answer some questions.
I told Rob everything I knew about where Richard had been and the cases we were working on, but
nothing about his search for my file in case it looked bad on him. A small part of me wondered if it
was my fault he had died, in which case maybe I should mention his threats. Knowing this could lead
to me being a possible suspect I kept quiet.
Adam was great, having a lawyer boyfriend came in handy; he had a private word with Rob before
we left. Gordon was waiting outside; he ordered Adam to take me home and gave me the rest of the
day off. We drove home in silence, I wasn’t sure if going home was the best thing, throwing myself
into my next case may have been more help in taking my mind off Richard.
Adam meanwhile had plans of his own; he made me a cup of tea then set up the lap top in the
kitchen,
“Get the scrapbook Leah, let’s start going through the articles and looking for places to start our
search for Jake” My heart soared this was exactly the right thing for me to be doing. I raced off to
fetch the book and we sat with our drinks pouring over all the scraps of paper Gran had collated.
We isolated a few interesting facts there was a partial image of the flats in Burnage, actually it was a
Victorian semi converted into bed sits, I recognised the front door immediately. We also knew which
car park my mum had been found; apparently the police had received an anonymous call about a
body. I was desperate to start asking questions so like a pair of amateur sleuths we drove to Burnage
hunting for the house in the photo.
When we got there I was disappointed to see that all the houses looked identical. We drove up and
down the streets; nothing looked familiar until I spotted a fish and chip shop.
“Stop Adam it is somewhere here I remember my mum complaining of the constant smell of fish
wafting in the flat from across the street. We parked up and walked over to the houses that faced
the chippy, standing on the path I looked at the only two possibilities for my old home. I had
absolutely no idea, feeling frustrated that nothing rang a bell Adam put an arm around me
“Don’t expect too much Leah, lets knock on a few doors and see if anyone remembers Suzie as she
was the land lady” I agreed so we started knocking, after five no answers a lady in her fifties
answered on the second floor
“Yes Suzie I remember her she disappeared just before that poor young girl was murdered, of course
I lived next door then. These flats were very run down before that summer.” This was fantastic we
had our lead I jumped in while she took a breath
“I am the little girl found with the dead girl Selina, did you ever see me with her” She peered at me
her eyes suddenly bright with tears
“Come in dearie come in Oh you poor child, I thought about you every day, oh I am so glad you are
well. A nice young man too I see, come in I will put the kettle on” Adam and I grasped hands excited
for the first time in our search.
“Did you ever see my mother at all? Mrs sorry what is your name?” she frowned but was thinking
back
“Mrs Franklin dear, I lived next door until the fire, and then we were all rehoused into this building. I
remember seeing your mum, so pretty I only saw you a couple of times, children were never seen in
this building, I think the hookers used to get the children removed by the social services poor wee
mites, too young to be doing that work runaways most of them that Suzie used to arrange it all
common piece she was” that was news to me, that explained her asking my mother if she wanted to
keep Jake
“So when did you see me?” she was pouring the hot water into the pot, I helped by dropping the
bags in for her
“I saw you once going to the chip shop and once when she dropped you off with Suzie when you
were tiny, she was all dressed up getting into a fancy motor, had a limo driver it did, she looked
stunning like a model” I stared at Adam, this must be the man she kept
I told Rob everything I knew about where Richard had been and the cases we were working on, but
nothing about his search for my file in case it looked bad on him. A small part of me wondered if it
was my fault he had died, in which case maybe I should mention his threats. Knowing this could lead
to me being a possible suspect I kept quiet.
Adam was great, having a lawyer boyfriend came in handy; he had a private word with Rob before
we left. Gordon was waiting outside; he ordered Adam to take me home and gave me the rest of the
day off. We drove home in silence, I wasn’t sure if going home was the best thing, throwing myself
into my next case may have been more help in taking my mind off Richard.
Adam meanwhile had plans of his own; he made me a cup of tea then set up the lap top in the
kitchen,
“Get the scrapbook Leah, let’s start going through the articles and looking for places to start our
search for Jake” My heart soared this was exactly the right thing for me to be doing. I raced off to
fetch the book and we sat with our drinks pouring over all the scraps of paper Gran had collated.
We isolated a few interesting facts there was a partial image of the flats in Burnage, actually it was a
Victorian semi converted into bed sits, I recognised the front door immediately. We also knew which
car park my mum had been found; apparently the police had received an anonymous call about a
body. I was desperate to start asking questions so like a pair of amateur sleuths we drove to Burnage
hunting for the house in the photo.
When we got there I was disappointed to see that all the houses looked identical. We drove up and
down the streets; nothing looked familiar until I spotted a fish and chip shop.
“Stop Adam it is somewhere here I remember my mum complaining of the constant smell of fish
wafting in the flat from across the street. We parked up and walked over to the houses that faced
the chippy, standing on the path I looked at the only two possibilities for my old home. I had
absolutely no idea, feeling frustrated that nothing rang a bell Adam put an arm around me
“Don’t expect too much Leah, lets knock on a few doors and see if anyone remembers Suzie as she
was the land lady” I agreed so we started knocking, after five no answers a lady in her fifties
answered on the second floor
“Yes Suzie I remember her she disappeared just before that poor young girl was murdered, of course
I lived next door then. These flats were very run down before that summer.” This was fantastic we
had our lead I jumped in while she took a breath
“I am the little girl found with the dead girl Selina, did you ever see me with her” She peered at me
her eyes suddenly bright with tears
“Come in dearie come in Oh you poor child, I thought about you every day, oh I am so glad you are
well. A nice young man too I see, come in I will put the kettle on” Adam and I grasped hands excited
for the first time in our search.
“Did you ever see my mother at all? Mrs sorry what is your name?” she frowned but was thinking
back
“Mrs Franklin dear, I lived next door until the fire, and then we were all rehoused into this building. I
remember seeing your mum, so pretty I only saw you a couple of times, children were never seen in
this building, I think the hookers used to get the children removed by the social services poor wee
mites, too young to be doing that work runaways most of them that Suzie used to arrange it all
common piece she was” that was news to me, that explained her asking my mother if she wanted to
keep Jake
“So when did you see me?” she was pouring the hot water into the pot, I helped by dropping the
bags in for her
“I saw you once going to the chip shop and once when she dropped you off with Suzie when you
were tiny, she was all dressed up getting into a fancy motor, had a limo driver it did, she looked
stunning like a model” I stared at Adam, this must be the man she kept
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