‘Was she like this all the time at work?’
He shook his head. ‘No, only the past few weeks, maybe a month. That’s when she started messing up small things at work. I’d say she had something on her mind.’
‘Thank you, we’ll be in touch.’
‘I should have been more understanding rather than reprimand her over her errors. Maybe I could have done more.’
Gina closed her pad and passed Rick Elder a card. ‘If you think of anything else, call me.’
He placed it in the slit in his phone case. ‘There is one more thing. Elissa is on holiday but a couple of weeks ago she came to speak to me in confidence. She heard Holly crying while in a toilet cubicle. She asked Holly what was wrong and Holly told her to go away.’
‘When will she be back?’ Jacob asked.
‘Two weeks yesterday.’
‘Thank you,’ Gina said as they made their way back to the main door.
‘What did you make of all that? He’s a little weird.’ Gina pressed the central locking button on the car key and the lights flashed once as the doors opened.
‘I don’t know. He answered everything we asked but he didn’t seem at all upset by what had happened. If I had just been told that you’d been murdered—’
‘Thanks, Jacob.’ Gina let out a snort of laughter.
‘You know what I mean. We’re colleagues. If that happened to you, I’d be gutted and we haven’t even had a one-night stand.’
Gina got into the car. ‘It’s nice to know someone would be upset.’
He laughed and looked away.
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Just say it, Jacob.’
He burst into laughter. ‘Briggs would be upset. Have you seen the way he looks at you?’
‘No, no and no. Don’t you dare go there, Driscoll.’
‘I’m just pulling your leg, guv. Of course we’d all miss you and we’d all be sad if you were unfortunately murdered. I don’t feel his reactions were genuine. There was just something about him.’
‘I agree. He was a bit odd. Maybe it’s just the way he is, as he explained, or maybe there’s more to it. We’ll check his alibi for starters. I need to work out what time it is in Australia.’
She got into the car feeling her face flushing. If Jacob could see through Briggs’s feelings for her, could everyone else? She had to talk to him and it had to be soon.
As Gina pulled off a few drops of rain hit the windscreen. ‘Best get on with it. We’ve got to get to Holly’s flat in a short while. Marianne Long called earlier to say she’d meet us there. While I drive, give the team a call and update them with all that we know.’ She glanced back at the brewery as she turned the car in the car park and spotted Rick Elder at the window. He ran his shaky fingers through his hair, turned and walked back towards the offices.
Jacob’s phone beeped at the same time as Gina’s.
‘Email,’ he said as he checked.
‘What is it, Jacob?’
‘The post-mortem is scheduled for first thing.’ He paused to read. ‘We have some results back. The blood smeared on the drawers in Holly’s hotel room does belong to her, as does the blood on the wall. Her blood showed no alcohol or drugs at all in her system but get this.’
‘What?’
‘She was pregnant.’
