‘I couldn’t go in,’ Marianne said as she led them up the stairs, keys jangling between her jittery fingers.
Gina was grateful that she hadn’t. She wanted to see exactly how Holly was living without anyone moving things. ‘No neighbour,’ Gina said, noticing that it was a tiny block with only one apartment on the top floor.
Marianne poked the key towards the hole and missed, scratching the wood on the door.
‘Shall I?’
Marianne nodded and handed the keys to Gina.
‘Ms Long, I’d like to search around your daughter’s apartment in the hope that we find something that helps the investigation. I just need your consent to do that.’
‘I want this person caught. Do whatever you need to.’
Snapping on a blue glove, Gina entered first, turning the hall light on. All the interior doors were closed. The scent of an air freshener tickled Gina’s nose, a sneeze definitely on the horizon. She walked through, followed closely by Marianne, then Jacob and O’Connor. She opened the door to the lounge where the evening light shone through the window, casting shadows from the trees on the opposite side of the road. It looked as if spooky fingers were reaching out into the apartment. Gina shivered. A slight chill in the air gave the apartment a vacant feeling, but something else was adding to this sense of unease. Everything looked so clean and perfect, pretty much like a show home. The furniture looked designer in every way. Holly was basically an accounts clerk. This brand-new-looking apartment seemed a little out of reach for someone on her wage. Maybe Gina had it wrong but something wasn’t adding up.
Every surface shone and not a fleck of dust or lint spoiled anything. Gina hurried through to the kitchen. Shiny from every angle. The smell of disinfectant and bleach was overwhelming.
‘Holly hated mess and dirt. She’d always clean things up straight away. Knowing her, she would have made sure everything was lovely to come back to after her night away.’ Marianne walked over to one of the cupboards and opened it. Every tin, plate and cup had its place. She picked up the only thing that cluttered the worktop, an opened bottle of red wine. She opened the top and winced. ‘I think this has had it.’
Gina felt a sharp pain run through her head, the need to sleep almost overwhelming her. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were in a murder victim’s apartment, she’d love nothing more than to curl up on the sofa in the other room and have a nap. Another sneeze was building up. Gina’s nose twitched before the sneeze escaped. ‘Excuse me,’ she said as she continued. As she blew her nose, she opened the bin – empty.
Gina glanced back at the wine. Would Holly have been drinking if she knew she was pregnant? They knew nothing about how Holly felt about her situation. Could the wine belong to a visitor? Possibly the man with the blue shirt? ‘Can you call Holly’s number? Maybe we’ll be able to locate her phone.’
Marianne ran her fingers over a Little Miss Sunshine apron that was pinned to the back of the kitchen door. ‘I bought this for her birthday last year.’
Jacob went to speak and Gina pressed her finger against her lips, hushing him.
Marianne left the kitchen and hurried to the one bedroom and sat on her daughter’s bed, grabbing her pillow and inhaling it. ‘She’s never coming back.’
The bedroom was just like the other rooms, perfectly clean and tidy in every way, not a thing out of place.
‘May I?’
‘Yes,’ Marianne replied.
Gina carefully opened the wardrobe a little, half hoping to find a blue shirt, or any man’s shirt, but there was nothing but women’s clothes – Gucci, Armani, labels galore. The bottom of the wardrobe was full of neat lines of women’s shoes, including a couple of pairs of Prada. She slid open the drawers, one by one, and once again, only Holly’s clothes filled them. The bathroom. If a man was staying, there would have to be some items of his.
‘Let it all out, Ms Long,’ Jacob said as he sat with the distraught woman.
Gina crept along the landing and opened the last door, the one she hoped would yield something helpful. Like the rest of the apartment, every surface gleamed. She opened the storage unit and the medicine cabinet. Prescription antidepressants, in Holly’s name. That confirmed the depressive episodes that Holly’s friend spoke of. The drawer under the sink – only Holly’s things once again. There was no sign of another person ever being here and, worst of all, no sign of her phone or tablet.
The sobbing had stopped and Gina went back into the bedroom. ‘Ms Long, we really need to find Holly’s phone. Could you please try to call her? Maybe it’s in the flat somewhere.’
‘I don’t have her mobile number. I call her on the home phone.’ Marianne looked a little confused as she paused. ‘She was meant to give it to me when she had a new phone but she never did. Time just passed and I didn’t ask again. She was always on Facebook. We messaged and FaceTimed mostly. That seemed enough.’
‘How long had she had her new phone for?’
‘Three months, four maybe. She said she had a new contract. I can’t be sure. As I say, she used her tablet mostly but only on Wi-Fi. I’m going to miss her FaceTiming me.’
The mystery of the missing phone and tablet was the thing that was worrying Gina the most, along with how clean her flat seemed.
Jacob and O’Connor joined Gina on the landing outside the apartment, giving Marianne a few moments to herself. ‘O’Connor, will you go to the apartment below and ask if they’ve heard anyone in the flat above today or indeed any other day? Anyone who wasn’t Holly. Also ask at the chip shop if they have any CCTV pointing in this direction. If anyone entered this block today, I want to know. I need to know that someone didn’t come in and sanitise the place, just to satisfy my own curiosity. Oh, one last thing. Find out if the communal bins have been emptied.’
‘I’ll go now.’ O’Connor began stomping down the stairs, his large feet almost seeming too big for each step.
Marianne left the apartment carrying a stuffed rabbit. ‘This was her childhood friend, Flopsy Dopsy.’ She smiled fondly as she held the rabbit closely.
‘Ms Long. There’s something else we need to tell you and I don’t know whether you want to go back inside to sit down.’
‘You know something? Have you arrested someone?’
Gina shook her head and gulped. ‘Shall we go inside?’
‘I don’t want to go inside. Whatever you need to tell me, you can tell me here. I don’t want to go in and be reminded that I’ll never see Holly again. I can’t.’ She took a few deep breaths and steadied herself on the window ledge.
‘Okay, I’m sorry. I need you to know that Holly was pregnant. We have just found out.’
The woman shrieked. ‘It gets worse. How could anyone do this to her? How could they? Who’s the father?’
‘That’s what we need to find out. None of her friends knew that she was seeing anyone. Can you think back? Did she mention anyone to you?’
‘No! If she had, I’d tell you.’ The woman broke down and gripped the rabbit. ‘I need to get out of here. I’m suffocating.’ She gasped as redness spread across her neck.
‘Breath in and out. Count with me. One, two, three.’ Gina continued breathing with Marianne until she regained control. ‘Come on. Let’s lock up. May we keep this key for now? We’d like to come back for a further look.’