He jotted down the telephone number that blinked on the answering machine and slipped the pink book into his jacket before he checked on Bianca one last time.
“Sleep well,” he said, and his voice echoed in the silence of the hall.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Harriet carried her mug downstairs and set it on the kitchen counter. Grabbing her phone, she dialled Bianca's number and listened to the familiar sound of the call as it tried to connect. The answer phone kicked in and Harriet sighed.
"Bianca, it's me. That's twice now I've tried you. Is everything ok?" She ended the call and immediately regretted leaving the message at all. It wasn't unusual for Bianca to take her time to get back to her but there was also usually a pretty good reason for her tardiness. Had she upset her more than she'd let on the other night? Insulted her because of her choice of boyfriend perhaps?
It wouldn't have been the first time. Bianca was a little on the sensitive side of things, particularly since Tom had died. It had affected her more than she was willing to admit to and the only reason Harriet knew was because she'd known her for so many years.
She could always go up a day early. Surprise both her and Tilly...
It was a nice thought but Harriet squashed it as soon as it had occurred to her. She'd already taken more time than she should have off from the college. Any more time away from her real job and Baig would have a legitimate reason to be pissed at her. As it was, she was already skating on thin ice.
Sighing, Harriet grabbed her bag and coat before she gathered the notes she'd made on the case so far. After Drew had fallen asleep, she'd taken the opportunity to review a little of Sian's diary and while there wasn't the smoking gun they'd been after regarding her stepfather, Sian had certainly alluded to some kind of inappropriate behaviour. Of course, she'd also mentioned an online group they'd all been a part of where they'd shared their traumas and upsets. If she could just get a look at the laptop then perhaps it would give her the information she needed.
Harriet fished her car keys from her purse and headed for the door. They would just have to make do with her being present in the office, albeit a little more distracted than usual.
Chapter Forty
Bleary eyed, Adelaide turned her car onto Tilly’s street.
“Mommy said we’re going to make chocolate chip cookies and watch movies tonight,” Tilly said excitedly from the backseat.
“That’ll be nice, pumpkin,” she said as she indicated and drove up onto Tilly’s driveway. She parked her car next to Bianca’s and killed the engine before she turned to look back at Tilly who bounced in her car seat.
“Can I go in?” She had already unbuckled her seatbelt and Adelaide tutted her disapproval.
“What have I said about taking your belt off before I say it’s safe?”
Tilly had the good grace too look chastened and Adelaide found it almost impossible to stay angry at her young granddaughter.
“Fine, you go and knock while I get your bags.”
Tilly grinned from ear to ear and waited patiently for Adelaide to get out and open her door before she bounded up toward the front door.
Adelaide pulled open the boot, her body on autopilot as she tugged the bags out.
Tilly hadn’t slept a wink the night before from worrying and fretting about Gruff and Adelaide had spent her time trying to reassure her that Gruff would come home. She was beyond exhausted as she pulled the small school bag and overnight bag from the car and slammed the boot shut.
Turning toward the door, she frowned. Tilly was stood on the front step, her small face bunched up in consternation.
“Aren’t you going to knock?” Adelaide asked as she started up the path. It took her a moment to realise that Tilly was peering in through the letterbox.
“I see you!” Tilly said, the excitement in her voice unmistakable. “I see you, Mommy!”
As Adelaide knocked briskly on the front door, Tilly let the letterbox snap shut with a decisive thud.
“She’s there, Nana, I saw her,” Tilly said, the confusion on the little girl’s face apparent. “Why won’t she answer?”
“You’ve probably just seen a reflection,” Adelaide dismissed Tilly’s questions with a wave of her hand. “She’s probably nipped out for something and lost track of time.” She didn’t add what she really thought Bianca was up to, there was no point in upsetting the child further, not when Bianca could do that all on her own. No, as far as Adelaide was concerned it was better that Tilly see her as the solid reliable nana she was.
Sliding her phone out of her handbag, Adelaide stood back from the door and dialled Bianca’s number. It rang and rang but there was no answer.
Tilly has returned to her previous position at the door, her little face jammed against the letter box.
“Nana, I see her. She’s flying!”
“About time,” Adelaide muttered beneath her breath as she ended the call.
“Mommy, I’m home!”
Frowning, Adelaide turned her attention to her granddaughter. “What do you mean you can see her?”
“She’s right there.” As she spoke, Tilly pushed one small finger in through the letterbox. “I don’t think she can hear me because she’s flying.”
Frustrated, Adelaide, set the bags down on the doorstep and crouched next to Tilly; ignoring the ominous creak her knees gave as she bent down. Arthritis the doctor had said; just another sign that the clock was ticking ever forward and not backward as she’d wished.
“Where is she?” Adelaide pressed her face next to Tilly’s the scent of the little girl’s strawberry scented shampoo wafting up to tickle her nose as she squinted through the letterbox.
From her vantage point, there was a shoe lying discarded on the floor directly inside the door, a battered tennis shoe that had seen better days. Typical Bianca, she never was particularly neat and tidy when Tom had been alive either. Clearly old habits died hard.
