‘It’s full of cash, guv. There has to be about five grand here.’
‘We need to put out a warrant for his arrest. Looks like we’ve found ourselves a dealer. We need a forensics team here. Are Smith and Kapoor here yet?’
‘No, Smith’s on his way so he shouldn’t be long.’
‘We’ll post him outside the door while we organise a forensics team to come over. I know they’re stretched with the cabin but we can’t afford to mess this up. For now, no one can enter the house. We need to find Annabel and this house might hold the clue to her whereabouts. I’m hoping that she hasn’t been taken because Grant owes money to some drug lord. This discovery has thrown us in it, big time.’
Someone knocked on the front door. Wyre headed out of the bedroom. ‘Must be Smith.’
Gina bagged up the evidence and began to fill out the details on the front.
‘I need to tell you something.’ It was Doug’s voice.
Running out of the bedroom, Gina hurried down the stairs, almost slipping on the carpet in her shoe covers. She pulled the hood down and joined Wyre at the door.
‘Mr Latham was just saying that he was in Evan’s garden next door and he could see through the side window to the garage. Apparently, Grant’s old silver Mercedes isn’t in there.’
The man piped up. ‘He’s been working on it for a while. What work, I don’t know. I think he mostly polishes it but it’s not there. I know he hasn’t sold it so he must be using it. I know it drives.’ Doug held his hand over his mouth. ‘He ran Annabel over with it and took her, didn’t he? She’s out there stuffed in his car.’ He wobbled on his feet. Gina led him to the shoe bench by the door and he fell down on it. ‘I just want her back.’ He placed his head in his hands.
Gina turned away and closed her eyes. She could not leave Cally without a mother or Doug without a much-loved daughter. She remembered back to when she came to the house and spoke to Cally. There had been a padlock on the garage door and it was locked. Only someone with a key could have taken the car out. Maybe Grant’s plan was to say that it had been stolen. It was time to talk to Taylor again. She checked her messages and there was one marked urgent from Bernard.
We have a match on the blood found on the tissues at the cabin. It’s Jennifer’s blood. We’re relying on you to nail this bastard!
TWENTY
‘What? Taylor’s gone?’ Gina barged into the incident room. Jacob turned around from his computer and O’Connor stood in front of her, his face even redder at having to tell her the news.
‘She hadn’t been arrested, guv. I told her that we needed a further interview and statement and she was cooperative.’
‘I know. It’s just… I thought you could have kept her here until I got back. Sorry.’ She took a couple of deep breaths.
‘When you called about the blood, she asked if she could have a cigarette break. I waited with her for a couple of minutes but then uniform brought someone drunk in. It all kicked off in reception so I helped. I left her for a minute at the most. When I turned back, she was gone.’
‘Has someone headed over to her house?’
‘Yes, she’s not there and her aunt confirmed that she hadn’t seen her. We’ve posted a car outside just in case she comes back. We figured she might need her car at some point.’
‘She has to have met up with Grant. Did she have her phone?’
O’Connor nodded, sheepishly. ‘She was on it constantly outside the station.’
‘Have you checked the CCTV footage?’
He nodded again. ‘As soon as I went in to assist, she darted off in the direction of the shops. She slipped through the alleyway between the houses. I ran over but she was long gone.’ Gina remembered seeing Taylor running that morning. The lithe young woman would have had a huge advantage over O’Connor. They’d lost her, for now.
‘Alert all units to be on the lookout for Grant and Taylor. They will turn up, I know it. I mean, how far can they get?’ Gina furrowed her brows.
‘Any news from the gym car park?’
‘No, guv. Grant’s Volvo is still where he left it.’
Gina turned to Jacob and Wyre. Briggs slipped in at the back of the room. ‘Right, gather around.’
Jacob exhaled and sat back in his swivel chair.
Gina knew he had been told of the bloodied tissues. She stepped up to open the briefing. ‘Grant is our number one suspect, right now. Wyre and I found bloodied tissues at the cabin and that blood is a match for Jennifer’s. That puts him at the scene of the hit-and-run and he has motive for abducting his wife. They weren’t getting on and he was having an affair. And now, Taylor is missing too. I believe that she has gone to meet Grant. While searching his house, we found out that Grant has another car, one he didn’t use often but kept in their garage. That car is now gone so it might be safe to assume that’s the car he’s getting around in now. It’s also possibly the car he used to run over Jennifer and take Annabel. All units are on alert so all we can do is hope that he turns up for his car or is spotted. He isn’t using his contract phone either so we have nothing from that. We are likely to get a transcript of the messages and its content but that isn’t coming straight away. Moving on to the appeal, Grant and Annabel’s photos have featured heavily on local news today so a member of the public may even spot him and call in. For now, keep me updated with everything. Tomorrow, Wyre and I will head over to the school as soon as it opens, see if Annabel’s colleagues can help. We know that Grant accused Annabel of having an affair. For now, go home and get some rest. You’re going to need your energy.’
Wyre nodded and zipped up her bag and Briggs stared at the board on the back wall. O’Connor headed out with a couple of empty cups.
