The Infirmary (DCI Ryan Mysteries prequel)(26)

“I don’t mind telling you again,” she said softly. “I just don’t know whether it’ll help. I don’t really know anything.”

“Even the tiniest details can be important,” Ryan put in, and she flushed.

“Why don’t you start by telling us how long you’d known Isobel?” MacKenzie interjected swiftly.

Amaya sipped her coffee and nodded.

“Okay, yeah. It was just over a year. I remember, because Isobel started working on the Lola counter in May last year. We hit it off straight away because she was just so—so nice.” Her voice wobbled, and she took another gulp of coffee.

“You’re doing really well,” Ryan told her. “Try remembering some of the good things about Isobel. Did you go out together, after work?”

Amaya cast her mind back to happier times and smiled.

“Yeah, we went out on Thursday nights, usually. We were both knackered on Fridays, so we went out mid-week instead. They have 2-for-1 cocktails on Thursday nights, too,” she explained.

They murmured their understanding.

“Anyway,” she shrugged a slim shoulder. “Isobel was kind of quiet, but she loved music. I guess she didn’t have much money because she was always worrying about it, but she’d treat herself every now and then.”

“What about when you would go out,” Ryan prodded. “Did Isobel get a lot of attention?”

Amaya nodded.

“Oh, yeah. I mean, she was beautiful, wasn’t she?”

They both nodded. Isobel Harris had been a stunner, and her killer a connoisseur.

“Was there anyone in particular? Anyone who upset or worried her?”

Amaya made a face.

“Not really. She went on a few dates, but she wasn’t into anything casual. She was old-fashioned that way. I think she wanted to meet someone special and have a proper family. She never really had that growing up.”

Ryan and MacKenzie thought of the background information they had about the late Isobel Harris and mourned the loss of a life that had barely begun. She’d grown up in care, moving through a series of foster homes until she’d turned sixteen and moved into her own supervised housing. By the time she’d celebrated her twenty-fourth birthday, Isobel had worked her way up to being a team leader and had bought her own little house in Gateshead. She’d set up a cottage business as a wedding make-up artist on the side and life was on the up.

That was before somebody decided to cut it short.

“Is that why Isobel joined LoveLife?” MacKenzie asked. “She was looking for someone special?”

“Yeah, she said she could vet them before she agreed to go out with them,” Amaya said. “Not that they always told the truth. That’s what happened with the bloke who killed himself the other day—John Dobbs, or whatever his name was. He was the only one who wouldn’t leave her alone. He really pestered her.”

“Tell us about it,” Ryan asked, leaning back in his chair.

Her eyes watched the action and he sighed inwardly.

“Ah, yeah, well, she said she’d met this really fit guy online. He was thirty-five, really good-looking, and he worked as a consultant something-or-other in A&E. She was so excited to meet him. She made a real effort and everything. I did her eye-shadow,” she muttered, glumly.

“And this was John Dobbs?”

“Yeah, that was him, but when she turned up at the restaurant, he was totally different to his profile online. He looked nothing like his picture, and it turned out he’d lied about everything. Isobel felt a bit sorry for him, so she stayed a little while and then made an excuse to leave. She must have told him where she worked because he turned up the next day, and the day after that. The second time, she told him to piss off and we had to call security to get rid of him.”

Ryan thought of the CCTV footage they’d already seen.

“It’s funny,” Amaya murmured. “She’d only been in A&E a couple of weeks earlier and she said there’d been this really hot doctor. I think she hoped it would be him.”

Their ears pricked up immediately.

“Isobel was in hospital? What for?” MacKenzie asked, leaning forward urgently.

Amaya looked between them.

“Ah, it was nothing really. She came over a bit dizzy one day and it’s company policy to send us straight to A&E if one of us gets dizzy, just in case it’s something serious. Turns out she was fine; it was probably just anaemia or something.”

“Do you remember the date this happened?” Ryan asked, working hard to keep the excitement from his voice.

“Sure,” she nodded, feeling around the pocket of her tunic for her phone so she could check the calendar. “It was the same day I went to see Mamma Mia! at the theatre, so I should be able to find the date.”

Amaya scrolled back a few weeks.

“Yeah, it was Saturday 7th June,” she told them, then looked up with hopeful eyes. “Did I help?”

Ryan smiled warmly.

“You definitely did. You helped your friend today, Amaya. She was lucky to have you.”

The girl beamed, then her eyes clouded with worry again.

“I thought—when I watched the news on Sunday, I thought it was all over. I thought he’d been the one who killed her but then I heard about what happened to DCI Cooper. She was so lovely when she came around to ask questions…” The girl stopped, blinking furiously. “Do you think it’s the same person who killed Isobel?”