Page 18 of Then She Vanished

When a murdering bitch takes one of our brothers, they take us all. This is war! When will you all stand up and take action??? This brother needs you.

‘Gina, are you okay?’

As Briggs placed his warm hand on her lower back, she popped her phone back into her pocket and smiled. If only they were back in Scotland, enjoying cosy walks and dinners where the real world didn’t matter. She hated hiding things from him but she had to deal with this herself. ‘Yes, it’s just this case. The thought of that girl out there somewhere. We don’t even know who she is or what he’s done to her.’

She paused and wondered if she should tell Briggs about the messages. She’d covered them up for so long. Then she dismissed that thought. She could handle Stephen by herself. Things were going to get tougher yet; she just needed to ride it out until Stephen got bored. She swallowed. That mock up, using her eyes, had crossed another line. He’d made his next move and she had nothing to come back at him with.

‘What’s the plan?’ Briggs’s question snapped her back to the present.

She wished she could tell him that the plan was to find Stephen and work out a way to shut him down before some psycho turned up at her doorstep, but that was her problem. ‘Go to the Angel and see what we can find out from some of the longstanding regulars,’ she said instead.

‘You haven’t seemed yourself lately, Gina. I feel like you’re shutting me out.’ He opened his office door and gestured for her to follow.

‘I’m fine, absolutely fine.’

‘Really? Shall I pop over to yours later, then, or maybe we could eat together?’ He turned away as Annie from corporate communications hurried past them. Gina looked down. ‘Didn’t think so. Have I done something? You haven’t been the same since the last case. I thought we were good. I mean, we were good in Scotland. What’s changed?’

She didn’t need this kind of pressure in her life. Once she’d sorted Stephen out, she’d tell him. ‘Look, I said I’m fine.’

She left him standing as she hurried back to the incident room. If even one word about the emails and the online harassment slipped out of her mouth, the whole story would slip out. So far, no one had mentioned Briggs, and the best thing she could do was keep him out of it. If it helped for him to believe she was trying to avoid him, then she would let him think that.

‘Guv.’ Jacob met her in the corridor.

‘What is it?’

‘Forensics found something on that bloodied sheet from John Doe’s car. Someone has written a note in charcoal on the corner – it’s a bit smudgy, but it’s clear enough. It says,“I’m scared he’ll die and if he dies, I’ll die. Is there anyone out there?”’

TWELVE

RUTH

The shimmering tea lights floated in the crystal bowl of water that Eric had placed in the centre of the table. Ruth stood speechless at the entrance of the dining room, instantly forgetting the weird woman standing outside the leisure centre earlier.

No one had ever gone to this much effort to make her happy. Eric came up behind her, his polo shirt covered with her stripy apron. ‘Hello, my love,’ he whispered. ‘I’ve made you a really special dinner. It’s beef bourguignon.’

‘Is it my birthday?’ she joked.

‘It’s better than that.’ He nudged alongside her to finish laying the table, then he stood to face her. His neatly cut grey hair and beard melted her heart. A thought went out to Gary, her ex. He was definitely still upset that she was with Eric, but that wasn’t set to change anytime soon. She had a right to be happy. The years were slipping away and she’d been apart from Gary for eleven months now. She was in her sixties and, for once, she was living life for herself.

She swallowed as she tried to put her past pain out of her mind, then she kissed Eric gently on the lips. ‘I’m sorry about the other night. I got nervous about jumping in too soon but I alsoknow I hurt you. You mean everything to me and I don’t want to lose you. You’ve really been my rock and I know I haven’t appreciated you as much as I should have but I’ve had so much on my mind.’ She paused. ‘I love you, Eric.’ She looked at him. He was her sunshine in the storm.Gosh, that sounded corny in her head. She was so glad she hadn’t said that out loud to him.

‘Good, because I love you.’ He turned towards the table and started to make a swan out of a serviette. It wasn’t working, but she admired his attempt and laughed as he dropped the scrunched-up tissue on the table.

Gary still hadn’t moved on and she knew he’d do anything to have her back, but their relationship had become one based on trauma and pain. It had festered for years and turned toxic. She felt guilty at wanting to jump for joy that her decree absolute had arrived in the post earlier that day.

Eric was the complete opposite to Gary: he was lovely and attentive to her needs, faithful – she had to add that to the list. Gary had regularly come back with another woman’s hair stuck to his clothing or smelling of perfume, and he always lied to her, saying it was nothing. It almost drove her crazy in the end.

She trusted Eric not to cheat on her.

He cooked and cleaned too. With Gary, she’d felt like the hired help without any pay.

‘Thank you,’ she said with a smile.Forget Gary, if only for tonight.

Eric pulled the dining chair out for her, taking her jacket as she passed. Once she’d sat, he nudged the chair in.

It had been a long day at the leisure centre. She’d stayed late to oversee a badminton match, but she was home now. Her mouth began to water as he brought the casserole dish through and placed it on a trivet. Moments later, he returned with a dish of buttered greens and creamy mash, which he served to her.

‘Right, I hope this is to your standard.’

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