Page 20 of Then She Vanished

‘I hate you, Gary. Mind your own bloody business and don’t come to my door again.’ She grabbed the chess book and pushed it into his chest.

Gary turned and staggered off with the book under his arm. All she could see was the back of the denim jacket she had alwayshated, the one with the picture of two horses that he thought made him look like a cowboy. Ridiculous. They lived in modern-day Warwickshire, not the Wild West. She slammed the door.

‘That bastard!’ Eric went to open it again, but Ruth held it closed.

‘Don’t, he’s not worth it. We knew this would happen when he opened his post.’

‘You need to move out of this house. I can’t keep coming here with him living so close. Every time I pull up, he glares at me from that grimy bay window and now he’s slashed my tyre.’

She nodded and smiled. ‘You’re right. I will put the house on the market tomorrow and Gary will never harass us again. Please don’t let him spoil this moment.’ She went to kiss Eric.

He responded, but he seemed a little sad. Ruth knew that he wanted to storm out there and have a go at Gary for slashing his tyre, but she was grateful that he didn’t. She was already the centre of all the gossip in the cul-de-sac.

‘Good, because if this carries on, I won’t be responsible for my actions. I’ve never hurt anyone in my life. I’m a peaceful person, but he… he’s pushing me to my limits, and if he ever hurts you…’ He sighed. ‘We need to call the police.’

She scratched her nose and sighed. ‘We can’t prove he damaged your tyre. They won’t do anything.’

The police were the best option, she knew that deep down, but Gary had been through hell just like she had, and despite his behaviour, she couldn’t bring herself to report him. He needed time to be able to move on from his feelings for her. When two people had such a tragic shared history, time was a gift, one she was willing to give Gary.

‘Fine, but I’m getting you a camera tomorrow and putting it up. You shouldn’t have to take this. I mean, his behaviour isn’t on and it’s not the first time he’s done something like this. Theseare the kinds of things that happen in inner cities, not in quaint little villages. You can’t keep letting Gary get away with things.’

She shivered. She couldn’t tell Eric the whole truth, that Gary was watching her. She’d seen the outline of someone in her garden last night. It had to have been Gary.

‘Okay. Tomorrow we camera the place up, and if we catch him in action we go to the police. Agreed?’

She didn’t have the heart to tell Eric that she still wouldn’t go to the police. Gary would come around. Their divorce was just raw and he was suffering.

‘Agreed.’

THIRTEEN

Gina pulled up in the Angel Arms’s car park and Jacob parked next to her. As she stepped out, she grabbed her bag and walked towards the main entrance with Jacob. She could see a group of men sitting in the bay window behind the leaded windows of the pub. On entering, she watched them placing dominoes down in turn.

‘Have you both come to join us? It’s domino evening.’ Elouise stepped from behind the bar, her hair in a French plait, finished off with high-heeled shoes and a pencil skirt.

Gina shook her head and smiled. ‘No, sorry.’ Despite Elouise being in her fifties now, she always looked amazing. Gina felt like a complete mess.

‘Does work bring you here?’

‘Yes. Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?’

‘No, but I have to stay in the bar. I’m on my own tonight. Take a seat.’ She gestured at the stools. ‘Drinks?’

Gina ordered a couple of coffees for her and Jacob. It had been a long day.

‘And some crisps, guv.’

She felt her stomach grumbling, too, as she tapped her card to pay. After this call, she’d be able to go home to grab a fewhours’ sleep before heading back to the station for their seven a.m. briefing.

Before sleep, she was going to delve into the world of Men-R-Takin-It-Back to see if Stephen – or more so, his online alias, VenMan – had been up to anything on there. She feared that she was barely going to get any sleep at all.

After sipping the filter coffee, she grimaced at its harshness. Jacob opened his crisps and began to crunch on them. She scrunched her nose up at the scent of cheese and onion.

‘So, what d’you want to know?’ Elouise poured herself a small glass of wine.

Gina pulled her work phone out. ‘I know you haven’t been running the Angel for many years, but I do know that, fifteen years ago, your father was the licensee, before he sold it.’ Gina remembered the creep-of-a-landlord after it left Elouise’s family, and she was glad he was gone.

‘You are going back a bit. I used to manage it when he went on holiday. I had my nail bar back then.’

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