‘We’ll do our best, sir.’
‘Put Lynsey on it. She’s got sharp eyes.’
Lynsey Maltby was a relatively new member of the team, but Becky was impressed with her, saying she was a smart young detective who didn’t miss much.
‘Find out everything you can about Rajavi’s father. I don’t have any details other than his name – Darius Rajavi. Apparently father and son don’t communicate, but it sounds as if he’s got money, and it’s possible he could be our ransom victim. Becky’s going to speak to you about the child’s biological father, but I’ll leave it to her to explain.’
Tom felt a wave of frustration as he ended the call with Keith. The truth was, they knew sod all.
His next call was to the Force Intelligence Unit, a secure department that would help him coordinate the covert resources he would need to run his investigation, including keeping watch on Jo’s home. Two of their mobile units had followed Jo to the hotel, monitoring any other cars that might have been taking an interest in her movements.
‘What have we got, Ronnie?’
‘We didn’t track anyone following Miss Palmer, and no one seems to be watching the house from what we can tell at the moment. We don’t think anyone else is in there, which ties in with what she told DI Robinson, but we’ll know more when we’ve set up cameras and audio feeds,’ Ronnie said. ‘Sandie Burford’s the sergeant in charge at the scene. She’s very experienced and you should soon be seeing feeds on your screens. We’re monitoring the landline and there are no other mobile signals coming from the house. All quiet for the time being.’
Tom discussed tactics with Ronnie for a few moments, and at a signal from Rob Cumba moved across to the monitors, which had just sprung to life. He could see a substantial red-brick semi, probably Edwardian and not dissimilar to his own in age, although of a different style. The main entrance was on the side of the building, and there were two bay windows at the front. The house and drive were shielded from the road by tall shrubs.
‘We’re getting some cameras into the shrubs so we can keep a closer eye,’ Ronnie told him. ‘Any time now.’
Tom thanked him and ended the call. For now there was little to see. Nothing was moving, and there were no pedestrians on the street, although given that it was a residential road, he wouldn’t expect much at this late hour on a wet Saturday night.
Becky had briefed Keith Sims and returned to talk to Jo, so knowing he would be called the moment there was anything useful to report, Tom stepped out into the corridor.
He sent Louisa a quick text asking if she was awake. She had been struggling to sleep for the last couple of weeks with the baby bump now so big that she said she didn’t know where to put herself, and her reply was instant. A sad face emoji and the words, ‘What do you think?’
He pressed the screen to call her.
‘Hey, darling. How are you doing?’
‘I’m fine, Tom – just a bit fed up now. I’m ready to have this baby, and I keep telling him or her to get a move on.’
‘I’m sorry I had to leave you.’
‘Don’t be daft. You’d have been pacing like a caged tiger if I’d asked you to stay home. And if there’s any baby action I’ll let you know immediately. It could be another couple of weeks, you know.’
She was right, but for some reason he felt edgy about the birth.
He decided to change the subject. ‘Is Lucy okay?’
‘Yes, she’s been a great help. I’m being pampered. She seems to be a mixture of excited and terrified about this baby.’
That makes two of us, Tom thought.
At that moment Rob popped his shaved head out of the door to the incident room.
‘Boss, have you got a moment?’
Tom told Louisa he had to go, urging her to look after herself and to call him if she needed anything – anything at all – and headed towards Rob. He didn’t know Cumba, but the young detective appeared enthusiastic and efficient, although he seemed to find it difficult to stand still.
‘It’s about the phones. We’ve unlocked Jo’s with her passcode, but the number she gave us doesn’t work on her partner’s. We’ll get the tech guys to crack it if she doesn’t know it – it’s not a tricky one – but I thought you might like to know.’
Tom nodded his thanks. Was it significant that, unknown to Jo, Ash had changed his passcode? There was only one way to find out.
15
Tom opened the door to the room where Jo was sitting. Her huge almond-shaped brown eyes were wide with shock, and she was twisting strands of her long auburn hair round her finger. She was clearly doing her best to hold herself together, but he got the impression it was taking every last ounce of her willpower to focus on the questions Becky was asking. Jo was biting her lip in concentration as she tried to give descriptions of the people who came to the house.
He took a seat across from them both.
‘Jo, we’ll have your phone back to you in a few minutes. We’ve been taking a look at Ash’s phone, and it seems he’s changed his passcode. We’re going to unlock it, but I wondered if anything had happened recently that might have made him do that?’
Jo had enough to worry about without Tom adding to her burden, but he was keen to know if there was anything on the phone that Ash wouldn’t want her to see.
Jo frowned. ‘Not that I know of. We said from the start we’d always share the same number. No secrets.’ A look flashed across her face, which Tom thought might be guilt, perhaps because she had admitted to hiding her communications with Steve Allman. He decided to move on.
‘There’s another thing I need to talk to you about. We have to get a team into your house, and that’s not going to be easy because, in the event that the house might be being watched, we have to be sure they’re not seen. I’ve been looking at your house from satellite imagery, and it seems it’s only overlooked by one other property.’
This had been confirmed by the surveillance team, but he didn’t want to go into any detail about the covert operations in the vicinity of her home.
Jo nodded. ‘We’re on a street of similar houses, but ours faces a side road, and it’s on a bend, so from the front of the house all we can see is the road opposite, and one house on the corner.’
‘Okay, and do you know who lives there?’
‘Yes, my friend Tessa O’Hanlon.’
‘Does she live alone?’
Jo nodded.
‘And your house appears to back on to a bowling green.’
‘It does, but there’s no access from our garden. We have to go out of the side gate and down the ginnel to get to the clubhouse.’
Tom was looking at the satellite image on his phone, and he could see the narrow cobbled alley, known in this part of the world as a ginnel, that Sandie Burford had told him would provide the best entry point for a forensic team. As far as he could tell, no one else would be able to see them if they came in from the bowling club.
‘In view of what you’ve told us about your partner’s father and his possible wealth, we’d like to look through Ash’s files, laptop and so on, to see if there’s been any contact prior to tonight’s events, maybe to see if he’s received any threats. Do we have your permission to collect anything we need from his study?’