Page 66 of Dead Fall

‘Oh sorry!’ she said, seeing her visitors, hastily clearing away a torn-open packet of Doritos into the bin.

‘Don’t apologise,’ said Streaky.

The manager introduced the woman as Holly, the team leader for the emergency medical dispatchers. He left them to it and Streaky explained that they were looking for any call-outs to a ‘Sophia Angelopoulos, also known as Bronte’. Adding her date of birth.

Holly’s eyes widened at hearing the name, but all she said was, ‘And the timeframe?’ before starting to tap at her keyboard.

‘We don’t have one really,’ said Flyte apologetically. ‘But could we search the last year to start with?’

It was only a moment before Holly shook her head. ‘Nothing under either of those names I’m afraid. Do you have an address and postcode?’

Streaky gave her Bronte’s last two addresses: her previous place in Gospel Oak – a flat that she and Ethan Fox had shared for several months – and her canal-side apartment.

Holly’s hands flew over the keyboard. ‘Nothing coming up.’ Then she tapped in her latest address.

‘Here you go!’ she said, beaming and angling the screen towards them. ‘Last September the fourteenth, at 1.03 p.m. a 999 call from a woman in distress, breathing difficulties. It was deemed a Category 1 – life threatening.’

The mobile number the call came in from wasn’t Bronte’s – or Ethan’s, but of course he could have changed his phone in the interim.

‘When did the ambo get there?’ asked Streaky.

Holly peered at the screen. ‘Eight minutes. Just outside the seven-minute target.’

‘What was her condition?’

Holly pulled an apologetic shrug. ‘We can’t access the clinical details, they will have been archived along with the 999 call recording. You’ll have to apply for those.’

‘Did she get taken to hospital?’ This from Streaky.

Tapping the keyboard again, she shook her head. ‘That ambulance stayed at the address for about an hour before being sent to another location, so no. Unless she was a walk-in to A & E later.’

Streaky and Flyte shared a frustrated look.

Holly’s gaze went between the two of them. ‘I can tell you the team who attended – they might remember something?’ She did some more tapping. ‘Here you go .?.?. Gary Walbrook and Yasmin Chowdhury.’

‘How can we get hold of them?’

‘You’re in luck,’ said Holly, checking the clock. ‘They were based here last night and their shift ended twenty minutes ago. They’ll be in the canteen.’

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Seeing yet another missed call from Ethan, Cassie steeled herself to call him back.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake, Cassie, it’s been three days! I was frantic!’ – sounding genuinely worried. ‘After sending you to see that SkAR geezer when I knew he might’ve .?.?. you know, had a pop at Bronte? Are you OK?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ Her default method of dealing with trauma: bury it and move on. Always a winning strategy. Haha. ‘But I think you were right about him, he’s a disgusting predator.’ Unable to disguise the venom in her voice.

‘Did he hurt you? Cos I’ll—’

‘I’m fine,’ she broke in. ‘But listen, do you know anything about his background? His family comes from the Troodos Mountains, the same bit of Cyprus as Bronte’s mum – or dad. He might even come from the same village, a place called Perdikia? Did she never talk about going back there for a visit?

‘No .?.?. But the name does ring a bell. She showed me a pic in a guidebook. Said those mountains were where her family came from. Like she’d only just found out.’

‘Chrysanthi’s family? Or George’s?’

‘No idea. But I know her mother would have been dead set against her going there – she hated the place, apparently.’

The conversation left Cassie’s brain whirring. Steve from Enfield had told Bronte something about her family history deliberately to hurt her, something that – perhaps even more than a sexual assault – had disturbed her, and made her determined to visit Cyprus, maybe to explore the family history. Was Perdikia where one, or both, of Chrysanthi’s parents had been raised, at least until she went into care?

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