Sandy was toying with her, but Kelly didn’t bite.
Kelly tapped her pen. She could feel an opportunity slipping away from her and she was tempted to call Del Booker todemand a warrant for the arrest of all of these Hampton-Dent fuckers. She was tired of playing around and her loved ones had been threatened. Maybe she could take a squad car as back-up.
‘I’m a bit tied up here. And it’ll take time to arrange an attorney from the US. So, I guess you’ll just have to wait. I’m assuming I need an attorney before I answer any of your questions.’
Kelly imagined Sandy Cooper flying out of the UK by private jet this afternoon and the opportunity to interview her properly slipping away from her.
‘What if we agreed to meet informally. Under English law, if I don’t arrest you and you’re not interviewed under caution, I can’t use the testimony without your permission.’
‘Isn’t English law ludicrous? Who is it aimed to protect? Law-abiding citizens or those who’d do them harm?’
‘Good question. The more I discover, the more I feel it’s designed to protect those who are in charge, rather than the little people who need the protection in the first place.’
‘Now we’re talking. It’s all becoming clear.’
Kelly felt a little nauseous. She knew the scientist was correct because she’d seen it before. Free law was cheap for a reason. She’d found herself in the middle of a game she wasn’t controlling, and it felt horrendous.
‘You’re on CCTV at the Old Man Guesthouse on Friday, Sandy. There’s no need to lie anymore. I know you knew Angelina well. It’s blatantly clear you were familiar with each other. What were you doing there? And why did you lie to the police?’
Sandy sighed. ‘None of your cosy chats at the hotel were formal interviews. I didn’t lie about anything. I was bereaved and confused. Jamie wanted a chaperone for his little sister.’
‘And he chose you?’
‘You sound surprised!’
‘What happened to her?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘What about the bodyguard? Kevin Streeting? He’s the tall one with the Mercedes cap isn’t he? He’s on the passenger list we received from Manchester Airport. Why was he there?’
‘Security. Jamie was jumpy.’
‘I wonder why. Did you take him there as a recce?’
Sandy hesitated. Kelly could hear the trepidation in her voice as well as something behind it. Fear.
‘Meet me at Rydal Caves at two o’clock and I’ll tell you both everything.’
‘Us both?’
The line went dead, and Kelly stared at the photo of Lizzie on her desk. She’d never come across a case like this in her career before. She was being played by people who held no regard for the law at all. They didn’t have to. They were beyond its scope.
HQ had warned her off explicitly.
She was in uncharted territory.
But her curiosity was incorrigible. Being commanded to do something often had the opposite effect on her. It made her want to investigate the puzzles of this inquiry even more. Del Booker might have rolled over like a lapdog, perhaps he’d been paid off too, but there was no way she was bowing down to whoever was pulling the strings. Then her stomach sank.
She was desperate to find out what was so special about Rydal Caves. What was there? It was remote, sure. It was hidden away, but full of tourists. Then Kelly recalled it was entirely devoid of a mobile signal. It was a Wi-Fi blackspot. Perhaps that was the reason.
She checked the images on her phone again of Angelina’s artwork. It didn’t matter how many times she stared at the brush strokes or focused on the stones and rocks, or rearranged the numbers, they still meant nothing to her. But yet they stilltugged at her, appealing to her to do something about it. Try harder.
Concentrate.
The six images were a key. A message.
If only she could figure it out.
