Page 20

CHAPTER 20

MELANIE – D AY T WO

‘You want me to take a turn at the driving?’ Mel is spooling through her phone while also checking the time. It will be late when they get back to Devon but she has a lot more to catch up on with the team. Several have volunteered to stay on. The offer to drive is merely polite and Sam will know this.

‘No. You carry on. I’m happy to drive.’

‘Correct answer.’ Mel is still looking at her phone as she speaks but from the corner of her eye catches Sam smiling. ‘I’m going to check in with Ali.’

‘Fine. But do you mind if we do a drive-through? I’m hungry.’ Sam is checking his watch before glancing at the sat nav.

‘You really do have hollow legs, don’t you? How the hell do you stay so slim?’ Melanie has found in the last few years that she can’t eat the way she used to. She’s not fond of the gym and has surprised herself by trying a sequence of faddy diets. Low carb. Low fat. Low food ...

‘Metabolism, guv.’

‘Melanie. Call me Melanie.’

‘Sorry. Lucky genes. So a drive-through’s OK? Within the next half hour?’

‘Sure. But park up and eat fast. I don’t want to watch you eat and drive. No offence.’

‘No problem.’ A pause. ‘And by the way, would you mind awfully if I just call you guv or boss? It’s just—’ Sam takes a deep breath. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t say this but ... no, forget it. I shouldn’t say it.’

‘Boss is fine if you prefer. But not guv.’

‘Thanks, boss.’ He’s smiling again.

Melanie speed-dials the incident room and it’s Alison, a DS, who picks up. ‘Hi, Alison. Melanie Sanders here. We’re heading back from Rugby. Please share that I’m grateful for the team putting in the extra hours. No need for everyone to stay but has anything else come in since my last call?’

‘Actually I was just about to phone you, ma’am.’

‘Boss. Please call me boss.’ Again she catches Sam grinning alongside.

‘Sorry, boss. It’s just we have an incident developing. Only just escalating. I’ve bumped to the super here and he’s called in the press office. They were about to phone you.’

‘OK. So what’s happening?’ Melanie bites into her bottom lip.

‘Vigilantes. Out on the Park Estate. There’s a crowd, a dozen or so with more joining them, outside the house of one of the men on the sex offenders’ list. Word on social media is someone has a petrol bomb.’

‘Oh great. So who is it? And is he home?’

‘I’m sending you all the details right now.’

‘Are uniforms there? Anyone in imminent danger?’

‘We’ve got him out. Someone was tipped off about trouble brewing so we took him to a safe address earlier. One of his relatives. The house on the Park Estate is empty. It was searched when we were checking all the local suspects day one. But the crowd don’t believe the team on the ground. Uniforms and the fire brigade are on site. The super’s heading out to make a statement as the media are apparently turning up.’

‘Terrific.’ Mel narrows her eyes, aware of the sarcasm in her tone. A complete nightmare that the superintendent is having to handle this. It should be her. She doesn’t regret travelling to do the Adam Meadows interview herself but given it’s led them nowhere yet, she’s frustrated to be so far from HQ. ‘What mood’s the super in?’

‘Raging, ma’am. Sorry – boss. He had some big dinner he’s had to cancel.’

‘Perfect. So fill me in. What do we know? Has there been a leak? How did the guy’s name get out?’

As soon as Amelie went missing Melanie had ordered immediate checks on the six local men on the sex offenders’ register. They all came back with alibis. Four checked out immediately with CCTV and/or reliable witnesses. Two needed further inquiries, so their homes were searched. The guy on the Park Estate on the outskirts of Maidstead was one of them but had since been cleared of suspicion. He’d belatedly admitted he was at an AA meeting when Amelie disappeared. Six witnesses. It checked out.

All the names from the register were highly confidential and Melanie had ordered her team to be careful there were no leaks.

‘Seems the locals on the Park Estate have known for a while that he’s on the register. They saw officers turning up to do a search, put two and two and two together and made five. Decided to post all over social media that he must have Amelie.’

‘Excellent.’ Melanie shakes her head. A body in a shopping trolley and now the complication of vigilantes when all she wants is to work on finding Amelie. She’d been through the files of all those on the sex offenders’ list herself. Some had been done for flashing, which Melanie had always taken more seriously than some others on the force. One on the list had previous for approaching children outside their schools. But so far there was no evidence to link any of them on the list with Amelie’s disappearance.

‘I’ll send you some of the social media links. Blown up really fast. That’s why the super and press officer are heading out. To try to calm it all down.’

‘Look. I’m so sorry I’m not there but you keep me informed. Yes? Any more news on the ID of the body in the shopping trolley?’

‘Not yet but we’ve had a good few calls on that too so we’re checking everything out. The super said he’s going to call you for an update on everything.’

Mel closes her eyes. I bet he is . ‘Thank you.’