Gina was hoping she’d remember something that might be of use. ‘Tell me what you do remember.’
‘I remember my husband checking Aimee out, they were all checking Aimee out. Her profile picture on Swap Fun doesn’t do her justice. I’ve never seen such a perfect-looking woman. I understood where they were coming from. I’m not into women but, to be fair, I’d have been happy if I’d ended up with Aimee. Anyway, Richard ended up with Dawn. We don’t discuss what we did, that’s part of the rules. All I know is he left with Dawn and I left with Steven.’
‘Did you and Steven stay in Dawn’s house?’
She shook her head. ‘Dawn looks after her brother’s house. He’s apparently working abroad as a chef for the rest of the year so it was vacant. Steven had the key.’
Another location to look into. ‘Where was this house?’
‘Just on the next road. Fox Close. There was no one there but the house was warm and the lamps were already switched on. Dawn must have gone earlier to prepare the house. Steven was half-cut and lit up a spliff. I shouldn’t have said that. Oh for heaven’s sake. I’m such an idiot but I don’t suppose you care about one silly little spliff. I think one was being passed around earlier that night too.’
Gina made a note. She already knew Steven had a love of weed. He’d always stank of it in the past and she doubted he’d changed his ways. ‘You’re not an idiot, this is really helpful. This is a murder investigation and you’re doing really well.’
‘Okay.’ She stubbed the cigarette out in a chipped saucer. ‘We were there about an hour, I think. I’d had a drag of his weed too and I was pretty out of things which is why I’m struggling to remember. I don’t normally do weed. I’ve only tried it once when we had a weekend in Amsterdam. I don’t know why I did it but I did. I was caught up in the moment and wanted to feel good. I fancied Steven, I’ll admit that much.’ The woman pulled the thread on her cardigan and it began to unravel.
Gina couldn’t understand how any woman could find Steven attractive.
‘It wasn’t good. He pushed me around a little. I don’t know if I gave the impression of wanting it rough or whether it was something I did. I mean, I was a willing partner. I thought he would’ve tried to be a bit more considerate. I tried to tell him what I needed but it fell on deaf ears. Before I knew it, he’d finished. He slapped me on the arse and threw my jeans at me. I’d really like to erase the experience from my mind.’ She shuddered.
‘Rough?’ Gina wondered if he’d crossed any boundaries.
‘He didn’t hurt me, he just grabbed me and moved me around a little abruptly. After we finished, he casually said he was thinking of Aimee while we were doing it and laughed. I remember feeling my stomach lurch. The weed and wine, and his comment, were swimming around my system and I found the whole experience a little surreal. I threw up in the sink. After I’d cleaned up a bit, I looked up and he’d gone. I grabbed my things, left out the front door and hurried straight home. I had a glass of water and fell into bed. As I said, Richard came home soon after.’
Sweat began to form at Gina’s brow. The tiny room was now filled with smoke and heat from the fire and the woman’s cigarette. ‘What time did he return?’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I was half stoned, nauseous and a bit drunk. Like I said before, I think it was a little after twelve. We were all around the local area. After the deed, it wouldn’t have taken long to get home. He got into bed, snuggled against me for a few minutes and then I remember him snoring, loudly. I did look at the radio clock around then, I think it was about twenty past twelve. Next thing I remember is morning. That’s when we heard on the radio that someone had been murdered. We didn’t know it was Jade at that point but word gets around quick. I went on Facebook and then we knew it was her.’
‘Is there anything else you can remember?’
‘No. That’s it. We really are sorry for Noah. She, Jade, didn’t say much. She looked nervous but she seemed like a nice woman. She mentioned their daughter and seemed quite gently-spoken. It was a shock, you know?’
Gina nodded and closed her notepad. She hoped Jacob would hurry so that they could compare notes. She gazed at Maggie, wondering if there was any way she could have overpowered Jade. Their witness at the scene hadn’t described the perpetrator as short. Maggie looked to be around five feet tall.
A few moments later, Jacob re-entered the room. She could see that he was bursting to compare notes.
