The Keeper by Luke Delaney Page B

her since she started here, must be nearly five years ago.’
    ‘And what about you, Tina?’ Sean wanted to drag her into the conversation.
    ‘About three years,’ she answered quietly. ‘That’s when I started here. Louise really looked after me, and Gabby too,’ she added, so as not to upset her friend.
    Sean had already decided there was nothing here for him. He continued the standard questions, barely listening to the replies.
    ‘Things sometimes happen at work that stay at work,’ he suggested. ‘Things that never find their way home. You know what I mean?’ Everyone in the office did.
    ‘Not Louise,’ Gabby said firmly. ‘If anything like that had happened, we’d know about it for sure and I’d tell you now if it was. I wouldn’t risk lying to you.’
    ‘You’re her best friends, so I guess you would know,’ Sean encouraged.
    ‘We would,’ Gabby reaffirmed. ‘And there wasn’t. If Louise went out without John she would be out with us. We would’ve known. She loves John. All she ever talked about was John and how they were going to start a family soon.’
    ‘What about an unwanted admirer?’ Sean asked as a last procedural question. ‘Someone hanging around outside the office waiting for her? Someone other than the husband sending flowers, cards?’
    The three colleagues looked blankly at each other before Gabby answered for them all.
    ‘No. Not that I ever saw and not that she ever mentioned.’
    ‘What about at home? Anyone making a nuisance of themselves?’
    ‘Same,’ said Gabby. ‘Nothing. If there had been, she would have reported it to the police.’
    They were interrupted by Sean’s phone ringing on the borrowed desk. He glanced at the caller ID. It was Donnelly.
    ‘Excuse me,’ he said, snatching the phone up, turning his back on them for false privacy. ‘What’s happening?’
    ‘We’ve found the car,’ Donnelly told him.
    ‘Where?’
    ‘A place called Scrogginhall Wood, in Norman Park, Bromley.’
    ‘Bromley!’ Sean exclaimed. ‘That’s only a few miles from her home.’
    ‘You were expecting something different?’ Donnelly queried.
    Sean realized he’d been thinking out loud. ‘No,’ he muttered. ‘Not necessarily.’ He already had a strong feeling that whoever had taken Louise Russell was local. She hadn’t been snatched by some long-distance lorry driver or salesman on a trip down South. No, this one was from somewhere within the borders of this forgotten part of London. ‘What state’s the car in?’
    ‘Locked and secure, apparently. No signs of damage or a struggle. A routine uniform patrol found it in the car park while they were looking for local toe-rags who screw the cars there with annoying regularity.’
    ‘Are you already with the car?’ Sean asked.
    ‘No,’ said Donnelly. ‘I’m on my way. ETA about fifteen minutes.’
    ‘Fine. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. Travelling time from Forest Hill,’ Sean explained. ‘Make sure uniform preserve it and the car park for Forensics. And have the AA meet us there to get the thing open. I don’t want any over-keen constables smashing the windows in.’
    ‘It’ll be done,’ Donnelly assured him.
    Sean hung up and turned to his waiting audience.
    ‘Have you found something?’ Montieth asked, his lips pale with dread.
    ‘We’ve found her car,’ Sean told them, seeing no point in keeping it a secret. Montieth’s eyes widened, while Gabby started to cry and Tina covered her mouth with both hands, as if pushing the scream of anxiety back inside her. ‘It’s just her car,’ Sean tried to reassure them. ‘There’s no sign of a struggle, nothing to suggest anything untoward has happened to her.’ Gathering up his belongings, he told them, ‘I need to get to where the car was found as quickly as I can, so I’m afraid I’ll have to cut our meeting short. Thanks for all your help. I promise I’ll be in touch if we find anything.’ During the long months without Sally at his