‘She was seen leaving Dale’s house on the day that she disappeared but her car wasn’t parked outside his house. We’re working on the belief that she parked there and walked the couple of roads to Dale’s house.’
‘That doesn’t make sense. Why would she do that?’
Jacob scribbled a few notes and blew on his hot coffee before gulping it down.
Gina was the one to shake her head this time. She was hoping that Mary could tell her the answer to the question.
‘She hasn’t been herself lately, Susan. It all seemed to start with a little reunion at the pub a few months ago. I remember her saying that she was going but I don’t think she was really looking forward to it, she seemed a bit tense. Since then, she and Ryan have split up. It was soon after that night she told him it was over. She doesn’t tell me anything. I asked her why, and nothing. I don’t even know who she was meeting at this reunion.’
‘You know why!’ Clare walked through the door. Gina hadn’t heard her creep through the front door and she must have been listening for a while to understand where they were with the conversation.
Gina had wanted to hear what Clare had to say and now was her chance. ‘What do you know?’
‘We don’t know anything. You’re just guessing at that, Clare.’
‘I’m not. Ryan told me, he’s told me a few things recently but you’d rather remain in denial. That reunion, he went there on that night and he saw her with a man. They argued and the next thing, Susan wants him gone. All this time she’s blaming him to get a divorce and she was cheating on him.’
Gina allowed her mind to wander as mother and daughter bickered. Gina turned her back to them and gazed over at the photos on the dresser. There were a few of the kids, a couple of Mary and Howard and a large family photo. Gina gazed at Susan. Ryan had his arm around her. She scrunched her eyes as she looked closer. He definitely had a crew cut. He wasn’t quite bald but it was close. In the dark, their witness, Alicia, wouldn’t have noticed if the lurker had short fair hair. Her heart rate increased as she swigged the rest of the coffee, devouring every last bit in the hope that the caffeine would pick her up but not cause her to tremble. Mary hadn’t answered her question. ‘Mary, we would need access to Susan’s house and car. Would it be okay if we took a look? We need to find Susan.’ Gina felt her hands clench as she waited for an answer. It would make their job easier if Mary said yes. At the moment, she didn’t want to treat Susan like an outright suspect, she needed to keep Mary on side. Susan may even be their next victim if the investigation didn’t get a move on.
‘She wouldn’t like that at all,’ Clare shouted.
‘But she’s not here. She’s missing and, for all I know, the same person who killed that man by the river could have Susan. Yes. Do whatever you need to do. I have all her keys and I give you full permission to use them.’ Mary stomped across the tiled floor and rummaged through her bag until she reached the bunch of keys. ‘She gives me spares of everything. I look after the kids a lot. I also went and cleaned as the place was an absolute state. The place stank of allsorts and I wanted it to be nice for her when she returned.’
Every muscle in Gina’s body relaxed and she smiled as she took them. She was a little disappointed that Mary had cleaned Susan’s house but still, they had full access to everything they’d need. She only hoped that Susan’s whereabouts would become apparent. For Mary’s sake she really did hope that Susan wasn’t involved in Dale’s murder, but she had to consider that Susan chose to park two streets away so that no one on Dale’s road would know she had visited, reducing her chances of being seen. She was now sure that Susan was in imminent danger.
‘I have this.’ Mary reached into the bottom of the cupboard under the sink and handed over a blue shoebox.
‘I thought you were taking that back to Susan’s house. You can’t show anyone else that!’ Clare went to snatch the box but Mary slapped her hand away.
‘I can and I will. They’re just drawings and poems. Silly things she did as a kid.’ She handed the box to Gina. ‘I found it at her house. It’s probably nothing but it may help you understand my daughter better. I just want you to find her.’
Clare shook her head and stormed out of the room.
‘Thank you.’ Gina held the box under her arm. Between the box and the search, she was sure that she’d get a better insight into Susan’s character. She took one last look at the photo on her phone. Jacob was glancing over her shoulder. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she reverted back to her plain screensaver.
When they left she glanced back at the house and saw Clare stomping around the living room doing up her raincoat as she argued with her mother.
Thirty-Five
Susan Wheeler lived on the type of road any family would love to live on. A fairly new estate full of large detached houses, neatly trimmed shrubbery and not a hint of graffiti or litter. The only sound to be heard on the cold Friday afternoon was that of the distant traffic on the carriageway. As Gina pulled up behind the van and police cars, she imagined this to be the perfect cul-de-sac to bring a family up in, the perfect home Susan stood to lose in the event of a marriage breakdown. Would Susan’s share of the house only stretch to a tiny property? Possibly a maisonette maybe, located nearer to the high street. Cleevesford was quite a sought-after area and prices were higher than average for the area.
She knew from hearing stories of many a divorcee that both parties normally lost out in the end. Had this all been too much for Susan? Maybe she’d snapped. Had she been in some sort of relationship with her childhood friend, Dale? It was possible that he’d tried to end things with her. Was the copy ofJane Eyreon his bedside Susan’s?
The team were pulling on their gloves as she approached. Gina grabbed a set from Jacob who yawned. ‘You look like I feel,’ Gina said.
‘It’s been a long day, a really long day. Keith has headed back and is going through everything we took from Dale’s house. Jennifer is processing everything from the murder scene down at the river. And now, we’re conducting another search.’ He pasted a false grin across his face. ‘What exactly are we looking for?’
‘We can’t discount Susan’s house as a potential scene so we’re looking for anything that might help us to find her. Maybe Mary missed some of her appointments so paperwork is what we’re looking for. She must have a better diary-keeping system than a scrappy piece of paper. We need to know who her clients are, she could have seen any one of them after leaving Dale on Tuesday. We need to know why they argued. I know her car was left in Damson Close, which means she probably went missing between there and Dale’s house, but there’s nothing to say she isn’t involved in Dale Blair’s murder and then came back home on foot. It would have taken her a good half an hour but it could have been done.’
Jacob placed the key in the lock and opened the door. The smell of pine disinfectant mingled with lemon escaped the house. Gina spotted the scented reeds on the console table in the hallway, just past the door to what she thought would be the downstairs water closet. Above it was a photo of the children. Two girls, Jasmine and Phoebe, both smiling as they lift their little brother up, kissing a cheek each. The laminated hall floor shone like it had been buffed. Gina took another step, almost slipping in her boot cover. ‘Be careful. Slippy underfoot.’
She stepped to the side and took one carpeted stair at a time. A few seconds later, she stood at the top of the stairs. ‘Three bedrooms, a main bathroom, an en suite and an office.’
Jacob called back from the kitchen doorway. ‘Kitchen diner, large lounge and door to the garage, unlocked. Bi-fold doors to the garden, also unlocked.’
‘They’re not a security-conscious family,’ Gina muttered. ‘Jacob, we’ll start with her bedroom and the office.’ Gina led the way. The smell of bleach wafted out of the main bathroom. She took a mental note about how shiny everything looked. Mary had really gone to town with cleaning Susan’s house up. Gina hurried along the landing, the dangly crystal light fitting almost reaching the top of her head.
The room was large for a home office. Three large filing cabinets filled the one end giving it a claustrophobic feel. A set of trays were neatly placed on the desk and a recently dusted desktop computer sat neatly in the middle. A small strip of dust had been missed along the side. ‘We need to get the computer back to analyse what’s on it.’ She walked over to the cabinet and opened one. It contained all the financial information for clients of surnames beginning with A and B. ‘Smith and O’Connor are going to love us. I hate to say it, but we need to go through the lot. Any one of these people and businesses may know something. Susan could have been on her way to see any of them. I need all these files packed up.’ She flicked through the files that were full of month end accounts and charts.
