Tell the Truth (25 page)

‘Did he have a beard or moustache?' Ella said.

‘Not that I can remember.'

‘You didn't notice any tattoos or anything else?'

‘Sorry. Like I said, I'm always fixated on the animal.'

Murray got out the photo of James Durham. ‘Was it this man?'

The girl took it. ‘I don't know. Maybe.'

‘You're not sure?'

‘It's hard to say. Like I said, I was worried about the dog. It might be him, I don't know. Sorry.'

‘Do you have CCTV here?'

‘Yes, but it's broken at the moment. It's getting fixed tomorrow.'

Timing, Ella thought. ‘Okay. Thanks for your help. Give us a call if you remember anything else, or if the man gets in touch.'

As they stood up, the girl said, ‘Do you know how the dog's doing now?'

‘He's perfectly fine,' Ella said.

The girl smiled.

TWENTY-FIVE

H
is phone by his elbow, Rowan watched Emelia and Megan play with the dog. He'd texted Stacey and asked her to get in touch but there'd been no reply. The detectives hadn't said where they were going but they'd seemed pretty certain that Stacey had known where Gomez would be, and that meant . . . what? He wasn't sure. He couldn't tell. What was going on? She was okay enough to call, but not tell him anything. He was afraid that she somehow was in danger. And he knew he should call James and tell him about the dog, but he couldn't make himself do it.

‘Hello hello?'

‘Daddy!' Emelia leapt up and ran to the back door. ‘Look! I got a puppy!'

Simon came out of the house, followed by James. Rowan's heart seized up for a second, then, trying to sound jovial, he said, ‘Poor Nick, all alone in the shop.'

James knelt by the excited dog and looked up at Rowan. ‘Mate, I can't tell you how pleased I am that you found him.' He rubbed the dog's head without taking his eyes from Rowan's face. His smile was peculiar, more like a grimace, Rowan thought. ‘Who's a lucky dog, eh? Who's a lucky, lucky boy?'

Gomez rolled on his back and kicked his feet in the air. Emelia pulled his tail.

‘Gentle,' Megan said.

‘It was lucky,' Rowan said. ‘I know how much he means to you both, and how losing him too was the last thing you needed. So I had a hunch and started checking at the pounds. And there he was.' The words felt dry as dust in his mouth.

James was still smiling at him. ‘Thank the little birdies for hunches.'

‘Mummy said gentle,' Simon told Emelia.

‘I meant to ring and tell you,' Rowan said. ‘But time sort of got away.'

‘Oh, well,' James said, still looking at him. ‘These things happen.'

Simon kissed the top of Megan's head. ‘James said he's got something to tell us about the flat.'

Megan jumped up. ‘It's really happening?'

‘Well, it's not going to be the news you'd hoped for.' James got to his feet and faced them. ‘I asked Simon to drive me here because I wanted to tell you too, Megan, personally, how sorry I am, but my friend's changed his mind and he's not going to rent it out after all.'

The disappointment on Megan's face sliced into Rowan's heart like a knife.

‘We can't have it?' she said faintly.

‘Sorry,' James said. ‘I wish I'd known earlier, so you didn't get your hopes up.' He glanced at Rowan. ‘It's a real pity.'

In a flash Rowan had the thought that the friend hadn't changed his mind at all, that James was doing this to get at him. Because he thought he had something to do with Stacey? Had he had Simon drive him over, planning to give them they keys or whatever, then changed his mind when he saw the dog?

He cleared his throat. ‘The friend can't be persuaded?'

‘I've tried myself,' James said. ‘Again, I'm really sorry.'

To Rowan he didn't sound sorry at all. Megan started to cry, which made Emelia burst into tears. Simon hugged them both.

Rowan motioned James aside. ‘You're certain there's nothing we can do?'

‘What are you suggesting?' James's expression was cold. ‘Have you had another hunch?'

‘No, but.' He gestured at the little family. ‘I can help out, if money's the problem.'

‘It's not.' James reached out idly and brushed dog hair off Rowan's shirt. ‘Are you sure you don't know where Stacey is?'

‘I swear to you I don't.'

James's eyes bore into his.

Simon's mobile pinged. ‘It's Nick, asking when we'll be back.'

‘Then we better go.' James suddenly smiled and clapped Rowan on the shoulder. ‘You okay to keep the dog for a bit, mate? He's not getting much attention at home at the moment and I'm sure he's lonely without Stacey around.'

