‘Marta was meeting somebody at O’Neill’s, but Yeva accepted my offer. She’s living over in Cardea. It gave the two of us a chance to chat. I mentioned Sara, and thankfully Yeva not only knows her but is willing to contact her on our behalf. She’s going to try to set up a meeting.’
‘To what end?’ Bishop asked. ‘You think she’s likely to tell us more than we already know?’
‘Marta gave us plenty of colour; what she described was horrific. But to hear it first-hand rather than through a third party might make all the difference in how we assess our approach. Also, in addition to my fears that her next such encounter might be with our killer, there’s also the distinct possibility that they’ve already met. Our man might well see these women a few times before he acts. If he becomes a regular, they’re bound to let their guard down around him.’
‘What if he already has her?’ Chandler said in a low voice. ‘After all, if he follows his previous pattern, we can be confident he’s taken somebody. There’s every chance it could be her.’
Bliss dipped his head. The thought had already occurred to him. ‘It’s possible. Hopefully we’ll know one way or another come Monday, or possibly even sooner. But there is another reason why Sara might be useful to us: she might be able to give us some names. Other girls who allow choking. Perhaps even a girl who’s not been seen for a few days.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ Bishop said. ‘You can handle that with Pen. In the meantime, where are we with this Dark Desires website? Any closer to knowing where it operates and who runs it?’
Ansari had been sitting, but now got to her feet. ‘I’ve been in contact with our tech people at Hinchingbrooke. I’ve also spoken to a guy Glen Ashton put me onto at the NCA. They both said they’ll do what they can when they can, but no promises. They have heavy workloads of their own, and this is a tough ask.’
‘Because it’s hidden?’
‘Yes.’
‘Could we try using the black card?’ Bliss suggested. ‘I think we know what to expect. We could talk to county, ask to borrow an undercover legend. Use it to pose as a potential client. We know our way in if we can get our hands on the spreadsheet; perhaps one of our tech people can find a way deeper. Even if it proves to be a dead end, we will have established communication. Tech support or the NCA might be able to trace the other end of that contact stream.’
Bishop nodded immediately. ‘The boss is in. I’ll have a word with her and ask for authorisation. We may need Superintendent Fletcher to step up on our behalf, because I think we’d require an entirely clean legend for this to work. Clearly the people running Dark Desires have their heads screwed on. They must vet potential clients as forensically as we would. We know their tech can be high end, so we have to assume the people running it use those skills to ensure nobody slips through the cracks.’
‘You mentioned the NCA… Any idea why Ashton isn’t with us today?’ Bliss wasn’t sure why, but he had expected more of the investigator.
‘None. Perhaps he’s happy with his involvement so far.’
‘All the same, he needs to be advised as to where we are. I don’t want him doing his own thing and getting in our way.’
‘I’ll notify him,’ DC Gratton offered. ‘I’ll give him a buzz first, and if I get voicemail I’ll leave a message telling him to check his e-mail. I’ll send him all of our updates at the same time as I do the case log.’
Bishop nodded. ‘Cheers, Phil. Ask him to run anything he has by us before he acts on it. Remember, there’s a good chance this is all being fed back to DI Kennedy in Cambridge.’
Bliss clicked his fingers. ‘Wasn’t I supposed to be doing that? A daily report? Completely slipped my mind.’
Chandler chuckled. ‘Of course it did, Jimmy. Of course it did.’
He spread his hands. ‘We can’t all be perfect. Anyway, fuck him.’
‘Any other loose ends we can tie up at the moment?’ Bishop called out, clapping his hands together to draw his team’s attention. ‘Anything on phones, CCTV, this clean-up crew who went to our victim’s flat? Please tell me we have some movement here?’
The response was muted. Mobile phone data had been promised for Monday; Ansari and Gratton were due to work on CCTV feeds; nobody had anything on the clean-up crew. Uniform had visited Tim Beaumont to show him Wilma Parkinson’s DVLA photo, but the landlord had claimed not to recognise her as the woman he’d spoken to.
‘What d’you think, Jimmy?’ Bishop asked. ‘Is Beaumont worth another chat? Have him in here this time, apply a bit more pressure?’
Bliss shrugged. ‘You were there, Bish; your guess is as good as mine. Personally, I think we got everything from him. But if you want him pulled, I’m happy to have another crack at the bloke. I’m assuming it won’t be under caution.’
‘Not at this stage, no. I agree – I don’t think he held anything back. He was a bit slippery and trying to cover his arse, but there’s probably nothing else there beyond dodgy business practices.’
‘Nothing out of the ordinary in Rassooli’s financials, either,’ Chandler said. ‘Plenty of regular cash payments, but no large sums in or out other than her monthly rent. And no movement at all in two weeks. Another dead end, sorry to say.’
‘What was her final transaction?’ Bliss asked.
Chandler riffled through some notes. ‘Shopping at Tesco.’
‘Local?’
‘Yes. Serpentine Green.’
‘Okay. I suppose that at least adds to the timeline we have for her.
