Lee Weeks - Frozen Grave

‘She had plenty of sex equipment in her flat,’ said Carter. ‘She’d already tried more than the average person.’ He looked Willis’s way. She was quieter than he liked her to be. He wished she’d spend more time speaking her thoughts.

‘Detective Willis?’

‘Yes, guv?’

‘The sex equipment in Olivia Grantham’s flat. Is she a giver or a taker?’

‘The hood with the mouthpiece was definitely a woman’s. I think she must have been submissive.’

‘Yeah… submissive but not suicidal, huh?’ said Carter, turning round to Robbo. ‘I think she must have been still learning – she was pushing the boundaries of her sexual experiences…’

‘Any good photos of her on the phone, Hector?’ asked Robbo. ‘Anything we can give Intel, to try and spot her on CCTV in the area around? She may have checked out this place before she went there on Sunday evening.’

Hector smiled, embarrassed. ‘Brings a whole new meaning to selfies . But yeah… a few headshots, normal ones. I’ll download her photo library and see who she’s with in them.’

Carter leant back in his chair to think. ‘Pam – your comment about her being a cautious type – you’re right. It had to have been someone she trusted enough . She wouldn’t have met someone in there that she didn’t know, that she hadn’t had sex with before. She was a bright woman – calculated-risk taker. How far are you on the list of phone contacts, Hector?’ Carter looked across at him.

‘I’ve phoned three so far. Haven’t been able to get hold of two others. Just about to try this one now.’

‘Okay, I’ll give it a go. Pass me over your list. I want to ring the Mr Naughties myself.’ Hector handed Carter the sheet of names. ‘Can you give me a line that can’t be traced?’ Hector nodded. Carter read off the first number on the sheet and rang from the phone on the desk. He put it on speaker. The first two numbers went to voicemail. The third call was answered.

‘Hello, is that Peter?’

‘Yes.’

‘Peter, this is the customer services department from Naughties Dating for Consenting Adults.’

‘What? Who?’

‘Naughties website. You subscribe?’

‘You shouldn’t call me.’ He hung up.

‘Okay – give him thirty minutes then we’ll try again.’ Carter rang the next number on the list.

‘Hello?’

‘Yes? JJ Ellerman speaking. Mermaid Yachts. How can I help?’ Pam and Hector stopped working.

Robbo had already started typing the name and the company into Google. Willis kept her eyes on Carter as she listened to the call. The reception wasn’t brilliant on speakerphone.

‘Hello, sir,’ Carter said. ‘Naughties Dating here – London’s favourite sexy adult encounters website. This is customer services.’

‘Pardon?’ Ellerman sounded annoyed. ‘I can’t speak now.’ Robbo gave Carter a look that said: Really? Followed by: I want no part of it. Hector grinned. ‘This is supposed to be a discreet service. You should not be ringing me.’

Carter winked at Robbo. Robbo shook his head disapprovingly. But he hid a smile as he leant over his PC, watching the seach results appear on screen.

‘Don’t worry, Mr Ellerman, your information is secure. I just need to check we’re giving the best service to you that we can. You put that you’re looking for encounters in the London area? Would you be interested in extending your search countrywide?’

‘Look, I don’t have time now. I’m busy.’ Ellerman hung up.

‘Unethical, but effective,’ said Robbo. ‘JJ Ellerman – he’s registered to an address in Richmond. He is the MD of a boat-building company that builds luxury yachts. Mermaid Yachts, as he said.’ Robbo squinted at the screen. ‘Self-made, impressive.’

‘Let’s get the full picture of him and all the others on her phone, Hector. Go back a year for me. Get all the information on her you can. What type of men does she go for? What does she look for? She must have talked it through with someone. Talk to the girlfriend she met on Saturday night. What about Facebook, Pam?’

‘She doesn’t use it much. She uses Linkedin much more but always professionally rather than socially.’

‘She’s got several dating-site aps on her phone,’ Hector said. ‘Casualsex, Sparks, Adultfun. All of them for sex rather than soulmates.’

‘Try and get into her accounts.’ Carter looked to see if Robbo would react with his civil liberties chat but he was still checking out JJ Ellerman’s profile. Carter poured out the coffee. ‘Was Olivia actually single?’ Carter asked Hector. ‘Do we know if she had a boyfriend?’

Robbo answered: ‘So far as we know, she wasn’t seeing anyone. Never been married. Bright, fast-tracked-in-her-career type. I think maybe relationships were an afterthought to her,’ he added as he printed off a résumé on JJ Ellerman. ‘Whereas, this guy, Mr John James Ellerman of Mermaid Yachts, has been married for twenty-one years. He’s really big on relationships.’

JJ Ellerman hung up and cranked up his classic rock CD as he hit the edges of Dartmoor. ‘You’re As Cold As Ice’ came on. He sang along as his Range Rover thundered over the cattle grid.

As he rose up and over his first hill he slowed down to take in the view. Austere and wild, clouds’ shadows raced across the stark moorland that was strewn with massive black-granite boulders toppling from dramatic peaks. The low winter sun gave a shimmering pink haze across the dried fern and yellow gorse.

He pulled over at the side of the road, where a mare and foal were grazing the sparse vegetation, and checked the coordinates on his satnav; then he reached back to pick up the printed directions from the back seat. Satisfied he knew where he was going, he picked up his phone and sent the same text to five people:

Miss you. Love JJ.

Ellerman skipped on to the next track in his rock anthems: ‘Stairway to Heaven’.

He placed his phone on charge and then followed his directions and drove through a small village, past an ancient church with a cluster of crumbling graves, then a white-painted thatched inn. He turned off at the edge of the village and came to the end of a stony track – the wisp of woodsmoke circled above the roof of a smart-looking barn renovation.

Turning into the steep driveway his car finally came to a stop outside the long barn.

Megan opened the front door and stood watching him. He thought how she was just as beautiful as the first time they had met six months earlier. Her eyes stayed intensely fixed on him.

He switched off the engine, got out and reached in the back for his jacket. The icy wind blew through the fabric of his thin shirt and dried the layer of perspiration on his skin.

She stepped towards him. ‘You were lucky you made it – the forecast is for snow. But you never know what you’re going to get here – four seasons in a day sometimes. You found me okay?’

‘Of course.’ He gave her the look that he called his Bond look – it involved a lopsided smile and a raise of one eyebrow. A combination created to charm.

‘Did it take you long?’

‘About five hours.’

Ellerman closed the car door and took a step closer to her. ‘It was a lovely drive. I was early so I even took a detour to see an art exhibition at a town on the way – in Ashburton.’ She looked impressed as she tilted her head and smiled. All the time her eyes were watching him.

‘I was wondering if your work would be there but I didn’t see it.’

She smiled with her eyes. He thought how full of passion they were, so dark. Her skin was luminescent. Her hair was long and flowing around her shoulders in a mane of black and silver.