Page 93 of No Safe Place
They had pictures of Lily and Callum – a smiling Lily at a wedding, in a formal dress, next to Callum’s book headshot, moody in black and white.
On the same board, Wilson had started a neat list of periphery players, with accompanying photographs printedmuch smaller: Penny Moore; Sam’s family members; David’s receptionist; an ex-boyfriend of Sam’s that Riley uncovered from Instagram; Lily Stewart’s boyfriend, Scott, a junior doctor. James from Hinge was another recent addition.
Field frowned and made a mental note to ask Young and Prof if they’d ever heard of Lily’s boyfriend, since they all worked at the same hospital. It was unlikely that Scott, in Cardiology, had crossed paths with David Moore, but it was yet another coincidence.
Overall, it was a relatively small pool of suspects and players, which made Field more uneasy. She was missing something, some vital piece of information.
Riley knocked on her door, stuck his head round it. ‘Boss?’
She nodded at the chair opposite her desk, and he took a seat, laptop on his knees. His lip looked better today.
‘I’ve just sent you an email,’ he said. ‘I’ve found Paige Jacobs. Well, her family.’
He carried on talking as she navigated to her inbox. Riley was struggling to look at her with the sun in his eyes, from the window behind her.
‘There was no address on the RTC report, but I cross-referenced the time and date with local news stories and got in touch with a few of the people who left comments on theNews Shopper’s Facebook post. Two of them got back to me this morning.’
‘Good,’ Field said, scanning the clippings he’d sent over.
‘Mr and Mrs Jacobs, her parents, are selling up. They’ve already moved to Hastings, into a little bungalow. It’s just Paige’s sister in the house now. I spoke to her, too. She’s in all day today, and she’s happy to speak to you.’
Field scanned the email again. ‘Ruby Jacobs?’
‘Twenty-nine-year-old pharmacy technician. Still lives at home, no priors or anything.’
He broke off as Field got out of her chair to wrestle with the blinds. His pained squinting was getting on her nerves.
‘What did you make of the report?’ The cord finally gave way and the blind shot down. ‘Anything they might have missed?’
He looked down at his laptop and shrugged. ‘I can’t see anything obvious. She went off the road in Thamesmead – you know the dual carriageway? There are some big dips in the road near the industrial estate that flood all the time.’
‘Oh, that’s where it happened?’ Field was surprised it was so close to home. For some reason, she’d imagined Paige far away somewhere unfamiliar, on a winding country road.
She glanced at the Jacobs’ address again. At a guess, Paige was maybe ten minutes from home.
‘The car aquaplaned. The RTC report mentioned a mechanical fault, which Wilson and I couldn’t make head nor tail of. I spoke to a mechanic on the phone last night.’ Riley sucked in a breath. ‘It was a faulty drive shaft. That was all. No suggestion the brakes had been meddled with or there was any foul play. Apparently, she must have been going too fast, skidded on the water – then the fault meant she couldn’t regain control in time.’
‘Cause of death?’ Field asked.
‘Cranio-cerebral injury,’ he replied, automatically. ‘Died six hours after she was admitted.’
Her poor parents.
Field sat up in her chair. ‘How old was she? Nineteen?’
Riley nodded.
‘Did she have drugs or alcohol in her system?’ Field asked.
‘Nope.’
‘And no one else was in the car with her, right?’
Riley closed his laptop. ‘No. She wasn’t found for over an hour. It was dark and the car had flipped over, down a verge.’He hesitated. ‘There was a suggestion that it could have been suicide, because of her past mental health issues. But the parents were adamant that was all behind her.’
Field swallowed. ‘Right. I need to get ready for the case call. I’m just going to make a quick coffee.’
‘Do you want me on that call, boss?’ His voice was slightly higher than usual.
