Gus shrugged. ‘Same.’
There was no need for either of them to voice their thoughts, as after a cursory glance in the downstairs rooms revealed them to be empty, they headed upstairs. The first room they entered was Ben Cameron’s bedroom and it was empty. With a sinking heart Gus moved onto the second room which as expected didn’t harbour him either, however it did have all the tools of his trade – pulleys, gloves, candles – everything he used in his attacks was there. They had identified their killer, but where was he?
Hearing sounds of his team arriving, Gus headed downstairs, to meet Nancy. ‘He’s gone. God knows where he’s gone, but the sooner we get that upstairs room processed the sooner we’ll find out where he’s gone. I reckon he’s nearing his endgame and he’s probably moving in on his next victim as we speak.’ He turned to Taffy who was in full crime scene overalls. ‘Get all the computer stuff to Compo, asap.’
An hour later, Gus was near pulling his hair out. They had more than enough evidence to convict Ben Cameron, but nothing to indicate where he might be or who his next target was. The idea of someone close to him being at the mercy of this killer didn’t bear thinking about. He was glad his parents were in Scotland. He’d woken up a grouchy Katie, who was dog sitting at his parents’ house, and despite her annoyance he was pleased that she was there. Nobody – not even Ben Cameron could get past his parents’ security system.
Of course, he might have moved on to another pregnant woman. That seemed more likely to Gus because to date Cameron had alternated between the ritual kill and the personal ones. Compo was having trouble breaking through all the firewalls and encryptions and what not, that Ben had put in place to thwart access. So, while his various programmes ran, Compo was contacting as many of the Hudson Clinic’s clientele who lived in terraced houses and had had a seventh month scan as quickly as he could.
Having been banished from Cameron’s house by Nancy because he was being ‘narky’ and getting in the way, Gus sat at his kitchen table with Professor Carlton, a cold coffee by his arm. Round and round his mind went, trying to make sense of this. He was only too aware of the time running out, so when his phone rang, he almost spilled the coffee in his haste to pick up.
‘Gus, boss, I mean Gus, You’re on speaker phone. Me and Taffy know who he’s going after next.’
Compo’s agitated voice had Gus jumping to his feet as the lad continued. ‘I’m such an idiot I should have read right down to the bottom of the list, but it didn’t occur to me that the next one would be so close to us. All the others are strangers.’
Trying to make sense of it, Gus switched to speaker phone so Carlton and Alice, who had just walked in, could hear. He was just about to speak, when a fainter voice came across the line. ‘It’s not our fault, Comps. How were we supposed to know she’d used the clinic? We all thought the boss had been intimate with a test tube and donated to her. Alice must have forgotten to tell us that he’d refused – good on him too, if you ask me – bloody weird being both uncle and dad to a kiddie.’
Taffy’s words formed a horrid scenario in Gus’s mind. Voice cold, he spared an angry glance at Alice for gossiping about his private business and said, ‘You do realise Compo has you on speaker phone, Taffy?’
Alice had the grace to look mortified at being found out, but Gus had no time for that – not now, anyway. As the younger officer tried to apologise, Gus moved on. ‘Comps, are you saying Gabriella is on that list?’
‘Yes, yes we were…’
But Gus had hung up. ‘Come on, Al. You drive, I’ll phone Katie again and you’ – he turned to Carlton – ‘get Nancy up to speed and get a team to my parent’s house asap.’
Cursing himself for underestimating Cameron’s hacking skills, Gus flung himself into the passenger seat of Alice’s Mini and phoned his sister. ‘Come on, Katie, pick up.’ It went to voicemail, so he tried again – once more voicemail. The third time he dialled, Alice was halfway up Emm Lane and Gus nearly dropped his phone when he heard Katie’s brusque tones demanding, ‘Are you drunk, Gus? Why do you keep phoning?’
‘You’re OK?
‘No, I’m not OK. I’m bloody knackered because some lunatic keeps phoning me in the middle of the night.’
Gus, his heart rate returning to normal, said, ‘And Gabriella? She’s OK?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you try phoning her? She’ll be even less happy than me to be woken at this time of the morning.’
Gus frowned. ‘What do you mean? She’s there with you, isn’t she?’
‘Look, Gus, I’m going back to bed, stop phoning. ‘
Katie, where is Gaby?’
‘For God’s sake, Gus, she’s at our house. She hates the bed at Mum and Dad’s, so she stayed at home.’
‘Fuck! Katie, phone Gaby right now and if you get through to her let me know.’
Something in his tone must have sunk in because Katie gulped back a sob and said, ‘On it,’ before hanging up.
Using Alice’s phone, Gus contacted Nancy to divert the team to Gabriella and Katie’s house which was very near the killer’s place.
‘Come on, Al, get a move on. Can’t this heap go any faster?’
Within minutes, Alice screeched to a halt outside Gus’s sister’s new house. A very faint light shone through the curtains. Not prepared to wait for back-up, Gus dove out of the car, Alice on his heels, and thanking God that Katie had seen fit to give him
