by Carla Kovach
There’s an earnestness in her look, a bit like you used to have. It’s like you’re back. I can’t lose you again.
I look again at her photo. She’s kind of special. More special than Madison? The likeness is closer. I flick back to Madison. I’m not sure what to do any more. ‘Give me a sign. Eenie meenie…’ I can’t decide but having backup options is always a good thing. I know where she works and, if all fails, I can follow her home.
Right now, I’m not sure who will be the main feature and who will be the backup. A member of the police force will be more of a challenge but maybe the results will be better. I can’t afford to fail. I messed up with Amber and that can’t happen again. I’m craving closeness, company and warmth and I’m not prepared to exist without it. I deserve it.
I flick through the phone again.
It’s always good to have options. My heart flutters with excitement as the car begins to warm up.
Decisions, decisions.
24
Disinfectant and gravy, a nauseating smell that took Gina right back to school. It wasn’t the dinners being unpalatable that she remembers, in fact she enjoyed them, it was the disinfectant that was turning her stomach – that and the hunger that had taken a hold. Jacob was ahead of her, tailing the kind teacher that was taking them to the waiting area outside the staff room where Mrs Collins was still in her meeting – running late, apparently.
She lifted a hand up and saw that she had the jitters. Maybe having that last cup of coffee was a bad idea. She shook her head, trying to clear the slight lightheaded feeling that was taking over. Before heading back to the briefing after speaking to Mrs Collins, she had to get some food.
‘If you take a seat there, she should be out very soon. She knows you want to speak to her. I’ll head back to reception. If you need anything in the meantime, just ask. Can I get either of you a coffee or a tea?’ A few strands of the young woman’s ginger bun were starting to escape.
Gina glanced at Jacob. He shook his head and she could do without another caffeinated drink. ‘We’re fine, thank you.’
‘In that case, I’ll leave you to it.’ She smiled before turning and clip clopping on her heels back through the dining hall door.
‘That smell is making me hungry,’ Jacob said as his stomach rumbled.
‘I’m the opposite. That smell makes me feel like throwing up. But I am famished.’ Gina glanced through the glass pane on the staffroom door. A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties, with a black shiny plait dangling down her back, glanced over as she flicked over a page on the huge pad and began writing on the blank sheet. She flashed her watch to Gina and then five fingers. Gina nodded back.
‘I have some lovely memories of the school dinner hall. I was quite disruptive back then, not quite the model citizen I am today.’
Gina stared at Jacob and laughed.
He continued. ‘I always ended up standing facing a wall and counting to one hundred for starting the food fight. Forever in detention, I was. It just goes to show that the worst behaved kids can grow up to be okay.’
‘Oh, you rebel.’ Gina sniggered.
‘I bet you were a right swot.’ Jacob turned a little, waiting for her to answer.
He was right, the one detention she had during senior school for accidentally leaving her homework in her bedroom had been an upsetting ordeal. Her mother and father knew when she took the letter home and they had shown their disappointment by grounding her for a week. It had been an accident. ‘I did my best.’ She remembered the other kids teasing her because she had frizzy hair and a brace on her top set of teeth. A loner, she struggled to fit in and that lack of solidarity with any of her classmates had left her craving attention, even the wrong kind. These days, the last thing she wanted was attention but she craved some close human contact, which is why she’d been seeing Briggs again. It had started with a takeaway, then wine, then laughs and warmth. One thing had led to another and now she couldn’t get him out of her head but this wasn’t the time. She thought of their victim, Amber, then about dating and the dangers. She could see the excitement too as she’d researched the site. It promised fun and frivolity. Jacob was still waiting for her to answer and did a mock yawn. ‘Okay, I was a model pupil at school,’ she conceded.
‘Knew it.’
She glanced at Jacob as he watched Mrs Collins. He’d have been the popular kid, the cheeky chappie who threw a few chips across a table with his cute laugh. The joker of the pack, maybe? She’d never know.
