BooksBarbecue
Back When I Lost You
Chapters (81)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Fifty-four
  59. Fifty-five
  60. Fifty-six
  61. Fifty-seven
  62. Fifty-eight
  63. Fifty-nine
  64. Sixty
  65. Sixty-one
  66. Sixty-two
  67. Sixty-three
  68. Sixty-four
  69. Sixty-five
  70. Sixty-six
  71. Sixty-seven
  72. Epilogue
  73. Acknowledgments
  74. Read More
  75. Prologue
  76. One
  77. Two
  78. Three
  79. Four
  80. Follow Merilyn online
  81. Dedication

‘It means Eve Graham didn’t go to the care home with Mary,’ Carla called over her shoulder. ‘I’m going to try to confirm, but don’t hold your breath – their records are a nightmare.’

‘So if the connection between Eve and Mary isn’t the care home, what is?’ Paul asked.

‘And why does Eve’s HR record say she attended the home when she didn’t?’ Nell added.

‘Could it be Mary thinks Eve is someone else?’ Bremer asked.

‘Too coincidental,’ Carla called over. ‘The person who killed O’Brian has links to Eve and Joanne, we just don’t know what that connection is yet, just that they’re called Mary.’

‘Are we assuming Mary is our prime suspect?’ Paul asked. Nell looked at Bremer, a deep frown across his brow.

‘I think it’s worth giving that some consideration. Carla, what’s the likelihood of finding anything out about Mary?’

‘Low to zero.’ She swung her chair round to face them. ‘She disappeared from Portsmouth in 1984. I’m going to be lucky to find anything on her, and then of course she could have changed her name. I’ve already checked voters and there isn’t a Mary Balcombe anywhere near the age Mary would be now.’

‘How about a picture?’ Bremer asked. ‘Can we get one from social services?’

‘As I said, their files are bad enough when computerised. Mary’s file will be buried in some warehouse so even if we can find it, it’s going to take a while.’

Nell felt her mood drop a notch. ‘And then we’d have to get an artist to make her look, what, fifty? And then what are we going to do, put out a media appeal?’ The idea was ridiculous; not only would it take too long, it would be like looking for a needle in a country-wide haystack. Hell, she might even have gone abroad and then what would they do, get Interpol involved? She could feel the atmosphere in the office dampen, the realisation that without a photo, an address, a phone number or number plate, Mary was going to be virtually untraceable. And if that’s what the sixteen-year-old had hoped for, she’d made a damn good job of it.

‘I think we need to speak to Joanne,’ Carla said. ‘Get her to tell us what the phone call was about on the night O’Brian died. We also know a woman paid Gloria for access to her second flat. We know Gloria hasn’t managed to identify that woman from the CCTV as Eve, so that leaves us with Joanne and Mary. If Joanne is working with Mary, and it seems to me to be a legitimate assumption at this stage, then we need to start with her.’