At the bottom of the cupboard there were four pairs of worn trainers, a pair of heavy boots and some thick-soled canvas boots. It smelt of moth balls. Jack bent down to look beneath the bed. There was an old newspaper, along with a lot of dust. He then carefully stripped the bed, searching every inch of it. He found nothing, not even a tissue. The bedroom, like the hall, had no photographs or pictures. The walls were the same cream colour, and the curtains were drawn over the barred window, which looked out into the yard.

  Jack had never searched a room that was so devoid of anything personal, apart from the clothing. It felt like a prison cell. He went back out into the hall as Laura was coming out of the room that Amanda was using.

  ‘There’s just a sleeping bag, a cupboard, a hard-backed chair, and a rope-handled chest containing tools. Amanda has her holdall with a few dirty items in it. The other clothes are folded on the floor next to the sleeping bag. There are some dirty ashtrays, a bottle of water, and an empty bottle of vodka.’

  ‘Does she have a mobile?’ Jack asked.

  Laura passed it to him. It was an old flip-style model and had a low battery signal. Jack told Laura to ask Amanda for a charger so that they could see what was on it. He then went into the kitchen which was situated at the rear of the basement. The window in there was barred, but the surfaces appeared to be clean. The lino flooring was a dark red with numerous indentations, as if from high-heeled shoes. A Formica-topped folding table was leaning against a wall with two pine chairs with plastic seat cushions. Together they searched through the cupboards. One contained china, with plates and mugs neatly lined up, and another cupboard was filled with tinned food, mostly soups, tuna, and baked beans. There was also an open packet of crackers.

  Beneath the sink were various pots and pans and there was cutlery in the drawer next to it, as well as on the draining board. Jack examined the sharp-looking carving knives that were being stored in a wooden knife-holder.

  Laura grimaced when she opened the fridge. It was full of rotting food, including some lettuce and tomatoes that had gone watery and mouldy, as well as a bottle of curdled milk and some very out-of-date yogurts.

  ‘Amanda obviously doesn’t cook for herself,’ Jack observed. ‘What’s she doing now?’

  ‘She just put on an old pair of joggers and got back into the sleeping bag,’ Laura said.

  ‘This place gives me the creeps; it’s like nobody’s living here, even though he’s been renting it for years. Right, we do a clean sweep first then look for secret hiding places.’

  Laura nodded. ‘The bathroom, apart from needing a good clean, has only a few toiletries in it: shampoo, deodorant and some cologne. Amanda’s washbag is in there, very nasty. The towels look dirty as well, but there’s nothing else. I even looked to see if the bath panel came away, but the nails are rusted, so it doesn’t appear to have ever been taken out. I also ran a test over a few tiles in case there was any blood . . .’

  Jack was about to walk away when Laura took his elbow.

  ‘But I want you to see something.’ She led him back to the bathroom and pointed to a modern shower unit with new tile surrounds. ‘That must have cost a fair bit!’

  Jack nodded. She bent down to what looked like an old electrical box attached to the wall. She eased the small door open as Jack watched over her shoulder. On the small shelves were rows of plastic containers filled with pills, as well as bottles with cork stoppers, all labelled.

  ‘I’ve photographed everything on my mobile; he’s got a virtual pharmacy in there.’

  Jack nodded, unimpressed. He went into the sitting room which contained a worn sofa, two covered armchairs, and a frayed rug over the threadbare fitted carpet. There was a reasonably modern gas fire, and a small coffee table with an ashtray full of cigarette stubs as well as numerous candles with pools of wax around them. There were two dirty glasses and some well-thumbed magazines next to an old-fashioned computer. On the wall was a very large plasma TV with a DVD player and a stack of DVDs and CDs. There was also a fancy-looking stereo system with enormous speakers either side of the room.

  Jack bent down to look through the CDs, which were a mixture of heavy metal, rock and new age music. Many of them looked new, and they were arranged in alphabetical order.

  ‘I think he must have an obsessive streak, these all look new, maybe nicked,’ he said. ‘And this equipment must have cost a bundle, especially for someone living on benefits. He certainly likes his comforts, and this is a top-of-the-range computer. Right, we’re going to take this in. There are plenty of mobile charging cables, but I haven’t seen a mobile other than Amanda’s, have you?’

