Aware of Callum McCall standing behind him, he dropped to his haunches alongside Tamara. She’d donned latex gloves for the duration of the search and now lifted one of these plastic sheets, revealing what was beneath. He couldn’t help but find what he saw baffling. A pair of red high-heeled shoes were inside. The gloss applied to the finish saw them stand out, reflecting the sun overhead. They were neatly set alongside each other as if placed on a shoe rack rather than discarded alongside half empty paint tins as they were. Tamara pinched her fingers together and lifted them out, turning them over so as to inspect them thoroughly.
“The soles are worn but there are no scuffs or scrapes to the top or sides,” she told him. The soles of the shoes were fairly clean although there was some dried mud on the edges of the base where they met the sides. The fading of the information imprinted on the interior showed evidence of wear but not extensively so. Whoever they belonged to they were not worn often but certainly cared for. He turned to Callum whose eyes narrowed but other than that, his expression was as unreadable as ever.
“Strange place to keep shoes, wouldn’t you say?” he asked. Callum shrugged. “Why have you got these out here?”
“I’ve no seen them before but things get thrown everywhere. Who knows in this house and with kids like mine.”
Tamara spoke up. “Not exactly your size or style, though, Mr McCall.”
“You never know, lassie,” Callum countered, sniffing loudly. “Anything goes these days. Besides, they’re probably Sadie’s. Either hiding them from me cos o’ how much she paid fer them or… maybe they was her mother’s. How should I know? Could be any number of reasons.”
“Your Sadie, is she petite?” Tamara asked. “These would most likely fit a smaller girl.” Callum shrugged once more but it was possible that he was equally thrown by the discovery, only hiding it well. It was peculiar whichever way you looked at it. A constable opened a plastic bag and she lowered the shoes inside. They were still to locate the shoes Holly was wearing on the night she died and although there was no certainty these were the missing ones they would be negligent to ignore the possibility.
Stepping back, Janssen caught sight of Mark disappearing from view. He was some distance away walking between the trees. Then he was gone. Returning to the front of the building, he was met by one of the officers searching the interior of the property. Following him inside, they crossed the living area which by anyone’s standards was an absolute mess. Clothing was thrown all over the place, unclear whether it was clean or soiled. Dirty crockery was piled in the sink and every bit of workspace to the kitchen was stacked with something on top, either pans, bags or piles of junk mail. How anyone could live like this escaped him.
They entered one of the bedrooms. It was narrow with a single bed pushed up against one wall beneath the only window, itself shrouded by a net curtain. A shoulder high wardrobe was positioned in the corner, the only piece of furniture apart from the bed in the room. Clothes were stacked on top. By the look of them, the room belonged to a girl, Sadie. Next to the bed was a small bag packed with make-up, a vanity mirror on the floor alongside.
The officer knelt, picking up a shoebox that had been under the bed. Lifting off the lid revealed a small plastic bag containing cannabis. Also within the box was a little pipe, tobacco and some rolling papers. The contents were obviously personal and far from quantities expected by a dealer. “Is this it?” The constable nodded. This was all they had to show for their efforts. Casting an eye around the room, he opened the wardrobe, scanning the clothing hanging on the rail and piled beneath. Even without meeting her, he had Sadie pegged as someone who dressed for impact, imagining heavy eye-liner and lots of monochrome. Red heels didn’t strike him as her style.
Returning to the living room, he found Tamara inside talking to Callum. There was nothing here to warrant an arrest or give them cause to apply pressure to him and Callum knew it. Catching the tail end of the discussion he gathered Callum was suggesting they should leave and clearly not for the first time. There was little argument to counter his demand. The search team filtered outside, returning to their cars. Callum watched them from the doorway, arms folded and clamped against his chest.
Reaching the car, Janssen’s phone rang. It was Eric. Unlocking the car, he leant on the roof with the phone against his ear watching Callum as he watched them. The man was unfazed but annoyed. That was obvious.
“I’ve heard back from the DS in Canning Town,” Eric explained. “He’s got a lead on where we might find Amanda Stott but he says he doesn’t have the time to follow it up. It looks like she’s been working near to where she was last known to be living.”
“Well, you’ll need to head down there and check it out.”
“Okay, I’ll go first thing. How’s the search going?”
He took one more look around, doing his best to sound upbeat but, aside from the shoes, the results were disappointing. “Pretty much a bust but you never know.” He hung up, climbing into the driver’s seat as the other police cars drove away. Tamara enquired after the call. “Eric’s off to London tomorrow in search of Amanda Stott.” Starting the car, he applied full lock to the steering wheel and set off. Looking in his rear-view mirror, he saw Callum step away from the building and return to the bonfire just as he disappeared from view. Stopping the car, Tamara glanced across, surprised. “If you take the
