Page 17 of Her Lips Are Sealed

She grinned at Al, then cut Scotty off before he could reply.

‘Have you found anything?’

He shook his head. ‘Not yet, I got Adam to suspend the bin collection until we’ve searched them.’

Morgan smiled at him. ‘Just going back in for another look then I think Ben’s going to get the body moved.’

‘Good, poor lass. Did you speak to her sister?’

‘Yes, this job sucks at times.’

‘That is the most sensible thing you’ve said to me all day possibly ever.’

He walked back to the spot he’d been searching, leaving her clutching Scotty’s discarded coffee cup. There was a bin not too far away, but that would probably get searched as well, so she took it to the car with her and put it inside. She’d dispose of it back at the station, she guessed she owed Scotty that much.

ELEVEN

Ash’s mum, Donna, hammered on the front door with her fists. The noise reverberated around the street. Bending down, she lifted the letter box and shouted, ‘Ash, it’s me, Mum. Open the door.’

The guy who lived two doors down poked his head out of the window and glared at her.

‘Is there a problem?’

‘Yes, there is. I can’t get hold of my daughter and I’m scared she’s hurt or not well.’

He groaned and slammed down the sash window so loud Donna thought it was going to fall out of its frame. She didn’t know what to do. Ash was a grown woman. They weren’t especially close, but Ash hadn’t turned up to wish Donna Happy Birthday yesterday, or even messaged her, which had set alarms bell screaming inside of her mind.

The grumpy guy’s front door opened and he came outside.

‘Have you not got a spare key?’

She nodded and waved it at him. ‘Still can’t get in, her key must be in the lock, which means she’s inside.’

He stood back and looked at the upstairs window. It was open a crack. All the windows in these houses were old-fashioned sash windows and the ones that weren’t were double-glazed-looking sash windows.

‘Tried around the back?’

‘It’s locked. I don’t have a ladder, and I can’t climb over the wall. It’s too high. Have you got a ladder?’

He didn’t answer and instead hammered on the pretty yellow front door even harder than Donna had. He lifted the flap and they both heard a loud miaow.

‘Please, I need to get inside. Should I call the police? I don’t know what to do. I’ve never had to ring them before.’

‘Let me go check the back first, she might have gone away and you’re panicking over nothing.’

Donna felt grateful to him for trying to put her mind at ease, but she had that feeling deep inside of her gut that was telling her that her mother’s instinct was right, something was wrong and she was struggling to keep the tears that were pooling in the corners of her eyes in check.

‘Give me a couple of minutes, okay?’

He disappeared back inside his house, and she stared at Ash’s front door. There was a little bakery on the street at the bottom and the customers that were inside were all watching the show intently. Donna wanted to tell them to stop staring, it was rude. She didn’t, she focused on the door and taking big, gulping breaths to try and calm her nerves, all the time whispering to herself. Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay.

After what seemed like forever, she heard the key turn inside the lock and the door opened. ‘Ash.’

It wasn’t Ash. It was the grumpy guy whose face was now whiter than her own trembling hands. The cat darted out between his legs and disappeared around the corner.

‘Is she in there?’ Donna could feel her whole body shaking as her voice came out barely a whisper.

‘We need to phone the police now.’