Page 9 of Savage Justice

“Really, we could do with going back to the scene, with Lucy, while it’s still light. She can talk us through everything that happened…”

“I know that, but surely…”

“It won’t take long. And we’ll drop you off at home after.”

I can see there’ll be no compromise on this, and I don’t blame them. Evidence needs to be collected while it’s fresh. I wrap my arm round Lucy. “Well, okay then. Let’s just get it over with.”

The forensic team and two dog handlers are already at the scene when we arrive. The van is still there, skewed across a rough track between two buildings. I immediately see what they mean about the tyres. They’re shredded, and the rear door is buckled from being forced open. The door still swings on its hinges.

Lucy, me and Noah are in the back seat of the police car. We get out, and Lucy makes her way to the van. She peers inside.

“That’s where I sat, by the wheel. I thought… I thought I…” Her voice breaks.

I give her a hug. “It’s over. You’re safe.”

“What if they hadn’t been there? Those men?”

I shudder. If they hadn’t been there, this would have all ended very differently. Bullets, crowbars, broken legs. None of that matters to me. They saved my baby, and that’s all I care about. I turn to Inspector Russell.

“Can we just get it finished, whatever you need to do. This is upsetting Lucy. I need to get her home.”

“We’ll be as quick as we can, Mrs Lowe. So, if Lucy could just run through the incident once more…”

She does, bless her. My little girl trots out the same tale yet again, this time pointing to the precise locations. “This is where their car was parked. Over there is where the man ran to, and the other man chased him. He dropped the crowbar just there.”

The forensic team take photographs. They crawl about on the ground peering at tyre tracks and taking casts of footprints. They examine the van, extracting fibres and specks of Christ knows what and bagging it all up in their little plastic packets.

At last, they concede that they have all they can find here. Still, they persist. “Are you quite sure you can’t remember anything about the other two men? What did they look like?”

“They were tall, and they had dark hair,” is the best Lucy can come up with. Or that’s all she’s saying.

I chip in what I recall from my brief sighting of one of them outside my house. “Perhaps thirty or so. Shoulder-length hair. Athletic build. No, I didn’t see his face or his eye colour. He was wearing a leather biker jacket and jeans. I didn’t notice his shoes.” I don’t add that he was sort of attractive, in a ‘bad boy’ sort of a way. That’s not relevant, after all. “It was the vehicle that drew my attention. It was black, with tinted windows. And big, one of those fancy four-wheel-drive monsters. No, I didn’t think to check the number plate. I was too stunned when I spotted my daughter getting out of it.”

Detective Jackman beckons a uniformed officer over. “Constable Leeming will drive you home. We’ll be in touch. And you need to phone me if you remember anything else, any detail, however small. Here’s my card.”

I pocket the card and follow Lucy into the back of the patrol car. Noah is asleep in my arms and doesn’t stir the entire way home. Thank Heaven for small mercies. Lucy is deathly quiet, too, and I’m less happy about that but I let her be.

“I’m going to bed,” she announces, as soon as we get home.

“Wait.” I settle Noah in the Moses basket and gesture for Lucy to come and sit with me on the sofa. “I know you, and I know when you’re not telling the truth.”

She spins around to face me. “It did happen. It did. Don’t you believe me?”

“Of course I believe you. Every word of it. It’s what you’re not telling me that has me wondering.”

“I don’t understand. I told you—”

“Who were those men? I know you know more than you’ve told the police.”

“I didn’t—”

“Lucy.” My voice is laced with a note of caution. “If you don’t want to tell me, then say so. Don’t lie to me.”

She hangs her head. “I don’t want them to get in trouble. The policeman said they weren’t nice, so I thought…”

“I get it. You liked them. I can understand that. Did they tell you not to say who they were? Did they threaten you?”

She shakes her head. “Nico said I was to tell you what happened, and the police. And he made me learn the name of the warehouse.”

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