She sighed. ‘I know. But I have to meet him. He knows about Jennifer. He’s going to tell me all about her tomorrow. I’ve got no choice but to go.’

Dale eyed her gravely. ‘Okay, so where are you meeting him?’

‘Abney Park Cemetery. Tomorrow morning. Seven o’clock.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘A cemetery, huh? And an abandoned one at that. Abney Park hasn’t been used for years.’ He scratched his chin. ‘Well, seeing as you’ve been expressly forbidden from pursuing this investigation, I imagine any kind of official back-up team is out of the question. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll come with you. I’ll follow at a distance, just to make sure that you’re safe.’

‘No!’ she exclaimed. ‘He said to come alone.’

‘But it could be some kind of trap!’

‘There is that possibility. But I can’t afford to mess it up at this stage. It’s a risk I’ll just have to take.’

‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t see me. I’ll make sure to keep a really low profile.’

Bailey shook her head. ‘He said to come alone and he meant it. I can’t afford to jeopardise this opportunity to find out about Jennifer. It might be the only chance I get. I don’t want you to follow me.’

He looked perplexed. ‘If you don’t want me to be there with you, then why did you tell me?’

She took a breath. ‘People who go looking for missing people sometimes end up going missing themselves. My parents already have one missing daughter. And it’s completely torn them up inside not knowing what’s happened to her. If I tell you where I went and I go missing, you can at least let them know some of the details. It won’t be a complete mystery, like it was with Jennifer. If something happens to me, I want you to visit them… and you know… tell them…’

After what had happened to Jennifer, Bailey felt guilty about potentially having to put her parents through the emotional wringer like this, especially her father right now, but she knew she had no choice.

Dale nodded grimly ‘Okay.’

‘But please promise me you won’t actually follow me there.’

‘I promise.’ He held up three fingers in a Scout’s salute. But his face was deadly serious.

56

A fine miasma of early morning fog blanketed the Edgware Road. Stephen squinted through the windscreen of his car at the entrance to the luxury apartment block where James Grecken lived. He had been parked there since six o’clock. It was now almost six thirty and the faint glow of sunrise was beginning to edge through the mist. He wondered how much longer he’d have to wait before Grecken showed any signs of activity.

‘This is so fucking boring,’ grunted Shane, who was sitting in the back seat. ‘I’m sure I could have spent an extra hour in bed. I mean, is this bloke really going to be out and about at this time in the morning?’