Kiss Her Goodbye: The most addictive thriller you'll read this year

by Susan Gee

  ‘I’m going to speak to the neighbours on his road. Someone might have seen them together.’

  Nick frowns. ‘He doesn’t look the type.’

  I shake my head. ‘Seriously?’

  He raises an eyebrow as his hair shines under the office lights. ‘OK, don’t start, but he doesn’t.’

  ‘What? No raincoat and thick glasses?’

  He smiles. ‘The English teacher however…’

  ‘Don’t stand so close to him. Yeah, well, just shows.’

  ‘When you decide on something you just don’t let it go, do you?’

  I tap the papers with my biro. ‘Some things you can’t. Anyway, you saw him that day. He was nervous.’

  The time to let things go has passed. I had a phone call from Jackie last night trying to blame me for Tom’s drinking. I gave her the name of a helpline and put the phone down. Nothing will ever change with him. Perhaps she’ll realise that I was telling her the truth now. My mother may have been right there, but she couldn’t have been more wrong about this job. I wish that she could see how much it means to me. I’m strong and dedicated – more than she ever knew. I’ve done this all on my own. This job means everything and I’m going to make sure that whoever did this is caught. I can make a difference here.

  *

  As I drive towards the college the trees that line the road are bare and the church steeple pierces the sky like a black shard at the top of the hill. The more that I think about it, the more everything points towards Michael Lancaster. He’s in the perfect position to gain their trust. The last time I saw him, it felt as if he was controlling Hayley and once she starts to admit it, then it will all unravel. She’s vulnerable without a dad and he knows it. I can’t let him manipulate her. I just need to find the right thread to pull.

  When I get into the college, I go straight to Dr Tibbs’ office. She’s sitting behind her desk in an immaculate blue suit.

  ‘Have you found something?’ she asks.

  She means have we arrested someone. She assumes that she’ll be informed before it is made public.

  ‘We’re widening our investigation.’

  She picks up a dead leaf from the plant on her desk and throws it in the bin next to her.

  ‘Will you be interviewing students again? Some of them find it upsetting. It brings up a lot of emotions, especially at this time of year.’

  I remember how Kirsten Green’s hair was wrapped around a branch, as though she were moulded to that tree in the river. The skin of her hands and feet was loose when we pulled her body out. My shoulders stiffen, but I let my feelings sit unseen under the surface like the creatures that had started to feed on her body before we found her. Dr Tibbs doesn’t need to know these things. She can remember Kirsten as the long-haired, quiet girl at the back of her class, without knowing the reality. I bite my lip and let her talk about the way that I have upset her pupils.

  ‘Can you tell me more about Hayley Reynolds?’ I ask.

  ‘Hayley?’

  ‘How she performs in college? Family life? Anything.’

  Dr Tibbs sighs and taps her chin with her pen. ‘She came to me with difficulties a while back, as you know. She could get straight As if she wanted. Easily.’

  She’s told me this already.

  ‘What’s her mum’s boyfriend like?’

  ‘I’ve shared a lot with you already. You’re aware of our code of confidentiality.’

  ‘You referred her to a counsellor?’

  ‘Yes, but I don’t see how that’s related to your investigation.’ She glances at the clock on the wall.

  I nod, despite wanting to put her in her place. Perhaps Nick would have been better with her, but maybe not. I let her enjoy her small moment of power. She thinks she’s doing the best for her pupils while doing the opposite.

  ‘Friends?’

  ‘Let’s just say she’s not the most social of girls in that year. She has a small group of friends, but she’s on her own a lot of the time. I’ve seen her with Leila McAndrews and Stefan White.’

  ‘Anyone else?’

  ‘Do you think Hayley’s involved with what happened to Kirsten and Maxine?’

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  She leans forwards. ‘But that’s why you’re here.’

  ‘I’m here to get information, not to give it.’

  She sits back and purses her lips together.

  ‘Of course.’

  I pause.

