‘We’ll need their names and contact details. We’ll send someone to interview them.’
Ms Law nodded. ‘I can’t believe something like this has been happening right under my nose. It upsets me to know that the staff have been made to feel unsafe. I wish Miriam had formally reported him. Maybe she will now that the others have come forward.’
Gina smiled. ‘Sometimes people need to find their own way through something like this. We will speak to her again, see if she wants to make a statement. It will add strength to the case, especially with the other two women.’ She watched as Wyre noted down Whittle’s name with sexual harassment and assault underneath. This case was getting ever bigger. They needed to arrest Grant Braddock on drugs charges and it looked likely, after speaking to the other women and seeing his shrine, they would be arresting Whittle.
As Gina followed Wyre across the car park, back to the car, she stopped and checked her phone. Still no contact had been made with the boatyard even though they’d called several times. No one was answering. ‘We need to get to the post office and speak to Omar’s mother, now.’
FORTY-TWO
Gina and Wyre waited behind a man with about ten small parcels in a bag. The woman with straggly brown hair processed each in turn. She took off her glasses and cleaned them before continuing. Gina checked her watch. They were losing time waiting in the queue.
‘That’ll be twenty-seven pounds sixty.’ She spoke in a high voice. Gina guessed she was probably in her mid-thirties. The man tapped his card, took his receipt and left. ‘How can I help you?’ She smiled through the glass.
‘Ms Abidar?’
Scrunching her brows, she glanced at Gina, then at Wyre.
‘Who are you?’
‘DI Harte and DC Wyre. We need to have a word with you. Is there somewhere we can speak in private?’
She hurried out of her chair and out of the booth. Gina watched as she spoke to the man behind the till at the other end of the shop. He nodded. She ran back. ‘Follow me through to the back. Is my son okay? Please tell me Omar isn’t hurt?’
‘As far as we’re aware your son is fine, but we do need to speak to you about him.’
‘I knew it. I just knew it!’
‘Knew what?’ Gina tensed inside, wondering what Ms Abidar would say.
‘You’ve found evidence of him using my car, haven’t you? You have him on camera, driving somewhere. I told him what he was doing was wrong and he promised it wouldn’t happen again. But it was too late, you already knew.’
Adrenaline began pumping through Gina’s veins. Omar had illegally used his mother’s car and knowing how obsessed with Annabel he’d been, she wondered if the boy was the person they’d been looking for all along. Maybe he hit Jennifer that night in his mother’s car before taking Annabel. Maybe Taylor saw him lurking around the house while she was there looking for Grant. Omar may have felt threatened, giving him a motive to follow her and stab her in the neck.
‘Is it about the car?’
Gina’s attention snapped back to the woman. ‘We’ll need to take a look at your car.’ Any sign of damage could be used as evidence.
‘Of course.’ She opened the back door and led Gina down a path full of cars. ‘I’m just parked on the street back here. It’s the closest I can get.’ She glanced up and down and ran.
‘Ms Abidar.’
‘My car. It’s gone. He’s let me down, again.’ The woman stopped dead in the street. A few drops of rain began to land on her nose. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys. ‘He must have gone home to get my spare car keys. He was meant to be at school. I even dropped him off right outside the gates.’
‘Do you have any idea where he might go?’
Wyre looked at the gap where the woman was standing, where her car would have been left and she grabbed her phone, making the call to the station. They were now on the lookout for another car.
‘No, he’s been secretive lately. He says he has a friend called Max but I don’t know anything about him or where he lives. I’ve never met this kid and a part of me doubted if he’s real. Is he in trouble?’
‘I’m afraid so. Taking a car without consent is a serious charge. We really need to speak to your son. Is there anything you can think of that might help us find him?’
She shook her head.
‘What’s the make and model?’
‘Silver Vauxhall Corsa.’ She relayed the registration number and Wyre passed that on to the team. ‘Please find him. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.’
Neither did Gina. With one person in hospital, another missing and one murdered, she wanted nothing more than to find the boy in one piece. ‘We’ll need you to come down to the station.’
