Noah’s emails threw up no clues and the cameras at his house showed him rushing out of his office and heading out in his car, but Daniella had no idea where it was he was going, knew only that it would have been too early to go and meet Olivia.
His search history had her narrowing her eyes. Why had he been looking at religious sites? She knew his parents were devout Christians, but Noah was atheist. It had been a huge bone of contention with his family.
Pondering, she turned her attention to the names he had jotted down. Five victims, all now dead, given that Janice Plum had succumbed to her burn injuries, plus Fern St Clair, missing since Tuesday.
Next to their names were those of the people who had presumably been the last to see them alive.
Daniella scrolled through the names. Peggy Wick, Rita Works, the receptionist, Grant Savage, who had checked Howard in, Gretchen Self, and the name Noah had added most recently against Fern. Meg Gentile.
Something jarred. What was it?
After dinner, she poured a glass of wine, locking herself away in the study and firing up her laptop as she pondered the names again.
Peggy Wick, Rita Works, Grant Savage, Gretchen Self, Meg Gentile.
Grant was the one that was out of place.
Howard had a girlfriend who was supposed to go with him to the cabin. Daisy Angel.
And Gentile. Wasn’t that something to do with religion? Daniella was sure she remembered hearing that word in her religious education lessons at school.
She thought back to Noah’s search history. Had he stumbled upon something? Pulling up the last site he had visited, her eyes widened.
The Seven Judgements of God.
Sins at the Cross.
Self-judgement.
Believers’ Works.
Judgement of Gentiles.
Judgement of Israel.
Judgement of Angels.
Judgement of the Wicked Dead.
Self… Works… Angel… Gentile… Wick(ed)
It wasn’t a coincidence. It couldn’t possibly be. All five women had been in the victims lives then had conveniently disappeared after they had died. Of course no one had taken much notice about Peggy, a buyer off the internet, who may not have even turned up. They had looked for Rita, but she again had been an internet girlfriend. There was no proof Gary Lamb had met her, or even that she was real.
The police were tracing Daisy Angel and Gretchen Self. They had witnesses that had seen both women, so could verify they did exist, though both had disappeared straightaway after the deaths.
Meg Gentile was a new one to Daniella. She vaguely remembered a message from a Meg on Fern’s phone. Noah must have looked into her, discovered her full name. Was this what he was working on? Had he figured it out before he disappeared?
Israel and Cross were missing. They had to be someone connected to Olivia.
She looked at the names again.
Peggy, Rita, Daisy, Gretchen, Meg.
And the second connection hit her.
All were variations of Margaret. Margaret Grimes.
How had they missed this?
She grabbed her mobile to send a text to Olivia, let her know what she had found, realised with horror that her phone had been on silent, and she had already missed a call and a text message from her.
She listened to the voicemail, then read the text message, learning that Olivia had headed out to Black Dog Farm to meet with Noah.
Realisation hit as she finally understood, knew who Olivia was in danger from. Slamming her laptop shut, she grabbed her car keys and ran from the house.
