One Left Behind: A completely gripping and addictive crime thriller with nail-biting suspense (Detective Gina Harte Book 9)

by Carla Kovach

  Thirty-Two

  Leah’s bedroom was typical of a teenage girl’s room. Clothes were strewn over furniture, across her desk and make-up appeared everywhere. Foundation smeared the carpet and a lipstick kiss stood out on her wardrobe mirror. Posters filled the walls, mostly of fashion models and a couple of singers. Gina recognised Cardi B but not the others.

  A collage of photos filled a whole board at the back of the bed. Gina stepped in for a closer look. Leah and Elsa, then with Caro and Naomi; all of them duck pouting. Then there were a few with Oscar. Group pictures of them in school uniforms. So many photos and some covered up by other photos. Gina lifted a couple to see what was beneath. That’s when she saw the photo of a camp out, nicely hidden beneath the others. Maybe it was the previous one or maybe it was a camp out that was before that. Gina pulled out her phone and snapped them all to look at later. There were too many to observe in detail.

  ‘Interesting collection.’ Jacob stepped behind her and squinted as he focused on the photo of the camp.

  ‘Yes. Look at the kids here.’

  He leaned in a little closer.

  ‘There’s this photo and then another just underneath the school picture. In the first one, it looks like they’re all with it but the second one, it looks like some of the kids are drawing on Caro – the girl we interviewed? The one who didn’t take up the invite last Saturday.’

  ‘She looks out of it, I mean they’ve drawn what looks like a skull and cross bones on her arms. There’s dribble running down the side of her mouth.’

  ‘I’m getting a real feeling that there’s more to her not going to the latest camping party. To look that out of it while so many people are around you and drawing on your body might suggest she’s had something stronger than alcohol. We know they had a bit of weed. I think I saw that Bernard had found a nub end at the scene too. We know that Leah didn’t fight back. Can you hold that?’ Gina removed the photo that was covering the one of Caro and passed it to Jacob while she took a close-up photo on her phone. ‘There.’

  He passed the photo back to her and pinned it back into place.

  Gina slid open a bedside drawer and reached right to the back. Something rattled. She pulled out a strip of contraceptive pills and then popped them back. Riffling through a pile of paper, some of it containing study notes, she stopped on a printout of a blurred photo. Darkness in the bushes showed the outline of a head but nothing more. Gina recognised the place though. ‘Look at the way the shrubs and trees curve around in this arc shape. That’s the clearing that some of the teens were using to go to the loo, just a short walk from the camp. Who is that?’

  Jacob took it from her and rubbed his chin as he closed one eye, then the other. ‘It’s nothing more than a shaded head. It could be anyone, including one of the kids.’

  ‘What did we get from her phone? I did have a look on the system but I don’t remember this photo.’

  ‘No, it seems Leah was good at taking her photos off her phone. There were some of earlier that day, a few selfies. Some of her sitting in the garden but that was it. This photo wasn’t on her phone.’

  Gina glanced around the room. She remembered seeing a family computer in the corner of the living room as they came in and there was also a printer. She lifted the curtains and looked on the floor and on all the surfaces, then she kneeled down and riffled amongst the board games under the bed. ‘There’s a laptop here.’

  ‘Will you be long?’ Hamish Fenmore made Gina hit her head on the bed frame. ‘What are you doing under my daughter’s bed?’

  ‘Mr Fenmore, did Leah ever use your computer downstairs?’ Gina pulled the laptop out and placed it on the bed.

  ‘No, she plugged it in to use the printer sometimes but she used that.’ He pointed to the laptop.

  ‘May we take it to look at? Only we found a photo amongst Leah’s things and there’s a person in it that we can’t identify. We might be able to enhance the digital image to get a clearer view.’ Gina knew she was clutching at straws but there might be much more on Leah’s laptop that could help the case.

  Leah’s father paused and looked away. ‘Leah would hate anyone looking through her things like that. We weren’t even allowed in her room without an invite.’

