Part 17 (1/2)

'Maggie?'

She felt a leap in her chest. Thank G.o.d. Her eyes filled with hot tears.

'Duncan!' She whispered his name fiercely into the phone, hoping the police weren't right now standing on her doorstep, listening to her. 'Where are you? What's happening? Please, Dunc, tell me what's going on I'm terrified.'

Her voice broke. She wanted him here, holding her, telling her it was all going to be okay.

'I'm sorry, Maggie. I never wanted to hurt you. I didn't know what else to do.' Duncan spoke quietly, as if the words were difficult to say. He had always hated apologising being found to be in the wrong.

Maggie felt as if all the questions that had been piling up inside her were fighting their way out, scrambling to get over one another in their rush.

'But why did you go? Where are you? When are you coming back? Why did you have a picture of a dead girl on your phone?'

She heard a gasp from the other end of the phone.

'How do you know about that? Christ! Don't tell anybody else. Please Maggie, n.o.body must know. Promise me, Maggie.'

But Maggie had no time to answer. The doorbell rang.

's.h.i.+t! Somebody's at the door.' Maggie knew full well who it was and that she had no option but to open it. 'Give me your number, Dunc, please. Hang on a second.'

Holding the phone in one hand, she turned the latch on the front door and pulled it open.

'h.e.l.lo, Mrs Taylor. I believe you're expecting us. May we come in? But please do finish your call.'

The woman who opened the door to Tom and Becky came as a surprise. Tom had been expecting her to look just like Leo and Hayley Walker, but this woman looked worn out with black circles under her eyes, pale skin and flushed cheeks. She wore no make-up, and her hair was tied back. She was a similar build to the other women, and he imagined that when her hair was loose and she was wearing the bright red lipstick that he understood she favoured, there would be a striking resemblance. But just at this moment they couldn't have been more different.

'I'm sorry, Clare. I have to go,' Maggie Taylor said into the phone, her whole body turned away from Tom and Becky. 'Do you want to leave your number so I can call you back?'

She didn't pull pen and paper towards her from the hall table, so Tom could only a.s.sume that whoever she was speaking to had chosen not to leave their details. Tom was certain it wasn't somebody called Clare. Maggie's hesitation before the name had been slight but enough for Tom.

Maggie took a moment before turning back towards them, still grasping the phone, and it was impossible to miss the strain in her eyes. She was biting the corner of her bottom lip, as if to keep it from trembling, and the pinkish tinge to her eyes suggested she had been crying.

A thought struck Tom. Maggie Taylor was Alf Horton's solicitor, and Horton had been in the custody cells in the building next to Tom's office. So there was a good chance that Maggie could have been in the vicinity of police headquarters earlier in the week. As they made their introductions in the entrance hall, Tom glanced to his left. There was a coat rack, and scrunched up, sitting on a shelf above the coats was an emerald-green scarf.

It had been her, then. He was right. She had looked so different that day. The belief that it had been Leo was the one thing that had been keeping Tom hopeful about his ex-girlfriend. Knowing it wasn't her felt like a punch in the gut. Every bone in his body was telling him that something had happened to Leo, and his confidence that she was alive and well had been shattered. He had to find her, and his instincts told him it needed to be soon. But he was sure the woman had been thinking about coming into the office. And that woman, it now seemed, had been Maggie Taylor.

Maggie took them into the living room.

'Could I get you a cup of tea or coffee, or something?' she asked.

Both Tom and Becky declined.

'Mrs Taylor,' Tom began, 'we understand you have concerns that you're being stalked, and you provided us with a partial number plate for your stalker. Is that right?'

'Yes. I know the evidence is very thin, but coupled with the phone calls I've been receiving I thought I should get some advice. I've got to know the duty sergeant over the few weeks I've been working in Manchester and I thought I should have a word with him. He said he'd pa.s.sed it on to a colleague.'

'That's right, he did. But this van might be of interest in another investigation, and your partial number plate was better than you might imagine. It was enough to provide a match, and we think we've tracked down the owner. But before we get to that, can you tell me some more about why you think he's stalking you?'

Maggie Taylor looked uncomfortable.

'The van had been parked up the street, and then when I took the children out it was round the corner. We went for a cycle ride, and the van appeared part of the way round as if it had been following us. There were two men in it.'

'Did it not occur to you that this might be a coincidence? Perhaps the driver and his mate had chosen to park somewhere other than on the street while they had lunch, somewhere away from the job they were working on?' Tom didn't believe this for one single moment. 'Why did you feel particularly concerned about this van?'

'I don't know. Maybe it was because of the phone calls I'd had.' Maggie shrugged. 'Maybe I'm being overly cautious. My current client keeps whispering to me that nowhere's safe and I need to watch myself, and then I get calls from someone saying I need to be careful. They were sinister. It was the tone of voice the we know where you live that seemed so menacing.' Maggie attempted an unconvincing laugh. 'It all seems a bit of a cliche when I say it out loud.'

'But nevertheless scary,' Becky said.

'I feel bad bringing you out here. I'm surprised you would think this worthy of your interest, to be honest, Chief Inspector?'

'Oh, I like to keep my ear close to the ground. And as I mentioned, the owner of the van could be of interest to us in another case.'

Tom was well aware that Maggie wasn't telling the whole truth if any at all and he couldn't work out why. But until he knew, he wasn't prepared to give her anything either.

'Could we possibly have a word with your husband?' he asked.

'Why?' The speed and almost fierce tone of her response surprised Tom, but he didn't react.

'Because he may have seen some similar behaviour. He might know if the van has been there for longer than you realise, or he might be able to add any number of things to the investigation.' Tom couldn't think of any, but he wanted to know what was making this woman so jumpy.

'I'm sorry, but he's away at the moment. He's gone back to where we used to live, down south. There were a couple of jobs he hadn't finished and he'd promised to go back.'

'Okay, well at some point we might need his contact details.' Tom was watching her closely and couldn't miss the flinch.

'Is there anything else you can tell us, Maggie?' Becky asked.

'Nothing I can think of, and I do apologise if I've been wasting your time.'

'Not at all,' Tom said. ”I'm sure you haven't.'

Tom and Becky stood up from the sofa and walked towards the door.

Tom turned. 'Just one thing. A couple of days ago Friday, I think were you standing outside our offices the big building next to the custody suite where Alf Horton was being held? I'm fairly certain it was you, and it looked like you were going to come in. Did you want to see somebody from my department?'

Maggie Taylor shook her head. 'It wasn't me,' she said. 'I didn't even go to see Alf on Friday afternoon.'

Tom smiled and thanked her.

It wasn't a matter of her not telling him everything. She was telling him nothing. And he had never mentioned the time of day.

40.

'What did you make of that, then?' Tom asked Becky as they headed back towards the M60.

'I don't know what she's playing at. She made a complaint or at least she registered her concern but then she couldn't wait to get us out of the door. She was totally and completely fl.u.s.tered by our presence, and in particular yours. Why would that be?'