Contents (83)
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- Acknowledgements
- OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK
Michael smiled.
‘I know that,’ he replied. ‘I know you will.’
‘And Mike?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Do me a favour, would you?’
‘What?’
‘Save me the trouble.’
SEVENTY-ONE
It was not common for Joelle Levy to be at her desk at 4 a.m. But it was not unheard of, either. Even during investigations that had not taken such a personal turn.
Levy had taken Michael’s advice and had driven from Smithfield Market to her home in Highgate. It seemed like weeks since she had last spent time with her son. Who knew when they would get the chance again? And so Claire Gordon had been relieved of her babysitting duties for a few hours and had gone upstairs to catch up on some sleep, while Levy and Richard had spent the evening together. Fuelled by a pizza, a tub of ice cream and a movie on Amazon Prime.
It was an emotional pit stop that had left Levy reinvigorated.
Shortly after midnight, Richard had fallen asleep on the sofa. Being careful not to wake him, Levy had carried him to his bedroom and placed him in the bed next to his sleeping babysitter.
Refreshed by the rare few hours of rest and the quality time with her son, Levy had then washed, dressed and made her way back to Scotland Yard by 2 a.m.
Two hours had passed since then. Two hours Levy had not wasted.
Steven Hale’s long journey to Manchester had taken the most direct route. A journey of that length meant motorways. In turn, motorways meant the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system. The little-known camera network that could trace any vehicle as it travelled throughout the UK.
Levy had made the request in the afternoon. For all system ‘hits’ made by Hale’s own number plate. She had also asked for the ‘hits’ from all other vehicles in the twenty seconds that followed Hale’s.
A vast amount of information. And the only real lead Levy now had.
The material had landed on her desk while she was still at home: 648 ‘hits’ on Hale’s plate. Tracing his BMW as it travelled from London to Salford. Alongside those ‘hits’ were tens of thousands more, made by car after car that passed some of the same ANPR cameras within twenty seconds of Hale.
But Levy wasn’t looking for a vehicle that passed some of the same cameras. She was looking for the vehicle that passed them all.
It had taken almost two hours already.
It was a vast amount of information to go through. Levy had meticulously listed all of the plates registered at the first ANPR camera Hale had passed. Then she had moved onto the second, deleting any entry on the camera-one list that did not pass camera two. Then the same for the third camera. Then the same for the fourth.
By the time Levy’s telephone rang at 4 a.m., she was nearing camera five hundred. Her list of other vehicles was now just six plates long.
Levy glanced at her watch. It was early to receive a call.