Megan looked at Rowan. ‘Emelia would love it.'

The prospect made Rowan uneasy, but he nodded.

‘The puppy's staying!' Megan said to Emelia.

Emelia pressed her face forcefully into Gomez's hair. ‘Puppy sleep in my bed tonight.'

‘I don't think so,' Simon said. ‘Bye Em, Daddy go work now.'

‘Bye.' She didn't look up from the dog.

James smiled. ‘Kid's got priorities.' He looked at Rowan. ‘Keep me informed on the hunches, okay?' He winked and walked away, leaving Rowan cold.

*

The lab report came through and Ella punched Murray's shoulder. ‘I knew it.'

‘Ow.'

‘Come on.'

In Dennis's office, she slapped the printout down on the desk.

He read it, then looked up. ‘So what are you going to do?'

‘Text her,' Ella said. ‘See if she'll call me back.'

‘We'll see where it locates to,' Dennis said.

She took out her mobile and typed:
I tested the blood for citrate and for hormones. I know what's going on.
Then she sat back to wait.

It rang ten minutes later. The screen said it was Stacey's number.

‘This is Detective Ella Marconi,' she answered.

Nobody spoke, but she could hear breathing.

Murray stared at her. Dennis murmured into his landline and gave her a thumbs up that the location of the call was being traced.

She said, ‘Stacey, I know what you're doing and I think I know why. I can help you, but you have to talk to me.'

A voice whispered, ‘This isn't Stacey. This is a friend.'

Ella couldn't tell if the voice was male or female. She scribbled
friend
on a notepad on Dennis's desk. ‘Let me help you both then.'

‘You don't know enough yet,' came the whisper. ‘James is still free.'

‘We don't have anything on him,' Ella said.

‘Look on the computers.'

‘There's nothing there. We've pulled them apart. There's nothing to find.'

Silence.

‘It could be on Stacey's laptop,' Ella said. ‘If you can get that to us –'

‘We've already looked,' the voice whispered.

‘Things can be hidden,' Ella said. ‘In ways that only an expert can find.'

No answer.

‘You don't have to give it to me in person. Use a courier, like with the toe. We have people here –'

‘No, no,' the whisperer cut in. ‘He told Stacey he has friends there. He said he's helped with cases before, under-the-table stuff, hacking computers when there wasn't enough evidence for warrants to catch paedophiles and drug dealers. He said people owe him.'

‘That doesn't happen,' Ella said, thinking of Libke. ‘He was lying.'

‘He knew you'd talked to me.'

Ella blinked at Murray and Dennis.
‘Talked to you?' She thought back through the people they'd interviewed.
‘What did he say?'

‘He told me you'd asked me about her, said he was following up.'

‘Where are you?'

‘I'm sorry, but we can't trust anyone,' the caller whispered and hung up.

Ella lowered her phone. ‘They don't trust us. They said James knew I'd talked to them.'

‘How could James know that?' Murray said.

‘That's the point. He apparently claimed to have helped officers hack into computers when they didn't have warrants to do so, and said they owed him. The friend believes someone is giving James information about what we're doing.' She looked at Dennis. ‘Where did it triangulate to?'

‘A brand new location. Ryde.'

‘That's more than ten minutes' drive from any of the people we spoke to, isn't it?' Murray said.

‘Only if you think they were at the same place as they were when we talked to them,' Ella said. ‘There's Esther Cooper, Bill Willetts, Marie, Paris, the dentist, his receptionist, the jealous paramedic who was washing her car, the bike shop guy, the dog trainer, and the old schoolfriend.'

‘And the angry guy in Padstow,' Murray said. ‘The kids driving the car, the woman in the bank. Stacey's friends. Rowan and his daughter-in-law or whatever she is.'

Rowan, Ella thought. ‘The caller was whispering, so I couldn't tell if it was male or female, and there was no background noise to give me any clues.'

‘There was no ping from any phone towers between Ella's text and the call being made either,' Dennis said. ‘That means they were already in Ryde when they turned the phone on.'

Murray frowned. ‘Does anyone we've come across in the investigation have any links to that area?'

‘None that I remember,' Ella said. With Ryde being so close to her home in Putney, she was sure she would've noticed.

‘Okay,' Dennis said. ‘Assuming the caller is telling the truth, that James did speak to them and did say he knew you'd spoken to them, and that it is someone you've talked to, who on that list would you pick as most likely?'

