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.” I waited a couple of minutes, but there was nothing.I thought I heard a car start up in the distance, but this is a residential area, so it could have just been someone going off early to work.’Local officers took Mariner and Knox down to the church where the baby had been found.The Lincolnshire SOCOs had been all over the area for the last couple of hours.There was the inevitable group of bystanders watching everything and more press among them.Mariner cast his eye over the motley group, idly wondering if their kidnapper was one of them.Not unknown for the perpetrator of a crime to get an added thrill from being so close yet undetected.Alternatives were brought so that Jessica’s clothes and car seat could be taken back for forensic testing, in the hope that they might turn up some distinctive fibres or hairs.The note seemed to imply that they’d been correct about animal rights activists, but Mariner wasn’t entirely convinced.‘There’s no code,’ he said.‘Don’t they generally use a code?’‘So what the fuck was it about?’ asked Knox.‘Why take her and then deliver her back safely?’‘Maybe they lost their nerve.Or it was simply about giving Peter Klinnemann a fright.Whatever we find out here, I still want to interview his son.’It looked as though he would get his wish sooner than expected.When Mariner checked his mobile he found a message from Ruth Tunstall.He called her back.‘Paul Klinnemann has surfaced,’ Tunstall told him.‘As have the missing members of the animal rights cell.’‘Well, well.Coincidence or what? Where are they?’‘We’ve got them all here if you’d like to come down and talk to them.So far none of them is admitting to anything, of course, but one of them is a woman, thirty-three-year-old Tessa Caldwell.’‘Does she fit our description of the abductor?’Tunstall was guarded.‘She could do, with a bit of work.’Mariner went back to break the news to the Klinnemanns.‘Sergeant Knox and myself will be travelling to Cambridge.Some members of an animal rights cell have been brought in for questioning and we will be going to talk to them as part of our investigation.’ So far, so uncontroversial.‘We can offer you a lift back with us if you’d like that.’ To his surprise Klinnemann accepted.‘I should say that your son Paul is among the people brought in,’ Mariner added.‘What on earth for?’ Klinnemann demanded.‘I’ve told you before, Paul wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jessica or me.’No mention of Emma O’Brien, Mariner noticed.‘I’m sure you’re right,’ he said.‘But we need to talk to him, just to eliminate him from the enquiry.’‘I understand.’ Klinnemann was content with that, but then, gazing at his baby daughter at that moment, he was a very contented man indeed.Before moving off, Peter Klinnemann issued a brief statement to the press thanking Mariner and his team for all that they’d done.‘We don’t know who took our daughter, but if it’s someone who has lost a child or who has been unable to have a child I urge them to seek help.For the last few days we have shared your anguish.Thank you for looking after her so well.But please, if you need help, come forward.Thank you to the public and the press for all that they’ve done.We would like to be left to get on with our lives.’ For some reason Mariner felt like a fraud.They drove directly to the station in Cambridge where a car was arranged to take the Klinnemanns home.It was good to meet Ruth Tunstall in person.She turned out to be a smiley-faced woman in her late forties with cropped greying hair.She took Mariner and Knox down to the interview rooms where members of the animal rights cell were being held.‘They’re all over the place, literally and figuratively, ’ she said.‘I don’t think it’ll take long to find out what they’ve been up to, but that’s what bothers me.If they were involved in the abduction I’d expect them to have at least got their stories straight.’It bothered Mariner too.‘How did you track down Paul Klinnemann?’‘Through the mother of one of the friends we went to talk to.He turned up at their house to see his mate.He was in a bit of a state.’On the other side of the table Paul Klinnemann looked weary, but was newly washed and wearing clean clothes.He glanced up as they went in and Mariner saw the same blue eyes as his father’s, but other than that he was baby-faced, almost pretty with dark curly hair.As a professional courtesy Mariner allowed Ruth Tunstall to proceed with the interview, while he sat in as an observer.To open the conversation she produced the front page of a national newspaper, Saturday’s edition.Klinnemann glanced over it, initially disinterested, but when he saw the content he was suddenly alert.‘What’s this meant to be?’‘You didn’t know?’‘No.God, is she all right?’ He was trying hard to make it sound as if he cared.‘She was found safe and well this morning.’‘Well, praise the Lord.’ He flashed a sarcastic grin.‘Shortly before you appeared at your friend’s house, as it happens.Where have you been since last Thursday?’‘I was at a party.’‘All weekend?’‘It was a good party.’ Klinnemann smiled, lazily, his eyelids low.‘I crashed at a friend’s house afterwards.I was out of it, you know? Still am, as a matter of fact.’But Mariner wasn’t convinced.Klinnemann’s eyes looked too clear.Underneath the façade he was too alert.He needed a little prod.He caught Tunstall’s eye and she gave him the go ahead.‘Did you know that your stepmother was lecturing in Birmingham last Friday?’ he asked.Klinnemann’s eyes narrowed.‘She’s not my stepmother she’s my dad’s tart.And frankly I’m not interested in what the bitch gets up to.’Charming.‘Have you passed on information to anyone about where Emma O’Brien would be?’‘No.’‘We’ll need the address of this party and a list of the names of anyone who may have seen you there.’‘Names? Man, what sort of parties do you go to?’A knock on the door interrupted them and the duty sergeant invited Tunstall and Mariner outside.One of the detectives interviewing another of the detainees had made a breakthrough.‘They’ve been up to no good, but it wasn’t exactly what we hoped.Tessa Caldwell has admitted to being in Great Yarmouth for the last five days.’‘That’s not a crime is it?’ said Mariner.‘It’s what they were doing there, sir,’ the sergeant continued patiently.‘They went with the sole purpose of vandalising the greyhound racing track.They stayed at a nearby caravan park, booking in on Friday afternoon at around the time Jessica was abducted.The park owner has confirmed it.We think they spent Friday night doing reconnaissance before attacking the track in the early hours of Sunday morning.’‘Can we prove that Paul Klinnemann was with them?’Eventually they did, through CCTV footage retrieved from the caravan park.Klinnemann and his friends could be charged with criminal damage, but they were nowhere near Jack and the Beanstalk nursery on that Friday afternoon.It didn’t rule out the animal rights angle entirely, but now they were left with no suspects.Before returning to Birmingham, Mariner and Tony Knox went to visit the Klinnemanns.It wasn’t strictly necessary, but Mariner felt a compulsion to see them in their natural environment.They lived in a village in the flat countryside outside the city, in the kind of chocolate-box stone cottage that must have cost a small fortune.Inside was a cosy domestic scene, Emma O’Brien playing on the carpet with her daughter and Peter Klinnemann hovering over them, the attentive father.Knox immediately squatted down beside the baby and began playing with her, while Mariner stayed at a safe distance.‘How is she?’ he asked.‘She seems fine.’ Emma O’Brien seemed amazed.‘Absolutely no ill effects that we can see
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