Abby, Kay’s younger sister, was still bemused by the turn of events, but vocal in her relief that the rift between her mother and Kay was healing. They had shared many phone calls over the course of the summer to chart progress.
Kay dabbed a little concealer under her eyes to ward off the dark shadows that had formed since she’d left the house that morning, and then headed downstairs.
She put her mobile phone on the worktop and then hugged her mother. ‘When did you get here?’
‘A couple of hours ago. Adam had only just got in from work, so we nipped up to the supermarket to get the bits and pieces he wanted for the barbecue.’ She held Kay at arm’s length, her eyes sweeping over her. ‘How are you holding up? We heard the news while we were away.’
Kay bit her lip. ‘I’m all right. I just want to find her.’
Her mother nodded, but said nothing. At that moment, her father stepped through the doorway linking the kitchen to the garage, his face beaming as he strode towards her.
‘There’s my girl,’ he said.
Kay felt the air get knocked from her lungs as he enveloped her in a bear hug. ‘Steady, Dad.’
He grinned, and loosened his grip.
‘You’re looking great,’ said Kay. ‘Good holiday?’
‘Perfect,’ he said. ‘Just what we needed after the year we’ve had.’
They turned at a loud cluck from the back door, to see a sandy-coloured chicken peering around the frame.
‘What do you want, Mabel?’ said Kay’s father.
‘Mabel?’ Kay looked from him to her mother. ‘I told Adam he’d regret giving them names, otherwise they’ll never get rehomed – you know what he’s like. We’ll end up with them.’
Her mother shrugged. ‘Your father decided she looked like a Mabel – Adam had already named the other two. The brown one out there is Gretchen, and the white one – well, she’ll be white when she’s grown some more feathers – is Snowball.’
‘I need a drink.’
Laughing, her mother picked up a bowl of salad and headed out to the garden.
Kay turned as her mobile phone vibrated on the worktop, and snatched it up as she saw the name displayed.
‘Ian?’
‘Sorry to disturb you, guv. I’ve got a copy of Robert Victor’s itinerary at last.’
‘Good work. Where are you at the moment?’
‘Just driving back from his offices.’
‘Anything on the itinerary that might help us?’
She glanced up as her mother returned and went across to the refrigerator before pulling out a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and raising an eyebrow.
Kay stuck up her thumb.
‘It’s going to take some work,’ said Barnes, his voice carrying over the noise of his car engine. ‘The beginning of the week should be easy, as there are hotels and potential clients listed. It looks like he was driving in the mornings and then meeting with different vineyards or individuals over the course of the afternoons. There’s less information about the latter half of the week, and no hotels listed. It only notes two locations – Le Mans and Laval. I took a look at a map of the area on my phone before I left their offices.’
‘Can you do me a favour before you go home? Leave a message for Carys to phone any vineyards between Le Mans and Laval to find out if Robert had made appointments to visit them and if so, arrange interviews as soon as possible either by phone or video conference call.’
‘Will do, guv.’
‘All right, Ian – thanks. Get yourself home once you’ve dropped off the itinerary and I’ll see you in the morning.’
She ended the call, and slid the phone back into her bag. When she turned around, her mother was standing in the doorway with a glass of wine in each hand and a quizzical expression on her face.
‘Sorry, Mum. I had to take that.’
‘Was it about the missing girl?’
‘Yes. Thanks.’ She took the glass her mother held out to her.
‘Do you think she’s been taken to France, then?’
‘What? Oh – no. Barnes got a hold of the victim’s itinerary. He was travelling for work last week. We’re trying to find out his movements.’
‘He was a wine merchant, wasn’t he?’ Her mother blushed. ‘I heard it on the news.’
Kay smiled, acknowledging her mother’s tentative interest in her work. ‘That’s right, yes.’
‘It’s ready!’ Adam’s voice drifted from the garden.
‘Come on. Let’s go and eat.’
Her mother headed back out to the garden, stepping to one side as a chicken ambled across the doorstep, clucking under its breath before shoving its beak into a pot of oregano next to a drainpipe.
‘Well, these look like they’re settling in, don’t they?’
Kay grinned. ‘Making themselves at home, as you can see. It’s just as well he keeps them locked in the pen at night, otherwise I think they’d be taking over the house.’
‘I can just imagine them sitting on the sofa watching a film with him.’
Her father handed a laden plate of sausages and steak to Kay as she sat in a chair next to him, then turned back to the barbecue and helped Adam dish out the rest.
Kay added a portion of the salad and a dollop of sauce on the side of her plate, then closed her eyes as the first mouthful hit her taste buds.
‘Oh my God, that’s good.’ She opened her eyes to find her family smiling at her, their own plates piled high. ‘What? I’m starving, all right?’
Adam laughed. ‘It’s a good job I cooked extra.’
She ate as the conversation turned to her parents’ holiday, with Adam adding a note to his phone about a bed and breakfast property that Kay’s father recommended for future reference.
‘Kay?’
‘Yes?’ She turned to her mother.
‘I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. On the phone.’
