Page 143 of The Guilty Girl

‘You’re a slave-driver. I only have time to eat at my desk.’ He was smiling, so that was okay.

‘What have you got for me?’

‘The threatening email that was sent to Albert McAllister; you mentioned it was about drugs in the sport, didn’t you?’

‘That’s what he implied.’

Gary turned the screen, but she couldn’t get close with the takeout boxes stacked haphazardly on the floor around the desk. The man was working in a pigsty.

‘Can you print it for me?’

‘Sure.’

She snapped the page out of the printer almost before it was done and flattened it out on a nearby desk.

Albert,

You have three weeks to declare your dishonesty. You fix fights and your clients take drugs. Your deceit can no longer continue. Within three weeks, you must reveal your role in fight fixing. If you refuse, your family will suffer the consequences. I also want half a million euros.

Both requests have to be met or I go public. Once you make the revelation, I will contact you with instructions for the payment.

Three weeks before the shit hits the fan.

Kind regards,

Your guilty conscience

Lottie stared at the words in front of her. ‘What is this? It clearly states his family will suffer. He fecked off to Spain and left his daughter to fend for herself. Jesus!’

‘Doesn’t look good.’

‘And there’s no mention of him having to expose the substance abuse. Albert lied to me. Can you trace the email address, Gary?’

‘It’s cleverly encrypted, similar to the one on Lucy’s laptop. I eventually cracked that one.’

‘You’re a genius. Let me know, day or night, when you crack the address on Albert’s. Day or night.’

‘Certainly, Inspector.’

She waved the printout. ‘Someone is not telling the truth.’

67

Back in the office, Lottie picked up her phone to call Chloe for an update on Rose but instead found herself ringing Boyd.

Without giving him time to speak, she launched into the recent developments about Jake’s death and the burned-out car, plus Sharon’s injury. She omitted telling him about her own tumble down the old stairs.

‘Terry Starr must be involved somehow. Haven’t figured out how or why yet. He had a connection to Jake via the boxing. He could have been using the kids to push drugs for him.’

Boyd said, ‘You have no proof and I doubt he’d ruin his reputation like that. Don’t forget he was here in Malaga yesterday, so how could he have killed Jake Flood?’

‘We don’t have an exact time of death for the boy yet, but he was definitely killed some hours after Lucy. That would rule out Terry, but he could have had time to kill Lucy and make his early-morning flight.’

‘What’s his motive, though?’

‘I don’t know, but we’ve cracked an encrypted email address on Lucy’s laptop. It came from a location in Ranelagh. That’s where Terry lives. Probably thought it was safer than phone or text. They planned to meet up last weekend. It’s got a coded location, some café. I’m waiting for Terry to be found to interview him. Albert got a threatening email too. Boyd, I need you to find out what you can about him over there.’

‘I’ve no authority here, but I have kind of a link to the Spanish police and—’