THE LOST BOY an unputdownable psychological thriller full of breathtaking twists by MARGARET MURPHY

Author:MARGARET MURPHY [MURPHY, MARGARET]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime, thriller and mystery
Published: 2020-12-13T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Sallis clicked his fingers at Mike Delaney. Mike paused in his conversation with the manager of the credit card company. The clerical staff seated near Sallis also fell quiet.

‘Where?’ Sallis said. ‘Long stay, level C. Right. Got it. Cheers, mate.’ He hung up. ‘Mrs Fournier’s car,’ he explained. ‘Manchester airport. Did they find her car keys at the house?’

Mike shook his head. ‘They’ll have to break in.’

Sallis nodded at the receiver in Mike’s hand. ‘Sarge . . . you haven’t put the credit card company on hold?’

Mike grinned. ‘Taste of their own medicine.’ The civilian clerical staff and CID had spent the afternoon checking all the major credit card companies to find out if Mrs Fournier had an account with them. It had taken an hour of phone calls, faxes, call backs and security checks to make contact with someone who had the authority to answer his questions. ‘Ask the boss if we can have a forensics team sent over there.’ Mike punched a number on the keypad of his desk phone.

‘Mr Whittle, sorry about that. We need to know if anything has been cashed on Mrs Fournier’s card since last Friday — here or abroad. Can you do that?’

‘We should be able to give you that information immediately a transaction is made,’ Mr Whittle said. He scrolled through Angeline Fournier’s account details. ‘There are a lot of outgoings in Italy and France.’

‘After Friday?’

‘No . . . nothing since then, but she did book a flight with BA ten days ago. You’d be able to get the flight details from the airline, if I give you her card number.’

It took another two hours to find out that Mrs Fournier had not used her credit cards since booking her airline tickets. She had bought £2,000 worth of traveller’s cheques and £500 in euros at the same time. Her flight out was on Wednesday the seventh, from Manchester to Hendaye, near the Spanish border. Her return flight was scheduled two weeks later.

‘The only money in her purse was a few euro cents,’ Douglas said.

Mike, Sallis and Douglas had gathered in DI Crank’s office. ‘American Express are trying to find out if she cashed any of the traveller’s cheques,’ Mike said. ‘But if they were spent in shops, it depends how fast they process them — it could be days before we know.’

DI Crank eyed Mike Delaney as if he had imparted this information with the distinct intention of spoiling his day. ‘Was she definitely on the flight out last Wednesday?’

‘According to BA.’

Crank scratched his chin. ‘So why did she come back early? And why didn’t she use her credit card?’

‘She had plenty of cash with her.’

‘Maybe. But why leave her car at the airport?’

‘Maybe she didn’t come back by plane,’ Sallis offered. ‘She could’ve come back on the ferry.’

‘Or she could’ve got a flight back,’ Mike suggested, ‘driven home, and then whoever killed her took the car and drove it back.’

‘A bit of a coincidence, isn’t it?’ Douglas chipped in. ‘She drives home, he tops her and then takes her car all the way back to the same airport.

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