‘Gloved.’
Jacob smiled, putting Tracy more at ease. ‘Is there anything else you can think of?’
‘No, I was scared. Whoever it was started to come my way but I turned and ran back here. By the time I reached the door, I glanced back and they’d gone. I locked myself in, called my husband who was project managing the site down by the entrance and then called the police. I should tell you something else. I touched the bell and the string and I started to dig up the earth with my hands. I did tell the uniformed officer that.’
Gina leaned back a little in the chair as Jacob caught up with the notes. ‘That must have been frightening for you. One of the team will come to take elimination prints from you in a while.’ She glanced around the room. There were piles of paperwork everywhere, along with health and safety notices that clogged up the wall. Hard hats and yellow jackets were stacked up next to a room marked with a toilet symbol. The phone was flashing every few seconds. Her gaze led her to the noticeboard and one name stood out. ‘Isaac Slater, he works for you.’
‘He did. I left a message on his phone this morning telling him not to come back. He’s not the most reliable of builders. Turns up late, doesn’t put a full day in and this puts the project back. Today he didn’t turn up and I snapped. What’s this got to do with him?’
‘We left a message on your phone to call us back.’
Tracy glanced at the flashing light on the office phone. ‘Sorry. I’m struggling to keep up.’
‘Could you tell us a bit more about him? What was his timekeeping like last week?’
Tracy pulled up a spreadsheet. ‘Not brilliant. It’s all over the place. Last Monday—’
‘Is that the twenty-sixth?’
‘Yes. He turned up in the morning but about two in the afternoon Fred wanted a word with him, but he’d left site and not told anyone. The following day, we asked him where he’d been and he said he had to go to the dentist and forgot to tell us. He was late the day after too, that was the Tuesday. He looked like he’d been on the drink – scruffy and hungover looking. On the Wednesday I have him marked down as leaving early again. Thursday: not in until eleven. Friday: he was meant to do a half-day but left at ten in the morning. This week has been the straw that broke the camel’s back. When he didn’t turn up again this morning, I lost it and left him an angry message. There are plenty of builders looking to earn the good money that we pay. I’d rather give one of them the job.’
‘Thank you.’
As they left the Portakabin, Gina turned to Jacob before he got into his car. ‘Not only did Isaac lie to us about his whereabouts on the Monday, his girlfriend Joanna Brent confirmed that he was with her after he finished work at six. Was she lying too? Did he go home early or did he go somewhere else? Maybe he was busy digging a grave or moving a coffin. Does he have a van?’
Jacob flicked through his notes. ‘He certainly does.’
‘Call that one in too and have him brought into the station for questioning. After the vicar, we need to speak to him as a matter of urgency. I’ll message PC Smith about Tracy’s elimination prints.’
‘I’m on it.’
As she went to get into one of the pool cars, her phone rang. It was Briggs. ‘Hello.’
‘You need to check the papers. I have the full letter from the killer here. I’m about to email it through to you. There’s also another little perfect triangle at the bottom of the letter but that wasn’t published in the article.’
‘Thanks.’ She opened the file and read the letter.
I said I’d be in touch again. I know you believe that standing by and watching others suffer isn’t okay. We must protect the innocent. Anger, tension, fear – they never leave. Scratching at the walls of your prison, knowing there is no way out, thinking you might die… Maybe facing the fear is what it takes. ‘Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour’, but sometimes your enemy isn’t all they seem.
It made her shiver as she read her name at the top, then she saw the same Bible verse about the lion at the bottom of the page. She needed to get to the vicarage now and she needed to know what Sally Stevens knew. The lion on the casket was one thing but a direct quote; that was something else. The clues had been there all along.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Gina hammered on the vicarage door, hoping that Sally Stevens was in. She hadn’t answered when they’d called ahead.
Jacob followed her past the church and across the grass. ‘Anyone in?’
‘She hasn’t answered.’ Gina rushed to the window and stared through. The large lounge was empty. ‘I’m worried.’ She ran to another window, then another, before slipping along the side of the house and peering through the kitchen window. It was so dark with the clouds above and Gina struggled to see in. She wiped the glass with the sleeve of her jacket and peered through again, making out the dining table and the centre island.
A woofing noise came from across the graveyard and a large Cairn Terrier bounded over.
‘Sally,’ Gina called, but the woman didn’t answer.
‘I wonder where she is.’ Jacob started to head over the grass, slipping between the graves, then a faint voice came from the right.
‘This way. Sally?’ Gina ran as fast as she could, jumping over the smaller gravestones before clearing a large tomb-like structure and seeing Sally kneeling over an empty grave. It was the grave of Elsie Peterson.
The woman turned, her black lipstick a striking contrast to her pale face. ‘Someone did this in the night. I was just about to call you.’
