Her Last Mistake - Detective Gina Harte Series 06 (2020) Page 9

  Francesca Carter, the most beautiful one in the room last night. A pang of guilt left his thoughts as fast as it came.

  She flicked her long brown hair over her shoulder. He loved the look of tragedy sweeping across her face. There was something about a sad, grieving woman that turned him on, especially a young one. In his mind, he is lying on top of her getting turned on as she screams for more. Then he does it. He brings her hair around her neck, using it like a rope to cut off her air supply, tighter and tighter until she’s blue. Her red lips will throb for him and he knows what he gives her will be the gift of pure pleasure.

  Would he unravel the rope of hair and allow her to gasp in huge gulps of air? Maybe, maybe not. Until last night, he’d have said yes, but now it was all about him.

  He walked up her drive wondering whether he should offer to help as she struggled with her luggage.

  ‘Bastard bag,’ she said as the stringy handle twisted around her wrist one too many times, threatening to cut the blood flow to her arm.

  All I see is the indent on your flesh from the stringy handle and I want you, Francesca.

  She untangled the string and threw the bag to the block paving before kicking it over and over again, then breaking down. Slamming the boot closed, she leaned over and sobbed onto the cold black metal.

  ‘Frannie, I’m really sorry.’ He hurried over and held her.

  ‘Where did you come from?’ She nudged him away.

  He hadn’t washed properly this morning, let alone taken the time to shower. Time had been against him. Maybe that’s why she wanted him to get off her. She hadn’t been that cold at the wedding reception. She’d been drunk and her arms had snaked around every man there at some point over the course of the evening, including him.

  ‘Come here.’ He pulled her closer and stroked her hair. Her rigid body crumpled in his embrace and he felt a slight shiver running through her. He took a few strands of her hair and wrapped them lightly around her neck, disguising his movement as comfort. Within seconds, she’d pushed him away again. Francesca is going to be harder work than he’d anticipated.

  A stir filled his pants. Francesca couldn’t be allowed to feel that, it seemed inappropriate. He didn’t need her telling anyone about that. It could ruin him and blow his plans right out of the water. ‘Where’s Charlie?’

  ‘He’ll be home soon. He’s just popped to get some shopping.’

  Damn. He didn’t have long to enjoy her company even though she looked reluctant to let him in.

  Her hair.

  Her neck.

  The smell of lightly fragranced soap as she passed, subtle lemon.

  Her soft cheeks and the feel of her bosoms crushing against his chest for that couple of seconds had taken his breath away. Thrum, thrum, thrum. Blood flushed around his body and his heartbeat quickened a little with excitement. The beats went from fast to deep, filling his body with a desperate need for her.

  ‘Can we talk?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Francesca looked around as if someone might be watching. ‘I’m not in the mood for talking. I really just want to be alone.’

  Look hurt, look hurt, look hurt! Forcing the corners of his mouth to downturn, he cocked his head to the side. ‘Please. It’ll only take a minute.’ He reached out and cupped one of her hands with both of his.

  Her shoulders dropped as she pulled away. ‘I was just going to make a drink. Do you want one?’

  Of course he did. He needed a coffee to calm himself down. Brandy would be better. Would a drink be enough? Was she alone in there? He glanced up at the front of the house, lined with tall conifers either side. No one had seen him come and he had parked a fair way back. ‘Yes, please. Thanks, Frannie.’ It’s so easy when someone trusts you completely. I need to work on Frannie a little more. She isn’t as desperate as Holly was. People like Holly always give trust away with ease and wonder why everything in their life has gone wrong. Not him, he worked hard on being trusted but he trusted no one.

  ‘You coming?’ He could see the wary expression she was wearing but that didn’t bother him one bit. He’d won her around.

  He smiled. ‘Let me get those bags for you.’ Ever the gentleman.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As Gina pulled up past the bus stop on Cleevesford High Street, she glanced up at the flats and spotted Marianne Long waiting in the communal corridor on the top floor. A soft breeze fluttered through the slightly open window and a grey cloud had formed overhead. O’Connor pulled up beside her. Jacob gave a little wave in his direction, out of the window. O’Connor stepped out of his car and got into the back of Gina’s.

