by Wyer, Carol
‘And you definitely haven’t returned to Watfield since you moved away?’
‘The day I walked out on Jane was the last day I spent there. I’ve been in digs in Sutton for a while and jobbing on a building site. I needed to lick my wounds for a while. I got in touch with Mum and found out the family were headed to the area so I said I’d join them when the job’s finished in a week or two.’
‘You stayed in touch by telephone?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Yet Jane didn’t have a contact number for you.’
‘That was probably cos I busted my phone. I had to get a new one and the number changed. I didn’t pass it on to her. I didn’t think we had anything left to say.’
‘You weren’t at all interested in Savannah, your stepdaughter? You didn’t even want to know how she was getting along?’
He pushed himself upright and looked Lucy in the eye. ‘I know it’s difficult to believe, what with the kid living with us and then me becoming her stepfather, but she and I never really gelled. She didn’t like sharing her mother. Jane had brought her up single-handedly with some help from her own mother, and she and Savannah were really close. There wasn’t room for anyone else.’
‘But she lived with you and your family for a couple of years. You must have got to know her really well and formed some bond with her.’
‘Nope. She spent most of the time whinging about the other kids and getting up my mum’s nose. She was a right prima donna and couldn’t get along with the other kids in the group. If she wasn’t with Jane, she’d hardly speak to anyone. When we moved to Watfield she became even worse. It was like she didn’t want anyone in Jane’s life.’
‘You’re saying you didn’t get on?’
He rubbed a hand over his clean-shaven chin. ‘We tolerated each other. Jane was the glue in our relationship. When we got a bit ratty with each other, Jane would step in, and if you’re going to ask me if I’d ever hurt her, the answer is no – never. I didn’t once touch or harm her. I might not have been close to her but I would never have hurt her.’
‘You have a reputation, Mr Hopkins. You were involved in a brawl with Kyle Yates in September, last year.’
He snorted. ‘That was nothing. The lousy shit had it coming to him. He came marching into a pub when I was having a quiet drink and shouted the odds about me ripping him off. I hadn’t. He was abusive and I lost my rag. I went for him and he struck me first. I only thumped him a couple of times but someone decided the police ought to get involved.’
‘What happened in the days after? Did you see Kyle again?’
He shook his dark hair. ‘No. He was only out to cause trouble, make sure I wouldn’t find work thanks to his bad-mouthing.’
‘You didn’t go to his house again?’
‘Absolutely not. I had no reason to.’
‘Did you ever encounter Melissa’s daughter, Harriet?’
‘I didn’t know she had a daughter. I thought they had a little lad. Never saw a girl when I was working on the place. Still, it was only half a day’s job.’
Lucy changed tack and, crossing her legs casually, asked, ‘What did you do with the old guttering on Melissa Long’s house?’
‘Took it to the tip.’
‘Where was this tip?’
‘Just outside Samford, which is a bit of a drive away, so I stored it just outside our house until I had other rubbish to take. The salvageable stuff I can sell, I move on, and the rest goes to the refuse tip.’
‘Were you ever tempted to dump it out of sight?’
He gave a loud laugh. ‘Oh yeah, that’d go down well. Can you imagine if I got spotted dumping rubbish? I don’t want to make life harder for myself, do I?’
Lucy couldn’t find any tell or mannerism that made her doubt Lance wasn’t telling her anything other than the truth. She uncrossed her legs and sat forward. ‘I don’t know if you’ve heard the news but Harriet Long’s body was found this morning.’
Lance rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. ‘I didn’t know. I’m sorry to hear that and I’m cut up about Savannah. I thought I’d go and visit Jane. I bet she’s in a terrible state.’
‘I’m going to need a DNA sample and for you to tell us your exact movements for yesterday afternoon starting at three thirty.’
‘I was at the building site all afternoon until gone six. After that, I went straight to the Wheatsheaf for a couple of beers and dinner, then back to my digs at nine and watched television.’
‘Do you have any witnesses?’
