‘I’ve taken all the samples I need from the downstairs toilet and the kitchen. I’ll get them straight over to the lab.’ Keith dragged his thin long strands of grey hair that had flopped over straight back across his balding head.
‘Thanks, Keith. Where’s Diane?’
Jacob pointed towards the living room where the woman was being comforted by PC Smith. He smiled as Gina entered and stepped aside. The little heater hummed as it chugged out very little warmth. ‘Hello, Diane.’ Gina sat on the settee next to the frail-looking woman.
‘There was someone in my house last night. I didn’t even sleep well. How could I not have heard a thing?’ The woman began to tremble. Gina passed her the toilet roll from the floor. Diane pulled a few sheets and wiped her eyes.
Gina shivered, knowing exactly how it felt to have someone sneaking around your home while you slept. In a previous case, that had happened to her. It took a long time for her to feel safe, for her home to feel untainted by a presence that wished to harm her. She knew exactly how Diane was feeling.
‘I know this is hard, Diane, but can you talk me through what happened this morning?’
‘I’ve already told the lovely PC here. I didn’t hear or see any more,’ she said as she blew her nose.
Gina nodded for PC Smith to follow her through to the kitchen.
‘I’ll be back in a moment.’ The woman nodded and sipped on a cup of tea.
Smith picked up his hat from the chair and followed her through to the kitchen. ‘As you can see, she’s very distressed. When I got here about an hour ago, she was almost hysterical. We quickly determined that the intruder got in through the broken bathroom window. The catch is damaged. At night, she’s been pulling the window closed but it hasn’t been secured.’ She followed Smith along the hallway until they stopped at the small room.
‘The window’s quite large and not too high up. I think I could easily fit through it. The intruder obviously came through, stepped on the toilet and bingo, they’re in.’
‘Any footsteps on the toilet seat?’
‘No, ma’am,’ Keith said as he passed by with Jacob. ‘It looks like whoever broke in cleaned up after. There is nothing around the window frame, no traces of caught clothing, fingerprints, etcetera. Not even a hint of a footstep on the flooring or toilet seat. This person cleaned up after themselves.’
Her gaze travelled from the small water closet, along the hallway and towards the kitchen. She followed the intruder’s steps until she reached the kitchen table. Junk mail filled the one side, charity appeal after charity appeal. Pamphlets with special offers on heated booties, magazine holders and impractical footstools were scattered everywhere, all brandishing a free gift to anyone who placed an order.
‘The photo and lock of hair were found here.’ Smith pointed at the chair that was closest to the door.
‘So the intruder breaks in and leaves a photo of missing woman, Samantha Felton, along with what we’re thinking might be a lock of her hair.’
‘It matches to the colour in the photo, guv.’
Keith smiled as he came back into the kitchen. ‘Right, I’m going to head back with the samples.’
‘I need to see the photo,’ Gina said.
He passed it to her, secure in its plastic cover, all labelled up.
She placed the photo down on the table and stared at it. A scene from a party, maybe. She saw the back of a man dancing with Samantha, one of her legs hitched up and wrapped around his waist, clearly laughing as she tried to grip him. ‘I wonder who the man is, the one she’s dancing with. More so, I wonder who took this photo.’
Maybe the photographer or her dancing partner was her cigarette smoking lover. Maybe the photographer was Derek. She squinted as she tried to look further into the detail of the grainy photo. It had to be a pub, social club or a bar. Burgundy material-covered chairs everywhere, dark wooden rectangular tables adorned with beer mats, drinks and empty packets of peanuts. Along the wall and behind a row of tables was a long bench. People laughed and drank as some danced and had fun. One face stood out. This woman wasn’t laughing.
‘There’s something familiar about this woman.’ Gina turned on the kitchen light and held the photo up. It was a few years ago. The woman was much slighter and her hair was longer but there was no mistaking her face. Gina dashed back to Diane in the living room with Jacob close behind. ‘Do you recognise this woman, this one here?’ She pointed at the photo.
‘Sorry, I’ve never seen her before. Who’s doing this to me, first the card and now they break into my home?’
Gina clenched her fist as she thought of what Diane was going through. Finding the intruder was key to solving everything. Someone out there was leaving a trail of breadcrumbs. Where they were leading, she had no idea. Why they were leaving them? That was a mystery too. She now knew for certain that Jade Ashmore’s murder was related to Samantha Felton’s disappearance. Why else would the intruder leave a photo of Samantha dating back to all those years ago, especially a photo showing Jade Ashmore watching her? Between the photo and the nail, she was more than certain.
Gina flinched as someone tapped on the door. Looking up, she saw a big smile emphasising two tiny dimples on PC Kapoor’s face. ‘I’ve just been doing door to door, guv, and look what I have,’ she said, screeching in her Brummie accent. The tiny officer waved a disk in front of her face. ‘One of the neighbours has CCTV covering both sides of his house after his shed was broken into a couple of months ago.’
‘Well done, Kapoor.’ Gina took the disk and placed it in her file. ‘Carry on with the good work. If you see Smith, tell him I’m heading back to the station in a moment.’
Diane looked up with reddened eyes. ‘Will I be able to see who broke into my home?’
‘I really hope so. We’re going to take this footage back to the station and give it a thorough examination.’
Gina’s phone began to ring in her back pocket. After a struggle to remove it, she enthusiastically accepted the call. ‘Bernard, what have you got? Excuse me a moment, Diane.’ She left the room and stood outside. ‘Fire away.’
