‘How did you get into the house clearance business?’
‘I inherited it. I couldn’t see myself being a teacher or working in an office, I just loved books. My father did this for a living, so I eventually joined him after travelling for a few years. He died and I carried on working in the business. Dale and I were going to travel. I was going to take him to see the Taj Mahal. I spent four months backpacking around India in my twenties, then moved on to Europe. I was going to take him there and propose.’ The man took another swig of beer. The grimness of morning was beginning to lift and the sound of birdsong could just be heard. A robin bobbed on the window ledge filling its beak. ‘I put dried mealworm on the window ledge. It’s life’s little pleasures that make it.’
Gina sunk into the old chair, its arms almost worn through to the foam. Regardless of its rough edges, the room had a cosy feel to it, she felt cocooned in warmth. ‘We’re so sorry for your loss and I know it’s soon but we needed to come and speak a little more about Dale. We found a copy ofJane Eyreon one of his bedside tables. Is it yours?’
He nodded and leaned back. ‘Yes. I always left a book there. I’ve read it several times and it’s one of my favourites. Dale hadn’t read much up until we met, much to his parents’ dismay – they are huge readers, which is why I get on with them so well. Anyway, I started with this most-loved classic. I was reading it to him, chapter by chapter. He’d fall asleep after a few minutes. He never did hear a whole chapter.’ Lawrence let out a small laugh.
‘Can you tell me a bit more about your relationship with Dale?’
The muscles in his jaw clenched as his gaze moved back and forth between Jacob and Gina. Jacob cleared his throat and turned a page on his notepad. Tension filled the air. ‘What’s that got to do with what happened? We had a good relationship. I was going to ask him to marry me.’
‘It helps us to know Dale a little better, that’s all.’ Gina needed to put him at ease. He knew she was fishing for information on his and Dale’s relationship with regard to him being a suspect. Some people she’d interviewed at this stage, didn’t really have this level of awareness and simply spoke on, Lawrence was now on high alert, but was that because he had something to be guilty about? She wasn’t sure yet. Even if he was the person hanging around Susan Wheeler’s car, he may still not have done anything to her or Dale. Had he been the person who was watching her leave Mary’s house a few nights ago? She had suspected it might be Clare. She shivered and looked away, hoping that he hadn’t noticed the change in her thoughts.
He swallowed. ‘We were like any other couple. Yes, I know. Look at me, built like a brick shithouse and I’ll add, quite loud and outspoken in many ways. Then there’s Dale, quiet, sensitive guy – the loveable pushover I called him. But love is love. When I met him, I knew he was the one for me. We’d been together over a year and now I really don’t know how I’m going to live without him.’ He took another swig out of his bottle. ‘We argued and made up like anyone else. Nothing is ever plain sailing, is it?’
‘I’m sorry to ask but what did you argue about?’
He shrugged his shoulders and slammed the bottle on the dusty coffee table. ‘This and that. Dale was trying to sort something out in his personal life but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. I got really miffed and found out he was meeting up with some old friends. It wasn’t the meeting up bit I was miffed about, it was the fact that he wouldn’t introduce me to his friends, like he was ashamed of me. It wasn’t as if we didn’t go out, people around Cleevesford knew we were a couple. What was so different about these friends?’
‘Do you know the names of these friends?’
‘I’m ashamed to say I took a look at his phone messages. Susan and Steph. I suppose I worried he might not be happy with me and might start a relationship with one of them. I’m the first man in his life, so I suppose I felt threatened by their presence. I confronted him and he reassured me it was nothing but still, why wouldn’t he bring them over for a drink if they were only friends? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not even the jealous type but something was going on and I couldn’t fathom it out.’
‘Did you see the messages?’
‘Only one or two, they just said call me or I’ll call you, giving nothing away. I should have trusted him and stopped being stupid. I don’t think he cheated on me or was intending to, but he was hiding something and that hurt like hell. I wanted him to trust me like I trust him. I’ve told him everything about me, my life. I didn’t think we had secrets until they came along and he went to the reunion.’
Gina saw Jacob scribbling more notes. ‘Can you tell me more about this reunion?’
‘I know someone attacked him at the Angel Arms. That’s where it was. He said it was just a reunion of a friendship group from his teens, some club or other. He came over the next day sporting a bruised and red hooter. He said it was some drunk and he’d decided not to press charges.’
Gina made a mental note to visit the Angel Arms and felt her stomach roll at having to speak to the landlord, slimy Samuel Avery. A person with even less moral fibre than her least favourite reporter, Lyndsey Saunders. Both of them had got in the way of previous cases and she had no patience for either of them. She pulled the photos out and showed Lawrence the first one of Susan as she is now. ‘Do you recognise the woman in this picture?’
He shook his head.
‘She’s currently missing. There’s a search going on today, and her photo has been shown on the news this week.’
‘I rarely watch television and I haven’t bought a newspaper for a few days now as you can see from my pile. To be fair, I’ve been quite blotto.’ He held the bottle up and gulped down more of the brown liquid.
Gina glanced down and the paper on the top of the heap was dated two weeks ago. ‘Her name is Susan.’
Lawrence’s brow furrowed as he made the connection. ‘As in Susan, the person he was texting and calling?’
She nodded. ‘We think so. They were friends. Susan has not been seen since Tuesday. She was last seen leaving Dale’s house that day. Have you ever been to Damson Close?’
‘I cleared a flat, deceased old lady, family didn’t want any of her stuff.’
‘Recently?’ Jacob added.
He shook his head. ‘No, that was years ago. I’d have no reason to go there now.’ He looked down at his big toe and wiggled it.
Gina showed him the last photo. ‘This is Dale as a teen. That girl is Susan,’ Gina pointed, ‘and there’s another girl. Have you ever seen her? I know it’s hard given that this is the most recent photo we have.’ Gina stared at the photo, noticing how alike Phoebe was to fourteen-year-old Susan.
‘No. I’ve never seen her before. Maybe she’s the other woman who used to message him, Steph.’ Gina placed the photo back in her folder. Dale’s mother had mentioned the other girl as a Stella or a Stacey. Maybe the name she was trying to wrack her brains for had been Steph. She wrote the name Steph on her pad.
Her phone buzzed and she went back into the dark hallway as Jacob finished interviewing Lawrence. ‘O’Connor.’
‘We’ve just had a call from the lab. This is where it gets weird, guv.’
