Cold as Ice (Willis/Carter #2)(103)

She sat in Pam’s empty chair and watched Robbo scan through grainy black and white images of a night shot of the local shops near Tracy’s home.

‘I went to see Steve Collins about returning to the family home to provide extra security for Tracy and Jackson,’ said Jeanie. ‘It was the weirdest meeting with him. He’s not interested in moving home. He wants nothing to do with any of it. I’d say Steve is preparing to do a runner.’ She joined them at Robbo’s desk and pulled up a chair. ‘I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt but I’d say he’s a player. Tracy told me he has a history of bad debts. I wonder what it would take for him to jump ship. This might be the excuse he’s been waiting for.’

‘He works for a storage company, right?’ Robbo asked.

‘Yes, area manager – Tracy says.’

Robbo started typing: ‘Let’s have a quick look at what the company say about him.’ He clicked on the relevant division and scrolled the list of employees. ‘Surprise, surprise, he’s not on the list of current employees. Let’s try twelve months ago . . . Yes. There he is – Stephen Collins. I don’t know why but he lost his job and he hasn’t told his wife.’

‘Could he have known something?’ asked Carter.

‘He could have been watching the house in the build-up to Danielle going missing,’ said Jeanie. She was trying to think back to what Tracy had said about Steve. ‘He’s pretending to go somewhere to work because she irons his shirts, has his suit dry-cleaned. Tracy thinks her husband is finally making good from having fucked up and smashed her dreams of owning her own beauty salon. They already lost their home because of his bad debts.’

‘He hasn’t wanted to put yet another nail in the coffin of their relationship maybe.’ Carter shrugged.

‘What’s that?’ Jeanie pointed to the CCTV footage.

‘It’s just over a week ago,’ answered Robbo.

Jeanie watched the screen as a young, slim female figure in a fur-trimmed coat came into view. She was pushing a buggy. Jeanie pulled her chair close to the screen.

‘That’s Danielle,’ she said. ‘Freeze it for me, zoom in. Yes, that’s Danielle, I’m sure. We’ll need to look at the footage more closely but it looks like the photos I’ve seen. There’s Jackson.’ She touched the screen. ‘Look! You can see Scruffy’s tail. It’s definitely them.’

‘What’s she doing?’ Carter moved in close to Jeanie as he stared at the screen.

Jeanie turned to Robbo. ‘What day is this?’

‘It’s the day Danielle disappeared,’ he answered. ‘Hours after this was taken she was abducted from her flat.’

Carter looked at them both and back to the screen. ‘She came to Tracy’s house that day?’

‘Tracy didn’t mention it. She definitely didn’t know. Can we follow her route, Robbo?

They watched Danielle cross the road by the shops and turn down Tracy’s road.

‘There’s no way that she’s going anywhere else,’ said Robbo.

‘So why would Danielle visit Tracy a day before she was due to meet up with her anyway?’ Carter sat back from the screen to think.

‘Did Tracy invite her?’ asked Robbo.

‘No. Tracy was working. She told me how busy she was because of the Christmas rush,’ said Jeanie. ‘She could only meet Danielle because she was on a late shift that day.’

‘So for some reason Danielle decided to pay Tracy a visit, or just come and see where she lived maybe?’ Robbo moved the image on.

‘Wanting to see if Tracy’s house meant she had money?’

‘We know she tried to ring. She didn’t get through on Tracy’s phone. Tracy told us Steve said the home phone wasn’t working. Either she tried there and didn’t get through and decided to come and see Tracy or she got through to Steve and made an arrangement to come over.’

‘So she went there and either Steve saw her hanging about outside or he knew she was coming? He recognized her from the description that Tracy had given him? He saw Jackson?’

‘And what? He invited her in?’

‘Maybe.’

‘He was there because he hasn’t got a job any more, so he waits till Tracy leaves and then he returns home and lies low till she returns.’

‘But Danielle was still fine when she left there because she called in that afternoon for her lessons in college.’

‘Ring Tracy,’ said Robbo. ‘See if she remembers something.’

‘No, don’t,’ answered Carter. ‘Let’s bring Steve Collins in.’

Robbo nodded his agreement.

‘What about outside the college on the day Danielle disappeared?’ asked Jeanie. ‘Can we place him anywhere else?’

‘No. We didn’t see him there, but then we weren’t looking for him at the time.’

‘Run through the footage again while I ring Steve’s workplace.’ Robbo got through to Betty on reception. They listened to his one-sided conversation. He finished up and told them:

‘She says Steve Collins was suspended six months ago. He still has the keys to the warehouse and a set of keys to a works van.’

‘Why haven’t they got them off him?’ asked Carter.