The Death Messenger (Matthew Ryan Book 2)(91)

‘You’ve worked together often?’

‘Hundreds of times. Why do you ask?’

‘No reason.’

‘I think we’ll leave it there.’ O’Neil stood up. ‘Thanks for your time.’

Following her lead, Ryan got up too. This pair worried him and not only because they bore a marked likeness to the couple seen outside the British Embassy in Copenhagen.

He must talk to Pedersen.

Ending the exchange, leaving Clark and Mitchell wrong-footed was a shrewd move. At the very least, they required further investigation. Receiving O’Neil’s nod to move off, Ryan pulled his mobile from his pocket as he followed her to the car. He was busting to get started.





50


When Grace came on the line, Ryan asked her to put on her Gold Command hat and delegate. ‘The guv’nor wants round-the-clock surveillance on the houseboat, starting now, including covert images if the observation team can get them.’ He explained the reasoning behind his request. ‘Clark had company, a man called Mitchell. There are enough similarities between the two of them and the description given by Pedersen to make us nervous: IC1 male, IC1 female. Height and build is accurate. They’re close too. Friends, allegedly. All circumstantial, of course, but the best fit so far.’

‘Sounds promising.’

‘It’s more than that. The guv’nor thinks so too. If they move from that narrowboat, put a tail on them. We can’t afford to lose them.’ He rattled off the names of everyone Clark had given him. ‘Pass the information out to satellite rooms. Eloise wants everyone traced and interviewed. Today, Grace. Make sure they understand the urgency. We want personal descriptive forms on everyone by morning. If you have to drag these people out of their beds in order to get them, do it. To interview everyone properly and verify stories could take weeks. This way we can probably eliminate many of them on sight. You’ll be dealing with the Met in most cases. The film industry is London-centric. Its workforce won’t stray much further than the commuter belt. Tap your contacts at Broadcasting House. They should be able to supply images of any crew who’ve worked for them in recent years, freelancers included. They’re security conscious. No one gets in without a pass.’

‘You can say that again. Easier to access the Bank of England vault than get in there.’

‘We can probably rule out Malik as a suspect straight away,’ Ryan said. ‘He’s Pakistani. Adam Jang too – he’s black. Oh, and Sophia Montgomery is mute.’

‘How convenient—’

‘We’ve already been there, Grace.’

‘And we’ll return to it,’ she said.

‘Of course. Make it clear to the Met that they still need to interview everyone, regardless of colour or disability for what they know about Laura. We want to know who saw her last and in what capacity.’

‘Tell the boss I’m on it.’

‘I heard that,’ O’Neil said.

Grace dropped her voice. ‘She has ears like Dumbo.’

‘I heard that too,’ she said.

Ryan stifled a grin as O’Neil pulled her ears away from her head, making him laugh. He pressed a button on the phone. ‘Careful what you say from now on, Dumbo is now on speaker.’

Grace chuckled. ‘Thanks for the tip-off.’

Even though he couldn’t see her, Ryan could tell that she was grinning, already on the starting blocks for the next leg of the enquiry. He could hear keys tapping at the other end. She was a multi-tasker in the true sense of the word. It came as no surprise that retirement hadn’t fired her jets. Grateful for the opportunity O’Neil had offered her, she’d slipped seamlessly into her former role as a murder detective. Ryan had no doubt that she was cross-checking the HOLMES database to see if it contained any of the names he’d given her.

Second nature.

‘I have one pair of hands,’ she said. ‘Two, if you count Frank. Eloise, what’s the order of play for me?’

‘I want a copy of the documentary broadcast or digital link to it as soon as you can get hold of it. It’s not on the iPlayer, I already checked. I also want a TIE action on Clark and Mitchell and an address for Rebecca Swift. I’ll tackle her myself. She was the focus of the documentary. That would suggest she was probably the closest to Laura. I want to know as much about her disease as she does by morning and confirmation of when and how Sandie Knox died. A death certificate would be perfect.’

‘You really think Clark is a candidate for Spielberg?’

‘We’ll know soon enough,’ Ryan said. ‘If she is our target, she’ll either attempt a run for it or sit tight and hope to ride out the storm.’

‘You don’t like her.’ It was a statement, not a question.

‘She’s shifty.’

‘Are you two heading home for Christmas?’

Ryan checked in with O’Neil for confirmation.

She shook her head. ‘I want to see the whites of Monty’s eyes. Put her down to me too, Grace. I have an address. I’ll stick Ryan on the train.’

‘No chance!’ he said. ‘I’m stopping.’

‘I don’t need a minder.’

‘Never said you did.’

O’Neil let it go.