  ‘I know it feels like you’re invading her privacy but if it helps us to catch her killer, then maybe she wouldn’t mind if she was here.’ Gina stood and brushed the dust and Leah’s stray hairs from her trousers.

  ‘Okay, but we all know it will be that perv. He’s your man. If getting that photo enhanced proves that, then, yes, take it.’

  ‘Thank you. I’ll get it back to you as soon as we’ve finished.’

  ‘How long are you going to be?’

  ‘We’re nearly done.’

  The man turned and went back down the stairs. Gina took the opportunity to open a couple of drawers and she spotted a new opened pack of socks with one pair missing. ‘The watermelon socks.’ She nudged them back in and closed the drawer. ‘I can’t help thinking that Leah’s friends did something to her. What if it was some game or dare that went too far? I don’t trust them. I don’t trust any of them and I don’t believe that Caro gave the party a miss because of a hangover.’

  Her phone beeped. It was a message from O’Connor.

  There’s another body, guv. From the description given, it could be one of the other kids that were camping out on Saturday night. Will you and Jacob head over to the river now or shall Wyre and I go? By the way, it’s by the car park off Acton Road. Forensics have been called and should be nearly there.

  ‘What was that?’ Jacob could tell that something big had happened from her open-mouthed stare at the text.

  ‘Another body. We have to go.’

  As they headed out to the car, Gina’s phone rang. It was Briggs. ‘I have to take this. Get in, I’ll be with you in a moment.’ Jacob did as asked. ‘You okay?’

  ‘No, I don’t know. Have you seen the tweet chain, the one linking the article to Meegan that Jim Berry posted?’

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘It just says, Murder is where the harte is with three broken red hearts after it.’

  ‘Who posted it?’ She turned, trying to hide her shaking hands from Jacob as he looked out of the car window.

  ‘It’s not a proper name, it’s just a series of numbers.’

  ‘They’re not going away.’ She wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Those messages were just the beginning now and Gina wondered if the whole world would see what she saw in that message or would they just see a typo?

  ‘Just play it calm. We’ll figure something out.’

  She doubted it was going to be that easy.

  Jacob opened the window. ‘You coming, guv?’

  ‘Got to go.’ She turned and smiled when all she wanted to do was cry. ‘Coming.’

  Thirty-Three

  As something hit my bedroom window, my eyes were stark. I glanced at the clock, it was now ten in the morning. I’d only managed to get to sleep at five and still Frank hadn’t come home. Thank goodness that the television turned itself off in the night.

  Another stone hits my window, then someone shouts. I could peel the curtain back for a peek but I daren’t. I know exactly what’s happening out there, especially when the word nonce is called out. There’s a knock at the front door, then I hear the letter box open. ‘Mr Meegan; Mrs Meegan; it’s Pete Bloxwich from the Warwickshire Herald. I’d like to speak to you both, give you the chance to get your side of the story in before we publish our article.’

  I ignore him, hoping that he’ll go away.

  ‘We both know your husband is a stinking rotten sex offender. Get your story out, Mrs Meegan.’ He pauses again. ‘Do you both get off on hurting kids? I have kids you know.’ It sounds like he kicked the door.

  ‘Go away. Leave me alone.’ I know he can hear me shout as Frank can hear me when he’s in the hall.

  ‘Has Mr Meegan left you all alone to deal with the big bad wolf?’

/>   He’s scaring me now. First with the outright accusation, now with his sinister comments and I am alone. What do I say? No one knows that Frank is out. Sometimes his car is parked around the back, other times at the front. ‘Leave me alone or I’m calling the police.’

  ‘The police have already driven by twice and they haven’t stopped. They don’t care about kid killers. In fact, they hope that one of us will take the law into our own hands.’

  I swallow knowing that I have no means to call the police and he’s right. The police are parents, have families. Everyone hates me.

  ‘Just open the door and let me in. It’s better for you both if you speak to me, otherwise this crowd will draw their own conclusions and who knows what will happen to you. Poor Mrs Meegan, stuck in her chair, in her bed with no escape…’ He says that in a voice like he’s talking to a baby. ‘You know it makes sense.’