  ‘No, just hers. It’s just like all the other rooms in here, with no pictures or photographs. Doesn’t feel as if a young guy was living here, never mind his girlfriend.’

  Laura was sifting through a waste bin that was filled to the brim with old takeaway food cartons and McDonald’s containers.

  Jack removed the cushions from the sofa but found nothing. He then did the same with the two armchairs, only finding a couple of cigarette stubs and a few coins.

  ‘OK, let’s step back and think about this. He has to have some mail or documentation regarding his benefits. I’m going to talk to Amanda because this doesn’t feel right.’

  ‘A lot is done online nowadays to save on paper,’ Laura said. ‘But I’ll go back through every room and move all the furniture around to double-check for any hidden storage.’

  Jack was feeling very frustrated at not finding anything that could confirm his gut feelings about Rodney Middleton. But oddly the fact he had uncovered nothing incriminating, combined with the strange living arrangements in the basement, only fuelled his suspicions. He could not believe that someone would not have any memorabilia, photographs, or anything personal like letters or bills. The equipment in the sitting room proved that Middleton had spent a considerable amount of money, and Jack was hoping that Rodney’s computer would yield something useful.

  As Laura re-visited the main bedroom, Jack went and knocked on the door of the back room that Amanda was using as a bedroom. He didn’t wait for her to answer and walked in, closing the door behind him. Amanda was huddled in the sleeping bag with her coat on, smoking.

  ‘We need to talk, and you had better be straight with me this time,’ he said brusquely ‘You lied about going to Liverpool; you never intended to catch the train with the money you got from me, did you?’

  Amanda dragged on the cigarette and shrugged her shoulders. Jack fetched the hard backed-chair and placed it near the sleeping bag.

  ‘I am never going back there,’ she said. ‘Why do you think I ran off in the first place? She don’t want me . . . her so-called husband is a bastard . . . tried it on with me and she never believed it, jealous, that’s why.’

  ‘Did Rodney get in touch with you?’

  ‘Yeah, I went to Brixton to see him. He told me he’d tell Mrs Delaney to let me in. But I had no money, so . . .’ She shrugged and stubbed out the cigarette in a saucer full of fag ends.

  Jack leant towards her. ‘You had better give me some straight answers now, Amanda, or I could take you in for questioning at the station, do you understand? Look at me when I’m talking to you, please. Look at me.’

  Amanda leaned back slightly and looked up at him, chewing her swollen lip.

  ‘Right, the silver bracelet – did you do a trade with your friend Trudie?’ He was making a guess that she was her friend.

  ‘I never stole it; I gave her a ring in return.’

  ‘So Trudie was a friend of yours?’

  ‘Sort of, but the clasp was broken so I only wore it a few times.’

  ‘You also picked out Trudie’s photograph when I showed you the pictures of the girls.’

  ‘Yeah, and I gave you the bracelet. I wasn’t lying.’

  ‘So, when did Trudie come here to the flat?’

  Amanda looked down and chewed at her fingernail.

  ‘Look at me, Amanda. When did Trudie come here?’ Jack snapped.

  ‘Long time ago. I can’t remember. Maybe a year or more.’

  ‘How did she contact you?’

  ‘She was at the station. We saw her there. She’d done a runner like me.’

  ‘So, you and Rodney used to go to the station together?’

  ‘Sometimes. They got shops open at night, and a food stand.’

  ‘Tell me about the time you met Trudie.’

  Amanda sighed, shrugging deeper into her coat.

  ‘Like I said, we was there and she was hanging out, had no place to go, so he said she could come back and stay with us.’

  ‘How long did she stay here with you?’

  ‘Maybe a couple of weeks, but she was starting to piss me off. She was after Rodney all the time and we had big rows about it. He locked me up in here.’

  ‘Was Trudie sleeping with him?’

  ‘Yeah, why do you think I was pissed off? She was a right slag and never give me my ring back. I swapped it with her for the bracelet. It had a little ruby, a real one, but the clasp on her bracelet was broken.’

