hair.’
‘We’ve always dealt with Detective Inspector Gilbourne up to now,’ she said, her voice regaining some of its strength, some of its Merseyside lilt. ‘He’s been very good to us, very understanding. He advised us not to let anyone get close to her unless we knew them well and trusted them completely. And he said it would be Monday, not today.’
‘If you can just let me—’
‘And besides, Mia is asleep and we’ve only just got her down. I don’t want to put her through it again today when she was so upset the first time around.’
The husband appeared from the back of the house and Holt suppressed a sigh of frustration. He was a bit older than his wife, mid-seventies, tall and bald with a bushy white moustache that contrasted with the flaring-red complexion of his skin.
‘What’s this all about? Angela, what’s going on?’ He turned to Holt, staring at him like a tradesman who had just trodden dog shit into the carpet. ‘Have you got anyone in custody yet?’
‘I’m afraid not yet, sir, but I can assure you that we’re giving that our full attention. We have teams of officers working on the case as we speak. I was just explaining to your wife the reason for my visit.’
‘And what did my wife say?’
‘I said no,’ the woman barked, her voice cracking on the last word.
‘Well.’ The husband turned to him. ‘There’s your answer, detective. You’ve upset my wife, now please leave.’
Holt’s phone rang. Gilbourne again. He couldn’t ignore him for a third time.
‘DS Holt,’ he said.
‘Nathan, where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for the last hour.’
‘Sorry boss, was interviewing witnesses earlier and my phone was still on silent, I didn’t realise.’
Gilbourne’s voice was loud with anger and he had to hold the mobile away from his ear.
‘You’re not a bloody librarian, Nathan. You do not put your phone on silent. Ever. Your colleagues, your teammates, need to be able to reach you at all times. I need to be able to reach you. At. All. Times.’ He enunciated each word individually. ‘Even if you think you’re a cut above all of us. Do you understand?’
Holt gave the woman a nod and stepped back out through the open front door. She seemed glad to get him out of the house, pushing the door closed behind him. He went out to the smooth stone porch, turned away.
‘Yes sir.’ He looked down the long gravel driveway, where the black iron gate out to the road still stood slightly ajar. ‘Of course, will do.’
There was a pause, then his senior officer’s voice came back quieter.
‘What’s going on, Nathan?’
‘Nothing,’ Holt said smoothly. ‘Nothing’s going on, Stuart. Just finishing up here and then I’ll be right with you.’
‘I need you to get to South Ruislip to reinterview Sienna Parker’s parents. Give them the standard spiel, see if anything new shakes loose in light of recent developments, any possible links between her and the new victim. How quickly can you be there?’
Holt was ready for this one, had thought about what he would say. He looked round at the front lawn, the willow trees lining the drive, the stone wall around the edge of the property.
‘I’m just at Marylebone, sir,’ he said. ‘The station manager found some additional footage from Tuesday afternoon. There was no one from the tech team available so I just nipped over to pick up the DVDs.’
‘Anything worth seeing on there?’ Some of the anger had gone from Gilbourne’s voice. ‘Anything we don’t already know?’
‘Not sure, I’ll have a proper look when I’m back in the office.’
‘OK, get yourself over to Ruislip and keep me updated.’
Holt ended the call and turned back to the front door to find the woman standing there in the doorway, eyes narrowed. She hadn’t closed the door after all; she had been eavesdropping on his call.
She gave him a look that said I see you. I hear your lies.
‘Marylebone?’ she said.
Holt flashed her a smile, which she didn’t return.
‘Thanks for your time, Mrs Clifton. I’m so sorry for your loss.’
He crunched across the gravel to his Focus, feeling her eyes on his back every step of the way.
43
By the time Tara has pulled up in her car and jumped out, it’s too late to follow Dominic down the stairwell – even if I wanted to.
‘Are you OK?’ my friend says, her face flushed. ‘Who was that guy? Was it Max? He looked like a right thug.’
‘I’m fine, just