CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
‘What? Kidnapped?’
But Penny was already dashing off, searching the crowds for Caleb. She suddenly spotted him and raced over and I saw their heads together as she talked urgently to him.
I had a quick word with Ellie and explained that there was an emergency and I was going to have to dash off. She looked alarmed but seeing the urgency in my face, she immediately told me to go.
I joined Caleb and Penny just as Caleb was telling her to call the police and report what had happened.
He was holding her arms and speaking calmly, letting her know about the intimidation and what had been going on, but I knew he must be terrified underneath his calm exterior.
Caleb adored his nephew, and if this horrifying news was true, I knew he would blame himself entirely.
‘Are you certain you saw him in the car park?’ he was asking Penny.
‘Yes. His friend Daniel was being dropped off by his dad so we both went to the car park to meet him. Will got there first and when I arrived, a dark-coloured car was driving at speed out of the cark park, and Will was nowhere in sight.’
A dark-coloured car driving at speed.
My heart sank into my boots. That sounded scarily familiar and I could tell by the look on Caleb’s face that he thought so, too.
‘Which way did the car turn? Left or right?’
But she looked flustered and shook her head.
‘Think, Penny. Which way did the car go?’
‘Right. Yes, it turned right!’
‘Great. Now, we need the registration number of that car, so you’ll have to get home now and find it.’
‘But where from?’
‘Listen to me, Penny.’ He took a gentle hold of her wrists and forced her to look at him. ‘It’s in Will’s notebook. The one where he keeps a record of all the cars parked in the street outside the house?’
‘But there’s so many cars in that notebook. How will I know which one it is?’
Caleb told her to find the particular car that had been parked there on two specific evenings. ‘Find the BMW and then phone the police again and give them the registration number. And tell them you think that’s the car Will was driven away in, okay?’
‘And then phone Caleb with the registration as well,’ I added.
‘Okay.’ Penny nodded frantically. ‘But I want to come with you.’
He shook his head. ‘This is more important. Phone the police then get them that registration number.’
‘Right.’ She stared at us in dismay. ‘But we came on the bus. How will I get home?’
At that moment, Daniel and his dad arrived at the stall, asking where Will was. Caleb gave a quick explanation and luckily, Daniel’s dad saw the urgency of the situation immediately and offered to drive Penny back to Henley Green.
We watched the three of them dashing off, Penny fumbling for her phone as she went.
‘Don’t worry! We’ll bring him back,’ called Caleb. ‘Right, I’m going.’
‘I don’t care what you say, I’m coming with you,’ I told him firmly.
He hesitated for barely a second. Then he took my hand. ‘Let’s go.’
*****
Once clear of the village, Caleb floored it, driving at speed through the countryside. He was taking bends at twice the rate I would, but I trusted him completely. He was an excellent driver.
‘It’s them, isn’t it?’ I said after a while. ‘They’ve kidnapped Will.’
‘It’s my fault,’ he said shortly. ‘I was so sure it was you they were going after, I never even thought about the other blatantly obvious target. My nephew!’ He shook his head, disgusted at himself.
‘Don’t blame yourself.’
‘But I do, Katja. If I’d told Penny what was going on, chances are they wouldn’t even have gone to the Christmas market today. I should just have come clean right from the start and informed the police.’
‘But you thought that might put me in danger,’ I said, trying to comfort him, all the time craning my neck to hopefully spot a black BMW up ahead of us.
‘This is the Portsmouth road,’ he said suddenly. ‘They’d better not be aiming to catch a ferry.’
‘They wouldn’t, though, would they? They’d surely guess we’d have called the police and told them the route. If they board a ferry in Portsmouth, they’d be trapped.’
‘That’s true. So where on earth are they taking him?’
We drove for a while in silence. Then suddenly, as we were passing a petrol station on the passenger side, I happened to glance at the cars parked there – and my heart lurched almost out of my chest. ‘I’ve just seen the car.
I’m almost sure of it!’ I shouted, turning in my seat and straining to look back.
‘In the petrol station?’ asked Caleb urgently. As I told him yes, he was already slowing down and driving into an industrial estate on our left then doing a speedy turn and parking at the entrance.
I glanced at him, puzzled. ‘Aren’t you going to drive back there?’
‘No point. They’ve obviously just stopped for petrol. We’d probably meet them going on their way again. Far better to wait here for them to come past.’
So we waited. And sure enough, a few minutes later the car flew past where we were parked, and Caleb nipped in behind it, accelerating hard to catch up.
