She looks intrigued.
‘No one has seen anyone fitting the description of Samantha Valentine given to us by Tilly, either in or around the apartment or with the deceased, and initial CCTV appears to back that up, though Tilly here is claiming that they’re a cohabiting couple who’re engaged to be married – it doesn’t make sense. We’ve checked local hospitals and women’s refuges to see if anyone by the name Samantha Valentine has turned up there, but… nothing so far. There’s no contact number in Tilly’s iPhone for her, and there’s no photo evidence or anything from social media. The phone is with the tech team now, ma’am, but so far we haven’t found one single piece of evidence that links any of these three people together in any tangible way.’ I face her. ‘It’s quite unusual to say the least.’
‘You think it’s a wild goose chase?’
‘I don’t know yet, ma’am. I’m not sure what to make of it.’
She flashes me a wide-eyed look, as though my perplexity pleases her on some level.
‘Tilly Ward’s accountsoundslegit. In my opinion, she comes across authentic. And well,’ I nod at the screen, ‘look at her! She’s a tiny, thirty-six-year-old who works in a bookshop and wears a hearing aid. She has no previous, her record is spotless, and she has no history of violence or mental health disorder. By the accounts coming in from her colleagues at Waterford’s bookshop, she’s a perfectly nice, unassuming, ordinary, shy type of person who seems to have got herself mixed up in something tragic…’
‘… And yet?’
‘And yet, what, ma’am?’
‘And yet I’m sensing there’s an “and yet” coming, Riley…’
Admittedly, my boss knows me pretty well.
‘I think we should put an APB out on this Samantha Valentine, get the name out on social media. Let’s see what, if anything, comes back from it. If she exists, thensomeoneknows her, maybe knows where she is. Milo Harrison is dead, he’s no longer a threat to her, if he was ever one to begin with, so why hasn’t the witness come forward to back up Tilly’s story, the friend who allegedly saved her life?’
‘How long have we got left with her?’
‘Less than nine hours, ma’am.’
There’s a knock on the door and DC Mitchell pops her head around it. ‘There’s nothing doing on the search at Tilly Ward’s address, gov, ma’am,’ she says. ‘Nothing that corroborates Tilly’s story or evidence of a friendship with anyone named Samantha Valentine. No photos, no birthday or Christmas cards, nothing to link them together.’ Her mouth is a thin, apologetic line. ‘It’s not a big apartment, gov, there’s nothing much there but for a few clothes and some basic possessions. I’m sorry.’
I feel a tinge of sadness as I imagine Tilly Ward living alone in a small, sparsely furnished flat. I wonder what her life is really like.
‘It gets worse, boss. They didn’t find anything that can directly link her to the victim either, nothing to suggest they were previously known to each other, no obvious connection, and Milo Harrison’s family has confirmed that he lived alone – no regular girlfriend and definitely no fiancée – they’ve never heard the names Tilly Ward or Samantha Valentine before.’
Archer drags her face away from the screen.
‘There must be a reason why this has happened, a motive.’ I look up at Archer. ‘And people don’t just vanish into thin air like a magician’s trick. We need to find this Samantha Valentine and get some answers.’
‘So you believe Tilly Ward’s account that this witness is real, is that what you’re saying, Riley?’
I pause, not wanting to commit myself either way.
‘I don’t know what our exact position should be on this just yet, ma’am. It just seems such an unlikely, fantastical story for someone like Tilly Ward to have made up in such detail. And we have intel from the neighbour to say that Milo Harrison may have been stalked or harassed by a former female sexual encounter, a blonde. According to Tilly Ward, Samantha Valentine is a blonde, and we’ve identified a blonde-haired person from CCTV footage outside Milo’s apartment from a few weeks back. I really think we need to dig a little deeper. Try and identify her.’
‘So youdothink she exists then?’
‘I’d like to exhaust every avenue proving otherwise first.’ I meet her eyes. ‘I’ve been in the game a long time now, ma’am, and I get a good sense of who is telling me the truth and who is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.’
‘Ah yes, the distinguished Dan Riley’s infamous intuition that all the ladies are going mad for…’
Distinguished?She’s the second person to have called me this in as many days.
The just-got-out-of-bed look really must be making a comeback.
She lifts up the newspaper that I’ve only just now realised she’s holding, and I roll my eyes.Not her as well.
‘Oh, don’t be so modest, Dan,’ she smiles, wryly. ‘The Press Department is exceptionally pleased with the article, as is the commissioner, so well done you!’
This is high praise indeed, coming from her.
‘Things like this really do help bridge that gap between the public and ourselves, Dan. You really highlighted the difficulties and personal sacrifices we face every day in the job, as well asour dedication to solving crime. They think you came across as very likeable, very human.’
