Thrills, Chills and Goldfish | Chapter 14
There was a silence whilst they dialled their respective numbers and waited. They both left messages, along the lines of 'where are you?' and 'give me a call' when they got no reply. They were used to dealing with things like this, with missing people and the following inquiries, but not with people they knew. Julie was someone Janet respected as well as being a friend, and for Gill– God, they were best friends, Gill had felt so guilty for the pneumonia thing, Janet had seen it in her. Now what?
"She was really ill, I don't see how she could even have got out of the bed, let alone left the hospital," Janet said.
"Apparently her stuff hasn't been touched. They're not sure was entirely– they think she might not have known what she was doing, she might have been confused, if it's– We need her file."
Janet looked at her inquisitively.
"She– she really wouldn't want me to tell you this, but I don't see I've got any choice. She was pregnant, years ago, and she lost the baby. She's never told me before, but she told me when I went to see her in hospital that first time. She seemed really shaken by it, I think this case must have brought it all back, or maybe she just realised she's got no-one to look after her when she grows older."
Gill's voice broke towards the end of her last sentence. The pain radiating from her was oppressive, it made Janet want to run out of the office and gulp in the air outside, which smelled of Rachel's yogurt and Kevin's farts, familiar things.
"I'll get someone to dig it out," she said, "And I'll ask Rachel to make you a coffee."
She took Gill's shake of the head as an excuse to leave. She recalled what was happening to Rachel, missing out the part about the child – it seemed like an intrusion on her privacy, to make it public knowledge when she'd so evidently tried to bury her past – and Rachel agreed to make Gill a coffee without complaint.
"Do you think she'd prefer a chocolate digestive or a custard cream?" Rachel asked. Janet's heart was warmed; there was a tiny bit of humanity left in the world, even if it was in the form of her wayward colleague.
Janet was skimming Julie's file, rather reluctantly, when Kevin yelled to the office in general, "Dawson, Martin Dawson."
"What about him?" Lee asked.
"He was in contact with the third girl, well, sort of, he was–"
"Kevin," Gill said from the doorway of her office. There was an aura of calm and authority about her now; she was an expert at hiding her emotions, Janet thought, and it made her sad that Gill couldn't even reveal herself to the people she spent more time with than any others, including her son. "Pull yourself together and tell us what you've found out about Martin Dawson."
"Well, you know he was talking to Hazel Jordan on Facebook, but there was no connection to Natalie Johnson, so we weren't really sure," Kevin mumbled, his voice becoming clearer when he glanced up and saw everyone's eyes on him. A moment to shine, to really impress them all. "But Elena Barton lived on the same street as Martin Dawson up until a couple of years ago; they lived a few houses apart, they definitely would've recognised each other, wouldn't they? I mean, I know nobody speaks to their neighbours any more, but surely–"
"I could kiss you," Gill said.
"Not really necessary, Boss," Kevin smirked, glad to see that Rachel looked a little put out by Gill's comment. You jealous, Bailey? Of which one of us?
"Come on, then, get to it," Gill slammed her hand down on the nearest desk, "Janet and Pete, you two go down and talk to Elena Barton's parents again; they know you now, so maybe they'll start to feel a little bit more comfortable. God knows they need some continuity. Take some photos of Dawson. And Lee and Mitch, talk to the Chief Con again, don't give him too much information about Dawson, but stress that there might be a connection between Dawson and the girls. You know how to do it."
"Ma'am."
"Can't I do something?" Kevin whined.
"Well, you were supposed to be doing the CCTV, weren't you, Kevin?" Gill sighed, but before he could protest she continued, "You and Rachel can do some house to house in Dawson's area. See if anyone knows anything, if anyone's seen anything. But take the softly-softly approach, we don't want to spook him yet; we've not really got anything concrete, after all, have we?"
"Got it, Boss," he said, evidently delighted to be given something important to do, "Come on, Bailey."
"Oh, what have you let loose on the streets?" Janet laughed as she passed Gill. The DCI only shook her head. "Nothing about Julie yet?"
"No. I just keep thinking, what if she's– I don't know, if she was a bit confused, she would be vulnerable, what if she's been hurt, or if someone's taken advantage of her?"
"We're not there yet. She might turn up safe and sound; she was probably just sick of the hospital food and wanted a burger or something."
"She doesn't like burgers."
"Oh, Gill, don't let yourself get het up about it," Janet sighed, unsure of how to comfort her boss. She reached out a hand and then dropped it again before she'd touched Gill's arm. "We've got a lead in the case, haven't we? You need to focus on the positives; let the officers assigned to it look for her, yeah? It's not your fault."
"How can you say that? All of this is my fault."
"Gill–"
Janet moved her hand out of the way quickly to avoid having her fingers trapped against the doorframe as Gill slammed the office door in her face.
Pete, hanging back to wait so that they could go down to the interview rooms together, gave her a questioning glance.
"Just me putting my big nose in and upsetting her," Janet sighed. As they made their way downstairs, Janet checked her texts.
From Dorothy: I've given her soup.
From Taisie: Aw mum now she's making me eat some green sloppy thing, I'd rather be puking in the school bathrooms tbh :(
From Rachel: Please kill me now *hands over gun*
Janet made a gun-shaped symbol with her thumb and forefinger, and accompanied it with a whispered "Bang" as she fake-fired it at the staircase.
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