Honeytrap: Part 2 (2 page)

‘No,’ Harry said.

‘Yes,’ Jess said. ‘Did you ask the staff if they’d seen her?’

Wilder gave a sigh. ‘Yes, they saw her earlier, talking to some guy at the bar.’

‘But no one saw her leave?’

‘We’re very busy. People are coming and going all the time.’

‘What about the man she was talking to? Joshua Keynes. Did anyone see him go?’

‘I have no idea who Joshua Keynes is. This is a private reception; I’ve never seen most of these people before.’

But Jess was persistent. ‘So could you tell me who the organiser is? Perhaps I could have a word with them and—’

‘No,’ Wilder said firmly. ‘You’re not having a word with anyone, not tonight. I want you both to leave. You’ve established that your friend isn’t here so I suggest you go somewhere else to look for her.’

Harry took Jess by the arm and propelled her back into the passageway. ‘Come on, that’s enough. Let’s go.’

Guy Wilder closed the fire exit behind them and escorted them through the crowd to the door of the bar. ‘Goodnight,’ he said when they were safely out on the pavement.

Harry gave a nod to Wilder. ‘Thanks for letting us look round.’ He knew they’d overstepped the mark and been caught in the act, and didn’t want to make an enemy of the man. If anything had happened to Sylvie – although he still doubted it – they might need his cooperation in the future.

Jess shot an angry glance at Harry as they walked away. ‘“Thanks for letting us look round”,’ she mimicked. ‘What’s wrong with you? Sylvie’s missing, for God’s sake. We’ve got every right to check out his yard.’

‘I think you’ll find that it’s private property.’

‘So what? If he’s got nothing to hide, why should it bother him?’

‘For the same reason it would bother you if someone started rooting around your back garden without asking permission.’

‘I haven’t got a back garden, and anyway, we did ask.’

Harry raised his eyes to the heavens. ‘She’s not there, Jess. What do you want me to do, rip the place apart?’

‘But we have to do something. What about the police? Don’t you think we should ring them now?’

Harry took out his phone and checked it again. Nothing. ‘Let’s go to the office first and dig out her address. She might be there.’

‘If she was there, she’d have called you.’

‘She could still be on her way home. She might not have picked up my message yet.’

As Jess walked beside him she kept glancing over her shoulder.

‘What?’ he asked, looking back too. It was Saturday night and the street was busy. ‘What is it?’

‘I don’t know. It’s just … Do you ever get that feeling?’

‘What feeling?’

Jess gave a visible shudder. ‘Like someone just walked over your grave.’

As they turned the corner into Station Road, Harry looked up towards the first-floor windows and saw that the office lights were on. So Mac and Lorna had come over after all. He paused when he and Jess came to the station and stared towards the platforms. There was no sign of Sylvie. ‘We’d better check out the Fox,’ he said. ‘She could be waiting in there.’

‘She won’t be,’ Jess said.

‘We should still take a look.’

So they pushed their way through the crowds from one end of the pub to the other. There were plenty of blondes and Harry ran his gaze over all of them, searching for Sylvie’s distinctive features. By now Jess’s pessimism was starting to get to him. What if she was right and something bad had happened? But he didn’t want to believe it. He kept expecting to see the French girl loom into his line of vision, all smiles and apologies, with a perfectly rational explanation as to why she’d disappeared.

He waited while Jess went to the bar and had a word with the landlady, Maggie McConnell. The older woman shook her head, went off to speak to the two barmaids, returned and shook her head again. Jess’s shoulders slumped. She came over to join him, her mouth set in a grim tight line.

‘No, she’s not been back.’

They left the pub, waited for a gap in the traffic and jogged across the road. Harry opened the door and they climbed the stairs to the office in silence. Lorna was in Mac’s office, rooting through a filing cabinet with one hand while she held the phone to her ear with the other. She pulled out a folder, laid it flat and flicked through the contents. ‘Yes, that’s definitely it,’ she said. ‘Number forty-three. I thought it was. Forty-three B.’ She paused. ‘I suppose you could give it another ten minutes or so.’ A longer pause. ‘Okay, I’ll see you later.’

Jess leaned against the door, waiting for Lorna to finish her call. ‘Was that Mac?’

‘Yes, he’s over in Shoreditch now, at Sylvie’s flat, but there’s no one there. He’s going to hang around for a while, see if she shows up.’

‘She won’t,’ Jess said bleakly.

