Chapters (156)
- A DATE WITH DEATH
- Also by Mark Roberts
- A Date With Death
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- The Past
- 1977
- Day OneWednesday, 1st December 2021CatoptrophobiaFear of mirrors
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- The Past
- 1979
- Day TwoThursday, 2nd December 2021OneirophobiaFear of dreams
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- The Past
- 1980
- Day ThreeFriday, 3rd December 2021MonophobiaFear of being alone
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- The Past
- 1982
- Day FourSaturday, 4th December 2021ThanatophobiaFear of Death
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- 116
- 117
- 118
- 119
- 120
- 121
- 122
- 123
- 124
- 125
- 126
- 127
- 128
- 129
- 130
- 131
- 132
- 133
- 134
- 135
- 136
- 137
- About the Author
- An Invitation from the Publisher
‘It’s registered to an eighty-six-year-old lady called Dolores Green.’
‘Does she live in Liverpool?’
‘She lives in Trinity Gardens in Brixton, South London.’ Cole took out his iPhone. ‘A couple of WPCs from the Met have been round to see her, to reassure her.’ He showed Clay a photograph of a chocolate box granny.
‘He’s copied her plate then, or had it copied for him.’
‘Spot on. However, The Ghoul’s left a trail in its wake.’
She looked at Cole’s asterisks and the way they led to a rectangular box in the Grassendale district, butting on to the River Mersey.
‘From the footpath, they went to Gateacre. There are five readings. There are seven readings of the van heading from Gateacre to Grassendale. The van gets picked up on Aigburth Road, by the Cricket Club, then again further down Aigburth Road by St Austin’s Church. Then it goes off the radar. Last reading, 4:13 pm, Wednesday, 1st December.’
‘What’s this with the box, Barney?’
‘The four corners of the box are where the ANPR cameras are located. The van was picked up by the ANPR near the corner of St Mary’s Road and Grassendale Road. There were no readings from the ANPRs situated on the three other corners of the grid. I checked the CCTV cameras fanning out away from the river towards Garston. No show for white van OD53 ZDS. It’s a strong probability that the van disappeared in that geographic box.’
Clay looked at the grid of roads leading down to the promenade. Grassendale Park.
‘It adds up, Barney. Annie Boyd’s body showed up five minutes away from this grid of roads.’ She pictured the houses in her head; tall, detached, set back from the quiet roads with their well-established gardens and air of overarching affluence.
Clay looked closely at the roads leading away from the grid. She pointed at Beechwood Road.
‘It could have made it out of the grid through that road, got itself away through Aigburth Road.’
‘It’s entirely possible, Eve, and I’m waiting for CCTV footage to come in so I can check that possibility.’
The grid seemed to rise from the map, the roads drifting into Clay’s head where she made a mental journey past tree-lined pavements and the houses beyond them.
She imagined Annie Boyd and Amanda Winton imprisoned somewhere in a house that most people could only aspire to live in and asked, ‘Are you positive that the van didn’t slip the net?’
‘I’ve checked and checked and checked the ANPR cameras outside the grid. Nothing.’
‘I’m going to draft in some help for you, Barney. We’re going to have to blitz the ANPR cameras leading away from the rectangle, and double-check your conclusions.’
Clay looked at the grid and the streets leading away from it.
‘Bear in mind, there are ways out of the grid other than Beechwood Road.’