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Hmm…who deserved a second chance and for what? she wondered.
Two posts down was a photo of Teresa with a bruise on her cheek and an overly detailed explanation about the cupboard door in the kitchen. Was this a genuine injury or had she been assaulted? Had she posted on social media as a cry for help, or a veiled warning to Eric that it couldn’t happen again?
The unease in her stomach tightened as she passed the phone to Bryant. ‘Oh yeah, no red flags at all.’
Puzzlement settled on his features as he scrolled. ‘That’s weird. How’d Stacey miss…?’
His words trailed away as her phone rang in his hand. On seeing the caller ID, he all but threw the phone back at her like it had suddenly burst into flames.
She groaned as the name Frost screamed out at her.
‘What?’ she answered.
‘Stone, where the fuck are you?’ Frost bellowed into her ear.
‘At work. Unlike some folks, I have a proper job. Sorry, did I miss our anniversary dinner or—’
‘Quit the comedy act. You might want to get your ass back to the crime scene instead.’
‘For what reason?’ she asked, sitting forward.
‘Cos it’s absolute bloody mayhem down here.’
Kim reached for her drink as Bryant started the car.
NINE
Luckily for Stacey, the gym frequented by Eric Gould was part of a national chain with over two hundred branches.
Once she spoke to the right person and proved her identity, she was granted a login and password for their CCTV system that would expire in one hour. After agreeing to their user protocols, she was able to access all seventeen cameras on the property.
Stacey wasn’t old enough to remember the old VHS recording systems, but she had been sent many times as a constable to locations to burn CCTV footage to a CD. It was much quicker and far more efficient to email videos, and being granted access to a company intranet was the five-star service. Their co-operation had saved her hours of work.
A quick flick through the system confirmed that there were very few black spots and that the quality of the footage was exceptional. So far they were scoring pretty high on the wish list for searching CCTV.
Although Eric’s Instagram hadn’t included a picture of him at the gym that morning, the usual time stamp of his flexing muscle posts was between 7a.m. and 8.30a.m., so she needed to rule his gym visit in or out to confirm his movements.
She easily located him entering the gym at 7.01a.m., dressed in black Adidas joggers and a plain black tee shirt with short sleeves that looked stretched to their limit around his biceps.
She was able to track him into the changing room, where he emerged three minutes later in shorts and a vest top that showed off all his muscles.
First, he headed for the treadmills beside a row of bikes. Only one bike was occupied and no greeting took place between the two men. Eric donned earbuds before starting his run. Fifteen minutes later, he stepped off the treadmill and headed for the weight room. As he entered, two men glanced at each other and left shortly afterwards.
Stacey went backwards and surveyed the scene again. They didn’t appear to have had any intention of leaving until Eric had come in.
She switched to the previous camera and wasn’t surprised to see that both men were in the next room, one heading to the treadmill row and the other to the bikes, as though they hadn’t wanted to enter while Eric was in there.
She went back to her target, now aware that he wasn’t particularly popular. He had the room to himself.
She took a moment to evaluate his lack of interaction with other people. She’d already noted that he possessed what she called the ‘cock’ walk. Shoulders pulled back, torso and genitals thrust forward in a slow swagger, as though announcing the arrival of his privates before the rest of him caught up. She had no idea if it was his normal walk or if he saved it for the gym. It emanated an arrogance, a superiority that was probably off-putting to people who didn’t know him. And to people who did know him, perhaps it was just another distasteful element once added to his boastful, sexist and misogynistic traits. Stacey was pretty sure she wouldn’t have wanted to get to know him any better. It remained to be seen if, either singularly or collectively, those traits had been responsible for his murder.
After the findings of the post-mortem, she was looking for anyone that came close to him, but she wasn’t having to work very hard.
By 7.50a.m., Eric had worked his way around most of the equipment and was heading back to the changing room. He hadn’t spoken to a soul, and no one had engaged him in contact.
At 8.05a.m., he left the locker room and headed for the exit.
Stacey accessed the footage of the locker-room door. No one had entered in the fifteen minutes prior to Eric going in, so it was safe to say he’d been in there alone.
