Free Stolen by Rebecca Muddiman Page B

stared. ‘The other two, I don’t know. One never speaks. The other, maybe he’s foreign, I don’t know. I never really paid them that much notice. I just tell them what I want doing and take them cups of tea. Why?’
    Abby stood and went to the phone. ‘Did they know?’
    ‘Know what? What’s going on?’
    ‘Did they know I was coming out to see you?’ she said while dialling, her voice raised with anxiety.
    Paul stepped out of the living room. ‘What’s going on?’ Abby asked for Gardner then moved the phone from her mouth while she waited.
    ‘Did they know, Jen?’
    Jen shrugged. ‘I don’t think so. They could’ve heard me on the phone I suppose but...’
    Abby moved her mouth back to the phone. ‘Detective Gardner? It’s Abby Henshaw. I need to see you.’

Chapter Sixteen
    Miklos stared at the small TV in the corner of the room. The curtains were closed giving the room a strange orange glow. At least it disguised the shit-brown carpet and the flea-bitten quilt. Damek was lying on the other bed, cigarette in hand despite the no-smoking sign by the door.
    Miklos licked his lips and glanced at his cousin. He wasn’t even watching. He looked like he didn’t give a shit. Which Miklos knew was probably true. He turned back to the TV and watched the police giving details about where it’d happened. They mentioned the van, the road. If anyone saw anything...
    Then the woman. The woman was to speak. Miklos swallowed hard. She stared out, her eyes glassy. Beside her the woman’s husband slid a sheet of paper from in front of her and started talking. Miklos didn’t really listen to what he said. He was looking at the woman. The woman he’d taken yesterday. He knew her name now. Abby Henshaw. He hadn’t been told that before. He wasn’t sure if Damek had known but he didn’t know. But then he didn’t know a lot. Hadn’t been told lots of things. Like the baby. He hadn’t been told about the baby. And now the baby was gone.
    The news moved on to something else and he switched it off. He turned to Damek who stubbed out his cigarette on the table beside the bed.
    ‘Are you hungry?’ Damek asked. ‘I could eat.’
    Miklos just stared at him. He didn’t care at all. Didn’t care about that woman. About the baby. He didn’t care that they could be caught. He didn’t care about anything. He watched as Damek stood and pulled his trousers on.
    ‘We have to do something,’ Miklos said.
    ‘About what?’
    ‘About that,’ Miklos said and pointed at the TV. ‘About what we did.’
    Damek sat down and started pulling his shoes on. He didn’t even turn around. ‘We got paid, didn’t we?’ He pulled on the other shoe. ‘Where do you want to eat?’
    ‘Listen to me,’ Miklos shouted. ‘The baby was taken.’
    ‘So?’ Damek shrugged. ‘Not our business.’
    ‘They think we took her.’
    ‘So?’ Damek shrugged again. ‘Think what they like. We don’t have a baby. They don’t even know who we are. They’re looking for a white van,’ he laughed. ‘How many white vans are there?’
    ‘They had our pictures,’ Miklos said and walked round to stand in front of Damek. ‘They could find us.’
    ‘It didn’t look like me,’ Damek said and stood up. He patted Miklos on the shoulder. ‘Not handsome enough,’ he said and grinned.
    Miklos thought about the sketches the police showed. Damek might be wrong about many things but he was right about the pictures. They looked nothing like them. But that wasn’t the point. ‘We have to do something. We could call and tell them what we know. We don’t have to say our names.’
    Damek slapped Miklos on the side of the head. ‘Don’t be stupid,’ he said. ‘Besides we don’t know anything. We don’t have the baby.’ Damek slipped on his jacket. He stepped up close to Miklos, bent down to look him in the eye, and put his hand on his throat. ‘And we don’t know who does, right?’

Chapter Seventeen
    Abby was relieved when the doorbell