Walking towards the nursery building, pushing an empty stroller pram was Susan Clancy. Suddenly Clare was transported back to a missing baby case. Susan had come under scrutiny because her own little girl had been taken into care. But then she had helped Clare track down the real culprits and had proved herself capable of looking after her daughter once more. Clare had helped her find a flat in the town, away from her old contacts, and she’d begun a new life in St Andrews. She racked her brains trying to recall the name of Susan’s daughter and then she remembered it was Paige. And now, she guessed, Paige was at the same nursery as Melanie’s son Daniel.

Melanie opened the car door. ‘So tomorrow morning?’ she said. ‘I can come about nine fifteen.’

‘Erm, yes. That’s fine, Melanie. See you then.’ She watched as Melanie quickened her step and headed for the nursery door. She overtook Susan and nodded to her. They exchanged a couple of words then Melanie walked ahead of Susan into the building. Clare saw Susan enter behind Melanie. ‘I wonder,’ she said, starting the car engine.

Chapter 14

Sara was at the front desk dealing with callers when Clare returned. Presumably the traffic accident hadn’t taken long to sort out. As she entered her office the phone began to ring. Colin Morris from the prison.

‘Colin,’ she said. ‘Good of you to call so quickly.’

‘Ah, no problem, Clare. How’s the investigation going?’

‘Early days. I’m kind of hoping you might have something.’

‘Well, yes and no,’ he said. ‘So, first of all, our records show Russell Fox had four different cellmates while he was inside. No particular problems with any of them. Seemed to get on okay.’

‘Do you know where they are now?’ Clare asked.

‘Aye. Two of them have since died. One’s back inside and the fourth went to an address in England when he was released.’

Clare snatched up a pen. ‘Name?’

‘John Joseph Alexander, known as Jonjo. And, from what I can see, he’s still in England. Birmingham, last I heard. But you might want to check that.’

Clare scribbled the name down. ‘Anything else?’

‘Yes. Bit of trouble a few weeks before Russell was released.’

‘Oh yeah?’ This sounded more hopeful.