She sobbed as she rubbed her arm. Pain throbbing from her elbow to her shoulder.
He began opening the kitchen draws, throwing out the sticky tape, a pack of tea-light candles, some leftover fly strips. ‘Where is it?’
He was referring to her money tin where she kept the cash that some of her clients paid. Eventually he reached the correct draw and smiled as he pulled it out. He snatched the lid off and pulled a roll of ten pound notes out. She really wished she’d been a little more on the ball when it came to banking now. ‘Please, Rhys, I need that money.’
‘More than me? Look at me.’ He placed the wad of cash into his back pockets and kneeled before her, wiping her tears with his fingertips.
He leaned in to gently kiss her. She turned away. More than anything, she needed her life back along with her old self. She needed to go out with Nicole and feel free again. ‘Don’t come back. I want you to go. Someone saw you pushing Jade around and I know you.’
‘You know nothing, you stupid bitch.’ He gripped the bottom of her chin in a vice-like grip. Her fear-filled gaze met his until his sinister grin sent a shiver through her body. He began to laugh, releasing her as he straightened her top. For a moment, her vision began to cloud and she was sure she might faint as she held her breath.
Her phone began to buzz along the kitchen floor and a message flashed up.
I’m calling the police.
Nicole had saved her. Rhys stepped backwards across the floor, maintaining eye contact with her until he ran outside. She heard the gate slam closed and the dog barking. Sobbing, she grabbed her phone and called Nicole straight back. ‘Don’t call the police. I’m okay. I’ll see you when you get home.’ She ended the call and flinched as she made her way to the kitchen sink and ran the tap, splashing cold water over her sweaty face. She patted her face with a tea towel and sobbed as she felt her face, sure that there would be imprints of Rhys’s fingers embedded into her skin.
She stared out of the window at the banging gate, then caught sight of a couple of footprints that had dried in the mud. Rhys had been there watching her, of that she was sure. When she was in bed, in the shower, there had been someone else there. She felt it.
Thirty
‘Good morning. I know you all have the forensics report in front of you.’ Gina pulled out a copy of the bound report and held it up. O’Connor flicked through the pages loudly and Wyre cast her gaze over the main page. Jacob grabbed a copy and began flicking through the pages. Keith in forensics quickly nibbled the rest of his apple. He flung the core into the bin and scratched his head.
‘I wasn’t expecting this at all, guv,’ Jacob replied as he popped a stick of gum in his mouth.
She turned to face the board, pointing to the additional information. ‘As you can see, the hair that was left at Diane’s house is the same colour as Samantha’s when she went missing. There were no follicles in which to obtain a DNA sample. This was a neatly trimmed lock that had been carefully preserved.’
Keith half-raised his hand and smiled. ‘We can confirm that it is real hair. What really has sealed the link when it comes to the disappearance of Samantha Felton and the murder of Jade Ashmore is the cigarette packet we found at the back of Diane’s house.’
Wyre’s face was slightly screwed up as she contemplated the evidence in front of her. ‘The person who broke into Diane’s is the one who killed Jade?’
Keith picked a bit of apple skin from his teeth. ‘Got ya!’ He smiled. ‘Yes, it’s looking that way. For those who haven’t read that far. The cigarette packet found outside Diane’s was covered in Jade Ashmore’s prints.’
Gina interjected. ‘All the cigarettes were gone suggesting that the perpetrator finished off or removed any remaining cigarettes in the packet before discarding it.’ She nodded at Keith, gesturing for him to continue.
‘There were several other partial prints on the packet, but these could have been added during the process of packing, distributing and selling them. All prints have been lifted, logged and checked, but the only prints we can actually identify are Jade’s. One of the others could well be our murderer’s, we just have nothing on the database that is a match.’
Gina glanced at the board. ‘Have we matched the prints against any that were found in Diane’s house?’
‘No matches, I’m afraid. The entrance through the bathroom window was dusted, as were many other parts of the house. None of the prints found in her house match those on the cigarette packet. As always, we have them on file and we couldn’t identify anyone from those prints either. They were not on our database.’
Gina sat at the head of the table. ‘From the CCTV, it looked like our perp was wearing gloves anyway. Thanks for coming, Keith.’
‘Glad to be of help.’
Wyre’s screen flashed with a message. She left the table and headed to her computer as they continued to speak.
‘Anything else? You’ve all read the witness statements, I assume?’
Everyone nodded.
‘And you all know what you’re doing next?’
‘Guv?’ Wyre headed back to the table.
Gina arched her brows as she waited for Wyre to speak.
‘I’ve just checked two messages. Firstly, we have Steven Smithson coming in for a voluntary interview this morning. Dawn made the call and said he’d be happy to help.’ Gina felt a familiar shiver flash across the back of her neck as the colour drained from her face. Briggs had said she wouldn’t be able to interview him.
