Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
DAN
Molly, the lady from the housing charity, Re-Connex, is clutching her large handbag to her bosom like a protective shield, her brow furrowed in concern as she chews her bottom lip.
‘I was only with her yesterday, and she never mentioned anything to me about taking a trip anywhere. She knows she needs to inform us of her movements, and she’s on a curfew, so she can’t stay anywhere overnight without permission.
Has she done something wrong, then? Is that why you’re here?
Is Erin in some kind of trouble, because I’m sure whatever it is, it’s all a mistake? ’
‘There’s a few clothes missing, gov,’ – Davis pops her head around the door – ‘but her passport is still here, so it looks as though she hasn’t left the country, or maybe gone for long.’
‘OK. Check for any CCTV, Davis.’
‘Gov.’
I knew Erin wouldn’t be here. I know she’s not here, in Leeds. But that’s not ostensibly why Davis and I are.
‘The laptop I recently gave her,’ – Molly turns in a circle – ‘I can’t see it, she must’ve taken it with her.’
‘You gave Erin a laptop?’
‘Yes,’ she says, biting her bottom lip again, her eyes darting between Davis and myself nervously. ‘Have I done something wrong?’
‘Of course not, Molly. Do you know where Erin was last Thursday, the twelfth? Did you see her that day, was she here, in the apartment, do you know?’
Her brow furrows into deep grooves along her forehead.
‘Last Thursday… hmm… no… I wasn’t here last Thursday. I was here on the Friday though, the thirteenth – ooh! Friday the thirteenth!’ She looks spooked, starts biting her lip again. ‘I do hope that’s not significant.’
‘Did she seem OK?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘Do you know if Erin has any connections to London, if she has any friends or family living there?’
‘None that I know of, or that she’s ever mentioned to me. I didn’t think she had any family – or friends. Well, except for me.’
‘Has anyone visited Erin recently, Molly, have you seen anyone here, in the apartment?’
She looks petrified now, like I’m about to cuff her and bundle her into the back of a van.
‘Honestly, I really don’t know. Maybe you could ask her neighbour, from across the hall, his name’s Malcolm.’ Her eyes disappear into slits as she smiles. ‘Shall I fetch him?’
She scurries from the kitchen with purpose, returns a few moments later with a tall, slim man with messy, curly hair in tow.
He looks like he’s just got out of bed, but hey, who am I to judge?
I assume this must be Malcolm, the neighbour Erin had candidly confessed to ‘being with’ the night she went AWOL.
I’m still not sure why she told me about their encounter.
‘They’re here to ask about Erin,’ Molly explains to him, touching his arm. Her eyes are twinkling as she looks at him – uh-oh, I sense someone has a crush! ‘She left here last night and now no one knows where she is.’
‘When did you last see Erin, Malcolm?’
I know when Erin told me she’d last seen Malcolm, but I want to hear it from him, check their stories match up.
‘Yesterday,’ he replies with a hint of caution. ‘I was here with her, in her apartment. Why? Is she OK? What’s happened to her?’ He seems genuinely concerned.
‘How long did you spend time together, here in the apartment? Was it just the two of you?’ Davis takes out her notebook.
‘Yes, it was just us. I dunno… four, five hours maybe.’
Molly’s face crumples. She looks utterly crushed.
‘I didn’t know you knew each other that well,’ she blurts out, clearly unable to disguise her upset.
Malcolm glances sideways at her. ‘Are you two… seeing each other?’ She bristles at him.
‘Because, you know, Erin is a vulnerable adult, Malcolm, and it’s my job to protect her, make sure no one takes advantage of her…
and she’s also a convicted killer who says “the only good men are dead men”.
’ She mutters the last part, but it’s too late, I’ve heard it, and judging by Malcolm’s wide-eyed expression, he has too.
‘Take advantage of her? She’s a what? What are you talking about, Molly, I…’
Feeling it better we speak alone, I take him to one side.
