Tommy slept fitfully in the two hours he got any rest. Most of the night he paced his room. An uneasiness settled on him like snow. At first, it was light and barely noticeable. Then it fell over his mood in a series of increasingly violent storms until it was so thick and heavy he could barely breathe. He showered and shaved but with a shaky hand, he nicked his cheek leaving an angry line just under his left eye. Barbara would ask him about it and he felt foolish about confessing that he had fretted all night about their parting. His justification was that if he had kissed her, he would not have left. He had not wanted to leave. He looked in the mirror. "I wanted to stay. I want to stay. Every night. Damn it!"

While it seemed perfectly natural in one way that their first kiss would lead straight to bed, Tommy was not sure he wanted that. He needed her to understand his love was not about sex. Yes, ultimately he wanted that too, but mostly he wanted to show he loved her, and to enjoy her love, just by lying together, relaxing in a way neither of them had done since childhood; being free to just be themselves without pretension or expectation. He closed his eyes and smiled. He would tell her he loved her. He would lean over at breakfast and whisper it in her ear, along with a question he needed her to answer. His new determination helped to push aside his disquiet, but somewhere at the back of his mind, the fear still lurked. It would go as soon as he saw her.


Tommy was the second person to breakfast. They had rearranged the dining room into smaller tables. He found one by the window that seated only two people. He might have to share her during the day, but he was not sharing her now. He poured himself a cup of tea from the black-handled steel jug that was so ubiquitous amongst chain hotels. The buffet looked adequate but unappetising. White bowls filled with limp fruit in cloudy liquid sat beside oversized clear plastic dishes of cheap cereals. The heat lamps in the overly hot bain-marie glared yellow light at an insipid and defenceless array of fried eggs, watery bacon, baked beans swimming in an almost orange tomato sauce, and tomato halves topped with burnt cheese. He wrinkled his nose and returned to his seat.

Ten minutes passed with no sign of Barbara. For her to miss the beginning of breakfast when she had her choice of food to pick over was unheard of. He rang her phone. There was no answer, and it passed to voicemail. He hung up without leaving a message assuming she was in the bathroom and would be down soon. The earlier uneasiness resurfaced leaving him flushed and worried.

"Are you eating, Sir, or waiting for someone?"

Tommy looked up to see an attractive but slightly overweight waitress smiling at him. "Oh, waiting." He glanced at his watch. "Actually, I will go and find my sergeant. She was supposed to meet me at eight."

He hurried down the corridor and knocked on the door. "Barbara. It's me. I know you're probably still mad at me, but you need to eat breakfast."

There was no answer. He knocked again. The hair at the base of his skull prickled. "Barbara! Barbara!" He banged his fist hard on the timber. "Open the door. Please."

Again there was no answer. Something was wrong. He dialled his phone. Her annoying musical tone echoed behind the door. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his mind. Barbara needed his help, not his panic. He dialled his phone again."Sir, it's Lynley. I believe Malcolm Scott has kidnapped DS Havers."

"What? Don't be preposterous." Hillier sounded more confused than angry. "You can't accuse him of that. And where is Havers?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be calling you. She's not in her room and hasn't come for breakfast. The man was obsessed with her yesterday. I think he has taken her."

"You are jumping to conclusions. Is she answering her phone?"

"No, I can hear it ringing inside her room."

"I'll come down. What room?"

"One twelve."

"On my way. Stay there and do nothing stupid."

When the line cleared, Tommy immediately dialled his constable, DC Nkata. "Winston, phone Stuart. I want both of you up here. Barb... DS Havers has been kidnapped."

"Sir? Kidnapped? By whom?"

"Malcolm Scott, a criminologist. He developed an unhealthy obsession with her yesterday. She is not in her room, and I know he has taken her. We're at Northgate Manor, it's one of those large conference hotels in Essex."

He hung up. He could not face more questions right now. He needed to consider everything. Barbara was still alive, he was sure of that. If not, his gut would tell him. He rued not obeying his instinct last night and returning to her. Now Scott had the advantage of several hours. He closed his eyes but opened them when an image of Barbara lying trussed up, gagged and blindfolded appeared. He tried to wipe the picture from his mind. It seemed inappropriate that she was dressed in her underwear. "I'm a fool," he muttered, "I should have stayed."

He looked at the door. Had she heard him tell her he wanted to stay? Did she know he loved her? What if... she died without knowing? He ran his hand through his hair. "Arghhh!"

"Lynley," Hillier said, "tell me what happened."

Tommy quickly explained how Scott had made Barbara feel uncomfortable. He told Hillier an abridged version of how he had escorted her to her room. "I think she wanted me to stay awhile, but I was thinking about what people might say, so I left her. And now... to hell what anyone thought. She's my partner, I should have kept her safe."

"You could have swapped rooms if you were worried," Hillier said bluntly.

That made Tommy feel worse. "We need to check Scott's room. I have already sent for Lafferty and DC Nkata. Then we need to start a systematic search..."

Hillier held up his hand. "First, we don't know if Havers is missing. Second, we have no proof that Scott has her. We need to locate him. Third, if we cannot find her, I am putting DCI Mathews in charge of the investigation."

