Chapter 70

Chapter 70

‘So what did he say?'

Charlie stood in front of Helen, troubled but intrigued. Helen, by contrast, seemed entirely relaxed as she rounded her desk to confront the mountain of files awaiting her.

‘He threatened me, of course. He only knows one way – to attack, demean, belittle and intimidate – but I think he's finally cottoning on that that won't cut it this time. He's got nothing on me and once his cronies turn their backs on him, he'll have nowhere to go.'

‘What about Holmes? She's had his back so far.'

‘Maybe, but bad headlines are bad headlines. And if – when – she realizes that we're right about Reynolds, she'll drop him like a hot coal. She's new here, doesn't want her first major intervention to be the spirited defence of a serial rapist. He's on borrowed time here, but we need evidence. How did you get on with Leanne Gardner?'

‘Not good, I'm afraid,' Charlie conceded. ‘Obviously, I'll follow up with her, but she's getting married soon, doesn't want to know.'

‘I see. OK, well, let's follow up with the other two victims, see if they are more open to talking to us. What else have we got?'

‘Well, DC Wilson's been doing some good work, comparing Dave Reynolds' historic beat pattern with our missing girls. We know he encountered Naomi on his rounds and records show he would have been patrolling Portswood around the time Mia went missing.'

Helen nodded, pleased, but there was more to come.

‘Plus, we think he was working the St Denys beat when Shanice Lloyd vanished. She was last seen outside the New Testament Church on Priory Road.'

‘OK, so we've got a potential pattern,' Helen responded, excited. ‘He encounters them, talks to them, scopes them out, then returns to pick them up after hours.'

‘Makes sense.'

‘And what about his current movements? After hours, I mean. Has he visited anywhere remote, out of the way, somewhere he might be keeping Naomi and Mia?'

‘Not that I can see,' Charlie replied, grave. ‘We've triangulated his movements and he's either here, on the beat or back at home.'

‘So either he's keeping them at home …'

‘Which seems unlikely, given that he's got a wife and kid.'

‘… or he's leaving his phone at home when he goes out to avoid being tracked.'

Charlie nodded in agreement, before replying:

‘Do we want him put under surveillance?'

‘In time, yes. But we'll need more, something concrete, before Holmes will agree to that. I'd like to do a bit more digging, find out what we're dealing with here. Reynolds is going to resist all the way, saying that black is white, that this is a deranged personal attack, but I'd like to look closer at Jackie Reynolds. She could be our way in. She looked nervous as hell when I spoke to her yesterday. I think she's scared of Reynolds, is worried what the fallout might be for her, for her son, if the sky falls in.'

‘Could she also be a victim?' Charlie queried.

‘Very possibly – she's certainly a lot younger than him.'

Helen picked up her file and was already leafing through it.

‘They got married when he was twenty-five and she was seventeen. Allegedly they were together from when she was sixteen, but who's to say that's true? He could have met her when she was underage, groomed her. She fell pregnant soon after they got married and has never worked. She plays the loyal wife, kept in her little box where Reynolds wants her, but there's something fishy about the whole thing.'

‘What do you mean?' Charlie queried.

‘Well, I was in their house yesterday,' Helen continued, ignoring Charlie's look of surprise. ‘And they are minted. The house is immaculate, they've got a huge Sky Glass TV on the wall, not to mention a new BMW X5 on the drive. They go on luxury holidays apparently, send their son to private school. Now how does Dave Reynolds afford all that on a PC's salary? He's got no family that we know of, nor does she, so where's the money coming from?'

‘You think … you think he's somehow profiting from these girls' abductions?' Charlie asked, shivering inwardly. ‘That he's monetizing his crimes?'

‘It's got to be a possibility. Jackie Reynolds had a purse stacked with notes, a huge wad of ￡20 notes. Who the hell uses cash these days? Dealers and criminals, that's who. I've got Meredith examining a couple of the notes as we speak …'

The two women stared at each, lost in their own thoughts, before Helen added:

‘Reynolds is a bad man. I'd bet my life on it. The only question for me now is how far does his criminality extend?'

Once more, both women lapsed into silence. It was a sobering thought, which only raised their anxiety levels further. What the hell were they dealing with here?