‘Just before Noah came home.’ If Noah had just arrived home as his wife was leaving out the back garden, he couldn’t have been the one to attack her – that’s if Tiffany Gall was telling the whole truth.
‘Would this strike you as odd behaviour for Mrs Ashmore?’
‘Very. I don’t know why she’d come home then go out of the back gate.’ Mr Gall placed an arm around his daughter. ‘I should have called her to see if she was okay. If I had, she might not have gone back out and got attacked. But she looked like she was on a mission. She headed out that back gate pretty quickly, even leaving the summerhouse door open and the gate flapping in the wind. When Noah arrived home, he popped out to close both.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us this before?’
The girl took a sip of her coffee. ‘I don’t know. I told Noah when he came home and he seemed in a mood and I didn’t want to get him into any trouble.’
‘Why would this get him into trouble?’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know. It’s silly really, isn’t it? If he arrived home just as she was leaving out the back, he can’t have hurt her, not that he would. He’s a genuine guy, a nice guy. I don’t think she appreciated him.’
Gina felt her heart rate pick up. There was more, she knew it and she’d already guessed. Either Tiffany had an infatuation with Noah or they were having some kind of relationship. ‘Could we speak to Tiffany alone, Mr Gall?’
‘No, she’s my daughter and she needs a parent with her.’ The man slammed an empty cup on the side. ‘Sweetheart, you don’t have to say anything else.’
‘She’s an adult at nineteen and doesn’t need a parent with her when speaking to the police.’
‘It’s okay, Dad. Just go to bed.’ The man stood in silence for a moment before admitting defeat and leaving the room. They all listened as his heavy footsteps reached the landing.
‘I thought you might not want your dad to hear my next question. Were you having any kind of relationship with Noah Ashmore?’
Another tear slipped from the corner of Tiffany’s eye as she nodded. ‘I told him I love him. I kissed him once, last week, and he didn’t stop me. I don’t know how it happened but it just did. We were in the garden. Mrs Ashmore had gone out and Noah was just about to leave. They’d called me to look after Lilly. I was helping him move a pot in the garden that Mrs Ashmore had insisted on him moving and then it happened. We kissed. He told me how much he thought about me too. I knew they argued so it was just a matter of time before they were over, at least that’s what I thought.
‘When he came back tonight, he confirmed he’d had enough of it all and that there was more to life. He seemed really dissatisfied. I asked where they’d been and he said they’d just gone to a friend’s. I told him about Mrs Ashmore in the summerhouse and he just shrugged it off, saying that she left earlier and had drunk a few glasses of wine and probably staggered there, not wanting to embarrass herself by coming home. He said she’d probably gone to walk it off and would be back later. I asked about us and he said he couldn’t think and virtually shoved me out of the door.’
Gina felt a rush of excitement running through her body. Where had Tiffany gone after leaving the Ashmores’ house? Maybe she’d gone looking for Jade. ‘Did you see anyone else around when you left Noah last night?’
Tiffany’s gaze met Gina’s. ‘Creepy Colin. Noah’s neighbour. He saw us kissing in the garden and he saw me when I left Noah’s. Whenever I see him, he gives me the most revolting grin.’
‘Tiffany, where does Colin live?’
‘Next door to Noah. He’s always watching what everyone is doing. He thinks we can’t all see him peering through the gaps in his curtains.’ Tiffany shivered.
Six
‘Forensics have just pulled up.’ Jacob stood to the side as Gina walked from Noah Ashmore’s house to meet Keith coming out of his van with his toolbox. He stood on the roadside putting his forensics suit on. Another car pulled up and a crime scene assistant stepped out and met him.
‘It’s the summerhouse, you say?’ Keith flinched as he straightened his back out. ‘I feel as though I’m being dragged from pillar to post tonight. Straight from one scene to another. That’s how I roll.’ So did Gina, but she wasn’t going to enter into a conversation about it. As he zipped the suit up, he arranged his comb-over under the hood and proceeded towards the gate to the side of the house. Noah Ashmore stood just inside the hallway, now dressed in jeans and a jumper. Neighbours had filtered onto the street and were being encouraged to go back home by PC Smith.
‘Yes, just head through the gate. I’ll follow you. It was the last place she was seen alive.’ Gina followed him alongside the house and into the garden. As they stepped in darkness on the uneven slabs, Gina thought back to Tiffany and what she’d told them. Her father had confirmed that she’d arrived home at about twelve thirty. She’d woken him up as she’d left her key at home. One of the other neighbours had confirmed that they heard her knocking on the door and calling her dad through the letterbox.
‘Ooh, nice place.’ Keith placed his toolbox down on the patio and began erecting a portable battery light.
The garden had to be about forty foot long. A neat path led from the patio, dividing the turf until it reached the summerhouse. It looked to be the size of a small bungalow, two rooms reaching from one end of the fence, almost to the other, leaving only a small gap that led to the gate. The light came on and Keith brought it closer. The summerhouse was decorated with dark tartan curtains. One side looked as if it was used as a playhouse for Lilly, the toys on the windowsill giving its purpose away. The room on the right looked a little more sophisticated. Gina crept closer and shone her torch through the window. There was a comfortable settee and a coffee table. A small and well-equipped bar adorned the other end and was finished off with several bar stools. She pointed the torch to the floor. ‘Keith, there seems to be a mound of throws on the floor.’
He gently opened the door and led the way. Gina pulled on a forensics suit, gloves and boot covers and followed him in. He flicked the light on. ‘At least the light works.’
‘It looks like someone has just got out of bed, the way all these blankets are arranged. What’s that?’
Gina pulled on the nylon and slowly revealed a pair of tights. She couldn’t pull them any further. They’d caught on the bottom of a bar stool. ‘There’s a smell about this place. It smells… sweaty. I can smell perfume hanging in the air.’ Two empty glasses sat on the bar, one was on its side with its contents splashed around it. Gina leaned over the glasses and inhaled. ‘Wine, white wine to be precise.’ A cork lay next to the half-empty bottle of Chardonnay. ‘Bag these glasses up. We need to find out who she was here with.’
After a few minutes, they left the summerhouse. Keith began cataloguing the samples and wine glasses as Gina gazed around the garden.
A neighbour peered out of his bedroom window. Gina didn’t need to ask his name, from Tiffany’s description she knew this had to be creepy Colin.
He pushed the window open and called to them. ‘I see things, I do. I betyouwant to know just what I saw last night.’
