Disclaimer not mine
Chapter 2: Sounds in the Silence
"So, what have we got?" Janine addressed the team as the men all fell silent. Richard kept his eyes on her as she turned back to the muder board. A photo of a pretty young blonde woman just a few years older than Ellie stared back at them. It broke Janine's heart to think of the young woman, not much more than a child in a foreign country so far away from everything she knew only to meet the end she did. She closed her eyes as she turned away from the team. It didn't bare thinking about.
"I spoke to the staff at the nightclub." Kat sighed. "Not exactly keen to help. Kezia Dubronivic was seen buying herself a glass of white wine forty five minutes before her body was found. Somewhere in that space of time she was brutally murdered. How can no one know anything about that?"
"Its amazing how people only see what they want to see." Richard sighed as Janine turned back to him with a raised eyebrow.
"So, she was at the club. Who was she with? How long had she been in the UK? Shaps? Any news from interpol? Somewhere this girl has a family. Parents? Siblings? Come on. Someone has to be missing her."
"Nothing much. According to a DS Samia Rudestsky in Prauge she was arrested twice aged fifteen and seventeen for shoplifting. The first time she had a caution and the second time she was let off because the police man felt sorry for her."
"Why?" Richard turned to him.
"She was arrested two days after her parents died in a house fire. An only child she had no one to really keep an eye on her."
"Oh God." Janine sighed as she thought of her older two kids. Neither Ellie or Michael would be able to manage without an adult to keep an eye on them. Both thought they were adults but at eighteen and sixteen they still had alot to learn about the world. She smiled slightly knowing she sometimes worried more about them than Tom and Lucy.
"Poor kid." Richard sighed. "How did she end up in the UK? Here?"
"That." Shapps sighed. "Is the million dollar question."
"And what is the million dollar answer?" He shrugged his shoulders as the room felt silent.
"So there is no one." Kat stared at the floor. "She really was on her own. Nineteen years old with no one on this earth to miss her."
"I don't believe that." Janine addressed the team. "She was at that club with someone. I want to know who."
#########################################
"Janine." Richard jogged after her as she made her way towards her car.
"Not now Richard." She tugged on her bag so that the strap stayed on her shoulder. The last thing she was going to do was have a conversation with him when they were all clearly affected by the murder of a young woman so far away from her home.
"Yes. Now." He touched her arm as she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Richard." She avoided his eyes as she felt him step closer to her.
"Butchers and Shaps are off to talk to the bar man on duty the night Kezia was killed. It seems she had been there a few times before. And we have CCTV of him talking to her for quite a while on her previous visits to the bar."
"Right."
"Yeah." He smiled. "It has to be something. Look, it might be the break we need. With that and forensics finally coming up with something useful.
"Check out the forensics. I need to know they are water tight. It may be the only thing we can rely on in this case. God only knows we are not going to get anywhere with the witnesses. Or lack of them."
"They will." He smiled slightly. He didn't know why Janine was drawing back from the team. It wasn't like her to be cold with anyone let alone her team. It was almost as if she was scared of something. He had no idea what.
"I hope so." She looked at his chest. "I bloody hope so, because we damn well need it." She stepped away from his grasp and headed off into the darkened car park as Richard watched her go. Something was wrong and he had a feeling it was nothing to do with the case.
################################
It was dark by the time Janine got to her car, the mobile phone in her hand vibrating as text message after text message competed for her attention. Deciding it would be easier to just ring Michael to see what was wrong she opened the car door while dialing. She didn't see the shadow behind her until it was too late.
########################
A/N Is anyone reading this? Please review if you are as reviews really make the writing better and it's nice to know someone out there is reading all this.
