CHAPTER 47

‘Spose it belongs to her parents now,’ said Tom, punching in a passcode and handing over Karen’s phone. ‘I met them at the funeral and gave them my number, but haven’t heard from them.’

Seb opened the photos and looked through the most recent, including a few of Joe with his shirt off looking dishevelled. There were national-park-scenery selfies, Joe, Joe and Karen, beach selfies, Tom and Karen at home. Next was a photo of a thin man in a smart suit and tie. Big nose, rimless glasses, brown hair, mid-fifties to sixty.

‘This one?’

‘Yeah.’

The man was posed, looking at the camera, the sort of photo you’d put in a LinkedIn profile above the bit where you described yourself as being passionate about designing logistics systems.

Seb felt excitement surge. Perkins had told him that Karen had described the man she had seen meet her boyfriend in the park as male, late middle-aged, brown hair, glasses. Was this him? Why else would she have taken the screenshot?

He texted the photo from Karen’s phone to his, and then forwarded it to Paul Perkins.

Sir, This might be the person Karen Kemp saw. Can you identify him?

Karen’s criminal boyfriend meeting a corporate type in a park was inherently suss, and if the inspector could now identify who that man was, and it helped to uncover something big, or even medium sized, surely he would grateful to Seb. It might even open up some opportunities for him. He realised that when Barb had suggested that he wanted to be a detective, she had been right. He did. He was sick of pointing radar at cars.

Then he remembered Claire, recovering in hospital. She was starting to remember. How could he progress with that hanging over him?