‘No.’
‘And there’s no leads to where the boy is?’
‘Whoever has taken him has been leaving us some clues, obviously. Taunting us. We just have no idea what they mean.’
‘And Inspector Delaney?’
‘Yeah?’
‘He on top of things?’
Sally finished buttoning up her coat and threw Bennett a suspicious look. ‘Why wouldn’t he be?’
Bennett shrugged and flashed her a guileless smile. ‘It’s just that it can’t be easy with him tied up in it all somehow. What with finding that small girl that Garnier had abducted all those years ago. What was her name again …?’
‘I don’t know, inspector. Way before my time.’ Sally sketched a wave as she headed to the door. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘See you.’
Bennett’s smile vanished as she left the room. He picked up the cup of water, drained it and lobbed the empty beaker into Delaney’s bin.
‘Oh, we’ll see all right,’ he said and smiled again. ‘We’ll definitely see.’
*
Dave ‘Slimline’ Matthews looked up from the crossword he was doing as DI Bennett walked towards the exit. ‘Hold up, inspector. I didn’t know you were in the building,’ he called out.
Bennett turned back, puzzled. ‘What is it, sergeant?’
‘I just tried calling you.’
Bennett held up his mobile phone. ‘Sorry, the battery’s dead.’
‘It’s your collar today …’
‘What about him?’
‘We had to bounce him. No charges.’
‘Go on.’
‘Turns out the weapons are all genuine Nazi memorabilia, including the knuckledusters. Antiques. So he’s allowed to have them, sell them, whatever.’ Matthews shook his head, bemused. ‘At least, in this country he is. Germany, France – we’d have him bang to rights.’
‘What about the son, Matt Henson?’
‘He’s just been brought in.’
‘Really?’
‘Caused a bit of trouble at The Outback pub earlier, tried to make a run for it and the manager made what we might like to call a citizen’s arrest.’
‘Meaning?
‘Meaning he jumped him and held him down until some uniforms could get there.’
‘Very civic-minded. Where is he now?’
‘We’ve got him in holding.’
‘Fit to be interviewed?’
‘Yeah, bruised ego. Nothing much else.’
‘Good.’
‘How’s the victim?’
Bennett nodded. ‘Spoke to the hospital a short while back. He’s stable, conscious. Still doesn’t remember a thing about who attacked him, apparently.’
The sergeant looked thoughtful. ‘Genuine amnesia, you think?’
‘What else?’
The sergeant shrugged. ‘I’m just plod, you’re the man in a natty suit. But maybe he’s scared.’
‘Scared of what?’
‘That if he says anything, Henson will come back and finish the job. Him or another one of his neo-Nazi thug associates.’
‘It’s a possibility.’
‘Wouldn’t be the first racially motivated murder in this fair city of ours, would it?’
‘Not by a long chalk. Why don’t you rustle up a uniform for the interview and settle him down in interview room one, if it’s available?’
