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

trace. Oh, this is more promising – her retirement gift. Not a clock this time, the stingy beggars. Only a slimline pen. Looks to be gold,’ he said, squinting down at the photo that had accompanied the list.

‘Engraved?’

Instead of replying, he shut off his phone and flung it on the dashboard.

Gaby glanced across, noting his stony glare and flared nostrils. ‘What is it? Something about the pen you recognise?’

‘Yes. How could I have been so bloody stupid—’

‘Stop a mo. It will have to wait.’ Gaby grabbed his arm, her gaze drawn to the scene unfolding across the road. ‘Why doesn’t Anita open the door?’

They both watched Janice return to the Saab before heading back to the house, this time with Ellie and Ronan by her side. Gaby jumped out of the car and started to run. She’d already reached the gate of the property by the time Ronan had pushed open the front door with the flat of his hand.

Gaby’s home was her safe place but a locked door with the security chain fastened was the thing that made it secure. Ystâd golygfa’r môr estate was a world away from her little home in Rhos-on-Sea and for the Frys it must have felt frightening at times. As a parent, Anita had done everything possible to protect their safety, Gaby recollected, thinking about the industrial-sized Yale lock and thick security chain. There was no way she’d ever forget to lock her front door.

There hadn’t been many times in Gaby’s career when she’d felt in need of more protection than her brain, the only thing available to her right now apart from Owen’s brawn. There was no reason for the sudden fear turning her belly to an ice-cold mass or for her bowels to rumble. She knew the science but understanding the role certain chemicals had on both her mental and physical state was of little help with her heart bounding underneath her Marks and Spencer’s plain white blouse, her fingers starting to shake.

She raced up to the entrance, Owen matching her stride for stride, and was poised on the threshold when she heard the scream. But the scream didn’t stop. It continued, one long, high, thin wail that ripped through the air, tearing her emotions to shreds and her muscles to blancmange. Had she got it wrong, yet again?

Chapter 50

Ronan

Tuesday 4 August, 1.40 p.m. Colwyn Bay

Ronan was the first to see the blood, the handprint positioned in the centre of the wall like some new art movement. Ellie, still clutching on to his fingers, was the second.

He pulled her towards him, his thin arms around her back, with no thought of how much he disliked being hugged. But no hug could stop the scream gathering momentum in the back of her throat just as no ear defenders were man enough to dim the piercing squeal by a single, solitary decibel.

The hall felt crowded all of a sudden and, glancing up from where he’d been awkwardly patting Ellie’s back, he was almost glad to see that short detective, whatever her name, standing in the doorway, only partly obscured by his mother.

It took one look at the bloodied handprint on the wall and she’d taken charge. His sense of relief was intense as she passed them over to a colleague. There’d be questions that needed answering, lots of questions. But all he was bothered about was Ellie, who’d flopped in his arms as if the effort of standing was suddenly too much, her scream changing to a low, heart-breaking moan.

‘I’m Detective Owen Bates. Let’s go sit in the car. If you’d like me to take her …?’

But Ellie, for all her inertia, clung on to Ronan with a grip far in excess of either her age or her size.

‘No, I’m fine. We’ll be fine, won’t we, kid?’ he said, trying to make light out of something that was deathly serious, and he was telling a blatant lie to boot. They’d never be fine again.

He huddled in the back of the Honda, ignoring his mother who’d slipped into the passenger seat. Ellie’s sobs slowly subsided as she fell into a semi-comatose state.

It was only then that he met Owen’s eye and whispered the question that had been tearing at his mind ever since he’d entered Ellie’s home.

‘Where’s her mother?’

Chapter 51

Gaby

Tuesday 4 August, 2 p.m. Colwyn Bay

Anita Fry was nowhere to be found. There was blood in the kitchen, lots of blood, along with broken crockery and overturned chairs. Jason was on his way, along with a full complement of CSIs, but it would take time to puzzle out what had happened, and time was the one thing that they didn’t have. Ellie was the key here, the little girl sitting in the back of the car with both Owen and Ronan watching over her.

Gaby, for all her calming presence and organised mind, was in shock. Not to the same level as Ellie but enough to start tearing herself up about what they could have done differently. No. What she should have done differently. If there was any blame to be apportioned, she knew she had to be the one to step forward. She should have worked it out sooner or even if she hadn’t she could at least have listened to Owen’s suggestion about flagging down the car. But what-ifs and maybes wouldn’t help Ellie’s mother, not now. Gaby had to make the girl talk. It wouldn’t be that difficult, she reasoned, heading out to the car. After all, she had a fair idea as to what Ellie was going to say. As soon as she’d seen the full list of Anita’s cleaning jobs a picture had started forming in her mind, the three cases converging. Katherine Jane and Barbara Matthews. One dead. One missing and presumed dead. And finally, Ellie. A little girl beside herself with grief.

The car was quiet, too quiet. Owen lifted his head from his phone and where he’d been most likely alerting the team back