‘Yeah, I think you did mention it,’ Suzie said.
‘There hasn’t been anyone since that,’ Holly said adamantly. ‘Even if she was trying to hide it from me, she wouldn’t have time between working and sleeping.’
‘OK, so maybe it’s not a boyfriend,’ Suzie conceded. ‘But someone must know where she is.’
‘Can we phone the hospital again?’ Holly asked.
Suzie took out her phone and reluctantly perched on the sofa, which looked grubbier than ever in daylight. She had called all the hospitals in Manchester a couple of times already, and Josie hadn’t been admitted to any of them. But if it put Holly’s mind at rest, she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to try again.
Ten minutes later, the phone hot in her hand, she said, ‘Nothing. So stop worrying, because she would have been found by now if anything had happened, I promise you.’
Holly nodded and chewed on her thumbnail.
‘I’ll try the agency again,’ Suzie said. ‘I doubt she’ll be working in her condition, but they might know if she’s friendly with any of the women she works with. While I do that, why don’t you go and make a brew,’ she suggested, struggling to contain her disgust when Holly’s thumbnail-chewing drew blood and she started sucking it.
Holly got up without argument and sloped into the kitchen. When she’d gone, Suzie rang the agency.
‘Barker’s cleaning contractors,’ a woman answered.
‘Oh, hi,’ Suzie said. ‘I rang yesterday . . . about Josie Evans?’
‘Oh, yeah?’ the woman said guardedly.
‘I’m a friend of hers,’ Suzie went on. ‘Well, more a friend of her daughter’s, actually. But, anyway . . . I know you’re aware that Josie was attacked the other night.’
‘Yeah, I know,’ the woman said. ‘Made a right mess of her.’
‘Oh, have you seen her?’ Suzie asked.
The woman went quiet, and Suzie’s instincts told her that she knew something.
‘Look, I promise I won’t tell Josie you told me,’ she said carefully, so as not to alarm the woman if she had a reason for not wanting to talk about Josie. ‘Thing is, she’s gone missing, and we’re really worried about her. Like you said, the attacker made a mess of her, and she collapsed when she came home from hospital, so if you have seen her and know where she is, please tell me. Holly – her daughter – is out of her mind with worry.’
After another few seconds of silence, the woman spoke again. But her voice was muffled now, as if she’d moved away from whoever might be around her because she didn’t want them to hear. ‘I want my name kept out of this,’ she said.
‘Absolutely,’ Suzie agreed, even though she didn’t actually know the woman’s name, because it hadn’t been offered. ‘So you have seen her?’
‘Yeah. Last night. She came round to mine.’
‘Really?’ Suzie’s heart leapt. ‘Did she stay? Is she still there?’
‘No, she ain’t,’ the woman replied coolly. ‘We’re not mates, or anything. But she seemed fine, so . . .’
‘Why did she come to you?’ Suzie asked. ‘I’m not being nosy,’ she added quickly. ‘I’m just trying to figure out where her head’s at, and where she might have gone after she left yours. Do you know if she’s got any other friends at work she could be staying with?’
‘She’s not the sort to make friends,’ the woman replied gruffly, echoing what Holly had already said. ‘But me and her have got a little . . .’ She paused, as if reconsidering her decision to discuss this with a stranger. Then, sighing, she said, ‘Right, I’m only telling you this for the kid’s sake, and I’ll deny it if you try and drag me into it, ’cos I’ve got kids of me own to think about.’
‘I won’t repeat anything you tell me,’ Suzie assured her. ‘You have my word.’
The woman muttered an audible Hmph! as if Suzie’s word meant jack-shit to her, before saying, ‘She was after booze. Booze and painkillers.’
‘Ah . . . I see,’ Suzie murmured. ‘And did you give her any?’
‘A bottle of voddy and a strip of trammies,’ said the woman. ‘And if you see her before I do, you’d best tell her to get her arse round here and pay for it, ’cos she was supposed to drop the money off this morning.’
She hung up at that, and Suzie stared at the phone thoughtfully. So Josie had gone off in search of booze – no surprises there, given how many empty bottles she’d had stashed in the laundry basket. Holly and the woman both claimed that Josie didn’t have any friends, but Suzie suspected she probably had at least one drinking buddy. Most alcoholics did, in her experience, and she figured that Josie’s buddy would have been only too happy to let her stay if she turned up on their doorstep with a bottle of booze in her hand.
‘Anything?’ Holly asked, coming through from the kitchen carrying two steaming cups.
Making a snap decision not to tell Holly about the booze, or her suspicion that Josie might be holed up somewhere with a fellow alcoholic, Suzie said, ‘One of her workmates saw her last night and said she seemed fine.’
‘Did she say where she was?’ Holly’s eyes lit up. ‘Is she coming home soon?’
‘She didn’t say, but at least we know she’s OK,’ Suzie said, grimacing when she saw bits of stale milk floating in the tea Holly handed to her. Placing the cup on the table, she said, ‘Tell you what, let’s forget this and go back to mine for breakfast.’
‘But what about my mum?’ Holly asked. ‘Shouldn’t we wait here for her?’
Already on her feet, desperate to get out of there, Suzie said, ‘I need to get back, hon.’
‘To see Rob?’ Holly asked.
‘How did you know he was there?’ Suzie asked, sure that she couldn’t have heard them last night, because they’d been careful to keep the noise down. And she couldn’t have seen him this morning, because he’d still been sleeping when they came over here.
‘I heard you and him talking last night, and some woman shouting,’
