But what none of the other people in this room knows is that the clowns still very much figure in Cody’s life. They are still terrorising him.
And how is Grace privy to this astounding piece of information?
Because she has met one of the clowns.
It was the most petrifying moment of her life, and it occurred because Cody had recruited her to help him. Her! Not Webley. Not any of the other hotshot detectives here. Grace Meade was the only person Cody thought capable of saving him from his evil tormentors.
Cody said a lot of things to her afterwards. Gave her the full story of the clowns’ campaign against him. Told Grace how indebted he was to her but also how sorry he was for dragging her into his troubles. And he pleaded with her to keep his secret. Only the two of them could ever know.
How could she refuse? It was an invitation to forge a bond stronger than those made by lovers.
DC Webley, you know nothing about that man you’re fawning over right now.
Grace smiles smugly.
Because there’s more to this. Something not even Cody himself knows.
She is continuing to assist Cody.
Like the Liam Neeson character in the film Taken, Grace has a set of skills that put her in a unique position to find the enemy. She spends a good portion of her time every night scouring the internet. Cody told her that Waldo, the head honcho of the clown assailants, recruited his gang via the internet. He found social misfits and groomed them, offering them experiences beyond their wildest dreams. Experiences that eventually culminated in torture and murder.
What that tells Grace is that there will be clues out there as to their identities. She just needs to find them. She has access to information on the internet that most people cannot reach, and she is constantly developing and honing software tools to help her search the vast amount of data.
One day, she will know exactly who Waldo is and where he can be found, and that will be her gift to Cody.
So stick that in your pipe and smoke it, DC Webley.
A flurry of activity from the front of the room pulls Grace’s attention back to her work. DCI Stella Blunt’s arrival marks the start of the morning briefing. She stands square on to her team, her formidable figure and grim expression commanding instant silent respect. Top priority on the agenda, of course, is finding the murderer of Alexa Selby.
Grace watches and listens to the discussion, alert to any opportunity to offer her services.
‘Forensics?’ Blunt asks.
Dev Chandra, the crime scene manager, answers. ‘Not much to report, I’m afraid. Plenty of evidence of Oliver Selby having been at the crime scene, but then it was his bedroom. There’s nothing specifically pointing to anyone else’s presence there at the time of the murder.’
‘All right, then Oliver Selby remains our prime suspect. So can someone please tell me where he is?’
The detectives look at each other in defeat.
‘He’s hiding himself well,’ Cody says. ‘There’s no activity on his mobile phone, and his car reg isn’t pinging the ANPR cameras. We’re visiting his regular haunts, including his gym, his golf club and his local pub. We’re talking to his family, friends, business contacts, customers – basically anyone who knows him. So far, we haven’t found anyone who admits to knowing where he is or even that they’ve heard from him since the murder.’
‘What about Alexa Selby? I assume she’s still a key focus of this investigation.’
Grace finds herself nodding. Know the victim, she thinks. Even in death, the victim can help you find their killer.
‘Of course,’ Cody says. ‘Her phone wasn’t found in the house, and it’s also inactive. But as with her husband, we’re trying to speak to anyone who knew her or came into contact with her. At the moment, we don’t even know why Oliver might have wanted to kill her.’
‘No idea of motive or where the prime suspect can be found is not really what I was hoping to hear this morning, Nathan.’
Grace smiles at this. Blunt is the only person in this room who calls Cody by his first name. And the disapproving look she sends his way does a terrible job of masking her gratefulness for his existence.
Blunt says, ‘What about this guy Alexa fell out with at the leisure centre?’
‘Toby Hooper. Yeah, we spoke to him yesterday. A real oddball with a fixation on Alexa, but he seemed genuinely shocked when we told him she’d been killed. Personally, I don’t think he had anything to do with her death.’
‘Hmm.’ Blunt casts her withering gaze over her audience. ‘Where are we with CCTV?’
Grace’s ears prick up as one of the detectives answers.
‘We’ve made a start. Trouble is, there’s a lot of it to go through. We’re collecting it from the area around the house, the jewellery shop, from traffic cameras, from in and around the leisure centre… It’s going to take time.’
And now Grace decides her invitation is there. She raises a tentative hand. When Blunt appears not to notice, Grace adds a gentle cough.
‘Grace?’ Blunt prompts.
Grace stands up. She’s not sure why she feels the need to do this every time. Something about making herself visible before she disappears into the shadows again.
‘I, er, I think I might be able to help with that. I’ve been developing some software…’
She falters, not sure how to continue. She often gets the impression that people switch off their hearing and their eyes glaze over when she talks about her area of expertise.
Fortunately, Blunt doesn’t need more. ‘Thank you, Grace. Anything you can do to speed things up would be appreciated.’ She turns back to the detective. ‘Get copies of the CCTV footage to Grace, please.’
As Blunt moves on to the next item, Grace lowers herself into her chair. She has tried not to make too big a thing of her offer, in case she doesn’t find anything.
But she’ll make sure that everyone will know about it if she does.
Especially Cody.
