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silver Honda, parked on the road, opposite Lucy’s drive. With substantial parking bays, there seemed no need to park it there, but perhaps it was a visitor.
     
    ‘How did you get on?’ Mariner asked, as they drove back up the main road towards Granville Lane. Back at the station he’d have to complete a risk assessment, and was beginning to try to weigh up how serious this was.
    ‘I’m not sure,’ Millie said. ‘Lucy’s certainly anxious about something. She’s a pale shadow of what she was on her wedding day, and something must be causing it. The phone calls are clearly real.’
    ‘You handled the phone tapping pretty deftly, well done,’ Mariner said.
    ‘Thanks.’
    ‘It’s a tough one, because she’s right, of course, a phone tap would soon clear it up. But if we offered that service to everyone who’s made this kind of complaint in the last couple of months we’d have spent the annual budget.’
    ‘This is most likely someone who knows her, isn’t it?’ said Millie.
    ‘It usually is,’ Mariner agreed. ‘It would help to think about people Lucy has come into contact with at and away from work. Anyone she talked about?’
    ‘Away from work it doesn’t sound as if she sees anyone much, so that should be easy,’ said Millie. ‘Her husband is interesting. They’ve only been married six months and his background is a bit hazy.’ They drove in silence for a few minutes. ‘Is it me, boss, or is stalking on the increase?’
    ‘That and road rage. Thanks to people like Jemima Murdoch, it’s definitely reported more in the media, but it probably is on the increase too, because these days, with mobile phones and the Internet, it’s so easy to do. We’re all being stalked to some degree by the thousands of CCTV cameras around. And at the same time we’re moving towards a blame and revenge culture, which provides the right person with the motive and the justification.’
    Signalling, Mariner pulled into the Granville Lane compound. ‘You seem to have established a good rapport with Lucy Jarrett,’ he said. ‘How would you feel about taking the lead on this?’
    It would be the first time he’d given her this responsibility, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her visibly grow into it. ‘I’d really like that, sir,’ she said, beaming.
    ‘You need to keep me and the rest of the team informed though, and if at any point -’ Mariner placed a deliberate stress on those two words ‘- you feel out of your depth, you involve me, do you understand?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘I mean it; no heroics. So, are you clear on what strategy you’re going to adopt?’
    ‘There are a couple of other leads to follow up; friends I can go and talk to. Also I’d like to find out more about the husband. Lucy said herself that she never gets the calls when he’s at home. They haven’t been married long and it seems to me that Lucy has made some compromises for him. She also more or less said that he chose her over her friend, Julie-Ann. According to Lucy, Julie-Ann is prettier, though it wasn’t the case on the wedding day and I doubt it’s true - her self-esteem is at rock bottom.’
    ‘I wonder what Julie-Ann’s financial status is?’ Mariner mused. ‘Lucy’s clearly loaded.’
    ‘Yeah, it did make me wonder what hubby brought to the union.’
    ‘So, money and sex - our old favourites bob to the surface again.’
    ‘Can’t get enough of them,’ said Millie. ‘I’ll go and talk to the mother and the best friend first, and see what they have to say.’
    Mariner nodded agreement. ‘Then maybe I’ll come with you to talk to the husband when he gets home.’
    Millie was still grinning from ear to ear when they got out of the car. Mariner’s mobile pinged again, the arrival of a text; Stephanie once more, disappointed that he hadn’t called yet.
    ‘Another text from your admirer?’ joked Millie. ‘Maybe you’re getting a stalker of your own, sir.’
    ‘She’s got a night off and wants to