Sybil shook her head. ‘I couldn’t see a thing from right back here. I mean, our drives are pretty long. I began to swear under my breath because of the running engine, as you do. I was in half a mind as to whether to go out and ask them to turn it off while they waited. I thought that maybe it was a taxi picking up a visitor from a neighbour’s house.’
‘What happened after that?’
‘Just as I was about to get my shoes on, the noise stopped. After that, I paced around with the little one. A while later, I heard a bang coming from the road. I’d have normally checked on something like that but with him crying his little eyes out, I had other things on my mind. Has someone been hurt?’
Gina nodded. ‘Someone was run over and they’ve been taken to hospital. We also have a missing woman who may be injured from the incident.’
‘I feel awful now. I should have gone out there or called the police. If I’d have known—’
‘You couldn’t have known. It isn’t your fault but we do need to find the driver of the car. Do you have any CCTV or did you see the vehicle at all?’
‘No to the CCTV, but the car… I can say that it was a car though, not a van and it didn’t look big enough to be one of those huge four-wheel drives. Maybe it was a saloon or a hatchback. Not an SUV, something lower to the ground. It didn’t sound sporty either. No exhaust growling, nothing like that. I hope that helps.’
‘That’s really helpful, thank you.’
The baby began to reject the woman’s breast and started to cry again. She held him to her shoulder and began to pat his back.
‘Have you seen or heard anyone since?’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t say that I have. The next thing I heard was you guys turning up. I did pop out to see what was going on and I spoke to one of the police officers. I really wish I could help more.’
‘Thank you for your time. If you think of anything else after I’ve gone, please call me.’ Gina placed a card on the coffee table.
‘Will do. Can you let yourself out?’
Gina nodded and smiled as she stood.
‘I hope the person who was hit is okay.’
‘And me.’ Gina bit back her sadness and left the house.
‘Guv.’ Kapoor met Gina halfway down the drive.
‘What is it?’
‘Dogs are here, nothing found so far and as suspected, no Annabel, so it does look more like she was taken from the scene. Also, Jacob said he tried to call you but you weren’t answering so he called me.’
‘Damn.’ She pulled her phone from her pocket. ‘Great, no signal.’ She walked a few more steps and her phone beeped with a missed call. A message pinged up as a couple of bars returned. ‘What did he say?’
‘The bleeding on Jennifer’s brain is bad. They’ve treated her in the emergency room and it looks like they’ll be placing her on a ventilator. It’s not looking good, guv.’
Gina swallowed as she thought of her colleague and what he was going through.
‘Do we have Annabel’s address?’
‘Yes, she had a lot of ID in her bag.’
‘I’ll head to her house. Her family might be wondering what’s happened and I think I need to speak to them in person, find out a little bit more about her. Has Wyre arrived?’
‘Yes, she’s talking to Smith.’
Gina glanced over and caught sight of Wyre’s black ponytail. ‘Great, we’ll head over. What kind of evil mows down two women walking home, leaving one for dead and taking the other from the scene?’ On reaching the end of the drive, she hit the tree bark and flinched as her little finger cracked a little. ‘We have to find her. The perpetrator left Jennifer there to die, who knows what they will do to Annabel.’
FIVE
Gina pulled up behind Wyre at the back of the industrial park. Only five houses stood on the old road that eventually met the ultra-modern factory and office buildings. Close enough to walk to the high street, but far enough away from all the noise that came with it. The old detached farmers’ cottages had been built in the eighteen hundreds and still looked quaint. She imagined Jennifer and Annabel at the Angel Arms. After having a drink, it looked like they’d begun walking back to Annabel’s. Gina spotted Jennifer’s Golf hatchback parked up on the road as she got out and walked over to Wyre. Only a few hours earlier, she’d left her friend’s house for a night out and it had ended with her being placed on a ventilator.
Wyre stepped onto the kerb. ‘Poor Jennifer. I was speaking to Smith and he filled me in.’
