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Chapters (62)
  1. Title
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. About the Author
  5. About the Book
  6. Dedication
  7. Your Worst Nightmare
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. The Answer to All Your Prayers
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. THIRTEEN
  22. FOURTEEN
  23. FIFTEEN
  24. SIXTEEN
  25. SEVENTEEN
  26. EIGHTEEN
  27. NINETEEN
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. TWENTY-FIVE
  34. TWENTY-SIX
  35. TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. TWENTY-NINE
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. Somebody Else’s Child
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. Sunlight on Water
  60. July
  61. September
  62. Acknowledgements

‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Ms Stockman, but I’m hoping you might be able to help me with a problem. It’s about a car you used to own.’

‘Really? What car?’

‘A red Ford Focus.’

Lindsey Stockman thinks.

‘Yes, we had one of those, but not for very long. I like something a bit smaller, like my Mini. Why do you think I can help you with anything?’

‘I’ve got an insurance issue,’ says Ron. ‘I’m trying to prove it’s a long-standing problem. Did you have any problems with it while you owned it?’

‘What sort of problems?’

‘Brakes. Anything in that department?’

Lindsey shakes her head.

‘Not that I’m aware of. My other half drove it more than me. It was in my name but it was his car really. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can help you. If you don’t mind, I’m just getting ready for work.’

‘If I could just ask you,’ says Ron. ‘I don’t suppose you can remember who you sold it to?’

She shakes her head again.

‘It was nothing to do with me. What I know about cars you could write on a postage stamp. He put it on eBay after he set his heart on a nice little Alfa. If you want to know who bought it you’d have to ask the DVLA.’ A thought seems to strike her, and her eyes narrow. ‘How did you get this address, anyway?’

‘Off the log book,’ lies Ron. ‘I just wondered if you might have sold it to a friend, anything like that.’

Lindsey shakes her head.

‘I’ve no idea who he sold it to.’

‘Can I have a word with him? Maybe he’ll remember.’

‘He and I aren’t together any more,’ says Lindsey. ‘I’m sorry, I have to go.’

Ron rings Naylor on his way home.

‘I’m sorry, kiddo,’ he says. ‘I did my best, but I don’t think there’s anything there.’

Naylor sighs.

‘Thanks for trying, anyway. At least there are two less stones in the mud.’

As she hangs up, the office is quiet. Hagen has left a note on his desk asking her to give him a call. She looks across the room at the whiteboards and the map they’ve been using to log activity.

There are a few spare pins to the side of the map, and Naylor chooses a red one and a green one. She sticks the green one in the heart of Sevenoaks to mark Ron’s visit there, and one on the outskirts of Woking as a visible record of his conversation with Lindsey Stockman.

Standing back, she considers the map. No matter how she looks at it, there’s no pattern to be seen, no connections to be made. But as Ron always used to say, one small piece of intelligence can make all the dominoes fall.