Sleep Tight by Rachel Abbott Page A

had been up for hours, but it was still only eleven o’clock in the morning. He had a strange feeling that this day was going to get worse before it got better. Walking over to Becky’s desk, he nodded a polite ‘Good Morning’ to those he passed, and pulled out a chair.
    ‘Update?’ he asked as he sat down.
    ‘The press have been informed, and it made most of the morning news bulletins, although it was too late for the papers. But it’s a Saturday, and I suspect fewer people pay attention to the morning news on TV. It might jog somebody’s memory, but without photos it’s a bit of a non-starter. The house-to-house is under way, and the techies are looking at the laptops. They’re going to give us a preliminary update in about…’ Becky looked at her watch, ‘five minutes, with any luck. We need to commandeer Mr Brookes’ desk-top computer too, despite the fact that his wife was kept out of his study by a locked door.’
    Tom could hear the indignant undertones at the thought of Olivia being barred from entering a room in her own house.
    ‘Any joy in tracking down Danush Jahander?’
    ‘Ah – well not specifically. When he went missing originally there was a note in the file about his brother, a…’ Becky scrolled down the screen on her computer, ‘Samir Jahander. He was much easier to locate because he’s a doctor and lives and works most of each year in Dubai. But it seems he occasionally spends weeks working voluntarily in Iran, and that’s where he is now.’
    ‘So a dead end?’
    ‘We’ve left a message asking him to call us, but in the meantime we spoke to his wife. As far as she knows, Samir hasn’t seen his brother since he visited him in England about a year before Danush disappeared. His name was mud in the family, and Samir came over to try to persuade him to leave Olivia and return to Iran. There was an almighty row, and in the end Samir left without accomplishing his mission.’
    ‘And since then?’ Tom prompted.
    ‘Samir told his wife he’d heard from Danush once, she thinks it was about two years after he disappeared. He was only calling to let his family know he was alive, but apparently he also said that thanks to Samir’s intervention in his relationship with Olivia, he had been forced into making the worst decision of his life and he would never forgive his brother. According to the wife, Samir and Danush had a major argument, and her husband has never mentioned him since.’
    Tom pulled a face. ‘Did you manage to get any photos we could use?’
    Becky rooted through the piles of papers on her desk, which Tom knew would be much more organised than they appeared to be.
    ‘The only ones we have are from when he was with Olivia – so they must be at least nine years old. They’re the ones she provided at the time.’ He could see Becky’s eyes lingering on the smiling face of Danush Jahander, his full lips turned up in a beaming smile displaying perfect white teeth, and his curly dark hair brushed back from a smooth, broad forehead. A bit different from Becky’s fifty-odd-year-old ex-lover, he couldn’t help thinking – and a damn sight better looking.
    Becky’s phone was ringing, so he left her to it while he stared at Danush Jahander’s photo. He looked like a decent guy, with what appeared to be a genuine smile that definitely reached his deep brown eyes, but Tom wasn’t naive enough to believe that looks counted for much. He could have been a right bastard for all they knew.
    He was momentarily distracted by Becky’s conversation.
    ‘Are you sure about this, Gil?’ she asked. There was a pause. ‘Okay, well could you please surface from below decks and explain it to DCI Douglas, who’s sitting opposite me right now. I think we need to understand a bit more about this. Right – we’ll see you in a few minutes then.’ Becky hung up.
    Tom gave her a quizzical look, and waited.
    ‘Gil’s going to explain how FaceTime works, and what’s been going on with