‘Not much of a celebration,’ Lucinda said, looking at the packet of peanuts Nick had torn open and put in the middle of the table.
‘I’m sorry it’s not up to your usual standards, your ladyship,’ Nick said. ‘I’m not sure the Dog and Trumpet does caviar and quail’s eggs, but I can see what’s on the specials board, if you like?’
‘Ha ha. I didn’t mean that. I just feel a bit flat, you know?’
‘I feel the same,’ Kelly said. It had been so frantic; the drive on blues and twos to get to Katie Walker, followed immediately by the race to reach Zoe, marked police cars screaming to a halt outside Melissa’s house. The ambulance had held off at the end of Anerley Road; the waiting paramedics unable to do their job until it was safe to enter. For the last few hours Kelly doubted her heart rate had dropped below a hundred beats a minute, but now she was crashing.
‘It’s just an anticlimax, that’s all,’ Nick said. ‘You’ll bounce back tomorrow, when the hard work really starts.’
There was a huge amount to do. With access to Melissa’s computer, Cyber Crime had been able to swiftly shut down findtheone.com, and access the full list of members. Tracing them – and establishing what, if any, crimes had been committed – would take somewhat longer.
Companies House checks had revealed that Melissa West was the registered director of four cafés in London; Melissa, Melissa Too, Espress Oh! and an as yet unnamed business in the heart of Clerkenwell, banking impressive profits despite the absence of sink, fridge or cooking facilities.
‘Money laundering,’ Nick had explained. ‘Coffee shops are perfect vehicles because so many people pay in cash. On paper she can legitimately take a few hundred quid a day, whilst letting the businesses run at a loss.’
‘How much do you think her husband knew?’
‘I guess we’ll find out when we bring him in.’ Neil West was overseeing the installation of a multimillion-pound IT system at a law firm in Manchester. His diary, conveniently synched to his wife’s, and easily accessible from her computer, told them he’d be flying in to London City airport the following day, where police would be waiting to arrest him. On his computer, upstairs in the home office, were files relating to each company Neil had worked with, each including an expansive contact list. The firms employing Gordon Tillman and Luke Harris had both contracted Neil in the past, and there was every expectation that further parallels would be drawn between Neil’s contact list and the list of findtheone.com customers found on Melissa’s computer.
‘Do you think she’d have left him to pick up the pieces?’ Lucinda said. Zoe had outlined the plans Melissa had shared to leave the country, and Cyber Crime had identified flights to Rio de Janeiro that she had looked at online.
‘I think so,’ Nick said. ‘I don’t think Melissa West cared about anyone but herself.’
Kelly thought about what Katie had told her, about the bitterness in Melissa’s voice when she talked about looking after Zoe’s children; about not having children of her own. ‘I think she did. I think that was part of the problem. Setting up the website was strictly business, but involving Zoe and Katie? That bit was personal.’
‘I hate that she got away with it,’ Lucinda said, reaching for the peanuts.
‘She was stabbed in the carotid artery and bled to death,’ Nick said. ‘I wouldn’t call that getting away with it.’
Kelly gave a half-smile. ‘You know what I mean. She put Zoe and Katie Walker through hell, not to mention the hundreds of women who had no idea they were even at risk. I’d have liked to have seen her in the dock.’ Kelly’s phone flashed, and she swiped the screen to unlock it, idly scrolling through notifications she didn’t have the inclination to respond to.
‘What’s this? A celebration or a wake?’ Diggers appeared at the table, and Kelly sat up, as though standing to attention. It was the first time she’d seen him since the dressing down in his office, and she avoided making eye contact with him.
‘Can I get you a chair, sir?’ Lucinda said.
‘I’m not stopping. I just dropped in to buy you a drink. You’ve all done a grand job; I’ve already had the commissioner on the phone congratulating us on a good result. Well done.’
‘Thanks, boss,’ Nick said. ‘I was just telling them the same.’
‘And as for you …’ Diggers looked at Kelly, who could feel herself going red. ‘I hear we’ve got a lot to thank you for.’
‘Everyone was working on it at the same time,’ Kelly said, reluctantly looking up, relieved to find genuine warmth in Diggers’ face. ‘I just happened to be there when the final piece dropped into place, that’s all.’
‘Well, that’s as maybe. You’ve certainly made a valuable contribution to the team. Now, what’s everyone having?’ The DCI went to the bar, returning with a tray of drinks and another bag of nuts. He hadn’t bought one for himself, and Kelly realised she risked missing her opportunity if she didn’t ask now.
‘Sir? Do I have to go back to BTP?’ As she spoke, she realised how much she was dreading it; how much she’d loved being part of a team again, without the gossip and suspicion that plagued her time in her home force.
‘Three months, we said, didn’t we?’
‘Yes, but I thought that, with Melissa dead and the website blocked—’ Kelly knew there was work to be done – that Laura Keen’s murderer was still on the loose, and Cathy Tanning’s prowler remained uncaught – but at the back of her mind was the telling-off she’d had in Diggers’ office. Was this the opportunity he needed to bring an end to her secondment?
‘Three months,’ Diggers said briskly. ‘You can lead on the interview with Neil West, then let’s have a proper talk about your career. Maybe it’s time for a fresh start in a new force, eh?’ He winked at her and shook Nick’s hand, before leaving them to it.
Sheer relief prompted tears to form in Kelly’s eyes. She blinked them away and picked up her phone, swiping through apps in search of distraction. She scrolled through her Facebook feed, filled with photos of decorated Christmas trees and tiny snowmen made from the pathetic smattering of snow they’d had the previous night. A status update from Lexi caught her eye.
A few more wrinkles, she’d posted, but still the same Durham gang!
They’d recreated a photograph from their student days; Lexi posting the two side by side, prompting a stream of amused comments from the friends and family of those tagged. In both pictures Lexi had the biggest grin of anyone in the group, and Kelly couldn’t help but smile.
Great photos, she typed. You haven’t changed a bit.