  ‘Do you see her family much? Open events? Parents’ evenings? How do they seem to you?’

  ‘We have a lot of families through here. We break up in a week. There’s a lot to do.’

  She looks over at the blinds, as though she wants to be somewhere else, and I know that I’ve played it wrong. She isn’t going to give me anything. It’s as though she’s shut down.

  ‘You seem to bring out the best in the students.’

  ‘Our results are in the top 10 per cent in the country.’

  She can see through the flattery. Her pink lip gloss has bled into the wrinkles around her mouth as she fakes a smile.

  ‘What’s happened can’t be good for the college or the pupils.’

  I get up from my chair and walk towards the door. She has principles, but soon she might not have a choice. She’ll have to tell me anyway.

  ‘I’m always available,’ she tells me.

  ‘You didn’t hear anything else about a boyfriend of Maxine’s, did you?’

  ‘I didn’t see her with anyone in particular.’

  ‘An older man?’

  Dr Tibbs coughs into her hand and taps her chest. ‘I don’t know anything about that,’ she replies.

  A group of girls walks past outside and the sound of their laughter comes through the open window.

  ‘So far, the only link to those girls we have is this college. I just hope I’m not back here again for the wrong reasons.’

  She takes a long drink of water from the glass on her desk as she realises what I’m saying.

  ‘We both want the same thing,’ I continue. ‘To make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.’

  As I put my hand on the handle of the door I’m surprised to hear her voice behind me.

  ‘Hayley said her mum’s boyfriend kept coming in on her when she was changing. There were other things. Nothing major. Later, she said she’d made it all up.’

  ‘Had he taken things any further than that?’

  She looks me over. ‘No. I would have escalated it.’

  ‘When exactly was this?’

  ‘Around October.’ She gestures backwards towards the filing cabinet. ‘It’s in her file. Ask reception for a copy if you need it.’

  I wait for her to change her mind, but she gets the file out of the filing cabinet behind her and passes it to me.

  ‘That would be useful.’

  ‘Her family life hasn’t been the most stable, but she’s a good kid. It’s just been her and her mum for years. I didn’t want to see her fail. She’s too bright.’

  ‘Right.’

  I’m about to ask something else, but she holds her hand out open-palmed. ‘Everything’s in the file. The door can stick. Just give it a good push. Leave the original at reception.’

  I smile, but she hardly smiles back.

  ‘Thanks. You’ve been more than helpful.’

  As I walk away down the corridor I’m certain that I’m right about Michael Lancaster. Every time I find out something else it turns out to point towards the truth. Now that I’ve started, I’m not going to stop until I get there. Despite Dr Tibbs’ reservations, I will be speaking to Hayley Reynolds’s friends again, especially Leila McAndrews. She’s come out with more each time we’ve seen her and if Hayley’s too scared to talk to me, then maybe she will.

  As I walk out, past the posters on the wall, I notice a picture of Hayley Reynolds holding up a trophy. Her smile is wide and her skin is bright. There are no dark circles under her eyes.

  Don’t worry, I’ll get him,
I say to her, in my head. The effect he’s had on her couldn’t be more obvious.

  After she’s copied the pages I want, the woman on reception gives me Stefan White’s home address and I see that he lives on the same road as Hayley Reynolds. I decide to visit him next.

  *

  Outside, it’s dull. The wind has started to pick up and the grey clouds match the darkness of the concrete pavements. I sit in the car and look through the notes. There are numerous claims about Michael Lancaster and a clear record of the change in her attendance and grades. Hayley Reynolds may have said that she made all this up, but she was afraid. Why say it otherwise? I’ve met her. I know how hard it is to get anything out of her. If she confided in someone, it was because she needed to.

  I glance over at the cemetery. The stone statue of an angel looks back at me through the metal railings. Carved flowers hang from her hands and a pair of wings curves up behind her like two great waves. Ivy has started to wind its way up around her dress. I pull the seat belt over my shoulder and start the car, determined that Maxine Turner and Kirsten Green will be the last girls from All Saint’s college to end up in there. This stops now.

