by Carla Kovach
‘An attempt to silence her?’
Gina nodded. ‘Looks that way. About what? That is the question. Did he think she knew something or was she simply making too much noise?’
Briggs paused. ‘I miss you when you’re not around. I miss your company. It’s not just the—’
‘I know.’ She stopped him mid-sentence as voices echoed through the corridor. DC O’Connor and DS Jacob Driscoll were approaching. Gina checked her watch. Wyre should be back with the sandwiches at any moment. Her stomach rumbled. She gripped her mug and took a long drink of the almost cold coffee as the heater whirred back into action.
Briggs stood and massaged his chin. ‘Right, you’re going to be the Senior Investigating Officer on this one, Harte. Report straight to me on everything you find. Any problems, call. I’ll leave you to the briefing while I deal with the press updates. Obviously, I sent out a holding statement earlier, including an appeal for witnesses, so that we had a chance to speak to Mr Slater, Amber’s father. The victim wasn’t named but, as per usual, local social media are on our tail. It looks like her friend Lauren has already posted that it must be Amber on the What’s Up Cleevesford Facebook page. Amber’s father will be at her apartment in the morning and will be coming in to the station again. After the viewing with Jacob and O’Connor, he was so distraught they thought he might need an ambulance for shock but he came round a little and said he needed to be alone for now. He’s given full permission as her next of kin to enter her property and search everything. It’s good that we have his complete cooperation. He wants her killer found.’ And there he was, straight back into his DCI role.
The human element of all the cases she’d ever worked on was the worst. She thought of Amber’s father and the pain he must be going through. ‘I’ll obviously be available in the morning to speak to him. I’ll try to arrange to meet him at her apartment.’
‘Great, I’ll leave you to the briefing. Get everyone up to date and work out a plan.’ Briggs hesitated for a moment longer than needed before leaving. A prickle ran up her neck. He still hadn’t fully forgiven her for her distinct lack of trust in him during the last case. She still had some work to do if their friendship was to survive.
Jacob burst through the door, deep in conversation about an episode of Queen of the South that he and O’Connor were watching on Netflix.
‘No spoilers, I said. Damn you!’ O’Connor gave Jacob a friendly shove as they entered. His usually bald head had a layer of prickly fair hair growing from his scalp. His cheeks were rosy from coming out of the cold and into a room where the heater had been chugging out warmth for hours.
Gina glanced at the condensation on the windows and listened to the pattering of rain that scattered over the panes, rattling the frames occasionally. She twisted her damp hair at the nape of her neck and tucked it up in a bun. Wyre entered with the sandwiches and placed them in the middle of the table. It was going to be a long evening. She glanced back at the photos that Bernard had sent. Ligature marks on Amber Slater’s wrists, ankles, neck and waist. Her sore-looking lips made Gina shudder. She licked her own cracked lips and flinched at the thought. She hated the feeling even when she had a slight crack in them.
Grabbing a cheese and pickle sandwich from the pile, she opened the plastic wrapper and pulled the wholemeal triangle out, careful not to scatter grated cheese all over the floor as she took a bite.
Her phone beeped and an email from Bernard flashed up.
As she scanned down his preliminary findings, she felt nauseous at the last thing on the list. Stomach turning, she threw the sandwich on the table. Whoever could do that to a person had to be a complete sadist.
‘Aren’t you eating that, guv?’ Wyre tucked her long fringe behind her ear.
‘I’ve just lost my appetite. I think you will too when you read what Bernard’s just sent.’ Jacob and O’Connor glanced over as they took a seat.
Wyre flicked through her emails on her phone and winced. ‘Oh hell. There’s a definite confirmation as to why the skin on her lips was torn. I hoped it wouldn’t be true.’
14
Two of Madison’s friends had commandeered a booth by the window. She gave them a wave and a smile. The pub was dead. With the partygoers paying off their Christmas credit card bills and everyone deciding that their body was a temple, the party was well and truly over in the short term. That and with it being a Monday. The Angel Arms was the only place to be in Cleevesford, especially since the new licensee had taken over. As she hurried over, Madison glanced at the bar – the one which Amber had once worked behind. She began removing her coat and shuffled into the curved window booth that the other two were sitting in.
