Page 34 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘Is there anything else you can think of, about them, or the car?’

‘The back bumper and the tyres were muddy. I don’t know why I remembered that. Actually, yes, I do. My wife is always accusing me of being borderline obsessive about keeping our car clean.’

Gina thought back to Robbie Shields’s car. She didn’t remember it looking muddy, but she knew that Gerard Hale lived on a campsite and that he parked a little out of the way and walked to the caravan. She wondered how rural the surrounding roads were. She tried to picture the route in her head. There was a small ford on one road, a severely boggy ford.

Twenty-Four

Nancy

Nancy passed Lauren a bowl of lentil soup on a tray. The air filled with the scent of cumin and garlic, and all the other lovely ingredients she’d added to make it as tasty and warming as possible. Her spice rack made all the difference.

‘Thanks, Mum.’ Lauren placed her new phone down after constantly tapping away on it for the last hour.

‘How are you, love?’ She sat on the pouffe, the one she normally put her feet on.

Lauren shrugged. ‘I can’t remember Max or Dee’s numbers and I can’t remember my logins for Facebook or Instagram. They don’t use TikTok so I can’t message them there either. I’ve just set up a new account and friend requested Maxine, but I look like a weird spammer.’ Tears drizzled down Lauren’s cheeks. ‘I’m lost, so friggin’ lost. I just want this nightmare to end.’

Nancy placed a loving hand on her daughter’s arm. ‘You’ve had a traumatic couple of days. The police are going to find whoever did this, I promise.’

Sobbing, Lauren placed the tray on the coffee table. ‘But I’ll still feel like this. I trusted Sienna and I was going to marry Robbie. Why do I keep making the same stupid mistakes in life? Why do I trust all the wrong people?’

Nancy didn’t have an answer to that. She’d tried her best to protect Lauren and could see through everyone who’d ever hurt her daughter but as usual, Lauren never listened to any of her concerns. Nancy daren’t tell her that just now. It wasn’t the right time and the last thing she needed was an argument. Instead, she grabbed a box of tissues and placed them on the sofa next to Lauren.

‘What am I doing wrong? What did I do to deserve this?’

‘It’s not you, sweetheart. It’s them.’

Lauren’s phone flashed. She unplugged the charger and stared at it. ‘It’s Max, she’s accepted me.’ Lauren began typing away on the tiny phone.

‘I’ll leave you to it.’ Nancy walked into the kitchen and poured herself a ladle of soup. Fifi ran into the kitchen and began to bark at the back door. She walked over and went to turn the key. The door hadn’t been locked. She let the dog out and hurried back into the living room. ‘Lauren, did you let Fifi out earlier and forget to lock the back door?’

She stopped typing. ‘Err, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t think I’d have forgotten but maybe I did. Sorry, Mum. My mind’s all over the place. If it’s unlocked and you didn’t leave it unlocked, it must have been me.’

Fingers shaking, Nancy clenched her fists by her side. ‘You must be more careful, okay. You know what happened to Sienna and Robbie!’

‘I said I was sorry. There’s no need to shout, besides no one knows where you live. I don’t even think Robbie could have got here without me directing him and none of my friends have been here. We’re safe, Mum. Chill.’

Storming out, Nancy had to leave the room before she said any more. The last thing she would ever do was burden Lauren with her problems right now. The messages were getting to her and the person sending them knew full well she couldn’t tell the police.

She hurried back to the kitchen and glanced out of the window. Fifi had gone. She opened the door and called the little dog, but she couldn’t even hear Fifi’s barks or snuffling in the undergrowth. She stepped out onto the cobbled path that led all the way to the back gate. She wished she had a security light right now. ‘Fifi.’ She held out her phone, torch shining ahead, lighting up the open gate. A gentle breeze sent a shiver across the back of her neck as the plastic covering over the garden furniture flapped in the breeze. ‘Fifi.’

‘Mum, the WiFi’s down,’ Lauren called.

She glanced back. Lauren hadn’t even come into the kitchen to tell her that. She’d merely bellowed her words at the top of her voice in the hope that Nancy would hear. Nancy had locked the back gate earlier, she was sure, or was she? Yes, she was sure. Doubting herself wasn’t helping the situation. The slide lock had been pulled across at lunchtime. Creeping forward, she held her breath. Out the back were acres of trees and uphill land. The quietness which was always most welcome now gave off threatening wilderness vibes. There were no other houses close by at the base of the Malvern Hills. The only way was up, through the dense woodland followed by hill upon hill. She heard rustling coming from the bushes ahead. ‘Fifi, come out now. Bad girl. Mummy’s not happy that you’re making her do this.’

She knew coming out in her slippers had been a bad move. If she had to run wearing her flimsy open-backed footwear, she’d be falling all over the place or worse, they’d fall off and her feet would get slashed by all the twigs and stones below. The light from the torch on her phone wavered as she gripped the gadget in her shaking hand.

The phone beeped. She opened the message.

Scream Bitch. Scream!!!

She heard Fifi yelp and that was followed by her own whimper, as she dropped the phone and turned to run. That’s when she tripped over her own feet, flew through the air and landed hard on a rock. A shadow of a person approached but she couldn’t make out any features as she rubbed her throbbing elbow, then she screamed and screamed, knowing that she couldn’t protect herself and that meant her daughter was in trouble too.

Twenty-Five

‘O’Connor, many thanks to you and Kapoor for being present at the post-mortem today. How did you get on?’ Gina smiled at the trainee. She knew her first post-mortem would be a tough one.

‘I kept my food down, guv. So, all is good.’

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