Page 22 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘I’m DI Harte, this is DS Driscoll. Can we get you a drink?’ Gina could see that they had been through so much, she thought offering them a drink was the least she could do.

‘We’re fine, thank you.’ They sat on the two chairs opposite.

Thankfully, soft music played, and the bar was otherwise empty. ‘Are you okay talking here or would you like to come to the station, or maybe we could go to your room? I could even ask reception if they have a meeting room.’

Mrs Moorcroft shook her head. ‘I just want to stay here. We’ve come from the station not long ago. I don’t think I can bear to sit in another clinical room while I talk about my girl—’ She burst into tears. Mr Moorcroft pulled out a bunch of balled up tissues and passed them to his wife.

‘May I just say how sorry we are. This must have come as a terrible shock to yourselves and your granddaughter.’ Gina hated this part of the job. Her own stomach knotted as she thought of her daughter Hannah. They weren’t close but if anything like that happened to her, Gina would feel like her world had ended.

‘We haven’t told the little one yet. She thinks she’s going on holiday to Sheffield. I don’t know how we’re going to tell her.’ Mrs Moorcroft pulled her dusky-pink shawl over her shoulders and rubbed at what looked like a wine stain on her jeans.

‘Sienna was our only child.’ Mr Moorcroft placed a loving arm around his wife.

Gina could tell that he was forcing his emotion aside. The trembling of his lip and the shake of his hand told her how fragile he was. ‘Can you tell me a little about Sienna?’

‘She was wonderful and so lovely as a child.’ Mrs Moorcroft sobbed and wiped her eyes. ‘When we moved up to Sheffield to care for my mother-in-law, we really hoped she’d move too but she’d made a life here. She was saving for a house, for her and Dora, but I think she liked living with Patsy. Patsy helped her with the little one and I liked the thought of her being in the house with someone else. I thought she was safe, but then she met Gerard.’

‘Can you tell me a little more about him?’ Gina asked. She watched Jacob making notes, his fingers shaking a little. She knew he’d need to go home after this interview. He hadn’t looked well all day.

‘Horrible piece of work. But I didn’t know that until after she moved out. Out of the blue, Sienna told me that she’d moved in with him. She hardly knew the bloke. Anyway, they split up after two weeks and she moved back in with Patsy.’

‘What did Sienna tell you about Gerard?’

Mrs Moorcroft bit her bottom lip as she rolled up a damp tissue. ‘Not much. After it had all happened, Patsy told me how jealous he was, how he accused her of being with someone else, how he wouldn’t let her out of the house, and he’d started telling her what she was allowed to wear now that she lived with him. All the red flags were there, and Sienna saw it immediately. She said it happened fast and it was intense. He was even trying to get her to part with her savings. Sienna literally grabbed what she could and ran back to Patsy’s. I can’t believe she hid something like that from us. We could have helped. But we know it wasn’t him, don’t we. It had to be Robbie. He needs to pay, and he will never see Dora, ever.’

Gina wanted to get onto the subject of Sienna’s daughter. ‘You knew about Robbie and Sienna?’

Mrs Moorcroft nodded. ‘Sienna said she’d never tell anyone else, that she and Robbie were handling things in their own way and that they had an arrangement. He paid her maintenance, not nearly enough in my opinion. It didn’t even cover half of her preschool costs. I didn’t agree with her decision, but I didn’t want to fall out with her either. The last thing I wanted was to push her away, so we kept her secret too.’

‘Can you tell us about Sienna and Robbie’s relationship?’

‘What relationship? It was one drunken night. Sienna had gone over to see Lauren while tipsy. Robbie had just got back from a session at the pub and apparently it just happened. Anyway, long story short, she kept the baby and neither of them wanted Lauren to find out, ever.’

Gina sighed, wondering how they thought they’d keep such a big secret. ‘Did Sienna mention Robbie recently?’

‘We spoke on the phone about twice a week. I got the feeling she was seeing someone because she seemed happy. I asked her about it, but she said she was just doing well and had started to look at houses. She sounded hopeful…’ Mrs Moorcroft began to cry. ‘How could he do this to us?’

Mr Moorcroft couldn’t hold back his own tears any longer. ‘You must get Robbie. God help me if I see that murdering bastard first.’

‘Sorry to have to ask you this but who did Dora think was her father?’ Gina wondered what Sienna had told her daughter. She thought of the words on the back of the photo. She deserves to know. They suggested that Sienna was no longer happy with their arrangement, that she didn’t want to keep their well-guarded secret any longer. This would have blown his relationship with Lauren apart and ruined her friendship with Lauren.

‘Sienna kept this silly pretence up, that Dora’s father was a soldier who died while fighting in Afghanistan. I went with it because I had no choice. We argued about her decision but that didn’t seem to make a difference.’

‘Did she mention ever telling Dora the truth?’

‘Not to me but I kept on at her to.’ Mrs Moorcroft sniffed. ‘We spoke about it just before Christmas and I pleaded with her to come clean so that Dora could know who her father was. That’s why he killed her. He wanted to save himself. He got angry that my daughter was going to tell Lauren, so he killed her and now he’s run away. There’s something else, something that gives me the shivers.’

‘What is it?’

‘Sienna came up to visit for two days just before Christmas and we went out, as a family. We came back, drank a lot and we were having so much fun. The conversation turned serious, and she drunkenly joked that if she ever told anyone that Robbie was Dora’s father, he’d kill her. Then she changed the subject. I asked her about what she’d just said, and she denied saying it which was really odd. But there it is. I know what I heard. That man said he was going to kill her. I know my daughter and she feared him.’ She brought her hands up to her face and then banged them on the table. ‘Why haven’t you found him?’ She banged the table again and again.

The man behind the bar glanced over and Mr Moorcroft grabbed his wife’s flailing hands and drew her into his chest. ‘Come on, love.’

Gina grabbed a card from her pocket and passed it to him. She needed to leave the couple alone for now. ‘If you think of anything else that might help us, please call me, anytime. Again, we are so sorry for your loss.’

‘She needs to lie down. Sorry, can we talk again another time.’ Mr Moorcroft helped his crying wife up. ‘Find Robbie. You don’t need anything else from us. You have your answers.’ He helped his wife towards the lift.

Gina took a deep breath and swallowed. That had been harder than she thought. It was time to go back to the station, catch up with the day’s findings and get some rest, ready to go to Sienna’s workplace first thing. She wanted to slam her own fists on the table. Why hadn’t they found Robbie? It was infuriating.

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