“I don’t see—" Adelaide cut off abruptly as two legs came into view. The shoe remaining on Bianca’s left foot was a match for the one on the floor but there was something so terribly odd about the situation, almost as though her feet weren’t actually on the ground at all. Adelaide’s brain refused to put the pieces of the scene before her into focus.
It wasn’t— It couldn’t be. What she was seeing wasn’t real.
Her gaze travelled up over Bianca’s body, the small view through the letterbox cut her off at the waist but not before Adelaide caught a glimpse of her unnaturally coloured fist by her side.
“Oh good, God!” Adelaide fell backwards from the door as her mind finally put all the pieces together.
“Mommy!” Tilly called.
Bile, acidic and bitter poured up Adelaide’s throat as she grabbed Tilly by the shoulder and tugged her away from the door.
“No,” she said, her voice hoarse with emotion. Tears blurred her vision as she wrapped her arms around her bewildered granddaughter and began to weep.
Chapter Forty-One
With her last lecture for the day finished, Harriet killed her engine and stared at the pile of paperwork that filled the passenger seat of her car. She was falling behind, and as much as she wanted to feel bad about it, she couldn’t quite bring herself to feel the emotion. The case was too strong a lure and over and over, she found her mind straying back to it.
Drew had suggested she call by the office once she was done for the day with the promise of reviewing some of Sian’s correspondence the IT department had managed to retrieve.
She grabbed her bag and headed inside.
“DI Haskell is expecting me,” she said, to the desk sergeant.
He nodded and buzzed her through. Harriet met Drew in the corridor beyond.
“I came as soon as I could,” she said.
Drew grinned at her and directed her into the conference room they’d sat in the evening before. “And not a moment too soon,” he said. “We’ve got so much documentation to go through here we’re practica
lly drowning in paperwork.”
She set her handbag down at the table and slipped her jacket off. “Where do you want me to start?”
Maz pushed a stack of folders across the wide table toward her. “I can’t make head nor tails of this here,” he said. “Let’s see if your luck is better.”
“What is it?” She eyed the stack curiously and dropped into the chair Drew had pointed to.
“All of Sian’s emails, text messages, and online correspondence with any kind of group she was a member of.”
Harriet felt her stomach drop. “All of this?”
Maz shook his head and relief flooded through her.
“That’s only the first pile,” he said. “They’re still pulling things off her hard-drive.”
“How are we supposed to wade through all of this?” She pulled the first folder down and stared at the conversation thread.
“Well, that’s where we were hoping you would help us narrow it down,” Drew said.
“Short of knowing who her real-life friends are in all this narrowing it down isn’t going to be easy.”
Drew nodded. “I was afraid you would say something like that.”
“I’ve arranged a meeting with the school principal tomorrow and I’m hoping they’ll be able to assist us in narrowing the pool of information further.”
“That’s smart thinking,” she said. “Have they found any chat scripts between a Jumpsuit67 and Sian, or a LifeisHELL333 yet?”
Drew inclined his head toward a much smaller pile of folders. “Already pulled them out for you.”
“Any luck on working out who is behind the monikers?”
Drew shook his head. “They’re working on tracing the IP addresses back to their sources but unless we find something in all of this—" He gestured to the piles of paperwork surrounding them— “Then I think we’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Harriet grinned at him. “Well, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll make a start with them.”
“Well, who’s going to go through all of this then?” Maz asked indicating the stacks of paper.
“I wouldn’t trust anyone else with the job,” Drew said, as he pushed the stack back toward the centre of the table. It was the most jovial and animated Harriet had seen him since he’d called to her office and she was almost certain she could see a glimpse of the man he had been before his life had fallen to pieces.
She settled back into her chair and opened the folder. It was then that it hit her, there really was nowhere else she would have preferred to be at that moment. At least if she could never bring herself to work clinically again, doing this kind of work meant she could still help, albeit in a different capacity.
Chapter Forty-Two
Drew pushed up from the desk and headed out into the main office. He made it as far as the coffee station when the phone in his pocket buzzed.
With an empty coffee cup in one hand, he tugged the phone free and answered without bothering to check the number.
“My office, now,” Gregson said, his voice cool.
Drew knew that tone of voice too well but he couldn’t think of a good reason why his boss would be pissed off at him. Setting the cup down, he headed to the Monk’s office and rapped on the door.
“Come in!”
Drew didn’t need to be told twice and pushed open the door and stepped inside. The Monk sat behind his desk and the look on his face said it all. Drew’s heart sank.
“There’s another one isn’t there?”
Gregson sighed and slipped his glasses off before he scrubbed a meaty knuckle into his left eye.
“We got the call about five minutes ago,” he said. “Another suicide.”
Drew’s hands tightened into fists. “Sir, with all due respect I think we need to stop referring to these as suicides.”
Gregson nodded. “They’re saying this one doesn’t much look like a suicide anyway. There’s signs of a struggle upstairs in the kid’s bedroom and the setup is different.”
