by Wyer, Carol
‘You saw Savannah on a few occasions?’
‘Usually at the supermarket or in the side street. She was always with the same two friends.’
‘How come you seem to know her better than the other girls? You haven’t mentioned them by name.’
‘No special reason.’
A muscle twitched in Natalie’s jaw. ‘You need to level with me, Anthony. I meant what I said about taking you to the station and I shall if I’m not satisfied with your responses. I’m sure your neighbours will be keen to tell everyone they saw you being marched to a police car. So, let’s try again. Why was Savannah of more interest to you than her friends?’
His narrow shoulders slumped. ‘A few months ago, I noticed her stealing some stuff from the clothes section in Aldi. She rammed a top into her backpack and strolled out and nobody stopped her. I was kind of interested to see if she’d do it again and to know if she’d get caught, so I started hanging about the supermarket car park until she went inside, then I’d follow her and see what she took. She got away with all sorts of goods. It was just a casual interest.’
‘You watched a teenage girl stealing? That sounds highly suspicious to me. Did you ever challenge her about it or act like a responsible adult and report her like you ought to have done?’
‘I know I should have but part of me wanted her to get away with it. Supermarkets are rich, right? They can afford to lose a few items. I admired her boldness.’
Natalie kept her cool. ‘I’d say that was being party to theft.’
‘No. I wasn’t. I was merely an observer. She was good at it too – lightning quick. She’d lift things under people’s noses. It was like she was invisible to everyone around her. I wish I could creep about unnoticed. It would make life more bearable.’
‘Oh, please, you’re breaking my heart with your hard-luck attitude. I’m investigating Savannah’s murder, and the fact you got pleasure from watching her shoplift is, quite frankly, sick. Do you have anything else to help me work out where she went?’
His lank hair fell further across his face, covering some of the acne marks he sported from his youth as he shook his head.
‘I’ll be back if I need any further information from you. I’d strongly suggest you stay where we can find you. Don’t leave town.’
‘See, you’re like most of the folk around here. You wouldn’t use that tone with me if I wasn’t on the sex offenders’ register.’
‘Whatever,’ said Natalie, wearily, and stood up in one swift movement.
* * *
Back at Samford Police headquarters, Lucy had returned to the office and was instructing one of the technical team who was now in possession of Phil Howitt’s iPhone and laptop.
‘How quickly can you examine it?’ asked Lucy.
The woman shrugged lightly. ‘Mike told us to prioritise anything from your team, so as soon as we find anything, I’ll get back to you.’
‘Great, thanks.’
Once the technician had gone, Murray looked up from his screen. ‘You’re keen, Lucy. Hoping to get fast-tracked for promotion?’
She gave him a silent two-fingered sign that made him chuckle.
‘You okay, Ian? You look a little pale. You’re not overdoing it, are you?’ she asked.
Ian muttered something unintelligible.
‘He’s being brave and wearing his big-boy pants today,’ Murray said.
Lucy smiled. ‘More like bloody Superman pants. He did save your life, you know? Or at least saved you from getting carved up.’
‘Shut up, the pair of you,’ Ian snapped.
‘Oh, okay.’ Murray’s eyebrows arched high on his forehead. ‘Pants must be too tight,’ he added with a wicked grin.
Lucy mouthed, ‘What’s up with him?’
Murray lifted both hands and pulled a face.
Ian spoke up. ‘I’m trying to concentrate, that’s all, so stop distracting me.’
Murray swung back towards his desk, teasing over. Before the incident in March, in which Ian had stepped in for Murray during a takedown and been knifed, the men hadn’t seen eye to eye. Ian had only been back a few days and already the cracks were reappearing in their relationship. In Lucy’s opinion, it was more than a football rivalry that caused them to bicker – both men wanted to be the alpha male. Ian had gone up in her esteem. He hadn’t made a fuss over the injuries that had kept him in hospital for a couple of weeks and on painkillers since. He’d insisted on returning to work as soon as he possibly could, and to Lucy, that showed guts.
