The nurse slowed down while Jacob and Gina caught up. A uniformed officer was sitting outside a room. Gina knew that’s where Aimee was recovering. ‘She has two broken fingers, mild concussion and is severely dehydrated, but she’s taking fluids. I will warn you, she’s on some heavy duty painkillers, at her request. With that and her concussion, she may not make as much sense as you’d maybe hope, but she’s going to be fine.’
‘Thank you.’
The nurse held her hand out, gesturing towards the room. ‘If there’s anything else I can help you with, just head back to the nurses’ station.’ She smiled and left.
Nodding to the officer, Gina smiled and opened the door. The young woman was lying under a white sheet, her pale skin almost matching its tone. ‘Aimee, it’s DI Harte. How are you feeling?’
She stirred and opened her eyes. ‘I wanted to tell you… he took me.’ Aimee went to sit slightly but soon returned her head to the pillow. ‘Woah, not good.’ She felt around the bedside table. ‘Water.’
Gina grabbed the glass of water and held it under Aimee’s chin as she sipped from the glass.
‘Thank you. That man, Richard, took me. I was in my house and—’ Aimee lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. ‘It was him, he locked me in a coffin wall.’ The woman coughed and sobbed. ‘I thought I was going to die.’
‘You’re safe now. We’ve arrested Richard Leason.’
Aimee glanced in her direction. ‘You have him?’
‘We do. You just concentrate on getting better and you can tell us everything then.’
Someone knocked on the door. Aimee’s friend Nicole entered followed by the nurse. Aimee rolled over in bed, yelping as she turned. ‘It may be best if you come back a little later. The doctor is on his way to examine her further and she really needs to rest.’ The nurse’s instructions were firm.
‘Oh my goodness, look at you!’ Nicole ran over to her friend and placed a loving hand on her shoulder. ‘Your mum is on her way and Rhys came over, asking about you. I told that idiot where to go.’
Aimee gripped her friend’s hand and smiled. ‘Love you, Nicole.’
Gina nodded, knowing that Aimee was now in safe hands. ‘Take care, Aimee, I’ll speak to you soon with regards to making a formal statement.’
Aimee ignored her and began crying for more pain relief. That’s all they were getting from Aimee for now.
Gina had caught Richard with Aimee at his workshop, she had all the evidence she needed. As soon as she’d told Rex that he needed to go to the station and report what he’d seen, he’d done it. Wyre and Briggs had taken his statement and had charged him with stalking Aimee. Gina had given him no choice in the matter. Either he tell them all he’d seen and explain why or she’d hand her CCTV into the station and get him charged with harassing her. She hoped that being arrested would give him the jolt he needed to see the error of his ways. Ultimately his evidence would help them with the case against Richard Leason.
As they left the ward, Jacob checked his watch. ‘What a day!’
‘It certainly has been a day we’ll never forget.’ Gina stared at the coffee machine as she thought about what would happen next. Placing a few coins in and selecting a latte, she waited for the coffee to spurt out. ‘Can you grab a sandwich from the shop and take that and this coffee to Smith’s wife? I said I’d be back with food but there’s something I need to do.’
Seventy-Five
‘Hello, Diane,’ Gina whispered. Diane turned and half-smiled.
‘Detective? I’m sorry you found me the way you did.’ She sipped a cup of tea and heaved slightly. ‘I didn’t want to live, I don’t want to live. My brother was right. I’m a bad person, I’ve done bad things. I hurt him—’ Tears slipped down her face. ‘Why didn’t you just let me die?’
‘Diane—’
‘I deserved to die.’
Gina was out of her depth, Diane needed counselling. How on earth was she going to deliver the news of her brother’s arrest and breakdown?
‘I’ve had enough of living with secrets.’
Diane paused and had another drink. Gina knew how she felt. Is this what her future looked like? Would her secrets begin to weigh her down so badly she’d crush herself to end the agony? She went to speak but Diane interrupted.
‘I need to tell someone. Can I tell you?’ Diane slowly turned and stared directly at Gina, her wet eyes glistening. There was another person in the small ward, sleeping to the sounds of the television. Gina pulled the curtain halfway to give Diane a little privacy. ‘Years ago, when I was in my late teens, our mother died. We watched her slowly get sicker until one day; that was it. We were expecting it, but knowing didn’t make it any easier.’ Diane paused and stared at her lap. Tears soaked into the hospital blanket as she slowly relayed her story. ‘I didn’t want to lose Richard to the care system, he was a few years younger than me. We had no money so I did things to make money, things I shouldn’t have been doing. Men were my way to money and very soon I had my regulars.’ She shook her head back and forth, words refusing to escape as she let out an almost silent pained squeal.
Gina placed her hand on Diane’s shoulder, waiting for her to find her next sentence.
‘I didn’t know they were abusing him. I let them into our home. How can I ever live with the fact that I let these brutes abuse my baby brother? He hates me and you know what, I hate me. I hate me so much, I want to slash at my wrists, I want to drink poison, I want to ram my head into a wall over and over again. I want to get in a car and drive it straight into a wall or over a cliff. I wanted it all to be over and you made me live – now go away.’ Diane turned away.
Gina almost missed a breath and felt her body raring up as if she was suddenly awash with fever. This is what secrets do to a person and one day, she might be just like Diane. Her daughter would always resent her, she knew they would never be close. She thought of a young Diane selling her teen body to any man around, while all the time, thinking she was doing it to protect her brother.
