‘I don’t know, Ellen, people do strange things.’

It took another five minutes to calm her down, and as long again to get his questions answered. However it was already clear how little Ellen really knew about the man she had loved. Gillard rounded off the call by once again pledging her to secrecy, and reminding her to take her phone in to the nearest police station. ‘Your prompt action could save Sam’s life,’ he said.

He ended the call gently, then rang Otara with all the information he had acquired.

‘Gabriel Hallam is the man we should be looking for. Ellen Bramley recognised his voice very clearly.’ Gillard said. ‘I think it was he who stole the Mitsubishi Warrior. I think you also need to get a victim liaison officer to Ms Bramley. She is not only emotionally vulnerable, but she may need protecting if Hallam comes back.’

‘Okay, we’ll do that.’ He told Gillard about the women’s underwear and the call made from the bus stop. ‘We’ve got some promising ANPR hits too, that we’re currently analysing. None on the vehicles of interest list, and not surprisingly no sign of the Warrior. If our suspect drives through even the tiniest back lane in Westmeare, one of our mobile units will certainly have captured the registration number.’

‘What if he walked?’ Gillard said.

There was a short silence at the other end. ‘Well, that hasn’t fitted his M.O. so far, has it?’

‘Who knows? He’s devious enough.’

‘If so, one of our officers will spot him,’ Otara said, then hung up.

‘But you don’t really know what he looks like do you?’ Gillard muttered to himself as he looked down at his jotter.

Gabriel Hallam. Gary Harrison. G and H. It made a lot of sense. Harrison must have groomed Ellen to get close to Sam, to find out where she lived. The cold, controlling strategy, played for the long-term, was chilling. And that meant Harrison was the thief who had stolen the Warrior. The biggish bloke in a car coat, identified by the owner who had rushed out to save his car.

A frown crossed Gillard’s face. He rang Ellen Bramley back, but the landline she had called him from went unanswered. Of course, he had just insisted she rush off to the police station.

Damn. He really needed to ask her a couple more questions and he didn’t have her mobile number. She had told him that Gabriel Hallam had driven the Warrior on one of their early dates. But from what he half-remembered Sam telling him, Ellen had been going out with Gabriel for months. He re-read his notes. That’s right, since January. But the Warrior had been stolen less than two weeks ago. If Ellen’s recollection was correct, and this was the same green Mitsubishi Warrior, then Gary Harrison wasn’t just Gabriel Hallam.

He was also Kyle Halliday.

Because that early date with Bramley must have occurred before the Warrior was stolen. Who else could have been driving it but Halliday? Unless he was in the habit of lending his car out.