Dangerous Games

Chapter 8 part 2

"Tell me what we're seeing here."

I rather enjoyed being centre stage amongst these high ranking officers, of whom Superintendent Sugden was the lowliest. Commander Matthews sat in the middle with Sugden on his right and Chief Superintendent Brewer on his left. Of course, Claire was also there, but she was sitting on my side of the table, like some magician's assistant. I half expected her to hand me a top hat, curtsy to the audience and move off to one side. Rather sensibly, she'd asked me to do most of the talking, if possible. Perhaps she was being modest, but more likely she just didn't want to stick her head up above the parapet, and I for one couldn't say I blamed her.

I pressed the Play button on the DVD player and immediately the screen filled with the stark monochrome image of the lift door that had become so familiar to both of us. "This is a disk compilation that Constable Ogden made from these twelve CCTV tapes. Each shows the lift shaft of one particular floor of Cowleigh House. The compilation allows us to track Charlotte Fleming as she goes up and down from floor to floor on the afternoon in question."

"Fine, proceed." Matthews waved his hand at me dismissively. As the highest ranking officer in the room, he automatically issued the orders. Brewer and Sugden had been relegated to the role of mere window dressing.

Between us, Claire and I gave pretty much the same explanation that she had given me that evening. At the end, we turned towards our superior officers expecting, well, not quite applause exactly, but at least some sort of positive reaction. After all, how could they fail to be impressed with that?

Instead Matthews turned to me directly. "What's your take on this, Pritchard?"

"To be honest, sir, I don't see how it can be anything else other than a supernatural explanation."

"You're saying that girl disappeared to another dimension and then came back."

"Er, yes sir. That's about it."

"Is it or isn't it?"

"Yes sir. It is."

The three of them looked at each other. Matthews turned to Claire and me. "Would you mind just stepping out of the room for a moment. We have to discuss this."

Outside in the corridor, we couldn't help wondering what they had to talk about.

"At least if they're talking about it it means we got through to them," Claire pointed out. "If they'd been dead against it from the start, they would have told us so right from the off."

"Yes, but it also means that they're not entirely convinced," I countered. "If they had been, what would they have to discuss?"

"They might just be talking about strategy." Claire's optimistic nature was one of the things I liked about her. "You know, how they're going to break this to the press."

"Be honest, Claire. We both know that's not the case."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. God, this is like waiting for the result of a job interview."

"Did you get anything from Charlotte while you were 'up north'?"

"No, she was worse than useless. All I could gather is that since her trip to Never Never Land, she's been having terrible dreams that cause her to wet the bed. Apart from that, nothing."

"Well, we both knew that it would be a long shot. Thanks for trying, though."

"You're welcome. Oh, one other thing that might interest you. While I was up in Leeds the other day I thought I'd pop into the offices of the Leeds Messenger. See if I could talk to that reporter guy, the one who got the story from Charlotte Fleming."

"Smart thinking. Did he have anything useful to add?"

"Well, that's the funny thing. His editor hasn't seen him for a couple of days. Nobody has. His wife's gone and reported him missing to the local police."

"He's probably lying low, I dare say. Fed up with all the attention."

"A newspaper reporter fed up with all the public attention? Well, if you say so." She didn't seem too convinced.

After about ten minutes, we were summoned back into the headmaster's study and invited to take a seat. This time it was Brewer's turn to speak, clearly the one delegated the task of giving bad news.

"This disk is a forgery." He waved the DVD around in his hand. "It's a clever concoction produced by... well, we don't know who produced it to be honest, but concocted it certainly is." He might not have remembered, but we had started the meeting by explaining that it was Claire who had produced that disk compilation. Was he calling her a liar?

"So we have decided not to take the matter further. We've also decided that this disk cannot be returned to whoever submitted it to us, in, where was it?"

"Leeds, sir. Ambigem Building Management in Leeds."

"Well, Ambigem won't be getting it back." That clinched it. They'd forgotten, or chosen to forget, that the disk Brewer was still holding had never been in the possession of Ambigem. It was a mistake that both Claire and I had the good sense not to correct. "This disk is going to be locked away in a secure place at Scotland Yard. I'm sorry, but there it is."

A question did occur to me, and I decided we'd lose nothing if I asked it. "Sir, if I may, if that disk is a forgery, why is it so important that it's kept locked away? Why not just declare it a fake and return it?"

No-one really had an answer for that, until Sugden suggested. "Well, if it got out that the police had even entertained this nonsense as being true, the reputation of the police service would be irretrievably damaged." He sat back with an expression that seemed to say Yes, that should do it.

Claire joined in. "I should point out, sir, that in the absence of this disk, we have no leads to go on in the disappearance of Anita Patel. All the leads have drained away into the sand, we've interviewed the girls who were with her several times, until their parents have started complaining, in fact, and forensics can't give us a single thing to work on. We've got nothing, sir, literally."

"I quite understand that, Constable," Matthews took over again, his tone more severe this time, "but that still doesn't mean that we entertain this hokum. May I also add that I don't appreciate having my time wasted in this fashion. Now, I don't think there's anything further to discuss, is there?" He looked left and right to the other men, who shook their heads. "In which case, I'll let you two get on with the important job of tracking down this missing girl. As for the lack of leads, I'm sure something will turn up. After all, she can't have just dropped off the face of the Earth. I suggest you round up the usual suspects – you know, the local weirdos and perverts – and see what they have to say for themselves."

Can't just have dropped off the face of the Earth, eh? Well, that was precisely what we thought she had done.

Matthews stood up, followed by his two lower-ranking colleagues, and picked up some papers from the desk in front of him, together with the precious disk, clearly indicating that the meeting was at an end. We thanked them for their time, and left. Thank goodness that it wasn't our only copy. Claire, in her wisdom, had made yet another one, which was what she'd handed over.