The squeaky door burst open and several weary-looking teachers filled the corridor and brushed past them. Only one woman stayed behind. She popped her pen in the little cradle on a table and beckoned them in. Her plait swung as she headed over. Her long, checked skirt reached her black boots and she pulled a cardigan over her shoulders. ‘I’m Mrs Collins, you wanted to speak to me. Please come in and take a seat.’
A cluster of dirty coffee cups were gathered on a tray on the table. Gina pulled the chair away so she didn’t have to smell them. Fresh coffee was a wondrous smell but stale coffee, not a good thing – ever. Mrs Collins picked up her lipstick-stained cup and drank the rest of hers. For some reason, Gina expected Mrs Collins to look a bit like Amber. Except for their hair colour, there was no likeness at all. Mrs Collins looked homely and voluptuous. Her neatly trimmed nails tapped on the cup before she placed it down.
‘How can I help you?’ Mrs Collins picked up her beeping phone. ‘Dammit, I have several missed calls. Can I just have a moment?’
Gina knew they would be from Mr Collins, trying to pre-warn his wife that they would be seeking to clarify his whereabouts. ‘Actually, Mrs Collins, could you please wait a moment? We need to speak to you first.’
The woman looked at her phone one more time and placed it in her pocket. ‘What’s going on?’
‘We need to ask you something. Do you want to take a seat?’
She took the pad from the flipchart and placed it next to them on the table. ‘I’m fine standing. Look, I have twin girls waiting for me to pick them up from the childminder’s so I really need to get going and all those phone calls might be to do with my children. My husband is trying to get hold of me. What’s happened?’
‘Sorry, we won’t keep you long.’ Jacob took out his pad and flicked to a clean page.
Gina cleared her throat and kept her trembling fingers in her lap as she spoke. ‘We need to confirm your husband’s whereabouts between six on the evening of Friday the twenty-second of January and six in the morning of Monday the twenty-fifth. Can you please take a moment to think and tell me what you can remember of your weekend?’
‘Are we in some sort of trouble?’ Three lines appeared across the woman’s forehead as she sat.
‘We’re just making routine enquiries at the moment. As you may know from the news, a body was found at the lake in Cleevesford. Mr Collins was the young woman’s lecturer.’
‘Are you saying that my husband could have done that to a girl? No way!’
Gina leaned back on the creaky plastic chair. ‘We’re not saying that at all. Your husband knew her. We have spoken to him and he said he was with you all weekend. We just need to check that information.’
She began to twiddle the end of her plait. ‘He was with me all weekend, at our home. We value our weekends as you can appreciate, even though we spend a lot of that time working. We had a takeaway together at about four on Friday, then the girls were picked up by my mother who had them for the weekend. I had a lot of work to catch up on, marking and lesson planning so she offered to help me out. Clayton… Clay had lots of work to do too. He was in with me all weekend, even when we went to Tesco together on Saturday morning. That was about ten in the morning – the Tesco just outside Cleevesford, off the bypass.’
‘He didn’t pop out on his own for anything?’
Mrs Collins scrunched her brow and stared at the space between her nose and the cups on the table. ‘No, as I say, we had a lot of work to do and after a long
week, we were both tired so we went to bed quite early. He never left the house without me, not once. I can wholeheartedly confirm that.’ She paused and her gaze met Gina’s. ‘Is there something you’re not telling me? What’s going on?’
‘At the moment, we can’t reveal all the details of the case as we’re investigating. Thank you for your time. One last thing, do you know if Mr Collins knew Amber Slater well?’
Mrs Collins swallowed and shook her head. ‘I believe he knew her as well as a lecturer would know his students. He always took the time to help them all. Teaching is more than just a job to him, he wanted them all to get the best results and always gave everyone the time they needed to get there. I often hear him talking over an accountancy problem on the phone with his students, patiently explaining things. He’s a good man.’