  Gasping for breath, I let out an uncontrollable sob. ‘Just go away.’ I cry like I’m a baby, uncontrollable wet sobs that won’t stop. I can’t stop them. I’ve been abandoned with all these problems once again, only this time I can’t get up and run away. I’m stuck, in my bed with no food and nothing to drink; not that I could keep anything down. I need the loo and the tremor in my hand won’t ease up. How could you do this to me, Frank?

  Shouts of, Our children aren’t safe. Arrest him or I’ll kill him myself. Disgusting paedo. Frank never went anywhere near children. What they were saying was wrong but that didn’t matter to the crowd. He was a paedophile as far as they were all concerned. I shiver at what he might be hiding. Have I got it wrong? Did he slide out the back and into the night on Sunday morning and hurt that girl? I can’t think with the chanting and the insults. I don’t know what’s real or not anymore, then there’s one voice I recognise. Bastards. Disgusting animals. My friend, Lara. A moment ago, I wanted my phone again; now, I’m not so sure. I lift the curtain up slightly and Lara’s stare meets mine. I want to drop the curtain but I can’t. I see her red face, full of rage. She grabs another stone and throws it towards my face with only the window saving me. ‘Kid killers!’ That insult hurts so much. The rest of the crowd now sees what Lara sees, me looking pathetic and hiding away. They point and stare and I see them all gossiping but can’t quite hear what they’re saying. Lara stares at me again shaking her head slowly and the others begin to chant. Child killers, child killers, child killers. I drop the curtain.

  I’ve already lied enough. I’m not going down with Frank, especially as I haven’t hurt anyone. The reporter shouts again through the letter box, making me jump. ‘This isn’t going away. I’m not going away. This crowd isn’t going away.’ I go to answer but the letter box drops as something hits the mat, then the garden gate squeaks. Too late.

  I flinch as I hear the back door sliding open. They’re coming for me. The angry mob have found a way in and I bet Frank left it unlocked on purpose so they could get me. He’s now on the run and has left me in this mess. I hear step after step. They’re going to kill me, I know it. The chants outside continue and they’re louder. To them, I’m an effigy of hate. I just needed more time to find out the truth for myself. If Frank had left my wheelchair in the room, I could have got to the outside of the kitchen door in the night, shuffled to the cupboards and searched through everything but, as usual, everything conspired against me. Even my bedroom door is shut and I know I heard him slide the sideboard against the other side before he left. He has me trapped.

  I shiver as the hall door opens then there’s the heavy footsteps on the wooden floor. I’m dead, I know it. Now the crowd have decided that Frank is a paedophile child killer, they’ll take it out on me. Whoever is out there, slides the sideboard out of the way. The handle to my bedroom door comes down and I pull the sheet over my head, knowing that a sheet offers no protection but I don’t want to see my end coming. Swallowing, I wait to die.

  Thirty-Four

  Gina pulled up in the Acton Road car park opposite the ambulance and police cars that were lined up; that tweet swimming through her head. A text came through from Briggs.

  Whoever published that tweet has now deleted it. I’ll keep an eye on Twitter, see if anymore messages come through.

  She exhaled slowly. Whoever published that message had removed the evidence, giving her just enough time to see it or for it to be logged as a part of the investigation. She wondered for a moment if the team would see it as something personal against her or as just someone publishing a tweet with a typo.

  ‘Well, I didn’t expect this to happen.’ Jacob got out and they both began to walk towards PC Kapoor who was tying some police tape around a tree.

  Gina bit the inside of her mouth as she surveyed the area. ‘Nor me. First Leah, now this. Maybe we’re jumping to conclusions and it was nothing more than an accident but no.’ She shook her head. ‘That’s too much of a coincidence. Leah was murdered in the early hours of Sunday morning, now someone matching Jordan Rolph’s description has turned up dead.’

  ‘We best go and see him for ourselves. Hear what Bernard has to say.’

  ‘Morning, Jhanvi.’ PC Jhanvi Kapoor smiled.

  ‘Alright, guv. It’s shaping up to be a busy week. Are you coming to pool night on Friday?’