The team resumed their roles, banter over. Not long after, Natalie rang in and spoke to Murray to give him an update.
‘Anthony Lane saw Savannah smoking in the car park behind Aldi with two girls who I assume are Holly Bradshaw and Sally Gilmore. Also spotted her shoplifting a few times. Can you try and locate him on any CCTV cameras in town? He claims he left the supermarket and went home via the church. See if you can verify that for me. I’m about to talk to Duffy from the phone shop. What else have we got?’
‘Lucy’s brought back Phil’s laptop and phone. Said he was acting cagey so she asked the tech team to examine them.’
‘Interesting. I’ll be back as soon as I’ve spoken to Duffy. Shouldn’t be too long.’
* * *
Natalie ended the call and opened the door to the brightly lit phone shop. It was similar to the one she’d visited with Josh and Leigh, who’d both insisted on trying out the latest smartphones but had ended up with affordable models, much to their chagrin. A glass-fronted cabinet filled with accessories and some second-hand laptops stretched the length of the shop to the right. Along the wall opposite were shelves containing various phones, each attached by coiled leads preventing them from being stolen. Behind the counter stood an athletically built man in his late twenties with wavy blond hair, striking cheekbones, a clean-shaven jaw and a genuine smile. He reminded Natalie of an actor Leigh had once had a crush on after watching the Harry Potter films. He was examining a laptop, gently prodding it with a screwdriver. He looked up.
‘Can I help you?’ he asked. Natalie approached and showed her ID card. The smile vanished. ‘You’ve come about Savannah, haven’t you?’
‘I have. You were one of the last people to see her. I understand she and her friends often visited the shop.’
He gave a sad smile. ‘We’re the only mobile phone shop in Watfield and we do computer repairs as well so a lot of the kids in the area come here for one reason or another – to get something fixed or for top-ups.’
‘Top-ups? I thought that was mostly done online nowadays.’
He shook his head. ‘Not around here. We have many customers who buy five- or ten-pound cards a month for their pay-as-you-go phones. I don’t just mean schoolchildren.’
Natalie nodded. ‘What more can you tell me about Savannah? I know she was in here a few times, so did she talk to you very much?’
‘Savannah was one of the quieter ones. I’ve been working here over three years, since January 2015, and some days you can’t move in the shop for schoolkids. They all chat to me. Savannah arrived in Watfield just over a year ago. There was a lot of gossip about where she’d come from – something about being a traveller – and her stepfather Lance was a right piece of work. I had a run-in with him a couple of times.’
‘What about?’
‘Accused me of selling him a dodgy second-hand phone. It wasn’t. We do sell second-hand phones but they’re all in perfectly good working order. We overhaul them before they go back out.’
‘Have you seen him recently?’
‘Not since he left town.’
‘And how often would you say Savannah came into the shop?’
‘At least once a week. That’s not unusual. Mobiles and gizmos are to teenagers what bright, shiny objects are to magpies. They want to know what the latest phone can do and find out about apps and stuff on them, even if they don’t own one. They’d sometimes come in to ask questions about their own mobiles, especially if th
ere were problems with them, or get new covers – we have some wicked plastic covers. I have a friend who makes them,’ he said, pointing at a pile in a plastic basket on the counter.
‘What did Savannah come in for?’ Natalie asked, trying to get the man back on track.
‘She had an old Samsung mobile. It wasn’t as up to date as some of the others’ phones. She’d mess about with the new models to see what they could do and get a top-up card now and again.’
‘Did she talk to you about anything in particular?’
‘Not really. She’d occasionally ask about the phones or games I play. I’m a gamer and some of the kids come in to find out how to level-up on the more popular games.’
‘Any special game?’
‘She’d just ask what I was playing and ask if it was any good.’
‘Did you overhear anything that might give us an idea of where she was headed yesterday afternoon?’
