Little Boy Blue

112

‘Check again.’

Helen virtually barked her order at the startled manager. Peter Banyard, the new manager of the Park Street Wilkinson’s, was not used to dealing with police officers, but he knew bad manners when he saw them and bridled at the request.

‘I’m more than happy to check again, Inspector, but I can assure you that this is the complete list of all our employees.’

Helen ran her eye down them again. Jeff Armstrong, Terry Slater, Joanne Hinton, Anne Duggan, Ian McGregor… There was nobody here she recognized, no one who might be relevant.

‘Could these names be fake?’

‘Of course not,’ the aggrieved manager responded. ‘We check their ID, get National Insurance numbers, their bank details -’

‘How far does this list go back?’ Helen interrupted.

‘Eighteen months.’

‘Ok, I’ll need a list going back five years, everything you’ve got.’

‘Then I’ll need a warrant. I think we’ve already gone way beyond the call of duty -’

‘You’ll have one before the end of the day. Thank you for your time.’

Helen was already halfway out of the door, heading fast for the store exit. The fraud victims had all shopped here for several years, so it was possible their credit and debit card details had been garnered some time back. And yet… she had only known Paine for eighteen months and Angelique considerably less than that. This felt recent and Helen knew that she was missing something significant. Their killer was still out there, thinking, plotting, waiting for his moment to strike.