Angela Corrigan had immaculate hair, blonde and bouncy with loose, tumbling curls just past her shoulders. Imogen barely recognised her. It was her, though, the woman Adrian had saved.
Imogen shot a look at Adrian. He met her gaze immediately, the tiniest nod of his head confirming she wasn’t imagining what she was seeing.
Angela Corrigan was at most half the age of her husband. She took a deep breath and approached the doorstep. She wore a polo-neck knitted dress in cornflower blue, which made her eyes even bluer. Imogen noticed that aside from her lower legs, she was almost completely covered.
On closer inspection, there was a thick layer of foundation on her face, good foundation but still an unnecessary amount for a woman as young as Angela Corrigan – no doubt to hide the bruises she had sustained. Perfectly composed and immaculately dressed, she didn’t look the same as the woman they had seen almost completely broken in that hospital bed.
Angela’s smile reappeared, a strained look in her eye, which clearly asked them not to mention what they knew, wanting to keep up the charade of a first meeting. The tension in the air was palpable as no one spoke for a moment, each unsure what to say.
Imogen decided that now wasn’t the time for this confrontation; they didn’t know enough. She thought about what Dr Hadley had told her about the woman’s injuries and the possibilities of a prolonged campaign of physical abuse against her. Imogen would let the woman dictate how this introduction was going to go.
‘Who’s this?’ Angela said, walking forwards and slipping her arm through Reece’s, looking up at him.
Imogen could see that whatever was going on, she didn’t want her husband to know about it; she wanted them to pretend they had never seen her before.
‘The detectives just came over to ask about a couple of former employees.’
‘Oh. Will you be long?’ She looked at a slim, expensive-looking gold wristwatch. ‘I have an appointment with the salon at eleven.’
Corrigan kissed her on the forehead before turning back to them.
‘Listen, I’ll give Ruby at HQ a call and she can email over their personnel files for you. It’s been a few months and so I really can’t remember anything particularly insightful about them off the top of my head.’
Imogen looked at the couple in front of her. She wondered why he hadn’t reported his wife missing. She also wondered why Angela was pretending she didn’t know them. Their charade was well-rehearsed and if Imogen didn’t know what she did, then she wouldn’t even question it. What this did tell her was that she couldn’t trust a word that came out of Reece Corrigan’s mouth.
‘Just a few more questions,’ Imogen said. ‘Was there a specific incident that led to their dismissal, do you remember?’
‘It was cumulative, you know? Sloppy work and insubordination. It will be in the files. We got sued a few years ago by a disgruntled employee that we let go, so now we log every single altercation and incident. The employees have to sign a form for every single incident or accident that occurs on site.’
Imogen noticed that Adrian was unusually quiet beside her. A part of her wanted to reach out and hold his hand. She wasn’t sure why, but this interaction confirmed some kind of domestic abuse to her. Even if Reece didn’t do it himself, he knew. Corrigan knew she had disappeared and he knew what kind of state she was in when she got back home. Reece Corrigan was not an innocent bystander in this.
‘I’ll just go grab a bagel or something for breakfast while you finish up.’
Angela smiled and disappeared into the back of the house, presumably where the kitchen was.
‘Were there any other employees you got rid of for similar reasons?’
‘Loads. Over the years we’ve got through a large volume of staff. I like to give people a second chance, so I employ some ex-cons. I also employ a lot of young ’uns who think it’s going to be an easy job, but when they start, they find it too much for them physically. Ruby can compile a staff list for you, if you think that will help. I’ll get her to send it over with those other contact details. Unless there’s anything else you need to see?’
‘We may need access to your accounts. We’ll get in touch if and when we have enough for a warrant,’ Imogen said.
‘No need for a warrant; I am happy to provide you with them. I’ve got nothing to hide,’ Corrigan said.
‘Give us a call if you think of anything else.’
Imogen wanted to move away from the door for now. There was more going on than a conversation about Simon Glover and Leon Quick. The lies and secrets surrounding this case just kept getting bigger and harder to understand. She wanted to regroup with Adrian and discuss what their next step needed to be. She wanted to check he was OK.
‘Glad to be of service,’ Reece smiled and closed the door.
Imogen and Adrian walked away from the house in silence. They got in the car and it wasn’t until the house disappeared from view that they actually turned to each other.
‘What the fuck was that?’ Imogen said.
‘That was her, right? That was Jane Doe.’
‘Angela Corrigan. I almost didn’t recognise her, she looks so different.’
‘She acted like nothing had happened, like she had no idea who we were. Why would she do that?’
‘So did he. Why didn’t he report his wife missing? Dr Hadley implied to me that Jane Doe … Angela Corrigan was a vulnerable person. I took that to mean an abusive situation,’ Imogen said.
‘And we’re just going to leave her there?’ Adrian said, his jaw tightening.
‘We can go back when he is at work, speak to her and see if she can shed any light on anything. If she is still in a dangerous situation then we don’t want to make it worse.’
‘She went back to him? If, indeed, he was the person who did that to her,’ Adrian said.
‘Which means he is probably the one who killed Simon Glover. I don’t like jumping to conclusions, but the conclusions are right there. She lied to us about not remembering who she was.’
‘Wouldn’t you?’ Adrian said.
‘What else did she lie about? I wonder.’
‘Do you think we did the right thing? Not letting on that we knew her? Leaving her there?’ Adrian said.
‘I think for now we need to get more information on Reece Corrigan and then we can show our hand.’
‘Let’s go back and tell the DCI that we have identified the woman. That’s a huge break,’ Adrian said.
‘Yes, and then we need to find out everything we can about Reece Corrigan and that construction company. Maybe bring that Jimmy Chilton guy in for questioning, see if we can’t get him to tell us something useful. Find any other employees who have left and see what they have to say about the place. Maybe Fiona Merton will know someone else that her brother used to work with over there who we can speak to. Maybe Simon spoke to her about Corrigan,’ Imogen said.
‘Reece Corrigan just became suspect number one.’