‘I didn’t hear anything to help you. Sorry. I saw her walk past the shop at about three forty-five and she stopped by the window and waved at me. I was busy sorting out the display cabinet at the time so I didn’t open the door and say hello.’
‘She didn’t look unhappy?’
‘No. No more than usual.’
‘She was alone?’
‘Yes.’
‘You didn’t notice anyone following her?’
‘Nobody.’
‘You’re sure of the time?’
His forehead wrinkled slightly. ‘Definitely. I’d just checked the time before she went past the shop. I’ve no idea what happened to her afterwards. I joined up with a few other locals to help look for her but – well, you know what happened. We didn’t find her. I heard the dreadful news this morning. I feel really bad about being one of the last people to see her. Maybe if I’d been by the counter, she’d have come inside to say hello and this wouldn’t have happened. I’m afraid I have nothing else I can tell you.’
‘Okay. Thank you. One last thing: were you alone in the shop yesterday?’
‘Yes. Although, my boss, Mitchell, was working upstairs in his flat. He came down almost immediately after I saw her, to take over from me. I had to leave early for a dentist appointment.’
‘Is he here at the moment?’
‘No, he’s had to get some parts for a broken laptop. He should be back any minute but I know for a fact he didn’t see Savannah. His office is at the rear of the building so he couldn’t have seen her walking past.’
‘Does he live alone?’
‘Yes. His long-term girlfriend passed away a few years ago, just before he moved here and took on this shop.’
Natalie made a note and thanked the young man again.
He cleared his throat as she was leaving and spoke. ‘Savannah was a nice girl. I think she was a bit misunderstood. The others – her friends – took the mickey out of her when she wasn’t with them.’
Natalie spun around again. ‘Why?’
‘She wasn’t a local like most of them, and her mum’s got a bit of a reputation, and, of course, her stepfather was known around town. They were labelled as a rough family. Savannah got tarred with the same brush.’
‘What do you mean by having a reputation?’
Duffy cast his look downwards for a second. ‘A bit easy, tartish. Word gets about in a town like this one. They were very much outsiders and didn’t do a lot to help themselves become accepted. I don’t know more than that.’
Natalie thanked him again and moved aside to allow a man who looked to be in his forties, carrying a large cardboard box, to enter.
‘This is my boss,’ Duffy called out.
She faced the man. ‘I’m DI Ward, sir. I was asking about Savannah Hopkins.’
He put the box on the shop floor carefully and held out a slim hand. It was warm to the touch. ‘Mitchell Cox. I own the shop. This was such a horrible thing to happen. Duffy and I joined the search party for her.’ He shook his head sadly.
‘You didn’t see her at all, did you?’
‘No. I was fixing a laptop in my office until I came downstairs to run the shop. Duffy had an appointment for four o’clock. I didn’t see a thing.’
‘You knew Savannah?’
‘Not very well. Duffy usually deals with the customers unless we’re very busy. I tend to work more on the technical side. I’d seen her in the shop but I’d only served her once, I think.’
‘You didn’t ever serve her parents?’
‘No, I can’t say I did. Sorry I can’t be more helpful. It really is a terrible thing to happen – it’s such a nice town too. The people are really good sorts. We’ve never had anything like this happen before.’
‘Do you have any CCTV? Maybe you have her on camera.’
‘We have surveillance equipment but the recording only lasts twenty-four hours. It’s on a loop. It’s largely to deter shoplifting. Some of the phones are quite valuable. The camera’s there.’ He pointed it out to her.
‘You have no others?’
‘There’s nothing else. We don’t generally have any trouble, and every valuable item is tagged electronically. We have retractable security grilles on the window, the place is fully alarmed and I live above the shop. One camera is enough.’
‘You never spoke to Savannah?’
