Page 70 of The Vanished

“More than DI Malone had,” Quinn replied. “He was able to rule out Chrissy and Rafe, but he didn’t identify any new leads. It seems Chrissy was seriously ill. She returned to the Czech Republic to be with her family,” she said sadly.

“So she hasn’t come back to the UK?” Jude asked.

“Doesn’t look like it. I’m almost glad she wasn’t part of Max’s life,” Quinn mused. “It would have been traumatic for him to lose his mother as well as Rafe,” she said. And now he might lose his dad, she thought miserably but didn’t voice the thought. She didn’t want to say the words aloud.

“It will be all right,” Jude said.

“Will it?” Quinn asked. She wasn’t convinced.

“It has to be. Max has a family that loves him. We’ll see him through whatever happens.”

And us? Will we be all right? Quinn wanted to ask, but that wasn’t a question either of them could answer.

She heard Jude speaking to someone, maybe an Uber driver, and then he came back to her. “I’ll ring you tomorrow, but do let me know if there are any new developments.”

“I will,” she promised.

Quinn had just set her phone down on the bedside table when there was another incoming call. Drew. She snatched up the phone.

“Drew, hi. Anything?”

“I’m not sure yet. I was able to obtain Logan’s call register for the past three months. No illuminating texts. Certain numbers repeat at regular intervals, yours among them. There are calls from Jude, from a few friends, and from the hospital, presumably work-related. Then, about two weeks ago, a new number crops up.”

“Whose number?” Quinn asked.

“It’s from a pay-as-you-go number, but given the length of the calls, I’d say that a conversation took place, unless this person left very long voicemails. The last call was on the day Logan disappeared. In the afternoon.”

“What do you think this means?”

“This is just a working theory at this stage, but I think Logan got involved in something dodgy, realized he was in danger, and tried to lead whoever had come after him away from Max.”

“Did Logan make any calls after that day?” Quinn asked.

“No. He did not make any calls or log into any apps. I’m waiting for my guy to provide me with Logan’s banking data.”

Quinn didn’t bother to ask how Drew’s guy was able to obtain records that would require a warrant to access. She didn’t really care. At least Drew was doing something, unlike DI Malone, who’d gone silent.

“What do you hope to find?” she asked.

“Anything outside the normal pattern that might give insight into what he was up to. If Logan didn’t take out a large sum of money to see him through, then he would need to use his credit card or take out cash. If he’s made no transactions over the past few days, chances are he is either lying low or he’s unable to.”

She appreciated the euphemism, but she knew precisely what Drew was getting at. If Logan had no money on him and hadn’t used his cards, he was most likely dead.

“Quinn, I will do everything in my power to find Logan, but you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that whoever followed him to his house killed him, loaded his body in the boot of his car, then disposed of the body and torched the car to destroy any traces of Logan’s DNA.”

A sob tore from her chest. “He can’t be gone. I’ve lost so many people, Drew.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, love, but there’s no celestial scale of justice that says you can’t lose more than you can handle. Sometimes bad things happen. And sometimes, people make decisions that bring untold trouble into their lives.”

“And you think that’s what happened with Logan?” Quinn asked through tears.

“It’s too soon to say. He doesn’t have a record and has never been in any trouble with the law, but desperate people do desperate things. Perhaps he got into debt, or maybe he was being blackmailed. I will know more once I look at his bank statements.”

“OK. Thanks, Drew.”

Quinn must have looked despondent when she came out of the bedroom, since Gabe silently pulled her into his arms and held her.

“Are you OK, Aunt Quinn?” Max asked. His gaze was as penetrating as that of any police detective.