Honeytrap: Part 2 Page 2

‘What do you think, Lorna?’

  Lorna, forever the peacemaker, closed the filing cabinet, carried a couple of brown folders through to reception and put them on the main desk. ‘I think we need to keep calm. Arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere. Let’s sit down and go through everything properly.’

  Harry pulled up a chair, but Jess went to the window and gazed down at the street. He could sense the anxiety rising from her like steam. She wrapped her arms around her chest and took a few deep breaths.

  ‘It’s been almost an hour,’ she said. ‘If she was going to get in touch, she’d have done it by now.’

  Lorna sat down opposite Harry. ‘It does seem odd. She’s usually so reliable. I’ve never known her miss a text in all the time she’s been working here. She sticks to the rules; she never needs reminding.’

  ‘So maybe she’s got a problem with her phone.’

  ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Jess asked, her voice tight and angry. She scowled at him, left the window and sat beside Lorna. ‘You’ve been dragging your heels all night. We should have talked to those people at Wilder’s. We should be doing something now.’

  Harry raised his eyebrows. ‘Just because I don’t act like a bull in a china shop doesn’t mean I’m dragging my heels. You can’t go around accusing people before you’ve got any evidence.’

  Jess pursed her lips. ‘And we’re not going to get it sitting here. That Keynes is a creep; he was all over Sylvie like a rash.’

  ‘Which doesn’t make him guilty of anything other than being a sleazeball. Did you actually see him do anything? Did you see him follow her?’

  ‘I saw him look at her like she was a piece of meat.’

  ‘And if that was a crime, the prisons would be overflowing by now.’

  Lorna interrupted the stroppy exchange. ‘This isn’t getting us anywhere. Tell me what happened, Jess, from the moment you arrived.’

  Harry listened as Jess repeated what she’d already told him earlier. There was nothing new, nothing different. Sylvie had used the name Christelle when she’d introduced herself to Joshua Keynes. He’d shown an interest – more than an interest – and had taken her number, promising to ring.

  When Jess had finished, Lorna opened one of the files and ran her finger down the sheet of paper. ‘Sarah Thorne. She’s the girlfriend of Keynes. I never met her, though. She made the arrangements over the phone.’

  ‘But you’ve got an address,’ Jess said.

  ‘Yes, of course. She lives in … let me see, yes, Leonard Close in Hampstead.’

  ‘We could go over there, see if Keynes is around.’

  ‘That’s a job for the police,’ Harry said, ‘if we’re going to report Sylvie as missing. Are we?’

  Lorna checked her watch. ‘I’m not sure how much longer we can wait.’

  There was a short silence while the three of them looked at each other.

  ‘I vote yes,’ Jess said. ‘Let’s do it now.’

  Lorna frowned. ‘Maybe we should wait for Mac.’

  ‘Why don’t you ring him, see what he thinks?’

  Lorna glanced at Harry, who gave a nod. She was reaching for the phone as it burst into life. She snatched it up. ‘Hello? Mackenzie, Lind.’ Instantly her eyes lit up. ‘Sylvie! We were starting to get worried. Where are you? What happened?’

  Harry leaned forward, trying to hear the other side of the conversation, but Lorna had the phone pressed against her ear. A wave of relief flowed over him. With every minute that passed, he’d been getting increasingly worried. But Sylvie was fine. The panic, thank God, was over.

  ‘Okay, I see. No, you did the right thing … Are you sure you’re all right? … Yes, yes, that’s not a problem. I’ll get someone to go round and ask. I’m sure it will turn up … Of course I will. She’ll be glad to hear you’re safe. We’re all glad. You gave us a bit of a fright, to be honest … And you’ll keep in touch, won’t you? Give me a ring during the week.’

  Harry gestured with his hand that he wanted Lorna to pass the phone over.

  ‘Harry’s here, Sylvie. He just wants to have a quick word … Oh, I see. No, I’ll tell him. Okay. Take care. Bye, then. Bye.’

  Lorna hung up, sat back and released a long heartfelt sigh. ‘Thank heavens for that. I’m getting too old for this kind of drama. Sorry, Harry. She was on a friend’s phone and the battery was running low.’

