Rob did the same. There was definitely something creepy about those woods.
“I think she was abducted in those woods.” Rob turned onto the A3 back to London. “I want to check that camera footage from the school.”
“If it’s on file,” added Jo. “They may not have requested it.”
Rob grunted. That would have been a serious oversight, in his opinion.
“I wonder if they searched the woods for her school rucksack?” he said, thinking out loud.
“Even if they did, they may not have searched the lake.” Jo glanced across at him.
He slowed down behind a lorry. “I can’t authorise a search of the lake,” he said. “This isn’t my case. I shouldn’t even be here.”
“What if it is the same?” she said. “What if Katie, Arina, the others, they’re all connected?”
“Unless I can prove that, I can’t get Arina’s case transferred. Besides, Lawrence would go apeshit. You know how he feels about serial murders. I’d never hear the end of it. For all we know, Arina could be safe and sound and living in Tehran.”
“I’ll get hold of my contact tomorrow,” Jo said with a renewed sense of urgency. “One way or another, we have to find out whether that girl is still alive.”
25
On Sunday afternoon, Rob got a call from the duty sergeant informing him that Jo was in the lobby. He told the officer to let her up. She appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed casually in jeans and a white shirt.
He greeted her with a smile. “What brings you here?” She didn’t usually arrive unannounced.
Evan and Harry were working silently on their laptops, along with two other members of Galbraith’s team. The rest had the day off.
They were monitoring Anthony Payne’s movements. According to the tail, he hadn’t deviated from his usual routine. He’d worked on Friday, but after the press arrived at the gallery, he shut up shop and vanished out the back. The tail had picked him up again at his car, and followed him home to his flat in Putney, where he’d been hunkering down ever since.
“I’ve heard from my contact in Tehran,” she told him. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”
They went into one of the small, soundproof offices, used for meetings about things that were too sensitive to be said out in the open.
“What did you find out?” Rob asked.
“Ramin Parvin has remarried. He now has two sons from his second wife, aged one and three.”
Rob’s eyes widened. “He didn’t waste any time.”
“Indeed. Anyway, my contact managed to track him down. After making some discreet enquiries, she discovered that there is no sixteen-year-old girl living at that address. Only the two boys.”
“So Arina isn’t there?” Rob breathed.
“Not according to the neighbours, no. They’ve never seen a young girl with Ramin. They didn’t even know he had a daughter.”
He thought for a moment. “Do you think he’s married her off already, or sent her to live with a relative?”
“It’s possible,” said Jo, “But that’s not something my contact can uncover without compromising herself and the organisation.”
Rob took a deep breath. “It doesn’t look like Arina ever made it to Tehran.”
“Which means she really is missing, probably dead.”
He exhaled. “It might be time to reopen her case.”
“I most certainly will not authorise a forensic search of a lake on Bisley Common,” Lawrence bellowed the next morning in his office.
Rob calmly walked over and shut the door. He’d expected this reaction, even though it was his duty to inform the Chief Superintendent of his new line of enquiry.
“Sir, if you’ll just give me a moment to explain.”
“Don’t sir me, DCI Miller. I thought I’d made myself clear that we were not to focus on this serial killer theory.”
“Actually, you said we could look into it, but not make it a priority. Well, we did, and I can’t rule out the possibility that the cases are linked.”
Lawrence sunk into his chair. “This is why I’m retiring, Rob. Because one day, you’re going to give me a bloody heart attack.”
Lawrence was a good copper, with more experience than the rest of the department put together. He wouldn’t let a potential lead go unfollowed, no matter how high the risk of cardiac arrest.
“What new evidence do you have? What is it that makes you think these other girls are connected to Katie Wells' disappearance?” he said.
Rob took a seat opposite him. “Anthony Payne has lived all over Surrey since his parole in 2014.”
Lawrence raised his bushy eyebrows so they collided in the middle. “Tell me he wasn’t living near to where these other girls disappeared?”
Rob nodded. “Two of them, sir. Three, counting Barnes. Not the same towns, but close enough.”
“Jesus Christ.” A long moment passed. The Chief Superintendent studied him. “What has this got to do with the lake?”
“You know Katie’s backpack was disposed of in the old reservoir?”
He nodded.
“Well, we thought maybe Arina’s was too. There’s a deep pond, used to be a quarry, near where Arina disappeared. If it was Payne, who’s to say he didn’t do the same thing with her?”
Lawrence took a moment to gather his thoughts. Rob could see him trying to figure out how he was going to justify this to the Police Commissioner.
“What the hell,” he said finally, throwing up his arms. “I’m retiring at the end of the year. May as well go out with a bang, eh?”
Rob grinned. “Yes, sir.”
“I’ll allow the search of the lake. If, and only if, they find something in there, will I speak to the Police Commissioner about getting Arina Parvin’s case reopened. Until then, we don’t tell anyone what we’re doing. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. And thank you.”
Lawrence gave him a hard look. “I mean it, Rob. If this gets out, we’re all toast.”
The divers went in first thing Tuesday morning.
The
