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Dominic’s ears pricked at the mention of the similarity to their current case. ‘She was dating? Do you have his details?’

‘I’m afraid I don’t. She’d only just met him. She joined a dating app for women over forty. Said she was too old to date otherwise and was thrilled when she matched with someone. She showed me his photograph though.’

Dominic leaned forward. ‘We need to talk to anyone who saw Maddy in her last days. Can you describe him, or sit with an artist to do a composite?’

She shook her head. ‘The photograph was awful. I laughed at her.’ Gwen’s hand went up to her mouth. ‘I actually laughed at her. That she had chosen to go on a date with someone she couldn’t see from the photo. She in turn scolded me for being so shallow. Oh, I don’t mean we had a falling out or anything, it was more relaxed than that. After the divorce she was the shell of the woman I knew her to be. It had taken her a while to start dating again. Her husband wasn’t a good man and had made her feel less than human. It was so good to see her excited about going out.’ She sobbed again and Dominic comforted her until her sister arrived.

Chapter 27

Dominic

Dominic gathered the team. Kapoor was waiting for him so they could do the press conference, but Dominic wanted to pass on the details of the meeting with Gwen Grady before he moved on to the next step.

Paul had stopped at the bakers and they all had a sandwich or pasty in their hands, chewing as they listened.

Dominic tried to make a start on the chicken sandwich Paul had brought him but it was difficult to talk and eat at the same time. He swallowed what he had in his mouth. His stomach gurgled. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was. ‘We have the husband’s details so I’ll pay him a visit tomorrow. Get a timeline of activity from him. Paying particular attention to when Maddy went missing.’

‘Does Mum think the ex-husband could have something to do with it? Do we think he did the first one to cover up this one?’ Rhys wiped grease away from his chin.

‘Mum didn’t specifically lay blame at the ex-husband’s door but was critical of him during the time Madeleine was married to him. As far as we’re concerned, we’re following the evidence. We’ll talk to him and see what he says. We could also ask him if he’d voluntarily allow us to examine his mobile phone. We can check for the app and for a photo of a male barely visible because of the sun breaking out behind him.’ Dominic took another bite and listened as his stomach anticipated food again.

‘Rhys, will you log all this on HOLMES, please, while I go and do the press conference with the boss?’

‘You bet.’

‘You said something about the app, what did she give you?’ Hayley threw her empty paper bag into the bin under her desk.

‘Surprisingly Gwen knew the app Madeleine was using to meet guys. She said it was a phone app called Close to Me. It’s geared specifically for people over forty.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Like you’re supposed to be over the hill at that age and it’s more difficult to meet someone.’

‘Lucky you have the missus, eh, Dom?’ Krish laughed.

‘You mean she’s lucky, don’t you?’ Dominic gave them a cheesy grin.

There was a collective groan and Dom shook his head and finished his sandwich.

Hayley spoke again. ‘You want us to submit an information request to Close to Me and access Madeleine’s account, see who this bloke is she was meeting? If it’s the same photo — and we can check that with Helen Butler, once we have it — then it looks like we have our man and our MO.’

Dominic screwed up the paper bag his sandwich had been wrapped up in. It had filled a hole inside of him but for some reason he was still in need of something else. The problem with the job when they were this busy was it rarely gave you time to sit and eat anything properly. Your diet went out the window during an initial investigation. You ate nothing but easy, crap food. This left you feeling hollowed out and low and lacking in energy when you needed it the most. It was a time when you should be making the effort to take care of yourself better. The occasional cop packed themselves a salad the night before and tried to eat well but the behaviour soon stopped when the late nights tired you out so much you just wanted to slide into bed when you got home and not bother about your next day’s meals.

The incident door opened and Kapoor stalked in. ‘There you are, Dom. I wondered if you’d make it back in time. How did it go?’ He paused, noted the tired faces. ‘Never mind, catch me up later, we have to get this press conference done. Jonathan and Helen Butler are here, they’re waiting for us in my office.’

He’d forgotten they’d be here for this. He was exhausted and drained just thinking about what was to come. Press conferences were not the most fun part of the job. Not that any of the job was fun, but some of it was interesting. He couldn’t even put this in that category.

He stood, brushed away any crumbs that clung to him and stretched himself out, lifting his arms over his head and pulling them up, speaking to the team as he did. ‘You know what you’ve got on. I’ll leave you with it and if I don’t see you after this I’ll catch up with you bright and early in the morning.’

It had been a long day and unusually the