continued, without their knowledge. She returned to Budapest to a clinic to have a breast augmentation operation accompanied by her father, Brian Ryecroft, who signed the consent form and paid for the plastic surgery.’
After re-reading the Ryecrofts’ earlier statements he had a clearer understanding of Brian Ryecroft’s guilt. After all, the man had taken her back to Budapest for a breast enhancement operation and, by his own admission, he spent most of the time in the hotel bar, believing that in the days before the scheduled operation his daughter was in her hotel room watching TV and on her laptop. But Brady was sure that she wouldn’t have been alone in her room. He was certain that her boyfriend Marijuis would have been keeping her company.
Brady had read the logged calls and it was clear that on her second visit to Budapest she had been receiving calls from another unregistered mobile also located in Budapest.
‘We’ve got the call log details through from her mobile phone network and she has received calls and made calls to eight unregistered mobile numbers. None of them traceable. There seems to be a pattern. Every month, sometimes less, that mobile number changes. Some are made from Eastern Europe. Mainly Romania and Lithuania and then …’ Brady said.
The word ‘Lithuania’ had jolted Brady when he had first seen it on the list of logged calls. It had immediately made him think of the two Eastern European men caught on the surveillance tape at Rake Lane Hospital. And the black Mercedes with the Lithuanian licence plate. If he hadn’t noticed the small “LT” in the corner of the licence plate he would have never made the connection. But the image he still couldn’t shake from his head was that of his brother Nick, the driver of the black Merc.
‘… the UK. The calls are predominately located in the London region but in the past month they’ve been traced to the North East,’ Brady explained. ‘It seems that this Marijuis character travels backwards and forwards between the UK and Eastern Europe. Maybe they’ve found a new business partner in the North East, which would explain why they’ve branched out up here.’
Brady noticed the interest in Claudia’s face and had already second-guessed what she was thinking: Marijuis was a sex trafficker. Someone who picked up pretty young girls, promising them the world.
The question was, if the gang did have a North East connection, who was it?
Claudia would be wondering exactly what he was wondering: did Marijuis have a brother? And if so, were they working together? And what was the link to the North East?
‘Harvey and Kodovesky, I want you to interview all of Melissa Ryecroft’s friends and classmates to see if she mentioned Marijuis to any of them. What we crucially need is some information on this character. And on the guy who left a message on her Facebook wall offering to take her to London for a meeting with the Models 1 agency. His Facebook account was fake, as we expected, much as the appointment with the model agency was too.’ Brady paused as he took another drink.
The way the day was going he needed more than just lukewarm water to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth.
‘Melissa Ryecroft got handpicked by this Marijuis character in Budapest. He chose her because she was sixteen and stunning looking. Model material … like your Russian girl,’ Brady said. His eyes rested briefly on the bloodsoaked bed where the Russian had lain while she had been sexually assaulted and butchered.
Claudia followed Brady’s eyes as he turned to the images of Melissa Ryecroft’s decapitated head and body.
‘How and why Melissa Ryecroft ended up in this condition is what we’re here to find out, people,’ Brady said as he looked back around the table. ‘As of yet, nothing’s come back from the lab. Wolfe said that he didn’t find traces of sperm in the victim’s vagina and rectum as condoms were used. And industrial bleach was used after the victim’s death in an attempt to destroy any DNA evidence. I’m not holding out much hope, and neither is Wolfe, but we’ll see what comes back from the lab.’
Brady turned his eyes on Daniels and Kenny.
‘I need you two to check Newcastle Airport security cameras for Thursday. Both inside the airport and any footage by the pick-up point outside. Also, look at the Metro surveillance footage. If she did go to the airport I imagine she would have taken the Metro there.’
Kenny and Daniels nodded.
‘Right, any questions?’ Brady asked, keen to get moving.
No one said anything.
‘Alright, you know what you’ve got to do,’ Brady said.
He watched as they pushed their chairs back and stood up.
Brady looked at Claudia who had remained seated. ‘My office?’ he said.
‘Alright, but I haven’t got long,’ she said. ‘There are some details on Melissa Ryecroft that I want to cross- reference and to do that, I need to be at Pilgrim Street to access it.’
‘Why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re cross-referencing?’ Brady asked.
Claudia looked at Brady. ‘Perhaps we should continue this in your office.’
Brady sat down at his desk and watched as Claudia closed the office door and then took a seat opposite him.
He was worried that Claudia had found out about Nick somehow. That she and her team had been watching him. That they had made the connection that he had come up from London with the two Lithuanian brothers and was working for them. But even worse than that was the thought that she had somehow figured out that he was Brady’s brother.
‘Jack? I need to tell you something about Simone …’ Claudia delicately began as she met his eyes.
‘What about Simone?’ Brady interrupted, surprised.
‘She was one of the detectives involved in investigating the murder of the Russian girl, Katya. The one that took place a few weeks back in the London hotel.’
‘Go on,’ ordered Brady, aware of the adrenalin beginning to course through his body.
‘She was the one who got the information out of the Russian victim before she died …’ Claudia paused, as she tried to gauge his reaction.
Something in her voice made him uneasy. Then it hit him.
‘Simone’s father thought it was
‘Jack? Look …’ Claudia attempted to explain.
‘No. Let me think!’ snapped Brady. ‘Frank Henderson said that Simone had come back up to the North East to talk to me. She had told her flatmate that she had a meeting up here with someone who worked in the Northumbrian force, named Brady.’
Claudia didn’t say anything.
‘It was
Claudia remained silent.
‘Did you meet with her?’ he shouted, angry at her refusal to answer him.
He stared at her. His dark brown eyes cold.
‘Of course you did, otherwise you wouldn’t know what you know,’ he muttered quietly. He frowned. ‘Don’t you think it’s crossing a line? The woman you caught me in bed with contacting you?’
Distressed by the suggestion, Claudia looked away.
‘So … what happened?’ demanded Brady. He wasn’t going to let her off that easy. ‘Did you send her into Madley’s, is that it? Did you know they were going to be in there that night and so you sent her in as bait? Is that it? See if they bite and take her to wherever they’re holding the other trafficked girls? Was that it?’
‘Jack! Please … you’ve got it all wrong,’ Claudia desperately insisted.
‘Have I? Have I really?’ questioned Brady harshly, unable to disguise the contempt he felt. ‘If it had all worked out, imagine where you’d be now. Not sat in my office with a mutilated copper fighting for her life.’
She shook her head, her eyes now looking at him. They were filled with tears.
He stared back at her. It was a cold, hard look. One that Claudia didn’t recognise.
