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FORTY-NINE

Gina’s personal phone flashed with a message. As Jacob drove them into Droitwich to speak to Marie Paulson, she opened it up. It was from Pete Bloxwich.

Sorry Gina, but more photos have been published on the forum and they’re not pretty. They’re mock-ups, but this time they have your face on them. Anyone could tell it’s you. It’s showing you laughing at a dead man with a knife in your hand, and the poster has asked for the brotherhood to track you down and punish you. They’ve released your address.

She opened the photos attached to the message and came over nauseous. Gasping for breath, she opened the car window.

Jacob quickly pulled over in a lay-by. She opened the door and threw up. He passed her a small packet of tissues. ‘Are you okay? Shall I drop you back, guv?’

She shook her head. She wanted nothing more than to go home, close her curtains and never come out again, but the thought of going home filled her with fear.

It was the end of the road for her and her secrets.

Not only that, it might be her end with a bunch of sickos and weirdos all having her address. If this was going to be her last case, she was going out with a win. Sick or not. ‘No, I’m okay. I suddenly came over a bit car sick when we went through the lanes. It was probably something I ate.’

‘I haven’t seen you eat much at all.’

She wanted to tell him to shut up and drive. No way was she explaining her predicament to Jacob, however much she trusted him. She’d never put him in the position of having to hide such big secrets for her, not like she’d done to Briggs. ‘That’s probably what it is. Do you have any sweets?’

‘I’ve got some Murray Mints in the glove compartment. Help yourself.’

As he started the car again, she took a sweet out and sucked on it to disguise the horrible taste in her mouth.

‘And here we are.’ He pulled up outside a block of flats. ‘I can go in on my own if you need a break?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m feeling much better now, and I need a drink.’

He led the way and pressed number six on the intercom buzzer.

‘Just buzzing you up,’ came the woman’s voice.

They walked up the stairs to the first floor, and Marie was already standing outside with the door open, holding a little boy who looked to be about four. Her brown hair fell in almost greasy strands over her shoulders, and her eyes looked sunken and weary. ‘Sorry, I haven’t properly got up yet. Have you found Lissy?’

Gina could see the hope on Marie’s face. ‘I’m sorry, no, but we need to speak to you about Felicity’s disappearance in relation to a recent case.’

Marie put her child down. ‘You’ve found a body, haven’t you?’

‘No, but it would be best if we came in so we could speak.’

Marie led the way to the compact lounge with its oversized sofa, and she called the boy over before putting some cartoons on the TV. ‘Can we talk in the kitchen?’

‘Yes, that would be great. Thank you,’ Gina replied, still feeling a little woozy. ‘Would you mind if I had a glass of water?’

‘Of course not. I can put the kettle on if you prefer?’

‘Water’s fine, thank you,’ Gina replied. She crunched the rest of the sweet and swallowed the remnants, her stomach still churning from the shock of seeing that photo.

Gina was grateful to Jacob for leading on this occasion. She nodded at him to continue as she got her notepad out.

The kitchen was tiny so they all stood, cramped in. She caught sight of a row of houses opposite and a queue of cars at the traffic lights outside. Placing the pad on the worktop, she pulled out her pen and headed the page up.

‘Ms Paulson?—’

‘Marie,’ she interrupted.

Jacob continued. ‘Marie, you’re listed as the main contact on Felicity Vaynor’s file.’

‘I am. She doesn’t have anyone else. Her mother, my aunt, died back in 2010, and her father left the country to take a job in Dubai soon after. He worked in construction and was in an accident there. He’s also sadly no longer with us. I put my name down as the contact. Felicity didn’t have any siblings and we were so close growing up.’

‘Can you tell me a bit about her?’ he asked.

‘Her mum used to be a top chef, travelling all over the place and contracting at restaurants. Sometimes, if it was the school holidays, Lissy used to go with her. She mostly worked on posh boats and was a private chef for rich families; special occasion stuff. The main school holidays in 2006, Lissy stayed with me for a week because she didn’t want to go with her mum. I lived in Cleevesford at the time with my family, who are no longer with us. She used to love staying at our house. I had to work in the day, but she came to see me at lunchtimes and met me outside when my shifts ended. That summer was the last time I saw her. She went back home, started back at school and then she disappeared. Of course, she lived in Solihull back then. All I know is she left school one night after the school production and never made it home. No one has seen her since. The police did all they could. We were all looked into as a part of the investigation. Lissy had a bit of a falling out with her mum over something small the night before and police wondered if she’d just holed up with a friend for a while. I think my aunt was getting a bit overprotective and stifling Lissy, so Lissy told her she didn’t want to be picked up after the school play. Something like that. It was something and nothing. Lissy was just being a bit rebellious, but she was a good girl. I was a tearaway. I used to drink on the streets with my mates at thirteen and go home hammered. Lissy was nothing at all like me. On the whole, she was happy. There was one sighting about a month after she vanished, but I don’t think it was Lissy. There was a homeless community living in an abandoned warehouse. I’m sure it wasn’t her, but the police who were dealing with the case seemed to think it was, so her disappearance became less of a priority for them.’