Harry got a coffee from the machine, raised the plastic cup to his mouth and blew across the hot surface. ‘You don’t know that. You want a drink?’

‘No,’ Jess said. ‘No, thanks.’ She looked over at Lorna. ‘Have you called Joshua Keynes’s girlfriend? We need to find out where he is.’

Lorna glanced at Harry. ‘I’m not sure if—’

‘We can’t call her,’ he said.

Jess frowned at him. ‘Why not?’

‘And say what? We think your boyfriend might have done something to the girl who was trying to set him up? What if he’s completely innocent in all this?’

‘Well, he wasn’t slow to take her phone number so he’s not exactly innocent. And anyway, I’m sure you can find a more subtle way of putting it.’

‘Really? Like what?’

‘What do you think, Lorna?’

Lorna, forever the peacemaker, closed the filing cabinet, carried a couple of brown folders through to reception and put them on the main desk. ‘I think we need to keep calm. Arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere. Let’s sit down and go through everything properly.’

Harry pulled up a chair, but Jess went to the window and gazed down at the street. He could sense the anxiety rising from her like steam. She wrapped her arms around her chest and took a few deep breaths.

‘It’s been almost an hour,’ she said. ‘If she was going to get in touch, she’d have done it by now.’

Lorna sat down opposite Harry. ‘It does seem odd. She’s usually so reliable. I’ve never known her miss a text in all the time she’s been working here. She sticks to the rules; she never needs reminding.’

‘So maybe she’s got a problem with her phone.’

‘What’s the matter with you?’ Jess asked, her voice tight and angry. She scowled at him, left the window and sat beside Lorna. ‘You’ve been dragging your heels all night. We should have talked to those people at Wilder’s. We should be doing something now.’

Harry raised his eyebrows. ‘Just because I don’t act like a bull in a china shop doesn’t mean I’m dragging my heels. You can’t go around accusing people before you’ve got any evidence.’

Jess pursed her lips. ‘And we’re not going to get it sitting here. That Keynes is a creep; he was all over Sylvie like a rash.’

‘Which doesn’t make him guilty of anything other than being a sleazeball. Did you actually see him do anything? Did you see him follow her?’

‘I saw him look at her like she was a piece of meat.’

‘And if that was a crime, the prisons would be overflowing by now.’

Lorna interrupted the stroppy exchange. ‘This isn’t getting us anywhere. Tell me what happened, Jess, from the moment you arrived.’

Harry listened as Jess repeated what she’d already told him earlier. There was nothing new, nothing different. Sylvie had used the name Christelle when she’d introduced herself to Joshua Keynes. He’d shown an interest – more than an interest – and had taken her number, promising to ring.

When Jess had finished, Lorna opened one of the files and ran her finger down the sheet of paper. ‘Sarah Thorne. She’s the girlfriend of Keynes. I never met her, though. She made the arrangements over the phone.’

‘But you’ve got an address,’ Jess said.

‘Yes, of course. She lives in … let me see, yes, Leonard Close in Hampstead.’

‘We could go over there, see if Keynes is around.’

‘That’s a job for the police,’ Harry said, ‘if we’re going to report Sylvie as missing. Are we?’

Lorna checked her watch. ‘I’m not sure how much longer we can wait.’

There was a short silence while the three of them looked at each other.

‘I vote yes,’ Jess said. ‘Let’s do it now.’

Lorna frowned. ‘Maybe we should wait for Mac.’

‘Why don’t you ring him, see what he thinks?’

Lorna glanced at Harry, who gave a nod. She was reaching for the phone as it burst into life. She snatched it up. ‘Hello? Mackenzie, Lind.’ Instantly her eyes lit up. ‘Sylvie! We were starting to get worried. Where are you? What happened?’

Harry leaned forward, trying to hear the other side of the conversation, but Lorna had the phone pressed against her ear. A wave of relief flowed over him. With every minute that passed, he’d been getting increasingly worried. But Sylvie was fine. The panic, thank God, was over.

‘Okay, I see. No, you did the right thing … Are you sure you’re all right? … Yes, yes, that’s not a problem. I’ll get someone to go round and ask. I’m sure it will turn up … Of course I will. She’ll be glad to hear you’re safe. We’re all glad. You gave us a bit of a fright, to be honest … And you’ll keep in touch, won’t you? Give me a ring during the week.’

Harry gestured with his hand that he wanted Lorna to pass the phone over.

