Free Endangering Innocents by Priscilla Masters Page B

table, she wondered. Maybe instead of talking to Baldwin she should be speaking to Carly Wiltshaw and her paramour.
    She got up from the table, feeling Baldwin’s eyes on her. He knew what she was thinking, reading her agitation. Perhaps his exercises in thought transference were paying off. His eyes held a desperate, pleading look.
    “Excuse me,” she said and the PC switched the tape off.
     
    “Now what?” Mike met her again in the corridor.
    “I’m going to talk to Colclough again,” she said. “My instinct is to let Baldwin go. We can’t hold him beyond twenty-four hours without something more concrete.” Mike didn’t need to say anything for his disappointmentto communicate but he thumped one big fist into his palm and swore.
    “I know,” she said. “We can check the computer files. But if there’s nothing there …”
     
    Bridget Anderton was still downloading when they walked in. “So far nothing,” she said, “and I’ve gone back almost a month. Looks like our suspect was more interested in magic than little girls. Suppliers of card tricks from the States, a couple of hide-in-the-box tricks from China,” she flicked the mouse down, “and others from the UK.” She swivelled round in her chair to face Joanna. “How to do tricks like vanish live pigeons which might upset Animal Rights Protesters but that isn’t what we’re looking for, is it? There are no sex sites at all. His emails, however, are a little more enlightening.” She swivelled back in her chair to flick through the screen. “A little girl called Denise seems to have an affection for him. Look.” She pressed a few keys, slid the mouse across the mat and produced Baldwin’s emails. [email protected].
    There were plenty to choose from.
    Hello, I hope yoo are beying good. I am.
    PC Anderton laughed. “Great spelling,” she said. “At a guess not very old either.”
    Love from Denise
XXXXXXXXXXX
”
    “The rest are very much the same. She’s going here and there with Mummy and a guy called Wade.”
    “Anything suggestive?”
    Bridget Anderton looked serious. “It depends how you look at it. There’s mention of her going swimming and wishing he was going to be there. There’s lots of hugs and kisses. A mention that Mummy doesn’t wash her hair properly.” Her shoulders sagged. “I don’t think I reallyknow what innocence is any more, Joanna. It all seems open to interpretation. The most innocuous statements when read under a different light can appear suggestive.”
    Joanna scanned a couple more emails. “Thanks. It’s given me another line of questioning. I’ll go and tackle him on this one.”
    “I’ll come with you.” Korpanski was ahead of her.
    “Frighten the poor guy to death?”
    Korpanski held both hands up in the great sportsman’s disclaimer. “I just want to listen, Jo. That’s all I want to do.”
    “OK.”
    Baldwin was having another cup of tea with a rich tea biscuit when they returned. His eyes flickered over Korpanski and he was instantly wary. Joanna was treated to the ghost of a smile.
He thought they were allies, he and she.
    “Who is Wade, Joshua?”
    Baldwin’s hands bunched up into fists and he stared straight ahead pretending he had not heard.
    Joanna repeated the question and got the same response.
    “OK then. Who is Denise?”
    “It’s nothing to do with this.”
    “Prove it.”
    Baldwin continued staring straight ahead.
    “Someone called Denise emails you. She sounds like a little girl. She sounds as though she’s fond of you. Who is she?”
    She waited a full long minute for a response. “OK then,” she said, wearily. “Where is she?”
    “Far away.”
    “Far away enough for you not to molest her?” Mike couldn’t stop himself.
    Baldwin’s face tightened up. “I don’t do anything likethat with little girls,” he said. “You’re not listening to me, you scum.” He was including Joanna in the epithet. She had lost whatever she might have had with