Page 50 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘You know I’m like a neat freak?’

Gina nodded. Wyre never normally had anything out of place. She was smart, fit, great at her job, a real credit to the station.

‘Well, Sullivan told me that my boots were dirty, and I had to clean them. She said that you might run a slack department but while she was heading the case, she wouldn’t. I literally had a leaf stuck to my boots after being out and working like a dog all day. It’s not so much what she said, it was the smug look on her face as she said it.’

Gina bit her bottom lip and sighed. ‘It’s nothing personal against you. She doesn’t like me. That was a dig at the way I run things. She just chips away at people. Hopefully we’ll get this case sewn up and she’ll be out of our hair, along with her sidekick. I worked with her for two years and hated every moment of it. Soon she’ll just buzz off back to Hereford and just make her own staff miserable.’

Collier cleared his throat as he stood at the door.

Gina felt her face begin to redden and heat up. Had he heard everything she’d just said? She wondered if she even cared after the conversation they’d had earlier.

Wyre stood, recognising the awkwardness of the situation. ‘I best get back to it, guv.’ Her colleague left.

‘How long were you standing there?’

‘Long enough. What does it matter? It’s good to know where we all stand with each other. We’re ready to interview Hale. As before, you lead as you usually would and I’ll back you up.’

She took a long swig of the coffee that Wyre had made and stood, ready to start.

‘Your shirt has come untucked. If Sullivan sees that—’

‘I know, I know.’ She pushed her shirt into place and followed him along the corridor. ‘Did she say anything about Jacob?’

He stopped and turned. ‘You know I can’t say anything. If Sullivan wants you to know what’s happening on that side, she’ll tell you.’

‘I’m worried about him, that’s all. I care about my team.’

‘Okay, I’ll tell you this.’ He glanced up and down the corridor. ‘They were processing his bail but something came up and they’ve kept him in. In fact, it’s not looking brilliant for him. He’ll need one hell of a solicitor. That’s all I’m going to say.’

‘What does that mean?’

He ignored her and walked off towards the interview room. She hit the wall as hard as she could and held in the yell that was dying to escape. All she could think about was her colleague, stewing in a cell and hurtling towards a murder charge. She recalled how disturbed he looked following their visit to the scene of Sienna’s murder. All day he looked as sick as a dog, and she couldn’t shrug off the thought that he had come face to face with his crime.

Sullivan’s heels clacked along the corridor. She stopped and stared at Gina, a smirk forming on her lips. ‘Gina, Gina, Gina, look at you. A murderer right under your nose and you don’t even see it. You really should have quit all those years ago. You really don’t have what it takes to keep your cases out of your head. You never did and look at you now. It has me questioning whether you’re up to this.’

Gina took a deep breath and continued down the corridor. Sullivan breezed past, shoulder banging Gina as she hurried to the viewing room.

Thirty-Eight

Sullivan wanted Gina to bite, to get angry and be taken off the case. Holding her tense hands by her sides, she took a deep breath. If Sullivan caught wind that she’d upset Gina, it would make her day. She continued down the corridor and around the corner to reach the interview room where Collier was waiting outside for her. How she wished it wasn’t him and that it was Jacob who was with her on the case, and that he hadn’t just been refused bail. She opened the door and let Collier go in first so that he could sit next to the recording machine. Gina closed the door and tried to quell the nausea that was building in the pit of her stomach because Sullivan was about to judge her every move from the viewing room.

While Collier introduced them for the tape, Gina observed the suspect. His teeth were whiter than fresh snow and the colour of his ice-blond crew cut was faker than a display of Armani bags being sold out of the boot of a car. His tight jacket showed how ripped he was. He looked like he had the strength to move Robbie Shields’s body on his own. ‘Can you confirm your full name for the tape?’

‘Gerard Elliot Hale.’ He leaned back and folded his arms.

‘Date of birth.’

‘Twelfth of March, nineteen ninety.’

Gina thought he looked more to be in his mid-twenties, rather than his thirties. There was an immaturity about the man.

‘You’ve waived your right to legal representation. If anything changes and you want a solicitor, just let us know.’

He sniffed. ‘I don’t need one because I haven’t done anything.’

‘Tell me about your relationship with Sienna Moorcroft?’

He looked to the right and pressed his lips together for a second before speaking. ‘We had a thing. It was fast, intense and she ended up moving in with me early December. She and her daughter stayed for two weeks, and we realised we’d moved too fast, so she moved back in with her landlady, Patsy, who she rented a room off.’

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