‘I can’t believe Amber, the girl they found dead this morning, used to work here part-time. I mean she lives in your apartment block, Ty,’ Alice whispered across the table.
Tyrone gave her a nudge. ‘You know when you whisper, everyone can hear?’
‘And who exactly is everyone? There’s no one in here or haven’t you noticed the complete lack of atmosphere. Boring.’ Alice yawned for effect. ‘It’s a good job Maddie turned up or it would have been shite sitting here with you all night getting slowly wasted.’
‘Now, now, children.’ Madison gave Tyrone a nudge and moved along a little more before she began ruffling through the receipts in her purse, searching for the emergency tenner that she tried to always replace. That and Nanna’s fiver should make the night a good one. ‘What can I get you?’
‘Ooh, as you’re buying make it a double vodka and Coke.’ Alice burst into laughter. ‘Half a lager.’
‘Same.’ Tyrone pulled his woollen hat from his head and popped it on the seat beside him. ‘It’s warmed up a bit in here.’
The fire crackled as a log began to burn in the fireplace. Flames danced and filled the lounge with an inviting warmth that told Madison that it was safe to relax and forget the feeling of being followed back in the lane. She headed to the bar, money gripped in her closed hand.
‘What can I get you?’ The landlady had the longest red nails she’d ever seen and wore her hair in a huge messy bun on the top of her head.
‘Three halves of lager, please.’ As the woman began pouring the drinks, Madison nervously leaned on the bar with one hand. ‘I heard about what happened, on the news. I can’t believe it and I’m sorry. I know she worked here.’
The woman frowned. ‘We can’t either. She was a lovely girl and the customers loved her too. Some bastard out there killed her.’ She shook her head. ‘We’re having a collection for her family.’ The woman tapped a tin on the bar with her nail. ‘It’s to help with funeral expenses and all that. I mean, no one expects to have to bury their child.’
Madison handed over her ten-pound note and received a little bit of change. ‘It’s so sad. I hope they find who did it.’ She placed the coins in the box.
‘And me. They should throw away the key. Anyone who can kill a young woman and leave her like that needs stringing up. Anything else?’
Madison shook her head and awkwardly carried the three drinks back to the table, only spilling a little bit of the frothy head down the sides of the glass. Tyrone and Alice were tittering over something on his phone.
‘What are you both laughing at?’ Madison shook the spilled drink from her hand and wiped the rest on her jeans.
Alice’s face went red as she slammed Tyrone’s phone on the sticky wooden table. ‘I’ve just set Tyrone up with a profile on AppyDater. He’s hoping to meet a tall dark handsome fit man anytime soon. I said he needs a better photo though.’ Alice lifted the phone up and thrust it close to Madison’s face.
‘That couldn’t be any less flattering. He has one eye shut and his nostrils are flaring. Check you out! Oh my, you’ve got your first smiley.’ Madison bit her bottom lip.
Tyrone leaned over the table. ‘Give it here.’
Madison moved back a little as she checked out the hottie who had sent the smiley. ‘He is one handsome beast. You, my frien
d, are lucky. Get a better photo and quick.’ She slid the phone across the table and Tyrone snatched it up.
‘It’s only been live for a minute. What the hell. I’ve died and gone to heaven. He’s sending me a message.’ He paused, his eyes fixed on the screen. ‘Now he’s stopped. Damn.’ He slammed it on the table and picked his drink up, sipping at the head before taking a huge gulp of the amber fluid and letting out a belch.
‘It’s a good job the hottie isn’t here now.’ Alice pulled out her own phone. ‘I haven’t had a single smiley yet. What the hell am I doing wrong?’ She passed the phone to Madison. ‘It took me an hour to get my make-up right for that photo.’
Madison pressed on the photo so that it filled the screen. Alice’s strawberry-blonde hair fell just over her shoulders. Her necklace glinted and her striking make-up made her green eyes look huge. She scanned her profile. Loves cat cafés and reading. ‘Maybe you need to work on your interests more. It’s definitely not your pic.’
