The Secret Child (DI Amy Winter #2)(22)

‘But you don’t think he did it.’

‘He hates violence. Mind games are more his forte. According to Hugh, Nicole was poisoned. I can’t picture him standing around waiting for her to die.’

But he didn’t stand around, Amy thought, recalling how the hood of his car had been warm. And mind games were exactly what the person purporting to be Luka was playing.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN

By the time Amy was summoned to her DCI’s office, Pike had obtained and listened to the recording of their suspect’s call.

As she took a seat across from Pike, every inch of Amy’s body was tense. If it were up to her, she’d be sitting in her department planning their next move, but Pike would kick up a stink if Amy didn’t run everything by her first.

‘So that’s the crux of it. He wants to hit the headlines.’ Pike paused the recording as the caller mentioned his demands.

‘Seems that way,’ Amy replied, putting herself in his shoes. Her gaze fell on a well-thumbed romance novel face down on Pike’s desk. She recognised the name of the author, Holly Martin, and knew that Pike inhaled her work. But with everything that was going on, was this the right time to be reading romantic novels? Just what was up with her?

‘Whatever his motivation, we only comply with demands when the action is worth the outcome,’ Pike said sagely, before sliding the book into her drawer. ‘How far will he go to get what he wants?’

Amy paused, giving the question some thought. Her colleagues respected her for her insight. If only they knew what lurked in the recesses of her mind. She imagined her caller’s motivations, the driving force behind his words. After a moment, she said, ‘People will go to any lengths if they believe in a cause.’ She closed her hands on her lap as she explained her reasoning. ‘To them, they’re justified, the hero in their own story. I could tell that Ellen wasn’t welcome in his space but he was compelled to take her just the same.’

‘But murder?’ Pike replied. ‘Nicole could have died.’ It was true. Her doctors had cited methanol poisoning, which matched the substance found in the phials at her address. If Amy hadn’t performed resuscitation, this would be a murder investigation.

‘Did Ellen’s kidnapper want to kill Nicole, though? Did murder factor into his games?’

Nicole was obviously frightened. As for Shirley’s comments about Nicole spending the children’s inheritance . . . Was Luka working alone? It was another angle to investigate. Amy relayed her concerns to Pike, conscious they needed to keep an open mind.

‘Hmm . . .’ Pike said, unconvinced. ‘We’ll focus solely on our phone caller for now. We should liaise with the London Echo, keep their journalist in the loop.’ Her team was already hunting down the letters their caller claimed to have sent to various newspapers each year. Given the London Echo had one of the highest readerships, it was bound to be on that list. The stakes were high and it would be worth submitting to Ellen’s kidnapper if it meant saving her life.

‘Anyone, as long as it’s not Adam Rossi.’ Amy smiled. But her smile dropped from her face as Pike raised her eyebrows in response.

‘It has to be Adam. He’s the most likely helpful candidate.’

‘Why?’ Amy snapped. She would rather walk into quicksand than see him again. If he found out about her connection with Lillian, she would be front-page news.

‘Adam is the ideal person to publish this story. Besides, he has more chance of getting approval than the other newspapers – their headlines are all Brexit and terrorist threats.’

‘You do know he’s my ex-fiancé, don’t you?’ Amy hated volunteering personal information, but it was worth a shot.

‘You’ll have to put all pettiness aside for Ellen’s sake.’ Pike’s swivel chair creaked beneath her as she gestured, driving her words home. ‘I’ve made my decision. Give him a call and start greasing those wheels. Now, off you pop.’

Amy strode back to her office, her fists bunched as they swung in time with her strides. Seeing Adam was the last thing she wanted to do.

She walked into the briefing room to see images of the Curtises’ living room pinned to the whiteboard. It made sense for them to run Ellen’s kidnapping and Nicole’s poisoning in tandem. The second day of the investigation and her team’s efforts were clear to see. A series of red lines ran like veins across the board, indicating completed tasks to date. Building a picture of the victims’ routines was imperative. What they ate, who they spoke to, what they wore. Every facet of Nicole and Ellen’s lives was under scrutiny, no matter how trivial. What was the secret that Nicole had approached Shirley about? Was it her husband’s ill treatment of his test subjects, or something even worse? Who else had Nicole spoken to? Officers were particularly interested in calls made to a contact saved as ‘DM’ on her personal mobile phone. The number had come back as unregistered.

Nicole had very few friends of her own. Had she been calling Dr Curtis’s old colleague Deborah McCauley? The entry carried a hint of subterfuge. Every other contact was saved by their first name, with their picture, birthday and email addresses, all perfectly detailed.

Amy perused the board, frowning at the comment ‘forensically aware’ underlined in red. Apart from carrying Nicole’s smudged thumbprint, the phials and phone seized at her address were DNA-and fingerprint-free.