"But Havers is my partner."

"Precisely why you are not leading this case. You are too... emotionally invested. And you are a key witness." Hillier put his hand on Tommy's arm. "I know what she means to you. If she is missing, we will find her."

"Do you? Do you have any idea how... impotent I feel not doing anything?"

"You will do everything you can, just as we will, but you are not leading this."

Hiller called Jim Mathews down and explained the potential situation. He was a competent young officer, fast-tracked as Lynley had been. Unaware that Tommy had refused promotion three times to stay with Barbara, the man was always a little smug with him as he believed they had passed Tommy over. Mathews' face showed genuine concern that an officer may have someone may have taken an officer. He smiled tightly at Tommy, a genuinely sympathetic look as if he understood far more than he was letting on. Tommy nodded. Perhaps it was beneficial to have a perceptive officer run the case.

"I'll see the manager and send someone to bring the key for this room. I will discreetly search for Scott. If he is not in the hotel, I will search his room."

Hillier nodded. "Thank you. Lynley has already sent for Lafferty so if Scott is not in, just do a preliminary search. We may need forensic evidence."

"Understood, Sir," Mathews said before turning to Tommy. "We'll find her Lynley."

Tommy nodded.


It was five minutes before the Assistant Manager bustled down the corridor with a master key. "We have no trouble in our hotel," he told them as if he thought they blamed him.

Tommy quickly surveyed the man's demeanour. There was something not right, but Tommy could not put his finger on it. "I am sure you don't."

Inside, the room was much as it had been when he had left. Barbara's case was open, and she had thrown her trousers and shirt in a pile on the floor beside it. The bed still had the indentations of where they had sat. The bathroom light was on, and the robe behind the door was missing. The only sign of a struggle was her phone lying facedown by the bed. Tommy kicked it over and groaned when he saw the screen was cracked.

"He must have taken her soon after I left."

Hillier frowned. "I admit it looks as if Havers left involuntarily."

Tommy looked at the Assistant Manager as he shifted from one foot to the other. "Is there CCTV footage of the corridor? We need to see any from 10:45 last night onwards."

The man looked as if he had just been told of his imminent death. "Yes... I... he told me she was his girlfriend"

Tommy turned and reached for the man. "What."

Hillier stepped between them. "Who told you?" he demanded. His voice was even more savage than Tommy's.

"Err... Mr... Scott. He said he wanted to surprise her. I thought..."

Tommy leant forward. "How much did he pay you?"

"Noth..." The man looked down. "One hundred pounds."

"And you didn't think that was suspicious? If he was her boyfriend why not just knock on the door?"

"I..."

"Were greedy. I imagine Scott didn't offer to pay, did he? That would have been your suggestion."

The man shuffled his feet. "Wages here are quite low."

"What time was this?"

"About eleven. Maybe a bit later."

Tommy's phone rang. He pushed past the pathetic excuse for a man into the corridor. "Lynley."

"Tommy, it's Jim. Did you find anything?"

"The Assistant Manager gave him a key to Sergeant Havers' room. It looks like Scott took her at about 11 pm. That means he has at least nine hours to transport her goodness knows where. Any clues up there?"

"Er, yes. How far away is Lafferty?"

"She's not..."

"Hell no. Sorry. No, there's no sign of Havers, but there are things we need him to examine. I think you and Hillier had better get up here. Room 334. I'll send my sergeant down to arrest the Assistant manager."


Tommy stared at the open laptop. Mathews had used a pen on the keyboard not expecting it to flash up. Tommy was almost sorry it had. Several photos of Barbara taken throughout yesterday danced across the screen. The man was obsessed with her.

"Oh shit," Mathews uttered, "that's not...?"

Tommy shook his head. "No, Barbara was shot several years ago in the abdomen. She would have scars."

"So Photoshop?"

Tommy nodded. "Probably, Barbara's head is from those other photos. I presume he pasted them onto some naked women. Turn it off. It disgusts me."

Mathews went to close the laptop. "Ooo."

"What?"

The DCI pointed to the keyboard. Tommy looked down. there were three sticky patches. "Lafferty will test it, but it looks like semen." It surprised him how matter-of-fact he sounded. Inside a small rage was slowly developing. The thought of Mr Bean 2 sitting and pleasuring himself over images of Barbara was beyond disgusting. When he caught Scott, and he knew he would be the one to do it, he would tear him apart, cell by cell.

"Sir." A young man burst into the room. His face was red and his breathing laboured.

Mathews looked up. "What is it, Forster?"

"A hotel robe... in the trees by the lake..." He paused as he sucked in air. "It..." The man looked at Lynley then looked away. "It has blood on it. A lot of blood."

Mathews' face fell. He looked at Tommy. "Any sign of...?"

The man shook his head. "No, but they're all out looking; combing the lake edge and trees."

"Thank you. I'll ask Hillier to call in the police divers."

Tommy shook his head. "She's not there. She's not dead. I would know."

Mathews' patted his arm as if comforting a child. "We have to look."

Tommy left the room. He needed air. He walked downstairs and out to the carpark to wait for Winston and Stuart. All he could think was, "I'm so sorry, Barbara. I wanted to stay."