on the coast road, at a few minutes past the hour, on her way to pick up Jillie. It was elaborate but brilliant. If it had worked the police would never have been involved, Sarah Baker‐Sibley would have been forced to stay silent or face the possibility – probability – that she’d never see her daughter again. An almost ghostly crime. As intangible as the mist now forming on the black marsh water.
Valentine slipped on the ice, his arms flailing to keep his balance, the black slip‐ons skating. The sharp right turn in Siberia Belt was still two hundred yards away. So they plodded on.
And then there were James Baker‐Sibley’s killers, thought Shaw. What if Jillie’s mother had used her second telephone call from Gallow Marsh to reach someone other than Jillie and her father? Sarah didn’t really need to phone him back at all. She knew what he planned, and as far as she knew her daughter was going to go with him. What she really needed was to stop her. What better friend to call than Colin Narr at Shark Tooth? All roads led to Narr, and to the cockle‐pickers Fiona Campbell was assembling for interview.
They reached the turn in the track and, once round the corner of the high flood bank, they saw ahead a single SOC tent, lit within.
Shaw stood at the turning, braving the shock of the wind off the sea. Valentine knew what was coming, a clinically logical summary of the case so far. He was getting tired of the regular lectures. Bored with treating a murder like a set of children’s building blocks. The wind wrapped his raincoat round his legs, tugging at the thin cloth of his trousers.
His radio buzzed so he took the call. It was DC Twine in the murder incident room. They’d made progress in tracing the teenager at the wheel of the Mondeo on Siberia Belt. According to parish council chairman Rodney Belcher his BMW, and its distinctive steering‐wheel cover, were in use on the night of Harvey Ellis’s murder – but not by him. The Belchers’ eighteen‐year‐old neighbour, Sebastian Draper, was teaching Belcher’s son Gee how to drive. By way of payment they let him have use of the BMW on occasional weekday evenings when Belcher was up in the City. Draper was on a gap year, waiting to go up to Oxford to read maths in September. Responsible, sensible, polite – according to Belcher. Draper’s father had refused to allow his son to answer questions when DC Lau had called, until the family solicitor was present. An interview had been arranged for the morning at St James’s. Lau could have arrested him, but Twine had counselled caution. Shaw agreed. They knew where he lived and nobody was doing a moonlight flit from a million‐pound address.
Other news: John Holt had discharged himself from hospital, and was under surveillance, and Jake Ellis – Harvey Ellis’s son – had died overnight at the hospital, his mother at his side. The Lynn News was reporting a cruel irony. When his mother had been taken home from the hospital she’d found a letter on the doorstep: an anonymous donation of £5,000 to the Jake Ellis Appeal. A cheque payable through an offshore trust based in Switzerland.
Valentine relayed the messages and then stowed the radio.
‘Perhaps that’s Harvey’s pay‐off for playing his part in the abduction,’ said Shaw. ‘Baker‐Sibley said James stopped off in Morston to post letters – let’s try and trace the trust. But if it’s the Swiss they’re good at hiding money.’
Shaw turned on the spot. Late afternoon: a grey sky loaded with snow, pinned up above their heads in folds, like a dreary circus tent. Siberia Belt had been churned up by vehicles, the ruts frozen.
‘So we know a bit,’ said Shaw. ‘At last.’
They both ducked their heads as a fresh squall of snow blew into their faces.
‘What we don’t know is what happened out here on Siberia Belt. Why did Harvey Ellis die? Obvious scenario: he loses his nerve, one of the other members of the conspiracy kills him. So – who was the backstop? The kid in the Mondeo? Sebastian Draper. But he goes out and steals a car first? I know he’s going to Oxford but he can’t be that stupid. But is there another credible suspect? I can’t see it. Shreeves – in the security van. I guess it’s possible. Was that why he was so keen to start a new life somewhere else?’
Shaw led