Page 59 of Her Hidden Shadow

Sullivan stood at the head of the room and waited for the hum of noise to calm down and for everyone to gather around the main table. Gina scraped a seat on the floor and sat next to Collier, knowing she was no longer needed at the front. Wyre, O’Connor and Kapoor remained together at the one side of the large table. There were no pastries or biscuits and the look on O’Connor’s face told Gina that Sullivan had probably banned them. A couple of detectives sat together at the other side. Like Collier, they were pristinely dressed. The only person missing was Jacob and Gina felt his absence. Sullivan tapped the board with her fingernails. ‘Good to have you all here. I have an announcement to make but first I want a catch up. Collier, can you talk us through yesterday? I know we can all look on the system, but I feel as though we need to all catch up.’

Collier walked to the front. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ His attention turned to the table. ‘I’ve liaised with forensics, and we can confirm that there is nothing from their side to link Gerard Hale to any of the attacks or murder scenes. The blood logged at the scene of Hazel Blackford’s attack is not a match to Hale’s and that was a key piece of evidence taken from the scene.’

‘Is it a match to Jacob’s?’ Gina asked.

‘We’re still waiting to confirm that,’ Collier added.

‘Please don’t interrupt again, Harte, or I will have to ask you to leave the room. DI Collier, continue.’

Collier cleared his throat. ‘He has an alibi for the time of Sienna’s murder. He is no longer a suspect.’

Gina held up a hand and spoke. ‘But he has admitted to stalking Sienna.’

Sullivan turned to Gina. ‘Yes, and he will be charged for that. The murders and historical attacks are our priority so let’s stick to talking about them. Go on, DI Collier. Maybe you can speak without interruption, this time.’ She shook her head at Gina as Collier continued.

‘We can confirm that the earring found at the scene of Tiffany Crawford’s attack belonged to victim one, Hazel Blackford. We also know that nothing out of place was left behind at Hazel’s attack so we’re working on the theory that she was his first. Both victims had similar features at the time of their attacks, suggesting that our perpetrator has a type. They have blue eyes and blonde hair.’

Gina held a hand up again.

‘DI Harte.’ Collier exhaled and raised his eyebrows.

‘We still need to speak to Tiffany Crawford. We need to know if she suspected that she had any hair missing following the attack.’

He nodded. ‘Yes, it may be that he’s taking a trophy and I agree that we should speak to her next.’

Gina interrupted again. ‘We also know that he didn’t take any of Sienna’s hair and she was a brunette.’

Collier rolled his eyes. ‘I was just getting to that if you give me a chance to speak.’

She held her hands up. ‘Sorry.’ Sullivan cut her a look and at that moment, she didn’t care as having her say in the case was more important than anything else. Gina moved her attention to the table and listened so that she didn’t have to see Sullivan’s angry stare.

After a pause, Collier continued. ‘DS Driscoll is now our only suspect. We have applied for an extension to keep him in custody while we investigate further, and it’s been granted.’

Gina shook her head and pressed her lips together. He didn’t do it. Her lovely colleague could never strangle and murder people, but they obviously had something on him that they weren’t telling her side of the team. If she got even a whiff of what was happening, she’d follow it up alone, without Briggs’s or Sullivan’s permission. She swallowed her rage down. Briggs quietly entered from the back. He’d claimed that he knew as much as she did but she knew he was lying. He’d been present for all the extra briefings and right now, she considered him one of them.

Her mind wandered while Collier went over all the facts they already knew relating to forensics, the wedding ring found on Robbie and the scarves. The fingerprints on the paint can at the bungalow belonged to Robbie, as did the blood in the cupboard. After that, the room went silent as Collier finished speaking.

Superintendent Sullivan stepped forward. ‘For the announcement. I feel that we need to partially share the other side of the investigation with you.’

Gina sat bolt upright. Finally, they were going to let her team in on what they had.

As she spoke, Sullivan stared at Gina, her mouthed curved in a smile. ‘A key piece of evidence has come to light. At the time of Hazel Blackford’s attack we can confirm that DS Driscoll was also living in Kidderminster with his parents. That gives him opportunity.’

Gina gasped for breath, and she glanced at the shocked faces in the room.

Gaze still on Gina, Sullivan continued. ‘It’s looking likely that he will be charged. Right, DI Harte, you and Collier will visit Tiffany Crawford to discuss last night. As we know, DS Driscoll was in custody so he can’t have been there but there is a question as to whether Mrs Crawford actually saw anyone in the day or last night. We’ve since heard that she’d taken a concoction of strong prescription drugs and had drunk a lot of alcohol. She is prone to sleepwalking too.’

Gina kicked the table leg and clenched her fists under the table. She didn’t know what was angering her more, the fact they were dismissing Tiffany because the poor traumatised woman needed something to block out the memories of her hideous attack, or the fact that it felt like they were trying to pin everything onto Jacob. Sullivan would love nothing more than to bring Gina’s team down and the grin on her face confirmed that.

‘Did you find anything to link Jacob to the attacks when you searched his house?’ Gina asked.

Sullivan took a deep breath and exhaled in a relaxed manner. ‘I’m not at liberty to share the answer to your question at the moment. Interview Tiffany Crawford and then see what Robbie Shields’s brother has to say. We are now collecting evidence to present the case to the CPS so that we can charge DS Driscoll.’

Forty-Five

As Gina and Collier left the station, they drove through a group of protesters that had gathered outside, each with a placard claiming that they had no confidence in the police. They knew that a detective had been arrested and Gina knew of only one person who would leak that kind of information. She’d never be able to prove it, but it had to be Sullivan, or maybe she put Collier up to it. Ever since Sullivan saw that Gina was running the case, she’d been looking for a way to bring her down. Her nasty streak had lasted all those years. A reporter banged his hands on the passenger window and Gina flinched. ‘Is it true that a detective at Cleevesford station has been arrested for the murders of Robbie Shields and Sienna Moorcroft?’ Collier continued driving and soon they were leaving the chaos behind.

Less than twenty minutes later, Collier pulled up on the road outside Tiffany’s flat. Gina spotted PC Ahmed stationed outside in his car. The young officer nodded and buzzed his window down as they got out. ‘If you’re going to be here for a while, is it okay if I leave to grab a sandwich?’

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