‘What the fuck?’ Daphne screamed as she was forced back by Tomek’s sudden and forceful intrusion.
‘Johnny,’ he said, almost breathless. ‘Where is he?’
‘Who?’
‘Your son.’
For a moment, a long, painful moment, Daphne said nothing, simply stared at him as though he’d asked her for the square root of a million.
‘Where is your son?’ Tomek repeated. ‘We need to speak to him.’
Still nothing. Perhaps it was the shock of his sudden presence. Or perhaps it was the steady realisation of what Tomek was asking: that the only reason Tomek could be asking for her son – again – was because they’d found something, something that connected him to his sister’s death.
‘Hospital…’ she muttered, her mind a hundred miles away.
‘Discharged. As of three hours ago. Now we don’t know where to find him. Have you seen him?’
Slowly, staring into the black space behind him, Daphne shook her head.
‘Where’s your husband?’
‘Outside. In the garden.’
Almost as if on cue, Roy Whitaker appeared in the hallway, wearing a pair of gardening gloves and a light green fleece vest.
‘Sergeant…’ he started. ‘What’re you—?’
‘He wants to know where Johnny is,’ answered Daphne.
‘Johnny? Again? Why?’
‘Because we have some more questions to ask him.’
‘About what?’
Tomek didn’t want to get into that right now, but he quickly realised it would be the only way to expedite the process.
‘Evidence,’ he said coherently, his breathing returned to normal. ‘We’ve found his DNA at Angelica’s crime scene. We just want to know how it got there.’
Daphne’s hands immediately flew to her mouth. Roy’s look of consternation and concern changed to dread and disbelief.
‘Johnny… Angelica… No… Surely not…’
‘Surely,’ Tomek said.
And don’t call me Shirley.
‘But how? When? Why?’
‘I don’t know, but I’m hoping your son can answer those questions for me. When was the last time you saw him?’
Roy removed his gloves and set them on a nearby surface. ‘Not since he left the other day. Like I told you. Did you find him at the pub?’
Tomek nodded and explained that they’d subsequently taken him to the hospital.
‘Have you tried there?’ Roy asked.
Fucking hell, they were going round in circles.
Tomek confirmed they had, then asked, ‘Do you have any idea where he might be? Any idea at all?’
Johnny’s parents looked at one another, eyes wide, mouths open.
Then they both shook their heads and said no, they had no idea where their son could be.
But Tomek did. At that moment, he knew exactly where to find him.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
‘So this one, this one is one of my favourites,’ she explained. ‘It’s cut from my favourite stone, sapphire.’
‘Handmade?’
She nodded politely. ‘Yes. Everything you see here is handmade by me. I have a little workshop out the back where I craft my little creations.’
The woman placed the ring on her finger and held it up to the light, admiring it for a moment. ‘You’re very talented.’
‘Thanks.’
