Dani stormed through the Christmas market, which was far busier now than just a short while earlier. She bumped and jostled past the punters too slow to get out of her way. Her phone was plastered to her ear as she went. She’d called Easton two more times since leaving Welter. No answer. Had called Gemma five times now. No answer.
Finally, she did pick up.
‘You lied,’ Dani said.
‘Dani? What’s going on?’
‘Why the fuck would you do that? You lied to me. Why? To protect Ben?’
‘How dare you—’
‘Just tell me why. What, were you so embarrassed because you had some guy with his hands all over you on a dancefloor? Was that it?’
Gemma hung up.
‘Idiot.’
Dani gritted her teeth in anger. She’d catch up with her sister-in-law soon enough. And maybe it was better if she was calmer when that happened. Yet she still couldn’t understand why Gemma had lied to her about not knowing Liam Dunne – or James Alden or whoever the hell he’d been called that week. He and Gemma had kissed. Ben and Liam had got into a fight over her. Did she not realise how serious this investigation was? It was far more important than saving face because of a drunken escapade six years ago, and despite what Dani had initially said to Gemma, it was surely far more likely that that was the reason why she’d lied, than because she was trying to protect Ben.
Ben. Dani needed to see him now. As soon as possible. Ever since she’d first laid eyes on that picture at Clara’s house of the Project Reflow team, the picture with Ben in it, Dani had wondered whether his knowing Liam Dunne was more than just coincidence.
She dialled Easton’s phone again. Straight to voicemail. Dani growled under her breath. Of all the days for him to do this…
Her phone vibrated in her hand. She fully expected it to be Easton and was ready to give him a piece of her mind. No, it was HQ.
‘DI Stephens?’ she said as she answered.
‘It’s Claire.’ DC Grayling. ‘I managed to get the reports from the night-shift surveillance.’
‘Thank you,’ Dani said, even if she didn’t really sound thankful, but that wasn’t Grayling’s fault. Much.
‘It’s not… I don’t know if this is a problem or not. But Ana Crisan never arrived home last night.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘The car that she and Nistor and Stelea left the warehouse in, it did turn up last night, back at Nistor’s house. About ten p.m. But Ana wasn’t with them. And she hasn’t been seen since.’
Dani felt an ominous lump in her throat. The startling news was all she needed to help push her anger aside. An unwelcome tonic. ‘We need to find her. Get whatever help you need. Find out where that car went after leaving the warehouse.’
‘I’m on it.’
‘I’ll be back with you in a couple of minutes.’
Dani ended the call. From what she knew of Ana and Victor, this was seriously bad news. They had to find Ana.
She turned onto Colmore Row. HQ was just the other end of the road. Her phone vibrated again. Easton, finally.
‘About bloody time,’ she said to herself before she answered. ‘Where the hell are you?’
‘Erm, is this DI Stephens?’ came a nervy-sounding male voice she didn’t recognise.
That same ominous lump in her throat was back, although this time it was almost choking.
‘Yes.’
‘I’m afraid there’s been an incident. With DS Easton. You need to get here right away.’