Gina didn’t doubt he was good at his job but she did doubt his intentions and she wondered right there and then if Mrs Collins knew of Mr Collins’s past. ‘Have you ever heard the name Scarlett Gregory?’
Mrs Collins went to open her mouth then paused. ‘No, I don’t recognise that name.’ She pulled her phone from her pocket. ‘Look, I really have to go. My childminder will be charging me extra if I don’t and she hates me being late and I’m already working over tonight.’
Gina stood and scraped the chair under the table. ‘Thank you for your time and thank you for clearing that up.’ She passed her card to the woman. ‘If you or your husband think of anything else, please call me.’
Refusing to take the card, Mrs Collins placed her hands in her pockets. ‘I’ve told you all I know, so now if you’ll excuse me, I need to lock this room. You know the way out, don’t you?’
Regretfully, Gina did and it was through the smelly hall. Within minutes they were getting back into the car. Gina pulled her seat belt on. ‘She knows about Scarlett Gregory, of that I’m sure. How do you feel that went?’
Jacob pulled a mint from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. ‘She looked worried, really worried. Especially when you asked for Mr Collins’s whereabouts at the weekend. I don’t think we can exclude him from our list of suspects.’
‘I know it’s a feeble start but maybe the least we can do is confirm that they were at Tesco’s on Saturday morning, just to establish whether that part was true. They were both lying, I’m sure of that, but being sure isn’t enough. We can’t arrest anyone because we think they are lying.’ She stared onto the dark playing field with only a glint of street lamp hitting the edge of a goalpost at the back. ‘But we do need to know what they’re lying about.’
25
Madison stood outside the hospital, taking in the freshness of the crisp winter air. It had been stuffy in the medical assessment ward her nanna was in but, thankfully, the damage wasn’t too bad. Just a minor cut and a couple of small bruises. She swallowed as she thought of the poor old woman lying in the corner of the kitchen after she’d slipped on some spilt milk. A whole hour had gone by before the carer visiting had called the ambulance her nanna didn’t really need. Best to be safe than sorry and get her checked out, the carer had said.
She tried Alice’s number again and this time she answered. ‘Alice. Glad I caught you. I don’t think I’ll be back tonight. Can you keep an eye on my apartment and feed my fish?’
‘Of course, mate. I still have your spare key from when you went on holiday.’
Madison smiled. ‘Thanks.’
‘Is everything okay with your nan? I tried to call you earlier but I couldn’t get through.’
As Madison spoke a plume of white mist coiled in the air. She shivered as she walked away from the main entrance of the hospital and stood beside a stationary ambulance. Cold, she continued to walk. She passed the smoking hut and headed towards the car park. ‘She had a fall, that’s all. Not a serious one but they just needed to check her out as she’s still healing from the last fall. I’m going to stay with her tonight, if they let her out. I need to be there to settle her in. She’s a bit shaken and needs to get her confidence back with the Zimmer frame.’
‘I’m really sorry to hear that. Tell her to get well soon from me. Are you okay? Is there anything else I can do? Do you need an overnight bag making up?’
Pausing, Madison stared into the darkness, just about able to make out the large expanse of land ahead with the helipad in the middle and a thick row of trees beyond the car park. She shivered and not because of the cold this time. It felt as though the darkness was about to swallow her up. As she turned back to the hospital entrance she almost crashed into a man in a wheelchair. ‘Sorry,’ she called.
‘Madison? Are you okay?’ Alice’s voice came through the phone.
‘Yes, I nearly crashed into someone. I best go and thanks for the offer but I’m okay. I have a spare of everything at Nanna’s. Are you alright?’
‘Don’t worry about me. Even Tyrone has brushed me off tonight. I bet he’s got another date with that man he liked. Anyway, I’ve decided I’ve been a wimp. I’m about to land a few smileys on a whole load of profiles so who knows where that will take me. I might be out on a hot date this weekend or even sooner. I think I’m going to head to the pub for a couple, see who’s there.’
