how.'
Marie came back into the room with the coffee for Mo and Andrea. Andrea waved hers away.
'Who's got access to this house, Mrs Devern?' asked Mo, taking his coffee and thanking Marie. 'And who knows the code to your burglar alarm, aside from you, Mr Phelan and your daughter?'
'No one except the cleaner, and she's been doing the house for years.'
As Mo took down the cleaner's details, Bolt's mobile rang. It was the surveillance team leader. Bolt excused himself and walked to the other side of the room out of earshot.
'We've got an IC1 female stopping at Mrs Devern's security gate. Black hair, early forties. She'll be ringing the bell any moment now.'
The buzzer sounded in the hallway, and Matt Turner poked his head round the living-room door.
'Are we expecting anyone?' Bolt asked him.
'Not that I'm aware of.'
'OK, ignore it, then. Let's hope they go away.'
A few seconds later the buzzer sounded again, longer this time.
'Oh shit,' said the surveillance team leader down the phone.
'What is it?'
'She's unlocking the gate, and now she's coming through.'
Bolt cursed. This was the problem with operating out of a private address. He hung up as the key turned in the lock and the front door opened.
'Andrea?' came a woman's voice, followed immediately by an accusatory 'Who are you?' as she saw Turner.
'It's all right, Isobel, I'm in here,' Andrea called out, getting to her feet quickly. 'It's my business partner,' she added by way of explanation.
Bolt and Mo exchanged glances as Isobel Wheeler, the other half of Feminine Touch Health and Beauty Spas, came into view. She was a striking woman in her mid-forties whose shoulder-length black hair and olive skin suggested eastern Mediterranean parentage. She was wearing a short black dress that finished halfway down her thigh, and which Bolt thought would have suited a slightly younger woman, and black high-heeled court shoes. She didn't do a lot for Bolt, but he could see why some men might go for her.
Isobel and Andrea greeted each other with a kiss on both cheeks.
'I came to see whether you were feeling any better,' Isobel said, breaking away and surveying the room with a cool confidence that was only a hair's breadth short of arrogance. 'What's going on? Who are all these people?'
Bolt opened his mouth to reply but Andrea beat him to it. 'Pat's gone missing,' she said worriedly. 'I haven't seen him for days.'
Isobel looked shocked. 'Is that why you haven't been in this week? You weren't ill, then?'
Andrea shook her head. 'No. I've been waiting for him to come home, and he hasn't. The police are looking for him.'
'What do you think's happened? Did you have an argument or something?' There was something accusatory in Isobel's tone.
'No, it wasn't like that. He just didn't come home one night. I don't know what's happened.'
Isobel turned to Bolt. 'Why aren't you out there looking for him?'
'I don't believe we've been introduced,' he said coolly. 'You are?'
'Isobel Wheeler,' she snapped. 'Why aren't you looking for him?'
Bolt didn't like this woman at all, but knew better than to react to her rudeness.
'We are looking for him,' he explained calmly, 'but unfortunately there's no law against a man leaving his house, even for an extended period of time, and at the moment there's no suggestion of foul play.'
'Pat wouldn't just walk out,' she said firmly.
'You know him well, do you?'
'I know him well enough,' she said curtly before turning back to Andrea. 'And you can't think where he might be, Andi?'
Once again, Andrea shook her head. 'I've tried everywhere. I've got no idea where he is, or why he went.'
Bolt was impressed by the way she was holding up, but he also found the smooth and natural manner in which she lied unnerving.
Isobel stared at Andrea for a couple of seconds, then leaned forward and gave her a hug.
'Do you want me to stay here with you?' she asked.
'I'll be all right, I promise.'
'Keep me posted of progress, OK?'
'Of course I will.'
