‘That’s what it says here, but I’ve been able to trace and account for everybody who was there except this laddie.’
‘Could we have an imposter?’ Kelly asked. ‘When I saw Joe Folly on Thursday he was wearing a hoodie like this. Look how he turns away from the camera.’
‘Little fecker,’ Fin said.
Kelly brought up a picture of Joe Folly from their records and the man in the video had a similar build.
‘Why would he go there? To the lion’s den?’ Emma asked.
‘To infiltrate?’ Dan suggested.
‘To work on Jamie?’ Kate proposed.
‘Aren’t podcasters just another kind of journalist? They dig for info,’ Dan said.
‘The little fecker.’ Fin repeated himself.
They turned to him impatiently.
‘I mean the little fecker,’ he said again. ‘Years doing the Simplex crossword in theIrish Timesweren’t in vain,’ he added.
They looked at him, utterly puzzled.
‘It’s an anagram. Greg Minda. DiggerMan.’
Kelly felt her lower jaw sink down to her chest and it was a curious feeling because she was stuck in a moment of being aware she looked an idiot but being so gobsmacked that she was unable to control a part of her anatomy. It was an unwelcome realisation.
‘Fucking hell,’ Kate said.
‘Let’s release this comedian’s name, boss.’
‘I agree, let’s bring him in,’ Kelly said. ‘In other good news, Angelina’s phone has been found. She had few phone numbers stored, and Jamie’s was the one most used. They were close. Apart from that, her internet search history was sporadic, and recently it had been about the trimesters of pregnancy.’
Kelly’s memory of those days made the woman’s death more poignant. She remembered Lizzie wriggling in her belly those middle months. The rollercoaster of emotions as her child grew and the day drew closer when she would meet her.
Angelina was on Instagram but not Facebook or X. Her page was full of her artwork, and they’d learnt she was a successful teacher too, running workshops from the studio at her home in Chapel Stile.
Kelly brought up several of the artworks from Angelina’s Instagram onto the whiteboard. ‘That’s Aira Force,’ Fin said.
The team chuckled with affection at his recognition of one of the most iconic scenes in the whole of the national park. He spread his hands.
‘What about this?’ Kelly asked.
‘Lone tree, Buttermere,’ Kate said.
The team appeared refreshed. Morale was buoyant. They felt as though they were getting somewhere. Emma looked radiant and Dan sat close to her protectively.
‘And this?’ Kelly asked.
‘The screes at Wastwater,’ Emma said.
‘The cradle of the storms,’ Dan added.
‘Indeed. And these?’ Kelly said. She tapped a key and the six watercolours that she’d received from the SOCO at the Old Man Guesthouse popped up.
Her team studied them.
‘Are they a set, boss?’
