‘Great work. I still don’t feel he was giving us the full story. He wasn’t dressed for a walk. He was up to something. Maybe we need to follow up on that. Next… Jake Goodman, the chef at the Fish and Anchor. When I showed him the photo of Amber Slater, I’m sure he recognised her.’
PC Smith interjected. ‘That name does come up on our records. He got into trouble as a teenager for basically stealing women’s clothes off washing lines, including underwear.’
‘That’s a worry. I’ll head back over to the Fish and Anchor at opening tomorrow. What about Amber Slater’s neighbours and the landlord, Vincent? Do we have a surname for him?’
Wyre nodded. ‘It’s Vincent Jordan. He lives in a bungalow at the back of the apartment block that he manages. He’s in his late thirties and lives alone. I know uniform have taken a brief statement. He said he didn’t really know any of the tenants and only saw them when something needed fixing or when he cleaned the communal areas. In his words, he had nothing more to do with any of them as long as they paid their rent and kept the noise down.’
‘Any CCTV on his property that may just have covered the back of the apartment block?’
Shaking her head, Wyre continued. ‘No, he said he’s never had any CCTV. He said he lives close by so is able to keep an eye on the property himself.’
Gina pointed to the board. ‘Moving on to the other tenants. I spoke to Curtis Gallagher. Lauren Sandiford came in to report Amber missing. Who else lives there?’
O’Connor tapped his fingernails on the table. ‘Uniform managed to speak to Corrine Blake and Tyrone Heard, both students too. Corrine and Tyrone claimed that they barely knew Amber and only spoke to everyone else when they got together for a drink in the block. Both of them also said that they were at home between seven and seven thirty on Friday night. Corrine showed uniform the log of a call she was on with her mother and Tyrone was Facebook messaging another man during that time.’
‘Facebook messaging. I suppose he could have done that on the move.’ Gina glanced across at the other details on the board. ‘The superglue. Why do it?’
Wyre scrunched her brow. ‘It’s like whoever did that wanted to permanently seal her lips.’
‘Budgets don’t allow us the luxury of a profiler so we have to bear that in mind all the time. Okay, let’s bat a few theories around. Why? Maybe our killer would do anything to keep something a secret. Did Amber know what that secret was? Maybe she was going to say something, which is why her lips were glued. We need to allow ourselves to think like this person, imagine why they’d do this. What is it they don’t want anyone to know? Look as deeply as possible into everyone who flags up. It’s about the detail, something small from their past.’ She stared at the board wondering what the killer didn’t want Amber to say. Clayton Collins? Did he do something to Amber that he couldn’t bear the world to hear about? Mrs Collins? Gina was seeing her as a pawn in his game, nothing but an alibi. Her mind mulled over Amber’s injuries and an image of blood, lots of blood flashed through her mind. Poor woman, murdered before being dumped in a lake, early on a cold January morning. Her date… ‘Anyone here have experience with AppyDater? I’m sure I’ve heard a few of you mention it.’
Kapoor put her hand up and started speaking too quickly. Gina could barely process her words. ‘Say that all again but slower.’
‘It’s an app that really is for dating. It encourages lots of dates, as many as possible. It’s not about finding the one, it’s about finding fun company but it’s not as crude as a hook-up.’
‘Okay, slow down a bit more while I catch up.’ Gina began writing a few bullet points on the board.
‘Sorry, guv. Talking fast in Brummie is my speciality. I forget that a lot of people struggle to catch every word. It’s about the going out and the socialising and more, if you want it. I joined about a year ago and have had a couple of dates. It’s fun and easy. If you like someone, you just click on the smiley and that alerts the other person that you want to go on a date. After that, you can private message. You arrange a date and the guidelines recommend that this is always in a public place. A restaurant, a busy park, something like that.’
The young police officer waited for further questions and smiled, glad to be able to have an input.
‘Anyone else on AppyDater? I’m not prying but we will be looking deeply into it so best say now. I joined earlier today for research purposes. No one is making a judgement here, I just want to understand the app better and the way it works and I’m likely to come across your profiles. We know Amber was on it as she had an account set up.’
Briggs looked away. ‘I am.’
Gina’s stomach sank and her legs came over with that jellied feeling. She glanced at Briggs but he wouldn’t look her way. The other night… it was obviously nothing to him. Again, she had been the one taking all the risks. If their relationship, fling or whatever it was, had come out, she would have been sent to work somewhere else, not Briggs. He was her senior. She glanced at the table leg and wanted to kick it. She’d been stupid, so stupid. Maybe AppyDater was her own pathetic future. If it was good enough for Briggs and he was moving on, maybe she could. Maybe anyone would do and maybe there would be sex after. She kept her eyes on him but he wouldn’t look her way.
Clearing her throat, she continued. ‘Okay, I’m not suggesting our killer operated through this app. Amber was meant to meet her date at the Fish and Anchor but she never arrived. The booking was a no-show but her date would have known what time she’d have had to have left to arrive on time. This seemed well planned. Smashed street lights, being there at the right time to snatch her.’ Gina paused. ‘We don’t have Amber’s main phone but we have applied for the records. What we do have is another phone that Amber used. We need to find out who AdamzFun, BearBoy, NoName and BigBoz are. NoName stands out. I want to know who this is. I’ll be checking out AppyDater later to see if I can find any links. Are we all clear on what we’re doing next? Wyre, first thing tomorrow before the Fish and Anchor opens, we’re going to see Vincent Jordan. Okay?’
Everyone nodded and began to disperse, including Briggs who was the first to leave the room. Wyre held back. ‘I’m on AppyDater, guv. I didn’t want to say anything in front of everyone because they don’t know what happened between me and George and part of me feels stupid as it’s so soon. I was curious.’
‘Thanks for telling me. Like I said, you won’t get any judgement here. I’m glad you’re putting yourself first.’
‘When those smiley’s hit, it’s a boost, do you know what I mean? I want to meet new people.’
Gina smiled. ‘Of course. You have to think of you and if it’s making you happy, right now, then that’s good. Just be careful.’
‘Careful is my middle name.’
Kapoor ran back in, grabbing the notebook that she’d left on the table. She stopped and smiled as she checked out the beep on her phone. ‘I got me a date.’
‘Stay safe,’ Gina called as the woman left as quick as she entered.
Wyre let out a titter. ‘It surprised me that Briggs was on it. I mean he virtually comes across as celibate. I only remember him dating Annie for a short while and that was it. Hey, you really get to know everyone when you ask a question like “Who’s on AppyDater?” Fess up.’ She laughed.
‘And now it looks like we’re all on it.’ Gina checked her phone and noticed she had a smiley on her fake profile. ‘Looks like I’ve pulled. I only joined for research purposes.’
‘Yeah right, guv. No one will judge you either. You do know that, don’t you? I’ll see you in the morning. There’s a ready meal for one calling me home.’
