by Carla Kovach
She took a few steps closer and flinched as she kicked the bin. A student who looked to be studying microbiology glanced up.
‘Sorry,’ she mouthed.
He smiled and carried on with his studies. The boots, they were gone. She hurried around the shelf to see that the whole row was devoid of people. He had to be somewhere. She ran between the other rows, glancing back and forth, checking out everybody’s footwear but he was nowhere to be seen. As she reached the last row of books, she took a deep breath, her hand gripping her bag so tight it felt like her skin had melded to the plastic strap. Her heart began to thud as she turned the corner. No one. She was alone, at the back of the library. As she turned to head back, she gasped as she crashed straight into a man’s chest.
‘Tyrone, what the hell are you doing, creeping up on me like that?’
‘Firstly, I am not creeping up on you. I was looking for a peaceful place to study and this is my favourite place to sit and secondly, why the hell are you shaking so badly? You look like you’ve just seen the dead rise in the aisles of the library.’
Madison’s gaze stopped on the single desk and chair under the window. ‘I just… last night at the pub… just tell me the truth, did you come into the ladies toilets to play a prank on me? Just answer honestly as I’m freaking out here.’
He brushed a couple of his errant dark hairs away that had shed onto his coat. ‘I swear it wasn’t me. Is something going on?’
‘I don’t know. Someone is following me. When I left Nanna’s last night I was sure someone was keeping back on the lane. The lights were out and I got scared. Then, in the pub, while I was in a toilet cubicle someone was standing outside the door…’ She glanced down. ‘They were wearing boots like yours which is why…’
‘You thought it was me.’
She nodded. ‘Yes. The same person…’ She gulped and tried to hide her trembling hands but Tyrone had already seen them.
‘Here, sit down.’ He pulled the chair out from under the desk.
‘After they stood there for what seemed like ages, they then turned off the lights and left. That’s when I ran out. I heard rustling at the back of the beer garden but it didn’t look like there was anything or anyone there from what I could see. That’s when I brushed it off as a joke. We’re always pranking each other and I just thought it was that. But when I saw your boots under the bookshelf, I thought it was him.’
He sat on the edge of the desk dropping his heavy bag down. ‘Maddie, I swear on my life, it wasn’t me.’
She bit her lip and looked down. ‘Well someone’s trying to scare me then.’
‘You should go to the police.’
‘And say what?’
‘Someone’s following you.’
‘Right, I can see how that would go. Hi, police, last night I think someone else was walking on the lane in the dark and they stopped and stood still for a few seconds. Then they were in the pub toilets and they turned the light off on me while I was trying to pee… It sounds stupid now and I don’t think they’ll do anything. Besides, I haven’t seen this person. I have no evidence that the person on the lane was following me. They could have been innocently waiting for a dog to do its business.’ She slumped in the chair.
‘Or they could be dangerous. You hear about these things happening all the time. Look at what happened to Amber. You just watch yourself, mate, okay?’ He looked down at her, his warm eyes making her feel safe and he opened his strong arms and gave her a huge Tyrone bear hug.
‘Anything else happens, I’ll report it.’
He released her from his embrace. ‘Okay. Tyrone will be angry with you if you don’t.’
His phone beeped and he smiled. ‘Get in there.’
‘Another smiley?’
He nodded. ‘I love this app. This is going to be the best year of my life, I can feel it.’
‘Can I see?’
He held his phone down to reveal a broad man with the shiniest dark skin she’d ever seen. ‘Whoa. You lucky man.’
He grinned. ‘Yes, last night’s was good too. Woohoo.’
‘I best get going if I’m to grab lunch before my next lecture. Is it cold out?’
‘Fecking freezing. Wrap up warm.’
She did up the buttons on her coat and flung her bag over her shoulder. ‘I’ll catch you later.’
‘And you.’ His attention was immediately diverted to his phone as she left him and headed towards the stairs. Just as she’d passed the café on the ground floor, her phone began to vibrate. She glanced at the man who’d sent her a smiley last night. A message had appeared in her inbox.
Hey, how about we meet up later or sometime soon? We could catch a film or grab a bite to eat. I’m a nice guy – promise.
She smiled and began to type back. Her dark-haired Adonis was waiting for a reply. Should she do it now and look keen, or wait and not look too keen? AppyDater wasn’t about waiting for the right one, it was about trying many and seeing what happens. It was about fun and she tried to remember that. She quickly replied:
I’d love to do something. Surprise me. I love a surprise.
She shuddered at the thought, then wondered if she’d done the right thing. After the incident last night, she wasn’t sure she liked surprises any more.
Leave it with me.
Nice reply. It didn’t sound weird, just friendly. He looked to be not much older and was fairly local. If nothing else, they’d have a good night out and if they didn’t gel, they could both move on to the next date.
Her phone rang, a number that wasn’t stored in her phone. ‘Hello.’
There was no reply.
She held the phone to her ear trying to listen for clues but then the sound of people walking along echoing corridors filled her ear. ‘Hello.’
‘Sorry, hello. Is this Madison Randle.’