  ‘So what happened?’ Jess asked. ‘Why did she just take off like that?’

  ‘It seems that she caught sight of an ex in Wilder’s, someone she split up with a while ago. She was worried that if he saw her he’d make a scene, draw attention to her and blow the whole job with Keynes. So she went out the back, jumped in a cab and then found she’d lost her mobile. She must have dropped it in the bar. I said one of us would go round and see if it’s been found.’

  ‘I’ll check it out,’ Harry said. He was doing his best not to appear too smug in front of Jess. It was understandable that she’d got in a spin – he’d felt the nerves too for a while – but his original instincts had been right. Sylvie was a smart girl who’d done what she had to do to escape a tricky situation. ‘Someone might have handed it in.’

  ‘I’m just glad she’s okay,’ Jess said.

  ‘Oh, and she said to apologise to you,’ Lorna said to Jess.

  ‘No problem.’ Jess looked across the table at Harry and gave him a wry smile. ‘Feel free to say “I told you so”.’

  Harry shook his head. ‘You did the right thing.’

  ‘Well, remind me not to go back to Wilder’s in the near future.’

  ‘I wouldn’t worry. He’ll have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.’ Harry rose to his feet, intending to drop by the bar and then drive on to the Lincoln. With any luck Danny Street would still be there. ‘Okay, if no one needs me any more, I’m going to make a move.’

  ‘Yeah, and me,’ Jess said, standing up too.

  Lorna looked up at her. ‘Oh, before you go. I should have said. Sylvie said to tell you she hasn’t forgotten about Friday.’

  Jess stiffened instantly. ‘What?’

  ‘Friday,’ Lorna repeated.

  ‘I don’t understand.’ Jess frowned hard, her fingers tightening around the strap of her bag. ‘We didn’t make any arrangement for Friday. What did she say exactly?’

  Lorna looked a little flustered. ‘Er … just that she hadn’t forgotten about Friday. That’s all. I’m sure it was.’

  ‘And how did she sound? There’s something not right here. Why would she say that?’

  Harry raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘She’s fine. Lorna was just talking to her. She sounded okay, didn’t she?’

  Lorna looked at them both. ‘She sounded … I don’t know … yes, like normal. I think so.’

  ‘Call her back then,’ Jess said. ‘Let’s make sure.’

  ‘She didn’t leave a number. I don’t think she’s at home. She can’t be or Mac would have seen her.’

  Harry pulled on his jacket, ready to leave. ‘So try 1471.’

  Lorna picked up the phone, dialled and quickly put it down again. ‘Withheld,’ she said.

  ‘You see?’ Jess said.

  Harry shook his head. ‘See what? Lots of people have withheld numbers.’

  ‘But something’s not right. Why would she tell me not to forget when there’s nothing to remember?’

  ‘Are you sure you didn’t arrange to see her again?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure. We were going on to the Fox tonight, that’s where we were going to finish the interview. We hadn’t made any other plans.’

  ‘So maybe she got it wrong.’

  ‘Or maybe she was trying to tell us something.’

  Harry opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing down on the ground floor. Two pairs of feet quickly climbed the stairs. Mac walked into the reception area, followed by DI Valerie Middleton.

  ‘Val,’ Harry said. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘Mac dr
opped by the station. He told me that you may have a missing person.’

  ‘No,’ Harry said.

  ‘Yes!’ Jess exclaimed.

  9

  Jess was glad that Mac had contacted the police, but less pleased to see that it was Harry’s ex, Valerie, who had come along. The tall, cool blonde wasn’t Jess’s greatest fan; it was a grudge that went back five years to when the inspector had suspected her and Harry of having a fling. It hadn’t been true, of course – the nearest they’d come to any kind of flinging had been a stupid drunken snog in a cab one night – but old suspicions died hard.

  DI Middleton’s eyes narrowed as she looked at them both. ‘So which is it? Is someone missing or not?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Harry said.

  ‘They could be,’ Jess said. ‘We don’t really know, not for sure.’

  It was Lorna who attempted to clarify the situation, giving a quick rundown of what had happened to date. ‘So we have heard from her, but …’

  ‘But?’ DI Middleton asked.

