“What do you mean, Greg?”
“Well.” He looked a bit sheepish. “I haven’t got any actual evidence yet, but I reckon it’s likely to be this pervert guy I had to go and see on Monday. I reckon if we had him in and leaned on him a bit heavy we could soon get a confession out of him.”
Charlotte looked at Paulson. “I haven’t heard about this.”
“Oh, it’s routine stuff.” Stafford shrugged. “We were notified last week that some bloke - I’ve forgotten his name -.”
“Sidney Pullman.”
“That’s right. We had notification from the Home Office that Sidney Pullman had been released from Calstock Open Prison early on grounds of good behaviour and was coming to live with his divorced sister in Torquay. I sent Greg round to explain to him what he was required to do, now that he’s on the Sex Offenders Register.”
“What was the man’s crime?”
“Caught trying to have sex with an under-age girl in Manila,” said Greg. “He pleaded guilty and co-operated with the Philippine police in getting her pimp arrested, so he had his sentence reduced and was returned to the UK to serve most of it. The thing is he lives less than half a mile from where this girl was abducted.”
“How long has he lived in Torquay?”
“Got here last Friday.”
Charlotte shook her head. “He’s hardly been here long enough to find his way round.”
Greg scowled. “You know what these perverts are like. They’ve always got contacts where they can get together and practise their revolting behaviour.”
“I presume you warned him of the consequences of getting caught again carrying out a similar offence.”
“Oh, I did that all right. I put the fear of God up him, I can tell you.”
“Yes,” She looked at him carefully, wondering just what he’d said to the man. “Well, I can’t believe he would be so foolish as to start again so soon after he’d had the pleasure of a visit from you, Greg. However, we must leave no stone unturned. Perhaps, Stafford, you’d go round and have an informal talk with him and his sister and take Greg with you.”
“OK. We’ll do that as soon as we’ve got the other things arranged.”
“Right. We’d better get started. I’ll leave you to get the search organised, Stafford. Meanwhile Bobbie and I will be off to the school and afterwards I’ll go and call on the mother of this army officer.” She stood up. “See you later.”
The meeting broke up.
- 12 -
Charlotte had been thinking about her approach to the children in Tracey’s class on her way to the school.
“What I’d like to do is talk to the kids in a relaxed, informal setting,” she explained to the headmaster as they met in his office in the former manor house which he explained was known as the Old Building. “I want them to feel they can say anything they like without fear of being told off. Is there anywhere we can do that?”
He thought for a minute. “I suppose the library is the best place. Sixth formers use it for personal study time but they can find somewhere else for an hour or so.”
“That would be very helpful.”
“It’s a pleasure for you, Chief Inspector.” He was obviously a bit of a charmer. “The library is just downstairs. I’ll take you there first and you can organise an area where you can talk while I go and collect the youngsters.”
They went down to the pleasant old room on the ground floor. Charlotte appreciated the open shuttered windows and the peninsulas of bookshelves which cut up the room into quiet private areas. The head introduced her to the librarian.
“This is Miss Hambrough. She also teaches English in the Upper School.”
The lady rose and shook hands with Charlotte and Bobbie. “I’m just leaving, Headmaster. I have a lesson with the sixth form English group,” and she departed with a bundle of books under her arm.
“Well, Chief Inspector, make yourselves at home. I’ll go and collect the children. Do you want the whole class?”
“How many are there?”
“There will be about thirty.”
“Let’s do it in two halves,” decided Charlotte. “Oh, and can you include Nina Makepeace in the first group plus any of the kids who think of themselves as Tracey’s particular friends.”
He winked. “I think we can arrange that.” He departed.
Charlotte chose the large space at the end of the room where she thought they could have an easy, relaxed atmosphere in which the children would be encouraged to talk. Before the first fifteen youngsters arrived the two policewomen arranged a circle of chairs so that everyone would feel equal.
Charlotte instructed Bobbie, “You can sit a little behind me. I want you to note down as many names and places as you can from what they say.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“We’ll put away the recording mobiles. Kids are sharp. They’ll soon catch on that they’re being recorded and we may not be able to get them to open up if they suspect us of taking advantage of them.”
A few minutes later the youngsters filed in and Charlotte introduced herself and her assistant to them. There was a buzz of excitement as they took their seats.
“I’m sure you all know why we’re here,” she began. “Tracey Bostock has gone missing and we have started a search for her. But to point the searchers in the right direction, we want to find out as much as we can about her - who she knew, where she went, what and who she liked and also what she didn’t like. So I want you all to rack your brains and see if you can come up with some useful information. We’ll start with you, Nina, since we already had a short chat last evening. Are you all right with that?”
“Yes, miss.”
