Vanished

Chapter 30

Maggie went to bed before Jack, whilst he stayed up seething and drinking. Today had certainly been one for the books: he was bound to be questioned in connection to Tania’s unnatural death, and he was harbouring one of Britain’s most wanted in rural Wales. And he had to work out how to share the damning information he now knew about Wetlock’s connection to drugs without divulging where that information had come from. The only thing he was certain about was that he’d never reveal Julia’s whereabouts. Self-preservation dictated that, but she was also a guiding light in the otherwise dark lives of the children in her care. And Jack knew first-hand how much that mattered.

Maggie had been a little sheepish when she’d kissed him goodbye and driven to work. She’d offered to leave him the car — regardless of the fact that it was her day to have it — so he knew she felt guilty for blabbing to Wetlock.

Jack sat at the breakfast table, head down, going through notes he’d made on his iPhone in the early hours of that morning. He’d made a big mistake not reporting Tania’s visits to his home. He’d have to explain that decision, without it looking like he had something to hide. And he’d have to explain why he asked Laura to go and speak to Tania without making it official first.

‘Watch her, Jack. She’s showing you what she can do.’ Jack looked up to see Penny staring at him. She nodded towards Hannah, who was sliding an upside-down spoon along her cheek towards her gaping mouth. The thick porridge was currently defying gravity... Penny and Jack willed the spoon towards her mouth before it was too late! Success was greeted with a cheer and a round of applause. Hannah beamed with pride as she lifted her arms into the air, just like Daddy was doing, and cheered her own cleverness. Then, focussed and determined, she went in for another spoonful of porridge.

Penny asked if everything was OK between Jack and Maggie.

‘’Course. Yeah. It’s work.’ Jack toyed with the idea of not telling Penny about Tania’s death. But the truth was that he’d be better positioned if someone other than him could give a statement about how volatile she was, and how he did nothing inappropriate. ‘You remember the girl who was here when you and Maggie came back from the hen night?’

‘Do I?’ Penny scoffed. ‘Maggie told me all about her the next day.’ Penny made a disapproving tutting sound as she recalled just how out of control Tania had been. ‘She was hysterical! Stumbling out of the front door looking like she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards. Effing and jeffing, calling you the B word. The sofa cushions were all over the floor and Hannah was screaming her poor little head off. It took me an hour to scrub the coffee off the kitchen walls. And I had to soak your T-shirt where she’d smeared her lipstick across the shoulder.’

Jack immediately regretted mentioning it. If his mum told the police any of that, she’d end up being a witness for the bloody prosecution.

‘She died, Mum.’

Penny’s attitude immediately changed. She put her hand on her chest. ‘Oh, the poor girl.’

‘I’ll be giving a statement today about the two occasions she came here,’ Jack continued. ‘If I don’t have to mention you as a witness, I won’t, but if I do... you can see how everything you’ve just said could make me look at fault. Yes, she was hysterical, but if you say that, they might think I did something to make her hysterical.’

Penny laughed and said that obviously Jack would never do anything to hurt anyone, not grasping the seriousness of the situation.

‘The officer who interviews me, won’t know me. Tania’s dead and it’ll be his job to find out if it was foul play. That’s all he’ll be interested in. Did she have a run-in with anyone? Did anyone not like her? I’m a detective, Mum. This could lose me my job if it goes the wrong way.’

Penny said that she understood and promised not to do or say anything that would make him look bad. Jack had visions of her telling the interviewing officer that he’d always been a good boy, expecting that to be enough. He decided there and then that he’d do everything in his power to keep Penny’s name out of it.

Jack didn’t know how to start his day in earnest. Maggie, Penny and Hannah were all out of the house and he had various options in front of him. He never had options! He normally just got showered, dressed and headed to work. Today, if he felt like it, he could go and buy a paper, or go for a run, or sit in the garden. The problem with all of those choices, however, was that Jack didn’t want to do any of them. He wanted to be at work.

When his mobile rang and he saw Laura’s name appear on the screen, he answered before it had rung twice. ‘What the hell, Jack,’ Laura mocked, ‘bloody Tania’s dead and you’re in the mix — again!’

Jack hated the fucking police grapevine. He should have known the news of Tania Wetlock’s death would get back to the station before he did. He asked if Laura had called purely to take the piss.