  ‘But Jess doesn’t think there was any arrangement made for Friday.’

  ‘There definitely wasn’t,’ Jess insisted. ‘Absolutely not.’

  Mac took off his coat and threw it over the back of a chair. ‘So maybe Sylvie got mixed up, got the wrong end of the stick or something. She’s with a friend, she’s safe, so there’s nothing to worry about.’

  But Jess wasn’t prepared to let it go. ‘Unless it’s someone who knows how the system works, who knows that alarm bells will start going off if she doesn’t get in touch. She could have been forced to make that call.’

  DI Middleton arched her eyebrows. ‘And is there anything to suggest that?’

  ‘Only what she said,’ Jess replied. ‘Isn’t that enough?’

  ‘Except Lorna didn’t sense that she was under any kind of pressure.’ The inspector looked over at her. ‘Or did I get that wrong?’

  Lorna shook her head. ‘I don’t think … I don’t know … I mean, she didn’t sound scared or anything, but then what if Jess is right and …’

  For the next fifteen minutes the five of them went over the events of the evening, trying to hone the details and clarify the picture. What emerged, among other things, was that no one knew whether Sylvie had a current boyfriend or who any of her close friends were. Lorna had a contact number for her parents in France, but at this point no one wanted to worry them. In the end it all boiled down to the brief conversation Lorna had had with her. Mac and Harry seemed prepared to take it at face value, Lorna was on the fence and only Jess truly believed the girl was in danger. She continued to plead her case to Valerie.

  ‘Look, couldn’t you run a check on Joshua Keynes, see if he has any history of violence?’

  DI Middleton threw her hands up in the air. ‘On what grounds exactly? I can’t run random checks, and we’ve got no reason to suspect him of any crime at the moment.’

  As Harry glanced at his watch, DI Middleton frowned and said somewhat caustically, ‘Am I keeping you?’

  ‘Sorry, busy schedule,’ he said.

  ‘And mine isn’t? It’s a Saturday night in Kellston in case you hadn’t noticed.’

  ‘I thought we’d finished here.’

  ‘I’m sure whoever it is you’re meeting can hang on for five minutes.’

  Jess felt the tension in the air; it was years since the two of them had split up but Harry and Valerie Middleton still had issues. Although they’d theoretically moved on, neither of them could completely cut the ties. And Valerie, she suspected, thought Harry had a hot date. The idea clearly irked the inspector, although she was trying hard not to show it.

  ‘And we all appreciate you coming over,’ Lorna interrupted quickly. ‘Don’t we, Harry?’

  ‘Of course we do. All I meant was—’

  ‘I know what you meant,’ DI Middleton said tightly.

  There was a short awkward silence before Jess tried to get things back on track. ‘What about Sylvie’s ex? Does anyone know who he is, his name or anything?’

  Lorna shook her head. ‘Maybe she mentioned him to one of the other girls. I can ring round, see if they remember.’

  ‘Just be careful what you say,’ Mac ordered. ‘We don’t want to start a panic.’

  DI Middleton snapped shut her notebook and stood up. ‘Okay, I’ll keep it on file. Let me know if there are any developments.’

  ‘Thanks again,’ Lorna said. ‘We will.’

  Jess watched the inspector leave with a sinking heart. The meeting had come to an end with no real resolution. The general consensus seemed to be that they should wait a few days and see if Sylvie got in touch again. Jess wasn’t happy about this – every hour, every minute could be vital if the girl was in danger – but her protests had fallen on deaf ears. This left her with only one choice: if no one else was going to look for Sylvie, she would have to do it herself.

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ Harry said as she followed him down the stairs.

  ‘I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ he said, glancing over his shoulder. ‘So you’re just going home for a quiet night in front of the telly.’

  ‘I might.’

  ‘When hell freezes over.’ Harry opened the front door and stood aside to let her out. ‘And please don’t forget that Sarah Thorne doesn’t want Keynes to know that she paid for a honeytrap service to test her future husband’s fidelity. So if you were thinking of—’

  ‘I wasn’t. What do you take me for?’ She stepped out on to the street and turned to face him. ‘But I am worried about Sylvie. This whole Friday thing – why would she say that? It’s like … I don’t know, like she was trying to tell us something. There was no arrangement. There wasn’t. There really wasn’t.’