‘Yes. Is everything alright?’ There was something in the woman’s tone that worried her. Her brow furrowed as she left the library and walked out into the freezing fog, taking the steps down towards the river.
‘I’m Angie, an A&E nurse at Cleevesford General Hospital. Your great-grandmother, Betty Falconer, has been admitted. I’m sorry to tell you she’s had another fall but don’t panic, there are no broken bones and she’s sitting up in bed having a cup of tea. We know she was recently admitted with a broken leg following a previous fall and it looks to be taking longer than expected to heal, so Occupational Health will also assess her while she’s here, see if we can offer her more assistance at home.’
‘I’ll be right there.’
A man bumped into Madison as she stopped in the middle of the path. ‘Sorry.’ She held her hand up and smiled as he passed. ‘Thank you. When you see her, will you tell her I’ll be with her soon?’
‘Of course I will.’
The call ended and Madison arrived at the river. The whooshing of water was running violently under the bridge, dragging whole branches with it. She glanced across, unable to see Worcester Cathedral in the distance today. There was no time for lunch now. She hurried back to the university car park for her car and checked her watch. It would take her a good forty minutes to get back to Cleevesford so best not to delay. As she half ran and walked, she called one of her classmates to excuse her from the next lecture. She’d have to catch up on her missed lecture notes over the course of the week. As she reached her car, her phone beeped again.
I’ve booked something exciting for tomorrow night. Please say you’re free.
She dropped the phone in her pocket. He could wait. Without knowing how things were going to be with Nanna, there was no way she’d be able to answer that question. She only hoped that he hadn’t gone to much expense. As she turned her engine on, she spotted someone standing alone in the mist, nothing more than an outline. She revved the car up and pulled away, leaving whoever it was behind without looking back.
21
‘Well, how about that? Mr Collins, the lecturer, has an allegation on file against him for inappropriate b
ehaviour.’ Gina threw her coat over a chair in the incident room as Jacob shivered a little on entering. The heater cut out, leaving the room silent until Briggs coughed and sat at the head of the main table. When she’d seen Mr Collins, she knew something was off but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Now she knew. All she needed was the finer details.
Gina and Jacob sat at each side of him.
Jacob pulled out a bag of crisps and Gina opened a cereal bar, both of them eager to eat something while they worked.
‘Where are Mrs O’s cakes when you need them?’ Gina knew that O’Connor’s wife would be treating them to something lovely soon as she’d been working on her brioche, but it wasn’t today and today she craved something more than a cereal bar. It had already been full-on and it wasn’t about to stop. Her mind flashed back to the sight of Amber’s body lying in the shallow water and then forward a little to Amber’s father, Theo Slater. She had to work this out and quick. He deserved to know who killed his daughter.
‘What have we got then?’ Jacob crunched on a crisp and leaned back in his chair.
Briggs ran a hand through his hair, his eyes looking a little shadowy around the edge. He gave her a glance and she smiled. ‘We have Mr Collins in interview room one. I want it recorded even though he’s come in voluntarily.’
Gina crunched on the chewy nut bar. ‘What do we know so far?’ A spec of nut hit her arm as she spoke.
Briggs flicked over a few sheets of paper in a refill pad. ‘He’s thirty-seven years old, married with twin daughters, aged four. This report goes back twelve years, when he was twenty-five. He started out by teaching various elements of management accountancy through home courses but this involved monthly meetups for the students. One of the meetups took place in a room that was rented at the back of a café in Birmingham. After the tutorials were over, one of the students stayed behind to ask a few questions and this led to them having drinks in a bar together. She claims that he met up with her at other times under the guise of helping her through a tricky module, but on the fourth occasion she said he’d tried to kiss her, then groped her. She claims she pushed him off and left but then the messages started. In them he’d claimed she’d been leading him on all this time. He kept sending the messages and she was sure he’d been following her too. She thought she’d seen him outside where she lived and on the street when she’d left work. The only other thing outside her statements is a neighbour’s. A woman next door to Miss Gregory saw and described Collins watching Miss Gregory from the street. She reported it to the police but there wasn’t enough evidence.’
Gina’s mind flashed back to when she worked part-time in a shop while at college. At seventeen, she couldn’t forget the manager, his breath stale with coffee, who happened to accidentally touch her bottom every time he brushed past her. If only she knew back then what she knew now. At the time she’d been too scared to say anything, not wanting to be dismissed from her job. Her mouth suddenly felt dry as a memory of Terry pinning her to the bed flashed through her mind. Sexual assault was more common than people thought. She swallowed and cleared her throat, trying to ignore the prickling sensation that was creeping up her neck.
‘How about the messages? Didn’t they offer enough as evidence?’ Gina wondered what enough evidence meant in this case.
Briggs cleared his throat. ‘Looking at the case, it seems that it was dropped by the victim. The messages alone weren’t strong enough to take the case to court anyway and there was never any direct evidence of him following her. There were talks of a restraining order but in her words, the harassment stopped and she just wanted to forget him.’
