“I’ll ring you back.” Mallory hung up.
As the caffeine hit his blood stream, Rob began to perk up. There was still a lot to do, leads to chase up on. This was by no means over.
It was going to be a long night.
He texted Jo, the woman he was sort of seeing. She worked for the National Crime Agency and they’d met on a previous case and become friends. It was only recently that they’d got together.
Where Yvette had been clingy and demanding, Jo was independent and non-committal, which suited him fine. He couldn’t deny he had feelings for Jo, but after the mess he’d made of his marriage, he wasn’t ready to jump into another long-term relationship.
Working late on the Katie Wells case. Talk tomorrow.
He hadn’t reached the point where he put kisses after his text messages yet. Neither had she.
His phone buzzed almost immediately.
OK. Good luck!
He downed the rest of his coffee, bought a sandwich to go and crossed the road, back to the station. The press vans were still outside. Didn’t they have homes to go to?
He put his head down and tried to dodge around them to the back entrance, but a wily-eyed journalist spotted him. In an instant, he was besieged.
DCI Miller, do you have any idea where Katie is?
Do you have any suspects?
What leads are you following up?
Are you any closer to finding her?
Do you have someone in custody?
Microphones and tape recorders were shoved in his face. He ignored them and fought his way through the pack to the front entrance. They didn’t know Brian Wells had been arrested yet.
The duty sergeant saw him coming and unlocked the revolving door. He slipped through the glass panel and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Can’t we do anything about them?” he muttered.
The officer shrugged. “Not really, sir.”
He checked on Brian before going upstairs, but their main suspect was lying on the bench in the holding cell, staring up at the ceiling. He wasn’t agitated or anxious, like Rob would have expected if he needed to get back to a young girl he’d stashed away somewhere.
Perhaps they’d got it wrong.
“Will, where are we on those phone records,” he barked, as he entered the squad room.
The tech whiz glanced up. “Nothing stands out, guv. Mr Wells called his solicitor several times yesterday, but not this morning.”
That tied in with his statement. Shit.
He marched over to Mallory’s desk. “Let’s hold him until midnight, then release him. See where he goes.”
Mallory gave a curt nod.
Back at square bloody one.
“Lawrence wants to issue a Crimewatch Appeal.”
Rob stared at Mallory. “Seriously? So soon?”
“He’s got the Commissioner breathing down his neck.”
Didn’t they all?
“Okay, I suppose it can’t hurt.”
“They want to do a re-enactment,” Mallory told him.
“That’s a new one.” While they’d used the media in the past, he’d never experienced a re-enactment shoot before.
“Vicky said to contact her first thing.”
“Okay, although someone else can brief them. Put Harry on it, with his looks he was made for television.” Rob wasn’t in it for the limelight and he had better things to do than pander to the press.
Harry raised his head. “Sir?”
“Brush up on the specifics, Harry. You’ve got an appointment with the Crimewatch team tomorrow.”
The young constable blinked, then grinned. “If you say so, guv.”
Mallory masked a smile, then his phone rang. He answered it, listened for a moment, and the smile vanished from his lips.
“Can you bring it in?” he barked.
Must be serious. Mallory never snapped at anyone. “What?” he mouthed.
“Yep, now would be good,” Mallory replied.
Rob stared at him. It was very late to be asking someone to come into the station. “You got something?”
Mallory hung up. “That was Candice Dalling’s mother. She’s just listened to her daughter’s mobile phone messages and found one from Katie Wells. The time stamp is eight-forty-three this morning.”
12
Rob, Mallory and Will stared at Candy’s iPhone in its sparkly pink plastic case. “Play it again,” said Rob.
There was no direct message, it must have been a false dial, but there was the sound of cars going by, a dog barking and a woman’s voice.
A woman’s voice.
They couldn’t hear what was being said, but by the cadence, it sounded like a question.
Katie’s reply: “I’m waiting for my friend.”
The woman spoke again, indeterminate, and then there was just rustling until the phone cut off.
All three men stared at each other, then back at the phone. Eventually Mallory said, “We can rule out Brian Wells, then.”
Rob wasn’t so sure.
“It could be an accomplice,” he said.
“Who?” Will asked, gesturing to the phone records scattered over his desk. “He doesn’t have any close female friends.”
That they knew about.
Rob sighed. They were probably right. It was beginning to look like Brian Wells may be innocent.
“Let’s get this recording analysed,” he said. “Maybe they can work out what the woman is saying.”
“If she’s the kidnapper,” Will added. “It might be a random person asking Katie if she’s okay. She was waiting on a street corner by herself.”
“It’s possible, although it’s more likely to be the kidnapper, given that it’s in the time frame of her disappearance.”
Will acknowledged his cynicism with a grimace.
“So, are we looking for a woman?” asked Mallory. They’d all been thrown by the latest turn of events.
“Seems so,” said Will.
“It’s bound to be someone who knows the family.” Tiredness prickled at his vision. “We need to speak to Lisa Wells. Tell uniform to bring her in.”
Mallory made the call as he walked back to his desk. “Yes, now. Thank you,” he told the officer who was obviously querying the late hour.
Things were happening. This was the first solid lead they’d had. Normally, he’d update the Chief Superintendent, but Lawrence had left long ago.
Rob sank into his chair and swivelled around so he faced the window. The sky was a dark smudge, the sun having set over two hours ago. Across the