Ste’s name flashed up on my phone and I felt a sense of excitement flood through me.
“You’re not going to be happy, mate. I’m sorry, but so far I’ve come up with nothing, and I mean nothing. Her friend, Marsha, hasn’t seen her for months and the last text message she got from her was on the day you got back from Ibiza and it said, ‘off on holiday, will be in touch when I return’. There was no clue as to where she was going or for how long. She gave me a few other names and numbers but I had the same response from them and I got the idea that your little Dani has well and truly hid herself.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“I’ve been to the mother’s house and that was no easy feat I’ll tell you. Fucking housekeeper living downstairs but I climbed up onto the back veranda and in through a patio door. I checked out all bedrooms and there was no sign of Dani apart from a few items of clothing, but certainly not enough to indicate that she had recently been staying there. Checked out the en-suite as well and you know what women are like for make-up and shit, well there was nada. Definitely no-one there at the minute so it seems she must have fucked off on holiday.”
‘From what little I know about Dani and her mother, I highly doubt that they are together.” I said. “Ok, well you had better find out where the mother is on holiday and we will take it from there.”
“Already done. Apparently, she’s sailing the med as we speak with various stop offs on the way. Not contactable for a lot of the time due to no reception on the boat.”
“For fuck’s sake. I’m screwed without that money. I don’t know whether to take out loans to pay off Pez or come clean.”
Ste let out a long whistle. “Do you realize what Pez will do if you tell him that, mate? You let your little girly have access to eighty k worth of shit and she pissed off on holiday. I can’t see him taking that on the chin.”
“Fuck off, Ste, I know how much shit I’m in, you don’t have to spell it out! Where the fuck am I supposed to get that kind of money from? That fucking bitch has screwed me over good and proper and she’s going to pay for this.”
“The mother must know where Dani is, so find out as much info as you can about her because she seems to be the only person that may have some answers. We need to try and track her down somehow. Find out what you can and get back to me tonight, mate.”
“I’ll be at yours for around eight and I’ll find something, don’t worry.”
I checked my phone log from the previous conversation I’d had with Dani, the conversation when she came clean about how she’d disposed of the drugs. I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it earlier because as I looked at the code that was attached to her number, I realized that her call had not been from the UK. I looked at the digits in front of her number – +495251 was the area code, so I googled it and Germany popped up on the screen.
What the fuck would Dani be doing in Germany? I paced the floor and cracked a beer swallowing it in two mouthfuls. I felt myself relax a little and realized I’d been wired since she’d disappeared.
Well, at least now I had a starting point. I rang Ste back.
“Anything, bud?”
“I got the details of the cruise ship that the mother is on but it’s going to cost you a fortune to get on board that fucker, that’s if you can get on board at all!”
“No need. You’re not gonna believe it, but I checked my phone and the number she rang me on had a German code. She’s not answering her phone now but I’m guessing she’s bought a new one or changed sim cards, but at least I have a starting point. Thanks, mate, pop over and I’ll square you up with cash.”
I made a few calls and then I rang Mick. “Fancy a trip to Germany? I think I may have found my drug-stealing little princess.”
“Sure thing, Luke. Just say the time and place.”
“Come here tomorrow night, we’ll leave in the early hours to get a head start. I’m picking up a van from Jonno with false number plates and then we’re good to go. I just need to sort tickets for us.”
The following morning, I booked two tickets on the Euro and I dumped a mattress in the back of the van, a couple of blankets and pillows, some duct tape, rope and a bag of tools. Tools always come in handy and it’s amazing how fast they make people talk when necessary!
I would make sure Dani came back with me if it was the last thing I ever did. I had told Pez that I was having trouble with one customer paying up and, for now, he was happy to let me sort it, as long as it was sorted within the next ten days. That did not give me a lot of time to do what I needed to do though, so I was still on a tight schedule.
I had been on the net and had narrowed Dani down to an area called Paderborn, I had a good idea of what it looked like thanks to the web, but it was a huge city with a population of almost one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand. It was going to be hard to track her down without drawing too much attention to myself. The plan was that I would head to the Irish bar because my betting was that if she was still in town; that would be where she’d be hanging out. I’d suss out the reaction when I asked around and if people were hesitant to share information, then I’d hit up some chick to do my dirty work for me, for a price, of course.
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