‘Plenty. I was at the pub with the lads from the site and I share digs with one of them, Gary Robinson. He was with me until we both turned in at around eleven.’
‘I’ll need Gary Robinson’s contact details.’
‘Sure.’
‘And Monday afternoon, where were you then?’
‘Same routine, same pub, same person who can vouch for me.’
‘Then PC Jarvis will take those details and collect a DNA sample for our records in order to eliminate you from our enquiries.’
‘Certainly.’
She’d asked him everything she could. She glanced at Ian, who’d remained silent during the questioning. He gave an imperceptible shake of the head to indicate there was nothing he had to add. Lucy thanked Lance for his assistance and turned off the recording device. She left Ian to get the details and headed back to the office. Murray was at a desk, staring at CCTV footage.
‘Thought it hurt your eyes too much checking video footage,’ she said, jokingly.
‘There’s nobody else free to do it so I’ll have to suffer the discomfort. Yolande says I’ve starting squinting to watch telly and I ought to visit an optician. She might be right. Must be an age thing. No luck with Lance Hopkins?’ he asked.
‘Not a thing. I hope I read the situation correctly. He seems plausible enough. Ian’s doing a DNA swab in case we need it but I’d say Lance has nothing at all to do with either murder.’
‘Natalie’s rung in. She’s headed home for the night.’
‘Unless we can come up with something soon, I think I might be doing the same. You can only run on empty for so long.’ Lucy sorted through her paperwork and notes. If Lance had nothing to do with the murders, then who else was there left to suspect? Stu? Anthony? Or was there somebody they hadn’t yet found? She yawned widely.
‘Looks like someone else is ready for their bed,’ Murray teased.
‘Shut up!’ She tried to focus on the notes again but they made little sense. She watched Murray, who was once again peering at the computer screen, his face screwed up in concentration. He might hate checking through the endless footage but at least he was trying to find new suspects. She stood up, stretched and then asked, ‘So, old man, want a hand?’
* * *
He dried up the mug and stacked it back in the cupboard. The snake was restless, coiling and uncoiling against his flesh. It needed to feast again.
‘Hush! In good time. We know where she lives. We’ll take her.’
He might have had to change plans but he was once again in control. He would act later once the girl was alone. He knew what to do and say. It was all planned out. He smiled at his own cleverness.
He checked the time. It was close to six thirty. It was almost time to go and lie in wait.
* * *
The house seemed eerily quiet to Natalie, who sat on the bottom stair and pulled at her boots. She was dog-tired but she had to eat before she could turn in and she needed a bath or shower. There was no leftover smell of any cooking. If they hadn’t yet eaten, she’d order takeaway. The door to David’s office was wide open, his seat empty and his computer pushed to one side, abandoned. In its place was a classic car magazine. He clearly wasn’t working on the new translation. She ambled into the kitchen and, finding no one, tried the sitting room, where she came across Leigh, lying full length on the settee, hugging a cushion and watching Hollyoaks, one of her favourite shows. Natalie was tempted to drop down beside her but
that would mean asking her to move, and Leigh was glued to the programme.
‘Hey!’
‘Hi.’ Leigh didn’t look up.
Natalie waited a second then tried to raise a smile. ‘What, no, “Hi Mum, how was your day at the cop shop?” Or, “Thanks for the super slushy text message?”’
Leigh shifted slightly and responded with a plaintive, ‘Mu-um, I’m watching telly.’
Natalie gave up. It was maddening when Leigh froze her out like that. Up until a month or two ago, she’d have invited Natalie to join her, but something had changed between them and the atmosphere charged up whenever she spoke to Leigh, who’d become defensive for no apparent reason. She gave it one last shot. ‘Where’s Dad?’
‘Grandpa’s.’
‘Why? Is everything okay?’
‘I dunno. He didn’t say.’
‘Have you any homework to do?’
