Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

details and current account balance, and the name of his employer, Tellit Communications. He had no criminal record and a first-class degree in computer science. Photographs from his passport application and his driving licence were next. Then came a separate list of details for his late wife. A note from Stacey read, Can’t find a UK bank account. No employment history after marriage. NHS records for both coming later. At the bottom of the report, there was another note from Stacey.

Tellit are more than just a mobile phone company. They deal in a wide range of electronic communication. Among their contracts are the comms system used by the ANPR cameras and also one of the main systems used by fire and ambulance services. Working for Tellit could give GT access to a vast range of data. His actual job seems quite low level for his skills. But sometimes the side benefits of data access outweigh that!

    Carol read the note with an increasing surge of excitement. A viable suspect. She didn’t know much about Gareth Taylor, but already she had more belief in him as a potential killer than in Tony. She forwarded the link to Paula, adding a note: Check with ANPR for any sightings of Taylor’s vehicle near body dumps, or homes and workplaces of victims. Am going to stake out Tellit office/Taylor’s house.
    The address Stacey had supplied for Gareth Taylor’s workplace was on the other side of the city centre, so Carol decided to change car parks. But before she did, she called Stacey. ‘Brilliant job,’ she said as soon as Stacey answered. ‘Does Tellit have a staff car park?’
    ‘I’ll get right back to you.’
    Five minutes ticked past to the sound of Carol beating time on her steering wheel. Then her phone beeped. The text from Stacey read, No dedicated car park. But discount parking in Ramshorn Street multi-storey.
    Ten minutes later, Carol was cruising the car park, looking for Gareth Taylor’s red BMW. She found it on the third floor but she couldn’t find another slot with a view of his car. She sat for a moment with her engine idling, wondering what to do next. Now she knew where his wheels were, she could always leave the car park and set up outside. But she’d have to be careful where she chose. Leaving the multi-storey, drivers could turn left or right. If she parked facing the wrong way, she could be stranded, given the appalling turning circle of the Land Rover. Or she could circle round inside the car park, taking temporary station in areas that weren’t, strictly speaking, parking spaces.
    In the end, she settled for a side road a little further down the street. She could emerge quickly enough on his tail from there, she reckoned. The Land Rover was about as far from an ideal surveillance vehicle as it was possible to get, especially in the city centre, but the one advantage it possessed was its height. She could stay several cars behind Taylor and still remain in touch with his car. At this time of day, nothing moved faster than a crawl in town anyway, so it wasn’t like she was going to lose him at the lights.
    All the same, Carol knew she would have to find another solution if the surveillance ended up lasting any length of time. Wrong vehicle, not to mention that she was sitting on a double yellow line. She daren’t leave the Landie in case she got ticketed, clamped or towed. Now she was beginning to realise how much she’d taken for granted when she had still been a copper. How in hell did private eyes manage any kind of effective stake-out?
    Luckily for her nerves, she didn’t have long to wait. Barely twenty minutes had passed when the scarlet nose of Taylor’s BMW stopped at the exit barrier. He turned right, and Carol fell in behind him with three cars between them.
    Their progress across town was slow, the rush-hour stream of buses, cars, vans and trams clogging the tight mesh of streets that had been built for horses and carts two centuries before. But as they left the city centre and moved into the outer suburbs, the traffic thinned and Carol had to work a bit harder at staying in touch but unobtrusive. From the route Taylor had taken, it looked as if he was heading home. Carol couldn’t help wondering where he was in his murderous cycle. Did he have another victim lined up? Was there already another woman in captivity? It was clear that he kept them before he killed him. Might he be headed back to an imprisoned victim right now?
    The short-term answer to her question came