Page 40 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘You do believe me, guv? Please say you do.’

‘I’ll fight with everything I’ve got to find whoever did this. You have my word.’ A part of her wondered if she could trust him, her dear friend. Why had he waited this long to tell her?

Twenty-Nine

Gina glanced at her phone. She should be on her way to Ms Hale’s so that she could find Gerard and bring him in. She nervously bit her nails as they all waited in the incident room for Briggs to enter and let them know how they were going to proceed. It had to be Gerard. In Gina’s mind, there was no way on earth the murderer was Jacob. Gerard must have followed Sienna and therefore known about her seeing Jacob. Maybe he’d purposely tried to frame Jacob, knowing that he’d come under suspicion too. Her mind flashed back to the witness, Mr Sallis who worked at Happy Drinker’s. He described Sienna arguing with someone after they kissed. That person had to be Jacob. She had to believe that Jacob could not possibly have murdered Sienna and Robbie, despite any argument.

The room was silent even though the core team were sitting around the table. The open packet of biscuits remained untouched. O’Connor hadn’t even eaten his cold toast and Wyre had bitten the end of her pen down. Kapoor kept glaring at the table as if she didn’t know what to say or who to look at.

Gina stared at the boards and really took in the crime scene photos of Sienna. In her mind, she tried to picture Jacob stabbing her, then using the scarf in the other photo to strangle her. Then there was Tiffany Crawford’s attack. Had he been creeping around in her bedroom in the dead of night, planning to kill her? Were they still working on the idea that the cases were linked? The flowery scarf was too much of a coincidence.

The door swung open, and Briggs entered, a solemn expression on his face. ‘As you are all now aware, DS Driscoll came in this morning. You are all aware of what he said on a need-to-know basis and that he is claiming to be innocent, so I want a thorough investigation. But things are going to be different with this case. The IOPC have been informed.’

Gina knew that he’d have to contact the Independent Office for Police Conduct, but she wasn’t quite sure what the outcome of that communication would have been. It’s not like one of their own got implicated in a crime every day. ‘Does that mean we’re still on the case?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, but we’re going to have outside help, in fact, they’ve insisted on it, and I expected that would happen. To avoid any suggestion of bias, we are having a SIO from Hereford. Detective Superintendent Sullivan is on her way, and she’ll be bringing a DI with her, DI Collier. You will all report to the super, and she will be overseeing the case. As from now, DS Driscoll has been suspended until further notice. They will be arresting DS Driscoll and sending him to Hereford to be interviewed. He may be released on bail after that, but we won’t know for a while.’

‘Can I see Jacob?’ Gina asked. ‘He’ll be terrified. He needs us right now. We’re not just colleagues, he’s our friend.’

Briggs paused and worry lines spread across his forehead. ‘I’m afraid not. I know it’s a lot to take in, but my hands are tied. This is the way it will happen and there are no ifs or buts. Detective Superintendent Sullivan has made it clear that we are not to communicate with him. My role will be to back up the superintendent.’

Gina felt her stomach turn at the mention of Sullivan. They had met before and she wasn’t looking forward to meeting her again, let alone working under her. The woman had made her life as a trainee miserable and she’d hoped never to see her again.

She puffed up her cheeks and slowly blew out a breath while she digested everything. Gina would no longer be Senior Investigating Officer. She would have to run everything through DI Collier, and Collier would communicate directly with Sullivan. She wondered if the super would look down on her with suspicion too. Were they going to be watched and have their every move reported back to the IOPC? She had always run a tight team when it came to dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s but right now, she was going to have to work ten times harder. ‘Someone must have seen Hale. We need to find him and bring him in. And what about the woman in the pyjamas who the witness saw near Robbie and Lauren’s at the time of Sienna’s murder? We need to do this, for Jacob. We will follow that evidence and he’ll be cleared; I know it.’

