‘I know but we need to know what she was lying about,’ Briggs replied.
‘I know, I know. Sorry, sir. Thank you for letting me be here.’Thank you for letting me be here.It was like some sort of a joke, as if she were the one being investigated.
Dawn continued and Gina’s attention moved from her own frustration to what was happening in the interview room. ‘We drove to a grassy area over in Bidford, right by the river and we just talked. I tried to please Steven, I showed this man, Ralph, that I was game but he could tell I wasn’t. I don’t know what came over me then, I poured my heart out to this stranger in a car and he was such a gentleman, everything I’d love in a man that Steven wasn’t. After a while I realised I liked him but he pushed me away. I think I scared him off with my ridiculously overemotional state. I couldn’t face Steven after that. I didn’t want to go back and see that he was with Sophie or any other woman at the party. Anyway, Ralph drove me home to Cleevesford. When we arrived, he saw that he had messages and missed calls from his wife so he rushed off, said he needed to hurry back to pick her up.’
‘Do you know what time this was?’ Jacob asked.
She shook her head. ‘I have no idea. It was way after midnight. I went to bed and lay there hoping that Steven would be in a good mood when he arrived back.’
‘So now we can establish that Steven wasn’t home when you arrived?’ Wyre glanced at Jacob.
‘Yes. I’m sorry I said he was already there when I arrived home but he came back not long after I got in. I just got confused with what had happened and times. I heard him unlock the door and swear as he kicked my shoes in the hallway. He didn’t even come up the stairs. I spent all night awake and upset, wondering if he was angry with me.’
‘Why would he be angry with you?’ Wyre asked.
The woman shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know. Maybe he was fed up I’d not gone back to Sarah’s house. Maybe he’d not managed to get off with Sophie, he hates rejection and I think he had his eye on her.’
‘Can you remember when you left Sarah’s house?’ Wyre moved her black fringe from her eyes and tucked it behind her ears.
‘No. Now I know what happened to Sophie, I wish I knew when I left the party with Ralph. I wish I’d looked at the time when Steven came home. I was too busy lying there with a nervous stomach wondering if he’d come up the stairs and start a row. Thankfully he didn’t.’
‘Did he drive home?’
‘His car was on the drive when I woke up in the morning and I did hear him pull up, so yes. He was parked just outside the grounds of the house. He doesn’t like getting the car blocked in.’
Gina watched the woman intently through the glass, bouncing her leg under the desk as she waited for Dawn to say more.
‘Harte, I can’t hear a thing with you making a racket,’ Briggs said. ‘You know when you tell O’Connor about being annoying?’
It pained her to think she was as annoying as O’Connor. ‘Sorry, sir. It was him, I know it.’
‘It’s not looking good for him, I must say, but with him knowing you, we need more than usual. You know what Wyre is going to ask next?’
Gina nodded and hoped that Dawn would agree to what they would ask.
Wyre let out a small cough. ‘Dawn, may we have permission to search your house? We know Steven has his own flat but from previous notes, we know he lives with you most of the time. It would really help us to eliminate him from our enquiries.’
‘Are you saying he could have done this? That he could have hurt Sophie or killed Jade? Am I living with a killer?’
‘I’m not saying any of that. We would simply like to eliminate you both from our enquiries.’
Dawn began to weep. ‘I just want this to all be over. I’ve been stupid thinking it could work between Steven and me. My friends, my family, they all hate him, say he’s been bad for me but I didn’t listen. I’m listening now. Yes, go ahead. I want to know who hurt these two women and I’m not prepared to get into any trouble with you lot for Steven.’
‘Yes,’ Gina said as she punched the air. ‘Did we take Steven’s DNA while he was here?’
‘Yes, but no results for that test as yet. I’m hoping we find something at Dawn’s house to hurry the process along.’
‘I’ll go and get ready and we’ll head over there immediately. We can’t give him time to find out we’re going in. He’ll be straight over to destroy any evidence.’
‘You’re not going, Gina.’
‘What?’ She waited for his reply. Open-mouthed. She needed to be there, to see everything unfold in real time. She wanted to be the one to arrest Steven. ‘I need to be there.’
‘I said no and you know why.’
‘Please, can I at least wait in the car? Please, sir, I need to be involved.’
‘You can wait in my car at the other end of the street and I’ll keep you updated at all times. I will be there to supervise the search. I want everything done by the book. You interfere and I will suspend you. Got it?’