Leigh threw her an exasperated look. ‘Some reading. That’s all. I’ll do it after I finish watching this.’ She hugged the cushion more tightly and stared at the television. As Natalie was about to leave, she muttered, ‘I’m having tea at Zoe’s tomorrow. Dad said I could.’
Natalie didn’t argue. Josh had football practice after school on Thursday evenings and usually David collected Leigh and either brought her home or treated her to a McDonald’s. Josh’s mate, Ethan, lived in a village outside Castergate, and Ethan’s mum invariably dropped Josh off. Harriet’s deception raced through her mind. Harriet had lied about going to stay overnight with her friend. It wasn’t that Natalie didn’t trust Leigh but she’d feel happier if she confirmed the validity of the arrangement. She’d ring Zoe’s mum. She headed upstairs to her son’s bedroom. As usual, the door was shut and, standing close to the door about to knock, she heard him mumbling in his usual fashion, then break into a sudden laugh. He was on his laptop, chatting to a friend. She hovered by the door, trying to decide if she ought to interrupt or not, then concluded she wasn’t going to pussyfoot about in her own home. Besides, Josh should be studying for exams. As bright as he was, he couldn’t afford to mess up his GCSEs, so a gentle reminder she was around wouldn’t go amiss. She tapped lightly. The murmuring stopped and he called out, ‘Yes?’
She put her head around the door. ‘Just thought I’d say hello.’
‘Hi.’ He lifted his hand from the computer mouse. A paragraph of an essay was visible on the screen.
‘I hear your dad’s at Grandpa’s house?’
‘Yeah.’
‘When did he go?’
‘After we got home.’
‘Why?’
‘Don’t know. Grandpa needed a hand.’
David had been gone a couple of hours. It was unusual for Eric, David’s father, to request assistance. It was usually the other way around. David was hopeless at anything DIY.
‘Did he say when he’d be back?’
Josh shook his head and glanced at the screen quickly.
‘You doing a project?’
‘Coursework.’
That was Josh – coherent, engaged conversation was beyond him these days. She hoped he wrote better than he spoke.
‘You eaten?’
‘Chips.’
David must have stopped at the chippie in Castergate on the way home. She’d have to throw together a casserole or something else more nutritious if she was going to keep pulling late nights. Her kids couldn’t live on Indian takeaways and chips. David was actually a decent cook but didn’t enjoy it and was reluctant to prepare meals. It was a shame because he made a mean chilli con carne. Her stomach grumbled at the thought. ‘Okay, I’ll catch you later. I’m going to get some food and then a bath.’
He’d already turned his attention back to his screen and Natalie pulled the door to. She stood for a few moments, listening once more.
‘Nah. It was my mum… You’re lucky. Try living with a mother who’s a cop. She’s into everything… Anyway, what did Charlie say to you?’
She couldn’t face an argument but it saddened her to feel she was kept out of her children’s private lives. She’d once been their most important person – the one they ran to and with whom they’d shared their secrets. Now, she was treated as an invader. She drifted away back downstairs and searched the fridge for some cheese, settling on a tomato and an unopened packet of cheddar. She slid the knife through the plastic covering and cut off a chunk, eating it without a plate. She bit into the tomato, which squelched horribly, almost dissolving into mush in her mouth. Like baby food, she thought. Josh had always hated tomatoes and refused to eat them. It was the pips he disliked most. The fruit was tasteless but it was food nonetheless and she needed some nutrition.
The sound of a key in the lock alerted her to David’s arrival. She called to him, ‘I’m in here.’
He appeared, eyebrows lifted. ‘Didn’t expect you home for a while.’
‘Expect the unexpected. I won’t be up for long though. I’m going to have a hot soak and then bed. Eric okay?’
‘Yeah, fine.’
‘What did he want?’
He dropped his car keys into the bowl on the kitchen top. ‘Oh, only to change a hose and connector on that ancient washing machine of his. He needed a lift out with it. Look, I’ll let you get that bath. I’ve got to work on that translation. I’m behind on it. It’s been heavy going with it today and the client’s getting antsy. I promised it by the end of the week.’
