Free Blazing Obsession by Dai Henley Page A

He’ll kill me if he spots me in Florida.” As I spoke, I had a brainwave. “I wonder if Alisha would come with us? She could set up the meeting. She’d be a great support for Lynne, too.”
    â€œMakes sense. You’re starting to think like a detective now.”
    â€œWhat happens if he doesn’t want to play ball?”
    â€œWell, it’s still a result, isn’t it? I know we still have to go through the courts to get the boy back to the UK. But we’d have located him and we can keep the pressure on the legal eagles to get the case heard quickly. From what your family lawyer said, it’ll mean just three months’ delay after we’ve found them. And its likely Lynne can be with her son every day until the US court allows them to return.”
    I’d been telling myself for the last two days that I’d do
anything
to get Georgie back.
    Now I’d have to prove it.
    â€œRoger, this is way out of my league. Let me discuss this with Lynne and Alisha.”
    â€œSure. Oh, before you go, let me show you our inner sanctum. I don’t show this to all my clients but I thought you’d appreciate it. It’s recently been fitted out with the latest gizmos.”
    He took me through a side door to a room resembling Mission Control in Houston – split-screen monitors, computers flashing red, green and blue lights and recording equipment, which made my latest Bang and Olufsen hifi system look antique.
    Five or six young men and women, dressed mainly in jeans and T-shirts, earnestly scanned the monitors or tapped at keyboards.
    â€œThis is the way things are going. You have to be one step ahead of the bad guys these days.”
    *
    I arranged to meet up with Alisha and Lynne later that evening, but first, I visited DS Evans.
    In the same interview room, he briefed me on progress and told me they’d had a breakthrough. He explained they’d discovered credit card details on Nick’s PC, which although incomplete, pointed to one of the major providers. The police had a team working closely with them, but had no information yet.
    I had mixed feelings about this. The police appeared to be making progress, but if they got to Nick first, we’d be caught up in an extradition process which didn’t have a good track record as far as getting swift results were concerned.
    â€œThe breakthrough I referred to is that, following a search of Burrows’ dustbin at the rear of his flat, we found a set of kitchen scales with a smidgen of a white substance on them and it wasn’t baking powder. It’s been analysed by the lab and their report confirms traces of cocaine.” He ran his tongue around his teeth for the hundredth time before continuing.
    â€œOf course, anyone could have placed these scales in his bin, but together with the video tape evidence you brought in, there probably is a case to answer. You don’t use scales unless you’re breaking down drugs into marketable packets.”
    I felt we were getting somewhere at last.
    I said, “What’s the position on getting Burrows extradited from the US now we can add the possibility of drug dealing to the abduction case?”
    â€œA lot better. But it’s not a nailed-on certainty. We’ve got to convince our friends across the pond there’s enough evidence to justify, what they call, ‘probable cause’. And I’m sure you’ve discovered that extradition isn’t straightforward. And we’ve still got to find him.”
    *
    The meeting at my place with Lynne and Alisha didn’t start well. Over an Indian takeaway I put forward RP’s proposal.
    Lynne spoke first. “So, this is your new
plan,
is it?” I ignored the sarcasm. I’d gone through it as patiently and as calmly as I could. She questioned every aspect. When I got to the part about her having to suggest to Nick that they try to re-kindle their relationship, she lost