‘We meet them all in our job.’ Gina said to Jacob. As she led the way along the slippery path back to the road, she stared through the trees at the apartments. ‘What did you make of him?’
‘Shifty.’
‘We definitely need to check his alibi out and I’d like to see if the electrician’s phone call log shows that Vincent Jordan called from his landline on Friday evening about seven thirty.’
‘I wonder what he was hiding behind all those doors.’
‘He wasn’t about to let us look. We’ll see if his alibi checks out and take it from there.’
Jacob stopped at the end of the road and looked up at the apartments. ‘The other day, you were going to tell me something but then you forgot and I forgot to ask. What was it?’
‘Oh yes, it was about Wyre, but you can’t repeat it. It’s not common knowledge yet.’
‘Okay.’
‘Wyre’s engagement is off. I thought she was handling it okay but today, I don’t know. She hasn’t called or come into work. All I have is a text from her.’
‘I thought they were solid.’
‘And me.’
‘Have you tried calling her again?’
Gina nodded. ‘I’ll try now. Her phone went to answerphone last time.’ She pulled her phone from her pocket and pressed Wyre’s number. ‘Answerphone again. I’m going to pop by hers when we’ve finished at the Fish and Anchor. There’s just time to catch up back at the station before heading over there while they prep for lunch service. I called ahead and Lennie Dack the landlord said we could come after ten thirty.’
Gina’s phone rang in her hand. ‘O’Connor.’
‘Guv. I’ve been through the footage showing the times that Mrs Collins claimed she and her husband were at Tesco and she was lying. We only have her walking around the shop. Her car is clearly visible on the cameras, coming and going – she was alone.’ Gina felt her head begin to hurt. The Collinses had lied and she wanted to know why.
‘Another thing, guv. Doctor Nowak called and said Madison Randle is well enough to speak now.’
‘Will you message me the ward details? And double, triple check that footage at the supermarket. We can’t get this wrong.’ She turned to Jacob. ‘Skip the last plan. We’re heading straight to Cleevesford Hospital. A good description or a positive ID of Madison’s attacker could fix everything at the moment. Let’s go.’
34
I saw the fear in her eyes as I brought the rock down on the side of her head. All done efficiently and no one saw, that’s the good thing. The trail of blood down the side of her face has dried up and she stirs. Opening her red pepper-sprayed eyes, I register her confusion. She looks momentarily blank.
She makes some half-hearted whimper. I don’t have long before she’ll try to escape or summon up the strength to fight back again so I tighten her binds. She cries a little. She may feel all-powerful in her policing role, fighting crime and making the streets safer but here and now, she is brought down a peg.
‘It’s okay. Don’t be scared. You’re safe here with me.’ My mother was wrong about that look in my eye. That wasn’t the look that said I was about to kill. I’m saving that one for later and only if I need it. If she turns out to be like Amber, it will be all her fault. She will have brought it on herself.
35
Gina checked her phone as she and Jacob hurried onto the ward, swiftly being buzzed in by a nurse who caught sight of them from behind a counter. Still nothing from Wyre. As she approached the desk, she held her identification up. ‘DI Harte and DS Driscoll. Doctor Nowak left me a message telling us we can now speak to Madison Randle.’
‘Ah, go through those double doors, carry on down the corridor and it’s the first room to your left. There was a PC there but he left for a comfort break.’
‘Thank you.’ As they reached the room, Gina spotted the young woman lying there with a white sheet covering her body. Another girl appeared from the corner of the room holding a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a jumper. Gina knocked.
Madison beckoned her in with a shaky hand. The dressing on her head covered up the sticky bloody wound that Gina had seen the night before. A piece of surgical tape dangled from her dark hair. ‘Hello. Are you from the police?’ She slurred a little as she spoke and her eyes opened wide. She shook her head. ‘I’m so not with it yet. I asked for something to help me sleep last night and I feel zonked too.’
‘DI Harte and DS Driscoll. We’d like to ask you a few questions. You probably won’t remember but I found you last night, in the bushes at the back of the car park.’
Staring blankly, Madison shook her head. ‘I’m sorry.’
The other girl stood awkwardly by the door. ‘Shall I come back in a bit?’
Gina turned. ‘Would you mind?’
