Colin. Call me!!!

OMG, Colin. That’s not possible. OK. Will call again tonight. No more texts. Are you sure? What has he got?

Col, I need to see you! We can work this out. Where/when? LMK. Really worried now.

‘Any idea who Colin is?’ Torode asked.

‘Could be anyone,’ Hawthorne said.

It was Colin Matheson – who else could it be? I remembered the barrister in her bedroom only that morning, coming to her defence when Hawthorne had asked her about the power line. I had thought at the time that they were closer than they were pretending and Colin had been the first person Mrs Carlisle had called. But I had never thought they were as close as this. Standing there in the bedroom, I was careful not to say anything, but I was quite surprised that Hawthorne didn’t share Colin’s identity with Torode. I understood that he wanted to solve the case ahead of the police. That was the only way to be sure of getting paid. But wasn’t he actually obstructing their investigation, not giving them such vital information?

‘Well, we can give Colin a ring, I suppose,’ Torode said. ‘I see we’ve got his number at the top of the screen. Mind you, I doubt it’s relevant. This exchange happened a while ago and there’s still every chance that Mrs le Mesurier will show up.’

‘Let me know if she does,’ Hawthorne said, grimly.

Torode took the phone back. ‘We’ll send you a transcript of whatever else we find on this,’ he said. ‘I’ll get Whitlock to bring it over – if she bothers to show up again.’

‘Thank you.’

‘We’ve already made quite a bit of headway. Let’s hope you can get a result soon.’ He slipped the phone into his pocket. ‘What’s the food like at your hotel?’

‘It’s very good,’ I said.

‘Well, it’s terrible at our place. I had a shepherd’s pie just before I came out. Dry as a bone. No meat in it. None to speak of.’

Hawthorne nodded and the two of us left. He was deep in thought and didn’t say anything on the way back to the hotel and even Terry – who had been waiting outside – picked up on his mood and left him alone. He didn’t want dinner so I ordered room service on my own before falling into an uneasy sleep.

I couldn’t see the sea from my bedroom, but I could hear the waves breaking in the distance. They reminded me that I was on a tiny island – and so was the killer. We were both trapped.

16

The Search Party

The search for Helen le Mesurier began the next day.