The Death Messenger (Matthew Ryan Book 2)(99)

‘My fault,’ Newman admitted. ‘I moved it. I’m so sorry, I never thought.’ He disappeared off screen.

Caroline called out to Ryan. ‘Matt, don’t fret, I’m fine!’ Quieter now: ‘Frank, I’m fine. Please don’t fuss. I got excited when I heard you say Filey. Should’ve had more sense than to break into a sprint when I’m not at home.’

She was laughing.

So was Newman as he sat down again – a sign that all was well.

Ryan relaxed.

His twin was used to order. Sighted people didn’t always think to keep it that way. Fortunately, she’d learned to bounce over the years. Bob’s complaint was for Newman, not because his handler was badly hurt. If Ryan knew the spook, he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Frank adored Caroline almost as much as he did.

‘There were no witnesses,’ Newman continued. ‘No one to say whether Montgomery’s mother fell or was pushed.’ His words sent a chill through everyone. ‘Mark ran off to get help. Sophia was found on the coastal path, close to the edge, weeping. An orphan in shock who, from that point on, had nothing to say to investigators or anyone she came into contact with.’

‘Except to her brother, perhaps.’ Grace’s tone was hard. ‘Anyone else think her muteness was a result of her own bloody actions?’

O’Neil almost shuddered at the thought.

‘Thought so,’ Grace said. ‘We should lock her up now and put the thumbscrews on. This has her name all over it.’

‘No,’ O’Neil said. ‘When we go for her, if it’s her, it has to count. Let’s give Sophia Montgomery the benefit of the doubt.’

‘Again?’ Grace huffed. ‘How lucky can one suspect get?’

Ryan gave her a look that said: Thanks very much. I texted O’Neil’s reluctance to see her in confidence. Eloise was at the wrong angle to see the power of the eye contact passing from St Albans to their Newcastle base. Newman not so. The spook was seething, trying not to show it.

‘What height is she?’ Ryan asked.

Grace checked her computer. ‘Five eight. Why?’

‘Then she fits the profile.’

‘We have a profile?’ Newman and O’Neil said together.

Only Grace knew what Ryan was on about. ‘Technicians were able to nail the height of the person we’re looking for from DVD footage,’ she said. ‘It’s fascinating what they can do nowadays. I bloody love technology.’

O’Neil turned towards him. ‘Why didn’t I know about this?’

‘You were tied up, guv. Grace and I had it covered.’

She let it go.

‘I agree with Eloise,’ Ryan said. ‘We will interview Montgomery, but unless we can get her to talk, we need to incriminate her. There’s no point charging in there with nothing on which to base our claims. We show patience, pick away at her story, assuming she has one. Of itself, her height isn’t enough. If it turns out that she’s our girl, we may fare better tackling her brother. He’s the weak link. Pedersen said he looked ill, not that they both did. She also said the woman was in charge, or words to that effect. That gives us leverage.

‘Makes perfect sense to me,’ O’Neil said. ‘Grace, you can start by contacting the coroner’s officer. I’d like the report on her mother’s death on my desk when I get back.’ Her mobile rang, an unwelcome intrusion. ‘Damn it! It’s Control, I’d better take this.’

Her voice faded from Ryan’s head, his thoughts still on a ten-year-old peering over the edge of a precipice where her mother had been standing moments before. He imagined the scene from Sophia’s point of view, her mother seeming to float, almost in slow motion, down and down, until she hit the ground with a sudden thud, organs rupturing, bones splintering, dead eyes staring back at her.

Trying to calculate the length of time it would take to fall that distance, Ryan concluded that it would be long enough to know what was coming. Ample time to ask the question: why? Had Sophia witnessed the fall, seen her mother lying motionless below or being washed out to sea? They would probably never know, but the image would stay with Ryan for days.

More than one of the victims had ended up in water.





55


The troubled expression on O’Neil’s face brought Ryan up short. He assumed her thoughts were also on Montgomery. That she too was mulling over Newman’s intelligence, keen to hang up the phone and move on with matters hot off the press. He was wrong. She muted the call and held out to him.

‘It’s Spielberg . . . for you.’

Crunch time.

Ryan glanced at the iPad on the desk in front of him. For a split second, Grace stared at him before grabbing her phone off the desk at their Newcastle base. He knew exactly what she was about to do.

Grace was on to the surveillance team at lightning speed. ‘This is Gold Command. Do you have the eyeball on the targets?’

‘Affirmative.’

‘What are they doing now?’ There was a short pause. Grace could see Ryan staring at her through the screen as he pressed a button on O’Neil’s mobile. He seemed hesitant to take the call. She glanced at Newman. ‘What the hell is he waiting for?’

Frank ignored her. He had earphones in, effectively muting the iPad so they couldn’t be heard, while taking the opportunity to listen in to events happening in St Albans.