Twenty-Eight
Thursday, 9 May 2019
Gina swigged the rest of her takeaway coffee. After another disturbed night’s sleep, she needed all the help she could get. She’d sent that final text to Rex and heard nothing back so far. Still seething, she stared at the bin. The flowers would be long gone now. The cleaner would have dumped them in the industrial bin at the back of the building. Gone forever, just like Rex. ‘Right, team, thank you for being here so bright and early. I know you’re all working your socks off but it’s important that we discuss findings to date.’ She briefly stared at the crime scene photo of Jade Ashmore. Broken nose, half of her face caved in, the sheer brutality of the attack imprinted in her mind. She swallowed and turned to face the team. She stroked her own hairline, remembering where Terry had once split her head open, just under the fringe that she’d grown.
‘We’ve had to release a further statement as Lyndsey Saunders of theWarwickshire Heraldkept calling Annie. Corporate Communications have issued a holding statement for the time being, simply saying that we wouldn’t be answering any questions and that we’d follow up with a more detailed press conference in due course. We offered our assurance to the public that we are working solid on this. I don’t want the press getting hold of any details for the usual reasons.’ Gina sighed. ‘I don’t want anything released about the link to Samantha as yet. The fingernail, the nature of Jade’s injuries, they have to remain under wraps. All the public need to know is that we are treating her death as a murder enquiry and to be extra vigilant. We’ll keep appealing for witnesses.’
Nodding his approval, Briggs gave her a slight smile. Maybe she’d been overthinking what he’d thought of the flowers. ‘Right, I’m taking it that you’ve all updated yourselves with the case so far. Everything on the system is up to date, the board is up to date and we all have our tasks in hand. Is that correct?’
Jacob, Wyre and O’Connor nodded. O’Connor bit a chunk of nail from the corner of his thumb and flicked it onto the floor. A new habit of his that was starting to grate on Gina. Between the nail biting, pen flicking and chair sliding, he was fast becoming her number one annoyance. He started rolling back and forth on his chair.
Gina stared at him.
‘Annoying, guv?’
‘Just a bit.’ He slid the chair under the main table for the last time and waited for her to begin.
‘Jacob, can you give us a brief overview of what Richard Leason said when you spoke to him?’
He rubbed his eyes and read his notes. ‘Yes, after finding out he was paired with Dawn, they went out to the caravan on Dawn’s drive. He didn’t go into great detail about what they got up to but he did say he felt there was someone watching them. He suspected that Dawn wasn’t too into him and he openly admitted he was unhappy to have been paired with Dawn. They had a brief but awkward encounter and then he left. He said he went straight home and got into bed with Maggie. He also mentioned that he and Dawn had a few words, and that Dawn was drunk and got quite aggressive. With the thought that someone might be watching them and Dawn’s odd behaviour, he felt like he just needed to get home. He didn’t clock the time and said that he’d had a fair bit to drink himself.’
Gina glanced at the map on the wall. ‘Every one of these people live close by to each other and to where the incident took place. Our witness remembers hearing a car leaving the scene. From what I’ve read and heard, no one took a car with them to Dawn Brown’s house. That doesn’t mean that the murderer didn’t take the short journey back home to get their car, before or after attacking Jade. They all lived really close to each other. I’m keeping an open mind on that one.’ Gina’s thoughts wandered back to Steven. Could he have finished up and then hurried back to the house to see what was going on? She knew he drove. Could he have got in his car and gone looking for Jade? After all, he’d know all the locations that went into the glass as he and Dawn had prepared them. Had they all spoken about the locations in conversation that night? ‘Moving onto our visit with the Leasons yesterday, that’s Richard and Maggie. Just to clarify, we can now confirm that all parties attended this partner-swapping party which took place at Dawn Brown’s house.’ She pointed at the board. ‘We have Jade and Rhys who went off to Jade’s summerhouse, Aimee and Noah went to the woods, Dawn and Richard went to Dawn’s caravan and, lastly, Maggie and Steven went to Dawn’s brother’s house. Can you write all that on the board?’
