The Next Girl(Detective Gina Harte #1)(44)

‘The garden sounds good. We’ll have a smoke and a chat there,’ Charlene said.

Samuel grabbed Charlene’s cigarettes from her pocket and held them out. ‘Smoke?’

Jacob and Gina shook their heads. ‘We’d like to talk to Charlene first – alone,’ Jacob said.

‘I see. I suppose I’ll stay here then and wait my turn,’ he said as he grabbed a paper and sat on a stool at the bar.

Gina followed Charlene to the garden, which was an extension of the car park. Empty glasses, bottles and overfilled ashtrays covered the benches on the dirty patio. The cellar flap opened and a gaunt man popped his head up. He rubbed his hands together as he climbed to the top of the steps. He flinched and rubbed his neck, nodding at the three of them as he leaned down to lift a barrel. ‘Jeff,’ Gina called. ‘Jeff Wall.’

He nodded and smiled with an open mouth. Gina noticed that he had a chipped front tooth.

‘You do remember me, don’t you?’

The man shook his head as he balanced the barrel on his shoulder.

‘DI Harte. The detective investigating the Deborah Jenkins case a few years ago. Don’t go anywhere, we’re speaking to everyone.’

The man ran his fingers through his hair and smiled. ‘Sure thing. I’ve just got to get the empties out ready for collection,’ he replied as he continued into the pub.

Gina turned back to Charlene. ‘Right, down to business. Just to recap your statement, you stated back then that Deborah Jenkins was a regular on Wednesday nights. She was a member of the women’s pool team and had been for two years.’ Jacob took out his notebook and marked it with the date. He blew his nose and wiped his eyes. Charlene leaned away from him, took her cigarette from behind her ear and lit it. She drew in the nicotine and blew the smoke out slowly. Jacob coughed. Gina watched as the lines on the side of Charlene’s mouth became more prominent as she sucked on the cigarette.

‘That’s right. From what I can remember, she wasn’t very good at it, but she was friends with Lottie. Now that’s a woman who is shit-hot with a cue. The girls all still have a remembrance once a year for Debbie.’

‘Can you tell me about the last time you saw her again?’

‘Now you’re expecting a lot. It was ages ago.’

‘Try your best.’

‘From what I can recall, it was the week before she went missing. The team plays on Wednesdays so it had to be that day. We’d lost at home to the Spinster and Black Cat. The atmosphere, from what I remember, was a bit sombre, as they were bottom of the league and then, after that game, we were. That’s the only time we’ve been bottom of the league. We should’ve beat them.’

‘Did you play?’ Jacob asked.

‘No, I don’t do sport. When I say we, I mean us at the Angel. I still wanted them to win. Anyway, the Spinster lot all went on their merry way with an unexpected victory to their name and we sat there drinking for a couple of hours. I remember drinking tequila shots after my shift that night and was sick as a dog in the night – never again. Deborah always got a taxi home with Lottie—’

‘By Lottie, do you mean Charlotte?’

‘Yeah, Charlotte Livingston. She did live a few doors down from Debbie but I know she moved to the outskirts of the village. Her hubby got a promotion, they got a bigger house with apple trees and a gated drive. Alright for some. My husband did one seventeen years ago when my youngest was born. He’s a little git now, like his father.’ Charlene took another drag of her cigarette.

‘Can we get back to that night in question please, Charlene?’ Gina asked.

‘Well, we’d all had a few, to commiserate, you know. Samuel gave ’em all a drink on the house and joined them for the last couple while we went through the strategy of play, trying to dissect where it all went wrong. I’ve told you all this before.’ The woman finished her cigarette, dropped it to the floor and stood on it. Gina couldn’t understand why she did that, as she was ultimately the one who had to clean it up.

‘You said in your statement that Deborah slapped Samuel on the arm.’

‘Yes. I couldn’t hear what was being said but she did slap him on the arm. I think it was playful. I call him spaghetti hands, they’re always winding their way around some woman. She was having none of it though. Debbie was a good girl, not one for a fling. Lottie, on the other hand, was an outrageous flirt. Never went home with ’em though. We thought Samuel was getting a bit too big for his boots with her and was probably going to have to face another angry husband. But it wasn’t as if he was going to pounce on any of ’em, and they always came back.’

Jacob nodded at Gina. ‘You’ve been most helpful, Charlene. Is your address still the same?’

‘Yes, still in that dump.’ Charlene looked at her watch. ‘Bloody hell. Is it that time already? I’ve got to ring my lazy-ass son to get him out of bed for work. If I don’t call him, he won’t get up and I ain’t giving him any money to waste on weed.’ The woman paused and stared at Gina. ‘I didn’t mean weed. I meant—’

Gina shook her head. ‘Thank you, Charlene.’

‘You will let me know if you find her. She was a nice girl, always friendly. Such a shame for her husband and babies.’

Gina nodded. ‘Will do.’ The woman scurried off to the end of the garden with her phone pressed to her ear and began yelling at her teenage son.