Alex shook her head. ‘Don’t know. The phone’s untraceable – pay as you go. Rachel admitted she’d known about Connor’s affair with Sarah for a while, but I don’t know what she’d have to gain from lying about the text.’
‘You spoke to her?’
‘Yeah. She seems scared of her own shadow. I don’t know. I don’t reckon she’s the type to lie to the police, although it takes all sorts.’ Alex pulled into a side street that housed a row of terraces and a village hall at the far end. ‘This is it,’ she said, stopping by the kerbside. ‘Tim Cole’s empire.’
She shot Chloe a roll of the eyes and Chloe smirked.
‘She did say something a bit odd though,’ Alex said, undoing her seatbelt.
‘Rachel?’
‘Yeah. She said Connor was supposed to be helping them not luring them into bed. Timid as she is, she sounded pretty angry about it.’
‘Luring?’ Chloe repeated. ‘Bit predatory, isn’t it?’
‘Exactly.’
They needed something concrete against Connor, and they needed it soon. The more time that passed, the less chance they had of finding Sarah Taylor alive. The majority of the blood found at The Black Lion had belonged to Lola, yet the second sample was still unaccounted for. Someone other than Lola had been injured there; hopefully, the man who had held them captive. Alex had to take her own advice and continue to believe Sarah Taylor was still alive.
The reception they received from the majority of group members suggested Alex and Chloe hadn’t been expected. Why it should have come as a surprise that the police might show up to the meeting was something Alex was unable to fathom: one of their group was dead and another was missing. It seemed fairly obvious that the police would make an appearance.
There were only three members of the group there that evening: Tim Cole, Sean Pugh and Carl Henderson. The cold village hall was made colder by the sombre atmosphere that greeted DI King and DC Lane as they entered through the creaking main doors. Tim Cole was as overpowering as ever, offering tea and biscuits as though both officers had just popped in for a cuppa and a catch-up.
‘I thought of cancelling… you know, under the circumstances, but then thought maybe it was better we try to keep things as normal as they can be. What’s happened to Lola, now Sarah, I can’t believe it. We wanted to pay our respects in some way, get together to remember them.’
Alex caught Chloe’s eye and shot her a look. Christ, the man was laying it on thick. They had told him not to give any indication that he had known the police would be attending that evening. They had told him to act normal. If this was his interpretation of that then it was a miracle anyone ever made a second visit to the group. It was almost as though Tim Cole thought he was now working alongside the police, like some undercover agent. Was he so arrogant that he didn’t realise he was under suspicion too?
Alex scanned the room. A young tattooed man met her eye briefly before glancing down at his hands. The second man seated was older, broad-shouldered and with the kind of physique that almost managed to masquerade fat as muscle. His expression bore a mixture of anger and boredom and when his gaze fell upon Alex she could feel the contempt it carried.
Had she looked upon the young women’s killer since entering this hall? Had one of these men been responsible for the injuries inflicted on Lola Evans? Was it one of these men who had taken Sarah?
‘Are there usually this few of you?’
Tim shook his head. ‘Connor’s usually here, but…’ He trailed off, silently acknowledging the futility of his words. Everyone knew that Connor was currently still in custody. ‘No sign of Rachel tonight.’
‘Rachel Jones?’ Chloe asked. ‘We’ve spoken with her.’
Tim raised a questioning eyebrow, but neither Alex nor Chloe was going to offer him any further details on the conversation that had taken place with Rachel.
Alex scanned the room once more. Just being in that hall was enough to make anyone depressed. It was bloody freezing in there: she’d glimpsed a radiator as they’d entered the room, but it was colder than the air outside, and the electric heater set up to the side of the seating area was doing little other than choke out the smell of burning dust. How this environment was conducive to supporting anyone’s anxiety was a mystery.
‘Is Rachel OK?’ Tim ventured.
‘Fine. Under the circumstances, she’s decided to stay vigilant.’
The implication of Alex’s words wasn’t missed by any of the men in the room. If there was a time to spot a suspect – the slightest flicker of guilt – perhaps now, while they were there amongst one another, would be it.
Tim was shaking his head silently, as though attempting to comprehend all that had happened. Was he too responsive? Alex wondered. Too good to be true? Perhaps all this do-gooder persona was little more than an act, though an elaborate and effectively executed one.
Alex took a chair from the side of the room and joined the small circle of men. Chloe followed. Carl Henderson folded his beefy arms across his chest and regarded Alex with contempt. Sean Pugh’s eyes flickered from the hands still linked in his lap to Chloe, seemingly distracted by her. Ignoring the looks, Chloe pulled her chair alongside Tim’s and sat down.
‘Each of you knew Lola Evans, is that right?’
Sean Pugh met Alex’s eye as he nodded. Carl Henderson gave a grunt, but his focus remained on the far wall.
‘Sarah Taylor?’
The second name received a similar response.
‘Did any of you have any involvement with either woman beyond this group?’
The question was met with shakes of heads.
‘Connor Price. Any of you know him beyond this group?’
‘He was shagging Sarah, we all know that much.’ Sean Pugh shrugged when Tim Cole shot him a look. ‘What? Don’t pretend you didn’t know what was going on. It was obvious.’
‘Did you ever say anything to either of them about it?’ Alex asked.
Sean shook his head.
‘Why do you come to these meetings?’
Sean looked taken aback by the question. Clearly this was one subject he thought might remain untouched. They needed to know why each of these men was there. It seemed to Alex that not everyone in attendance was necessarily struggling with anxiety.
Alex sensed an objection from Tim Cole and raised a hand to silence him. ‘I’m investigating a murder,’ she reminded him. ‘Privacy is a privilege, I’m afraid, not a right.’ She returned her attention to Sean. ‘I want to know why each of you comes to these meetings. And I want to know where you were on Friday night.’ Based on the time between the two boys seeing Sarah Taylor at the pub and the search that had taken place there two days later, it seemed likely that whoever had been holding her there had moved her on Friday. ‘I’ll be checking up on everything later, so let’s not waste time by telling lies. Why are you here, Sean?’