed, went back out into the corridor and gave it to Knox.
    ‘She’s a little cracker, isn’t she?’ said Knox, taking the snapshot from him. She was a beautiful child. Even Mariner had noticed that. Had it been what had attracted the woman to her?
    ‘Stupid question I know, but do you think there’s any way this can have been a simple mistake?’ Mariner said.
    But Knox shook his head, echoing Leanne’s words. ‘Any mother knows her child from day one.’
    Mariner sighed. ‘Okay. Fax it through to the OCU along with the description of the woman and get it released to the press along with the time and location. We particularly want to hear from anyone on or around the hospital site around two thirty this afternoon, especially anyone who may have been