‘You still won’t tell Martha about this, will you?’ Richard asked desperately. The joy of having Danny back safely was suddenly overshadowed by the fear of his secret coming out for all to know, and after everything which had happened recently, he didn’t think he could cope with the shame.

‘That may no longer be possible, certainly if our suspicions are correct. Perhaps it would be better if you told Mrs Stone yourself.’

50

DAY 6

DI Radford hurried back to the station to seek out his sergeant. ‘You drive, Graham, we’re going to the seaside!’

In the car, Alex told Graham about Dave Bennet’s call. ‘The description of the woman the doctor was involved with fits the one Stone gave of Serena. Dee checked her alibi, it was watertight, but this new lead suggests that our Ms Murphy had been having an affair with the fathers of both kidnapped children which can’t be a coincidence and most certainly puts her at the top of the list of suspects, so let’s get a move on.’

Graham turned on the sirens as they weaved through the busy Saturday traffic.

Alex made a call to ask for uniform backup at the Portishead address, confident enough to have already decided to bring Serena Murphy in for questioning. He enquired if Dee Samms was available and when the answer was yes, he asked for her to accompany the backup car. She was the only one who’d seen Murphy and could therefore be helpful.

‘Do you think she’ll still be there?’ Graham asked. ‘It’s only a few hours since the kidnapper collected the money and she wasn’t at the farm. The accomplice didn’t mention a woman, other than the dead boy’s mother, and she’s in custody.’

‘We’ll get someone to ask him, shall we?’ Radford made another call to the station. He asked the custody sergeant to find out how many people were involved and if another woman was working with them.

With the sirens on, the journey to Portishead took only fifteen minutes and shortly before they arrived, Radford got a call from the station.

‘He says there was only him, a man called Pete Turner, Sally and the boy. He doesn’t know of anyone else, and he doesn’t seem to know Turner very well either – they’d only met recently.’

‘And do you think he’s telling the truth?’ Alex asked.

‘Yes, I think so,’ the sergeant replied. ‘He seems genuinely remorseful and wants to come clean. I don’t think he has much time for this Turner guy and he’s ready to tell us everything he knows.’

While Alex was on the phone, Graham turned off the sirens, not wishing to alert Serena to their visit. He manoeuvred the car into a spot outside a rather exclusive-looking apartment block facing the Bristol Channel with a great view of the nature reserve.