‘No, I agree. She needed to get it off her chest. That’s the main thing. My biggest worry now is that it throws Operation Cruickshank into disarray,’ Caroline said, bracing herself against the cold, which was quickly starting to set in. ‘If Amie Tanner wasn’t involved in the death of Russell Speakman, it makes it far less likely she or Gavin were involved here, too. It was the “far too much of a coincidence” thing that was driving that. Now we don’t even have the coincidence. All we have is a brief argument between Amie and Martin at work a few days earlier. And who hasn’t had a barney at work before?’
‘We still can’t discount Gavin. Sure, it might not be linked with Speakman, but we’ve got him at the scene. Means, motive, opportunity — he’s got the lot. And there’s always the possibility Ruby’s been set up to confess.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ Caroline replied. ‘We know Gavin was at the scene where Martin’s body was found, but we’re also pretty certain he was killed elsewhere. What if he’s been set up?’
‘Set up by who?’ Dexter asked. ‘Gavin admitted to sending the emails to Martin and arranging to meet him. He told us that much.’
‘Exactly. Why would he make it so obvious and traceable? Even the forensics don’t add up. The mud on his car tyres is a match to the viaduct, but there’s nothing on his shoes.’
‘He said he didn’t get out of the car, though.’
‘If he killed Martin, he’d have to.’
‘Maybe he cleaned his shoes.’
‘On a forensically pure scale? Come off it. Why would he go to that effort to sterilise his shoes but leave his car tyres? Something doesn’t sit right here, Dex. Call it a hunch if you like, but there’s something else to this.’
‘I’m looking forward to you telling all this to Arnold.’
‘Don’t, Dex. Just don’t. The thought’s already crossed my mind more than once. How much time have we lost on this now? Christ’s sake. I can hear him now, banging on about my “condition” and how we need to work as a team, use wider resources, stop chasing hunches. He’ll have me back on medical leave.’
‘Nah, he won’t,’ Dexter said, trying to placate her. ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ve got your back. You’ll be good.’
Caroline looked at him and smiled. ‘Thanks, Dex. But seriously, don’t. It’s not worth blotting your own copy book over.’
Before Dexter could reply, the door opened and Aidan came out into the car park.
‘Guv, we’ve just had a call from Amie Tanner’s mum. She says Amie’s gone missing.’
44
Back in the warmth of the incident room, Aidan relayed what had come in through a 999 emergency call.
‘Okay, so the details as we understand them are that Amie’s mum has been at the house helping out with the kids while Gavin’s having a well-earned rest in our luxury holiday suite downstairs. She says Amie left home at her usual time this morning to go to work. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. At ten o’clock she’s not arrived at work, so work call her mobile and get no response. Lunchtime, they call her home landline and the mum picks up. Says she left for work at the usual time. So now mum’s panicking. She calls her mobile, which work have already tried, but it’s off. She said she didn’t want to cause a panic or waste police time, but the more she thought about it the more concerning it was, so eventually she picks up the phone and calls the police.’
‘Alright,’ Caroline said. ‘Speak to the network. Get cell tracking on Amie’s phone. Let’s find out where it went off grid. You’re ANPR trained, aren’t you?’
‘I am. I’ll run her reg number and see what comes back.’
‘Good work. Thanks, Aidan. If we can track down where she went missing, we can start to look at why. No accidents reported on the roads, I presume?’
‘Not that I’ve heard of. Nothing called in, anyway.’
‘Alright. That increases the chances that this was deliberate, either on her part or someone else’s. She can’t have gone far. She had to surrender her passport when she was bailed.’
‘Good point,’ Aidan replied.
‘So the two most likely outcomes here are that Amie has decided to go on the run, which would be odd seeing as we’d all but discounted her as a suspect, or that she’s been taken. That’s a whole lot more concerning, especially as she either is our killer, or the killer’s still out there. Sara, let’s have another look at the known relationships chart. Work on the assumption that whoever killed Martin Forbes has also taken Amie. Who’d want to harm them both? What are the connections? Let’s start from that point and see where it takes us.’
Sara nodded. ‘Alright.’
Aidan stood up and came back over. ‘Guv, there’s a hit from vehicle mounted ANPR about an hour ago. It picked it up on the A6003 at Preston. Looks like it’s parked up in a lay-by.’
‘Brilliant, Aidan. Thanks. Dex, get your coat back on. We’re going for a drive.’
45
Shortly after they’d arrived in the village of Preston, just a few miles south of Oakham on the road to Uppingham, Caroline saw the lay-by. It was right outside a row of houses, and presumably intended for the owners’ parking, but she immediately recognised Amie Tanner’s car. She pulled in behind it and switched off her engine.
‘No-one in it,’ Dexter said.
‘Good. Last thing I want today is to find another body.’
‘Maybe she’s visiting a friend. Does she have any connections with anyone here?’
‘I don’t know,’ Caroline replied, stepping out of her car and walking over to look at Amie’s, being careful not to touch it. ‘Call uniform down here, Dex. We’re going to need to do a door-to-door. See if any of the neighbours here saw anything. Someone must’ve done.’
As Dexter called in Caroline’s request, an elderly man stepped out of one of the houses and walked over to
