‘I’m sorry,’ Easton said.
Dani said nothing as she kept her eyes on the road ahead.
‘Dani, I said I’m sorry.’
‘Why are you telling me?’
‘Because I’ve put you in the shit. The investigation too.’
‘You’ve put yourself in the shit.’ She looked over at him. ‘What were you thinking? You broke his arm!’
‘Come on, Dani, you know me. The guy’s twice my size and he was acting like a maniac. What was I supposed to do?’
‘Call 999. Run. I don’t know. But putting him in hospital…’
‘I acted on instinct. It wasn’t just me I was protecting.’
‘Yeah, I think your sister is really appreciative of everything you did for her.’
That comment got her a sour look. ‘I meant the kids. You know you could be—’
‘Let’s not worry about me,’ Dani said. ‘If I get hauled over hot coals for taking you away from there then so be it. I do have more important things on my mind than a lovers’ tiff gone wrong.’
‘Lovers’ tiff? You know as well as I do how domestic violence escalates.’
It was true. A scarily large number of the murders they investigated were rage-filled domestics. She shouldn’t have been so flippant about the situation. For all she knew Wesley had been hellbent on punishing Emily without mercy. Easton could well have saved her life, but Dani had probably still jumped the gun by taking Easton away from there so hastily. At the very least she was in for a bollocking from McNair. At worst… Dani didn’t want to think about that right now.
Talk about acting on instinct, though.
‘Let me fill you in,’ she said.
She explained about her already event-filled morning. The court verdict. The trip to see Welter, and his revelation about the scrape between Ben and Liam Dunne. On the phone earlier she’d already set Mutambe up to further investigate that incident, contacting the bar where it happened to see if there was CCTV footage remaining, or if any of the current staff knew anything about the incident. Perhaps unlikely given that they were talking about an event six years ago, but it was worth a try. She went on to discuss the surveillance reports and her fears over Ana.
‘Which explains why we’re heading over to Tipton, then, I guess,’ Easton said.
‘We need to make a visit to Long Lartin too,’ Dani said. ‘If not today then definitely tomorrow.’
‘I thought you never wanted to go back there? Not to see Ben at least?’
‘What choice do I have?’
Easton didn’t say anything to that.
An hour later and it was already apparent that they’d almost certainly have to wait until tomorrow to make the visit to the prison. They’d already made a brief stop at Victor Nistor’s home address, where they’d initially had a brief chat with the two officers on surveillance duty. No sign of Nistor or Stelea since the morning, and Dani’s knocking at the door had been fruitless. It was after three p.m. when they arrived outside the warehouse. The unmarked police car was across the street, about twenty yards away from the warehouse gates. Dani parked up a few yards behind them, then they walked over.
‘Hardly inconspicuous, are they?’ Easton said.
‘No, they’re not.’ Though it wasn’t exactly their fault. They were only acting off instruction. It wasn’t as if the investigation team had the time or resources to acquire space in a nearby building, or anything else more sophisticated and less obvious.
Dani introduced herself to the officers in the car. They were plain-clothed, but they reeked of copper. Victor Nistor would have to be an idiot to not realise he was under watch. Not the worst position to be in. He wouldn’t like the heat, that was for sure.
‘Anything?’ Dani said.
‘Quiet day. Nistor and Stelea were in earlier but they left about an hour ago. Together. No one around since.’
‘No sign of Ana Crisan?’
He shook his head. ‘Nothing.’
Dani thanked him and she and Easton continued on through the open warehouse gates and up to the side door next to the loading area.
‘World’s worst haulage business,’ Easton said. ‘Never anything to haul, or anything to haul it with.’
‘I’m sure Victor would say that’s because they’re so busy, every vehicle they have is always on the road.’
Easton rolled his eyes.
Dani knocked on the door.
‘Why are we even bothering?’ Easton asked.
‘We have to,’ Dani said.
But just as she expected, there was no answer. Which only added both to her frustration at not being able to face-off with Victor, and to her worry over Ana’s whereabouts.
‘So what next?’ Easton said. ‘We break the door down?’
Dani thought he was joking, though actually she’d already been pondering whether she could later justify doing so.
No. She didn’t believe she could. Not yet. And she was likely already in enough trouble today.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We’ve still one more place to try.’
With darkness quickly descending, Dani was already regretting leaving Brigitta Popescu’s house as her last stop on the whistle-stop tour of Tipton. Still, at least she had Easton to keep her company this time.
The Surveillance team outside Brigitta’s house had likewise seen nothing of Ana all day. In fact, Brigitta hadn’t had any visitors at all. Was there even any point in doing this? Dani thought as they headed up the drive to the front door.
Yes, there was. And they were here now so why not?
Dani knocked on the door. She was well prepared for no answer. At least not at the first time of trying. So she was quite shocked when barely three seconds after knocking she heard locks release, before the door opened slightly.
Two bleary eyes peeked out of the narrow gap.
‘I expected you would come back,’ Brigitta croaked.
