Easton and Dani turned to look at each other. The conversation was certainly taking an interesting turn. Dani was now regretting setting up the meeting in such an informal way. She wasn’t far from stopping proceedings right then and starting over.

No, don’t rattle them. Just carry on, see what else these two can give. Carry out the formalities some other time.

The slight nod Easton gave suggested he was thinking the same thing.

‘Can you give us anything else at all so we can try and track this Jimmy down? An address?’

‘I’ve no idea,’ Rebecca said.

Laura shook her head.

‘What did he look like?’

‘I dunno really. He was tall. Looked athletic. Square jaw, stubble. He was handsome but… there was always something off about him.’

‘Natalya told me he was a footballer. Not like Premier League or anything. I think it was Tamworth he played for. Used to, anyway.’

Dani and Easton looked at each other, both clearly thinking the same thing. Easton riffled through the file he had on the desk with the info on the missing persons he and Dani had been perusing before Rebecca and Laura had arrived. He found what he was looking for.

‘Do you recognise this man?’ Easton asked, pulling a photo out of a plastic wallet and pushing it across the desk. It was a large colour picture of Paul Reeve – the ex-boyfriend of the missing Grace Agnew. Dani had read in the profile that Missing Persons had pulled on him when they were investigating Grace’s disappearance that he used to play for Tamworth football club.

Both girls stared at the photo.

Rebecca frowned. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘That’s him. That’s Jimmy. How did you know?’

Chapter Fifteen

Following the confrontation with Ethan the previous day, Grant hadn’t bothered going back to work, instead spending the time at home with Mary. Their daughter, Annie, was staying at a friend’s house until late into the evening. Grant had called Professor Langley, his boss at the university, who knew about the recent stress and trouble Ethan had caused Grant and his wife, and had been happy to help Grant rearrange his diary for the rest of the day and find cover for the two lectures he was missing. Grant had been a diligent worker for years so he felt he had a decent amount of goodwill with Langley, though he would avoid testing exactly how far the goodwill would stretch if at all possible.