  Gina turned a little in the confined space so that she could address Jacob and O’Connor. ‘Right, we’re looking for any sign of someone else in Holly’s life. Remember, Ms Long has lost her daughter and I don’t want to make this any more painful for her than it has to be. We are looking for clues as to who she may have been seeing. I spoke to one of the bridesmaids and she said that Holly was acting a little strangely, that when she visited Holly wouldn’t open the door to her. This same friend said that she looked through the letterbox and saw the back of a man reflected in the hall mirror. He was wearing a blue shirt, that’s all she saw. We have not as yet managed to locate Holly’s phone or her pink tablet. For someone who is described as glued to it, by her mother, this is strange. There is a chance she left it at home. I want to find it.’

  ‘Got it, guv,’ Jacob replied.

  ‘And thanks for getting here so quickly, O’Connor. When Ms Long called, I didn’t want to put her off until later. We need to find out all we can, and fast. She doesn’t yet know that her daughter was pregnant and this is something I will need to tell her. Ready?’

  They nodded. All getting out of the car, they crossed the road. Ms Long spotted them coming and hurried down, letting them in through the locked front door. Gina’s mouth watered as she inhaled the smell of frying fish in the shop underneath the flats. The High Street was built in the thirties and the building in which Holly had lived had once been a bank. Developers had used a side access door, converted the middle and top floors, leaving the bottom floor as the chip shop, which had been there for as long as Gina could remember.

  ‘I couldn’t go in,’ Marianne said as she led them up the stairs, keys jangling between her jittery fingers.

  Gina was grateful that she hadn’t. She wanted to see exactly how Holly was living without anyone moving things. ‘No neighbour,’ Gina said, noticing that it was a tiny block with only one apartment on the top floor.

  Marianne poked the key towards the hole and missed, scratching the wood on the door.

  ‘Shall I?’

  Marianne nodded and handed the keys to Gina.

  ‘Ms Long, I’d like to search around your daughter’s apartment in the hope that we find something that helps the investigation. I just need your consent to do that.’

  ‘I want this person caught. Do whatever you need to.’

  Snapping on a blue glove, Gina entered first, turning the hall light on. All the interior doors were closed. The scent of an air freshener tickled Gina’s nose, a sneeze definitely on the horizon. She walked through, followed closely by Marianne, then Jacob and O’Connor. She opened the door to the lounge where the evening light shone through the window, casting shadows from the trees on the opposite side of the road. It looked as if spooky fingers were reaching out into the apartment. Gina shivered. A slight chill in the air gave the apartment a vacant feeling, but something else was adding to this sense of unease. Everything looked so clean and perfect, pretty much like a show home. The furniture looked designer in every way. Holly was basically an accounts clerk. This brand-new-looking apartment seemed a little out of reach for someone on her wage. Maybe Gina had it wrong but something wasn’t adding up.

  Every surface shone and not a fleck of dust or lint spoiled anything. Gina hurried through to the kitchen. Shiny from every angle. The smell of disinfectant and bleach was overwhelming.

 
‘Holly hated mess and dirt. She’d always clean things up straight away. Knowing her, she would have made sure everything was lovely to come back to after her night away.’ Marianne walked over to one of the cupboards and opened it. Every tin, plate and cup had its place. She picked up the only thing that cluttered the worktop, an opened bottle of red wine. She opened the top and winced. ‘I think this has had it.’

  Gina felt a sharp pain run through her head, the need to sleep almost overwhelming her. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were in a murder victim’s apartment, she’d love nothing more than to curl up on the sofa in the other room and have a nap. Another sneeze was building up. Gina’s nose twitched before the sneeze escaped. ‘Excuse me,’ she said as she continued. As she blew her nose, she opened the bin – empty.

  Gina glanced back at the wine. Would Holly have been drinking if she knew she was pregnant? They knew nothing about how Holly felt about her situation. Could the wine belong to a visitor? Possibly the man with the blue shirt? ‘Can you call Holly’s number? Maybe we’ll be able to locate her phone.’

