Page 27 of The Truth Will Out (DI Sam Cobbs #18)
“Worth knowing. Thanks for the tip. Sorry, Bob, you were saying?”
“Ivy Renshaw. I’ve checked the employee records. She used to be the housemaid at Pendle. She left suddenly back in 2006. No forwarding address. No exit interview on file. Nothing. She just vanished.”
“Can you bring up the file?”
“I can. I did some extra digging and found a photo of the woman on her personnel file.” He enlarged the photo on the screen.
Sam stared at it. There was something familiar about her, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what it was.
“Are you all right? Do you know her?”
“I’m not sure. I think I recognise her face. And she definitely wasn’t in the other photo we have?”
“No, she’s not on there. I double-checked before I mentioned it.”
Sam scratched her head as a smidgen of an idea came to her. She shoved Bob out of the way and pounded his keyboard, searching for something in particular. She brought up a different image and compared the two. “Isn’t that her?”
“What is this?”
“Rhys has the same photo at home, sitting in his office. It was taken at a recent charity event he organised at the university he attended. I think it might have been to raise funds for a different children’s home.”
The woman was there in the photo, older, worn down but unmistakable nonetheless. She appeared to be in the background, all alone, watching.
“She hasn’t vanished at all. Let’s see if we can find out whether she’s using the same name. Bob, can you get a list of attendees for the charity event for me?”
“I’ll do my best. It seems to be busy there. We could be looking at thousands.”
“Needs must. We have to find out who she is and what name she’s using these days. She appears to be alone. Let’s work on that, for now.”
Two hours later, with everyone lending a hand, they found the woman in the photo was Michele Turner. Liam did some extra digging and discovered yet another link to Rhys in the woman’s background.
“I’ve got her working at a private care home on the outskirts of Workington. I found another couple of photos, and I’m sorry to have to tell you, boss, that Turner and Rhys were at the same facility. It’s possible that he either worked or volunteered there during his summer break from uni.”
“Crap, and he’s not around to either confirm or deny knowing her,” Sam said.
“There would be no point, not if we have the proof,” Bob pointed out .
The rest of the day was spent trying to find Michele Turner.
She wasn’t entered on the electoral register.
This led Sam to believe that she could now be living under yet another assumed name.
Sam dismissed the team at six that evening.
Everyone was down, feeling the frustration of the investigation.
She had decided against asking a member of the team to remain on duty to cover another few hours.
What was the point? Apart from seeing the person who she presumed was the killer in the car park, she’d had no further contact with them.
Had the figure looked like a woman? She wasn’t sure about that either.
Sam drove home. She parked outside her property as a message came through.
You’re looking in the wrong direction, Inspector Cobbs. The truth doesn’t always wear a mask, or maybe it does!
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Does it, or doesn’t it? Is the killer purposely trying to confuse me?
She didn’t react openly to the message because she spotted Doreen watching her from the lounge window. Sam smiled, and her neighbour opened the door to let her in. Tilly was there, jumping up and wanting a cuddle.
“Get down, monkey. You know you’re not supposed to jump up.”
“Aww… she’s missed you. She’s been crying today, Sam. I tried to hug her, to comfort her, but she wouldn’t have it.”
“I’m sorry if she’s been a nuisance. I’ll take her for a longer walk than usual and pick up a takeaway on the way back; it’ll save me from burning another dinner tonight.”
“Don’t spend out. I can knock you up an omelette; it’s no trouble.”
Sam smiled. “I had that as burnt offerings last night. It was so bad, I think it’s turned me off them for life, but thanks for the offer. Do you fancy fish and chips, or have you already eaten? ”
“I have, although that does sound tempting. Maybe I’ll have a small portion. Will they do that for me?”
“I’m sure they get asked all the time. I’ll see what I can do. It’ll be another hour or so.”
“Let me get you some money.”
Sam raised her hand. “No, this is on me, to make up for this little one being a pain in the backside.”
“It’s not necessary. I take it there’s no news about Rhys?”
“Nothing. It’s so disappointing. I’m clinging on to the fact that his body hasn’t shown up yet.”
“I don’t blame you. It’s a definite positive.”
Sam fastened Tilly’s harness and headed towards the park.
They circled the park for nearly an hour.