  *

  When I knock on Stefan White’s door, I glance over at Hayley Reynolds’s house. The drive is empty and I wonder if Michael Lancaster is down by the river again. The thought makes me nervous as I wait for someone to answer. A mist has started to creep in from the top of the road.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Stefan White?’ I ask. ‘I’m DS Beverley Samuels.’

  He nods.

  ‘Is anyone in?’

  ‘My nan.’

  The house is the same layout as Hayley Reynolds’s, but the carpet is thick and patterned under the dark mahogany furniture. The smell of baked gingerbread on the air makes me hungry.

  ‘I just need a quick chat.’

  He leads me into the living room. On the table is a small plastic Christmas tree with home-made decorations and chocolates tied to the branches. The snowman candle by the fire looks as if it’s seen many Christmases and the house has a homely feel that was absent from the Reynolds’s.

  As we start to talk it turns out that Stefan White isn’t anything like Dr Tibbs; he’s happy to tell me everything he knows. He talks so much that I have to ask him to slow down. The boy can’t tell me enough about Hayley’s family.

  ‘He chased you with a knife?’

  ‘I was upstairs with Hayley. You know...’ He looks down at swirls in the purple carpet. I have to stop myself from asking him to get on with it, but I nod instead.

  ‘Yes. Go on.’

  ‘He went downstairs and I ran out of there so fast I left my shoes behind.’

  ‘Can you describe the knife?’

  ‘I didn’t see it.’

  I try to hide my disappointment.

  ‘So you didn’t actually see him with it?’

  ‘No, but Hayley told me he’d gone to get one. So I ran.’

  ‘I see.’

  I want to put my head in my hands. I thought I had something, but it doesn’t mean anything. It shows that Michael Lancaster can be intimidating, but not much else. I look up at the textured Artex on the ceiling, the little bumps and peaks, like icing on a Christmas cake.

  ‘Was he like this on other occasions?’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ he replies, and I try not to get my hopes up.

  ‘Hayley’s always running off. Last time I went after her to the warehouse to check she was OK. He goes there too, but I still went. I’m not scared of him.’

  ‘That was good of you.’

  He smiles.

  ‘And brave,’ I add.

  If he was older he’d see through that, but he grins instead and I think to myself that I’m not as bad at dealing with people as I thought. He pulls out a packet of mints from his back pocket and offers me one. I shake my head.

  ‘Can you show it me?’ I ask.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The warehouse. I’d like to see it.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, suppose so. If you want.’

  *

  Stefan takes me down the lane towards the woods. We pass the place Michael Lancaster claims he saw Maxine Turner the last day she was alive. The warehouse is only a short walk from the housing estate and when I see the electricity pylons through the trees I know that we are minutes from where the bodies were discovered. The fog has started to creep up from the river, shrouding some of the trees in a hazy mist.

  Stefan gestures towards a large green building through the trees.

  ‘It’s that one. It’s always open. You just push the door to get in. Do you want me to come in with you? It’s pretty dark in there. I don’t mind keeping you company.’

  He smiles to himself as though something has amused him and I turn away to face the building.

  ‘I’ll be fine from here,’ I tell him. ‘Would you be willing to come into the station to make a statement if we needed you to?’

  ‘Has he been hitting her or something?’ Stefan looks over his shoulder to see if anyone is behind him.

  ‘Thanks for your help.’

  He smirks. ‘Any time.’

  ‘I’ll let your nan know if we need to talk to you again.’

  As he walks away, he goes quickly as though he can’t wait to get away.

  The trees creak under the wind as I walk over to the warehouse. The stems of the plants around the door are broken and crushed as though it’s been recently used and the grasses are flattened into the mud. I pull my jacket further around me and try to avoid stepping on the footprints. I imagine Maxine Turner coming here with Michael Lancaster. He could have sat inside and used it as a base to keep an eye on how the investigations were going, while we searched the undergrowth further up. All the buildings were checked and nothing was found, but I want this one searched again. I’m about to try the door, when I get a message on the walkie-talkie. It’s Nick.