‘Harry’s here, Sylvie. He just wants to have a quick word … Oh, I see. No, I’ll tell him. Okay. Take care. Bye, then. Bye.’

Lorna hung up, sat back and released a long heartfelt sigh. ‘Thank heavens for that. I’m getting too old for this kind of drama. Sorry, Harry. She was on a friend’s phone and the battery was running low.’

‘So what happened?’ Jess asked. ‘Why did she just take off like that?’

‘It seems that she caught sight of an ex in Wilder’s, someone she split up with a while ago. She was worried that if he saw her he’d make a scene, draw attention to her and blow the whole job with Keynes. So she went out the back, jumped in a cab and then found she’d lost her mobile. She must have dropped it in the bar. I said one of us would go round and see if it’s been found.’

‘I’ll check it out,’ Harry said. He was doing his best not to appear too smug in front of Jess. It was understandable that she’d got in a spin – he’d felt the nerves too for a while – but his original instincts had been right. Sylvie was a smart girl who’d done what she had to do to escape a tricky situation. ‘Someone might have handed it in.’

‘I’m just glad she’s okay,’ Jess said.

‘Oh, and she said to apologise to you,’ Lorna said to Jess.

‘No problem.’ Jess looked across the table at Harry and gave him a wry smile. ‘Feel free to say “I told you so”.’

Harry shook his head. ‘You did the right thing.’

‘Well, remind me not to go back to Wilder’s in the near future.’

‘I wouldn’t worry. He’ll have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.’ Harry rose to his feet, intending to drop by the bar and then drive on to the Lincoln. With any luck Danny Street would still be there. ‘Okay, if no one needs me any more, I’m going to make a move.’

‘Yeah, and me,’ Jess said, standing up too.

Lorna looked up at her. ‘Oh, before you go. I should have said. Sylvie said to tell you she hasn’t forgotten about Friday.’

Jess stiffened instantly. ‘What?’

‘Friday,’ Lorna repeated.

‘I don’t understand.’ Jess frowned hard, her fingers tightening around the strap of her bag. ‘We didn’t make any arrangement for Friday. What did she say exactly?’

Lorna looked a little flustered. ‘Er … just that she hadn’t forgotten about Friday. That’s all. I’m sure it was.’

‘And how did she sound? There’s something not right here. Why would she say that?’

Harry raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘She’s fine. Lorna was just talking to her. She sounded okay, didn’t she?’

Lorna looked at them both. ‘She sounded … I don’t know … yes, like normal. I think so.’

‘Call her back then,’ Jess said. ‘Let’s make sure.’

‘She didn’t leave a number. I don’t think she’s at home. She can’t be or Mac would have seen her.’

Harry pulled on his jacket, ready to leave. ‘So try 1471.’

Lorna picked up the phone, dialled and quickly put it down again. ‘Withheld,’ she said.

‘You see?’ Jess said.

Harry shook his head. ‘See what? Lots of people have withheld numbers.’

‘But something’s not right. Why would she tell me not to forget when there’s nothing to remember?’

‘Are you sure you didn’t arrange to see her again?’

‘Of course I’m sure. We were going on to the Fox tonight, that’s where we were going to finish the interview. We hadn’t made any other plans.’

‘So maybe she got it wrong.’

‘Or maybe she was trying to tell us something.’

Harry opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing down on the ground floor. Two pairs of feet quickly climbed the stairs. Mac walked into the reception area, followed by DI Valerie Middleton.

‘Val,’ Harry said. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Mac dropped by the station. He told me that you may have a missing person.’

‘No,’ Harry said.

‘Yes!’ Jess exclaimed.

Jess was glad that Mac had contacted the police, but less pleased to see that it was Harry’s ex, Valerie, who had come along. The tall, cool blonde wasn’t Jess’s greatest fan; it was a grudge that went back five years to when the inspector had suspected her and Harry of having a fling. It hadn’t been true, of course – the nearest they’d come to any kind of flinging had been a stupid drunken snog in a cab one night – but old suspicions died hard.

DI Middleton’s eyes narrowed as she looked at them both. ‘So which is it? Is someone missing or not?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Harry said.

‘They could be,’ Jess said. ‘We don’t really know, not for sure.’

It was Lorna who attempted to clarify the situation, giving a quick rundown of what had happened to date. ‘So we have heard from her, but …’

‘But?’ DI Middleton asked.

‘But Jess doesn’t think there was any arrangement made for Friday.’