‘What’s wrong with cat cafés?’
Madison scrunched her nose. ‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a bit crazy cat lady sounding. You need to cast that net out wide and you might just catch a prize fish.’
Tyrone snorted lager from his nose. ‘I agree. The cat café thing, it’s a bit dull.’
‘Well I don’t think so.’ Her serious expression quietened them both, then she grinned. ‘If a boy doesn’t like cats then I can’t date him – seriously.’ After a moment of silence, Alice piped up again. ‘Maddie.’
‘Mm.’
‘You haven’t got a profile, not in your own name anyway. Do you have a secret one?’ Alice tapped her fingernails on the table as she tilted her head and stared into Madison’s eyes. She reached over, grabbing Madison’s phone.
‘Give that back!’
Alice bolted from her seat and hurried past the bar out towards the toilets.
‘Give that back.’
The woman behind the bar stood back and smiled at their antics, possibly pleased that something was taking her mind off Amber Slater’s murder. Madison ran, hot on Alice’s tail, running through the pub and out to the corridor that led to the beer garden. She glanced out to the empty garden, then she burst through the two doors to the toilet to be faced by three cubicles. ‘Alice. Give me my phone, now. This isn’t funny.’
The cubicle at the end was shut. Madison stomped over and slammed her fists on the door. ‘Open up.’
‘It’s hilarious. Which photo do you want? The one of you standing outside a bratwurst stall at the Birmingham Christmas market or the one of you in your bikini around the pool in Tenerife?’
‘Neither. Damn you, no bikini shots. Give me my phone back, you cow. I don’t want to be on another dating app.’ She kneeled on the floor, insistent on trying to get a look at Alice under the gap at the bottom of the door. ‘Alice?’ All Madison could see was Alice’s boots tapping on the lino flooring.
As Madison laid her head on the floor, the whiff of disinfectant turned her stomach a little. ‘Alice, this floor is gross. Just unlock the door.’
‘I’ve nearly finished. Pressing the go button now. Madison, you are now on AppyDater.’
Exhaling, Madison shuffled away from the door and stood. ‘Okay, you can come out now and then I can delete it. All that effort, wasted.’
Alice’s laugh echoed through the room.
‘What?’
Silence.
‘Alice, what’s going on?’
‘You have two smileys. That’s what’s going on.’
In defeat, Madison headed to the mirror and wiped a bit of smudged make-up from the corner of her eye.
The cubicle door bounced off the wall as Alice flung it open. ‘I can’t believe it. I’ve been on it a week – nothing. Tyrone – on it a minute, gets a smiley. You – I’ve barely pushed the button and two of them are lining up and they look the biz.’
Madison snatched her phone back. ‘You used the Christmas market photo. I don’t believe you. I’m about to eat a bratwurst. How could you? Since when did I do burlesque dancing.’
‘Shut up! Have you seen the two that are interested? You can thank me now. I think I’ll swap cat café to pole dancing or something. What do you think? It must be the cat café thing that’s putting my potential dates off.’
Madison clicked the first profile that sent her a smiley. He was just a little older than her, chiselled features and looking for a good time. Local too. Enjoys competitive swimming and running. The next one lived in a town close by and was equally handsome but with more of a sparkle. His smooth dark hair and the slight look up at the camera made it feel as if he was trying to seduce her. Loves squash. ‘Wow! I mean okay… I forgive you. Thank you.’ Remember what Nanna had said. Live a little. She bit her bottom lip and smiled. ‘Would it be wrong to accept a date with both of them?’
‘Absolutely not! You go for it. That’s what AppyDater is. No one on there is looking for marriage. It’s about dating as many people as you can. The fun is always in the date.’
Madison stared at her friend’s reflection in the mirror. ‘I’m sorry no one has dropped you a smiley.’
‘Rub it in why don’t you!’ Alice nudged Madison, fluffed her hair up and headed to the door. ‘You coming?’
