Page 36 of Her Hidden Shadow

The boy began rooting in his pockets then he stood and began to dig deeper. ‘There’s a hole in my pocket.’

‘What are you doing, Finn? We can worry about that later.’

‘Got it.’ Finn pulled out a fifty pence piece encrusted in mud and placed it on the table. ‘I should have given this to the police lady earlier. Sorry.’

The boy’s cheeks had reddened. Gina leaned forward a little and spoke in a gentle tone. ‘For the tape, Finn Jones has placed a fifty pence coin encrusted with dried mud on the table. Did you find this at the scene?’

He nodded. ‘There was a pound coin too, but it was smaller, so I’ve lost it through the hole. We just thought someone had lost a bit of change and we were going to spend it at the shop.’

‘Well, thank you for giving it to us.’ Gina placed a pair of latex gloves over her fingers. She took the coin and placed it in an evidence bag before passing it to Wyre to catalogue for the lab. Something told her that Finn was holding back, and it was about something bigger than a couple of coins. She knew that the officer who turned up on the scene reported the smell of cigarettes. Maybe that’s why he was looking a little worried. ‘You saw the rug and you kicked it, and then you saw the arm? Is that right?’

‘Yes.’

‘In your earlier statement, you said you heard something after that, something that scared you.’

He nodded. ‘Nath had run off and I was on my own. He didn’t go far, just away from the pallets. Behind me was a few bushes and trees and after that there is a road. I could just about see people passing by, but I heard someone lurking the other side. The bushes were too thick for me to see who it was but there was someone there. I stood on one side of the bushes and whoever was there, stood at the other side. I could hear them breathing. I didn’t know what to do. That’s when I called you, Mum. I asked them who they were then they ran away. I heard the branches crunching as they went. I really thought I was going to get hurt. Someone put that man there and all I could think of was, they were going to kill me.’ His eyes looked a little wet. ‘I’m scared, Mum.’

The woman leaned over and hugged her son.

A few minutes later, the interview was wrapped up. Finn had nothing more to tell them. She waved at Kapoor who was putting her stab vest on. ‘We’re ready to go, guv. We’ve informed the site owner and told him to stay in his house and not go anywhere near the caravan.’

‘Great. If Hale is there, we’ll have him in an interview room before we know it, but we need to be careful. If he is our murderer, he’s killed twice and possibly attacked others. That makes him dangerous. Let’s go.’

Twenty-Six

After an extensive search of the area, no one had seen Gerard Hale’s four-by-four parked anywhere. Now it was time to close in on the caravan. Gina pulled up underneath a lamppost. She held up the map that Kapoor had printed off, using the light shining through the windscreen to read it. The owner had confirmed that Gerard and his mother jointly owned the caravan on plot fifty-six. She knew that she and Wyre were currently on the road at the back of the caravan. They’d have to jump over a tiny brook and stealthily head alongside the naked foliage, while uniform did their bit by surrounding the structure. ‘You ready?’

‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’ Wyre tapped her stab vest and stepped out of the car.

Gina followed her towards the brook. The sound of trickling water led the way. No torches. If Hale was there and he saw them coming before the officers were in place, he might run. They couldn’t let him go. She stood on the bank of the brook. ‘It’s wider than I thought.’

Wyre took several steps back, sprinted, leaped and landed on the other side like an Olympian. Her fit colleague was always going to make it. ‘It’s not as hard as it looks. Come on, guv. You’ve got this.’

The last thing Gina wanted was to end up falling in freezing cold water on a chilly night when the night’s work had only just started. She glanced ahead, taking in the light shuffling sounds of approaching officers on the other side of the water. She jogged backwards, took a deep breath and ran with all she had and as soon as she reached the edge, she leaped into the crisp air. As she landed on the other side, she missed her footing and slipped on the hard soil below. ‘Ouch.’

‘Damn, you okay?’ Wyre hurried over and helped her up.

Gina laughed. ‘Not as young and nimble as I used to be but, yes, I’m good. No broken bones.’ She stood and stretched out her aching leg and side.

Wyre walked ahead. ‘There’s a light on in the caravan.’

She hurried over to Wyre and watched as uniform moved in closer. If Hale jumped out of any window, Gina knew they’d have him. There was no escape for Hale. Heart racing as adrenaline coursed through her body, Gina straightened her waterproof jacket and began walking slowly alongside Wyre to the front door.

The structure looked to be at least twenty-five metres long. An officer shone his torch in the direction of the beige-checked curtains. All of them were closed so no one could peer in. Decking surrounded the whole caravan with moss-smeared steps leading up to the only door. Gina squatted, flashing her torch to peer underneath the caravan but all she could see was a rusty old lawn mower. If he’d have darted out from there, he wouldn’t have made it to the end of the cutesy little path or the washing line. She nodded to PC Ahmed. That was his cue to go. ‘Police, open up. We have a warrant to enter,’ he shouted, after banging several times on the door. He shook his head a few seconds later.

They were going to have to enter by force. She gave him the nod again.

‘Mr Hale, we’re coming in. Please stand back from the door.’ With that PC Ahmed slammed the battering ram at the metal door and it instantly gave. Several uniformed officers entered and seconds later, PC Ahmed came back out. ‘It’s empty, guv, but you need to see the second bedroom.’

She sighed. They should have waited and scoped the place out covertly. At least they had officers discreetly parked up near the entrance. Hale would be picked up if he returned and he wouldn’t even know they were in his van. She waited for the officers to come out before heading up the wooden steps then inside, with Wyre. Kapoor called all the officers over to discuss what would happen next.

Gina stood in the compact kitchen, snapped on a pair of latex gloves and turned right. She opened the door that led to a dark, woody-smelling corridor. The first door on the right led to a tiny bathroom. The sound of dripping came from inside the shower cubicle. She opened the door and saw that there was a leak. The dried-up flannel and dry towels told her that no one had showered recently. With each step they took, the floor creaked, like it might give.

She nudged open the far door and as expected, it led to the master bedroom. The bed was made, and the room smelled of lavender.

‘This must be the second bedroom.’ Wyre pointed to the last door.

Gina pressed the handle and pushed it open to reveal a tiny room containing two small single beds and overhead storage. That’s when she saw the corkboard full of pinned pictures of Sienna and next to it was a small whiteboard. It had a list of locations written on it, mostly coffee shops and pubs. He’d also written down Lauren and Robbie’s address. On one bed the quilt and undersheet was all disturbed, and a pile of clothes filled the one corner of the tiny room. ‘We need those bagged up in a minute. If he killed Sienna and Robbie, they might be teeming with forensic evidence.’ She reached down and picked up the refill pad that lay on the pillow.

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