All we have at the house is the street light on the pavement and sometimes we light a fire. I think she had dark eyes and the bits of hair scraped into the hood looked to be dark in colour. She had a chin that pointed a little, just a little – or did I make that up. I’m just not sure, sorry.’ He paused. ‘Although, there was a harshness about her. She told me I stank and to move out of her way. I hadn’t been at all rude to her, there really was no reason for her being so forward.’
Gina waited as Jacob caught up with noting the description. ‘Is there anything else you can tell us that may help?’
‘Al referred to her as either Shaz or Chez once. That must have been her name. I don’t have anything else. Oh, she was wearing walking boots or heavy-looking trainers.’ The edge of the man’s eye began to tic.
‘You’ve been really helpful, thank you for coming in. Does anyone else stay at the house with you?’
He shook his head. ‘Not at the moment. It was just Al and me. Some of the others moved to an empty warehouse about a month ago but we preferred it there. It felt safer for some reason. We should have gone. Maybe Al would still be alive.’ The man wiped his nose with the side of his finger. ‘There was one other thing?’
‘Go on.’
‘I think when this woman was watching him one night, she might have been wearing a long dark coat with a hood. It had to be her as no one else had been around there so I’m guessing that they were the same person, although I might be wrong. This woman was just standing in the bushes at the back and I could feel her staring up at the window. Al came over. He wasn’t in the mood and stuck his fingers up at her through one of the missing windows. He kept gibbering on that he was seeing things, but I saw her. She was definitely there. Again, I can’t remember which day that was, but I think it might have been Monday gone.’
Gina thought back, that was the same night she’d seen him in the café.
‘What time would this have been?’
‘Late, very late. Probably close to midnight. The kids had been a pain in the arse calling us names, that’s why I remember. I then slipped out for a bit, needed to get away but Al stayed behind. I walked the streets for a while and got back in the early hours of Tuesday morning. That woman and the kids were creeping me out. People are scared of bumping into us at night; what they don’t realise is, we’re the vulnerable ones. We’re the ones who get abused and hurt.’ He began tugging at something under the table and pulled a piece of chewing gum out. He pressed it down on the wood. ‘Sorry about that.’ He looked up with glassy eyes. ‘I don’t want to go back to the house, I’m scared. I’m going to be next, aren’t I?’ Shaking, the man hugged himself.
‘When we’ve finished, I’m going to call the council emergency housing team and get you some help.’ The council were going to officially hate her – with cutbacks and limited hostel spaces, they weren’t going to be impressed at all. She knew that if she didn’t take him off the streets, he could very well be right – he could be next. It was a risk she couldn’t take.
‘Thank you, thank you so much. I just need a chance, that’s all. Just a little teeny chance. I won’t screw up, I promise.’
She glanced at Jacob’s notes. Now she had to work out how she was going to find this Shaz or Chez. Her stomach fluttered and not in an exciting way – in a sickening, nervous way. She cleared her throat. Now was not the time to dwell on whether she could trust Briggs, she had to get this description across to him, ready for the next press release.
Who was Shaz or Chez?
Chapter Forty
Christian had taken his dinner to bed and he’d since ignored Cherie. The television above had gone off about an hour ago. She lay on the settee, staring at the ceiling with thoughts of Marcus running through her head. She’d really pushed him this time.
She glanced at her phone: three missed calls from Marcus. Her phone lit up again and this