Maggie awoke early after a decent night’s sleep but she still felt tired as she dragged herself into the shower and turned on the water full blast. After the drama of Tuesday and Declan’s confession over dinner, yesterday had been another mentally punishing day. Patricia had requested that the press conference due to take place early evening be postponed, until she and Philip were better able to face it, but the Director General of Police, whose press team was now involved, wanted to push ahead to get it out of the way. From what Maggie could ascertain, the police in Majorca had decided the subject of Jade’s disappearance would inevitably be raised during the press conference, but questions could easily be dealt with if they stuck to the line that she’d left willingly. If they waited any longer, more British media would arrive on the island and the press conference would become a bun fight for information. It was couched as concern for the Pope family, but Maggie could see it for what it was: them protecting themselves.
Patricia, true to form, dug her heels in and refused point blank to participate, so Maggie had spent the day relaying messages between the two camps and imploring the Spanish police to dismantle the press conference area they’d set up on the seafront by the beach because the Pope family weren’t coming. It was only with half an hour to go that they finally believed her and the press conference was called off. Now relations between the Spanish and British police were tense to say the least.
Maggie lathered a second application of shampoo into her hair. At least the debacle had given her the opportunity to show George she wasn’t treating his parents as meaningless. Their conversations yesterday had been perfunctory and confined only to the press conference, but he hadn’t seemed as angry with her and, when the event was finally cancelled, had expressed his gratitude for her tenacity in making the Spanish concede to his parents’ wishes.
The problem now was the press conference had been rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon – only a few hours before the team had flights booked back to the UK. Any delay would mean her potentially missing her flight and not being at Umpire’s house when Lou and the kids arrived for their stay. She hadn’t had the chance to warn him that might happen as he’d been working late on a case. Nor had she rung Lou: she was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to them postponing as well.
Her shower finished, Maggie stepped out of the cubicle and towelled herself dry. She was due to meet Walker, Shah and Paulson in forty-five minutes to catch up on what they’d been doing yesterday: beyond a brief exchange with Walker when she’d filled him in on her illuminating conversation with Declan, she hadn’t spoken to them all day. While she was dealing with the press conference, Walker had gone to Palma again to speak to the jeweller and Shah and Paulson were chasing up the other leads – including asking if any locals could remember seeing Declan on his phone to Tamara near the beach. Walker wanted them to now investigate the possibility he had called Tamara but was interrupted by Katy and had done away with her. His admission that he’d lied for ten years and had been sleeping with his girlfriend’s best friend behind her back had put him back in the frame for her murder.
Meanwhile, Lyndsey Shepherd had been in touch to inform them Terry Evans wanted Clive Reynolds and Philip Pope prosecuted for assault, even though neither had actually laid a finger on him. It was taking all of her diplomatic intervention to make Evans realize why it might be callous to report them given what both men were going through.
Shah was the only one already seated when Maggie arrived in the hotel dining area. Breakfast was an all-you-can-eat buffet, but her colleague’s plate was empty.
‘I daren’t get up or I’d have lost the table,’ he grinned. ‘It’s dog eat dog in here this morning.’
Maggie could see what he meant: the room was busy with guests piling their plates high and tempers were straining as elbows grazed in the rush to serve themselves.
‘I’ll hold the table while you get something,’ she said. ‘I’m not that hungry.’
Paulson and Walker appeared soon afterwards and made beelines straight for the large aluminium dishes bearing sausage, bacon and eggs. The thought of eating a cooked breakfast in thirty-degree heat turned Maggie’s stomach so when Shah relieved her of table-hogging duty she got herself a bowl of fruit and a pastry.
The four of them seated, Walker dropped his voice to a hush and eyed the people at the table next to them, who were busy tucking into their own fry-ups.
‘I know this isn’t the best place to talk, but we need to get a clip on today, there’s a lot to chase up. My trip to see the jeweller proved interesting: he didn’t recognize the ex-con who’s moved nearby but he did mention a visit from someone else connected to the case: George Pope.’
Maggie almost choked on the piece of grapefruit she was chewing. Shit, she should’ve informed him about George almost being arrested at the shop, instead of storing the information away until she’d spoken to him herself.
‘Apparently there was an incident a few months ago – George went to speak to the shop owner after the papers reported on me tracking him down and there was a bit of a row. So George apparently went back this week to apologize and while he was there he asked how difficult it would be to make a replica of Katy’s ring.’
Paulson frowned. ‘Isn’t that what the suspect asked the jeweller ten years ago?’
‘No, the suspect wanted to know about the value of the ring. Besides, the jeweller says the man who went into the shop after Katy’s murder definitely wasn’t Katy’s brother. I’m just curious to know why he’s asking about a replica now.’
‘Why don’t I talk to him about it?’ Maggie interjected hurriedly. ‘I’ll be seeing him and his parents in a bit.’
Walker nodded as he speared a piece of sausage on his plate with his fork and shovelled it in.
‘So, anyone got anything else interesting to share?’ he asked.
Paulson said he’d drawn a blank trying to find witnesses who might have seen Declan calling Tamara, then Maggie told them about Annika from the restaurant reporting the incident of a man trying to drag her into his car.
‘She later decided she was mistaken and withdrew the allegation,’ Maggie finished. ‘But it might be worth following up.’
‘It does sound weird,’ said Paulson.
‘Any mention in the case file about it?’ Walker asked Shah.
‘No, boss, but I’ll see what I can find out. I’ve made a couple of decent contacts here now.’
‘Good lad. How did you get on finding out about Johnnie’s stay in Ibiza?’ he asked through another mouthful.
Shah paused for a moment, then leaned into the centre of the table. The others did the same.
‘There was no stay. Johnnie wasn’t there when he said he was.’