  ‘How long were you locked up in here?’

  ‘A few days and nights. He said it was my punishment, but then he said he’d kicked her out and she wouldn’t be back, so we were alright again.’

  ‘Did the same thing happen when Jamail was here?’

  She nodded. ‘I got no right to argue with him. I mean, he looks after me. I got no job or nothin’. I was always scared I’d be found and taken back to Liverpool.’

  ‘Were you with him when he met Jamail?’

  ‘No, he just brung her back one night. She was alright to start with, but she’d never clean the kitchen the way he liked it, and she messed up his CDs, so . . .’

  ‘Wait a second. Did you get locked up in here again?’

  ‘She said it was me that left the grease in the frying pan, but I never done that. We had a fight and so he promised to get rid of her, like Trudie.’

  ‘You didn’t answer my question, Amanda, did you get locked in here when he said he would get rid of Jamail?’

  ‘Yeah, but I got a box of Krispy Kreme donuts.’

  Jack leaned back as she lit another cigarette. ‘On the nights both Trudie and Jamail were told to leave, did you hear anything? Maybe an argument, or shouting, or even screaming?’

  ‘No, just his music. He always had it on loud and then it was back to normal, just the two of us.’

  ‘So, they just left? What about their belongings? Did they leave anything behind?’

  ‘Not really, and anything they did we tossed into the bins or into the clothes and shoes recycling bins in the Sainsbury’s car park. Oh, apart from her socks; Jamail left a pair of thick socks, and I got them on now. My bed socks.’

  Jack picked up the chair and placed it against the wall. He went over to the rope-handled chest and bent to open it. It contained coils of rope, reels of duct tape, screwdrivers, hammers and paint strippers. There were also some oil-stained rags, two sets of headphones, and a tape player. He examined the hammer, which was very clean. The screwdriver had been sharpened and had a lethal razor-sharp edge.

  ‘Whose tools are these?’

  ‘They belonged to Rodney’s dad; he used them to repair things.’

  Jack decided that they should have the tools checked for any bloodstains, although he doubted they would find any. They looked very clean, as though they had never been used. He decided he had questioned Amanda for long enough. He walked out of the room, leaving the door ajar.

  Laura was searching behind the cabinet in the hall.

  ‘Find anything?’

  ‘Nope, nothing – and I’ve shifted anything that could be moved.’

  ‘Did you search the sleeping bag?’

  ‘Yes, the entire room. I even took out all the pans and tins from the kitchen cupboards, and searched them thoroughly, but there’s nothing. One odd thing I found, which I’ve photographed, though: two gallon containers of bleach, and some wire-cleaning brushes. Did you get anything out of Amanda?’

  ‘Yeah. I want us to take the tools that are in the chest in her room back with us, to get forensics to check them over.’

  Laura pushed the cabinet back into place as Jack made a final search, lifting what carpets he could, testing floorboards and looking up to the ceiling to see if there were any access points to some sort of storage space.

  Laura filled two large evidence bags with bedlinen and all the tools, as Jack carried out the computer. He then instructed Laura to fetch the sleeping bag as it might have evidence of the other girls inside it. There was a loud screech from Amanda as Laura got her out of the sleeping bag and rolled it up before walking out, with Amanda yelling abuse behind her. Jack almost dropped the computer as he heard footsteps descending the basement steps, followed by voices. He hurried into the hall to join Laura.

  The front door opened, and Harold Miller looked shocked to see them. He then explained that he had just collected Rodney. He held up a small holdall bag as if by way of an explanation. ‘Joyce sorted out his bail for him, and . . .’

  Before Jack could say anything, Rodney Middleton walked in, all smiles. Even though he had seen photographs of him, Jack was still taken aback.

  Rodney was slender but muscular, wearing a denim jacket, white t-shirt and jeans. He was also good-looking, with his thick, curly hair cropped close to his head. He had an angular face with amber brown eyes and perfect teeth and seemed both youthful and yet mature at the same time.

  Rodney was carrying two bags of food shopping and carefully put them down on the floor.

  ‘I am Detective Sergeant Jack Warr, and I am here with a search warrant,’ Jack told him.