  Gina had taken to joining Wyre and Kapoor for the occasional pub night but this Friday, she was going to be doing nothing more than panicking over what Hannah had to say. Kapoor had taken to talking non-stop on these nights about her ambitions in the police and her family, which Gina always loved to hear.

  ‘I think I have something on this week but next Friday, definitely.’ That’s if she wasn’t herself in custody for allowing Terry to die. She gulped.

  ‘Great, can’t wait. If you keep going past me, follow the dirt path and take a right where it forks off, you’ll then get to the top of the steps that lead down to the river. That’s where they all are. I’ve just got word that the witnesses are on their way back up. PC Smith is bringing them. They found the body and one of the ladies did a pulse check too, so we’ll get what we need from them first seeing as they got so close and touched the body.’

  ‘I’d like to speak to them when I’ve caught up with Bernard. Could you please make sure they stay with an officer once they’ve been checked out?’

  A woman emerged from the trees. She had a short grey bob and was wearing walking boots. A camera was swinging around her neck and she held binoculars in one hand. ‘I might be in my seventies but I don’t need any help with walking yet.’

  ‘Okay, Mrs Sullivan.’ PC Smith followed her through.

  ‘Gillian, please.’

  The other woman trailed behind, catching up a moment later.

  PC Smith led them both towards the ambulance where the women started to protest against being checked over, saying that they felt fine. That they weren’t in shock and they hadn’t hurt themselves.

  ‘Right, that’s our cue to check out the scene.’ Jacob stepped past PC Kapoor.

  They did as instructed, following the dirt path. Gina placed an arm out, pushing the overgrown stingers out of the way. Thorny branches had entwined around the branches and her shoes caught in the long grass, dragging a trail behind her. She shook it away. ‘It’s wild out here.’

  ‘I know. I just got stung.’ Jacob shook his arm as if that would alleviate the irritation.

  After a battle with branches, they finally reached the steps. With no railings, they were a hazard. The river trickled ahead and she heard the quacking of ducks and birds tweeting in the trees above. She glanced up at a tall tree trunk and saw a woodpecker tapping away. As they reached the curve in the steps, the spectacular view hit Gina. After living in Warwickshire for so many years, she’d never once taken this walk. She wasn’t sure she’d want to now after what had happened. She swallowed, wondering if she’d ever get to see Gracie again given that Hannah was building up to something. The sinister messages that Briggs was receiving pushed to the front of her mind. What did they know? Then, a whooshing rush of blood to t
he head almost knocked Gina sideways. Seeing the body at the bottom of the steps took her right back to the night she pushed Terry down their own stairs to his death. It was like the universe was conspiring against her this week. She felt herself wobble a little, then she bumped into Jacob, gripping the arm of his shirt for dear life.

  ‘Watch it, guv. Could do without you being carted off in that ambulance.’

  ‘Sorry, lost my footing.’ She hadn’t trodden on the moss but Jacob put a thumb up and carried on as she removed her grip from his arm. She had to push all those thoughts of Terry out of her mind, for now. Easier said than done when all she could see was him lying dead at the bottom of the steps. That night flooded back into her mind. Him coming home drunk, pinning her against the wall; losing his footing and her delivering just enough pressure to make sure he went down. The look in his eyes as he fell backwards to his eventual death. His body lying at the bottom of the stairs and the pulse he still had. She waited until it was too late for him and only then called the ambulance. She may have acted instinctively when she nudged him but to leave him there dying and making sure he was dead, was something else. It showed intent. Good old ‘mens rea’, the guilty mind element that is needed to prove a murder conviction. She killed him. If she had delivered first aid and called an ambulance immediately like any non-murderous human being would have, he probably would have lived. It hit her again. Whoever was messaging Briggs somehow knew this already and they were coming for her.

  Gina watched as Bernard and a crime scene assistant were finishing laying down the stepping plates. ‘Don’t come any closer and step to the far right of each of the remaining steps. We could be treading on evidence. Put these on.’ He threw two forensics suits at them along with gloves, boots, face masks and hair coverings.