a go at me, but still, she calls, and I’m reassured that she’s safe. She didn’t call on Saturday. Either something’s wrong or she’s punishing me harder for our argument. I’ve called all the local hotels where I know she’d stay and she didn’t turn up at any of them on Friday.’
‘Firstly, can I take a description of your wife?’
He pulled a photo of a mousy-haired, pale-faced woman from his pocket. ‘This is her. She’s about five feet seven and has a slim build. She was wearing a black dress when I last saw her.’
Gina scraped her chair on the floor and got a little closer to the table. ‘Thank you. May we keep this photo for now?’ He nodded. ‘Let’s go back a little. When did you last see your wife?’
‘Friday morning, during our argument. It was all over stupid things like me not pulling my weight around the house. She was right as always. Maybe I don’t appreciate her enough. I could tell there was something else, but she wasn’t saying. She did this a lot, trying to make me guess as to why she was angry in the hope that I’d confess. Thing is, I had nothing to confess to. She then began going on about the toilet seat being up and not wanting to see our friends on Saturday night.’ He bit his lip and stared at the table. ‘She was just being awkward, really. That hasn’t got anything to do with it.’
Deflection, Gina could spot it a mile off. The flickering light was beginning to trigger Gina’s headache again, or maybe it was the lack of caffeine. ‘Hasn’t it?’
‘No, of course not.’ He gave a warm smile. ‘I just want her back home, with me.’
Gina knew there was more to his story. It seemed odd that he mentioned an appointment they had on the Saturday night. ‘What was your relationship like?’
‘Most of the time it’s fine. We bicker a little, but doesn’t every couple?’ He paused. ‘We don’t always argue and the making up normally keeps us happy for a long time. It’s quite routine for us. It wouldn’t pay for us all to be the same. This time, it was different; she had something on her mind and she wouldn’t come out with it. I could tell she wasn’t happy with me but I don’t know why.’
‘What time did she leave?’ Gina scribbled a few notes and Briggs caught up with logging the interview on a form.
‘I didn’t see the moment she walked out of the door as I went to work but I popped home at lunchtime and she was gone.’
‘Did she take anything with her?’
‘She always has her phone and her bank cards on her. I didn’t see anything else missing but I probably wouldn’t know if anything was missing. She has loads of clothes and make-up, there’s no way I could tell.’
‘Could she have gone to a friend or colleague’s house?’ Gina hoped this case was as simple as that and that Penny Burton would be found staying with a friend.
Marcus Burton pressed his lips together and sat up straight. ‘She didn’t really have friends whom she went out with. The only friends she really has are the ones we were seeing on Saturday night.’ He scratched his nose. ‘As for colleagues, apart from the annual Christmas bash, she never goes out with any of them.’
‘What does she do for work?’
‘She’s in business development for a CCTV company. She travels around meeting clients here and there, but mostly she’s office based. The company is located in Bromsgrove.’
‘Can I take the names of the friends you said you were seeing and I’ll need their address too? Where were you all meeting?’
She spotted him swallow and pause before answering. ‘Fifteen Willow Way. The evening still went ahead, I still went to theirs for dinner. At this point, I wasn’t overly worried about Penny leaving me. As I said, this happens a lot for us. We were invited over for dinner by Cherie and Christian Brown. The other guests apart from me were Isaac Slater and Joanna Brent.’
She made a note to get their addresses too when the interview was over. ‘And how do you all know each other?’
‘Does that really matter? My wife is missing. This is nothing to do with them.’ Marcus’s cheek dimpled as he ground his teeth.
Gina caught Briggs’s eye. She knew that he too could sense that something was off about Marcus’s response. ‘As I said, we will need