The Vanishing Point

THE

VANISHING POINT

Also by Val McDermid

A Place of Execution

Killing the Shadows

The Distant Echo

The Grave Tattoo

A Darker Domain

Trick of the Dark

TONY HILL NOVELS

The Mermaids Singing

The Wire in the Blood

The Last Temptation

The Torment of Others

Beneath the Bleeding

Fever of the Bone

The Retribution

KATE BRANNIGAN NOVELS

Dead Beat

Kick Back

Crack Down

Clean Break

Blue Genes

Star Struck

LINDSAY GORDON NOVELS

Report for Murder

Common Murder

Final Edition

Union Jack

Booked for Murder

Hostage to Murder

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

The Writing on the Wall

Stranded

NON-FICTION

A Suitable Job for a Woman

THE

VANISHING POINT

VAL McDERMID

Copyright © 2012 by Val McDermid

All rights reserved.

First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Little, Brown an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, London

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-9397-1

Atlantic Monthly Press

an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

841 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

For the ones who got away while I was writing this book –

Davina McDermid, Sue Carroll and Reginald Hill.

Without all of you, in your very different ways,

I would never have made it this far.

Your absence is a constant presence.

Acknowledgements

It’s a learning curve, this writing business. Every book teaches me something about the world as well as the craft. And so I have a roster of people I need to thank:

Jon and Ruth Jordan for too many things to mention, but in particular this time for passing me on to a contact without whom this book would never have got started. Thanks for giving me the heads-up, Timm.

Linda Watson-Brown and Michael Robotham for sharing their experiences of donning the white sheet.