‘Only to serve her. I’m regarded as a bit of a dinosaur by the younger generation. I’m afraid I don’t keep up with what they like. Duffy here knows all about the latest mobile trends more than I do and what appeals to the younger generation. I stick to the older clients who need an upgrade or some technical advice.’ He gave a half-hearted smile.
‘And you were in the shop all afternoon?’
‘I locked up at six, ate my meal upstairs and was roused by police knocking as I watched television. There was quite a commotion and many of the locals came out to help hunt for her. I joined them. Up until then, I was here.’
Natalie moved aside to allow a couple of young girls to enter the shop. Duffy threw them an engaging smile as they approached the counter. She thanked Mitchell for his time and hastened to her car. It was coming up to five o’clock, over one full day since Savannah had disappeared. She needed to take stock of what information they’d gathered.
Ten
Tuesday, 17 April – Early Evening
Natalie arrived back at the station to find her team in deep discussion. Lucy looked up as soon as the door opened. ‘Natalie, we’ve uncovered something of concern on Phil Howitt’s laptop. They were in encrypted files.’
Natalie tossed her large bag onto the nearest chair and crossed the room to join the team gathered around a laptop. She released a heavy sigh at the photographs of naked young girls on the screen. Some were as young as eight or maybe ten. ‘Bring him in for an interview. Did he have an alibi, Lucy?’
‘Not a concrete one. Ian’s been trying to track his car passing through any CCTV camera points but we haven’t spotted it yet. Phil drove past Jane Hopkins’ house late last night but he didn’t stop off. He says he was put off by the police presence.’
Natalie snorted. ‘I bet he was. Anyone located Lance Hopkins?’
Ian shook his head. ‘Dropped off the radar. I spoke to Amy Stephenson again. She’s the neighbour who claimed to have seen him hanging around but she now thinks she might have been wrong.’
Natalie let out a hiss of exasperation. ‘It would make our lives easier if people could be sure of what they did and didn’t see. Okay, keep looking for him. He needs to be told about Savannah and we also need to confirm his whereabouts for yesterday. Murray?’
‘Stu Oldfields, the labourer, said he met up with fourteen-year-old Harriet Long. She’s not at the same school as Savannah. She attends Lincoln Fields Secondary at the far side of Watfield, on the main A50 road. They’ve been seeing each other for the last couple of weeks, but he’s adamant he never had sex with her. I’m not so convinced by his denial. He was definitely nervous about confessing he was with her yesterday. If it had been platonic, he’d have n
o reason to hold out about it. I haven’t been able to contact her yet. He gave me her mobile number but she isn’t answering. I tried her mother’s contact number and got no response either. I drove over to their house but no one was in, and a neighbour, Kate Baldwin, told me Harriet’s mother works shifts at a logistics company out at East Midlands Airport and doesn’t get in until after midnight. Kate also said the girl was feral and could be anywhere. She goes out with friends and hangs about the street a lot, being a troublemaker.’
‘Feral?’
‘That’s what she said. Wouldn’t say any more than that.’
‘You left a message on Harriet’s phone?’
Murray nodded an affirmative. ‘And on her mother’s.’
‘Oh, sod it, we’ll have to try again later and, in the meantime, hope one of them contacts us. The trouble is, if Stu’s already spoken to Harriet, she could well cover for him. Ian, have you got anything positive for me?’
He shook his head. ‘I went through CCTV footage and found Anthony Lane outside Aldi in the car park as you suggested but he’s not on any footage near the church later as he claims. The camera there is playing up and we only have sporadic shots of people up until seven p.m. and then it goes blank completely.’
‘Are there no other cameras in the area?’
‘None.’
Natalie’s cheeks puffed up and she slowly released the air before speaking again. ‘That means Anthony, Phil and Stu all have flimsy alibis at the moment. Right, we’ll work with what we have for now. By the way, the Hopkins family had a reputation for being a bit rough. I’m not sure how many people they annoyed but there’s a chance Lance or Jane pissed someone off. Might be worth prodding that possibility. Ah, Mike!’