‘Call ahead, see if local police at Stratford will check to see if theRaspberry Piis still moored up.’
O’Connor nodded and pulled out his phone. ‘Check these out while I call.’ He pointed to the paperwork on the bed and left the room to make the call.
Gina spread the statements and letters out. The first thing she spotted was the notice to repossess his house. She glanced at the statement underneath showing that his main account was overdrawn. She lifted that up and saw a savings account statement with another bank.
O’Connor stepped back in. ‘They’re heading over there now. I’ve brought them up to date and I said we’d head over too.’
‘Have you seen this?’ She held the savings statement up.
He nodded. ‘It looks like he withdrew twenty thousand pounds in cash over the past month in smaller chunks.’
‘And he hasn’t paid any bills. He’s been planning a new life for a while.’ Gina exhaled. ‘Have you searched everything?’
‘No, not yet. I found the laptop and paperwork and called you up straight away.’
Gina opened the louvre doors to the built-in cupboard and it was mostly stuffed with old clothes that were about to topple out. She removed them, dropping jumpers, coats and jeans all over the floor. She closed that door then opened the next one. It was empty except for a shabby looking photo album. She turned open the first page. Behind the plastic protector sheets were photos of Annabel.
Annabel getting into her car. Annabel eating lunch with a friend. Annabel at the Christmas party with her colleagues on the boat. Annabel in the bushes being pinned to a tree by Whittle. Gina saw the teary shine on Annabel’s cheek and the tired, glazed-over look in her eyes, his hands pinning hers above her head.
She turned to the next few photo sleeves.
Grant and Taylor kissing in his garage. Grant at dinner with another woman, holding her hand over a table. Grant and Annabel arguing. As she turned the next page, she shivered at the photo in front of her. Annabel asleep in her bed and Grant next to her. Annabel in the bath, eyes closed and surrounded by candles. A close-up of her breasts. Then there was the photo of Cally fast asleep. He had access to their house, had keys cut. He came and went as he pleased. He must have kept a spare key toFreedom. She’d bet everything that the fingerprints on the raspberry keyring matched his.
O’Connor leaned in. ‘Shit.’
‘Looking at all this, I’d say Evan Bryson probably drugged Cally with something mild and left her in bed. He took Grant’s car from the garage. He ran over Jennifer and took Annabel. He parked the car up close by and came back to lock up the garage, and Cally thought he was a ghost. He dealt with us then he took Annabel toFreedomand left the car hidden out the way by the boat. I don’t know how he got back fromFreedomyet.’ Gina’s brow furrowed. ‘Maybe we can check with the local taxi firms, Uber, buses, to see if anyone remembers him. After that – Taylor was getting in the way, coming back and looking for Grant so he killed her. He then took Grant using his own car and swapped him for Annabel after he finished paintingRaspberry Pi. I think he’d intended to come back later and kill Grant but we found Grant and the Mercedes.’ Gina paused. ‘What about Omar? Did he see the boy hanging around?’
‘He’d have no need for the kid.’
‘Guv, you’ve got to see this,’ Wyre called from below.
Gina slightly knocked into O’Connor as she rushed out of the small room and down the stairs. ‘What?’
Wyre had pushed the sideboard out of the way to reveal a small understairs cupboard door. Gina kneeled on the wooden floor and pulled her pencil torch from her pocket. The smell of stale body odour and urine hit her. She held her breath as she shone it to reveal everything. A smelly grey blanket was scrunched up one end and a length of rope. Scratched in the plaster of one wall were the words, “Tell my mum I love her and I’m sorry. Omar.” Gina could just about read them. She grabbed her phone and took a photo. ‘He has Omar, too. We need uniform to check the grounds, the shed. Check everything and everywhere. We have to get to Stratford, that’s where the boat is based. We’ll need dogs and a helicopter on standby. The lives of two children are in danger and Annabel’s is too. I fear we’re too late. He has them and he has nothing to lose. That scares me.’
FIFTY-NINE
Annabel
‘Why him and not me?’ Evan’s hair was now slick with sweat even though it’s cold. He placed Cally on the couch when he came back into the boat and she remains in a slumber. She has stirred and spoken a couple of times. Whatever he gave her wasn’t strong acting, not like what he gave me when I was left onFreedom. It sickens me to know that he probably bought that drug from Grant.
I don’t know where we are or where he’s stopped the boat. We could be anywhere. I know Seth kept his boat at Stratford, just opposite McDonald’s. ‘Answer me. Why him?’
‘Grant is my husband.’
He stares at me and scrunches his nose. ‘I didn’t mean that jerk, I meant the stuffy geography teacher who smells of cat. I tell you I like you and you joke it away and we carry on like I never said anything. That hurt. We both agreed that Grant was no good. I told you about the woman he had dinner with too, that it didn’t stop there. They got a hotel room after and we can guess what happened. Then there was Taylor. Young, fresh and exciting, she perked him up. All the while you played the dutiful little wife untilhecame along. Let me remind you. The boat party.’
My head hurts with all that runs through it. He’s bringing up something I’ve tried so hard to forget. ‘He’s nothing.’ I really can’t go there. This has to stop.
‘It didn’t look like nothing when you were pissed out of your head and shagging him against a tree.’
A tear trickles down my chin.
‘No good being all regretful now. Let me get this straight, I have been a good friend, in fact the best friend ever. I do jobs for you, for Grant, for his brother, and I ask for nothing. I look after your daughter. I take in your dog when you go on holiday. When you’ve been a bit down and drunk, I’ve been there, I’ve listened to you. I’ve been a part of your lives since you moved in and what do I get in return? Nothing. People like you and Grant use people like me and give nothing back. All I wanted was your love and I get that you rejected me. I get that you wanted to try to save your marriage but when I saw you with him, I knew it was nothing but a lie.’
‘It’s not what it looked like.’ I have to explain in order to get him back on side or I fear he will have no use for me.
‘I could play this another way. Maybe I dispose of you and Omar and I keep Cally. I get to be her dad and look after her. I’ll be a great dad, better than Grant, so you won’t have to worry.’
