AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jesus.
‘So she lied,’ says Jennie. ‘She bloody lied.’
Jennie tries to control a rush of anger. Siobhan Gibbons’ witness statement was the main reason the police stopped looking for Hannah, the reason she was ruled a runaway. That was the moment Jennie began to doubt herself and the relationship she’d had with Hannah. Why she started to believe that Hannah had left town without her. Over the months, with still no word from Hannah, Jennie came to believe Hannah had betrayed her trust. That their friendship meant far less to her than to Jennie. And the realisation had destroyed her.
‘The team leading the original investigation screwed up,’ says Zuri, looking pissed off.
‘Yeah. They did,’ says Jennie. Sloppy coppers doing a half-arsed job make her sick to her stomach. So do members of the public like Siobhan Gibbons, craving attention so much that they give false information on a misper case. It would be easy to get lost in the anger, the injustice of it all, but she can’t. Hannah deserves justice, and she needs the truth.
She looks around the room at her team. ‘We can’t change the cock-ups of the past, but we can make sure we don’t make the same mistakes. Paul Jennings has lied to us, and in the original investigation. We need to bring him in and talk to him formally.’ Jennie looks towards Martin. ‘Set it up. We’ll interview him here this afternoon. You can ride shotgun. Book room two; let’s make him as uncomfortable as possible.’
‘No problem, boss,’ says Martin, a triumphant grin on his face as he looks towards Zuri.
Zuri’s expression is impassive, but Jennie knows she must be frustrated not to get in on the interview. It’s a shitty situation but although the way Paul Jennings presented last night was very different to the violent, woman-hating man Hannah had complained about, he could revert to type under the stress of being more formally questioned. If that happens, Jennie needs options in the room and it’s a sad truth that a man who doesn’t respect women is far more likely to respond to Martin than to her or Zuri. Jennie knows it’s messed up, especially in this day and age.
‘Okay, thanks everyone,’ says Jennie. ‘Keep working through the action list. We’ll regroup end of day.’
As the others file out of the incident room Zuri stays behind. ‘I think we should broaden the search to include everyone who used the basement space, like Elliott Naylor, Rob Marwood and the rest of this darkroom crew.’
Jennie frowns. ‘They were just kids though.’
‘Kids can be killers,’ counters Zuri. ‘You know that.’
‘No, I think the dad is our strongest lead at the moment, we need to focus on him.’ Jennie shakes her head. She doesn’t want this discussion. Doesn’t want to think about Elliott and the rest of the crew in that way; her friends couldn’t have had anything to do with Hannah’s death.
Could they?
Chapter 13
‘I’d never hurt her.’ Paul Jennings glances from Jennie to DS Martin Wright. ‘She was my world, my little girl. You should be finding her killer, not wasting time harassing me.’
Jennie holds his gaze. ‘Tell us about the trips to A&E, Mr Jennings.’
‘A&E? I …’ Paul’s clearly surprised by the question.
‘On Hannah’s medical records there are details of two visits to the local emergency department within the last year of her life.’ Jennie picks up her notebook and reads from it. ‘She received treatment for a broken wrist on one occasion, and a drugs overdose on the last visit, four weeks before her death.’
Paul looks horrified. ‘A drugs overdose, I never—’
‘The pathologist who examined her remains also found evidence of other injuries sustained within the six months before she died, including three broken ribs for which she appeared not to have received medical attention.’ Jennie looks at Hannah’s dad over the top of the notebook. ‘What can you tell us about that?’
‘I don’t know anything about a drugs overdose or her breaking any ribs,’ Paul Jennings replies quickly, not making eye contact as he speaks. ‘A broken wrist, yes. She did it falling over on the ice. I took her to the hospital myself.’
‘Are you sure about the broken ribs?’ Jennie asks.
‘Very,’ snaps Paul, his face reddening.
He did it.
Rage builds inside Jennie as she imagines Paul beating her friend. Her tone is harder as she asks, ‘And the overdose?’
Paul frowns and shakes his head. ‘My Hannah didn’t do drugs. No way.’
Jennie isn’t sure if he’s being evasive about the drugs or just in denial, but he’s definitely lying about breaking Hannah’s ribs. The softly-spoken man who came into the room barely ten minutes ago has morphed into someone far more sullen and guarded. ‘How do you know? From what you’ve already told us you were out at work most evenings. Can you be sure what she was doing in your absence?’
‘I had to earn a living, didn’t I,’ Paul Jennings retorts. ‘I was a single dad, it was up to me to put food on the table, clothes on her back.’
‘So losing your job on the motorway construction team must have come as a real blow then?’ says Jennie.
