‘I want you to find out everything you can about a Dorothea and Garrick Atwell. Husband and wife.’ He passed on the address in south Manchester that Jack had given him.

‘Okay. Are you going to tell me what’s going on?’

‘I can’t right now. I have to do a bit of thinking about how to deal with this. But there is something about them that warrants a look. And I think Nathan Gardner’s sister – the one I told you had gone missing – is involved too. It may all be perfectly innocent, but I need to decide how to play it.’

Tom couldn’t tell her everything he knew until he had worked out how to square the fact that some of the information had come via Jack. He didn’t want Becky embroiled in this as well.

‘I’m on it. Before I go, do you want to know how things are looking with the Callie Baldwin and Ian Fullerton case? She’s disappeared without trace – no phone, credit card usage, or cash withdrawals. Everything’s been checked, and there’s been a press campaign with her face plastered everywhere. But don’t worry about that now; it sounds like you have more important things on your plate.’

The forwarded text from Hannah’s messages had come through as Becky was speaking, and for a moment Tom was distracted.

‘What names did you say?’ he asked sharply.

‘Just now? Caroline Baldwin and Ian Fullerton.’

‘You didn’t say Caroline, though, did you?’

‘Sorry, boss. She goes by the name of Callie.’

Tom closed his eyes and focused. What had Nathan said? Something about there being only one single woman on the boat from this part of the world. And her name was Callie. He rushed over to Jack’s laptop, which was still open at the passenger list. And there it was: Caroline Baldwin, who Becky said was better known as Callie.

And nobody knew where she was.

CHAPTER 59

59

Tom was struggling to get his head round everything that had come to light in the last few hours. More importantly, he was trying to work out whether the information that had come to him legally – via Becky – was sufficient for him to make a move.

Becky had established that an elderly woman with long grey hair was known to both dead girls – Jasmine, and the one found on the golf course. But Tom had only been able to match that description to Dorothea Atwell because of Nathan and the hacked records.

Becky had also confirmed that there was no trace of Callie Baldwin. Once again, if Jack hadn’t accessed the passenger list from the boat, there was nothing to link her – officially – to Thea Atwell.