Before Jane answered her phone, he was already expecting her not to be happy, and she wasn’t.

“Oh, so you haven’t forgotten my number then? What happened with your posh girlfriend, the Londoner? Threw you out I suppose?” He was prepared.

“She’s just my boss, not my girlfriend. She came up to hassle me about a job in London, and knew I couldn’t refuse if she was actually there. Now I have to come back to Stoke and wondered if you had a room available for a few nights?” That seemed to have calmed her down and her tone changed.

“I told you before, Tony. You don’t have to book, or pay. Just stay in my room, and you can come and go as you like with a spare key. What time shall I expect you? Oh, and by the way, what do you actually do?” He was ready for that question too.

“Security. I arrange security for entertainment premises, businesses, conferences, that sort of thing. I will be up tomorrow if that’s okay, around lunchtime”. Her reply was blatant.

“I’ll look forward to that. Lunch will be on me, and I mean literally on me. There is only one other guest at the moment, and he will be at work all day”.

As he drove up the next day, Clive went over events in his mind. Alison had obviously done something with Janice and her daughter, but he doubted it would be anything violent, or permanent. All he knew about Janice’s move was that she was going to The Wirral, and that was a big place.

One option was to go to the area and check out all the trucking companies in the hope of finding her parents. But it was a long way to go on the offchance, and for all he knew the company might not even be based there.

His car was tracked, so Alison would know where he was going, and would get some perverse satisfaction from the fact that she had given him that hint. His phones would presumably be tapped too, so she would know about the call to Jane. But he didn’t care, he wanted to go to Janice’s house and see if he could get any clues there.

Before he could do anything else, he had to deal with Jean. He knew what she would be expecting, and he was ready to deliver for her. Having that guest house as a base was useful, and he didn’t mind taking advantage of a lonely woman in the process.

Jane was more than ready, and didn’t stand on ceremony. “Bring your case up to my room. Your key is on my bedside table, but you have to earn if first”.

More than satisfied later, she was completely mellow. “Will you be in for dinner tonight? We can eat together once my guest goes up to his room”. He told her he had an appointment at six to interview someone for a security guard job, but might be back by seven. He would let her know if it was going to be later than that.

When he arrived outside Janice’s at six, her car wasn’t on the driveway. There was a beaten-up old Citroen that looked to be at least twenty years old, and a pile of flattened cardboard stacked against the front of it. He used the door-knocker and didn’t have to wait long until someone answered.

She was probably just under thirty, and must have weighed over twenty-five stones. Her hair was dyed jet-black, she had a piercing through her nose, and a huge tattoo of a red dragon covering most of her exposed left leg. Her only items of clothing were an oversized T-shit that barely covered her thighs, and a pair of slippers meant to look like fluffy rabbits. The strong Welsh accent went with her tattoo.

“What can I do for you? I don’t buy nuffin at the door”. He told her he was looking for Janice Owen, who had lived there last week. Then she relaxed.

“Oh, that was her name, was it like? Well we only moved in on Monday see, so I didn’t ever meet her. We’re just renting from the Housing Trust you see, got us out of temporary accommodation like”. Clive asked her if she had a forwarding address.

“Nothing like that, no. Can’t really help you like. My bloke Evan will be home in a minute, and I’ve got to feed my youngest, so if that’s all like?” He thanked her, and walked back to his car.

So Janice had been moved out in the course of a few days, and probably not to The Wirral.

There was only one person who would know where she was, and that was Alison.