Gone (27 page)

He watched as McIlroy strode towards his car, chest puffed out. Gardner craned his neck to watch his approach and smiled when he noticed the crap. McIlroy spun around, searching for Gardner, who obliged by flashing his lights. McIlroy gave him the finger and Gardner drove away.

And now he was here again for another day in paradise.

A hush fell over the room as Gardner walked into the office. For a second he kept walking to his desk. Awkward silences as he walked in were nothing new. But this time there was something different. The lights on the mini Christmas tree sitting on top of the fridge weren’t flashing. He looked for DC Carol Smith. She always turned them on as soon as she came in. Having the Christmas lights on was more important to her than any crime. Not having them on
was
a crime in her eyes. He located Carol at McIlroy’s desk, drying her eyes with a tissue. Every other eye was on him.

He didn’t bother asking what was wrong. He doubted anyone would respond. Not even Carol. Carol who used to flirt outrageously with him at every work do despite being fifteen years his senior, who’d bring cakes in for the office and always made sure he got one before the rest of the team. He’d always liked her. He was the one who’d started calling her Smithlet. He didn’t call her that any more. She barely spoke to him these days.

‘DS Gardner?’

Gardner turned and found DCI Clarkson in the doorway of her office. She nodded for him to join her. All eyes followed him. Clarkson closed the door gently and pulled out the leather seat for him to sit down.

‘What’s going on?’ Gardner asked.

‘Please,’ she said. ‘Take a seat.’

Gardner did as he was told and waited for Clarkson to tell him. Instead she sat gazing out at the rest of the team. McIlroy was standing staring in at them, his arms crossed, his face red.

‘What’s wrong with Carol?’

Clarkson let out a deep breath and licked her lips. She looked tired. Before she spoke she spread her hands out on her desk as if to steady herself. ‘I was informed this morning about the death of DS Stuart Wallace,’ she said.

Gardner felt like he’d been hit in the chest with a griddle pan. Wallace was dead? He looked over his shoulder and saw McIlroy was still watching him. He turned back to Clarkson; a thousand thoughts went through his mind. ‘What happened?’

‘It appears that DS Wallace took his own life,’ she said.

Gardner felt the thud against his chest again. He hadn’t been expecting that.

‘Slit his wrists. He wasn’t found until it was too late. He was pronounced dead at the scene.’

Gardner couldn’t get his head around it. Wallace was dead. Killed himself. He’d never have imagined he was the kind of man who’d do that.

‘Jesus. They probably would’ve just given him a slap on the wrist,’ Gardner said.

Clarkson raised an eyebrow and he quickly regretted his choice of words. ‘Probably,’ she said. ‘But clearly he didn’t see it that way.’

Gardner thought he was going to puke. He could feel his pulse in his neck. There was comeuppance and then there was fucking stupid. The stupid bastard. Gardner put his hand over his mouth. He hoped Clarkson didn’t notice the shake.

‘What about Annie?’ he said, more to himself than to Clarkson. ‘Did she find him?’

‘No, but I believe she’s been informed. As has his wife.’

‘His daughter?’

Clarkson shrugged. ‘I imagine her mother would do that,’ she said. ‘She’s how old?’

‘Twelve,’ Gardner said. He almost looked over his shoulder again but couldn’t face the sight of them all. Didn’t know how he was going to walk out of Clarkson’s office. This wasn’t his fault, he knew that. But how many of them agreed with him these days?

Chapter 62

17 December 2010

Adam had called everyone he knew. Whether they knew Louise or not didn’t matter, he called them anyway. He’d knocked on doors and asked neighbours he’d never spoken to before. He’d been to the supermarket and walked up and down every aisle. He’d checked the library, the university, bookshops, the post office, the local shop. Anywhere that Louise went on a semi-regular basis, he tried. And then he called her phone again just in case she’d gone home.

His gut told him something was wrong but he didn’t know what. Or why.

He walked into the police station and told the desk sergeant his problem. The man didn’t seem particularly interested but he told Adam to take a seat and eventually a young, pretty officer came out and asked him to follow her.

Adam felt like an idiot, despite her kind smile, as she invited him to sit down. She introduced herself as PC Lawton and asked Adam to explain his problem. She reached into her pocket and retrieved a notebook.

Adam sighed as he finished telling Lawton what had happened. He knew as he’d driven over to the station that they wouldn’t take him seriously, and despite Lawton trying to make the effort to look like she did, he could tell that she wasn’t too concerned.

‘So your girlfriend—’ she started.

‘Louise,’ Adam said.

‘Louise,’ Lawton repeated. ‘Louise’s been missing since yesterday as far as you know?’

‘That’s it. I don’t know. I was away for the night. I came back this morning and she was gone.’

‘When was the last time you spoke?’

‘Yesterday afternoon. And I know it’s not long, but she just disappeared. The back door was left open, the door – the glass in the door’s broken, her phone is still there, her purse is still there,’ Adam said. ‘Why would she leave of her own accord and not take them with her?’

Lawton gave him a tight smile. ‘I don’t know, Mr Quinn. You know your girlfriend better than I do. Is she forgetful? Impulsive? Does she have any medical problems?’

Adam rolled his eyes. ‘No she’s not impulsive or forgetful. If I thought she would do something like this I wouldn’t be here. And she has no medical problems,’ he added, wondering if he should’ve been checking the hospitals.

Lawton sighed. ‘I’m sorry but I have to ask these questions.’ She looked at the few notes she’d made. ‘And you said you’ve tried friends and relatives,’ she said.