Penny phoned Caleb. ‘Do you have any news?’ she asked, a mix of hope and panic in her voice.
‘We’ve got eyes on the car we think took him. I presume there’s been no sign of Will at all?’
‘No. We’ve come back to the market just in case Will is still around here somewhere and I’ve phoned everyone I can think of, including the police.
I’ve given them the registration number of that car and they said it’s registered to an address in Hove.
They’re sending local police to check it out, and they’ve issued the registration to all police forces in the UK, along with a description of Will and details of a possible kidnapping. ’
‘Great.’ Caleb nodded. ‘Tell me the registration just to make sure this is the right car we’re tailing?’
‘We’re pretty sure it is,’ I called. ‘It’s got the wonky roof rack and there surely can’t be two the same.’
‘I sent you a text,’ said Penny.
‘Right.’ Caleb fumbled for his phone and handed it to me, and I found the text and read out the registration.
I nodded at Caleb. ‘Penny, it’s a match. We’ve got the right car. We’ll get Will back, I promise you.’
‘Keep me posted,’ she called, sounding far away.
‘We will. I guess we know where we’re heading now, then,’ said Caleb. ‘Hove.’
‘Yes. But please be careful? You don’t know who you’re dealing with. They could have knives or anything.’
I swallowed hard. She was right, of course. We had no idea who was driving the car. What would we do when the car finally stopped? Were we equipped to challenge the kidnappers?
When the call from Penny ended, I cast a worried glance at Caleb. ‘What if the local police get to the address before us? The presence of the police would alert the kidnappers. They’d know we were onto them.’
He nodded. ‘I was thinking about that. But hopefully we can get there first.’
With renewed determination, he stepped on the accelerator and we drove on, keeping the BMW in our sights.
But I had a horrible panicky feeling in the pit of my stomach and so many questions running around inside my head.
It would be dark soon, which would make it more difficult to keep the black car in our sights. What if we lost it at a roundabout and weren’t able to follow it to its destination and find Will?
What if the kidnappers realised the police were onto them? What would they do with Will then?
An iron fist gripped my insides and squeezed.
I really didn’t want to think about that . . .
*****
It was starting to get dark as we approached Hove and began seeing signs for the town centre.
At a roundabout, the BMW pulled away ahead of us, so that by the time we stopped at a set of traffic lights, the kidnap vehicle was three cars in front.
Caleb was anxiously tapping the steering wheel as we waited for the lights to change, and I saw him glance sideways at his door. Instantly, I knew what he was thinking.
‘No, Caleb.’ I looked at him in a panic. ‘Stay in the car.’
He didn’t reply.
A muscle was working in his cheek as he stared straight ahead, and I watched him nervously out of the corner of my eye.
He wouldn’t get out, surely? It was too risky. He wouldn’t do it.
But then suddenly he made a dive for it, wrenching open his door and almost tumbling out. I stared in horror as he started sprinting towards the BMW – just as the lights were changing to green.
‘Oh, my God! Caleb!’ I whispered, my hands over my mouth in fear.
He was nearly there! Almost in reach of the car’s back door. Reaching for the handle now.
My heart was beating so fast, I thought it might burst out of my chest.
But then at the last moment, with a screech of tyres, the car roared away. And Caleb was left staring after it, hands dug into his hair in despair.
Other drivers were honking their horns for him to move out of the way. He sprinted back and slipped into his seat.
‘All right, all right!’ he muttered, waving an apology to the drivers behind us, before quickly moving off.
I peered into the gloom, desperate for a sighting of the BMW, but it seemed to have escaped and my heart was in my mouth. We couldn’t have lost it at this late stage, could we?
It was entirely possible, though. We were in the outskirts of Hove now and there were dozens of streets the car could have turned into . . .
‘Hell, we’ve lost it.’ Caleb thumped the wheel in frustration and I knew he was angry at himself for having got out of the car and possibly alerted the driver to the fact that he was being tailed.
His courageous attempt to rescue Will had backfired because time had been wasted, leaving the enemy to speed away into the night.
‘Well done for trying, though,’ I murmured, and he looked across at me and tried to smile.
‘What do we do now? The car could be anywhere,’ he said gloomily.
‘I guess we drive around Hove and look for it?’
He nodded and carried on in the direction of the town centre.
‘The local police might be at the address by now,’ I added. ‘Maybe they’ve already found Will.’