Chapter 37
Thirty-Seven
Gina
‘It’s the upstairs maisonette.’ O’Connor stood, looking up at the end of the path that led to the Fullers’ residence.
Gina glanced past the pebble-dashed exterior and up the concrete stairs that they’d need to take.
She followed O’Connor, taking each ice carpeted step slowly.
Her palms were sweating at the thought of discussing another missing person with another relative, especially as their last one had been murdered.
They had a name and an age, that was it – no fleshed-out version of who Dustin, aged twenty-seven, was.
On reaching the top of the steps, Gina slipped on a transparent icy patch, only saving herself by grabbing the metal railing.
‘That was close, guv.’
‘Wasn’t it? Ending up flat on my back wouldn’t have been the best start to the day.’ She stepped beside him and rang the doorbell. It chimed once, loudly. An exhaust popped in the distance and closer by, a dog barked, then a key turned in the lock.
‘Thank goodness, come in. Have you found him? You are police, aren’t you?’
Most people asked to see their identification first but the woman with the red hair piled on her head, almost dragged them through the door.
Gina held her identification up. ‘I’m DI Harte and this is DC O’Connor. I’m so sorry, we don’t have anything for you yet but we’d like to speak to you, if that’s okay?’
The woman turned at the living room door and nodded rapidly, her welcoming smile soon vanishing. ‘Yes, follow me,’ she said. ‘Sit, please… anywhere.’
O’Connor sat against the wall on the chunky footstool and Gina perched on the edge of the cushion-filled chair aside the three-seater settee.
‘Coffee, water?’
‘I’m fine, thank you,’ Gina replied. O’Connor shook his head. He removed his woollen hat and placed it on his knee before pulling his notebook out.
‘I, err…’ She picked something up from the coffee table as she sat.
‘This is a photo of Dustin, only taken three weeks ago. We had a mother son photo shoot. He got it me for my birthday and… it’s not like Dustin, you know.
He’s a proper homebody, a loving son and he never stays out without telling me, even though he’s in his twenties.
It’s out of character for him, so please don’t tell me that he’s just with a friend or he got drunk. He doesn’t even drink.’
‘Ms Fuller, we want to help you find Dustin so if you could tell us when you last saw him, that would be a good place to start.’ Gina glanced over at the photo and Ms Fuller passed it to her. ‘You can keep that. You’ll need it to look for him.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Last night…’ She scrunched her nose up in thought.
‘It was about nine, he said he was popping out to the car to get something. I don’t know what.
Maybe he left his coat there or a bag. I was reading so I barely registered him coming out of his room to go out.
I only thought something was odd a couple of hours later when it hit me that he hadn’t come back in.
Even then, I didn’t worry, I thought maybe he’d got talking to one of our neighbours and ended up in their house for a game of cards.
At about one in the morning, I started to worry so I called him but my call wouldn’t go through.
I thought his charge had run out, it often does.
A bit later, I nodded off and before I knew it, it was morning and his bed hasn’t been slept in and I still can’t get hold of him.
I popped over to the neighbours and they haven’t seen him either.
He wasn’t at theirs last night and his car is still parked on the road. ’
‘How did Dustin seem when he left?’
She pressed her lips together and began twiddling her fingers. ‘Quiet. He’s been unusually quiet lately and I’ve been worried, but he doesn’t like to talk. He just says, “Mum, back off,” so I do because I don’t want to push him away.’
‘Is he in a relationship?’
‘No, he hasn’t been on a date for a couple of years. He was with a girl but she broke up with him and moved to Canada.’
‘Does he work or study?’
‘He’s doing a home study degree in economics.’
‘Where does he like to go out?’
‘He goes to the Angel Arms in Cleevesford when they have a karaoke night but that’s not often these days. My boy isn’t a huge social butterfly. I blame his dad for that.’ She scrunched her nose. ‘A bit of a disciplinarian, he was.’
‘Ms Fuller, can you think of anywhere he might go or anyone he might be with?’
‘I can’t. Like I said, he’s an introvert.
He spends most of his life on his computer, chatting to people who probably aren’t even real.
I’ve spoken to him about it… do you think he’s been groomed by someone on the internet?
I hear so many horror stories and I get scam emails all the time when I’m online.
Someone always loves me.’ She rolls her eyes.
‘I know how convincing these people can seem.’
A lump formed in Gina’s throat. Ms Fuller seemed very protective, almost overly protective of her twenty-seven-year-old son.