It did Sam the world of good, and Tilly seemed happy enough with her longer walk as well.
She stopped off at the chippy and placed the order from the doorway rather than take Tilly inside.
The girl serving came to collect the money from her.
She rushed home and ate her dinner with Doreen. It was good for both of them to have some company at that time of the day. They chatted about this, that and the other for the next two hours until Sam started yawning.
“I’m sorry, I’d better go home now. It’s been lovely spending time with you, Doreen.”
“It has, sweetheart. Sleep well, Sam. I’m always here, remember that.
I’ll see you in the morning when you drop the little one off.
Come here, Tilly.” The pup walked sideways towards Doreen and allowed her to pet her head.
“Oh my, what’s happening with Casper? I should have asked this morning, but I wasn’t fully awake when you dropped her off. ”
“I rang Brenda earlier. She loves taking care of Casper and has agreed to keep him with her until the situation with Rhys is resolved.”
“Let’s hope that’s soon, Sam. Maybe that’s why Tilly was unsettled today, because she misses Casper as well as Rhys. ”
Sam nodded. “You could be right. I never gave it a second thought. I’ll give her a belly full of treats before we go to bed.”
The following morning, the weather was dreary and miserable, just like her mood. She drove into work, her thoughts heavy with Renshaw and the growing web of deceit surrounding this investigation.
Bob was waiting for her in the reception area.
She shook off the rain and asked, “What’s up?”
“This was left for us at the front desk by a youngster. He told the desk sergeant that someone wearing a hood asked him to drop it off.”
He held out a photo in his gloved hand. It was of the station car park. More importantly, it was focused on both Sam’s and Bob’s vehicles, taken from a distance. Scrawled across the bottom in smudged ink were the words, You brought the past into your present. Now watch it bleed.
Bob glanced at Sam as if he knew the answer to what the message meant. It was time to reveal the truth. “Let’s go upstairs. I have something I need to tell you.”
He huffed and puffed his way up the flight of concrete steps to the main office and threw himself into his chair. Crossing his arms, he demanded, “Let’s have it. I had a feeling you’ve been keeping me in the dark about something.”
“I haven’t… not intentionally. It’s only been a day or so since the first message arrived.”
“What message? Or should I say messages? Sam, we’re a bloody team. I should have been told. I know you’re suffering from trust issues at the moment, I get that, but bloody hell…”
“I was in the wrong. I’m sorry. You have every right to be mad at me.” She handed him the phone, and he read the messages she had received.
“Jesus, this is serious. Wait a minute… yesterday, when you rushed outside… why? What did you see?”
“I believe the killer was out there, watching me. I caught a glimpse of someone and decided to run downstairs to challenge the person, but they legged it before I could get there.”
“But you denied it, said it was your imagination when I suggested… Why didn’t you tell me? You do realise how dangerous that could have been?”
“I do now. It won’t happen again. You know what all of this means, don’t you?”
“Let me guess… that we’re closing in on him or her. For all we know, this Renshaw woman might be the killer.”
She nodded, a lump forming in her throat that she struggled to shift.
Rather than break down in front of her partner, she made them both a coffee.
While she was doing this, the rest of the team arrived.
Bob took the pressure off her and filled the team in himself about the messages Sam had received.
“We need to trace the phone they came from,” Nick suggested. “I can do that, or should I say, I know a man who can do it for us.”
Sam gave him the thumbs-up. “Get on it ASAP, Nick.”
Nick’s friend came up trumps within an hour.
The message was traced to a phone which was on and located at a derelict warehouse near the harbour in Whitehaven.
Sam and Bob drove to the location. They found signs of someone having recently been there, but they were already gone.
They were about to leave when Sam spotted something poking out from one of the crates.
“What’s this?” She removed a pair of gloves from her pocket and slipped them on. “It’s a folder.”
Sam opened it, and inside she found newspaper articles about Pendle House.
Each of them had circles around a specific name: Claire Owen, Weller, Trigg, Rhys.
And now… she rubbed at her eyes, not believing what she was reading.
One more name she had not been expecting: Bob Jones.
There was a final page that had one word written on it:
DECIDE .
Bob stared at her. “What does that mean?”
Sam’s mind was spinning. “It means we’ve run out of time.”
The killer was closing in.
They drove back to the station in silence.