The Vanishing Point

40

It had taken a while to get there, but Vivian McKuras figured they were finally getting to the heart of the matter. Pete Matthews was emerging as a man with a grudge against Stephanie Harker, and a man who didn’t give up easily. ‘Was that the first time you’d had any evidence that he was still trying to track you down?’ she asked.

Stephanie nodded wearily. Her face had aged as the day had worn on, the markers of the years overwhelming the youthful elements of her features. Vivian had seen it before in those left behind by a crime. The damage became visible very quickly. Her voice had changed too. It had grown markedly less sprightly as her story had unfolded. ‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘I really thought he’d given up. But obviously he hadn’t. The thing is, I don’t lead a very public life. Other writers appear at literary festivals, or give talks at libraries. Ghost writers don’t. If you don’t know where I live, it would be hard to stake out anywhere I visit regularly. I seldom go to my agent’s office – if we’re seeing each other, we tend to do lunch and meet at the restaurant. Or if I’m auditioning for a book, we’ll meet at the venue. And it’s rare for me to attend launch events for books I’ve written. It’s easier all round if I stay invisible.’

‘Couldn’t he track you down through property title or taxes, that sort of thing? Is that not possible in your country?’

‘I didn’t buy the house in Brighton in my own name. I set up a limited company and used it to purchase the property. I pay rent to the company, and the rent covers the mortgage. That way I don’t show up as the owner at the Land Registry. My name is not on the public register of council tax, and all the utilities are in the company name. My bank statements and credit card bills all go to my agent’s office address. I did everything I could to cover my tracks.’

‘You had him tabbed as somebody tenacious then? A guy who wasn’t going to give up and walk away?’

Stephanie looked fed up. ‘Well, obviously. Given the way he started stalking me. And given what I knew about his temperament. He was an obsessive perfectionist at work. But I was equally determined not to make it easy for him to force his way back into my life. I thought he would give up if he couldn’t make any headway.’ She shook her head. ‘I was wrong.’

Vivian pulled her laptop back in front of her and brought up the footage from the security area. She freeze-framed the image immediately before the kidnapper appeared. ‘I want you to look at this very carefully and tell me whether you think this man could be Pete Matthews.’ She turned the screen so that Stephanie could see it.

Stephanie’s first reaction was to gasp at the sight of Jimmy. Her hand flew to her mouth, she drew her breath in sharply. Her other hand moved towards the screen. ‘Jimmy,’ she murmured. A single tear spilled from the corner of her eye and her face twisted in sorrow.

Vivian gave her a moment to compose herself. Either this woman was a consummate actress or she was entirely innocent of any involvement in the boy’s disappearance. Vivian wished she’d thought of confronting her with the CCTV footage sooner, if only to clarify that issue.

Stephanie sniffed hard and wiped her eyes roughly with the back of her hand. ‘It’s OK,’ she croaked, nodding and blinking. Vivian pressed play. The footage jerked into motion. The man came into shot, his cap obscuring his face. His legs were long compared to his torso, which looked strangely paunchy in contrast with limbs that seemed skinny. He bent slightly to talk to Jimmy, took the boy’s hand, grabbed his backpack and passport and walked briskly away. Through it all, Stephanie held her breath. When they disappeared from sight, she released it in a soft moan.

‘Is it him?’ Vivian asked.

Stephanie frowned. ‘I’m really not sure. I don’t think it’s him, but . . . I don’t know, there’s something familiar about the way he moves.’ Bewildered, she looked up at the FBI agent. ‘I don’t think it’s Pete, but I couldn’t swear to it.’

‘What about his build? His height and weight? Look again, Stephanie.’ Vivian ran the short segment for a second time.

Stephanie still looked doubtful. ‘It’s hard to be sure about his height. He’s got that paunch, which Pete definitely didn’t have the last time I saw him. But apart from that, he’s got the same sort of build.’

It was enough for Vivian. She knew all about the reluctance of witnesses to make identifications that went against what they wanted to believe about people in their lives. Stephanie had taken a long time to get to Pete Matthews as a possible perp. She wasn’t going to suddenly go all out to point the finger now. A possible ID was a pretty good starting point as far as Vivian was concerned. If Detective Sergeant Nicolaides couldn’t positively place Matthews in the UK, she would happily promote him to number one on her suspect list. Be honest, Viv, he’s your only suspect right now. She swung the computer back round to face her. Time to change tack.

‘What happened when Detective Nicolaides told Pete to leave the memorial?’

‘I didn’t find that out till much later,’ Stephanie said. ‘All I knew was that Pete didn’t show up in Brighton. And he wasn’t waiting for me at Scarlett’s when I went back to pick up my car. I really did think he’d finally got the message. To be honest, he hardly crossed my mind.’ Her expression darkened again. ‘There were other things happening that were a lot more important to me than whatever was going on in Pete’s head.’