‘We just need to speak to him,’ Jacob said, giving her a reassuring smile. The woman seemed more at ease and returned his smile as she left the room.
Jacob grabbed another tissue out of his pocket and proceeded to hack up phlegm. He pulled out a lozenge from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. ‘Nice one Gov. I wish you’d be more like O’Connor and share some cake instead of your diseased bacteria.’ Gina smirked as Gabby entered with a coffee. She worked in accounts administration; Gina had interviewed her the first time around.
‘I’ll just pop it here,’ Gabby said as she placed the chipped and stained mug in front of Gina and hurried out of the room.
‘I think I’m about to be infused with more dodgy bacteria from this cup,’ she said as she reluctantly took a sip. ‘Good coffee though.’
The door knocked again. Callum entered and sat opposite the two detectives. ‘I never did anything, you can’t still be trying to pin this on me,’ he said as he stared at Jacob.
‘We were never trying to pin anything on you, Mr Nelson, just trying to get to the truth of what happened to your colleague and friend Deborah Jenkins,’ Jacob replied as he sucked on the sweet. The scent of cherry menthol filled the air.
‘Sorry. Most people who know me know I’d never harm anyone. I mean, I can’t even run a spider down the plughole.’ He rubbed his stubbly chin and looked away.
Gina leaned forward. ‘Mr Nelson, can you please go over what happened on the day of Deborah’s disappearance? I know we have your statement, and it was a long time ago, but I want you to think back. Did anything stand out to you? Please tell us again about when you left.’
The man leaned back in the chair and ran his fingers through his greasy hair. ‘I’ve already told you everything. Do you think I can remember like it was yesterday? It was years ago. You have my statement.’
‘Please try, Mr Nelson,’ Gina said.
The man looked up at her and dropped his shoulders. ‘It was a really miserable night, that much I remember. I got soaked. Debbie was working away in the main office when I left. I poked my head through the door and said bye. I left and that was it.’
‘You say you left on foot,’ Jacob said.
‘I always walk home. I don’t live too far away. Takes fifteen minutes. In the summer I cycle. You haven’t pulled me in here to check out my damn travel habits, have you?’
‘Calm down, Mr Nelson,’ Gina said. ‘We are doing this for your colleague, Deborah. Anything you can tell us may help.’
‘Have you found something? Please tell me you’re going to find her?’
Gina looked at the man. His finger-tapping, the show of anger and the look of despair in his every feature all led her to believe that Callum had a thing for Deborah. It was an angle she was going to press.
‘Did you and Mrs Jenkins have a personal relationship?’
‘No. I already told you that at the time.’
‘I know what you told me at the time. Look at me.’
Callum lifted his head and looked over, his gaze darting from hers to Jacob’s.
‘Did you and Deborah Jenkins have a personal relationship of any kind?’
‘No, I mean, it’s nothing.’
‘Let me decide that.’ Jacob sat poised to write as the man began to speak.
‘Bloody hell. You lot just won’t leave me alone. I haven’t done anything wrong. Look, I know she was a lot older than me but I had a thing for her. It was just a crush, that was all. She knew, but it was light-hearted. I didn’t say anything because I knew you’d think it was me. She was married and I didn’t try to make a play for her. I just liked her, that’s all. Look, I’m married now,’ he said as he pointed to his wedding ring. ‘I love my wife and I don’t want this brought up. Besides, not a thing happened, nothing, zilch. I left her that night. I walked down the path outside the building, in the dark. You saw me leave on the CCTV footage. That was the last I ever saw or heard of Deborah.’
Gina scribbled a few notes in her pad. ‘Did you see anyone when you left?’
‘A couple of cars passed, as I told you at the time. There was a van but I can’t really remember the type. It was a small van – white, I think – but it passed quickly. I don’t remember any more and I’m not even sure about the van. There was no one on foot, just me. It was raining, I had my hood up and I couldn’t even hear much. I practically jogged home.’
‘You never mentioned a van back then.’
‘I forgot. Vans come up and down every day around here. I didn’t think it was important.’
‘What’s important is for me to decide, Mr Nelson. It may have been just a van, but it was just a van on the night that mother-of-two Deborah Jenkins disappeared. You withheld information that may have helped the case.’
‘I didn’t know and I can’t really remember. Maybe I didn’t see a van. I don’t know anymore. Can I go now?’ Callum ran his fingers through his hair again.
‘Have you ever been in the Angel Arms in Cleevesford?’
‘No. Well, only once. I got pissed there when I turned eighteen. Puked beside the bar. I was too embarrassed to ever go back. Why do you want to know?’
‘Do you know the landlord or any of the staff?’
The man stared at them. ‘No.’
‘Do you have a dog?’
‘A dog? No.’
‘Thank you, Mr Nelson. I’ll get someone at the station to contact you to make an official statement later. We need to update our information relating to your relationship with Mrs Jenkins and the van. That will be all. You can go for now.’ Callum stood and slammed the door as he left.
‘I think we touched a nerve there,’ Jacob said. ‘Do you think he knows more?’
‘He has no alibi, but we came up with nothing at the time after searching his flat and checking his phone records. Not a thing. The only thing we have is that Callum, twenty-two at the time, had a bit of a crush on Deborah. I’ll get Wyre to give him a grilling though. If he does know more, we’ll press it out of him and get him on tape.’
‘Why didn’t he mention his crush back then?’ Jacob asked.
‘That’s a question to consider.’ Gina ringed Callum’s name on her pad. She also noted down the words ‘small white van’.
Jacob turned a page in his notepad. ‘Do we really need to speak to Toby Grove, Clive Henderson or Vernon McGuire?’
‘No. I’ll instruct Wyre and O’Connor to call them in just to make sure we’ve covered all angles. They can speak to them after dealing with Nelson. We looked into their whereabouts thoroughly four years ago. They were all in the pub with the other workshop staff. But we need to know if any of them know Avery. And I suppose we should talk to Gabby Dent; she was Debbie’s closest friend at work. We may be able to delve a little deeper, see what she knows about this so-called crush that Callum Nelson had on our missing person.’
Lynne knocked and entered. ‘Are you finished here?’ she asked.
‘Almost. Can we just speak to Ms Dent and we’ll be off?’
‘I’ll send her through.’
A moment passed and there was a tap on the door. ‘Come in,’ Gina called. The tall, dark-haired woman sat in the seat that Callum had left sticking out. Her hunched posture told Gina that she wasn’t confident in wearing her height.
‘Have you got any news? Is that why you’re here?’
Gina flipped to a fresh page in her notebook. Jacob crunched down on a lozenge, breaking the silence. ‘Due to new evidence, we’re just going over statements to see if we can shed any new light on the case.’
‘I’m glad you haven’t given up on her. I’ve always said I think she’s still alive. Everyone here says she’s probably dead, killed by some psycho, but I don’t know. You guys have never found a body.’
‘You were good friends with Deborah. Did she tell you of anything in confidence that may have bothered her?’
‘What like?’
‘Relationships, good and bad, maybe,’ Gina replied.
‘She told me lots of things. We spoke every lunch break. We spoke between jobs and we occasionally spoke on the phone after work.’