‘Do you know anything about her friends?’

Gina swigged the water, enjoying cleansing her mouth, and continued taking notes as Jacob questioned Marie.

‘She was friends with some of the girls and picked on by a couple of boys. That particular group were all together at the end of the night, so they gave alibis for each other. She loved her cat, Meowdon. I remember when she had him as a kitten and made that name up.’

Marie smiled warmly and pursed her lips before continuing. ‘Why are you here now? Don’t get me wrong, I want you to look into Lissy’s disappearance. I’ve never once given up on her. That’s why I won’t ever change my mobile number because she has it.’

‘We’ve had a recent attempted kidnapping and also a woman has vanished under suspicious circumstances, and your name came up in our enquiries. We’ve been looking for someone called Marie Blaine in relation to all this.’

‘Ah, it changed to Paulson when I married ten years ago.’ She blew out a breath. ‘So, you think whoever is involved with the case you’re investigating now could be responsible for taking Lissy?’

‘We believe you might know more than you think and it could go as far back as when you worked at Crastone Foods.’

She scrunched her brow. ‘I obviously worked there when Lissy came to stay, but?—’

‘You knew a Colson Ferguson?’

‘I had a huge crush on him back then and I dated him for a while. Things fizzled out as they do when you’re young. I ended up having to cover for him at work because he kept not turning up.’ She brushed a hair from her cheek and shook her head. ‘Why would Colson take Lissy, or anyone else? He was a bit of an idiot, but he wouldn’t do anything like that. I wouldn’t trust him with money because I could have sworn he took thirty quid out of my purse, but he’s not dangerous.’

‘We’re actually trying to track down someone else. I’m going to show you a picture of the man we’re looking for.’ Gina hoped John Doe would turn out to be City Boy, the boxer or the man that Colson pushed.

Gina took the drawing of John Doe from her bag and passed it to Jacob before picking her pen back up.

Marie gasped. ‘I didn’t like him. He was really rude and I dumped him. I went out with him once before Colson and he was creepy. He brought me this hideous sweater as a gift and insisted I wear it over my crop top. We ended on an argument where he called me a slag because I refused, and then he walked out on me at the restaurant. He worked at Crastone Foods for about a week. At first I thought he was just a bit different. He was quiet, liked chess and seemed to be a real introvert – definitely not my usual type. Colson saw him pestering me once and he pushed him out of my way.’

Gina felt her heart begin to ramp up. Someone finally recognised John Doe. She caught up with the notes.

‘What was his name?’ Jacob asked.

‘Albie.’

‘Albie.’

‘Do you have a surname for Albie?’ Gina asked.

‘No.’

‘When did you date him?’

‘It was just before Lissy came to stay.’

She opened her mouth and worry lines reached across her forehead. ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ She let out a few breaths. ‘I told some of my colleagues that someone had been following me after the late shift. I suspected him, but… he wasn’t following me, was he? He saw Lissy with me and… why ? When I drove her home, I thought I saw someone in a red cap in a car, but I thought I was being silly because I was thinking it could be anyone and everyone. I guessed that my mind was filling in gaps that weren’t there, but he was there. It had to be him, didn’t it?’ Realisation dawned on her. ‘It wasn’t about me, was it? He wanted Lissy and he followed me to get to her.’

Marie looked completely shell-shocked.

‘Have you seen the news?’ Gina asked.

‘No, I don’t watch anything like that with my four-year-old in the house. There are normally kids’ programmes on the telly.’

‘The man in this drawing was found dead in a car in Cleevesford this week.’

‘So where is Felicity?’

‘We don’t know,’ Jacob continued.

Gina passed Jacob the drawing of the girl in the photos. He held it up for Marie to see. ‘Do you recognise this girl?

‘It’s hard to see because her hair covers her face.’ She tilted her head. ‘Her face shape, lips and chin, even her cute slight upturned nose.’ A tear began to meander down one of her cheeks and her dampening eyes glistened. ‘It looks like Lissy with a scar. That looks like a burn or something.’ She paused. ‘You’re here because he’s dead and he was keeping Lissy somewhere. She’s going to die without him, isn’t she? Please save her, don’t let her die.’

Jacob interjected as Marie got more upset. ‘We believe there is someone else involved, an accomplice.’

‘Who tried to kidnap again?’ Marie was good at reading between the lines.

He nodded.

‘He had no friends,’ Marie started. ‘I know he got on with an old chap at the pub who he used to play chess with, but no one his own age.’

‘Do you know anyone called Luna?’

‘Albie had a Rottweiler called Luna and he wore that same cap.’

‘Can you tell us anything else about him?’

‘He was into prepping.’

‘Prepping?’ Gina thought she knew what Marie was getting at.

‘You know, preparing for the end of the world.’

Gina’s phone beeped. Relief flooded her as she saw that O’Connor had texted her work phone.

Garth has come back with some information from Gary’s computer. You need to see this.