Chapter Fifty-One

TIM LOOKED AT his watch. It was still only 8 a.m. – too early to head to the school.

“We could get some breakfast somewhere,” he said. “I’m frozen.”

“Good idea, but I’m not sure where at the moment. The supermarket café won’t be open yet. We could try Greggs, but there’s nowhere to sit there.”

“Let’s give Katrin a call.”

“I’m sure she won’t want . . .”

“Hello, it’s me. I’ve got Juliet with me. Yes, most of the night. We’ve just made a couple of calls. No, nothing immediate. Some leads, maybe. We were wondering about some breakfast? Nothing special, toast will do. And some hot tea. Great. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Juliet had turned pink.

“Tim, that’s disgraceful! She had to agree; she wouldn’t have been rude enough to say no.”

“Sure, but I know she’ll be pleased to see you and you haven’t made friends with Sophia yet. And it’ll probably be my only opportunity to see either of them today. Besides, you know what Katrin’s like. Her ability to spot solutions that are staring us in the face is uncanny – almost as good as yours. If you put your heads together, we might get somewhere!”

“Well, we’ll have about an hour to do it before you and I have to leave again. I doubt if there’ll even be time to tell her everything.”

 

Katrin was wearing her dressing-gown and looked tired and dishevelled. She opened the door carrying Sophia in her arms.

“Sorry, we were up twice in the night and we haven’t got started yet,” she said, handing his daughter to Tim. “Hello, Juliet, it’s nice to see you. I’ve put the kettle on and I’ll make some toast. There’s bacon if you want it.”

“Cor! Yes, please,” said Tim, holding Sophia high above his head. She crowed with pleasure.

“That’s right,” said Katrin wryly. “Tell Daddy how wonderful he is! I wonder if he’d have got up for you when you were screaming at 3 a.m.”

“I will do next time,” said Tim, “because I’ll know that it’s better than trying to piece together a bunch of clues that don’t fit, which is what I was doing then.”

“I almost feel sorry for you! Would you like a bacon sandwich, Juliet?”

“I’ll come and help you. How much has Tim told you about this case?”

“It depends what you mean by ‘this case’. Tim says his case is really the accident at the crossing. Superintendent Thornton told him to concentrate on that, didn’t he? But now I gather that two girls have disappeared, one of them the daughter of the crossing-keeper, and that they’ve found a child’s body at what’s left of the ruined lodge house. Tim told me all this when he called last night,” she added. “I know it was partly because he didn’t want me to find out about the dead child from the news. I don’t think you’ve released any details about that yet, have you?”

“No. Did Tim tell you that we think it’s all part of the same case, but we can’t decide how?”

“No, but I’d be thinking the same thing if I were you. Have you tried creating a story-board?”

Setting out the details of a case on a transparent glass screen and adding to it as many photographs, maps and diagrams as she could gather was one of Juliet’s favourite ways of cracking refractory evidence. It was an enthusiasm she’d shared with Katrin.

“No. No time.”

“If you’ve got time later today, I’ll come in to the station and help you.”

“Thanks. I’d appreciate it.” Juliet meant it, but privately she was thinking that if she and Tim hadn’t found the missing girls by the end of the day, their chances of being recovered alive were minimal. She remembered she’d told Louise Butler she’d return to take her statement that afternoon. She supposed that the story-board was more important: a uniform could as easily talk to Louise.

“What’s the matter?” said Katrin. “You look furious!”

“Sorry! I was just thinking about the case. I’ve never had to deal with such a hodge-podge of contradictory details. Did Tim tell you about the woman who died at The Pilgrim Hospital yesterday, by the way?”

“No.”

“An emaciated young woman was taken to the Johnson Hospital by Matthew Start, Councillor Start’s son, and a woman who claimed to be her mother. She was desperately ill and they transferred her to Boston, where she died. Louise Butler says the death was suspicious. Matthew Start was the last person to see the Finnish au pair in the cold case I told you about. I know it’s far-fetched, but I ‘m convinced that he’s up to his eyebrows in all of this.”

“So there are how many possible victims altogether? I’m losing count.” Katrin put down the packet of bacon she’d been holding and counted them off on her fingers. “The Finnish au pair. The baby. The two schoolgirls. And the girl who died at The Pilgrim Hospital, if it wasn’t of natural causes.”

“Correct. Any ideas?”

“You’re much more familiar with the detail than I am. I can only state the obvious: that if I were you, I’d get some DNA tests done, and quickly.”

“Patti Gardner’s already sent the baby’s remains for testing.”

Katrin winced. “I’d get the others done as fast as you can. Is there still stuff belonging to the Finnish au pair that can be used?”

“I don’t know. I think that some of her possessions were collected at the time. I’ll have to see if they’re still in storage.”

“And presumably getting DNA for the others won’t be a problem?”

“I think we already have it. We’ve taken the toothbrushes of both the missing girls.”

“There’s a lab I use sometimes for emergencies – not very often, because they know how to charge and Superintendent Thornton loathes paying. But they’ll work fast, and at weekends. If you have the samples ready today, you might have the results by Monday.”

“How’s the bacon doing?” Tim called from the sitting room.

“Coming!” Katrin shouted back. She tore open the packet and shoved a row of rashers under the grill.

“Incidentally,” she said casually. “You mentioned Dr Butler. How is she?”