‘Surely you can check at the station. They have to have his address.’
‘Yeah, I know that, but I don’t want anyone tipped off that I’m trying to see him.’
Maggie sighed and was about to tell Jack she had to get back to the ward when she remembered something.
‘Listen, Penny got all the addresses for people who wanted wedding photographs sent and, if I remember correctly, Ridley asked for a couple as he was your best man. Penny was going to check with you, but you were in Ireland, so give her a ring and see if she has his new address.’
‘OK, will do, sorry to bother you, and I’ll see you later.’
‘I won’t be too late — love you.’
She ended the call before Jack replied and he immediately dialled Penny at home. The phone rang for ages, and he was about to hang up when she answered.
‘Warr’s residence,’ she said using her posh voice.
‘Mum, it’s me, Jack.’
‘Oh, hello, love, I was just running a bath for Hannah. Is everything alright?’
‘Yes, everything’s fine. I just wanted to ask you if you had Ridley’s home address. Mags said you may have sent him some of the wedding photographs.’
‘Yes, I did, one outside the registry office and one from the dining room or maybe it was from when you both left. Do you want me to check which photograph he wanted?’
‘No, Mum, I just need for you to tell me where you sent them.’
‘Didn’t he get them?’
‘It’s the address I want, Mum. Did you make a note of it?’
‘Hang on, it’s in my notebook.’
Jack sighed impatiently as Penny said she would have to go into her bedroom. He waited and could hear her telling Hannah to go into the bathroom, and it was at least five minutes before she came back on the phone.
‘I’ve got it. It’s a Putney address. Is that the one you wanted?’
Jack jotted down the address on his phone as soon as he ended the call, then got back in his car and headed for Putney.
When he got there, he wondered if Penny had given him the correct address. The house was part of a modern, upmarket estate and each identical property had a neat front lawn and an attached garage. All the curtains of Ridley’s house were drawn, but there was clearly a light on in the front room. Jack took out his mobile and was about to dial Ridley’s mobile number when the front door opened. Ridley stood there wearing a thick turtle-necked sweater, baggy cord trousers and old, worn slippers, along with a woollen hat. He pulled the front door partly closed and walked down the path.
‘We can talk in the car,’ he said.
Jack unlocked the car and got in. Ridley opened the passenger door and joined him.
‘Not many CID officers would drive around in a pea-green contraption like this. I knew it was you as soon as you parked up.’
‘I’ve been worried—’ Jack began, but Ridley cut him off.
‘I’m sure you mean well, son, but this situation is serious, I can’t discuss anything with you.’
‘Are you sick?’
‘No, I’m touched at your concern, but I told you months ago I was in complete remission; truth is, past few months I’ve felt better and fitter than I have for years. I’m sorry, Jack, I have to ask you to leave now.’
Jack persisted. ‘I went to your previous address. You never mentioned to me that you’d moved. I’ve just been trying to find out if you’re OK.’
‘I don’t want to get into a lengthy conversation, Jack, but this was my mother’s place. She died a year or so ago and left it to me. I sold the flat; in fact, it went within a week, not only did I get a good price, but the chap bought all the furniture.’
He gave a small shrug of his shoulders and smiled, almost like the old Ridley.
‘Remember you said to me when I thought I was on the way out that it’d be a hard sell as it didn’t have any redeeming features? Turns out you were wrong.’
‘Well, I’m glad about that,’ Jack said, beginning to lose his patience, ‘but I still don’t understand what the hell is going on. I’m relieved you’re not sick, but there are things I need to run by you. You put me on the Rodney Middleton case, remember? You said it was low priority with CID but you had an intuition that it shouldn’t be. I’m now having major concerns that something is not right but I’m not bloody sure what it is.’
Ridley sighed. ‘Cross reference, cross reference — and if you can’t go forwards, go back. Answer your own questions, Jack. I can’t help you.’
‘But what was it that made you suspicious?’
‘Look,’ Ridley said, ‘it just didn’t make sense. He’s a very intelligent young man, so you can maybe excuse his first assault, but the second appeared to me to have some ulterior motive, that’s all.’
Ridley looked back towards his house and reached for the door handle. Jack looked round too and saw it — just a momentary glimpse of a man wearing a dark uniform standing partly hidden by Ridley’s front door. Ridley got out of the car and leant back towards Jack.
‘I promise you, I will be in contact when I can, but please don’t come round to see me again. Give my fondest to Maggie, and to little Hannah. Goodnight, Jack.’
Jack watched Ridley hurry back to his posh little house and saw the dark figure usher him inside before the front door closed.
Chapter Three
Maggie was at home when Jack got back.
‘Let’s have a takeaway Chinese,’ she said. ‘Do you want to order, and see if Penny would like to join us?’
‘OK, is the number in the book by the phone?’
‘Yes, unless you’d prefer to have something else, like a burger or a curry?’
‘Chinese sounds good. I’ll order us the usual.’
Maggie opened the freezer section of the fridge and took out a ‘cook in the bag’ chicken for the next evening. She then checked the fridge for vegetables and began making a shopping list of things for Penny to get the next day.
Jack ordered the takeaway and went up to see his mother and daughter.
‘Thank you for taking her juice into the nursery today,’ Penny said, after declining Jack’s offer of a takeaway. ‘I left it in the kitchen.’
‘That’s OK. I met the new girl.’
‘Anna is very sweet and all the children love her.’
‘I thought she said her name was Carol?’
‘Oh yes, that’s right. Can you mention to Maggie that I’m going to bingo on Friday, so I won’t be here to babysit? But I can get Hannah ready for bed before I leave.’
‘Sure, I’ll be home early on Friday. Are sure you won’t join us?’
‘Yes, thank you, I’ve already eaten with Hannah. You have a nice evening together. Oh, was it the right address for Ridley?’
‘Yes. Thanks for that.’
Jack kissed his mother on the cheek, then read a story to Hannah for a while before going downstairs to wait for the food to be delivered. Maggie met him in the hall and said she was going up to say goodnight to Hannah, then have a quick shower before they ate.
Jack got the plates out to warm them, opened a bottle of wine and set the table. He had already drunk a glass before the doorbell rang and the food arrived. Maggie came downstairs in her dressing gown, just as he was opening up all the different cartons and placing them on the table.
‘Perfect timing!’ he said.
‘Is Penny joining us?’ Maggie asked.
‘Nope, she said she’d already eaten with Hannah. And she wanted us to know that she has her bingo on Friday night. Are you on late shift this week?’
‘No, next week. I might be on call this weekend though. We have two nurses off and it’s starting to have huge repercussions. We’re so tired out, and we’ve been having Covid cases lined up in corridors whilst we try to find beds. The A&E department is swamped and trying to make people adhere to the rules is very trying. Lots of us are beginning to lose patience.’