Someone Who Isn't Me Danuta Kot (best books to read .TXT) 📖

will take you there. Check those, and you should find the car you want. Then you can backtrack and find it in Brid.’

It was so obvious, she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it herself – probably because she didn’t think there would be ANPR cameras watching the routes into Sunk Island. It was empty and isolated – almost no one lived there. Why would anyone bother? But sure enough, Curwen was right. The main routes into Sunk Island were under surveillance.

She’d got the information from the cameras and started working her way through the videos. After a couple of hours, her eyes felt sore and dry, so she stretched to get the kinks out of her back, and took five minutes before she returned to the screen. She fast forwarded, watching closely. Nothing, nothing, nothing… There. A car. She stopped the tape and took the details then moved on. OK, Nothing, nothing…

Her thoughts started drifting to the evening Andy had disappeared. He’d left the police station, driven into the town and parked. He’d been going somewhere, but so far, no one knew where. The pub? It was on his route. Was he on his way to see Becca Armitage? Dinah had to tell Hammond about that.

She’d gone to his office that morning, but he was out all day. The information she had was important, of course it was, but she kept thinking about Curwen’s warnings. Maybe she should talk to Curwen first. After all, what had she found out? That the geeky barman thought Becca Armitage and Andy were having a thing. If she told Dave Sykes or someone, the whole team would know at once and speculation about Andy might start. Best take it straight to Hammond tomorrow.

She felt better once that decision had been made and turned back to work.

She’d found Andy’s car on an ANPR camera as it left the police station, an image so clear she could see his face. It gave nothing away – he looked serious, focused on his driving.

It was probably the last picture of him alive.

Andy had been on the afternoon shift, which meant he should have come off duty at eleven that night. He’d missed an end-of-shift meeting with Curwen at ten thirty. It was Curwen who had first raised the alarm, calling Andy’s babysitter to see if he was at home for any reason, and finding out that Andy hadn’t made his usual call around ten to let her know he should be home on time.

A movement on the screen in front of her forced her thoughts to stop wandering.

A car! Damn! Despite everything, she’d let her attention drift. She rewound and watched again from the previous car, forcing herself to concentrate as cars zipped past on the main road, looking for those that slowed and took the turn. The time on the recording was getting close to nine in the evening. It had run now for almost half an hour without any vehicles making the turn-off.

Nothing…

There.

Another car.

And a motorcycle. A car slowed, took the turning onto Sunk Island and then speeded up, closely followed by a bike.

She collected the details of the car, but the bike… it had slewed sideways as if it had skidded, so the camera hadn’t picked the number plate up. Did it matter? She wasn’t looking for a bike. But she captured the image anyway. There’d be enough detail to get make and model information. It should be possible to track the owner down.

OK. Back to the tape. Nothing… nothing… nothing…

Lunchtime came and went. She ate a sandwich at her desk and was just licking the butter off her fingers when Dave Sykes came to check how she was going on. ‘Good thinking, Dinah,’ he said when he saw what she was doing.

‘Mark Curwen suggested it,’ she admitted. Dinah liked praise, but only for things she had worked out for herself. ‘I didn’t think there’d be cameras watching those roads. Why are they even there?’

‘Because there’s no police presence on Sunk Island, and they’ve had a bit of trouble recently. A lot of farm thefts – machinery, vehicles, even livestock taken. It’s covered by the Hull cops, but by the time anyone gets there, they’ve long gone. How’s it going? Have you found anything?’

‘I’m just about done. This is the last camera. I got about twenty vehicles on the other two.’

‘Rush hour.’ Sykes laughed. ‘For Sunk Island, anyway. And this camera?’

‘Maybe ten? I’ll have to check.’

‘Good work. You know if you don’t find what we’re looking for, you’re going to have to widen the search, don’t you? There are ways on and off Sunk Island that aren’t watched by cameras.’

Dinah nodded. She did know that, and she was dreading it. ‘I did this first – if they’re here, I should know in time for tomorrow’s briefing.’

‘Run me through what you’re going to do next.’

‘I’m going to check them against the databases, get details for everyone who was out and about on those roads.’

‘Right. And then?’

‘Get the names and addresses, check them against the Vehicle Licensing Authority – look for fake plates.’

‘The cameras would have flagged that one up, Dinah.’

Of course, she should have known that. ANPR was there to locate suspicious vehicles, vehicles that were carrying number plates that didn’t match the recorded details, wanted people… ‘OK. But maybe check again? And look for known offenders.’

Sykes looked pleased. ‘First rule. Don’t assume that because it should have been done, it has been done. Always check again. OK, then? What do you expect to find on the databases?’

It reminded her, in a way, of how Andy had helped her – not telling her what to do, but letting her talk him through the procedures she was following, commenting and advising where necessary. ‘They’ll be Sunk Island residents. There’s almost no one round here.’ She used her hand to indicate the grey emptiness on the map. ‘But there are villages here and here, just off the main road.’

‘OK. And you’ll eliminate the villagers?’

‘No, they’ll have