‘Where were you going?’
Her long hair had slipped through the gap in the back of the chair and had settled to her right. She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I needed to think and walking helps me to think.’
‘I gather you weren’t too far from home.’
‘I guess not.’
Gina couldn’t work out whether Stephanie was playing with them. The distress she’d conveyed the previous night was all but gone and she came across as flippant in her replies.
‘You mentioned being followed.’
She nodded. ‘He came to my house. He posted the liquorice.’
‘Did the same person attack you?’
She shook her head. ‘No, the other one attacked me.’ Gina knew there were two people involved in Dale’s murder. Stephanie knew everything, she just had to coax the information out of her. Phoebe’s safety was at stake. She felt her toes tapping under the desk.Keep it calm, Gina.
Gina glanced back at her notes and referred to the call from the phone box. ‘It was you who called the police from the phone box. You said you were being followed then.’
She nodded.
‘Who was following you?’
‘The other one. I need to speak to Susan. She texted me to come, telling me not to say anything. We need to be together when we talk but when I got there, it wasn’t her. I can’t do this without her. I know Dale can’t help now…’ Stephanie began to fidget on her seat. She clipped at her nail with her teeth.
Blood whooshed through Gina’s head. A text message, that’s what had lured Stephanie in. The same must have happened with Phoebe. Their abductor was pretending to be Susan.
‘When did Susan text you?’
‘Yesterday.’
‘Can I see?’
Stephanie passed her phone to Gina. ‘It’s in messages, the last one sent. I don’t get many messages.’
Gina focused on the screen, noticing immediately that the number was different to the one they had on file for Susan.
Whatever you do, don’t call the police. Don’t call anyone. I’ll be in touch. Your dear friend, Susan. We need to go back to the beginning, where it all started. I’ll explain later. I’m going back. Xxx.
‘This hasn’t come from Susan’s phone. Do you believe this to be a message from Susan?’
Stephanie stroked her cheek and began picking a tiny spot as she shrugged. ‘It was odd that she ended with “your dear friend, Susan”. I kept trying to call the number but no one would answer.’ Her cuff slipped slightly as she pulled a hair from her face and Gina spotted the dressing on her wrist.
‘Okay, may we take your phone?’
‘I need it.’
Gina left the phone on the table. She would need to see what else might be on it but that could wait.
‘I have to ask, why did you have a knife wrapped in a blanket on the living room floor?’
She began to tremble. ‘I told you, I was being followed. I was scared, dammit! It was for my own protection. I know it was him, he gives us liquorice.’
‘He gives you liquorice. Who do you mean by us?’ Gina suspected she meant Dale and Susan too but maybe there were others involved.
‘All of us. Anyone. He always had liquorice. Long, red strands of that revolting stuff.’ Tears drizzled down the woman’s cheeks. ‘I can’t keep this secret any longer. I promised Susan and Dale we would do it together but it’s too late and now I have to tell.’
Jacob’s phone flashed and he nudged her and held it up. It was an email from Bernard. A wash of relief came over Gina as she read that the knife found at Stephanie’s had not been the one used to dissect the liquorice found in Dale’s throat.