The door creaked open a few more inches and Dani peered in to see Brigitta shuffling down the darkened corridor towards the lounge.
‘I guess we’re invited in then,’ Easton said.
Dani didn’t say anything. Just took a deep breath, then stepped inside.
Five minutes later normal business had resumed. Easton and Dani were seated next to one another on a sofa in the badly lit lounge. Across the room Brigitta was seated next to the shrine, her face and withered body partly cloaked in darkness.
‘Death and darkness follows you,’ Brigitta said, her eyes steely as she stared at Dani. ‘I saw it the first time we met.’
She shook her head as though disgusted. Dani shivered.
‘Sorry, what do you mean?’ Easton said.
Dani was speechless. She felt like Brigitta was about to accuse Dani of being a Strigoi or something, though really she was massively offended. What had she done to Brigitta?
Or was it Dani’s near-death experience that Brigitta could somehow sense…? No, that was crazy thinking.
‘You found another one,’ Brigitta said. ‘Another body.’
Dani and Easton shared a look. Did she mean the Jane Doe?
‘Did you know her?’ Dani asked.
Brigitta shook her head.
‘But you knew about the body?’
‘The news.’
‘You’re sure you don’t know who she is?’ Easton asked.
Brigitta didn’t say anything as she stared over at them.
‘Do you know Ana?’ Dani asked. ‘Ana Crisan. She’s a good friend of Victor’s.’
Brigitta still didn’t say anything, though her hard gaze was fixed wholly on Dani now. It wasn’t long before the unsettling feeling grew too uncomfortable and Dani looked away.
‘Mrs Popescu,’ Easton said. ‘Ana Crisan. Do you know her? We’re looking for her.’
‘Another one gone,’ she said, shaking her head solemnly.
‘Do you know where she is?’ Dani said, more sternly.
In silence, Brigitta stared her out again. Dani looked to Easton, giving him a ‘what the hell?’ look. He leaned over.
‘Let me have a word with her. You go make a drink.’
Had he sensed how on edge Dani was?
‘Mrs Popescu, would you like me to make you a cup of tea?’ Dani asked.
She received nothing but the same cold stare as she got to her feet. She paused, waiting for an answer. Finally, Brigitta gave a single nod.
Dani sighed, relieved, as she stepped out of the room and made for the kitchen.
She flipped on the lights, though somehow they did little to properly illuminate the space, as though even they struggled to penetrate the ever-present darkness that enveloped the house. Back in the lounge Easton and Brigitta’s voices carried thinly through the air.
Dani found three mugs, then stood staring through the dark window to the pitch-black garden outside as she waited for the kettle to boil. Her reflection stared back at her, though the glass somehow made her face look misshapen and cracked.
The kettle rumbled and Dani looked down from the window. As she did so she caught a fleeting glimpse of a shadow in the glass, the reflection of something swooshing somewhere behind her, out in the hallway. A cold draught tickled the skin on her neck and she whipped around, the teaspoon rattling in her trembling hand.
There was nothing there.
Of course there was nothing there! What the hell was she expecting?
Though her heart nearly jumped right up her throat and out of her wide-open mouth when the front door creaked and then opened.
In walked Stef.
‘Brigitta!’ she shouted, carefree, followed by a roll of Romanian words that meant nothing to Dani. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said much more sourly when she clocked Dani, spoon in hand.
‘You want one?’ Dani said.
Stef grumbled and strode forwards, rolling her eyes when she looked into the lounge. She carried on to the kitchen and angrily plonked two bags of shopping onto the battered pine dining table. She glared over at Dani.
‘You’re doing it all wrong,’ she said. She moved over and snapped the spoon from Dani’s hand. ‘She doesn’t like it like this.’
‘OK?’
‘Why don’t you go and sit. I’ll bring the drinks through.’
‘Sure. Thank you. Just milk for me. A sugar for DS Easton.’
‘She doesn’t have any sugar.’
‘No problem. However it comes.’
Another eye-roll.
Although the truth was that Dani was pleased that Stef had turned up out of the blue – again – as she did want to ask her some questions too. She decided though that it was probably best to give her a minute, so politely excused herself and headed back to the lounge – where she frowned when she saw Easton’s empty seat. She gazed across the room. Easton was on his haunches, right by Brigitta’s side, the old lady wittering away to him quietly. Easton the charmer. Who knew?
‘Dani?’ Easton said, when Brigitta finally stopped talking and glared over. They both looked at Dani like she’d just interrupted something intimate. ‘Brigitta was just telling me about when she was first married. And about when Nic was a boy in Romania.’
‘Sounds interesting,’ Dani said. She took her seat. ‘Don’t mind me.’
Brigitta was staring her out again, and the mood in the room flattened. The uncomfortable moment seemed to last an age, though Dani didn’t look away this time. The corners of Brigitta’s mouth ever so slowly turned up into a sinister and knowing smile. Dani was sure it was. Or perhaps it was just a trick of the dim light.
No, that was no trick.
Then a blood-curdling scream from the kitchen broke the ever-thickening silence.