‘Yes, I’ve tried everyone. I’ve been everywhere she could’ve gone but she’s not in any of those places.’ He leaned forward again. ‘Please. Something’s happened to her. She wouldn’t have just gone. The door was left open.’

‘Were there any other signs of disturbance? Look like anything was taken?’

‘No,’ Adam said. ‘Nothing like that.’

Lawton looked him over and he caught her glancing at his hands. ‘Let me ask you, Mr Quinn, have you had any arguments with your girlfriend recently? Any fights? A dispute over where to spend Christmas Day, something like that?’

‘No,’ Adam said. ‘We haven’t argued. We’re happy.’

Lawton looked Adam in the eye and Adam wondered if she could hear his thoughts.
Were
they happy? He thought they were, but Louise had been acting weird the last few days. Was that it? Was she unhappy with him? Was that what the address he’d found in her diary was about? She was planning to leave him?

No, he didn’t believe it. If Louise wanted out of their relationship she wouldn’t just go like that. She wouldn’t leave everything behind.

‘We’re happy,’ he said again.

Lawton sighed again. ‘Your girlfriend’s a grown-up, Mr Quinn. Unless she has some kind of mental health problem, there’s nothing I can do for twenty-four hours.’ She put her hand up as Adam started to argue. ‘And I know you said you weren’t there yesterday, but that doesn’t mean Louise wasn’t there.’ She stood up. ‘All I can suggest is that you go home and wait for her to come back. If she hasn’t returned by tonight then give us a call and we’ll see what we can do. We could always send someone to take prints from the door but if nothing was taken . . .’

Lawton opened the door and turned back when Adam didn’t follow. Adam pulled out his wallet and found a picture of Louise. He dug in his pockets for a bit of paper but came up empty-handed and instead turned the photo over.

‘Can I borrow your pen,’ he said.

Adam wrote his name, phone number and address on the back of the photo and handed it to Lawton with the pen. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘She wouldn’t have just gone off of her own free will. I know she wouldn’t.’

Lawton looked at the picture and nodded at Adam. ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she said and showed Adam out.

Chapter 63

17 December 2010

Freeman pulled into the car park and turned off the engine. She looked at Gardner, who was staring ahead at the building like an arachnophobe about to be handed a box of tarantulas.

‘You ready?’ she asked and he nodded and climbed out of the car. ‘We’ll go straight to the cells. Mike Rogen is going to meet us there. You know him?’ she asked.

‘Nope,’ he said and Freeman tried to think of something else to say to clear the air. She’d already assumed Gardner didn’t know Rogen; he’d only been there six years. She’d been hoping it would put him at ease, knowing he wasn’t about to face someone he knew, but she guessed he’d taken it as another probing question. That she’d been wanting to get Rogen to dish the dirt on him later.

‘We shouldn’t be here too long,’ she said, trying to keep pace with him. ‘We’ll head to Alnwick as soon as possible. Try and catch up with Ben Swales.’ Gardner just nodded and opened the door, letting her walk through first.

As they walked down towards the cells she heard a voice behind her call her name and she felt her stomach tighten. She turned around and saw McIlroy walking towards her. When he saw Gardner his face dropped.

‘What the fuck is he doing here?’ McIlroy said. Gardner gave Freeman a look that told her he was about as happy as McIlroy. He probably thought she’d set it up. Set
him
up.

‘DI Gardner is helping with the Emma Thorley investigation,’ she said.

‘DI?’ McIlroy said. ‘Who’d you screw over to get that?’

‘Fuck you, Bob,’ Gardner said with a weariness that made Freeman think he’d been asked it before.

‘This is why you were asking about him?’ McIlroy said to Freeman and she felt her face burn. ‘I told you he was scum, told you what he did and you still bring him in here?’

‘You didn’t tell me anything,’ she said, trying not to look at Gardner. ‘But this is about an investigation which DI Gardner can help with. This has nothing to do with you.’

McIlroy turned to Gardner, getting up in his face. ‘You seen Stu Wallace’s kid recently?’ Freeman saw Gardner’s hands curl into fists.

‘You seen your badge recently?’ she said, and watched McIlroy’s face turn red. ‘Fuck off, McIlroy,’ she said and moved between the two men. ‘We’ve got work to do. Why don’t you go and find a paper to read.’

McIlroy snorted and walked away. Gardner watched him go and then turned and walked in the opposite direction. Freeman caught up with him.

‘I’m sorry about that,’ she said.

‘It’s fine.’

‘No, it’s not. And I only asked about you because you’d worked on Emma’s case and I needed to find you. I wasn’t looking for—’

‘It’s fine,’ he said again.

‘I don’t want you to think that I believe the bullshit that comes out of McIlroy’s mouth. Whatever happened in the past, I don’t care. I just—’

Gardner stopped, causing Freeman to almost walk into him. ‘Leave it alone, Freeman,’ he said and walked away, leaving her standing alone in the corridor.

Chapter 64

9 December 1999

He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He knew he shouldn’t have come. For his sake as much as theirs. Of course he wasn’t going to go marching into the chapel and make this harder for them than it already was. He had no intention of getting out of the car. But just seeing the look on her face as the car pulled up with the coffin was enough for his heart to break and for him to wish more than anything that none of this had ever happened.

She looked younger than twelve. She was short and skinny, had red hair like her mother. There was no trace of Stuart Wallace in the girl’s appearance.