  Marianne ran her fingers over a Little Miss Sunshine apron that was pinned to the back of the kitchen door. ‘I bought this for her birthday last year.’

  Jacob went to speak and Gina pressed her finger against her lips, hushing him.

  Marianne left the kitchen and hurried to the one bedroom and sat on her daughter’s bed, grabbing her pillow and inhaling it. ‘She’s never coming back.’

  The bedroom was just like the other rooms, perfectly clean and tidy in every way, not a thing out of place.

  ‘May I?’

  ‘Yes,’ Marianne replied.

  Gina carefully opened the wardrobe a little, half hoping to find a blue shirt, or any man’s shirt, but there was nothing but women’s clothes – Gucci, Armani, labels galore. The bottom of the wardrobe was full of neat lines of women’s shoes, including a couple of pairs of Prada. She slid open the drawers, one by one, and once again, only Holly’s clothes filled them. The bathroom. If a man was staying, there would have to be some items of his.

  ‘Let it all out, Ms Long,’ Jacob said as he sat with the distraught woman.

  Gina crept along the landing and opened the last door, the one she hoped would yield something helpful. Like the rest of the apartment, every surface gleamed. She opened the storage unit and the medicine cabinet. Prescription antidepressants, in Holly’s name. That confirmed the depressive episodes that Holly’s friend spoke of. The drawer under the sink – only Holly’s things once again. There was no sign of another person ever being here and, worst of all, no sign of her phone or tablet.

  The sobbing had stopped and Gina went back into the bedroom. ‘Ms Long, we really need to find Holly’s phone. Could you please try to call her? Maybe it’s in the flat somewhere.’

  ‘I don’t have her mobile number. I call her on the home phone.’ Marianne looked a little confused as she paused. ‘She was meant to give it to me when she had a new phone but she never did. Time just passed and I didn’t ask again. She was always on Facebook. We messaged and FaceTimed mostly. That seemed enough.’

  ‘How long had she had her new phone for?’

  ‘Three months, four maybe. She said she had a new contract. I can’t be sure. As I say, she used her tablet mostly but only on Wi-Fi. I’m going to miss her FaceTiming me.’

  The mystery of the missing phone and tablet was the thing that was worrying Gina the most, along with how clean her flat seemed.

  Jacob and O’Connor joined Gina on the landing outside the apartment, giving Marianne a few moments to herself. ‘O’Connor, will you go to the apartment below and ask if they’ve heard anyone in the flat above today or indeed any other day? Anyone who wasn’t Holly. Also ask at the chip shop if they have any CCTV pointing in this direction. If anyone entered this block today, I want to know. I need to know that someone didn’t come in and sanitise the place, just to satisfy my own curiosity. Oh, one last thing. Find out if the communal bins have been emptied.’

  ‘I’ll go now.’ O’Connor began stomping down the stairs, his large feet almost seeming too big for each step.

  Marianne left the apartment carrying a stuffed rabbit. ‘This was her childhood friend, Flopsy Dopsy.’ She smiled fondly as she held the rabbit closely.

  ‘Ms Long. There’s something else we need to tell you and I don’t know whether you want to go back inside to sit down.’

  ‘You know something? Have you arrested someone?’

  Gina shook her head and gulped. ‘Shall we go inside?’

  ‘I don’t want to go inside. Whatever you need to tell me, you can tell me here. I don’t want to go in and be reminded that I’ll never see Holly again. I can’t.’ She took a few deep breaths and steadied herself on the window ledge.

  ‘Okay, I’m sorry. I need you to know that Holly was pregnant. We have just found out.’

  The woman shrieked. ‘It gets worse. How could anyone do this to her? How could they? Who’s the father?’

  ‘That’s what we need to find out. None of her friends knew that she was seeing anyone. Can you think back? Did she mention anyone to you?’

  ‘No! If she had, I’d tell you.’ The woman broke down and gripped the rabbit. ‘I need to get out of here. I’m suffocating.’ She gasped as redness spread across her neck.