Briggs nodded. ‘But first, we need to wait for the super. She will be issuing you with instructions. In all likelihood, it will be to follow the same investigation path, but she has to lead.’ He checked his watch. ‘Right, this is the plan we will run by her. Gina, you and DI Collier will still head over to Ms Hale’s. You’re right in that we need to find Gerard Hale. He is our main suspect, and we need him at the station. The super will want to watch the interview. As for the woman in pyjamas, I will get her mentioned again on today’s news. Someone else has to have noticed a woman walking around at night wearing pyjamas and hopefully they can give us a more detailed description of her. She’s a key witness so finding her is a priority. Again, if it’s okay with the super, O’Connor, Wyre and Kapoor, I think we will need the area canvassed again. Knock on doors and dig a little deeper.’

‘How about Robbie Shields’s post-mortem?’ Gina asked.

‘That will happen this afternoon. Again, if it’s okay with the super, you and DI Collier will go. There is another thing.’

O’Connor threw his untouched toast in the bin and Wyre placed his chewed pen on the table. Gina swallowed.

Briggs continued. ‘The press. Very soon the Hereford team will come here and take DS Driscoll. They’re all out there and with the best will in the world when it comes to discretion, reporters are not stupid. They know something’s wrong as I haven’t given my planned briefing this morning and they’re circling the station like vultures. We’re trying to arrange for Jacob to go out the back but when I last looked, one of the Warwickshire Herald’s reporters was out there. It’s going to get out. Our job is to resolve this before too much damage to us as a department can be done. Public trust is at an all-time low given that the IOPC are currently investigating many claims of racism, misogyny and homophobia within the police. We are not trusted, and I don’t want to give the people of Cleevesford any room to mistrust us. This is not who we are here. It never has been, and it never will be. We will get through this.’ He spoke those words with confidence, but Gina could tell he was nervous.

Gina wondered if they could recover. If it turned out that Jacob had… No, she couldn’t even allow her thoughts to go there. They needed to continue investigating the case and see where it led. Their only option was to carry out an unbiased investigation, but she wasn’t looking forward to working with the super. Sullivan had been her DI when she was a trainee DC in Birmingham and, for some reason, she’d never taken to Gina. Yes, Gina had been awkward and had lacked self-confidence in the role for a while, but even when she did a good job, the woman had never looked pleased, let alone gave her any credit when she’d been right, and her criticism of everything made Gina feel as though she’d been walking on eggshells.

Gina heard the sound of clonking shoes coming down the corridor, then a tall woman, grey hair in a bun and black skirt suit as sharp as a razor, walked through the door. Gina’s gaze locked on Sullivan’s. She took a deep breath and hoped with all she had that the super had changed for the better.

Sullivan nodded once at Briggs and stood next to him. ‘For those who don’t know, I’m Detective Superintendent Sullivan. I’ve been appointed to the case. I will be running the investigation and I expect your full support and cooperation. I am SIO so everything, and I mean everything, will need to be run through me. Anyone who does not cooperate will be off the case.’ Sullivan paused and her stare made Gina grind her back teeth, a habit she’d mostly kicked after working with Sullivan. The super knew she had the power to make Gina shrink and she was using it from the off. ‘Are we all good with that?’ Gina flinched and Sullivan smirked.

There was a hum of yesses in the room, Gina included. She had to comply, for Jacob. ‘I’ll be talking to DCI Briggs in a moment to come up with a plan of action while we wait for DI Collier to arrive, and I’ll be reviewing what we have to date. You will then be issued with your duties. I run a tight ship and refer to me as ma’am, are we all clear?’ Sullivan said.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Gina chimed in with the chorus. Nothing had changed. Gina loved what they had at Cleevesford. She had a friendly team that operated on mutual respect, not fear. They had always worked well together but Sullivan didn’t have a warm bone in her body. Gina glanced at the woman, her deep-lined eyes and thin lips. She hadn’t changed much, only aged. She might not like Sullivan, but they had to work together to get to the bottom of the case. Despite her hostile stare, maybe it was time to put their past aside. Gina was prepared for the past to stay there as long as Sullivan was.

The super scrutinised the small team and stopped at Gina. ‘DC Harte? I never forget a face. It’s been a long time.’

‘DI, ma’am. I’m a DI now.’

Sullivan let out a huff and stretched out her arms before leaving the room. Briggs obediently followed.

Gina took a deep breath. Just as she thought things couldn’t get worse, Sullivan was once again her superior and she definitely hadn’t changed one bit.

Thirty

Nancy

‘Mum.’

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