One positive outcome was that the CSIs were able to determine the direction in which a car had travelled by the pattern of fresh tyre tracks — and it had turned on to the moorland road, an unfenced track, heading westward, deeper and deeper into the wild heathland dotted with tiny hamlets and remote farms. West wasn’t the best way out of the area if the abductors wanted to link up with any of the major motorways. They would have about a two-hour drive over rough moorland terrain to get anywhere, and they probably wouldn’t want to be so exposed for that long. They could have no idea when the hue and cry over Zelda’s disappearance would go up.
‘So what’s next?’ Ray asked.
Gervaise glanced at Banks. ‘You’re SIO, Alan,’ she said. ‘What do you think?’
‘We’ll see if the early search teams turn up anything,’ Banks said, ‘then we’ll start a door-to-door in the village and out in the dale, asking if anybody saw or heard anything unusual. We’ll also talk to Zelda’s friends and try to find out about anyone who might wish her harm. We don’t know what actual time she was taken yet, do we?’
‘You know I was over at your place late yesterday afternoon,’ Ray said. ‘About half five, six. Then I drove to Leeds, gave my talk and got back here by about half past ten.’ He glanced at Gervaise. ‘Soon as I realised something was seriously wrong I phoned Alan and he was here in, what, twenty minutes?’
‘If that,’ Banks said. ‘And it was about a quarter to eleven when Ray phoned.’
‘So any time between about five o’clock and ten-thirty,’ said Gervaise.
Ray nodded.
‘Tell me, why did you call Superintendent Banks rather than the police station?’
‘The other blokes asked me that, too. I would have thought it was a no-brainer. I know him. He lives nearby. He’s a mate. And he’s a detective. Made sense to me.’
‘What about your daughter?’
‘Annie? Dunno. I didn’t think of her at first.’
‘Why not? Just because she lives further away?’
‘Not really.’
‘Because she’s a woman?’
‘No. Because she’s my daughter.’
‘You might as well know,’ Banks said, ‘that Annie and Zelda don’t get along too well.’
‘Oh?’ said Gervaise, glancing at Ray. ‘And why’s that?’
‘None of your—’
Banks cut Ray off. ‘Plenty of reasons,’ he said. ‘You know families. They just got off on the wrong foot, that’s all. It’s hardly relevant. You don’t think Annie had anything to do with this, do you?’
‘It pays to be thorough and not discount anything,’ Gervaise said. Then she smiled. ‘But no, I don’t think DI Cabbot is a suspect. Though I do think she’s too close to the case to work it in an objective manner. She’s a relative.’
‘Zelda and I aren’t married,’ Ray said.
‘A mere technicality,’ said Gervaise. ‘I’m going to keep her on the Blaydon rape case for the time being. DC Masterson, too. You can have DS Flyte and DC Bharati, Alan. Let’s see how this goes today before we have another meeting and decide whether to raise the investigation to another level and bring in more troops.’
‘I think it’s pretty obvious something’s happened to Zelda, don’t you?’ said Ray. ‘Why wait? What do you lot need to get you started, a dead body?’
‘Ray,’ said Banks. ‘Everything that can be done is being done. When we see where we’re going, we’ll know whether we have to allocate extra resources. What we hope is that we’ll have Zelda back safe and sound long before we need to make that decision.’
Ray rolled another cigarette and gave him a look that said, ‘Bullshit.’
8
‘How’s Ray really doing?’ Annie asked over a late lunch in the Queen’s Arms. ‘All he told me was that he was coping and not to come over because the house was full of cops already.’
They were sitting outside, in the shade of a large umbrella, Banks munching on fish and chips and Annie picking away at a quinoa salad. The landlord Cyril stopped short of vegan sausage rolls and plant-based burgers, but this was his one recent gesture towards the rise of healthier eating. Annie was drinking fizzy water and Banks was trying one of the no-alcohol beers, another gesture to modern times. He was surprised how good it tasted.
‘Not so well,’ said Banks. ‘He’s smoking like a chimney and hitting the bottle pretty hard. But it’s true the CSIs are going to be at his house for a while longer. You know what they’re like. I just dropped him off at my place and left him there with a bit of Pink Floyd in the background to calm his nerves.’
‘No ransom demands or anything?’
‘No. Nothing. He’s got his mobile with him, just in case. Besides, Flyte and Bharati are still at the house, and they’re trained to deal with situations like this.’
‘I should go and see him.’
‘Maybe. Give him a little while to decompress first. I wish Winsome wasn’t still on maternity leave. I don’t know Flyte or Bharati well. They seem OK, but... let’s just say I could do with DS Jackman.’
‘I know what you mean. I paid Winsome a visit yesterday.’
‘How’s she doing?’
‘She’s in excellent spirits. And the baby is a real sweetheart.’
‘I’ll bet she just can’t wait to come back to work, can she?’
‘Dream on.’ Annie paused. ‘You know Zelda and I have our problems, but this is terrible. I hope nothing awful’s happened to her.’
‘Whatever it is, it’s not likely to be good.’
‘What do you think it’s all about?’
Banks paused for a moment and heard a snatch of ‘Be My Baby’ coming from inside. Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound.’ It reminded him of better times, listening to music on the front step on a Sunday afternoon with his school friends. How good the old Dansette had sounded then. And how exciting the music had been, heard for the first time. Now Spector was in jail for murder and Ed Sheeran was topping the charts. ‘Either it’s a set-up and she’s done a bunk,’ said Banks, ‘or someone’s taken her.’
‘Why would she fake her own abduction?’
If Zelda had killed Goran Tadić and felt that his gang had found out about it, that might be one good reason, Banks thought, but he couldn’t tell Annie that. Besides, he still wasn’t convinced by her writings that she had done anything of the kind. More than anything else, she seemed to have been questioning her ability to commit such an act, something even Banks himself had wondered about from time to time. He had killed plenty of people in his fantasies. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Last time we talked she told me a few things I didn’t know, about seeing Keane with her boss, and finding his ex-girlfriend, Faye Butler. Remember, I told you he was going by the name of Hugh Foley? But I still got the impression that she was holding back. That there was something important she couldn’t tell me, or wouldn’t. And she seemed anxious, on edge. I didn’t think our conversation was strained, but Ray said she was pissed off when she got home, and they had a row. Maybe I hit a nerve. I think she may be in big trouble. If she did do a runner, it was probably because she felt things were closing in on her and she needed to escape. She might also have been worried about Ray, about him getting dragged into whatever it was. He’s a bit of an innocent, your father, in a lot of ways.’