‘Did she say anymore?’
‘No. I just told her that she could do better.’
Gina’s mind whirred away. She had found all that cash and the drugs in the spare bedroom. Had being in debt and having an addiction led Grant to drug dealing? Maybe both of them had felt stuck in their marriage and he saw that as his only way out. Or maybe it wasn’t all happening fast enough and the only way to get a move on was to remove Annabel from the equation. The blood on the tissues put him at the scene and his Mercedes was missing, as was he. Where had he taken her? Gina wondered if she was even still alive. ‘Do you know anything about a party on a boat, just before Christmas?’
‘Oh that? Stupid idea but I guess when you don’t want to be involved in arranging staff Christmas parties, you settle for what others arranged. Miriam, who’s now keeping an eye on my class, she organised that. It was cold, cramped and, frankly, after a couple of drinks, I started feeling a bit queasy. I don’t like boats as you can tell. It was also a windy night, which didn’t help. I remember Annabel saying that she was a bit scared of boats. Apparently her husband took her down the river in a storm ages ago and she’s hated them since.’
‘Tell me about the boat?’
‘It was a barge, a really wide, long one. Maybe a Dutch barge. The type that do river cruises on sunny days. This one specialised in parties. A lot of the teachers loitered on the deck and the mooring. It was moored in a yard. The yard has a café and people visit at all times of the year. Anyway, the owners had set up a stall outside with a pizza van, too. It was part covered and surrounded by fairy lights. Miriam convinced us all that it would be fun with the stall outside, that it would be no different to when we all pile into the German Christmas Market, wrap up and enjoy winter. I beg to differ. It was wet and cold and I’d have preferred the usual disco in a hotel. Considering the storms we’d had only a few weeks earlier, I’m surprised it went ahead. Anyway, we all lived to tell the tale.’
‘How was Annabel that night?’
‘Annabel was Annabel. By that, I mean she was making the best of it. She doesn’t get to go out much, what with having a young child. She had a thick coat on over her dress and she embraced it. I remember her knocking back a lot of tequila slammers.’ Kirsty furrowed her brow.
‘Did something happen?’
‘I’m not sure. She said she needed to clear her head so she headed past the café and I saw her holding a tree and swaying. I thought that maybe she just felt sick and wanted a moment. I went back onto the boat and sat talking to one of the other teachers. After about forty-five minutes, I thought I should go and check on her. I wandered off, heading over to where I saw her last and that’s when I found her crying. Mascara had smeared under her eyes. She asked me to call her a taxi, which I did. I tried to ask her what was wrong but she kept dismissing me. Anyway, I made sure she got into a taxi.’
‘Do you know why she was crying?’
‘She was slurring at this point and I wasn’t catching her words.’
‘Did anyone else see her that evening?’
‘Actually, Miriam did. She was standing at the outdoor bar while I was inside the boat. I did ask her if she knew why Annabel had been crying. She said that the geography teacher, Mr Whittle, had come to the bar to buy Annabel a drink, then they both walked off together a few minutes later.’
Gina watched as Wyre caught up with her notes. ‘How close is Annabel to Mr Whittle?’ There had been talk of someone Annabel was having an affair with and Gina wondered if they’d found that person.
‘Wait, are you saying—’ Kirsty stopped talking.
‘We’re just looking into all of Annabel’s friends, that’s all, because we’ll need to speak to them regarding the case.’
Kirsty eyed them up with suspicion. She knew that Gina was being vague with her. ‘Mr Whittle?’
After pausing and thinking for a couple of minutes, Kirsty continued. ‘They spoke in the staffroom but as far as I know, they weren’t close. I think Annabel would have said something to me if they were. She did seem a bit off with him after the party and it showed more when we came back after the Christmas break. In fact, she’s been a little quiet for a while. I should have spoken to her more but we’ve been really busy. Whenever we did get a break together, she kept mentioning her husband and how things were getting bad at home with the arguments. I’ve already mentioned that though.’
‘Is Mr Whittle in today?’
‘No, he’s been on sick leave for a couple of weeks.’
‘Sick leave?’
‘Yes, depression and anxiety. All too common in this job. We burn out sometimes.’
‘We will need his address before we leave.’
‘Of course, I’m sure Miriam will be able to help you with that. She covers reception on Mondays until we’re fully staffed again.’
‘Is there anything else that you can think of, anything that might help us? We haven’t spoken in too much detail about Annabel but we are working on the theory that she was taken at the hit-and-run scene. As you can appreciate, we need to find out as much as we can about her routine in the hope that we can bring her home.’
Placing her hand over her mouth, Kirsty grimaced and took a couple of deep breaths. ‘You’ve got me wondering why Annabel was crying that night. I’ll be honest with you. There has been a report by another member of staff about Mr Whittle, but it was only to me and off the record. In fact, it was withdrawn which is why I wasn’t going to mention it. Mr Whittle claimed that she kissed him after she claimed that he assaulted her. Both of them decided to drop it in the end but it is odd that he was seen with Annabel just before she was crying. And Annabel wasn’t the same since that night. I never really thought about all that until now.’
‘Who was that member of staff?’
‘Actually, it was Miriam. She claimed that he had kissed her just outside the ladies’ toilets, the ones the staff use. I tried to speak with her more about the allegation but she said she didn’t want to mention it again.’
Gina fished around in her pocket, shifting the pack of tissues and chocolate bar wrapper aside, eventually reaching deep enough to grab a card. ‘If you think of anything else or you hear anything, please call me anytime.’