‘What’s going on?’ he asks. ‘Where’s Erin? Why are the police looking for her?’
‘We don’t know where she is, Malcolm. Maybe you can help us?’
He shrugs and shakes his head at the same time. ‘Erin told me that you and she were… together the other night, is that correct, Malcolm? Are you and Erin partners?’
The question clearly blindsides him.
‘Um… No, we aren’t together, not yet, although we did…’ he scratches his bed-hair, unruly curls bouncing with the momentum. ‘… This hasn’t got anything to do with that woman, has it?’
Davis and I exchange glances.
‘What woman is that, Malcolm?’
‘The one that your lot are looking for, some witness or other, um… Samantha someone… yeah, that was the name, Samantha Valentine. Erin had all this stuff about her pinned on the wall, newspaper cuttings and maps and whatever, hidden behind the wall hanging…’
Davis immediately goes over to it, untacks it. There’s nothing behind it, but the marks and residue on the wallpaper suggest there was recently.
‘She was touchy when I asked her about it. She told me she was looking for someone she knew, someone called Samantha Valentine, and it reminded me that I’d seen something on social media that day, about a request for a witness to come forward in a murder case with that name, and well,’ he snorts, ‘she flipped out then, literally, jumped up and started crying, throwing clothes into a bag – she told me she was taking them to Molly’s to be washed because her machine was on the blink.
I said she could use mine, but she was just, I dunno, on a mission.
I could tell she was spooked, like, really freaked out about something, but when I asked her about it, she told me to mind my own business, more or less.
And then she asked me to leave.’ He pauses.
‘Did Molly just say that Erin is a convicted killer?’ His brow crinkles in confusion as he turns to me and then Davis. ‘Did I just hear her say that?’
I flash him a simultaneously rueful and empathetic smile.
‘Nah…’ He shakes his head. ‘I can’t believe that Erin’s capable of killing anyone… she’s…’ He pauses.
‘She’s what, Malcolm?’
He micro-shrugs.
‘I dunno, she’s, you know… nice. I like her. I really liked her.’ He sounds genuine.
‘Do you know if Erin has taken her medication with her, Molly?’ I turn to her. ‘Where does she keep it, ordinarily?’
‘In the bathroom.’ She scurries off to look for it before shortly returning, a little out of puff.
‘It’s gone,’ she says, struggling to catch her breath. ‘Maybe she has it with her. I do hope so.’ Concern shadows her face. ‘It’s dangerous to come off anti-psychotics and depressants quickly, or any drug for that matter.’ She’s biting her bottom lip again.
I glance at Malcolm.
‘The night of the incident, last Thursday. Did you see Erin that day, or evening? Did you hear her go out, or return? Where were you that night, Malcolm?’
‘In my apartment,’ he says, ‘where I always am, alone, most of the time anyway.’ I detect a hint of regret in his voice.
‘But I know Erin was home the whole day, and evening. I heard her moving around inside her apartment, the sound of the TV on. And later on that night, I saw that this film she likes was on telly, you know, Grease? And so I called to her through her letter box to let her know it was on.’
Grease? Wasn’t that the film that was playing on the TV in Milo Harrison’s apartment when I attended the crime scene?
Yes, I remember switching it off. Erin didn’t mention any of this when I had asked her about an alibi for the night of Milo’s murder though.
I suspect he’s covering up for her, although I don’t think his motives are sinister.
He seems genuinely fond of her. I pull him to one side again.
‘I’ve spoken to Erin, Malcolm.’ I drop my voice. ‘She’s OK. I think she’s safe, but we need to find her…’
‘You think she’s safe!? When did you speak to her? What is this all about?’
I glance over at Molly. She’s talking to Davis while simultaneously very obviously looking over at us, or rather, at Malcolm.
‘Erin asked me to tell you something, Malcolm, to give you a message.’
‘A message, for me?’ His eyes widen.
‘She said to tell you she said she was “sorry”.’