“Wait, the victim, how old are they?”
“It’s a woman, early thirties. Her mother in law called it in. Said she was bringing her granddaughter home after she spent the night with them and found her hanging in the hall.”
“Shit,” Drew said. “Did the kid see anything?”
Gregson shrugged. “I don’t know. Uniforms are there now and forensics are already on the scene. I need you to get down there and contain the situation.”
“Sir, permission to bring DS Arya with me. And Dr Quinn.”
Gregson opened his mouth but Drew cut him off before he could get the words out.
“Sir, I think she could be a real asset in all of this. Especially when it comes to interviewing the victim’s family.”
Gregson sighed. ‘Fine. Just don’t let her anywhere near the press. I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning to an even bigger shit-show than we’ve already got.”
“I’ll keep her clear of it,” he said before he headed for the door.
Drew made it back to the conference room in record time and grabbed his coat.
“We’ve got to go,” he said.
“Has there been another murder?” Harriet was already on her feet before he’d even finished speaking.
“Yeah. This time it’s an adult.”
“That’s an unusual escalation,” she said. “I would have expected his victims to get younger but not older.”
Drew pulled his car keys from his pocket. “I’m beginning to think that nothing about our guy is straight forward. Maz, let’s move.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Harriet sat in the back of Drew’s BMW and stared out of the window. She’d offered to follow him but he’d seemed strangely insistent that she ride with them. Not that she particularly minded. Sitting back here and staring out as the countryside flashed by gave her the chance to formulate her thoughts a little more clearly.
The killer’s escalation both in time and his choice of victim suggested he was beginning to devolve. Had this newest victim been chosen because the opportunity had presented itself and it was just too good to pass up? Or had he taken his time and stalked her like the others?
As the surroundings grew more familiar, Harriet sat up a little straighter.
“Where did you say this new victim was from?”
Maz pulled a notebook from inside his jacket. “The town of Kirkbridge,” he said. “It’s a few miles north of Tollby.”
Harriet dug her fingers into the car seat in front of her as her heartbeat began to pick up speed. “Do you have the name of the victim?”
“Why?” Drew asked, breaking his silence in the front of the car.
“Because a friend of mine lives in Kirkbridge,” she said.
Drew cast a glance back over his shoulder. “And?”
“And she’s a single mother, Drew.”
“The victim’s name is a Bianca Sommerland,” Maz said.
Harriet’s heart flip-flopped in her chest. It couldn’t be true. They’d made some sort of mistake.
“Harriet?” Drew said. She caught his eye in the rear-view mirror and the concern she saw etched on his face sent an icy wave of emotion barrelling though her chest.
“You’re wrong,” she said. “I spoke to her the other day. I’m supposed to go and see her tomorrow...”
“Shit!” Drew swore violently and swung the car off the road and into a lay-by.
She was numb, her body cold as she fought to try and wrap her brain around what she was being told.
Drew tugged open her car door and she stared up at him in surprise before she glanced back at the driver’s seat.
“Harriet, are you all right?”
She shook her head but her voice failed her. The words—like her tears—refused to form.
“Guv, what am I supposed to do?” Maz asked.
“Call ahead and tell them we’re running late.”
Their voices were very far away and Harriet blinked up at Drew. The feeling of numbness and disassociati
on was the same feeling she’d experienced when she was ten. The doctors had explained to her that it was shock, her bodies way of trying to process the loss of her brother and her mother’s attempt on her life.
The rational part of her brain recognised it for what it was. Not that it could do anything to change the situation.
“Harriet, can you hear me?”
It took her a moment to figure out that Drew was still talking to her. Her feet were on the gravel of the lay-by the cold evening air swirled around her legs but she barely felt it. She was leaning forward, her head pressed to her knees and she glanced up at the man crouched next to her.
“Are you all right?”
“This can’t be happening,” she said, finally managing to get the words out past her frozen lips.
“I’m so sorry,” Drew said, brushing his hand against her arm.
Harriet jerked, her stomach turning violently.
“I’m going to be sick,” she said decisively. She leapt to her feet and raced toward the bushes that lined the side of the road.
The gravel was rough beneath her knees as she hit the ground and vomited it into the grass verge.
This was wrong. It was all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, not like this. Bianca was at home right now, helping Tilly with her homework.
As the thought of the six-year-old popped into her head, Harriet felt the first prickle of tears behind her eyes. She had already lost so much and now this...
It wasn’t fair.
“I’ve called for a car to come and pick you up,” Drew said from directly behind her.
“No,” she said, her voice little more than a pathetic squeak.
“I’m so sorry, Harriet. If I’d known she was your friend I would never have—"
“No,” she said again, this time a little more forcefully. The taste of bile was still potent in her mouth and her stomach threatened to rebel again, but she ignored it as she scrubbed her hand over her lips. She pushed up onto her feet, the pain in her foot no longer even registered. It was amazing what a little bit of shock could do for an injury.
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