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‘I was the only one here. He parked and left the keys in the ignition without coming in. I saw him walk away. I couldn’t go after him because I’m not allowed to leave the site unattended.He owes us money. He left us a cash deposit, but his card payment was declined.’
‘In which direction did he walk?’
‘Towards the bus stop.’
‘Where’s that?’
He points down the road. ‘It’s about a quarter of a mile that way. You can get the bus into Chepstow or Swansea.’
‘Did he have anything with him?’
‘Two bags, a duffel and a backpack.’
‘Do you have any CCTV?’
He accesses the footage for her. Filmed from the roof of the building, Patrick does exactly as the man described.
‘Is there a building near the bus stop that might have CCTV?’
‘I doubt it.’
‘Please call me immediately if Patrick Young contacts you.’
‘What’s he done?’
‘We’d like him to help us with some enquiries.’
She finds the bus stop. It’s on a country lane, no CCTV near it. She sighs. They’re going to have to check cameras on the buses travelling in both directions, but that shouldn’t be too hard. They know what time Patrick left here.
She has a thought as she arrives back at the rental place to pick up her own car.
‘Is it possible to look at the sat nav in the Jag to see where Mr Young might have been?’ she asks.
‘We can try.’
She sits in the passenger seat as he looks at the previous destinations. There are four postcodes of interest. She looks them up. The first is the Glass Barn and the second is thesupermarket in Chepstow. The fourth is the car rental place. It’s the third location that’s a mystery to her. She finds the street on Google Maps and uses Street View to look at it.
It’s a long residential street and she feels frustrated. They’ll have to do house-to-house enquiries if they want to find out what he was doing there. But then she sees it: a hostel. She looks it up and gets on the phone to them.
‘Could you please put me through to one of your guests, Patrick Young.’
‘We don’t have phones in our rooms, but I can take a message. Hold on.’ Bingo! Jen hears muffled talking in the background before the receptionist comes back on the line.
‘Sorry, I’m afraid I’ve just been told that Mr Young was here for a night, but he cleared out of his room and didn’t settle his bill. He’s done a runner. If you get hold of him, will you let us know?’
‘Sure,’ Jen says. She hangs up. She’d be willing to bet quite a lot of money that Patrick’s still in the area and not intending to leave any time soon.
66
Friday
Hal
Hal watches his team file out of the Incident Room after their afternoon meeting. Jen didn’t attend. She’s still out trying to track down Patrick Young’s movements.
The strain is showing on his team, in their faces and postures. Nicole Booth’s Facebook post has gone viral and they can’t get to all the calls and messages that are coming in. Leads are piling up and they’re obliged to investigate them all, but finding one that’s helpful will be like locating a needle in a haystack. And that’s on top of the work they were already planning.
Hal wants nothing more than to lean back in his chair and take a nap. He’s been running on just a few hours of sleep every night since taking on the case and it’s starting to catch up with him. He can sense his decision-making slowing, uncertainty creeping in.