Madison let out a chuckle. ‘Well, have a good one and have a drink for me, even if you are going to be a Billy no-mates. Speak soon.’ The signal dropped as it had done a few times while she’d been at the hospital and Alice was gone. She walked around, holding her phone in the air until she reached the smoking hut.
A young man wearing a dressing gown and trailing a drip held a cigarette to his lips. ‘Want one?’ He held the packet in her direction.
‘No, thank you.’ She smiled then walked past and stood on the grass. She had one bar left on her phone, then it would die on her. A notification flashed in the corner of the screen. That orange AD logo with a smiley face in the D told her that she had more interest on her AppyDater profile. Now wasn’t a good time. She clicked on the app, headed to profile and deactivated her profile before deleting the app. She looked ridiculous with that mustard-filled hotdog sticking out of her mouth. The notification was now gone, along with the app. Maybe it was what her friends were doing and she wished them all the best, but she preferred the more conventional ways of meeting dates; at uni, at the pub or on holiday – any way but the AppyDater way.
Her mind flitted back to the pub toilets and the person who tried to scare her; then there was the dark lane. The shadows and rustling of trees – she shivered. She’d bumped into a couple of men. Had they moved into her path on purpose? Stop it, she told herself. Her paranoia was getting out of hand.
‘See you.’ The young man left the smoking shelter and shuffled back towards the hospital, leaving her alone next to a tree. For a moment, she tried to weigh up how much effort it would take to fake a drip and stand in a smoking hut. She wanted to slap herself. No one knew she was coming here. She didn’t even know she’d be at the hospital today. Even her practical course components didn’t take place at Cleevesford General; she was often based in Worcester. She glanced at her watch. Nanna’s discharge papers should be ready. As she took a step, she glanced around one last time and in the darkness she saw a still figure, just a silhouette against the moonlight on the path alongside the fenced-off helipad field. She stared at it and was sure he was staring back. He was whistling something, a melody that sounded like a lullaby she vaguely recognised. The whistling broke up and he stopped. She took two steps closer but the figure turned and walked away into the misty night.
She ran back to the entrance, knowing she had to get Nanna and hurry to Nanna’s house, where she felt safe.
26
Gina took the last bite of the large cheese sub. She wiped her lips with the napkin and sat back as the team started to join her at the table in the incident room. She’d bought plenty of snacks for everyone. As she swigged her water, she headed to the front of the room where she scanned the boards to recap on all the information that they’d garnered so far.
Be
rnard accidentally kicked the doorframe as he rushed into the room. ‘Bloody hell!’
Gina had heard the crack so she knew it must have hurt. His ashen face told her that he’d been working nonstop. He slammed a takeaway coffee and a folder on the table before slipping his coat off and grabbing a roll. Jacob and O’Connor entered with hot drinks and proceeded to take a seat. PCs Smith and Kapoor placed down some extra seats and shuffled in. Kapoor pulled a stray black hair from her uniform and dropped it on the floor. All of them grabbed some food.
Wyre hurried in, her face buried in her phone as she bit into an apple. She pressed one last button and placed it in her pocket and smiled across at Gina.
‘Right, thank you. Let’s get started.’ Gina placed her water bottle down on the damp window ledge and flicked the switch on another heater. ‘I know it’s cold but hopefully the heating will be sorted tomorrow.’
‘Thank God for that,’ O’Connor said as he put his scarf on.
Briggs sidled in from the back and walked over to Gina. As the chatter in the room got louder he came a little closer, almost touching her. He gave her that smile, the one only she saw.
‘How’s it going with the press, sir?’ she asked.
‘All the information we want out there is out. As discussed we have left out the bit about the superglue. I just hope someone comes forward with something. I got an update from Annie just before heading here. Corporate Communications can confirm that a few calls have come in and they’re being looked into. If anything comes of those calls, uniform will report straight to us and we can get onto it.’ He paused. ‘I haven’t stopped thinking about the other night. Maybe we could do something together soon.’