The fantasy evaporated when she caught a movement in her peripheral vision, and she jerked back from the window when she saw Rob standing at the mouth of the alleyway. He was staring straight at her, sucking on a cigarette, and she shuddered when he gave her a sly smile before walking away.
Unnerved, she quickly closed the blinds – at the exact same time the door opened behind her.
‘Here you go.’ Suzie handed her a pair of black satin pyjamas. ‘And you left these in the bathroom.’ She passed over Holly’s phone and key. ‘Your screen lit up when I picked it up. I think someone’s been trying to call you.’
Thanking her, Holly clutched the items to her stomach.
‘Don’t look so worried, hon,’ Suzie said softly, stroking her cheek. ‘We’ll get this sorted, I promise.’
Holly nodded, but she couldn’t see how this was ever going to get resolved. She’d felt justified for arguing with her mum earlier, but now all she wanted to do was go home, crawl into bed, and forget any of this had ever happened.
The doorbell rang and Holly jumped.
‘Don’t panic,’ Suzie said. ‘If it’s your mum, chances are she’ll have calmed down. But stay up here, just in case. I’ll call you down if I think she’s ready to be reasonable.’
Suzie backed out onto the landing and closed the door, then jogged down the stairs, fluffing her hair with her hands as she went. She thought it probably would be Josie, but she was hoping it might be Rob. She didn’t blame him for walking out after she’d as good as told him to keep his nose out, but this was Holly’s business, and the girl had asked her not to tell him anything, so her hands had been tied.
It was neither Josie nor Rob, it was PC Spencer, and Suzie’s stomach clenched at the sight of him. Had Josie reported her for keeping Holly here against her wishes? Oh God, why hadn’t she listened to Rob and sent the girl home? Kidnapping was a serious offence, and she didn’t want to end up in prison because she’d been too stubborn to admit Rob was right.
‘Hi.’ Spencer gave her a nervous smile. ‘Hope I’m not disturbing you, but we called in at the hospital to see Ms Evans and they told us she discharged herself last night. No one’s answering at the flat, so I wondered if she might be here?’
Relief washed over Suzie, and she shook her head. ‘No, they’re not here,’ she said, hoping that Holly didn’t decide to come downstairs and prove her a liar. Spencer had allowed her to get away with pretending to be Holly’s aunt last night, but if he got wind of what had happened since and decided to hand the case over to social services, she was screwed.
‘OK, we’ll try again later,’ he said. ‘If you see her in the meantime, can you ask her to give us a call?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ Suzie agreed. ‘Any news on her attacker?’
‘One of our units picked up a guy who was acting suspiciously in the park at the back of the estate in the early hours,’ Spencer told her. ‘The lads who disturbed Ms Evans’s attacker didn’t get a look at his face, and she can’t remember anything about it, but his height and build matches the lads’ general description, so we want her to take a look at some mugshots – see if it sparks any memories.’
‘Oh, she’ll be pleased about that.’ Suzie smiled. ‘And I’m sure she’ll be happy to help if it means he gets what’s coming to him. If I see her before you, I’ll let her know.’
Spencer nodded his thanks and backed up a step, as if about to leave. Then, hesitating, he lowered his voice and said, ‘Can I ask how well you know Ms Evans?’
Suzie remembered Rob’s warning about the cops not messing about when it came to kids, and decided that it might be wiser to put a bit of distance between herself and Josie.
‘We’re not overly close,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve only lived here a few months so, obviously, I don’t know her all that well. Why?’
‘I hope I’m not speaking out of turn,’ Spencer said. ‘But does anything about her strike you as . . . odd?’
‘In what way?’ Suzie tilted her head.
Spencer pursed his lips as if considering whether to tell her what was on his mind. Then, seeming to decide against it, he shook his head and said, ‘Nothing, forget it. Just ask her to give us a call.’
‘Will do,’ Suzie said.
As she watched Spencer walk over to his car, which was parked across the road, she frowned when she noticed his colleague, PC Bennett, staring at her from the passenger seat. Something about the man unnerved her. It was like he could see right through her lies, and she had no doubt that he’d have called social services in last night, if it had been up to him.
Quickly closing the door, she chewed her lip as she mulled over the implications of Spencer’s question. The man had only spoken to Josie once, as far as she knew, and, given that Josie had just regained consciousness at the time, he surely couldn’t have expected her behaviour to be ‘normal’. But he’d obviously seen something abnormal about her for him to ask if Suzie thought there was something odd. She could easily have told him that she didn’t think Josie was odd so much as
