Page 57 of Her Hidden Shadow

‘What?’

‘The scarf was one of Tiffany’s. Tiffany recognised it and her husband confirmed it. It wasn’t missing and no one has been in the flat.’

‘Are we thinking that she went out with the scarf and came back in with it?’

Briggs nodded. ‘That’s the thinking but I don’t want to be too quick to doubt her. It’s just something to keep in mind. It may well be the stress of it all.’

‘I need to speak to her today. I’ll go with Collier and ask her about the hair, whether her attacker may have cut a little off. There may or may not be a connection. It wasn’t mentioned in her file but it’s worth an ask.’ Gina’s phone rang. She grabbed it off the table. ‘Hello.’

She listened to Wyre speak and hung up.

‘Has there been a development?’

Half-running towards the stairs, Gina turned as she pulled the towel from her hair. ‘Maybe. Robbie Shields’s brother has called, and he wants to speak to someone. He said he has something to tell us and he’s coming in later.’

Forty-Three

Nancy

Nancy ordered her second cup of mint tea and stared out the window at the patio furniture. A toddler fought with his parents in a battle to see if he could escape the highchair. A woman sat reading a saucy romance and a couple ate a huge fry up that stank of death. How people could eat meat was beyond her. She checked her messages to see if Preston had something to say but there was nothing. The coward had stood her up. She nervously ambled through the pet section and the household plants before exiting the huge shop. That’s when she saw him by the back of her car. He was late, that was all. Purposely, of course.

Hurrying back in, Nancy sat back where her empty cup still adorned the table and she waited. Within a couple of minutes, he was standing in the queue. His cheesecloth shirt was buttoned up to the neck and tucked into his pale-blue jeans. Droplets of rain glistened on his shaven head. His gaze met hers and it lingered for a few seconds, sending a shiver through her. She would not look away though. The woman behind the counter passed him a can, forcing him to break their stares. One nil to her. Before he turned back, she pressed record on her phone.

He clomped over in his army-style boots and slammed his energy drink onto the table, making her teacup jump and clatter in the saucer. Good job it was empty otherwise she’d be wearing it. ‘So, we meet again.’

‘Why are you harassing me?’

He grinned and took a swig out of the can. A sickly aroma filled the air. ‘It’s typical of the commie bitch to accuse me of all sorts. I wouldn’t dream of harassing a lady, or you, come to think of it.’ He leaned forward. ‘People like you make me laugh with your holier than thou attitude. You think the world is coming to an end. This environmental crisis, it’s nothing. All bullshit invented by our leaders to turn us into good little people and you, you lap it all up.’ He smirked and leaned back, his legs apart. ‘People like you hold up traffic and people like me hate you. I really hate you.’

‘Finished?’

He stared at her again. All of his twenty-five years were plastered across the baby-faced man boy. ‘You’ve got a nerve. Just remember, you went for me first. One of my mates recorded it so I can prove that you assaulted me, but I chose to let it go. We were all fired up and God it was fun dragging you out of that road.’

She remembered that day well. She and her fellow activists were blocking the bypass when Preston got out of his car and went for her like some deranged monster. For a moment, she could almost feel her scalp burning as he dragged her through the crowd by her hair. She had struck him because he’d come right up to her, his nose almost touching hers. What she set out to do was push him but instead she punched him. Yes, she’d started the physical violence, but he instigated it by threatening her and the threats had continued. ‘Preston, the messages have to stop.’

‘Any other demands because, you know, I always do what bitches like you tell me to do.’

She felt her clenched fists tensing up. So far, recording him had just ascertained that she struck him first that day, and that he had a recording. ‘Leave my daughter alone.’

He laughed. ‘She’s a beauty, not like you. You really should have checked your privacy settings on social media. Those leaflets you were handing out, you even put your phone number on them. How stupid can a person get? The moment you lot cleared off, I knew your group name, your name, your phone number. Within minutes, I found your unprotected profile on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Didn’t find you on TikTok but I guess that’s an age thing, grandma.’

Right now, she wanted to reach over and punch the man. It would so be worth getting arrested to see his bloody face, especially as he’d threatened her. Now, it appears, he’d seen Lauren on her social media. He knew that Lauren was her daughter. He’d insinuated that he’d been to her home. ‘What were you doing at my house the other night?’

He stared, took a long swig of his drink and belched.

‘You think attacking me was clever. I saw you, Preston.’

‘Saw me, did you?’ He plonked his can down and folded his arms. ‘This gets more hilarious by the second.’

‘I took a photo of all those messages that you sent me on Facebook before I deactivated my account. If you’d have hurt me that night, the police would have found them. They would have known it was you.’

‘Really?’ He began to laugh.

‘And now you’ve got yourself a new phone and you think it’s clever to try and scare me again. I tell you something, I’m not scared of a mummy’s basement dweller like you. I pity you, the stupid little incel that you are. You’re nothing but a troll, someone who likes to find a fight wherever he can. You get off on it. I saw the glee in your eyes when you were dragging me by my hair.’

‘You really are something, Nancy. Think you’re really clever.’

She smiled sarcastically. ‘The problem is you think you’re clever. You’re probably just another flat earth idiot because you sure are a total science denier. Leave me alone and leave my daughter alone.’

---