  ‘Breath in and out. Count with me. One, two, three.’ Gina continued breathing with Marianne until she regained control. ‘Come on. Let’s lock up. May we keep this key for now? We’d like to come back for a further look.’

  Marianne nodded. ‘I will need it back though. Someone is going to have to sort all her things out.’

  ‘Of course.’ Gina held her arm out for Marianne to hold onto. She took it and shakily went back down the stairs. ‘Would you like a lift home?’

  ‘No, I’ll be okay. I have my car.’

  ‘Do you have anyone at home who will stay with you?’

  ‘Beryl, my neighbour.’

  After helping Marianne into her car, Gina watched her drive away, holding her own tears back in. Her white knuckles gripped the key as she thought about her own daughter. In her mind she could see Hannah lying in Holly’s place in that deathbed at Cleevesford Manor. She shook that thought away and grabbed her phone. Maybe she should call Hannah or pop to the bed and breakfast. Hannah wouldn’t want to see her but Gina had to see Hannah. She had to know what was happening in Hannah’s life, the bit Hannah was holding back on. Secrets led to parents like Marianne having no clue as to what was going on in their grown-up children’s lives. Not Gina. She had to know. She had to at least try. She went to press Hannah’s number on the phone and stopped. She couldn’t. As she placed her phone back into her pocket, it vibrated.

  I need to speak to you later. Yours or mine?

  It was Briggs, her DCI and her past lover. She had put him off for far too long. Her stomach flipped and she almost wanted to heave as she sent her reply.

  Mine. About 8.30.

  O’Connor almost made her jump as he approached her car with Jacob. ‘Nothing from the neighbour below and the chip shop’s CCTV isn’t working.’ He scratched his bald head and began trying to decipher his notes. ‘The neighbour below said she’d been out all day but she didn’t hear anything early this morning. She did, however, say that she’d heard Holly arguing with someone a few weeks ago but she couldn’t hear anything specific or remember when. She just heard raised voices. I took a statement but it really doesn’t help. She doesn’t remember ever seeing anyone coming or going. She didn’t have much to do with Holly and she works long unsociable hours as a nurse. She can’t remember when this happened and she can’t even remember the time of day. I’ll update the system as soon as I get back to the station.’ That at least confirmed that someone else was visiting Holly’s apartment.

  ‘And the bins?’

  ‘Emptied on Friday.’

  Gina glanced at her watch. The Angel Arms would have to wait, for now.

  ‘Call forensics. I want the c
ontents sifted through, just in case anything was thrown away from her apartment after the bin lorry had been.’ O’Connor placed his phone to his ear and walked away. If someone else had been to the apartment and left something in the bin since the last collection, she wanted it found. ‘I want to know who Holly had been arguing with.’

  Chapter Nineteen

  Gina snatched the paper file off her desk and hurried to the incident room. Several officers were processing all the statements they had taken. PCs Kapoor and Smith were just finishing up for the evening and closing down their computers. As ever, Gina was grateful that they were once again on her team.

  ‘You still here?’ Gina said to Jacob as he finished off a chocolate bar.

  ‘Yes. Jennifer is working late on everything taken from the scene at Cleevesford Manor. Apparently there’s absolutely loads so they’re all working late. I’m probably going to head home in about half an hour. I just wanted to update the system with everything from today. Rick Elder has been added so I’m nearly done. We’ve tried to contact his sister in Australia to confirm his alibi but the phone was off. It’s first thing in the morning there now. Maybe it’s just a little too early. If I don’t get any joy soon, I’ll contact police over there to see if anyone can help us.’

  Gina smiled as she zipped up her laptop bag. ‘Great work. He’s still a person of interest at this point. So far, we can’t confirm his alibi. Even then, it’s not watertight. We may need to look into getting his message and video call data from Facebook if he won’t offer it up, but we don’t have enough evidence to go there yet. Let’s see what the investigations bring but keep him in the forefront of everything for now. O’Connor?’

  He stopped mid walk, cup of coffee in hand. ‘Guv.’

  ‘Please update the board with Rick Elder’s details. The system has been updated. You’ll find everything you need there.’