Kay swallowed the last of her food and set down her knife and fork before leaning back in her chair with a sigh. ‘Barnes was looking into our victim’s last movements, that’s all.’
Her mother’s lips pursed. ‘Look, I don’t mean to pry – and it’s none of my business, I know – but I heard you mention a wine merchant, and a place called Laval.’
‘Our victim was there sourcing new clients who want to export their wine over here.’
‘That’s the thing, though.’
‘What is?’
‘That area you mentioned. There aren’t any vineyards there.’
‘Where’s that?’ Kay’s father broke off his conversation with Adam.
‘Laval,’ said Kay’s mother. ‘I was telling Kay – there are no commercial vineyards, are there?’
‘No. None that I recall, anyway. We didn’t get over that way this time but we were there two years ago. Drove straight past Le Mans and then out to Rennes. I don’t remember seeing any signposts for vineyards.’ He winked. ‘Your mother would’ve insisted on stopping otherwise.’
Adam and her parents laughed as Kay’s mother playfully slapped her husband’s arm, but Kay frowned.
Why would Robert Victor visit an area with no vineyards?
Kay pushed back her chair. ‘Sorry – I’ve got to make a phone call.’
Thirty-One
Carys brushed her fringe from her eyes, blew a loose strand out of the way and tried to concentrate on the itinerary Barnes had obtained from Melissa Lampton.
It seemed to her that Victor’s colleagues were disorganised at best, and she could only imagine what Barnes had said when finding out the information had been available twenty-four hours beforehand.
It jarred with the professional image that was conveyed on the website she’d been looking at the night before, and she wondered if standards had slipped since Kenneth Archerton had become ill.
On the screen in front of her was a map she’d found of the area where Robert Victor had been travelling while in France. After receiving a call from Kay who had told her that there were no vine
yards in the area Robert visited at the end of the week, she printed out a copy and used a highlighter pen to mark off the major towns along the route. She began to piece together information about each of those, following the DI’s request to investigate what extracurricular activities Robert might have been pursuing, especially given Laura’s suggestion he might have been having an affair.
She moved her mouse across the screen and selected the option to view the map as a satellite image, and zoomed in closer.
Most of the buildings that abutted the main road on the route appeared to be industrial in nature rather than residential. From time to time, roadside cafés jostled for space beside tumbledown garages and car spares suppliers.
She wrinkled her nose.
Definitely no vineyards, either.
So why go there?
She glanced over her shoulder at the sound of footsteps to see Sharp approaching. ‘I’ve got no idea what he was up to, guv. But Kay is right – there are no vineyards around here.’
The detective chief inspector leaned on the desk and gestured towards her screen. ‘Did he visit any vineyards at all?’
‘At the beginning of his trip, yes.’ Carys picked up the itinerary and turned the page back. ‘There’s one here at Orléans, which he visited on Monday after picking up the car. He stayed at a motel nearby, and then drove to a different one on Tuesday morning. It’s after that when things seem a bit strange.’
‘In what way?’
‘Well, at the beginning of this trip he’s setting quite a fast pace. Laura managed to get hold of the GPS information from the hire company and reckons the only way he managed to do the distance is if he was speeding. It is almost as if he was trying to get his work commitments out of the way before this extracurricular stuff.’
‘Can you work out any addresses from the GPS data?’
‘Only the streets, not the actual building he might’ve visited. There was nothing programmed into the satnav, either. Wherever he was going, whoever he was meeting with, he knew how to get there. We’ve only got this much because the hire company fits a GPS tracker to all their high-end cars in case they get stolen.’
‘What does Robert’s itinerary say for the remainder of the week?’
Carys flipped the page. ‘Not much. It looks like Melissa booked accommodation for the first two nights but, apart from that, I’ve got nothing.’
‘Okay, well, I suggest tomorrow you get someone from uniform to head over to the office and take a formal statement from Melissa Lampton.’
Carys turned her chair to face Sharp. ‘Do you think I was right, then? Do you think someone else might have been involved with Robert’s death?’
‘Maybe. Whatever the case, we need to find out if there is any correlation between what you’re holding in your hand and where Robert actually went while he was in France. If necessary, get on to our colleagues over in Coquelles and see what they can tell you about these areas.’
‘Okay.’ Carys bit back her disappointment. The only problem with working on a night shift was missing out on the inroads the rest of the team were making during the day.
She knew what she was doing was contributing to the investigation, but envied Gavin for his position within the day shift – and the progress he had been making the past two days in her absence.
Her eyes moved to the window as one of the plainclothes police constables opened the blinds, and saw with a shock that the sun was already up. She checked her watch.
‘The time goes quicker than you think,’ said Sharp. ‘That’s the problem, isn’t it?’
He straightened, and then gestured to the computer screen as her desk phone began to ring. ‘This is good work you’re doing, Carys. Keep it up.’
‘Thanks, guv.’
Her phone began to ring as he walked away, and she picked it up, unable to keep the weariness from her voice.
‘DC Miles.’
‘Ma’am, it’s Sergeant Tasker over at Snodland – we’ve got a report of a possible sighting of Alice Victor.’
