Page 115 of She Saw What He Did

‘For what reason? Because you have a gut feeling? We can’t get a warrant for that reason, Colin.’

Weis nodded. He knew Layton was right.

‘Why so many locks on the doors?’ he said.

‘Perhaps the wife is nervous. My wife’s a bit neurotic about burglaries too.’

‘But they’re unlikely to be burgled here. Surely one lock would be sufficient, not five?’

‘You know women,’ Layton grinned.

‘That’s a sexist comment,’ said Weis angrily.

Rose scratched his neck uncomfortably and said,

‘If you think of a good reason why we should then, of course, we will.’

Weis, however, couldn’t think of any reason apart from having a gut instinct.

*

Jaime paced up and down his hotel room. He hadn’t slept. He couldn’t think why Lester would have a child in that cottage and why was he here in Porthaven? He ought to phone the police. He knew that, but what if it was all innocent. How the hell would he explain following Lester in the first place? He rubbed his eyes. Lester didn’t have a kid. As far as Jaime knew he didn’t even have a serious girlfriend. Something was wrong. If Lester was capable of murder what else was he capable of? What if Lester had kidnapped the child? But why would he do that? God, why the hell had he followed Lester? He couldn’t forget what he’d seen now. The question was what to do about it. He’d been on the internet for hours looking for news of a missing child but there had been nothing. It didn’t make sense. Surely, the child belonged to someone. Why hadn’t they reported it? Maybe it wasn’t a missing kid after all and he was just over-reacting. All the same … It worried him. What if the kid had been kidnapped and Lester was holding it ransom. If Jaime called the police it might mess everything up for the parents. There was only one other thing he could do and that was to follow Lester. Maybe that would lead him to the parents. Yes, that’s what he’d do.

*

Weis met Peter at the airport. He looked tired.

‘We’d been arguing,’ he told Weis. ‘I feel awful about it.’

‘There’s probably a reasonable explanation,’ said Weis.

‘Like what?’ Peter asked sharply. ‘There’s no reason why Ellen wouldn’t answer her phone. No reason at all. She wouldn’t go a whole day without calling the station, or me.’

Weis nodded.

‘Not even if we had argued,’ continued Peter.

Weis led Peter to the car.

‘Ryan Lester has gone missing. Did Scott tell you?’

Peter widened his eyes.

‘No he didn’t. You think they’re connected? What the hell is going on? Is this to do with the murder on the island?’

Weis pulled into the police station.

‘It looks like Ryan Lester may have been the killer that day on the island …’

‘Ryan?’ repeated Peter, and then laughed. ‘Ryan’s not a killer.’

‘I think you might be wrong there. Ellen was onto something and …’

‘Now she’s disappeared,’ finished Peter, rubbing his eyes. ‘Jesus. We never thought anything like this would happen on the islands. She was so keen to come and work with you guys on the mainland. She said that was where real policing went on.’

‘She’s an excellent policewoman,’ said Weis.

He’d find her if it was the last thing he ever did. He should have been with her. He felt in his bones that she was all right, but they needed to find her soon.

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