6.30pm Thursday 11th March 2010, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.
A five-year old girl, Regina Balfour, is kidnapped in broad daylight from the Eden Shopping Centre, while her mother’s back is momentarily turned. Left behind is her ladybird shaped backpack, which contained supplies for her insulin pump. She needs her medication to live more than a few days, and her condition will rapidly deteriorate without it...
"We think he believed what he was doing was in the girl's best interests," replies Jocelyn. "He may have been sincere, but he was sincerely wrong. Which reporter lady was that, by the way? Also, did George ever meet anyone else here, or did he always eat alone? And have you ever seen this woman before?" She shows her Lindsay's picture.
'I'll not believe it' says Simone, then she screws up her face thinking, 'Oh what was 'er name, Julie, Julie something, from that GNS news.'
She looks at Lindsay's picture, 'No, never seen 'er before. To be honest I don't think I ever saw George talk to anyone else while he was here, made small talk with me, but mostly just seemed happy sitting by himself. Never caused me any bother...well, I mean, except for Thursday I suppose...' She trails off.
Kris pushed open the door of The Happy Cafe and stepped inside. He was slightly out of breath have rushed to get there.
He could see Jocelyn was talking to a woman behind the counter, so he hung back, mindful of her comments on the phone about Simon’s attempts to get the woman onside...
Simone continues, 'Well, it were nothing really, he came in like normal, seven o'clock, orders his breakfast, full English like I said. Then when he comes to pay he's not got any money on him.' She pauses and seems to be thinking hard, 'That was weird in itself, he usually pays by credit card,' she waves the point of sale terminal looking rather proud of it, 'But the last few days he paid in cash. Anyways, he didn't have any and he got a bit flustered, I said he could just pay me tomorrow but he eventually found his card, and when he went to pay it wouldn't go through, not activated or somesuch. So he had to call the card company, didn't have a phone with him, had to use mine, and it was all a pallaver. But it worked out in the end...oh, well, he paid his bill anyway, I didn't mean about the other stuff that day, you know, oh...' and she trails off.
”A new card?” said Kris. “I wonder if that’s one we know about?” He turned to the woman behind the counter. “Could we see the credit card slip, please?” he asked politely.
She looks a little more nervous, 'Now then, um, I'm not sure. The young lady 'ere says you're working for the police. Do you have any identification?'
Kris shows her his warrant card and she goes to the till and starts rooting around in the cash drawer. Eventually she returns with a crumpled till receipt which lists a card number and a transaction for £4.50 dated yesterday. She also holds out a square of paper with a phone number on it, 'I think this was the number he rang to call the card company, still by the phone it was.'
”You’ve been a great help, thank you,” said Kris. ’Just one other thing, we’re looking for one of George’s accomplices. Have you seen a man with a tattoo on his neck hanging around? Answers to the name of John or Johnny?”
Seeing the others in the cafe, Simon waits outside. He feels as though he and the woman got off on the wrong foot-- though he can't imagine why. He's eager tos peak with Kris once he comes outside however and ask him more about Balfour's text.
'We get a lot of people through here' says Simone, 'Your tattooed man doesn't ring a bell, but tattoos are getting more common aren't they? Anyway, I never saw George meet up with anyone, I think he liked the alone time to be honest.'
Assuming they leave the cafe, Simon approaches Kris.
"Good evening, Detective. Jocelyn mentioned you had found a copy of Balfour's text? I'll get to look examining it as soon as I can, see if I can learn anything if so."
”Damn! I knew I’d forgotten something!” said Kris. ”I left the book in Balfour’s car back at the station. I don’t think we’re expecting him to come for it tonight so you should have time to take a look.”
He looked around for Jocelyn’s car. “Did you drive here?”he asked, hoping he wasn’t going to have to walk back to the station.
"Yes, we took my car," says Jocelyn, leading the way. "Hop in. I had no joy trying to convince my boss at MI5, but I did have another thought. If Lindsay is still checking her email, we can use it to establish communications with her. We can send an email to her account explaining that Regina needs the insulin or she'll die, and we can make arrangements to deliver it where she wants. Naturally, we'll have a tracking device sewn into the backpack's lining."
"A great idea," Simon says. "In the meantime I must go to the station and get the book. It's only a few minute walk from here, right? While you're doing that I can start researching it further."