  ‘We need you back at the station. There’s been a development.’

  I open the door, but don’t go in. Stefan was right. It’s dark inside and I will need to come back with a torch. The thought occurs to me that there could be another girl in there. That he could have done it again and we haven’t found out about it yet.

  I lean in and shout, ‘Hello!’ as loud as I can and my voice echoes against the tinny metal walls, but silence is the only reply. I turn around and go back up the lane towards the car. Fog has crept in from the river and it brings a chill with it that cuts through my clothes and makes the trees look like figures. This place gives me the creeps.

  *

  As I walk into the office Nick comes straight over to me.

  ‘We’ve had a phone call.’

  I resist the urge to tell him to get a move on, so that I can get back to the warehouse. It will be properly dark soon and I hope he hasn’t brought me back for nothing.

  Last week, the badly decomposed body of a man was found in the undergrowth by the embankment. He’s been identified as Stephen Fitzpatrick, the man from the carnival. It looks as if he fell. He must have doubled back, because it wasn’t where the search was focused, but at least the family has closure now. I wonder if that’s why Nick’s brought me back.

  ‘Someone’s handed in a film with photographs of Maxine Turner on it.’

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘Photographs after she’d died.’

  A phone rings on the other side of the room and I feel my heartbeat quicken.

  ‘After?’

  He smiles and raises an eyebrow.

  ‘Greg and Steve have gone to the chemist to pick them up. There’s something else,’ he continues.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The name of the person on the slip is Michael Lancaster.’

  I feel my eyes widen.

  ‘You’re kidding? Are they sure?’

  ‘The girl that processed them was pretty shaken up. She recognised her straight away. He put in a stack of films. Probably grabbed it by mistake.’

  ‘Or he’s an a
rrogant prick.’ I sniff.

  ‘Or that.’

  ‘How long have they been gone for?’

  ‘Twenty minutes? I called you straight away.’

  I resist the urge to put my coat on and go there myself.

  ‘Do we know where Lancaster is now?’

  Nick looks back at me and blinks. I’m aware that my hand has started to shake and my heart is beating fast with the adrenaline. This is it.

  ‘I want his phone records checking. There’s a warehouse he’s been using by the river too,’ I tell Nick. ‘Let’s pay him a visit.’

  He starts to smile. ‘I like it when you’re happy.’ He winks.

  I wish he’d focus. It’s got to be done right. I think of Mrs Green, sitting amongst her lifeless ornaments, and Hayley Reynolds, too scared to go home. I think of all the girls that could be next and I just want to bring this to an end.

  Greg and Steve come back without urgency. In Steve’s hand is an envelope and his face says it all. I just know. I know we’ve got him.

  40

  Hayley Reynolds

  When we get back to the house, Mike goes in the kitchen and I sit on the sofa with the kingfisher picture on the wall opposite. The droplets of water on the kingfisher’s beak shine under the bright morning sun and I find it hard to believe that the river ever looked that beautiful. Mike brings us both a drink and as we sit together and wait for Mum to come home I know that this is the last time he’s going to be here with me. The clock ticks in the corner of the room as Mike slurps his tea. I think about telling him that he’s the closest to a dad that I’ve ever had, but instead I look down at his shoes.

  ‘You could do with a new pair.’

  He taps them on the floor. ‘You might be right.’

  He bends down behind the sideboard and flicks on a switch. The huge Christmas tree lights up and the pink and silver tinsel glints and sparkles. Circles of light cover the wallpaper behind it and it’s almost magical. Mike looks at it sadly.

  ‘Your mum said you’ve never had a real tree.’

  I smile. ‘It’s nice.’

  ‘I thought the pink would look good, but you’re right. Maybe it’s a bit much.’