Thirty-Two
Kay reached out blindly for her mobile phone as the opening bars of an Aerosmith song blasted her awake.
Next to her, Adam groaned and rolled over before pushing back the sheets and staggering sleepily towards the en suite.
‘Carys. Have you found her?’
‘Morning, guv. Not sure – we’ve just received a call about a possible sighting near Wouldham Common. Thought you might want to join us.’
‘I’ll be ready in ten minutes.’
‘Okay, I’ll have someone pick you up on the way.’
‘Thanks.’
She ended the call as Adam flushed the toilet and wandered back into the bedroom.
‘Good news?’
‘There’s been a possible sighting of Alice,’ she said, pulling clean underwear from a drawer and throwing it onto the bed. She pulled her vest top over her head, tossed it into the wash basket and hurried into the bathroom. ‘Carys is going to get someone to pick me up in ten minutes.’
‘I’ll make you coffee to take with you. Are you hungry?’
‘No, don’t worry – I’ll grab something later. Thanks.’
She stepped under the hot jets of water, quickly showered and then dressed.
Eight minutes later, she was standing in the lane outside the house, takeout coffee cup in hand when a red four-door vehicle hared around the corner towards her and slid to a stop.
‘Morning, guv,’ said Laura.
‘Morning. Who phoned it in?’ Kay stuffed her handbag into the footwell and fastened her seatbelt as the police constable turned left at the roundabout and powered the car through the housing estate towards the main road.
‘A man by the name of David Sykes. He’s a keen birdwatcher, apparently. Went up onto the Common in the hope of spotting something or other at first light, and reckons he saw a man with a young girl. ’Course, from up there he’s got a view of the whole of the village and across the marshes down to the River Medway. You can see for miles.’
‘Are you familiar with the place?’
‘I had family in Meopham, guv. Used to spend my school holidays kicking around there.’
‘Good. Stick with me this morning – I know you’ve just done a full shift but I could do with someone who knows the local area well on this one.’
‘Thanks, guv.’
Kay noticed Laura sit up straighter in the driver’s seat as she shifted down a gear and steered the car past the golf course to their left, and recalled Sharp’s comments about bringing on board the police constable as part of the investigation team.
‘How long until you hear about your application to become a detective?’
‘Six weeks, guv.’
‘Thought about any specialisation you want to do when you’ve passed your exams?’
Laura shot her a smile. ‘This, guv. Major crimes.’
Kay sipped her coffee and watched the landscape flash past the window.
Laura slowed the car as they approached the turn-off for the Rochester Road and then steered it expertly along a winding lane through Burham village. She took a right-hand turn a few miles later, and the car began to climb.
‘There’s a team already setting up along here,’ she explained. ‘Sykes – the bloke who called it in – says he saw them walking along the perimeter of a field down near the playing fields. DCI Sharp has two more teams in plainclothes down in the village.’
Kay frowned. ‘I wonder if Greg has run out of food or water? He’s taking a risk getting that close to the village. Have there been any phone calls to Annette Victor?’
‘Hazel hasn’t reported anything to her,’ said Laura. ‘Sharp told her not to say anything to Annette yet – not until we’re sure, anyway.’
Kay dug her fingernails into her palms. A possible sighting involving both Greg Victor and Alice was good news, especially if the little girl looked well, but they couldn’t afford to have the man panic when approached. Despite all the work the team ha
d undertaken since Robert’s body was discovered, they still hadn’t fathomed a motive for his brother’s actions – or ascertained if his brother was responsible for the shooting.
She hoped she would soon have the answers she sought, and she would insist on being present when Greg Victor was interviewed.
She exhaled, and forced her attention to the task in hand.
They had to find him first.
Laura swung the car in next to an ambulance parked beside a picnic bench, and Kay climbed out.
Spotting Carys talking to a group of uniformed officers, she wandered over to join her and gestured for her to continue her briefing.
The detective constable held out a map to the group, fighting against a breeze to keep it flat while she pointed out the search area.
‘David Sykes says he spotted a man and a girl fitting Greg and Alice’s description here,’ she said, pointing to a copse of trees at the edge of the marshes. ‘It’s a fair way from the river, but it avoids the new river-walk and the most built-up fringes of the village. Sykes says there are a few houses along here, and it might be that Greg has run out of food or water. He could be trying to find somewhere to break into and steal a few supplies.’
‘If he’s down there, guv, why are we up here?’ said a junior constable.
‘We’ve got two teams down in the village, but Greg will be alert to anyone trying to approach him,’ said Carys. ‘If he makes a run for it, our position here gives us two advantages. One, we can observe where he runs off to, and second, if he heads this way, we can apprehend him.’
‘One thing everyone needs to bear in mind is that Alice is going to be a very tired and scared little girl,’ said Kay, ‘so corralling Greg into a space where he feels threatened is something we need to avoid. If he runs, let him – he’ll be exhausted from being in hiding for the past five days and won’t last long out here. We can track him once he’s out in the open.’ She turned as a van pulled up alongside, a loud barking emanating from the inside. ‘And I don’t want the dogs used until it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t want that poor kid terrified, understood?’
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