Page 9 of Captive Hearts
Five
Ashley couldn’t believe it. Things like thisneverhappened.
When she’d bought the scanner, she’d never really believed she’d ever get to use it. It was pure fantasy, something she’d seen in movies. A spunky young journalist hungry for a story, chasing it down by hook or by crook. But real life? Real life was the crowded train to work, a lukewarm latte, a supermarket sandwich, talking to dull civil servants, sitting in a drafty van. It wasn’t big, exciting crime.
Until today.
When Gina had told her there had been three sirens, she’d gotten this tingly feeling. She’d had it before, when she knew she was onto something, like the school break-in. But this tingle put that one to shame. It started at the nape of her neck and travelled all the way to her coccyx, shooting down her like lightening.
She knew that this feeling was telling her something. And even though yesterday she’d gotten into trouble for letting her instincts guide her, today she wasn’t doubting herself. She didn’t care if Gina saw her scanner and dobbed her in. She didn’t care if Bernie lost his marbles and put her on probation, maybe even fired her. All of that seemed like background to the tingle.
Then, things got even more exciting. When she tuned into the police frequency, she heard the police officers on the line saying a lot of codes that she didn’t know. She’d have been completely in the dark if the male officer hadn’t stopped talking in code. ‘Oh, shit, Debby! Get everyone down here, now!’ the man yelled. Ashley was electrified.
After she’d managed to wrangle Gina and her crap back into the van, she was pleased to find she wasn’t asking too many questions. Or rather, she was asking nowhere near the amount that Ashley would have asked if the situation was reversed. That was good because she didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with someone telling her that she shouldn’t be doing this. She already knew that, anyway. It didn’t matter to Ashley, not if she was right. Not if she was on her way to something big, something no one knew about yet, certainly not the nationals. Ashley was going to scoop them all, and when she did, oh when she did…
When they arrived at Jimmy’s Pizza - a big, tacky place with a gargantuan neon sign on its roof, the jewel of a cheap-looking precinct full of old, mostly closed down eateries off a B road - there were indeed three police cars sat in the car park. The police officers were all sat quietly inside of them, which was a bit of a disappointing start. Ashley had sort of hoped for a scene, something kicking off. But maybe it would soon?
‘Right,’ Ashley said, turning to Gina. ‘I’m gonna go and chat up the cops, I want you to be ready with your cam at a moment’s notice.’
Gina peered out of the van. ‘I still don’t know what’s going on.’
‘Neither do I, that’s what I’m going to find out,’ Ashley explained.
‘Yeah, but my point is, I don’t know if this is… You know…’
‘What?’ Ashley asked impatiently.
‘Dangerous,’ Gina finished. ‘I’m not sure either of us should be getting out of the van right now. Not until we know more.’
‘Oh.’ That threw Ashley slightly. Danger, right. That might be part of this. Funny how that hadn’t crossed her mind until now. But she had to find an answer to Gina’s question quickly if she wanted to stop her screeching out of this car park the second Ashley stepped out of the van. ‘If you’re worried, just climb through seats and do your equipment check in the back, there should be enough space for you back there. The sides are windowless. You’ll be safe.’
Gina raised an eyebrow. ‘And what are you going to do?’
Ashley shrugged. ‘Like I said, I’m going to talk to the police.’
Gina frowned. ‘You can’t just walk out there. What if something happens?’
‘Look, if you don’t want to risk your arse, that’s fine. I don’t expect you to, not without some info. Which is exactly what I’m going out there to get.’
Before Gina could argue further, Ashley jumped out of the van, running through the car park and straight up to the first car she saw. She rapped on the window, and a middle-aged officer in plain clothes jumped in surprise and spun around to the noise. Ashley flashed her gnashers. ‘Hello. I’m Ashley Quick, I work for KTN.’
‘Madam, can you please go back to your vehicle?’ the woman said through gritted teeth.
‘Yes, of course. In just a sec. First, can I just ask what’s…’
‘MADAM. GO BACK TO YOUR VEHICLE!’ the woman shouted.
Most people might have been a bit unnerved to be yelled at by a policewoman. But Ashley barely cared. The cop was bloody jumpy about something. Which meant trouble. Big news. But this tap was refusing to flow, so she nodded and said, ‘OK, then.’ She went back to the van.
In the van, Ashley glanced over her shoulder to the back, where Gina was getting her camera ready. ‘You sorted?’
‘Pretty much,’ Gina said, uncapping the lens and flicking a switch. ‘So, what did they say?’ she asked, peering through the viewfinder.
‘They said to go back to the van,’ Ashley admitted.
‘OK. So should we just… I mean, are we going to go back to the church?’
Ashley sputtered a laugh. ‘Are you joking?’
