He was slurring his words and Gina had never even seen him drunk. She knew to tread gently and Briggs knew exactly how to play the game – drunk or not. ‘You need to tell me what the hell is going on. This investigation is leading me to you and I don’t think I can hold back the tide and if you keep me in the dark, I don’t know if I want to. I know I screwed up our relationship but you were harsh on me. Whatever. This isn’t about you and me; it’s about the case. Have you got anything to do with Kain and Zavier’s murders and do you know where Lindy is?’
‘I can’t believe you’re asking me this?’
‘Well, I am. There’s something that’s niggling away at me. A big part of me can’t help wondering if both Craig Crawford and Fabien Stone are being set up. You’re involved but I don’t knowhow. Both Zavier and Kain used to be police officers years ago. Have you met or worked with them in the past? Did you know them?’
He remained silent.
‘Chris, this isn’t the time to refuse to speak. It’s me, Gina. You’ve held my darkest deepest secrets but I need to know what’s happening your end, the end that Brodie won’t discuss with me.’
She listened as Briggs burped and scrunched up a can. His dog whined in the background. At least he had company.
‘Are you drinking?’
‘I had nothing to do with all you’re accusing me of.’
A shiver tickled the back of her neck as she was transported back to when Terry used to scrunch his cans up when drunk, mostly before he turned the television up loud and beat her to the floor. She gasped as she remembered her face being pressed into their old coarse carpet. As for Briggs, she’d barely even seen him merry so she knew it must be bad. ‘I will always care for you, Chris. You have to talk to me. You called me and said you needed me to do something. You can’t blame me for thinking the worst.’ Briggs wasn’t Terry. She refused to believe he could ever be like Terry but he wasn’t himself.
‘Gina, I shouldn’t have called you and said that. You shouldn’t be calling me now. Why do you have to make all this so hard?’
She glanced back at the station and up at the window of the incident room but no one was watching her looking all flustered with her phone pressed to her ear in the car park. The cold damp air began to seep through her clothes and she began to shake. Why hadn’t she put her coat on?
‘Me? You’re making this hard. I’m risking my arse here talking to you. Those men were murdered and I’m scared something will happen to you. Did you know the other victims?Shit, help me out here. I’m not even meant to be asking about the side of the case you’re involved in.’
‘Well don’t. Everything will all come out soon.’
‘What’s that meant to mean? What did you need me to do?’
‘When I called you, I wanted to say, I need you to believe me.’ His voice broke up. ‘I need to get some rest.’ He hung up.
‘Chris… Chris…’
But he had gone, leaving her shaking and holding the phone. Maybe later, she needed to pop over, see if she could get any sense out of him. If he’d been drinking, now wasn’t the time.
‘DI Harte, have you made any arrests yet?’ A reporter wearing a rain mac ran across the car park. She ignored him and hurried back into the station, back into the incident room where she stared at the board until her head began to throb with anger, frustration and the fear that Lindy would soon turn up dead if they didn’t get their act together.
‘Guv.’ She flinched as Wyre placed Gina’s salad and wooden spork down next to the boards. ‘I’m heading back to the main office to update the system.’
‘Okay.’ Gina opened the box and speared some browning lettuce. What the hell was she missing?
She started making notes on the board.
Pia and Simeon Yates. Pia reported Lindy as missing. Pia had been having an affair with their main suspect, Craig, and his wife, Justine, was her friend.
Justine and Craig Crawford had a son called Danny. Craig was on the run and Danny and Justine were staying with her mother. Craig knew Fabien and they both had issues with Kain. One personal and one debt related.
Lastly, Lindy Pickering was Kain’s sister and now she had been taken.
Zavier – his connection was that he was in the police too, just like Kain… and Briggs.
What did the teddy bears mean?
‘Kapoor.’
She swivelled around in her chair. ‘Yes, guv.’
‘Can you do a deep dive into this friendship group. I want everything you can find on them. Internet searches, social media, anything. We’re missing something that’s right under our noses.’
‘Sure, I’ll get onto that now.’