  Middleton nodded affably. ‘Yes, Mrs Delaney said you were down here, and Amanda . . .’

  There was a screech as Amanda came running down the hall and did a flying jump into Rodney’s arms, curling her skinny legs around him. She kissed him, clinging to him like a little monkey, showing off the dirty pink bed socks.

  Middleton gently pushed her away. ‘That’s enough now . . . go and put the groceries in the kitchen for me, sweetie, there’s a good girl.’

  Amanda picked up the two bags and hurried down the hallway into the kitchen. Harold was still hovering by the front door.

  ‘If it’s alright I should be off. Joyce will be needing me. It was nice to see you again detective, and . . .’

  He nodded towards Laura who was standing pressed against the wall holding the evidence bags. Harold handed Middleton the holdall, clearly eager to leave.

  ‘Can you just wait one second, Harold?’ Middleton said. ‘We should have a look over the search warrant. Is that alright with you, Detective Warr?’

  Jack felt very uneasy as he took out the warrant and handed it over. Middleton smiled again and suggested they go and sit down in comfort. They trouped into the lounge, Harold sitting next to Middleton, as they looked over the search warrant.

  ‘I will need to take in your computer, Mr Middleton, and we have also removed some tools.’

  ‘What do you want them for?’

  ‘We’re just investigating a possible connection to some missing girls.’

  Rodney frowned and looked puzzled.

  ‘Girls, plural? I mean, I know Amanda was reported missing, but she’s here of her own free will and she’s almost eighteen years old. Is that your problem?’

  To Jack, Middleton seemed almost over-confident, appearing to be very relaxed and completely at ease with the situation.

  ‘You can search wherever you want,’ Middleton said breezily. ‘I have nothing to hide. I’ve been held awaiting trial for some time, but I am sure you must be aware of that, so I’ve not been home since I was arrested.’

  ‘I appreciate your cooperation, Mr Middleton, but we were just about to leave.’

  ‘Why are you taking my computer? I mean, what do you expect to find? Is it legal, Harold?’

  Harold frowned. ‘Yes, it is.’

  ‘What have I done that gives them the right to take it?’

  Jack responded. ‘I just explained to you, Mr Middleton, I am investigating the whereabouts of certain missing girls and I believe that you may be implicated in their disappearance.’

  ‘What missing girls?’

  ‘I am not prepared to discuss it any further with you right now, but l may require you to come to the station to answer some questions.’

  ‘Why don’t you ask me now?’

  Jack glanced at Laura, who stepped forwards.

  ‘Thank you for your time, Mr Middleton. This is an ongoing enquiry that may not actually involve you, and we need to continue our investigations before we ask you any questions.’

  Middleton shrugged and smiled again. ‘OK, just take whatever you need. Do you want my computer password? It’ll save you wasting time trying to get into it. It’s my date of birth. All you’ll find on there are games, and my internet search history is mostly for Amazon purchases and looking up some further education courses. Oh, and there’ll be some medical searches, plus I think my probation diary dates are on there.’

  Jack jotted down the password in his notebook whilst Middleton thanked Harold for collecting him. He asked him to make sure his aunty Joyce got a big thank you from him for signing the surety.

  Middleton stood up and took off his denim jacket, tossing it over the arm of the sofa. He was taller than Jack and reached out to shake his hand.

  ‘I best get cracking in the kitchen. Amanda’s not a very good cook. If it’s not in a tin, she isn’t sure what to do with it.’ He gave a boyish laugh but Jack sensed he was now eager for them to leave.

  ‘I’ll help you carry the computer out,’ he said. ‘I’d like to get a laptop, but my finances don’t run to that yet.’

  Jack led Laura down the hallway and opened the front door. He stopped and turned, smiling at Middleton.

  ‘Just one more thing before we leave. I want to take a look inside the coal hole. It’s just outside in the basement yard, isn’t it?’

  He caught the look in Middleton’s eyes. It was just a flicker, but the friendly demeanour had briefly vanished.

  ‘It has a padlock on it,’ Jack continued. ‘Mrs Delaney said you helped her out with a rat infestation. If you have the key, we can have a look in there before we leave.’