Part 15 (2/2)

'You wanted to see me, Becky?' he asked.

'Yes. It may be something or nothing, but I thought I should run it by you.'

He signalled her with his head to follow him into his office, and once they were settled she explained what she had heard about Maggie Taylor.

Tom sat back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling in what Becky always thought of as his thinking pose. It didn't last long.

'I don't like it,' he said, leaning forward again. 'We thought the first woman was Leo. Don't look like that, Becky. We're over that, aren't we?' Without waiting for her response, he continued. 'As far as we know, Leo's missing. I accept, knowing her the way I do, that she could easily have decided to take herself off because the new boyfriend p.i.s.sed her off. But failing to turn up to her niece's christening is a step too far even for Leo.'

Becky saw Tom take a big breath. 'I've suggested to Ellie that she officially reports Leo missing. She's resisted up to now for the same reason Leo is as unpredictable as h.e.l.l but we need to take this seriously.'

Becky said nothing. There was no appropriate response, and she knew Tom was right.

'So now we've got both Maggie Taylor and Leo, who look similar to the first victim and to how the second victim was supposed to look. The thing that's puzzling me, though, is that this makes four potential victims, and all those years ago we were pretty certain that the magic number was three.'

'Maybe Leo has nothing to do with it. It's an unfortunate coincidence, and as you say she's gone off on one.'

Tom gave her a look that suggested he didn't believe that for one second.

'Let's make a quick call to Dan Pierce and see if he has any updates on the supposed stalker,' he said, and put the call through.

It was frustrating only being able to hear one half of the conversation, but Becky got the gist.

'What did the PNC check throw up?' Tom asked. He listened to the answer.

'And what do we know about this Adam Mellor?' There was a pause.

'You're certain about that, are you?' Tom said, looking at Becky, his eyes opening wide. 'I'll get back to you, Dan. I need to speak to my inspector Becky Robinson. One of us will talk to you in a few minutes.'

Tom hung up and looked at Becky with raised eyebrows.

'What's up?' Becky asked.

'The PNC check. The number turned up one white van registered to an address in the Manchester area with sufficient matching digits to make it a strong possibility. It's owned by a guy called Adam Mellor. They sent somebody round to have a word with him, but apparently he's away and has been since last Sat.u.r.day. n.o.body knows where he is.'

Becky watched Tom's face. His eyes were focused somewhere behind her as if he was trying to match up bits of the puzzle.

'The other thing they found out is that Adam Mellor works for Maxwell Jenkins, Manchester's biggest corporate finance firm.

'And that's significant because...?' Becky said.

'You remember I tracked down Leo's new boyfriend, Julian Richmond? He's also in corporate finance. And guess which firm he works for?'

Tom's eyes met Becky's. They were both silent for a moment, and then Tom pushed back his chair.

'Get your coat, Becky. Ask one of your team to track down Maggie Taylor's address. Mrs Taylor needs to know that we're on our way to see her and she needs to be in, but we have one other call to make first.'

36.

When Maggie woke up on Sunday morning she hadn't been sure what she was going to do. She had no doubt at all that the threat to Duncan was real so now she was torn. What if her children were in danger? But yesterday the two men in the van could easily have taken Josh, and they hadn't. But if they couldn't get Duncan to do whatever it was that they wanted, would they be back for her, for Lily, for Josh?

The decision felt as if it had been taken out of her hands when she received a call from Bill Shaw, the desk sergeant she had been trying to contact. A note had been left for him to say she had called, so he was calling to check she was okay.

Maggie hadn't had time to think of an excuse, so she had told him the minimum that made any sense. She had focused on the phone calls and the van maybe enough for the police to take an interest but not enough for her to have endangered Duncan. And if the two men were watching, they would know she hadn't left the house. She couldn't tell Bill Shaw about the note and the photo it would be impossible to keep a breakthrough like that out of the press, and she might be signing her husband's death warrant.

After the call ended, Maggie walked into the kitchen and sat down, unsure if her legs would hold her up for much longer. Without a word, Suzy walked across to the kettle and clicked it on, giving Maggie time as she stared out of the window to where her children were playing outside. At least they seemed a little more relaxed this morning.

Maggie came out of her daze as Suzy put a mug of tea in front of her. 'Thanks,' she said. 'Sorry for leaving you to deal with the kids.'

'It's okay, Mags. You don't have to apologise for anything. What did you say to the police? Did you tell them Duncan was missing?'

Maggie shook her head. How could she have told them that without explaining the rest? And if she had, how much danger would she have put him in?

'What's going to happen now?' Suzy asked.

'I don't know. I don't know anything anymore, Suze. What's happening to Duncan? All I can think is that he's got mixed up in something by mistake, and he doesn't know how to get out of it. Maybe he saw something he shouldn't you know, when he was out doing a job. Perhaps he saw the girl being killed but didn't know what it was at the time. What if they're threatening him, and because he's not here, they're threatening me? Maybe they're after him because he knows too much a gang or something. So he's gone into hiding to keep them away from me. Maybe he's scared, Suzy, with n.o.body to help him.' Maggie's voice cracked.

The phone rang. She ignored it.

'Shall I answer it?' her sister asked.

'No!' She waited for the answer phone to click in. It might be the man again.

'Mrs Taylor? I'm calling from Greater Manchester Police. I need to speak to you urgently. Could you please call me back on-'

Maggie raced to the phone and picked it up.

'h.e.l.lo. This is Maggie Taylor.' She listened as the policeman told her that two detectives would like to come and talk to her about her report this morning. 'It's good that you're taking me seriously, but can't you update me on the phone?' She couldn't keep the confusion from her voice. This was overkill for the report she had made.

'I'm sorry, madam, but one of our senior detectives would like to come and talk to you, if that's okay with you. He should be with you in about an hour as he has another call to make first. Will you be in then?'

'Yes, of course.'

'Thank you. It'll be Detective Chief Inspector Douglas. I'll let him know you'll be there.' The line went dead.

Maggie replaced the handset and stood looking at it, her back to her sister.

Tom Douglas, the head of the team running the murder enquiry. Why was he coming to see her? Did he know something about Duncan? Had something happened to him?

With all her heart she wished she could talk to her husband, to give him the chance to explain what was happening to their family and find a way of putting it right.

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