She’d always told herself she didn’t believe in the supernatural, but she was now gripped by the irrational conviction that if he died without knowing the truth about Jennifer, then he would end up as a ghost stuck between this world and the next, tormented for all eternity by the unresolved question of his missing daughter.

Bailey tried to think what her next move should be. What was the best way to progress her search for Mister Snigiss? What about the sex tape? Would that turn out to be connected to him? She felt sure that it was. But things seemed to have gone a bit quiet on that front. She made a mental note to chase up with Dale to see where the murder investigation team had got with it.

With Dale on her mind, she noticed from the date on her watch that today was the fourteenth of February. Valentine’s Day. In terms of romance, things between them had cooled off quite a bit since her recent sudden absorption with Mister Snigiss. Perhaps he thought she wasn’t interested any more. Perhaps she was deluding herself about how he really felt about her. Anyhow, she told herself it was probably for the best. After all, they were work colleagues first and foremost and it was important to keep things professional.

46

Rick’s black Range Rover Velar was already parked up in the lay-by when Bailey arrived. He was the kind of person who liked to get to meetings early.

The sky was grey and overcast and it was spitting lightly as she pulled in behind him and switched off the engine of her BMW. He had called her that morning with the sole instruction for her to come to this lay-by on an A-road in Essex. She knew that a lay-by was a good way to avoid police surveillance and thus an ideal place to discuss sensitive business matters.

She had been relieved to hear from him. Following the scopolamine incident, she’d been anxious that they’d decided they were done with her, but now it seemed that Rick wanted to commence with business as before. Obviously, the possibility had also occurred to her that he’d invited her here so they could pick up the interrogation where they’d left off – after all, in this lay-by there wouldn’t be any plumbers close by to conveniently interrupt them. Either way, she’d told Frank where she was going.

She got out of her car and walked over to his Range Rover, droplets of rain pattering on her skin while traffic roared past just a few metres away. Pulling open the passenger door, she climbed inside. The interior was warm and dry and it smelt of leather and the seat was large and comfortable.

Rick was sitting there all by himself, leaning on the steering wheel. She wondered where the others were, but felt vaguely reassured by their absence, figuring that it meant a further interrogation was off the table.

He gave her a thin smile, but those black eyes were dead as ever.