‘Where have you been all this time?’ Bethany huffed as she brushed past the maintenance man who was fixing yet another flickering light to pass Maggie a message. ‘This building is falling apart.’
Maggie looked up and nodded at Luke.
‘I was with Dr Blake for a bit and then drove out to the crime scenes. Nathan knew all about it. Why? Have I missed something?’
‘Was your phone switched off or something? That bloody reporter has been hassling us all afternoon looking for you.’
Maggie took her phone out of her pocket. ‘Shit. Sorry. I must have switched it to silent. I needed to concentrate and, looking at the number of missed calls I have from Ms Noble, I’m glad I did. You could have just radioed me. I wonder what could be so important. I’ll ring her back.’
Bethany’s desk phone rang. ‘Bet this is her again. Stand by.’ Bethany put on her professional voice and answered the call from the enquiry desk. She nodded in Maggie’s direction. ‘Yes. She’s here now. You can put it through to her extension.’ She hung up the phone and returned to the task on her computer.
Maggie answered after the first ring and waited as the call was patched through.
‘Is that you, DC Jamieson?’
‘It is. What in the hell is so important that you had to harass my colleagues? If you’d left me a message, I would have got back to you. This had better not be a waste of my time.’
‘I can assure you, it isn’t, and I did leave messages, but hours have passed and you’ve still not returned my calls.’
Julie Noble sounded exasperated.
‘Fair enough. I was out on police business. I can’t drop everything just to take a call from you. If you had informed my colleagues about the nature of your call, one of them would have been able to get in touch if it was urgent.’
‘Point taken. Now, do you want to know why I called or shall we continue to be passive aggressive for a few more minutes?’
Maggie was tempted to hang up on Julie Noble then and there. Who the hell did this woman think she was? ‘What is it then? Spit it out.’
‘I received another note. This one was hand-delivered to my home, and before you get all high and mighty, I called the local police station and informed them. They told me to hang onto it and someone would be around to collect it, but hours passed, so … I opened it.’
‘You what?’ Maggie wanted to reach down the phone line and smack some sense into the journalist. ‘I hope you at least wore gloves to avoid cross contamination.’
‘We both know that none of the other envelopes had any prints on them, so why would he slip up now? But yes, I used my Marigolds. Only gloves I have in my house.’
Maggie couldn’t picture Julie Noble doing any cleaning, let alone washing the dishes. They were probably there for whatever poor soul she hired to tidy her home.
‘What did it say?’
‘He wants to meet.’
Julie paused.
‘Hello? Did you hear me? The killer wants to meet with me.’
‘I heard you. I’m just processing. Give me a second to think.’
Nathan walked into the office and Maggie waved him over. ‘Julie, I’m going to put you on speakerphone. DS Nathan Wright is with me, and I’d like you to repeat what you’ve just said.’ Maggie hit the speakerphone and lay the receiver down on her desk. ‘OK, whenever you’re ready.’
‘I received another note from the killer. Same paper and what looks like the same writing, in gold pen. It had a few doodles on it, that figure eight again, an eye, and something else I can’t make out. It reads: “I think it’s about time we meet. I’ll share my story if you’ll share yours. Thanks for the name, by the way.” And he signed it #LDK.’
‘What the hell does that mean? What’s your story, Julie?’ Nathan looked at Maggie and raised his brow. When the line went quiet, he nudged Maggie.
‘Did you hear what DS Wright asked? What does he mean by “sharing your story”?’
They heard her clear her throat before she responded.
‘I’ve no idea. Honestly. Maybe he’s got me confused with someone else?’
‘He seems to know his details; he’s meticulous. I can’t see him getting something like that wrong, so either he thinks he knows something about you that no one else does, or you’re lying. Which is it?’
‘Honestly, I have no clue. The only thing I can surmise is that he knows I’ve been talking to the police. What now?’
‘As far as you’re concerned … nothing. We’ll get some uniforms around to collect the note as soon as, so stay put. Don’t be doing anything foolish, OK?’
‘I’m never foolish, DC Jamieson. I’ll wait for the officer, but I won’t make any promises.’
The line went dead.
‘For fuck’s sake. This woman is getting on my last nerve.’ Maggie slammed the phone down. She hated that the journalist always got the last word in. But she had to put Julie Noble aside for the time being and return her concentration to the case. Maggie emailed Sarah Hardy to see if she would be free for a chat in the morning. Within minutes she had a response. Looked like she’d be paying a visit to Probation in the morning.