Page 46 of Dead to Me

‘There’s a relatives’ room you can use,’ Reid had volunteered, getting to his feet.

‘Nahh, you’re all right,’ his sister had said.‘I’ll go and get a drink.If you’re lucky, I’ll have one waiting for you.’

She’d looked as though she couldn’t wait to leave, but then,at the door to the stairs, she’d turned and said, ‘Just a couple of hours?’

‘Yeah, I’ll be quick as I can,’ he’d promised.

Tanya had skipped off down the stairs surprisingly lightly in her boots, and Reid had got his head down and worked as fast as he’d been able to.But less than an hour later, Tanya had messaged to say she’d realised she had to get back to Cambridge, and not to worry– she’d catch him soon.

Reid had thought about that visit over and over since her death.About how he could just have broken off and gone for a coffee with her straight away.Because it was so abundantly clear that she’d needed him.

Now, though, he found a trickle of doubt creeping in.Because he’d assumed she’d needed him to talk through an emotional crisis.That she’d been reaching out for mental help.

But might she not also have been scared?And scared of something very real?

Trinity College porters’ lodge called Reid as he was climbing onto the Cambridge train at King’s Cross station.

Reid had felt a strong need to be moving and doing something after seeing Cordelia, and he knew that it was ridiculous to delay going to Cambridge any longer.Anna had been there when she vanished.The people she’d been with were there.

It seemed that the porters had been doing their due diligence on the CCTV, anyway.

‘We’ve had a really good look through the footage from ten p.m.until four a.m.,’ the woman he was speaking to said, and Reid was positive that she was ex-police.Something in the way she answered Reid’s questions.She knew what she was doing.‘There’s only one exit from the ball, but I checked the entrance, too, in case she managed to slip back out somehow.She’d be quite distinctive in that dress, and with her height, butthere’s no sign of her around the time you’re looking.It gets harder from then on because a lot of people left as it started to get light and there was a big exodus after the survivors’ photo.’

‘The…’

‘The photo of everyone who makes it to the end,’ the porter said.‘It happened at six.So then there was a flood of people leaving after.I can have a proper look at them, or send it over.’

Reid knew it was just a name.That it didn’t mean anything.But somehow it still hit him like a punch to the stomach.

She wasn’t one of the survivors.She never made it to dawn.

‘I’d be grateful if you could do both,’ Reid said, mentally pulling himself together all over again.‘Sorry, I didn’t take your name…’

‘Trish,’ she replied.

‘Thanks so much, Trish.I appreciate that this isn’t your job.It’s just that we’re early stage.’He hesitated for a moment, and then added, ‘Guessing none of my junior colleagues has asked you for this in the interim?Don’t want to make you guys do it twice.’

‘No, you’re OK,’ Trish said.‘And honestly, you’re all right.Just give me your email.’

Reid read it out as the train started to pull out of the station.He knew that if nobody else had asked for this it meant Cambridgeshire Constabulary had decided Anna wasn’t high risk.It was getting towards 7 p.m.now and they hadn’t even looked into the basics.

They’re going to leave her in danger,he thought with a feeling of anger.

‘Anything else you need?’Trish asked.

‘That’s OK,’ Reid said, and then, with a sudden thought, he added, ‘I’m guessing there were no weird events last night?Nobody hurt?’

Trish gave a half-laugh.‘Nope.The usual handful who drank too much, one of whom needed the St John’s Ambulance guys, but no fights.’There was a pause, and she said, ‘Nothing like last year, thank god.’

Reid found himself breathing out slowly, knowing this was what he’d really been asking.He’d been horribly afraid that the reason they hadn’t found Anna on CCTV at the exit yet was that she’d drowned.

He hung up, thinking about what Trish had told him.James Sedgewick had told Seaton he’d seen her leaving at eleven, walking with someone he didn’t recognise.So why hadn’t she appeared on CCTV?Had they not actually walked to the exit?

If she hadn’t, why hadn’t anyone seen her after that?

He thought about all the things Cambridgeshire Constabulary could be doing right now that they weren’t.They could put an urgent authorisation through to the phone provider for the mobile she’d been carrying.The one she used for her Aria identity.They could track her location.

With a jolt, he remembered the phones in his pocket.He might not have the phone she’d been using, but he had her real one.

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