‘I wish I could say yes. Drug Squad has made an arrest. They clocked some guy in the vicinity of the Jenkins’ property every day for the past week. Sometimes more than once a day. He sits at the bus stop on Kingston Hill, walks a dog, or jogs through the main private road, the security bloke at the barrier there smiles and waves, and he then runs towards the open grounds just north of the woodland behind the Jenkins’ back garden. They took a few days to ascertain that it’s always the same guy. He’s low-hanging fruit, that’s their description, in other words a junkie. Anyway, Josh thinks he can turn him.’ Jack heard Laura let out a girlish little titter. ‘Josh could turn anyone.’

‘All I can say, Laura...’ She let out a sigh and waited for Jack to rib her about falling for the wrong man again. ‘. . . is that you’ve chosen another man who you can’t possibly end up with because he doesn’t even live in this country, so you might as well enjoy it whilst it lasts. Have fun. He’s a good guy, I think.’

After the call, Jack sat at the kitchen table, cradling a cup of tea and watching the drizzle run down the windowpane. The lines of water annoyed him as they took the path of least resistance down to the sill below. As he sat there contemplating how predictable certain courses of action were, his mind drifted back to Julia and the thought of her made him smile. He would never have expected her to come back to the UK. Yet there she was, living the life she’d always dreamed of, completely invisible to the police. Being predictable gets you caught, Jack thought to himself, like the man who went back to Avril’s house again and again.

Jack now started thinking about the second witness signature on Avril Jenkins’ will. Who was she in frequent enough contact with to ask? Not Adam, because, as beneficiary, he’d be prohibited from also acting as witness. Not Hutchinson, as that would be a conflict of interest. As Jack watched the rain slowly stop, the sun took over and created miniature rainbows in the water trails on the glass. It was beautiful. Like a work of art... Jason Marks? That would make sense as an option.

Jack dialled Arnold Hutchinson’s office number and received a cheerful greeting from May. ‘Good morning, May. DS Jack Warr. I wanted to talk to you about Avril Jenkins’ new will, as witnessed by Hester Mancroft and Jason Marks?’ Jack put a slight inflection on the end of his sentence to make it sound like a question, in the hope that the first thing May would do was confirm that he’d got the details correct.

‘That’s right, yes. How can I help you?’

‘Has the new will been verified yet, please, May?’

She was proving to be very trusting so far and therefore quite easy to manipulate. Jack continued to use her first name in order to make the conversation sound like a casual chat. She confirmed that as she understood it the Will was now certified as being genuine. Jack laughed out the next few words: ‘Oh, I bet Terence had something to say about that!’ May joined in the laughter, saying that Terence certainly could swear for such a respectable-looking man. Jack made another casual comment about will-contesting taking such a long time, and May replied that Terence was prepared to do anything to get back the personal property that had once belonged to his brother. He cared less about the house, not to mention the tat Avril had purchased in more recent years.

Jack and May finally exchanged brief opinions on the weather, and she assured him that the sun was now due to stay out, so their afternoon would be delightful. Jack thanked her for her time and said goodbye. He’d got everything he needed from the lovely May, and she’d only learn that she’d broken confidentiality when she informed Arnold Hutchinson of their conversation.

As soon as Jack ended the call with May, a text message from Ridley appeared on the screen:

Jack swore — just the fact that Ridley was privy to the situation was enough to make him more than pissed off. The next call he made was to Foxy.

‘How’s married life, Jack? You know you only get sex once a week from here on in, don’t you, mate? Friday. Tea, Inspector Morse, sex, then you can stay up and watch Match of the Day whilst she’s upstairs reading Fifty Shades.’

‘Match of the Day is on Saturday, and Maggie read that novel when it first came out!’ Jack responded, making Foxy laugh out loud.

‘Are you doing the post-mortem on Tania Wetlock today?’

‘I don’t recall seeing your name on the paperwork, DS Warr, so I can’t tell you anything in relation to the post-mortem of Tania Wetlock. Let’s catch up properly over a pint after work... that’s if the old ball and chain will let you out unescorted. Four o’clock. Prior to that, I’ll be in the lab with my newest patient.’ Foxy hung up before Jack could thank him. His day was suddenly filling up.

Jack now knew that whilst he was being interviewed by DC Lyle about Tania Wetlock, Foxy would be examining her corpse. By four o’clock, Jack and Foxy would be comparing notes, and hopefully he’d find out whether or not Elliot Wetlock had anything to do with his daughter’s death.