‘You shouldn’t feel stupid. It’s good that you’re concerned about your neighbour.’ Gina leaned forward as Wyre flicked over to a fresh page in her notebook. ‘Can you tell me a little about her?’
‘We’re friends. Really close actually. She left to go on a date on Friday night and I haven’t seen her since. It’s just weird that’s all, and she’s not answering her phone. I’ve tried calling loads of times.’
Gina checked the details she noted down. Lauren was twenty. She was studying the Early Years foundation degree at Worcester University and she worked part-time at the chip shop in Cleevesford. ‘Okay, we’ll start with her name.’ They’d been told when Lauren originally made the call but Gina needed to clarify that they’d taken it down correctly.
‘Amber Slater.’ She cleared her throat and had another sip of tea.
‘How old is Amber?’
‘Same as me, twenty.’
‘And what does she do?’
Lauren dragged the chair along the carpet tiles and placed her gloved fingers on the table. ‘She’s a student and she works behind the bar at the Angel Arms. She’s studying accounting and finance, year two.’
Even with the heater on full, Gina shivered and she knew everyone else in the room would be as cold. ‘Do you have a photo of her?’
Lauren pulled her phone from the outer pocket on her rucksack and prodded at it with her gloves on. After realising it wasn’t going to respond, she pulled them off and started again. ‘This is her Facebook profile picture.’ She held the phone out across the table.
‘May I?’
The woman nodded and handed Gina the phone. ‘Of course.’
Gina clicked on the photo and pinched it to make it larger. The smiling young woman on the screen exuded confidence in her orange jumper. Her wavy hair shone with health, giving her a model-like appearance. Her eyebrows were definitely painted over to give them a flattering arch and her tight jawline and her heart-shaped face was finished with a pointy chin. ‘Could you please email that photo to me once we’ve finished.’
Lauren nodded and unzipped her coat a little. ‘Yes, no worries.’
‘You last saw her on Friday night, when she left you to meet someone for a date? Is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you tell me what time that was?’
‘Erm… I think it was around seven. She was getting the bus to meet this man at a restaurant outside Cleevesford. It’s called the Fish and Anchor. She was meant to be on the twenty past seven bus.’ She paused as if thinking. ‘It pulls up at the stop a little further down Bulmore Drive.’
‘We can certainly contact the restaurant and the bus company to check her whereabouts that night. Are there any reasons she may not be answering her phone or could she have just stayed with someone over the weekend?’
Lauren paused and went to speak but then stopped as if trying to carefully compose her next sentence. ‘Maybe. She could have stayed with her date but she would have called me by now? I know she would.’
‘Did she usually call you if she was going to be staying away for a couple of days?’
‘She’s never stayed away like this, except when she’s been home to her dad’s house. But still, she’s always called me or sent a message of some description.’
‘So would you say this was out of character for Amber?’
‘Yes. Something’s happened. I know it has.’
‘Can you tell me what she was wearing?’
‘A bright pink jumpsuit and leopard print heels. She has a gold nose ring too. I can’t remember which coat she had on now.’ Lauren scrunched her brow in thought.
There was a tap at the door. Gina stood. ‘Excuse me.’
She opened it gently and DC Harry O’Connor stood in the corridor, his bald head shining under the strip light. ‘Can I have a word, guv?’
She allowed the door to gently close as she let go. ‘Of course.’
‘A walker has found a body at the lake.’
