Page 42 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘A few months ago, we clashed with some drivers while holding up a dual carriageway. It got heated, well that’s an understatement. One of them went for me and tried to drag me by my hair, so I hit him in the face with my placard. Later that day, he started harassing me on social media which is why I came off. My phone number was used as a contact on the leaflets that day. That’s how he has my name and number.’

‘So, you think it’s him?’ Her daughter stroked Fifi as she waited for an answer.

‘It must be. The messages are horrible, but you can rest assured that he has no idea where I live. I’m literally off-grid as you know. No one ever comes here, ever.’

‘What if he followed you from one of your protests?’

A day ago, Nancy wouldn’t have believed that to be true but now she was sure he’d been there last night. Her daughter was right. He could have followed her home after any protest since. She’d seen him lurking and mocking her. ‘Listen, I just know and all this, it doesn’t matter. What matters is you and all that you’ve been through. I chose this fight and I’m not going to stop, not until I feel like humanity has a future. Okay?’

‘Not okay, Mum. I don’t want you to get hurt, end up in prison, or worse get killed by a weirdo stalker. I don’t want any more people I love to get hurt.’

Nancy shook her head. ‘You don’t get to choose what I do. I do it for you and for any children that you may have one day. Someone has to make these companies accountable, and the government are doing stuff all.’ She smiled and stroked her daughter’s cheek.

Lauren waited while Nancy took a swig of coffee and a bite of toast. ‘What will you do if he messages again?’

It was time to come clean. Maybe bottling up the messages wasn’t the right thing to do. Lauren now understood why the police couldn’t be involved. ‘He’s been messaging me for weeks. At first, I answered, calling him all the names under the sun, but now I just delete them. He’ll get fed up.’

‘Or he’ll do something bigger to command your attention. Don’t mess with people like this, Mum. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.’

‘No, they don’t know who they’re dealing with, sweetheart. I always win in the end, and I will win this one too. Don’t you worry about me.’ She ate the toast like she hadn’t eaten for a week. She meant every word of what she’d said. It wouldn’t be the first or last time she took matters into her own hands. Her life had been filled with doing what it took to protect Lauren and she was ready for anything.

Thirty-One

For once, Gina wasn’t driving. She wondered if DI Collier was going to say anything, but he’d kept his gaze on the damp road ahead. As for his thoughts, who knows where they were right now. She noticed that the collar of his crisp white shirt had been starched stiff. He reached up and poked a finger down it to loosen it away from his dark brown skin. Gina remembered those moments well when working with Sullivan. She was a stickler for smartness and heavily critical of anything out of place and that was truly reflected in how perfectly Collier was dressed.

‘It’s this turning.’ She pointed to Bay Road.

‘Thank you.’ As he turned the wheel, the low morning sun glinted off his wedding ring.

And that was it. No talk of the witness or how they were going to approach the interview. All she knew was that she was going to lead, and he was going to be monitoring her every word and reporting back to Sullivan. Was he friend or foe? She still had to find that out.

He turned and glanced at her as he pulled into a parking space opposite Hale’s mother’s house. His expression gave nothing away. ‘Right, I’m okay with you leading but stick to what we discussed. You know the case better than me, but I will try to catch up with everything between the briefing at the station and attending the post-mortem later.’ He pushed his horn-rimmed glasses further up his nose and got out of the car.

‘We have another briefing that soon?’ She knew they’d barely have time to even nip to the loo, let along wedge in another briefing.

He cleared his throat. ‘I have. The super requires that I report back at regular intervals, and she wants me there in person.’

Gina was grateful to remain on the case but if every move was monitored to the nth degree, it would take forever to catch the murderer. ‘Great, let’s go and see what Ms Hale has to say. We have backup on standby just in case Gerard Hale turns up. Uniform is positioned less than a minute away should we need them. Keeping them out of sight for now is the best way to approach as I’m hoping she’ll open up. I’d say we’re ready to go.’ Gina opened the passenger door and stepped out onto the pavement.

DI Collier took his large grey overcoat off the back seat and put it on before following her towards the house. Gina stopped at the edge of the block-paved drive while he pulled his satchel across his chest and hurried over. She took in the three storey Victorian terrace with its huge bay ground-floor window. Thick nets stopped them from seeing inside. She wondered if Hale was holed up in one of the many rooms, hoping that he’d never be found. A nervous flutter stemmed from her stomach to her throat, and acid threatened to rise. She’d never felt such pressure in her life. Jacob needed her to get this right. If she didn’t, he could end up being charged and his life would be over. She couldn’t get the image of his face out of her mind as she replayed their last conversation in her head. He was broken.

A woman opened the bottle-green front door and stepped out with a fat ball on a piece of string. ‘Can I help you?’ She proceeded to the bare blossom tree and hung it on a low hanging branch. Gina spotted a friendly robin, obviously a regular visitor waiting for its meal.

‘I’m DI Harte, this is DI Collier.’ They held up their identification.

Ms Hale walked over, pulled her glasses from her pocket and scrutinised their IDs. ‘Oh, it’s you. I’m still not happy that you all went into our caravan without my permission. Can I go there yet?’

Gina stepped forward as the stout woman pulled her thick brown cardigan across her chest. She didn’t want to remind the woman that the caravan was co-owned by Ms Hale and her son, and the officer who called by the previous evening had explained that they had a search warrant. ‘May we come inside to speak?’

Ms Hale blew out a breath and her shoulders dropped. ‘I suppose.’ She turned her back and led them into the tiled hallway with a high ceiling. Their footsteps echoed until they reached a carpeted sitting room, surrounded by bookshelves and a desk. ‘Take a seat in my study.’

Gina glanced at the books on rocks, minerals and tectonic plates that covered the walls from floor to ceiling. A masters certificate hung proudly on the wall behind her large leather-studded desk. Adina Hale was an earth sciences expert. ‘I guess you’re looking for Gerard. I can tell you something. He’s not here and I haven’t seen him at all since Saturday night. Pull up a seat, both of you.’

DI Collier passed Gina a chair and pulled one up for himself. They sat and she pulled out her notes. He began heading up a page with the interview details.

Gina cleared her throat. Adina Hale claimed that she’d seen her son on Saturday night. She needed to get to the bottom of that. She also had to consider whether she could trust her as an alibi for her son.

‘What is it you think my son has done?’

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