Ridley turned. ‘I don’t want to put any more pressure on you. If it makes you feel better, the debt is repaid. There will be no further contact with Sammy — and he’s on his way to New York now.’
Ridley gave a small shrug of his shoulders.
‘I won’t ask you for another meeting, but if you have found out anything helpful, I’d appreciate you telling me before I go.’
‘Let’s sit down,’ Jack said. ‘Come on, you’re not going anywhere.’
Ridley came and sat back down beside Jack. Jack took his notebook out of his pocket, tapping it with his forefinger.
‘I have made some progress but not a lot. I’m still gathering as much information as I can on the agency, but I need to know the names of the first two women you had dates with. Can you recall if you mentioned anything to either of them about your job?’
Ridley frowned.
‘The first woman was called Jessica Phillips. The other was Daniella Foster. As I said, they were very nice women... just not my type. I certainly never discussed my real work. As you know, I used a different name and occupation... until I met Sandra.’
Jack nodded. ‘On the first two dates, you only had drinks?’
‘Yes, apparently on the first date it’s normal to just “meet and greet”. If you get along, the agency organises a second date, usually meeting for dinner at a restaurant agreeable to both parties.’
‘Did either of the first two women ask about your work?’
‘Yes, Daniella, did. But I said I was retired.’
‘Did either of them get into your car?’
‘Jessie had her own transport.’
‘What about Daniella?’
Ridley thought for a moment. ‘After we left the bar the first time we met, I drove her to her flat in Pimlico. But she realised she had left her gloves on the table, so we drove back to the bar. I went in to retrieve them. I was only gone a few moments.’
‘Was there anything in your car that could have given Daniella knowledge of your true identity?’
Ridley frowned, shaking his head. ‘I suppose there might have been something in the glove compartment, but I kept it locked.’
Jack nodded. ‘Can you recall any case, past or present, which might be connected?’
Ridley sighed. ‘I’ve been over this again and again. And we discussed it the last time we met as well. There’s nothing that I was recently working on that gives me cause to think that someone would want to fit me up with a murder rap.’
‘How far back did you go?’
‘Christ, Jack! I have been racking my brains over it ever since I was arrested! There is nothing I can think of that would make someone want to fucking screw my life up like this.’
‘What about anything that came in after you joined the dating agency?’
‘Bloody hell, Jack, I had three dates and had only been signed with the agency for a few months. I don’t think that route is going to be productive.’
‘OK... then what about Sandra? Is there any possibility that you might have crossed paths with her under her real name at some point before?’
Ridley sighed. ‘I’ve been over that, too, over and over. I cannot recall anyone that resembled Sandra, whatever bloody age she was when I had the dates. I simply have no recollection of anyone like her. But then God knows what the hell she used to look like before the surgery.’
Jack could understand Ridley’s frustration, but he was starting to feel annoyed at having his anger directed towards him. He was doing the best he bloody could.
‘OK, let me go down a different route,’ he said. ‘The agency contacted you to arrange a date with Sandra. Which of the two women at the agency organised it?’
‘It was Eva Shay. I only had one brief meeting with Mrs Da Costa.’
‘So, you saw Sandra’s photograph and you agreed to meet her for a drink?’
‘Yes!’ Ridley snapped.
‘Did you choose the venue, or did Eva Shay?’
‘I did, and this is all in my notes, Jack. Then Sandra chose the restaurant for the dinner.’
‘Then, after this dinner you...’
Ridley answered tetchily. ‘I took her home to my house, for more drinks and mutual sex. I put all this in my notes, Jack. But if you want me to spell it out, obviously it was a big mistake for me to have taken her home; she could have found out exactly who I was. She had time to poke around when I took a shower, and when I went out to buy another bottle of champagne. I left her in my bed, for God’s sake! There’s no fucking idiot like an old sexually frustrated one, right?’
Jack felt bad about making Ridley go through it all again, but the truth was that he had not had the time to go through all of Ridley’s meticulous notes. Now he wished that he had.
‘I’m working on a possible lead connected to Eva Shay,’ he said. ‘She was an accountant and so was Sandra — or she claimed to have been one.’
‘It’s a waste of time, Jack. The company Sandra claimed to work for never employed her, and Eva Shay hasn’t worked as an accountant for many years. I’m sorry, I don’t want to sound ungrateful.’
Ridley turned, reaching for Jack’s hand to shake.
‘Anything, Jack, anything you can do. I am so indebted to you, but time is running out.’
Jack didn’t take his hand. ‘To be totally honest with you, I’m finding it very difficult to understand how you’re being investigated for Sandra’s murder but you haven’t been arrested. If the evidence is so overwhelming, how come you’re not in a cell — or at least out on bail? It just doesn’t add up, and it feels as if you’re not being entirely honest with me. I mean, why get Sammy Taylor to do all that illegal digging around when the investigating team could have done the same thing themselves?’
Ridley sighed. ‘You’re right, I haven’t been entirely honest.’ He took a deep breath. ‘The truth is, because of my high profile in the Met, I am under a form of house arrest until the investigation is concluded, so they can keep it from being made public. I need you to know how desperate I am. So far they’ve come up with nothing — not even Sandra Raynor’s real identity — let alone any connection with me or any motivation to frame me. I am no nearer to being exonerated than when they found her body in the boot of my car. I need you, Jack!’
Ridley lifted his right trouser leg to show Jack he was wearing an electronic tag on his ankle. Jack could tell how humiliating it was for him, and quickly put an arm around his shoulders.
‘Let’s just walk and talk for a while,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll fill you in on some other stuff that I’ve been working on that may be of interest.’
‘Let’s do that. But please hurry, Jack. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be allowed out of the house, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had someone tailing me right now.’
Jack did not get back home until after 11 a.m. Penny had taken Hannah to Sunday School at the local church, and Maggie was still dozing in bed, so he made himself a bacon sandwich and went up to work in his office. He re-inserted the memory stick he had accessed before to search through the dating agency’s female clients. Eventually he found Jessica Phillips and Daniella Foster. He printed out their CVs and photographs and took a good look at them both. They were not very flattering images. Jessica looked very homely and Daniella had an equally ordinary presence, but it was Daniella’s CV that caught Jack’s attention. She had trained as a nurse and described herself as a widow and a retired consultant for a prominent plastic surgeon. It was a long shot, but he put Jessica and Daniella’s papers to one side, with a view to questioning them both.