He feels his phone buzzing in his pocket. His boss is calling and he needs to answer it. Luckily he had the foresight to turn it to silent. He creeps back to the fence and crouches down behind a bush.
“Sorry, sir. You called. I was just in the toilet.”
“The alarm has gone off at Porters Removal Depot. Someone’s reported seeing people loitering around. Can you head over there.”
“On my way. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Report what you find and let me know if you need back-up.”
“Yes, sir. I will.”
When Daniel arrives, it is obvious someone has tried to break down the back doors but hasn’t managed to get in.
He wasn’t due to patrol here for another thirty minutes. Now he will have to wait around for the owners or a worker, and the police if they ever decide to turn up, which normally they don’t.
The motion detector connected to the camera he set up to keep an eye on the old car workshop will tell him if anything happens there.
So far it had only been as he expected. The two men going to the fridge or moving round the factory. He dare not leave the Removal Depot until it is all sorted out and that could take all night.
Chapter Thirty
After Diane Mitten faints following the distressing phone call from the kidnappers, PC Rachel Nason makes the decision to call for medical attention.
Just in case the kidnappers are watching the house, rather than have a normal car turn up, she has arranged to get a doctor in a vehicle with the distinctive green and yellow squares and the word ‘Doctor’ on the side of the vehicle. This would hopefully convince anyone who may be watching the house this is a genuine doctor.
Once the doctor has attended to Mrs Mitten and she seems to have got over some of the initial shock, Eden asks Mr Mitten for permission to undertake a full search of upstairs and the twins’ bedrooms.
He doesn’t tell the distraught father that even if he refuses, they had the power to search them anyway. But it is always better to ask than demand. And Eden makes sure he chooses his words wisely. Upstairs and the twins’ bedrooms means they could check every room if it is later challenged.
Eden and Tracy walk into Erica’s room.
Eden starts by searching the bedside cabinet.
Tracy heads for the packed wardrobe.
"This girl must go out freezing unless she has another place to store her clothes. Not a single item for winter. All short tight dresses and skin-tight jeans."
She opens the chest of drawers.
“Skimpy underwear and some nice items of jewellery but that’s all.”
The detectives are looking for diaries, notepads, any form of correspondence or contact addresses, computers, mobile phones, anything that had been discarded in a bin or under the bed, evidence of substance abuse or dependence, and/or any reliance on medication and any samples of handwriting that might come in handy as the enquiry progresses and new things come to light.
If needed later, they would bring in fingerprint experts to find out who had been in the girls rooms and check for signs of sexual activity, although the bedding looked like it had been freshly laundered.
Thanks to the various acts such as human rights, police officers have to work with one hand tied behind their backs.
The paperwork for even searching the rooms is vast. Records must be made of the area searched and the level of intrusion; search techniques, any equipment used and the duration, and they will need to keep a record of any evidence found or taken away. They have to do everything to cover their backs.
“Have you seen the photos on their social media?” asked Eden. “They certainly know how to make the most of their figures.”
“Yes,” said Tracy, “they seem very keen of selfies. Mind you, if I was that age and looked as good as they do I wouldn’t object to showing off what I had. They like to enjoy themselves.”
Once they were satisfied there was nothing that would yield any clues as to the girls’ whereabouts, they moved to Leona’s room. It was pretty much the same. Revealing dresses and tops that would barely cover the ample busts they liked to show off in most of their photos.
Some of the photos showed them posing with girlfriends. But at this stage, Eden had made the decision not to contact any of them until they were certain the kidnappers were not people already known to the twins.
After all, he knew that in most cases the people behind these crimes were usually known to their victims. And if that was the case, it made the risk of them being murdered much higher as the girls could identify their captor.
Until they could eliminate someone from their enquiries, they would remain on the suspect list. The parents were unaware but even they were on the list.
With both parents’ downstairs, Eden and Tracy took the opportunity to check every upstairs room, even the parents’ en-suite bathroom and walk-in wardrobes.
Although extremely rare, it wasn’t unheard of for the parents to be involved in the abduction and murder of their children.
Eden doubted they were because of their genuine reactions and the fact they had hardly had time to do anything since the girls went missing.
Once they had returned downstairs and seen Mrs Mitten looking a little better after the doctor had given her a sedative, Eden asked Mr Mitten if they could check in the garage and outbuildings.
“When they told you they were watching the house, it might not mean they are actually here right now. I want to check nobody has been using your garage or outbuildings to spy on you or watching us from a hidden camera.”
Francis seemed to be satisfied with the explanation and gave his consent.
They searched the outbuildings but found nothing that looked or felt out of place. This seemed to be the home of a close family with little to hide. The detached house