Eric could easily have pulled his washing machine out into the open without assistance from David; besides, he had his live-in girlfriend, Pam, to assist him. Neither of them was an invalid; in fact, Eric was extremely fit and sprightly for a man pushing seventy, and Pam was only in her mid-fifties. The image of the car magazine on David’s desk flitted across her mind, and suddenly a thousand imaginary ants crawled over her scalp. David wasn’t telling the truth. ‘I suppose your work got interrupted, what with fetching the kids and then having to help Eric?’
‘Yeah. It’s impossible some days to get anything done. I’ll go and crack on now.’
There it was: the same look Josh had given her when he’d pretended to be working on science coursework but was talking to a friend online instead. Another, more important, thought sprang to mind. ‘Leigh says she’s going to Zoe’s tomorrow night for her tea.’
‘That’s right.’
‘You checked with Zoe’s mum, didn’t you? I can ring to make sure she was invited if you like.’
‘There’s no need.’
‘I was only asking. Don’t get so defensive.’
David’s jaw jutted. ‘What’s your problem, Natalie?’
Something erupted inside. Yesterday, David had been a different man altogether, and now, he was a belligerent arsehole! She’d been at work for hours and a fat lot of recognition she got for all her efforts to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Her voice climbed higher as she spoke. ‘Problem? I don’t have a problem. I’m working an investigation where a schoolgirl lied to her parents about her whereabouts and as a consequence was murdered. It’s not a fucking problem, David. It’s called caring!’
‘Then you’ll be happy to know I’ve also been caring. Naturally, I double-checked with Zoe’s mum. What do you take me for? I’m not completely useless, you know?’
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake! I don’t need all this shit when I get in. Get off your sanctimonious high horse.’ Natalie stormed out of the room and almost collided with Leigh. She halted mid-stride and took in the girl’s miserable face. She’d overheard them arguing. She reached out to stroke Leigh’s hair. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. It’s been a rough day.’
Leigh returned a blank look. ‘I’m used to it. You’re always shouting at each other these days.’
Natalie’s jaw dropped but Leigh moved off before she could speak. She called after her. ‘Leigh—’
‘I’ve got reading to do.’
Natalie ran a hand across her face. Things were spiralling out of control. She needed to get a grip o
n the investigation and then rectify this situation. She and David had to resolve their issues, whatever they were. She needed to stop being so suspicious of his actions. It was killing their relationship and she couldn’t have her children involved in their petty arguments. For now, she was too fatigued, physically and mentally, to handle anything more than a bath and a long sleep. Tomorrow was another day.
Eighteen
Wednesday, 18 April – Evening
Katy Bywater slumped in her chair and aimed the remote control at the television, her empty mug by her feet.
‘Katy, love,’ her father, Christopher, said apologetically. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to lend you the money, it’s just that I’m a bit short myself this week.’
She turned on him. ‘You always have enough to go down the pub every night. You want to know why I had to ask you for it? I need to buy tampons and pills for stomach cramps. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to ask you for money for that sort of thing? If Mum was here…’
She’d pressed the right buttons. He flushed to the roots of his hair.
‘I understand, sweetheart. It’s really difficult without her. I’m sorry. Look, I can stretch to a tenner.’
He delved into his pocket, drew out a battered wallet and pulled out a ten-pound note, which he handed her as a peace offering. She took it without any word of thanks. He smiled at her but she ignored him and stood up without a word.
‘Where are you going?’
‘My room.’
‘I thought we could watch something together.’
‘I’ve got stuff to do.’
‘Oh, okay.’
‘I hate you for making me move here, you know.’
He opened his mouth but said nothing and she stalked away, leaving the empty mug bearing her name on the floor next to her chair. He flopped onto the settee and flicked through endless channels before settling on a repeat of Top Gear. When it ended and Red Dwarf began there was still no sign of his daughter. He tried the other channels again but soon gave up and meandered upstairs, where he hovered outside the bedroom door before finally tapping gently on it.