‘I’ll be there in a minute.’ Madison made a rubbing motion along her teeth with the side of her finger. ‘Lipstick… teeth.’ As her friend smiled then left, she locked herself in the end cubicle and pulled down her pants before sitting carefully on the unstable loo seat. The main door opened. ‘What now?’ she called out. She was met with silence. ‘Alice.’ Footsteps led the way to her cubicle. She tugged at the last three sheets of loo roll and wiped herself, quickly dressing then flushing the chain. As she went to unlock the door, she stopped. ‘Alice. Is that you?’ She bent over and saw the tip of a flat boot underneath. Those weren’t the boots that Alice was wearing, they were more like the type a man would wear. The flushing of the toilet quietened to a trickle. ‘Please get away from the door.’ Whoever was there, remained in place. She edged back and slid the lock. The lights went off, followed by the loud crash of the inner, then outer door.
Bursting out into darkness with only the sound of a dripping tap in which to gain her bearings, she stepped forwards, hands outstretched in front of her. The windowless room gave her no clues as to how far away from the door she was. She gasped as she bumped into something hard and let out a scream as the hand dryer burst into action. Reaching to the right, she grappled for the door handle and darted out into the corridor. Whoever was just lurking outside the toilet had done it to scare her, or maybe it was some sort of joke. She wasn’t laughing. With trembling fingers, she took a deep breath and gazed out into the dark beer garden. Beyond the festoon lights, she couldn’t see a thing. A shaking tree at the bottom left caught her attention. She ran through the door and tried to focus but whatever might have been there was gone.
Shivering, she hugged herself as a biting breeze swished past. She was getting nowhere standing in the cold. She hurried back and stared at Tyrone. ‘Where were you a minute ago?’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Here. I did go for a slash just before, didn’t I?’
Alice nodded. ‘You sure did.’ She finished her drink. ‘Anyone for another?’
Madison ignored the question. ‘Did you come into the ladies, while I was in there?’
He pulled a face like he was sucking on a lemon. ‘And why would I do that?’
‘Because sometimes you can be a dick with your silly pranks.’ She remembered the time he’d put a very real-looking plastic spider on her pillow while she was checking her post box – done to scare in the guise of a prank. He thought things like that were funny whereas Madison didn’t. After that incident she’d checked her bed every night for spiders. Then there was the time he refilled her shampoo bottle with chocolate sauce. It had taken her a week to forgive him. He didn’t even live in her block, he merely visited her and Alice.
‘Well, I was
n’t tonight’s dick.’ He glanced at his phone. ‘Ooh, I’m onto something here. I’ve gone and got me a date. See you both later.’ He grabbed his puffy coat and pulled it over his long-sleeved T-shirt, finishing off with his black and orange stripy scarf. The firelight caught his deep, chocolate-coloured eyes, making the pupils look like they had little fires burning within them. She glanced down at his boots: black. Were they the same boots she saw under the toilet door? Maybe, maybe not. ‘Madison, you need to chill a bit.’ With the last word said, he was out the door quicker than she could reply.
Alice tilted her head and played with her hair. ‘He’s a dick.’
Finishing her drink, Madison stood. ‘I think I’m going to head off now, I have a stack of work to do and my assignment is due in tomorrow.’ That was a lie but she needed to get home and she was going to get a taxi with Nanna’s fiver. She’d been scared too many times already that evening, there was no way she was going to risk another. ‘I’m getting a taxi, do you want to come with me?’
Alice flicked through her messages on her phone. ‘Nah, I’m heading to Rachel’s in a minute. It’s still early. Don’t forget to look at your messages, Miss Popular. Your phone hasn’t stopped lighting up.’
Doing her coat up, Madison headed for the door and stepped out into the car park. She exhaled and a plume of white mist coiled in the air. It had to be Tyrone in the toilets, trying to scare her.
Her thoughts flitted back to the figure on the dark lane. Was someone following her? Had someone been following Amber? She took a deep breath and forced that thought out of her mind as she lifted her phone to check AppyDater as she walked to the taxi rank.
15