Lost Souls by Jenny O'Brien (android e book reader txt) 📕

quick reminder as to the layout of the apartment, the cluttered walls and bookshelves an indication as to the type of woman that Miss Jane had been. Books took precedence, lining the walls from floor to ceiling, the occasional framed print interrupting the flow almost as an afterthought. The furniture was the type usually left over in auction rooms at the end of a busy day of sales, comfortable up to a point, the dusky gold brocade of a style that had barely been in fashion in the last century let alone the current one.

‘She wasn’t that mobile, was she?’ Diane pointed out, her finger tapping a dark wooden walking stick propped up next to the door, ‘So, if someone had attacked her, it’s likely that she wouldn’t have put up much of a struggle.’

‘And taking into account that she barely made five foot in her shoes and weighed little more than a small child, it would have been easy to subdue her,’ he replied, thinking back to the difference in the size of the prosthetics he’d examined with Rusty. ‘Like taking a milk bottle from a baby.’

‘There’s something we’re missing though, isn’t there? A motive. If it was money, she was far from wealthy and it’s unlikely her jewellery would have fetched that much.’ Diane picked up the photos of the lounge, studying them in earnest.

‘What is it you’re looking for?’

‘Something that isn’t there.’ She dropped the photos, lining them up beside each other, her buffed fingernail tapping on the top of an occasional table and the absence of any knickknacks. ‘She reminds me of my late godmother. She was a teacher too and would have been from the same era, Sergeant.’

‘Call me Owen. Everyone else does,’ he interrupted with a smile.

‘Owen then. So, where are her trinkets? Her photo frames? The Art Nouveau pot plant left to her by Great-Aunt Margaret not to mention the silver-backed hairbrushes that her father gave to her mother on their wedding day? Apart from the books, there’s nothing personal to see other than her clothes and shoes, which wouldn’t be worth fifty pence at a jumble. To my mind it seems as if someone has done a very clever job of taking what wouldn’t normally be noticed as missing. Did we ever get any of her friends into the flat to have a gander? What about the place where she taught? It’s probably a long shot considering that she was retired a few years prior to her disappearance but surely someone would have remembered the kind of stuff she used to own?’

Owen considered her with elevated eyebrows, on the one hand annoyed that he hadn’t spotted it himself but, on the other, delighted that Gaby had decided to pair them together. He’d been to the apartment on more than one occasion along with the CSIs and not one person had observed what she had. ‘Do you know what, Diane? I agree with the guv.’

‘You agree with the guv?’ She opened her eyes to the maximum, her mouth dropping open slightly. ‘I don’t understand?’

‘Have you ever considered switching from PC to DC because, from where I’m sitting, you’re exactly the type of candidate we need. Think about it.’

Chapter 35

Gaby

Tuesday 4 August, 8.40 a.m. St Asaph custodial suite

For the first time since she’d known her, Janice Stevens looked more than a little unkempt. Her usually immaculate hair was uncombed and her linen shift dress had more in common with a scrunched-up chip wrapper than the designer label embroidered on the pocket. But a night in the cells did that to people. It stripped them of all the modern essentials like their mobile along with their dignity before thrusting them into a barren room with a bed that was bolted to the floor, a mattress covered in thick, vomit-proof plastic and a metal toilet fixed in the corner. She’d have been offered a sketchy breakfast along with a whole night in which to think up answers to the questions currently marching around Gaby’s head like soldiers on parade.

Walking into the interview room, Gaby had been puzzling over who Mrs Stevens would have chosen to represent her. As a lawyer, she’d know all the tricks but also the importance of someone on her side for the emotional as well as the legal support. The man standing to shake her hand was a shock and Gaby was hard-pressed to prepare a thin smile as she reached out to take his fingers in the briefest of clasps. After dumping Marie and moving his secretary into the family home, Ivo Morgan was one of the least welcome of people at the station and Gaby regretted with a sudden flare of annoyance who she’d chosen to accompany her. But with Marie following just seconds behind, there was very little she could do apart from hope that both parties would have the sense to bury their differences under a cloak of professionalism. She didn’t have to worry.

‘Ma’am, there’s clearly going to be a conflict of interest if I stay,’ Marie said, as soon as she entered, staring across at Gaby to the exclusion of the other people in the room. ‘I’ll get PC Carbone to take my place.’ She pulled out her mobile and made for the door, only to stop at the sound of Ivo’s voice.

‘I’d like the opportunity to speak to you after the interview, if I may?’

Instead of offering a reply, Marie continued walking, her back ironing-board straight, which had Gaby’s palms itching to break into a round of applause. She glanced across at Ivo’s flushed cheeks, keeping her own expression devoid of emotion as she turned back to Janice.

‘A little blip in the proceedings but PC Carbone will be down in a minute. While we’re waiting, please can you confirm that you were read your rights yesterday and that your name is Janice Stevens? We will, of course, be recording the interview.’ She reached out a hand, flicked on the switch of the wall-mounted microphone