The Doll's House

64

Sanderson was on to her the minute Helen entered the incident room. Moments later, they were camped in Helen’s office with the blinds down and the door firmly shut.

‘Sorry for the amateur dramatics,’ Sanderson said in reference to the closed blinds. ‘But I thought you ought to see this.’

She passed a file across the table, which contained four sheets of paper – all of them with a woman’s photo attached to the top right-hand corner.

‘I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours going over the local missing person’s registers and liaising with the relevant agencies. And it’s thrown up four possibles.’

Helen kept her expression neutral, but she didn’t like the sound of that number.

‘They all have the right look – dark hair, blue eyes – all live alone, are low-income and have been missing for some time. Two of them – Anna Styles and Debby Meeks – seem to have vanished completely, no communication of any kind. The other two – Roisin Murphy and Isobel Lansley – send the occasional text or tweet.’

‘How occasional?’

‘Not very often, but always at virtually identical times.’

‘Before their mobile signal goes off again?’

‘Exactly,’ Sanderson replied nodding, her expression sombre now.

‘Do the timings of the communications tally with those “sent” by Ruby and Pippa?’

‘Yes. They’re a perfect match.’

Helen looked at their pictures – Roisin was a single mum, studded with piercings, rough around the edges, but with stunning aquamarine eyes, while Isobel was a very different kettle of fish. Her eyes were equally striking, but they were hidden behind a long black fringe. Isobel’s gaze was sidelong, as if she was unkeen to be photographed at all. Helen exhaled long and hard, suddenly struck by the fact that she might already be looking at the faces of two corpses.

She was on her feet now and marching to the door.

‘I’ll take full responsibility for pursuing this line of investigation,’ she said over her shoulder. There was no time to wait, no time for indecision, and Helen knew exactly what had to be done.