Page 11 of Then She Vanished

Gina glanced at Jacob. ‘Can you ask the witness to come in and make a formal statement? We need some officers down at the bridge, too, to see if they can find the phone.’

‘Yes, but there’s more. The witness said he walked off muttering to himself, something on the lines of, “I’m sorry, someone will come for you. I’m a monster.”’

SEVEN

Gina and Jacob left their cars at the end of the road. She quickly finished eating a banana and placed the bagged skin in her handbag. Lunchtime had come and gone and Gina hoped that small offering to her stomach might just stop it rumbling. Parking was tight by Calvin Harris’s mid-terraced house.

‘They might be related,’ Jacob said, as if reading her mind. ‘Maybe John Doe is Calvin Harris’s son.’

Gina stepped from the pavement onto the mossy slabs that led to Mr Harris’s front door. The house had brand-new grey cladding all over the frontage and the front door stood proud from the façade, neatly decorated with a false leafy wreath. She knocked and several minutes later, a teen boy answered. A line of acne led from the crease of his nose to his forehead.

‘Hello, I’m DI Harte and this is DS Driscoll.’ They held their identification up. ‘Are your parents or guardians in?’

‘Er, my mum’s in the bath and my dad’s at work. I’ll call Mum. Come in.’ He stood away from the door and let them into the small but modern lounge. Gina stepped onto the shiny wooden floor as the young man called up the stairs. ‘Mum, the police are here to see you.’

‘Huh,’ the woman upstairs shouted, sounding as if she’d just woken up.

‘The police are here. I’ll make a drink.’ He came into the living room. ‘Do you want to sit?’

‘Thank you,’ Gina said as she and Jacob sat on the leather settee.

‘Can I get you a coffee or tea?’

Gina and Jacob both requested a coffee and the young man went into the kitchen, leaving them alone. Gina could hear footsteps above so she knew the woman wouldn’t be long.

She glanced around the room, taking in the wall of photos next to the television, wondering if she could spot a photo of their dead man, but she couldn’t. Calvin Harris may not even live in the same house any longer, but the occupants might know where he moved to.

The woman hurried down the stairs wearing a fluffy bathrobe, her hair gathered up in a pink towel. The boy came back in and placed two cups of coffee down on the glass table.

‘Thanks,’ Gina and Jacob murmured. ‘Can I take your name, please?’ Gina asked, as Jacob started heading up a page in his notepad.

‘Can you tell me what this is about first?’ She frowned and folded her arms.

‘We found a body this morning, and we need to ask if you know someone called Calvin Harris.’

This time she raised her brows. ‘I’m his daughter, but it can’t have been my dad you found; he’s been dead for nearly a decade.’

‘We know it wasn’t Mr Harris, but the man we found was using your father’s library card. We didn’t know he was dead, though; we were hoping to speak to him. Could I please take your name now?’

‘Josie Pickard.’

‘Do you know how someone could be in possession of your father’s library card after all these years?’

She sat on the armchair closest to the window and remained silent as she thought.

‘I remember Grandad mentioning being burgled years ago, Mum. Could it have been then?’ The boy kneeled on the floor, the other side of the coffee table.

Josie began fiddling with the tassels on a cushion. ‘Maybe.’

‘Could you tell me a little about the incident?’ Gina asked.

‘I know my dad called the police. I think it was… let me think.’ She began counting on her fingers silently. ‘Eighteen, maybe nineteen years ago. He was just a baby.’ She nodded towards her son. ‘I came over here straight away. I grew up in this house and it hurt to see that some pond scum had ransacked it. You should have records.’

Gina made a note to check out the incident. ‘Did they catch anyone?’

Josie shook her head. ‘No. My dad didn’t even know when it happened as he’d been on holiday. He saw the damage when he got back. The burglar came in through the back and took his old phone, a bit of money he kept in a drawer, his camera and the wallet he doesn’t use. My dad always had two wallets. The one he took everywhere, with his current account card and a bit of cash in it. The other one housed the credit cards he barely used and a load of loyalty cards. It is possible that his library card was in that wallet, too. He did cancel his credit cards, but there was no attempt to use them. So, do you think this dead man was the man who burgled my dad?’

‘We don’t know, but it is a possibility.’

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