You Are Dead

15

Thursday 11 December

At twenty past ten, Jamie Ball’s entryphone buzzer rang. He ran over to the front door, realizing he was a little drunk, and saw on the fuzzy black and white screen a man’s face above a turned-up collar.

‘Hello?’ he said.

‘Mr Ball?’

‘Yes,’ he blurted, anxiously.

‘Detective Superintendent Grace. May I have a word with you?’

‘Please come up. Ninth floor.’

Two minutes later Jamie opened the front door to see a pleasant-looking man of about forty, with a rugged face beneath short, gelled fair hair, a nose that looked like it had been busted, possibly more than once, and sharp, alert, blue eyes. He held up a police warrant card.

‘Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team. Have you heard from your fiancée?’

‘No — not — not anything, not a word. Please come in — thank you for coming. Can I offer you a glass of wine?’

‘No, thank you, I’m fine.’ Grace could smell alcohol on the man’s breath and he looked a little unsteady. He was a burly, bearded man with a rugby player’s build, and with a stacked-up modern hairstyle, dressed in jeans and a V-neck cardigan over a white T-shirt, shoeless in red socks.

He led the detective through into a living room, with a kitchen area partitioned off by a bar, on which stood a beer glass and several empty cans of lager. He ushered him to one of two small sofas either side of a glass coffee table, where copies of Sussex Life and Latest magazine lay.

Susi Holliday, on the other sofa, stood up and greeted Grace with a respectful, ‘Good evening, sir.’

Roy Grace removed his coat, folded it and laid it beside him. Then he studied the man carefully. ‘Can you give me your full name, Mr Ball?’

‘Yes, Jamie Gordon Ball.’

Still watching the man intently, he asked, ‘When did you last see Logan?’

‘This morning, about seven o’clock. She tripped getting out of bed and gashed her toe open on the bathroom door. I would have driven her to the hospital on any other day, but I had a very important early meeting at work.’

Grace noted his reply but made no comment. ‘She gave you no indication that she was going anywhere tonight?’

‘No, none. We’d made plans to have a Chinese tonight — there’s a place nearby that delivers — we have it regularly — and we were going to watch a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad — we’re working our way through it.’

‘Great show,’ Grace said.

‘It is, we’re totally hooked.’

‘Where does Logan work?’

‘In Hove, she’s a chiropractor — she works in a clinic on Portland Road.’

So far, the man’s body language indicated he was telling the truth. ‘How would you describe your relationship?’

Ball was quiet for a moment, then he said, ‘We love each other.’

For the first time the man’s demeanour indicated that he might be lying.

‘Have you set a date for your wedding?’ Grace pressed.

He looked even more uncomfortable now. ‘Yes — well, not exactly.’

‘Not exactly?’

‘We’re sort of — discussing it.’

‘Sort of?’

‘Yes.’ He shrugged, awkwardly.

Grace looked at him even more intently. ‘Has Logan ever done this before — not come home?’

‘Never. Look — I heard her scream. I don’t know if you’ve been down there, but the car park here is really creepy. There’s been a raft of car break-ins and thefts. The management of this place don’t give a toss. She phoned me to say she had seen someone as she drove in. Then she screamed. Then I — ’

He covered his face with his hands.

Grace watched him. His distress seemed genuine. Yet at the same time, he was uncomfortable about the way Ball was describing his relationship with his fiancée — something was not ringing true.

‘Something’s happened to her, Detective — Superintendent — something’s happened to her. This is just not like her. Something’s happened. She’s a strong person, I’ve never heard her sound afraid before. The fear — the fear in her voice.’

‘Tell me what you think has happened to her?’

Jamie Ball shook his head, wildly. ‘I don’t know. But I think she’s been abducted. Kidnapped. Taken.’

‘You’re watching Breaking Bad?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you watch a lot of cop programmes? Crime series?’

‘Quite a lot, yes.’

‘Are you sure you are not being influenced here? Are you one hundred per cent convinced that Logan has been abducted — and not gone somewhere of her own free will?’

‘Yes.’ He fixed his eyes on Roy Grace’s.

Roy Grace left, ten minutes later, unsure about everything except for one certainty. Logan Somerville was missing.

The ANPR evidence seemed to eliminate Jamie Ball. But his body language made him appear guilty. Of something.

What was he lying about?

As Grace drove away he made a mental note that he needed to appoint a Family Liaison Officer first thing in the morning, someone who might be able to shed more light on the relationship.