Gina wondered if Dustin’s dad was more than a disciplinarian and the mother and son had a close protective relationship because of that.
She realised that Ms Fuller couldn’t have done anymore for Dustin.
She could only imagine what it would be like if Hannah went missing and despite their awful relationship, it would break her heart.
‘They can and I agree, it’s scary. There are a lot of scammers and fake people online.
Can you tell me what he was wearing when he left? ’
‘Er, just a white T-shirt with his favourite crocheted black jumper over the top. He loved how you could see the white through the black so he wore it a lot but I hate it – it’s full of holes where it keeps catching on things.
As I said, he was only going to his car.
He didn’t even have a coat on. He put his trainers on.
They’re quite chunky with black soles, white on the top.
He was wearing his black skinny jeans. He’s very thin on the legs.
I keep telling him he needs to eat more but he does work out on the weights in his bedroom, so he’s bulkier around the shoulders.
He always wears this earring, like a long silver bar with spikes on both ends – it goes in his left ear. He was wearing that last night.’
Gina took another look at the photo. The pale young man, with jet-black hair all brushed across one side of his face, looked a lot younger than his age.
She would have guessed at around twenty if she didn’t know.
A couple of acne spots on his chin looked like they’d been covered up with make-up. ‘May we take a look at his room?’
‘Yes, if it’ll help. Are you sure I can’t get you both a drink? Thank you again for coming here so fast.’
Gina nodded.
Ms Fuller stood and led Gina and O’Connor through the dark hallway, past the bathroom towards the bedroom near the front door. She opened it and stood back. ‘I’m sorry about the mess. He doesn’t put his clothes away.’
‘Please don’t be sorry.’ Gina stepped onto the grey carpet.
The double bed took up most of the room.
The quilt spilled over the side furthest away, revealing a crumpled under sheet.
Gina inhaled the musty scent that sat somewhere between dirty sock and perspiring armpit.
Several free weights had been neatly laid out under the window.
She glanced out at the path, taking in another row of maisonettes and terraced houses.
Anyone passing could have easily watched Dustin from there.
‘Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary lately?’
‘What do you mean?’
She didn’t want to put words into Ms Fuller’s mouth. ‘Anything at all. However small or big. It’s okay if you haven’t. It’s just a routine question.’
‘Actually, yes.’
Gina turned to face the woman.
‘There have been some weird people hanging around at night. I’m sure one of them took a photo of our window but Dustin told me I was being silly, that it was probably a selfie from above the face, so I dropped it.’
‘Did you see this person?’ Gina walked over to the full-length wardrobe door mirrors.
‘No, it was dark. It looked like a man if I’m to go by his shape. Broad shoulders. Then I saw a flash.’
Gina flinched on the word flash. The photo pulled from Mindy’s mouth had a flash reflected in her eyes. Could it be that Mindy’s murder and Dustin’s disappearance were related? The fact that men had been hanging around outside was also too much of a coincidence.
Gina scanned the room through the mirror and her gaze fell upon the closed laptop on the chest of drawers, straight opposite Dustin’s bed. She turned, taking in the proper view not the reflection and she walked over to the drawers. ‘May we take his laptop?’
‘Please do. Just find him. I want…’ She looked up for a few seconds to compose herself. ‘I just want him home.’
‘Does he have a password?’
‘He uses the same one for everything. Axel 4*3*2*1. It’s my mum’s dog’s name. He loves that dog.’
Again, another connection. The men loitering around, the person outside with the camera, and now a pet. Mindy had a rabbit. ‘Did he go anywhere earlier that day?’
‘Yes. He took Axel to have his monthly bath at Chez Ursula’s.
He doesn’t like taking the dog. There’s this boy, a bully, who always shouts horrible things at him.
I know he pushed Dustin over once but Dustin didn’t say anything because that gang who hang around are likely to pull a knife out, I’m sure. ’
‘Do you know who pushed him?’
She shrugged. ‘He said it was the one who always wears that smiling, smoking face top.’
Abel had come up again. He was lingering in their case like a bad smell.
Gina felt a crawling sensation throughout her body as she joined the dots.
It was all too much of a coincidence. The dog, Abel, and the photos that Garth had traced that had been taken by the salon.
They were close but were they close enough to get to OpenMeSmiler on time?
Episode two was in progress and she knew that Dustin was the star.