'In that case I want you to withdraw the permission. We can supply the money.'
'I'm afraid it may be too late for that, Inspector,' he replied.
I asked him for a copy of the will and we drove back to the office.
Every morning the Superintendent holds what we call his morning prayer meeting. I informed the gathered brains of Heckley nick of the latest developments.
'Suddenly it's all falling into place,' said Gilbert 'Do you think you've enough to bring him in? Maybe if we turned his love nest over, leaned on his girlfriend.'
'I'd rather not, if you don't mind,' I answered. 'He's been scrupulous so far, I doubt if he's left any muck in his own kennel. Plus he's got the press on his side. Arresting the distraught father wouldn't be good for my image if it didn't stick.'
'You could be right, Charlie. If he doesn't think he's a suspect, let's give him all the line he needs. Mind you, the Acting Chief Constable might not agree when I give him a progress report.'
'Trevor Partridge,' I replied. 'Leave him to me. I got him that job.
If Dewhurst is convicted on circumstantial evidence he'll spend the rest of his life protesting his innocence writing books and articles in his cell. Three-quarters of the population will believe him. And that's providing we'd convinced a jury first. Let's hang on and find some forensic When he goes down, I want him to have lead in his shoes '
I was about to add that I didn't think we'd have long' to wait, but I was interrupted by a knock at the door. A uniformed constable poked his head round it.
'Excuse me, gentlemen,' he said. 'Mr. Priest, Miles Dewhurst is downstairs, asking for you. He looks a wreck.'
Gilbert came with me. Dewhurst was unshaven and untidily dressed, displaying that careful indifference to personal appearance that takes years to cultivate. For a split second I Wondered if that was why I disliked him so much. Not because I thought he'd murdered his daughter, but for his vanity. We sat him in an interview room and ordered tea.
'She wasn't there,' he sobbed. 'He promised she'd be there.'
'Georgina?'
He nodded.
'I think you'd better start at the beginning, Mr. Dewhurst. I take it you've had another approach.' I glanced at the calendar on the wall behind him. It showed a picture of Fountains Abbey, and told me that this was the thirteenth day since the previous note.
His elbows were on the table, with his hands clenched together and his thumbs pressed against his lips.
'Take your time, Mr. Dewhurst, and tell us in your own Words what happened,' said Gilbert, soothingly.
He lowered his hands. He rang me. Last night. Asked if I'd got the money. Not all of it, I told him. He asked me how much and I said three hundred and fifty thousand. He said that would do.'
'Did you have the money at home?' I asked.
He nodded.
'What did he say next?'
'He told me that if I did as I was told I'd have Georgina back by this morning.' He started sobbing, and apologised for doing so. We waited for him to start talking again. 'I had to immediately take the Nissan and drive east on the M62, at fifty miles per hour, until he contacted me again.'
'So he rang you on your mobile?'
'Yes.'
'What time, about?'
'About ten, ten fifteen. I never looked.'
'Go on.'
'He called me again, somewhere near the Bradford turn-off, I think. I had to go to the services at the junction with the Al and park well away from everyone else. Then wait.'
He rambled on, pausing to blow his nose and gather his thoughts. It was a convincing performance.
'How do you feel about doing the journey again?' I asked.
He nodded. 'I expected you to suggest that.'
'OK. Have you had any breakfast?'
'No, I couldn't eat anything.'
'You've got to have something; a slice of toast at least. Come on, we'll go to the canteen. That all right with you, Mr. Wood?'
'Yes, of course,' said Gilbert. 'I'll sort somebody out to go with you.'
Dave Sparkington was available, joining us in the canteen. We had a toasted tea cake and set off in my car to follow the directions Dewhurst had been given over his mobile phone.
As we walked out through the yard, Dewhurst asked if the Nissan would be all right where he'd left it. It was in a space marked HMI.
We weren't expecting a visit from him, or even her, so I said: 'Sure, it'll be OK there,' quickly adding: 'Tell you what, let's leave your keys with the front desk, just in case.' Sometimes I think so fast I arrive back before I've started.
Dewhurst sat in the front of my car and Sparky in the back, taking notes. First stop was the Ferrybridge Services, where the Al intersects the M62. We ignored the fifty miles per hour instruction and drove there as fast as I was able.
'Where did you park?' I asked.
'In that far corner,' Dewhurst said, pointing. I stopped in the same square he'd used.
'Was it very busy?'
'Fairly. There'd be about half as many vehicles as there are now, or maybe a few less.'
'You didn't notice anyone in particular?'
'No.'
'How long did you wait?'
'Nearly an hour.'
'And then he rang again.'
'Yes.'
If was like trying to extract the pips from a pebble. 'Would you care to tell us what the next instruction was, please, Mr. Dewhurst?' I asked.
Eight miles down the Al, in a lay-by just past the Burghwallis turn-off, is a construction known as Little John's Well. It's very old, dating from when they made the Great North Road into a dual carriage way About 1965. The voice on the phone had ordered Dewhurst to go there. We did the same.
'In the well was a flattened Coke tin with the end cut off. There was a message inside, with a diagram.'
'What happened to it?'
'I still have it.'
'Let's have a look, then.'
It had been done on a computer. It depicted the roundabout at the Blythe services, further down the Al, with precise instructions on where to leave the money.
I passed it back to Dave. 'Read 'em out, Dave,' I instructed.
Fifteen minutes later we were nearly there.
'First left and left again,' Sparky told me. 'And left again in a mile and a half.' We were in coal-mining country, or what remained of it.
'Left again in a quarter of a mile.'
It was a narrow lane, made of concrete. Probably an old British Coal access road. The remains of a gate marked the entrance. Now it bore signs of habitation by the less welcome members of the travelling fraternity, and several years' use as an illegal tip. It ended abruptly in a small wood after a few hundred yards.
'Is this where you came?'
'Yes.'
Before us stood a derelict building no bigger than a domestic garage.
It was one of those mysterious, windowless places that have electricity poles bringing cables into them, and
