Хилари Боннер - Dreams of Fear

Jimmy Granger ceased to exist almost immediately after his release from custody. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed man, who had been known by that name, parked his Land Rover Defender outside a motorway service station motel on the M4, not far from Heathrow, picked up a brown leather bag that had been left for him at reception, and checked into his pre-booked room.

A few hours later he left the motel and set off for the airport by taxi. He now appeared to be completely bald, and his eyes, without the tinted contact lenses he’d previously been wearing, were a murky grey rather than strident blue. The picture in the passport which had been in the brown leather bag — along with a new credit card, a considerable sum of cash, some clothes, and a few other necessities — matched his new appearance exactly.

Immediately after Nobby Clarke’s revelatory visit, David Vogel sat down and wrote a letter of resignation to his superior officer, Detective Superintendent Reg Hemmings.

Only when he had finished did he consider his wife and his daughter, and her special needs. Vogel had joined the police force when he was eighteen. He had never had another job. He had no professional skill other than being a policeman. He had no other source of income.

Perhaps even more importantly, he knew no other way of life.

He sat looking at the letter, which he had folded neatly and placed inside a plain white envelope, for several minutes.

Then he ripped it up.

The following morning he reported for duty at Kenneth Steele House. It was what he did. There was nothing else. It was what David Vogel would always do.