'I'm hoping we can follow without Cordwell or the kidnapper spotting us. We might have to anticipate where he's making for and try and get there before him. We play it by ear.'
Cassidy smirked to himself. It seemed as if this whole operation could blow up in Frost's face. He was pleased he had expressed his doubts to Mullett when his views were sought. 'I foresee trouble, sir,' he'd said. 'It's too slapdash.' And Mullett had nodded grimly in agreement.
A muffled roar and some fragments of speech, totally incomprehensible, from the loudspeaker. 'Say again,' yelled Frost. 'Say again.' More gibberish. 'What's going on?'
PC Lambert jiggled some switches. 'It's the underground car-park the radio can't work down there.'
'Tell him to move outside,' said Frost.
Lambert spoke into the mike then shook his head. 'It's no use. We can't hear him and he can't hear us.'
Frost snatched up his radio. 'Collier. Cordwell should be coming out any second. Get ready to follow.'
'Burton to Control receiving? Over.'
A collective sigh of relief. Burton had moved to an area of better reception. 'Cordwell has put a canvas travel bag on the front seat of his car. He's got a couple of his security men with him, so it must be the money. He's getting in the car…'
'On his own or with the security men?'
'On his own… He's driving out now.'
Frost clicked on the other radio. 'Did you hear that, Collier?'
'Yes… I see him… I'm following.'
'Don't get too close,' pleaded Frost, 'but for God's sake, don't lose him.'
'I'll try.!
'Collier's not up to it,' said Cassidy.
'Neither am I,' said Frost, 'but we've got to use what we've got.' He could murder Tommy bloody Dunn. He'd been pinning all his hopes on being able to sit back and follow the homing device.
'Subject turning into Bath Road,' reported Collier.
Frost glanced across to Lambert who was marking up a map. Too soon yet to work out where Cordwell was making for.
'He's turning left… he's slowing down… I'm not sure, but I think he's spotted me.'
'Drive straight past him,' ordered Frost. 'Don't look at him as you do.' He ran across to consult Lambert's map. 'He can't turn off until he reaches Hilton Road, so go and wait for him there. Tell me when he passes you.'
He lit a cigarette before noticing he already had one smouldering away in the ashtray. He called Burton and told him to get ready to take over the tail from Collier.
The monitor speaker hummed softly to itself, now and again giving a little crackle as if it was going to speak, but nothing. Impatiently Frost snatched up the radio and jabbed the transmit button. 'He should have bloody reached you by now, Collier.'
'But he hasn't. I'm looking straight down the Bath Road… visibility's a bit hairy in this rain, but I should be able to see him. There's a couple of lorries, but that's all.'
'Damn!' Frost scrubbed his face with his hands, trying to work out what had happened. 'The bastard must have done a U turn. Collier drive back. If you see him, swing round and follow… report to me when you reach where you last saw him.'
He stood up and paced around the room, swinging round abruptly as Collier's voice came over the radio.
'I've gone right back to the Bath Road turn-off. No sign of him.'
'Shit!' Frost pounded the desk in frustration. 'AH units… you heard that. Look for the bugger… Report as soon as you get a sniff of him.'
The door clicked open and Mullett marched in. He had a genius for turning up at precisely the wrong time. 'How's it going?'
'The inspector seems to have lost him,' said Cassidy, barely concealing his delight, just as Frost was about to lie and say all was going to plan.
Mullett's face hardened. 'Is this correct?'
'Temporary set-back,' Frost assured. 'We'll find him.'
'You'd better,' snapped Mullett. 'You'd damn well better.' He marched out.
'He's got a foul tongue, hasn't he?' observed Frost. He suddenly felt he couldn't bear to be cooped up in the claustrophobic incident room any longer, just listening and not being a part of things. He grabbed his scarf. 'I'm going to join in the hunt. The more cars looking for him, the better.' He looked at Cassidy. 'Want to come?' He only asked because he was sure the acting inspector intended coming anyway.
Cassidy hesitated. If it all went wrong he wanted no part of it, but if Frost was successful, if he arrested the kidnapper and got the boy back, then Cassidy wanted to be there to share the glory. The thought of glory won. He snatched up his coat and followed Frost out.
They dashed, bent double through rain, to the Ford. Frost slipped behind the steering wheel and persuaded the engine to start at the third attempt. The car splashed through deep puddles as he manoeuvred out of the car park.
'Where are we going?' asked Cassidy.
'I'm heading towards Denton Woods. If I was arranging a cash hand-over, that's where I'd choose.'
'That area is bloody big,' said Cassidy.
'So's my dick,' grunted Frost, 'but I usually manage to find the bit I want.' He radioed through to Lambert to ascertain the current position of all mobiles. Lambert reported straight back. As many cars as possible were scouring the town, but there were too many roads which Cordwell could have used and not enough vehicles to cover them. Again Frost cursed Tommy Dunn. With the homing device it would have been a doddle; without it they were flying blind in the thickest of fogs. Sod Tommy bloody Dunn.
'Tommy Dunn.' A voice sliced through his thoughts as if it could read his mind.
'Eh?' Frost's head swivelled round. Cassidy was staring hard at him, waiting for an answer. 'Sorry, son, I was miles away.'
'I'm not your damn son and I asked you for Tommy Dunn's address.'
'I don't know it,' muttered Frost, squinting through the windscreen at an approaching car that could have been green. But it wasn't.
'You're a bloody liar,' said Cassidy.
Frost didn't reply. Yes, he was lying. He knew Tommy's address but he wasn't going to let Cassidy go round there stirring everything up again. 'It happened a long time ago, son. Let the wounds heal.'
'You and Tommy made a great team, didn't you? One damned incompetent and the other always on the take.'
'I did my best to find the hit and run driver, son. We all did. We worked bloody hard, but we failed.'
'I don't doubt you did your best, inspector, but your best is inadequate and bloody pathetic' Frost shrugged. Cassidy had idolized his daughter and his bitterness at the failure of the investigation, even after all these years, was understandable, if not excusable.
'That bastard hit my daughter at speed, and roared off without bothering to see if she was alive or dead. She was smashed to pieces. Fourteen years old. She hadn't lived. She hadn't bloody lived!'
'I know son. I know.'
'You know much more than you're damn well saying.'
'What do you mean?'
'You let me down four years ago, so I've been making my own enquiries. I've found a witness.'
'Oh?' A green car roared past them, but it was a hand-painted VW Beetle.
'He was in the car-park at the Coconut Grove when he saw this car speeding past. Then he heard it pumping its horn, and the smash as it hit my daughter.'
'He didn't actually see the accident?'
'No. He went running out to the road and there was a crowd of people and they were looking down at my daughter's body.'
'We know all this, son.' Frost would never forget that night… the flashing blue light of the ambulance reflected in the shiny pools of blood inside the chalked outline marked out by the traffic police. He had viewed the
