Ghost Country by Chris Petit

Author:Chris Petit
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2022-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

When Charlotte didn’t answer her door Parker persuaded a hotel housemaid who was turning down beds for the night to check the room. He made up a story about her being unwell and not answering calls. The woman knocked, waited, knocked again then used a key card.

The bed lay undisturbed. Charlotte’s case was on the luggage rack. Her coat was on a hanger. Phone and bag were on the dressing table. In it were her purse and passport.

Parker took Charlotte’s phone down to the lobby. Her password proved no obstacle as he had seen her use it. Her last text received was his, saying he was away for a few hours. He asked at reception and drew a blank. He hung around, checking the revolving door, hoping to see her walk in as normal. Outside the uniformed doorman in his silly top hat was bossing the forecourt.

Parker went out and described Charlotte. For all the man’s slow show of remembering, he worked Parker like a taxi meter, while continuing to greet and salute.

It cost Parker ten quid; the note was expertly palmed.

The doorman remembered her leaving with a man and not wearing a coat. The man was well dressed and had a Mercedes. From the doorman’s description, it sounded like Father Jerome’s gun-toting thug.

Parker called Delia, the policewoman whose number was on Charlotte’s phone. She picked up more or less straight away. He could hear children in the background, a girl’s squeal of delight, followed by a barking dog. It sounded like he was interrupting their supper. He tried to imagine a world of childcare and couldn’t get even close.

He told her how Charlotte had been seen leaving the hotel.

‘Most likely with Lafferty. She has been gone most of the day and she didn’t take anything with her, no phone or personal belongings.’

Delia sounded concerned. She was about to start a night shift and said, ‘I’ll see if anything has come in.’

Parker took up a position in a corner of the lobby and checked messages. Nothing.

Delia texted forty minutes later asking Parker if he knew who the man in the attached image was.

It was a traffic camera frame grab, clear enough to show Charlotte driving a Mercedes. The man was Cross.

Parker wondered what on earth she was doing driving around with Cross when she had last been seen with Lafferty. Had she been abducted? Or did her being at the wheel suggest they were somehow all in it together?

He called Delia, who said the Mercedes was registered as Lafferty’s and it had been picked up by a tracking system capable of extracting and storing vehicle features for instant recall.

‘It was logged at 2.35pm on the M1, entering at Junction 14, exiting two miles later at 13. Otherwise they must have travelled on roads without cameras. No sightings since but sooner or later the car’ll resurface.’

Parker didn’t share her optimism. Why was Cross suddenly in the picture?

He hung up just as Charlotte’s phone rang. It was an unidentified caller. Parker answered, saying nothing.

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