Ella thought for a moment. ‘It's so hard to say. It seems odd that Marie or Paris would say that, but for the rest of them, where do you begin?'

‘Go by location?' Murray said. ‘The ex-schoolfriend, Abby Watmough, lives closest to here, and she has the extra link of her son going out with Paris. The shops are probably next. Although the dog guy bordered on uncooperative when we were at his place, so there's that to consider as well.'

Ella nodded. ‘Let's just start.'

*

Rowan was in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee and trying to reason away the feeling that James was not who he seemed, when his mobile rang. He recognised Imogen's number and answered straight away. ‘Hi.'

‘I want to say sorry,' she said. ‘I told the police that Stacey called you.'

‘I know.'

‘People might say it wasn't my place to do it, but I'd do it again, and you need to know that,' she said. ‘But I just wanted to say sorry in case it hurt you. In case I hurt you.'

‘It's okay. You were right. I should've told them.' He told her how the detectives had come around, how they'd talked.

‘I'm glad it was okay.' She hesitated. ‘So what are you up to this afternoon?'

‘I'm taking Emelia to Playland later. Would you like to join us?'

‘Sounds delightful,' she said, a smile in her voice. ‘What time?'

*

Ella knocked on Abby Watmough's front door and listened. No answer, and no sound from inside.

Murray checked the windows. ‘Locked up tight,' he said.

Ella knocked again, then hunted through her notebook for Watmough's mobile phone number. It went straight to voicemail, and she left a message: just her name and the request that Watmough call her back.

Next stop was the computer shop. Nick Henry was at the counter with a plump middle-aged woman in too tight jeans and white high heels, and he glanced over her shoulder as Ella and Murray entered. ‘And there's your receipt, and there's your bag,' he said.

Murray held the door for the woman. She thanked him and tottered out.

‘Nick,' Ella said, ‘is James here?'

‘No. I haven't seen him today, and he hasn't rung to say if he's coming in.'

‘Thanks,' Ella said.

In the bike shop, Mike was on his knees, his polo shirt tight across his shoulders as he fitted a wrench to a nut on a child's pink bike. The bike was upside down and the streamers on the ends of the handlebars lay on the painted concrete floor.

‘I haven't talked to anyone about you coming to see me,' he said.

‘You're certain?' Ella asked.

He nodded. ‘Who would I tell? I live alone. Customers here don't need to know stuff like that. And I don't believe in gossip between neighbouring businesses.'

‘Have people from the other shops been talking about it?' Murray asked.

‘Oh, they talk and talk.' He stood up and exchanged the wrench for another. ‘Nothing of any significance though, or I would've called you.' He pointed to Ella's business card taped to the wall. ‘James never seemed that friendly, and people like to jump to conclusions and exercise hindsight at the same time. Though I'm sure you know that for yourselves.'

Ella nodded. ‘Has James himself come in and talked to you?'

‘No,' Mike said.

‘Not once?'

‘Not ever.'

She believed him. ‘Thanks. If he does –'

He smiled and motioned with the wrench to her card. ‘I know where you are.'

*

The sign on the dental surgery door declared it was open, and they went in to see an Asian man in his fifties paging anxiously through a
Woman's Day
in one of the four waiting chairs and Zaina Khan smiling at them from behind the front desk.

‘Hello again,' she said.

Ella smiled back. ‘Can we speak to Jonathon for a minute?'

‘Should be fine, he's just setting up. Let me check.' She went out the back, then returned. ‘He said you can go on through.'

The room smelled like every dentist's Ella had ever been in – cold, metal, disinfectant and nerves. Jonathon Dimitri was dressed in a white smock and laying out tools she didn't want to look at.

‘We just need a moment,' Murray was saying. ‘Have you spoken to anyone else about Stacey Durham since you talked to us?'

‘I mentioned it to Zaina and to my girlfriend,' he said. ‘But all I said was that I'd talked to you.'

‘That's all?' Ella said.

Dimitri nodded.

Murray unfolded the photo of James Durham and held it out. ‘Recognise him?'

‘Yes, he's Stacey's husband, isn't he? He came in that day with her.'

‘Have you seen him since?' Murray asked.

‘Only on the news.'

‘He hasn't come to talk to you, either here or anywhere else?' Ella asked.

‘No. I've been meaning to pop into the shop and give him my best wishes, but I wasn't sure exactly what to say. I should do it anyway, I suppose.'