Barnes wanted to punch the air. At last, a breakthrough, although he noted the suspicion on his host’s face. ‘It’s a bit delicate and I don’t want to alarm you but two of Frankie’s friends have been attacked and–’
Mrs White interrupted. ‘Two? I thought there was only one. Our Jed told us about it: a young woman was murdered in the village where Frankie lived, but I didn’t know about another one. Oh this is awful, the poor thing.’
‘Well until now we weren’t sure about the circumstances. However, new developments indicate that the second woman was in fact attacked so I’d like to speak to Frankie as soon as possible, just to make her aware of the situation.’
‘You don’t think Frankie’s in danger, do you?’ Jenny began to twist her fingers, her eyes wide with worry.
‘Like I said, it’s merely a precaution but the three women witnessed a murder about sixteen years ago and now two of them have been attacked. Even though we don’t know if it’s related, I’d rather make sure that Frankie is on her guard until we catch whoever is responsible.’
Jenny looked thoroughly shaken by the news and glanced around the room, as though looking for something. ‘I understand and you’re right, we need to ring Frankie straight away. Now where’s my phone? I’m always putting it down somewhere.’
‘It’s okay, no rush. I’m more relieved that I’ll be able to speak to her, I’ve been on a right wild goose chase today, I can tell you. Frankie’s not exactly been easy to track down.’
‘Well, there’s a reason for that, love. Now, let me make you that brew, then I’ll ring Frankie, oh and by the way she’s not called Hooper anymore, but I’m not really supposed to say what her new name is: she changed it you see.’
At this Barnes’ ears pricked up. ‘Really? Anything you can tell me is a help.’
Jenny seemed unsure, then sighed and came to sit at the table. ‘Yes, I suppose so, I’m only doing as I was told by our Jed.’
‘Of course.’ Darren’s spidey senses were on full now, eager for Jenny to spill.
‘It seems she had a bit of trouble when she lived in London. Awful business, an ex-boyfriend stabbed her, total nutcase apparently. Anyway, Frankie has been scared to death that when he gets out he’ll come looking for her, so she changed her name by deed poll before she went to live in France.’
‘France? Is that where Frankie is now?’ The news was like a gift.
‘Yes, love, she wanted to start a new life. That’s where my boys are, doing some work in her new house. Well, I say that but they’ll be making their way up to the ferry right now because they’ve finished the job. My Ken says it’s lovely and we’ve been invited over for a holiday although I think it’s going to cause problems here, you know with our Jed. I can tell he’s smitten by Frankie and now she’s over there.’
While Jenny’s tongue was working overtime so was Darren’s mind, questions buzzing around in his head.
‘So she’ll be there on her own, then, when I tell her about her other friend. That’s a shame.’
Jenny nodded while another thought entered Barnes’ head, something that Mr Aspinall had said earlier. ‘Has anyone else been here asking for Frankie? Her neighbour said his wife sent someone your way, an old friend who’d called to see Frankie.’
‘Yes, someone did come asking after her, last week it was. Said they’d moved into her flat and had a pile of post for her, so I gave them Ken’s number. No way was I giving Frankie’s to a stranger.’ Jenny looked pleased with herself for not breaking the rules.
Barnes was confused because it sounded like the same person but the reason they gave for wanting to find Frankie was different. That alone made him uneasy. ‘Can you describe him to me, Jenny? It might be important or just a strange coincidence.’
At this Jenny looked surprised and smiled. ‘It wasn’t a man, love, it was a woman.’
‘A woman?’ He was going to say ‘are you sure?’ but that was stupid. Perhaps it was because he’d been wrong-footed and his brain was playing catch-up. ‘Jenny, what did she look like? Anything you can remember will be really helpful, even the smallest detail.’
‘Mmm, well she was quite petite, nicely spoken, correct like… I thought that straight away.’ Jenny scrunched her face as she thought.
‘Anything else? Height, hair, colour of eyes.’
‘Couldn’t tell you about her eyes: she wore sunglasses. But she did have lovely auburn hair in a bob style, and she drove a white sports car. I only know this because when I drove out – I was going to see my sister in hospital, you see – I saw the woman getting into her car as I passed. She’d parked further up the street.’
Barnes’ heart thudded under his shirt but he tried to remain impassive, not wanting to alarm Jenny for the second time that day because he knew exactly who she was describing. It was the hair and the car that gave it away, and now he’d joined more dots he knew that Frankie could be in terrible danger.
‘Jenny, can you do me a favour and go and find your phone because I need to speak to Frankie as soon as possible. But first, are you one hundred per cent sure you didn’t tell this woman where Frankie was? You didn’t give her the address.’
Jenny was starting to look tearful and his attempt at not panicking her definitely hadn’t worked. ‘No, I promise I didn’t, only Ken’s number.’
Barnes leaned forward, his hands clasped on the table. ‘Okay and where were you when you spoke to her?’
‘In the office, on the other side of the yard.’ Jenny pointed through the kitchen window.
‘And you didn’t leave her alone at any time? She didn’t have access to any diaries or contact details?’
