Page 65 of Then She Vanished

‘A woman has been kidnapped. Her name is Ruth Pritchard and we’ve opened a huge can of worms over at her ex-husband’s house. I’ve just sent the details to the incident room, along with photos. It’s all hot off the press, so I haven’t managed to update the system. Jacob is here with me. Can you call Wyre and ask her to come in too, and liaise with Garth? I need a tech whizz on the case.’

‘Yes, leave it with me. I’ll have a quick wash and I’m all yours. See you soon.’ He ended the call.

Jacob moved in closer to the other screen. A message popped up in the corner of his screen. ‘Guv, did you see that?’

‘See what?’

‘It only flashed up for a moment. I don’t want to click on the envelope. We need Garth.’

Gina agreed. Clicking anything could erase data and they couldn’t afford to lose this information. They needed to dig deeper into Gary Pritchard and his online life. Only Garth, from digital forensics, along with his team, could tackle this.

‘Did you see what the message said?’ Gina asked.

‘It was from a group called Chess Club, from someone called the Bishop. All it said was “Your move.”’

FORTY-TWO

Gina yawned as she poured a strong black coffee. The briefing had brought everyone up to date. Kapoor walked in, her eyes puffy and dark underneath. She followed suit and poured herself a coffee, too. ‘How did you get on?’ Gina asked.

‘I’m just getting some caffeine down my neck and I’ll be back on it. I must be close to finding Elissa’s file. It was such a long time ago and it wasn’t put in the correct place, as per the digital reference. I don’t know who did the filing back then but…’ She shrugged. ‘Maybe they were as tired as me when they put that file away. It happens. I only wished it hadn’t happened to the file we need.’

‘We all really appreciate your patience, Jhanvi. Did you manage to get a bit of sleep?’

She huffed out a laugh and sipped her coffee. ‘I slept in an empty cell. It’s amazing how comfortable a mattress as thick as a slice of bread is when you’re seeing double because you’re so tired.’

Gina laughed. ‘We’ve all sampled those when needs must.’

‘The drunken guy in the next cell was barfing all night. Oh, the joy. Right, I’m back on it, guv. I’ll shout if I find the file, and I’ll send you all the details I have on businesses that havehorses. A fair few have been checked out and eliminated from our enquiries, but it’s still a work in progress. Also, I know you wanted to know more about the couple who owned The Singing Kettle café back then – I’ll ask O’Connor where we are with that.’

Nodding, Gina checked her watch and grabbed her coffee. As she walked down the corridor, she almost bumped into Wyre. ‘Guv, Tristan Moore is here for his interview.’

‘Great, can you tell Jacob, and take Mr Moore to interview room one?’

‘Jacob has fallen asleep in the incident room. Shall I come with you instead, or shall I wake him?’

Gina blew out a breath. He had been with her during all the interviews so far. In an ideal world it would be him, but she also needed him to get some rest. ‘Have you caught up with everything about the case so far?’

‘Yes. I read your updates on all that was said between you and the Moores last night, and I’ve gone through everything you sent over from Mr Pritchard’s house.’

Nodding, Gina smiled. ‘In that case, yes, please, and thank you. Did Keeley bring him in?’

‘She did. They’re both in the family room at the moment. I’ll go and get everything set up while you finish your coffee, and I’ll meet you there in five.’

Gina headed to the incident room and saw Jacob slumped in the corner, his head leaning against the back wall and a thin trail of dribble slipping down his chin. He was dead to the world around him. She saw O’Connor leave with a pile of paperwork, obviously giving their colleague some space to nap.

Pulling a bobble from her suit jacket pocket, Gina grabbed her hair and placed it in a ponytail at the back, needing to disguise what a mess she was in, then she entered interview room one.

Wyre sat in the corner next to the recorder. Mr Moore hunched over the other side of the desk, wearing a waxed coat and a roll-neck jumper. The light from above reflected off his shiny bald head, and the fact that his bouncing knees kept hitting the underside of the table told Gina he was nervous. ‘Mr Moore, I’m DI Harte. Thank you for coming in this morning.’

He took a few sharp breaths as Wyre introduced them for the tape.

‘First, can you tell me how you know Colson Ferguson?’

As soon as Gina had mentioned Keeley Moore to Colson during his interview, he’d refused to say another word. Nothing untoward had been found in Colson’s van, which meant he’d be released soon.

‘We met in a pub.’ He clasped his hands together on the table.

‘Which pub?’

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