Behind Closed Doors by Susan Lewis

Author:Susan Lewis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Romance, Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 9780345549518
Publisher: Cornerstone Digital
Published: 2014-08-13T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

‘A SHOE?’ ANDEE repeated, her insides knotting with the dread of what this could mean. ‘What kind of shoe?’

‘A girl’s shoe,’ Leo replied, turning to the incident board. ‘Apparently it was found here, in a rock pool.’ He was pointing to a spot on the map at the far end of the beach closest to the Kesterly peninsula, where a treacherous area of rocks, caves, jagged reefs and hollows of quicksand was constantly thrashed by the waves. No one could survive a fall from those cliffs into such a maelstrom. A body could be washed away and might never come back.

Thanks for making me want to kill myself.

‘When I said what kind of shoe, I meant is it a trainer, a pump, a sandal . . .’

‘A trainer,’ he provided.

‘And we know it’s a girl’s because?’

‘It’s mostly pink.’

‘Where is it now?’

‘On its way here. It’s a size four apparently.’

Jemma was checking the case notes. ‘According to Heidi Monroe she wasn’t sure whether Sophie was wearing trainers or flats when she left the house that night. Apparently she’s size six, or thirty-seven, but that doesn’t correspond. Thirty-seven is a size four.’

Remembering the CCTV of Sophie coming down the steps next to Alfie’s Pie Shop, and later leaving the club, Andee decided she couldn’t have been wearing trainers. On the other hand she could easily have changed into them sometime later.

‘Get on to the FLO and explain that we need a correct shoe size for Sophie. She’ll know how to handle it. Has anyone from the media got wind of it yet?’

‘No calls so far,’ Leo replied. ‘Could be no one’s up yet.’

Since it wasn’t quite seven in the morning, he could be right.

Andee turned away as once again Sophie’s words echoed in her mind.

Thanks for making me want to kill myself.

Had things really been so bad that she’d actually wanted to die? How frequently had she said it? Or even thought it? Was it possible she’d persuaded Sikora to drop her off near the cliffs that night? Had she wandered to the edge and stood staring out to sea, or down at the rocks, feeling they were her only way out?

Her eyes closed as Penny’s chalky face from last night’s dream rippled before her; she could hear screams, police sirens, sobs, her mother wailing . . . She felt uncomfortably hot all of a sudden, nauseous and in desperate need of air.

‘The local police in Krakow have had a chat with Sikora,’ Leo announced. ‘Apparently they’re satisfied Sophie isn’t with him.’

Reading the incoming information over his shoulder, Andee said, ‘Maybe she isn’t now, but he could have dropped her anywhere by the time they spoke to him.’

‘If she really did go with him. No prints taken from around the window of the bungalow are a match for Sikora’s or Perkins’s. Footprints under the window were a non-starter, much as we expected. Oh, and the computer recycling guy? He does exist. He hangs around stores like Curry’s and approaches those who come out with new computers in the hope of getting their old ones for free.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.