‘Tell me about his friends.’
‘Alan’s?’
‘Yes.’ Anna found it strange that Tina was so unemotional – helpful, yes, but she showed no sign of distress. Everything was very matter-of-fact. She had left the room to return with Alan’s address book and passed it to Anna.
‘He didn’t have that many close friends, and we didn’t really socialise that much as we were saving up. We spent most of our time together watching DVDs and didn’t go out a lot.’
‘Did he drink?’
‘Not really, just the odd glass of wine.’
‘Drugs?’
‘Good heavens, no. Alan was very straitlaced; he didn’t even like taking the medication for his headaches as he said it made him feel woozy.’
‘What about enemies?’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Did anyone have a grudge against him?’ Anna then glanced at Paul, indicating she was leaving any further questions to him.
‘No. You only had to meet him to know that he was a really nice guy. He hated confrontation of any kind – took after his father. They were very close.’
Tina then went at some length into how good a relationship Alan had with his parents, and how caring he was towards his mother, often phoning her two or three times a week and visiting her.
‘She’s in another world, doesn’t really know who anyone is. It’s very sad, but he adored her and he was an only child. He reckoned he owed his parents a lot. They’d paid for his education and I think his dad had given him the money for the Mercedes.’
‘What about his bank balance?’
Tina got up again and crossed to the same drawer, taking out copies of their bank statements. They had a joint savings account – of just over seventy thousand pounds.
There was a current account that was used to pay the rent, and into which Alan’s wages were paid directly, so it was clear how much he withdrew to live on. Not a lot. Tina also had a separate account for her beauty salon; this was overdrawn by thirty-five thousand.
‘We saved the seventy thousand between us. Alan did well out of doing up and selling on old classic cars and the salon had a good turnover being in Hounslow High Street.’
‘Your salon looks in trouble,’ Anna said quietly.
‘Yeah, well, it’s the recession. We do hair, nails and beauty treatments, but when money is short, women don’t make appointments. I think the business is picking up though – thank God, as I’m on my overdraft limit and the bank doesn’t like it.’
‘Do you own the salon?’
‘No, I only rent it – but on a five-year lease. I work hard, but like I said, it’s been a bit worrying, which is why I’ve been spending so much time there and taking a cut in wages. I really want to make it successful.’
‘How long have you had the salon?’ Anna asked, still glancing over the bank statements.
‘Almost two years. Before that I was a beautician at Selfridges in Oxford Street. I employ two good hairdressers, one a stylist, and the other can do beauty treatments as well as hair. I’ve also got two trainees plus a girl on reception, and business is picking up. Well, you can see that from the accounts.’
Anna suspected that Tina’s business probably had a far bigger turnover than she wanted to reveal and she was using the overdraft as an excuse to hide the fact.
Tina told them all about her salon, about buying the equipment and redecorating, and how Alan had helped, spending many nights working there before she was ready to open. When she ran out of things to say, Anna spoke again.
‘Let’s go back to your feelings that Alan may have been seeing someone else.’
‘Well, like I said, it was just because I caught him out lying about working in the garage. I never found out if he
‘Why is that?’
‘Because he’s disappeared,’ Tina said, tight-lipped with impatience.
‘When you discussed these late nights with Alan, how did he react?’
She shrugged and said that he just told her she was being stupid, as he was working on his Merc and if the phone wasn’t answered at the garage it was because he was outside.
‘So he didn’t get angry – you didn’t argue?’
‘Alan wasn’t that type. I don’t think we ever really had a cross word, to be honest, which is why I don’t understand how he could just leave me without saying something.’
‘But he hasn’t taken any money?’
‘Not that I know of, but when he sold the cars he did up it was often for cash deals.’
‘What about his clothes? Has he taken anything – a suitcase even?’
‘I can’t be certain. I mean, I don’t know every item of clothing he’s got – but I suppose he could have taken a few things.’
‘Have you checked?’
‘Yes, of course. I told the Missing Persons officer his washing bag and toiletries have gone, but I wouldn’t really know exactly what clothes were missing.’
‘Why didn’t you report him missing?’
‘I thought he might have gone off with another woman and I was waiting for him to contact me. When his dad said he’d reported him missing, I thought he’d done the right thing.’
Anna stood up and asked to be shown around the flat. Tina looked at her watch, saying she wouldn’t have much more time as she had to shower and get to work. She led them down a narrow corridor and gestured at a small box room.
‘We use this to store a few things as it’s so small.’
Anna looked into the room. A single bed and a desk stood beside a row of fitted wardrobes. There was the same beige carpet in there too, and matching curtains.
‘Did Alan have a computer?’
‘No. He was always going to get a laptop, but never got around to it.’
Tina then led them to the master bedroom. This was as nondescript as the rest of the flat. It contained a king-sized bed with a duvet and a Moroccan throw across it. The double wardrobes were crammed with Tina’s clothes and shoes. Alan’s side had only a few things in it; a couple of suits, shirts, and in a row of drawers were socks, underpants, two pairs of jeans and three T-shirts.
Anna thought that a man of Alan’s age would have had more clothing, particularly informal wear.
‘What sort of casual clothes did Alan dress in?’
‘Mostly jeans, black or blue denim with a white or blue T-shirt. I don’t know how many pairs of jeans or T- shirts he had so that’s why I don’t know exactly what clothing he could have taken.’
‘What about work-clothes – mechanic’s overalls?’
Tina nodded and said they were kept in the small utility room as he would take off his dirty clothes and put them straight into the washing machine when he returned from work. They trooped in there to look, and sure enough, there were some work-boots, a couple of denim jackets and jeans and two oil-stained overalls.
The kitchen was immaculate, with a juicer on the Formica top and a bowl of more fresh fruit. Nothing looked as if it was used very often, and the cream and black floor was highly polished, as was everything else. Anna sniffed; there was a distinct smell of bleach mixed with a heavy lavender room spray. They next went outside to look into Alan’s garage. This was almost as neat, with all his equipment hanging on hooks and Tina’s VW parked inside.
Anna said little as they drove back to the station. When Paul brought a coffee into her office he said, ‘You’re very quiet,’ putting the drink down on her desk.
‘Yeah. Tell me what you got from the interview.’
‘Not very much. I think she’s a bit of a clean freak. Their flat might be rented, but it was as if they had just
