Page 110 of Making a Killing

He smiles. ‘What was that marvellous phrase?You might think so, I couldn’t possibly comment.’

‘Even though the murder victim in question was your own researcher? Even though she may have been killed preciselybecauseof that?’

‘I’d say that qualifies as jumping to conclusions, wouldn’t you? I’m sure that’s frowned on in your line of work. It certainly is in mine.’ He sips his tea. ‘Unless, of course, there’s something you know, and I – currently – don’t.’

I’m not rising to that.

‘I’d like access to all communications between Tierney and Dry Riser. Everything she sent you. And for the avoidance of doubt, that’s you plural. Also anything she might have uploaded to any of your servers.’

‘You’ve already put in a formal request for all that, haven’t you? Or so our Legal Counsel tells me.’

‘In which case I’m sure you’re also fully aware that he’s stalling. Demanding all the right documentation. He’s within his rights, I’m sure, but you could short-circuit the entire process and save us not only a whole lot of unnecessary hassle but something far more important.Time.’ I sit forward a little. ‘Do I need to spell it out?’

He nods slowly. ‘OK, Detective Chief Inspector, here’s what I propose. You want something from me, and in due course I’m going to want something from you. So – a fair exchange?’

Now this is one thing I did actually see coming. But I’m going to make him ask for it, all the same.

***

‘Mobile records for both Kate Madigan and Robin Tierney,’ says Baxter, gesturing across at Gislingham as he comes back in from lunch. ‘Just in, if you want to take a look.’

Gis comes round to Baxter’s screen.

‘OK,’ he says, scanning down. ‘Looks like there was one mobile Kate called way more than any other.’

Baxter nods. ‘I’m guessing that’s Daisy’s – it would make sense she’d be talking to her.’

Gis snorts. ‘Keeping tabs on her more like.’

‘Either way, I’ll put in a request for those records too.’ He scrolls down further. ‘And then we have these calls to Finn O’Brien, starting in early May.’

‘And ending on June 15th,’ says Gis thoughtfully. ‘The day he picked her up at the airport. And after that, nothing. No calls coming in, no calls going out. Not to him, not to Daisy, not to anyone. The phone basically goes dead.’

Baxter leans back. ‘OK, I know what you’re thinking, but she could have just lost it – even switched to a burner. Who knows, maybe that burner they found at Hescombe is hers – we know she was in Broadway –’

Gis gives him a look. ‘I know where you’re coming from but we just can’t make assumptions.’

‘Well, for the record, none of the numbers on these records are to that burner. The tech guys haven’t managed to unlock it yet but I tried calling everything listed here and it didn’t ring.’

Gis nods. ‘Do we know when she went back to Belfast?’

Baxter shakes his head. ‘EasyJet said she didn’t turn up for her return flight and as far as I can tell she hasn’t gone back since either. I’m still checking the ferries.’

Gis is looking at the screen again. ‘Without wishing to state the bleeding obvious, there aren’t any US numbers here, so it doesn’t look like Kate’s had any contact with Robin Tierney.’

‘Talking of which,’ says Baxter. He taps at the keyboard and a different set of call logs appears. ‘These are hers. And you’re right – no calls between the two of them, though they could have WhatsApped. We can’t access any of that without one or other of the handsets.’

Gis is scanning the logs. ‘So no actual calls between June 15th and that one there on June 29th, which is presumably to Tierney’s mother.’

Baxter nods. ‘Right. But we know there were WhatsApps and emails right up to July 23rd.’

Gis sighs. ‘So all this is telling us is what we knew already. Bloody marvellous.’

Bax considers. ‘Well, if it helps, it also proves there was nothing else going on wedidn’tknow about.’

‘OK, fair enough. And without wishing to suggest anyone needs egg-sucking lessons from my gran, I assume you’ve asked for the location data for Tierney’s phone?’

Baxter gives a dry smile. ‘You assume right. It’ll be a day or so, but they’re on the case. In the meantime, we should be able to establish if Tierney was in contact with Kate from the stuff coming over from Dry Riser – Asante says we’ll be getting that later today.’

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