Would Love to Meet

At Hawk End station a young girl is murdered as she exits her train after working late that night. A year later Monica, another working girl/commuter travels into London every day from a small rural station, Clearwater, not unlike Hawk End. She buys a coffee, served by Karl who flirts with her, picks up a copy of the free paper and sits next to an older man on the train she has nicknamed Gerry. Together they read the ‘Would Love to Meet’ section where anonymous writers invite people they see every day for a date. One morning Gerry spots an invitation from someone called ‘Shy Guy’ clearly aimed at Monica but his recognizable attributes are too generic to be obvious. At work, waitressing in the Credit Crunch Restaurant, her boss Dave is clearly is attracted to her despite him being engaged. That night writing in her diary, a crime programme is broadcast concerning an unsolved murder of a Cathy Solomon a year ago who had been invited to a date by ‘Shy Guy’. At Waterloo station she collides with a hooded guy beside the Oyster card machines. He looks at her and grins. Later that evening she sees the hoody again and is caught in the tube on her own. He follows her to the exit but as his footsteps approach she throws coffee at him and escapes. The following day she is interviewed at the local police station where she discovers the hoody is a cleaner working nearby. She apologizes and pays for his ruined sweatshirt. The officer tells her the incident has alerted attention from an inspector from the MET who’ll be in touch. At the coffee shop Debbie hands over a pink diary Monica lost the day before. In the tube alone she senses someone behind and her swings her bag out and flooring an inspector, Hindute, who has been watching her back. Hindute explains that there are some unsettling differences between her and Cathy’s stalker. In the restaurant Monica receives a silent call. Following this escalation Hindute admits to her that The Credit Crunch used to be called The Banker and was where Cathy worked. Suddenly scared she grabs Hindute and asks him to take her to a hotel. He agrees. They make love, but are watched as they leave. The following day Monica is cruel to Karl who seems has become very circumspect There is no sign of Hindute. Arriving at work Dave, concerned she has had no protection, gets Jenny to escort Monica to Waterloo that night. Leaving the train at Clearwater she is grabbed by Dave who has come to warn her and who is suddenly hit from behind by Hindute who drags Monica into the waiting room. In the morning a semi-conscious Dave is arrested and Agreave, Hindute’s boss, enters the waiting room to find Hindute with a serrated kitchen knife in his chest. He spots a bulge in his jacket and pulls out the pink diary. It is Cathy Solomon’s diary and contains enough evidence to suggest that Hindute killed Cathy after having an affair with her and her threatening to tell his wife, the daughter of the Chief Inspector. But who was Monica?