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‘But wasn’t he an ex-boyfriend?’ Stacey asked.
‘He was, but that wasn’t what frightened her. Shana Grice made her first complaint to Essex Police on the eighth of February. She was dead by the twenty-fifth of August.’
Stacey recalled that Essex Police had been heavily criticised for not taking Shana’s claims seriously. The fact that he’d stalked thirteen other women should have highlighted just how dangerous the man was.
‘So Charlotte felt that Birch could kill her?’
‘No, she cut ties with her family and friends and moved halfway around the world for the fun of it.’
‘Even though he’d never touched her?’
‘She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she stayed, he would eventually find a way to kill her.’
NINE
Kim stood at the metal fencing of the building site trying to get someone’s attention. The signs she was trying to look around made it clear that she couldn’t enter.
A lull in the sound of the diggers and loaders gave her an opportunity.
‘Oi,’ she screamed at the top of her voice.
‘Impressive,’ Bryant offered as a man fuelling up one of the excavators finally looked her way.
She beckoned him over.
‘I need to speak to Lisa Brown,’ she said.
He shrugged.
‘The boss.’
‘My boss is Derek so…’
‘Big boss,’ she said, doing a circle with her hand to indicate the whole thing.
‘Oh, her, hang on,’ he said, walking away.
He approached another man wearing the same uniform but with a different-coloured hard hat. She surmised it was probably Derek, who looked their way and then disappeared. The guy went back to filling up his excavator.
Kim stepped away as her phone rang.
‘Go ahead, Stace.’
‘Hey, boss, just to let you know Terence Birch might need a closer look.’
‘Go on.’
‘He’s got form for stalking and we’re not talking kiddy stuff. We’re talking sustained obsession with one female that went on for years, despite court orders and prison time.’
‘Any violence?’ Kim asked, seeing the picture of Sandra’s bloodied body.
‘Not that I’m aware of but…’
But it still needed to be followed up.
‘You still in the office?’
‘Yeah.’
