Page 36

THIRTY-FIVE

After leaving a team of CSIs at the car park, Gina, Jacob and PC Ahmed arrived at Hollyhock Crescent. Lights began to come on and curtains twitched. A man came out of the house directly opposite and stood in his doorway. Gina grabbed her torch again, leaving Jacob and PC Ahmed to discuss the door to doors and to check if anyone who came out had seen anything.

Stepping up to the window left of the front door, Gina peered through and could see a dining room. The window on the other side of the house showed a long living room. A tartan snuggle blanket half lay over the sofa and the footstool.

She held her hand up to Jacob and pointed to the side path, and he put a thumbs up to her. Following the slabs around, they led to a gate. She popped her torch under her arms and slipped on a pair of gloves before opening the unlocked gate. The garden was in total darkness and there wasn’t a light on in the house at all. She continued forward and flashed her torch through the kitchen window.

A chill ran through her as she saw a chess piece on the table.

A white queen.

Hurrying back around, she called Jacob over. PC Ahmed left him to cross the road and talk to the man.

‘Have you spotted something?’ Jacob asked.

‘A chess piece on the kitchen table. The kidnapper’s calling card. He has her. Somehow he must have lured her to the car park. Despatch said she was in the middle of telling them about her daughter who had disappeared, then she hung up on them. Reading between the lines, I think the kidnapper has used her daughter’s disappearance to get to her.’

Jacob breathed out slowly. ‘We should see if any of the neighbours are up for talking.’

Nodding, Gina followed him back towards the drive. She had to get into the house. ‘Wait, we don’t know if Ruth Pritchard has made her way back without her car somehow. She might be in that house and hurt. Can you call PC Ahmed back over?’

He nodded and hurried over the road.

She crept towards the letterbox and peered in. She could see the slightest of outlines and it looked like a sideboard. Jacob and PC Ahmed ran back to her and PC Ahmed spoke. ‘Guv, the man over the road is her ex-husband. He has a key to the house because he used to live there with her, and he said he’s been really worried about her lately.’

‘Ask him to bring it. It’s either use the key or we have to use the battering ram. She might be hurt in there. We know someone is bleeding as we found blood on her wallet and cards. If she’s not here, maybe there’s some clue in the house as to where she might be. Our priority is locating her and knowing she is safe.’

Jacob pressed his lips together before speaking. ‘I’ve just got word back from the scene. Dogs have arrived, but they haven’t found Ruth.’

With that, Jacob went back over the road. She watched him explaining to the man what they were going to do. The man went back into his house and came out with a set of keys and they walked back to Gina.

Gina took the keys and turned them in the lock. Jacob waited behind her to go in as the man waited on the drive. ‘Ruth, it’s the police. Call out if you’re in here.’

Nothing.

‘I’m DI Harte and I have DS Driscoll with me. We’re coming in.’

After a walkthrough of each room, it was clear that Ruth was not in the house, but the sight of the chess piece unnerved Gina. Ruth was in imminent danger.

She stood in the doorway of Ruth’s bedroom and saw a pile of men’s clothes draped over an ottoman. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the man claiming to be her ex-husband still on the drive. ‘Do you stay here sometimes?’

He shook his head. ‘No, we’re…’ He paused. ‘We’re divorced. She’s been seeing someone.’

The clothes belonged to someone else. ‘Can I take his name?’

‘It’s Eric Hathaway. He’s not a good man.’

Gina furrowed her brows and stepped closer to him.

‘In what way?’

The man looked up at Ruth’s neighbour, peering out of the window. ‘I think you need to come to mine so we can talk. The neighbours like to gossip around here.’