Deadly Lies by Ann Girdharry (read me a book .TXT) 📕

McGowan shot Ruby a victory glare. Coming from him, it was like a finger.

Give me a break, Ruby thought.

‘Damn well done, Steve. What have you got?’ Diane said.

McGowan stroked his moustache. ‘It was one of the locals who came up with the info. He’s a dog walker. He told me he always goes out at half six and there’s hardly anyone about at that time. His route takes him behind the storage units and he noticed a van pulling out the morning of the abduction. It didn’t have its headlights on, which was odd because it wasn’t daylight. He described it as a white utility van and he took note of where it was heading.’

‘Yes!’ Delaney said, slamming his hand onto the desk.

Grant gave a rare smile. ‘The witness said it went south onto the Brighton road. Brilliant, McGowan.’

McGowan cut Ruby a sly glance. Try not to sink to his level, she told herself.

‘Next,’ Grant said. ‘Daniel Pearson. He’s got motive because he lost his job and he puts it down to Jack although Pearson’s health rules him out. Pearson claims he found out Jack was sexually harassing female colleagues and there was an allegation of attempted rape made against Jack by an employee, Zofia Kaminski. Tracking down the women is a priority.’

‘Perhaps Pearson is in collusion with the abductor?’ Tom said.

‘It’s a possibility. Anything on Zofia Kaminski yet, Diane?’

‘I got a staff shot from Hardman Construction. Here she is.’

It came up on the screen.

‘She’s got long dark hair,’ Delaney said.

‘Yup, though I’ve not been able to locate her yet.’

Grant nodded. ‘Keep on it. And check with the retired science teacher and see if Kaminski is the woman seen hanging around the Hardman’s street.’

‘Our science teacher witness hasn’t got as good eyesight as I hoped,’ Diane said. ‘When I showed her a picture of Natalie, the Glover’s next-door neighbour, she wasn’t sure.’

‘It’s still worth checking. What else, people?’

Ruby felt the tension in the room edge up and she gripped the edge of her desk.

‘There’s the fallout from Natalie,’ Tom said. ‘She’s caused a rift between Alice and Jack and there’s a very difficult situation at the house now because Alice is refusing to speak to her husband.’

‘You’ll have to work around it. Do everything you can to keep communication going. We can’t let tensions jeopardise the response to the second phone call.’

‘Right boss.’

Grant rapped the pen on the board. ‘Think outside the box, people. What about you, Ruby?’

‘I’ve completed my profiling of the family. What’s standing out is the difference between Jack’s public image versus his private behaviour. There’s his suspected infidelity with Sylvie and his infidelity with Natalie. The statement from the woman who alleged rape, Zofia Kaminski, is going to be an important one.’

‘It doesn’t take a fancy diploma to work that out,’ McGowan said. ‘I could have told you the same.’

Grant silenced McGowan with a frown.

The message from Emily had been written on a board and Ruby pointed to it.

‘I’ve analysed the abductor’s message. Emily said – Mummy, it’s Emily. You’re not allowed to interrupt you have to listen. Here are the demands – you have to have half a million pounds in cash ready. The Child Alert must be called off. If you don’t comply I will kill both your children. I’ll phone again with some in… instructions for the exchange.’

She wrote another phrase on the board and tapped her pen on it.

‘The structuring of the message doesn’t include something like this – if you do as I say they will not be harmed – I think the omission is significant.’

‘Why?’ Grant asked.

‘Kidnappers who demand a ransom purely for financial gain frequently include a phrase in their messages telling loved ones the hostage will come to no harm if their terms are met. On the other hand, abductors who have taken someone for personal reasons tend to omit this phrase. Why? Because in those cases they want the family to suffer. Financial gain is not their only aim. They want to inflict torture on the parents. This means the abductor wanted to achieve maximum fear in the Glovers without giving any assurances.’

‘It’s like I’ve been thinking all along. You’re saying this is personal,’ Grant said.

‘Yes, it says the abductor has a personal motivation, such as revenge or spite. This isn’t only about money.’

McGowan guffawed. ‘It’s a message sent by a madman. What a load of rubbish.’

‘DS McGowan,’ Grant warned. ‘I won’t be telling you a second time. Stop taking cheap shots.’

‘This sort of psychological analysis isn’t set in stone,’ Ruby said. ‘There’s no hard and fast rule for using it to predict outcome in kidnap scenarios, but my take is, the omission is important. What someone doesn’t say is as significant as what they do communicate.’

‘Everyone keep the personal angle in mind.’

‘We’re moving closer, aren’t we, sir,’ Diane said.

‘Stay focused. Ruby and Delaney, I want you back with the family. Collins, keep working on the Kaminski angle. McGowan, continue following up leads, financial records and background checks. Have we made any progress with the phone records?’

‘Some but not all,’ McGowan said. ‘You know what the phone companies are like. They’re trickling in and the credit card checks are even slower.’

‘Keep pushing. Jack Glover’s records are the priority and if this turns out to be an inside job, then somebody in this big mess of a picture might have made a slip-up and if they have, we need to notice.’

McGowan leaned close to Ruby’s desk. ‘Aren’t you the little favourite,’ he sneered.

The escalating tension between Ruby and McGowan was helping to make Grant’s choice between the two of them easier.

The team’s previous case had dug up skeletons from the past, and unearthed Assistant Chief Constable Treadgold’s misjudgements in investigating the murder of two young boys. As far as Grant was concerned, it was Treadgold’s mistakes which had allowed a serial murderer to keep on killing.

During their last investigation, Grant had suspected McGowan of being a leak. Had McGowan passed information