Page 119 of 36 Hours

The Tipton portal was the main entrance for the numerous barge tours running throughout the day. The area was alive as people milled around the gift shop and the waterside gallery.

Kim sprinted past The Gongoozler café and approached the first barge at the front of the line.

‘I need to get to the Singing Cavern,’ she said urgently.

The man standing on the barge shook his head. ‘Not happening, love.’

She took out her ID and all but shoved it in his face.

He shook his head again. ‘Still not happening, Inspector. There’s a wedding. Two lovely ladies are tying the knot down there, so the tours have stopped.’

Kim knew it was a wedding venue, but she didn’t realise the tours paused to accommodate the events.

‘Should be able to help you out in about twenty minutes.’

Kim took out the newspaper clipping the Jester had left for them. ‘See this little girl? She hasn’t got twenty minutes. I ain’t got the time to explain, but do you or the ladies getting married really want that on your conscience?’

She thrust the clipping towards him to give him a better look. Harsh but necessary.

He needed no further convincing.

‘Get on.’

By the time she stepped on the barge, Bryant had caught up with her.

She expected them to pull off at speed, now the operator understood the gravity of the situation.

The barge started moving slowly towards the tunnel.

‘Can you speed it up a bit?’ she called out.

‘Now that I can’t do. Top speed of four miles an hour. Gonna be fifteen minutes till I can get you there.’

‘There’s no other way?’ she asked, knowing it was a pointless question. The bastard had done this deliberately to slow them down.

‘It’s underground caverns and tunnels – ain’t no bus route,’ he said before laughing at his own joke – and then sobered as he seemed to remember the reason for the trip.

After what seemed like an hour of travelling, the barge entered the Singing Cavern, which was surprisingly well lit. There was enough light at least for her to see that every pair of eyes in the place was facing her way and guests were mumbling to each other about the intrusion.

Kim stepped off the barge the second it stopped moving. It felt like she’d arrived at a really important moment, but then again, was there any good moment to crash a wedding?

‘Folks, happy couple, I’m sorry for the disturbance, but we’re police officers, and it really is necessary. We’ll be out of your way as quickly as possible.’

The brides dropped each other’s hands and looked towards their guests, obviously wondering which one had brought the police to their wedding, or if it was some kind of joke.

Kim focussed on the job at hand and wondered how the hell the two of them were going to search this place.

Simple, they weren’t.

The intrusion into the couple’s special day was done now. It wouldn’t be the story they’d share with their kids and grandkids, but she could give them another one.

By her count, there were around thirty extra pairs of hands at her disposal.

‘Folks, we’re trying to find something very important that might help us save a child’s life. It might be a tin box or even just an envelope. Could everyone just have a look around their area for anything out of place?’

The guests all stared towards the not-so-happy couple.

Realising this was no joke, they both nodded and started looking themselves.