‘So he gets away with it.’ She shook her head. It was a story that was all too familiar. Small-time harassment, stalking, domestic abuse, it often went without punishment or the case was dropped. Evidence was hard to find in a lot of cases. She only hoped that Mr Collins hadn’t been harassing Amber in the same way, leaving her worried for the future of her course if she spoke up. Again, she thought back to her first job and she knew that her slimeball boss had done this on many occasions to the many girls that worked there. The other staff even joked about him making the whole thing seem less serious, making Gina believe that he was untouchable.
Jacob screwed up his crisp packet and threw it in the mesh bin. ‘What was the victim’s full name?’
Briggs flicked to another page. ‘Scarlett Gregory, age nineteen at the time. She was working for a company in Birmingham called Revelation Logistics as a trainee accountant. She lived with her parents in Hall Green back then.’
‘I suppose we best see what he has to say for himself?’ Gina stood and pushed her chair under the table. ‘Any news on the contents of Amber Slater’s laptop?’
Briggs scrolled through the emails on his tablet. ‘I’m expecting an update soon. I’ll keep you posted. Hopefully we’ll have something back before the briefing.’ He gave her a small smile before grabbing his pile of work from the table and leaving.
‘I suppose we best see what our Mr Collins has to say. Given what has happened to Amber, his past behaviour is nothing short of creepy.’
22
Gina placed her fresh mug of coffee on the desk in the interview room.
Jacob pressed the record button and the machine began rolling.
Mr Collins looked up and smiled. The muscles around his mouth were betraying him and his eyes were telling a different story. The faint odour of sweat that filled the room on such a cold day told her that their suspect was nervous. ‘Mr Collins. I know you’ve already been told, but you are here voluntarily, you can leave at any time but we’d like to talk to you about Amber Slater. For the tape, DI Harte…’
‘And DS Driscoll are conducting the interview.’ Jacob kept a neutral expression as he spoke.
Mr Collins shuffled in his seat, keeping his hands on his lap, under the desk.
‘Of course. I just want to help.’ He pulled his blue tie loose and unbuttoned the rest of his grey overcoat. The top of his black hair almost looked white with shine as the light from above caught it. Gina was sure there was more warmth coming from that than the whirring heater.
‘Can you confirm you full name and age?’ Gina crossed her legs under the desk and leaned in to meet the gaze of Mr Collins.
‘Clayton Collins. I’m thirty-seven.’ His dark eyes felt like they were drawing her in. Despite how unkempt he looked, Gina could see that he’d perfected his demeanour to be almost flirtatious. The slight smile when he said his name, the intense look but not quite a stare, only held to the point of possible uncomfortableness but not a moment longer.
‘Thank you for confirming that. We have your address and lecture timetable on file.’
She glanced at Jacob and he nodded. ‘Yes, I can confirm that we do.’
‘We spoke about how well you knew Amber Slater yesterday and you mentioned that you’d tried to help her when she thought someone had been watching her in the university car park before Christmas.’
‘I’ve told you all I know.’ He brought his hands up from below the table, linked them and leaned back. He was beginning to relax.
Now Gina was going in with the thing that was going to raise his hackles. ‘Tell me about Scarlett Gregory.’
‘What?’ His jaw clenched. ‘No way. What the hell does that have to do with Amber Slater?’ He pinched the top of his nose and scrunched his brow as if he was trying to relieve a headache.
‘We know there was an allegation of inappropriate behaviour. She was your student and she was asking for your help.’
‘That was all dropped. It was a lie. I don’t need this. I have a family now, children and a wife.’ He grabbed his glasses and dropped them on the table as he began to massage his temples.
Gina didn’t say a word, sometimes she knew it was best to remain silent and the interviewee would talk without further question.
A moment passed and he sighed. ‘It didn’t happen in the way she said it did. She kissed me after a drink and then told eve
ryone that it was me that kissed her. She then got so full of herself.’ He shook his head. ‘She seemed to think I was following her. I mean, she got me suspended all over nothing. I just want to forget it now. I didn’t do it. Charges were dropped.’
There was a knock at the door. She spotted Briggs through the small window and stood.
Jacob spoke for the tape. ‘DI Harte is leaving the room.’
‘Keep the tape running.’
Mr Collins remained in silence looking away from Jacob as she left. Once the door had firmly closed, Gina walked a few paces down the corridor. ‘You’ve got something, haven’t you? What is it?’
‘Three emails dated early January between Clayton Collins and Amber Slater. We found them on her laptop.’
As Briggs handed her a printout, he touched her arm with his finger sending a little electrical wave of pleasure through her. She scanned them quickly. ‘This puts a whole new light on the case. Anything else?’
He paused and moved his hand away. ‘Yes, an email confirming that she subscribed to a dating site about a month ago.’
‘Thank you. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.’
As she entered, Jacob announced her return.
‘Mr Collins, we’ve found something interesting, emails between you and Amber. You can stop lying to us about your relationship with her.’
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. He grabbed his glasses from the table and pushed them up his nose. His frown now hidden by the round lenses.
‘Tell us about this one.’ Gina began to read the email aloud. ‘Amber, last night was special to me. I hope it was as special to you. I’m desperate to see you again. Clay.’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I suppose you’ve already made up your minds. What the hell is the point?’