  Harry raked his fingers through his hair. ‘So what’s the plan?’

  ‘There isn’t a plan.’

  ‘You’ve always got a plan.’

  Jess stared off down the street. ‘When I think of one, I’ll let you know.’

  ‘You need a lift anywhere?’

  ‘No, thanks, I’ve got the car.’

  Harry closed the door and joined her on the pavement. ‘Lorna’s had more contact with Sylvie than either of us. I think she’d have guessed if anything was wrong.’

  Jess gave a shrug. ‘If you say so.’

  ‘I’ll give you a bell if the phone turns up.’

  They crossed the road together and separated outside the Fox. Jess watched as Harry walked away, battling with the urge to call him back and make him listen to her. But what was the point? He’d already made up his mind and nothing she said was going to change it. She went over to her Mini – parked under a light in the pub’s car park – got in, took out her iPad and began to type.

  The first thing she noted down were two addresses, Sylvie’s and Sarah Thorne’s, both of which she’d memorised from the files Lorna had left open on the desk. It was the latter, the Hampstead address that she was most interested in. Did Joshua Keynes live with his girlfriend? It seemed likely, seeing as they were engaged. She thought it might be worth driving over there and checking out the place. But not yet. First she wanted to make sure she had everything down on paper while it was still clear in her head.

  Half an hour later, Jess had a pretty thorough summary of everything she knew about Sylvie Durand. She had recorded the events of the evening, concentrating on Joshua Keynes and the ex-boyfriend who still remained nameless. Either of them could have followed Sylvie out through the emergency exit at Wilder’s. She fast-forwarded through the tape of the interview, making sure that no mention had been made of anything to do with next Friday. There hadn’t. She racked her brains, wondering if something had been said when the tape wasn’t running, but nothing came back to her.

  ‘Sylvie,’ she murmured. ‘What were you trying to tell me?’

  But perhaps the answer was simple enough – by throwing out a seemingly innocuous comment, she could alert Jess to the f
act that something was wrong without raising the suspicions of whoever was holding her. With a knife to her throat or a gun to her head, Sylvie would have had to have been extra careful about what she said.

  Jess pondered on this for a while. Was she being over-dramatic? What if she was wrong and the others were right? Doubt crept into her thoughts, but she pushed it away. No, all her instincts were saying that Sylvie was in trouble, and she wasn’t going to ignore them. By Monday she would have a better idea of whether the girl was actually missing or not; she could go to Farnborough College and see if Sylvie turned up for her course. But that was a couple of days away and in the meantime she wasn’t prepared to sit back and do nothing.

  Jess leaned across, flipped down the glove compartment and got out her A–Z. She looked up Sarah Thorne’s address and worked out the best way of getting there. At this time of night the roads shouldn’t be too busy. She was not entirely sure quite what she hoped to achieve by staking out the girlfriend’s home but it had to be better than sitting around twiddling her thumbs. Hopefully, Joshua Keynes would show up at some point and she wanted to be there when he did.

  Jess put the A–Z on to the passenger seat and slipped the key into the ignition. She was just about to leave when a sleek white Daimler rolled into the car park, did a three-point turn, returned to the exit and idled there, blocking the way out.

  ‘Take your time, why don’t you,’ she murmured.

  Jess peered through the gloom, but the Daimler’s windows were tinted and she couldn’t see who was inside. She was just about to pull out and hurry them along by drawing up behind when the passenger door opened and a woman with short fair hair got out, leaned down and continued talking to the driver. It was clear from her demeanour that the exchange was not an amicable one; her shoulders were hunched, her face full of anger.

  Jess sat back and watched the scene, her curiosity aroused. She thought the woman looked familiar, but it took a moment for the penny to drop. Could it be? She wouldn’t have even thought of it if Harry hadn’t mentioned her yesterday. Ellen Shaw. It was – she was sure it was. Her hair was different but … She shifted forward to try and get a closer look. Yes, there was no doubt about it.