“By the way, we’ll be informal during this session. I’m Charlotte and this is Bobbie.” She indicated DC Howell. “Now, Nina, I expect you’ve been thinking a lot since we last talked. You told me then that you hadn’t seen Tracey since Wednesday afternoon as you left school. What time was that?”
“About quarter to five.”
“And she left to go straight home. She was alone?”
“Yes, miss - er - Charlotte.”
“We know she got home and was there all night. Did anyone see her after she left Nina?”
There was a chorus of “No’s” and shaking of heads.
“The last person to see her was her mum at about 7a.m. on Thursday - that’s yesterday morning. She was just getting out of bed at that time. We presume she had her breakfast and left for school at her normal time of about a quarter to nine. Did anybody see her yesterday morning?”
They all agreed that they hadn’t.
“What about the phone? Did anybody ring her or receive a call from her?”
Nobody had.
“Tracey doesn’t have a mobile, but I expect a lot of you have. What about you, Nina?”
“Yes, Charlotte. I’ve got one.”
“We’re not allowed to bring them to school, Charlotte,” volunteered one lad.
“I see. How do you contact Tracey when you’re not meeting her in school, Nina?”
“She often rings me ‘cause she knows I carry my mobile when I’m out and about.”
“But she didn’t ring you yesterday?”
“No.” Nina shook her head firmly.
“And none of the rest of you heard anything from her?”
There were denials all round. Then one of the girls said, “Of course we wouldn’t know if we didn’t have our phones with us.”
“Good point,” said Charlotte. “When you get home will you all check your mobiles and your home phones just to make sure she didn’t leave a message for any of you? Before you leave I’ll give you all one of my cards so you can ring me if you have any information.”
“I checked last night,” said another girl, “and there was nothing on my phone.”
“Very well. Now - which of you consider you are close friends of Tracey’s?”
Four girls put up their hands. One boy started to do the same but hastily too
k it down again amid a chorus of giggles.
“Are you her boyfriend?” asked Charlotte.
He went pink. “Er, well - sort of. I took her out the other week.”
“What’s your name?”
“Oliver.”
“Where did you take her, Oliver?”
“Only for a walk. We went along the prom and then took the coast path to Paignton. There was a fair in Paignton the week before last.”
“Was this in the evening?”
“Yes, miss. But her mum knew about it. And we got back before dark.” He looked a shade uncomfortable. “Before it got properly dark.”
There was a chorus of jeers and other comments and he went even pinker.
“Was that the only time you took her out?”
“Yes, but we said we’d do it again, perhaps at the weekend.”
“Did you kiss her?” asked a voice.
“Mind your own business.”
Charlotte raised a hand. “Let’s concentrate on where they went. Is that path into Paignton a popular walk?”
“Yeah. Hundreds do it.”
“What - in the evenings?”
“Summer evenings and weekends.”
“Are there any other similar walks - walks that Tracey would know?”
A list was given and noted down by Bobbie Howell. They provided information on a variety of places where people could perhaps fall and hurt themselves and a few areas where a youngster might get lost. But the general consensus of opinion was that Tracey was pretty sensible and not very adventurous.
“The next thing I want to ask you,” said Charlotte, “is whether any of you had noticed anything different about Tracey recently. Did she seem worried about anything or excited about something which might be going to happen?”
“She was worried about the exams,” said one girl. “We were all worried about them.”
“But they were over two or three weeks ago,” said another.
Nina looked up. “She did seem a bit funny about something that happened on Tuesday. I asked her about it, but she said it was nothing.”
“You call it ‘funny’. How exactly was it funny?”
“Well, it was lunch-time. We’re not allowed in the classrooms during the lunch break unless it’s bad weather. Three or four of us were sitting on a seat near the tennis courts and Karen Tilt - a girl from the fourth form - came over and asked her to go somewhere with her. Karen said it was nothing to worry about. So Tracey got up and went with her. She was gone about ten minutes. When she came back I asked what Karen had wanted with her and she just said ‘it was nothing’.”
“Is that what you thought was funny?”
“That’s right.” Nina shook her head. “Usually she would tell us about everything that happened like that. But this time she just refused to talk about it. I asked if Karen had been nasty in some way but she just said ‘No’.”
“Who is this Karen?”
“Karen Tilt.”
“Caw,” said one of the boys. “She’s a bit of all right, is Karen Tilt.”
“Do you like her?”
“She’s very sexy.” He made a gesture with his hands that suggested she had a curvaceous figure. “She’s got big boobs.”
“Shut up, Barry,” said one of the girls. “Charlotte doesn’t want to know that.”
“This Karen Tilt,” asked Charlotte. “Is she a friend of Tracey’s?”
“Oh no,” everybody agreed.
“Does she often come and talk to you?”
“Not likely,” said Barry. “She only talks to the older boys.”
“Don’t be daft, Barry.”
“So it was unusual when Karen came over and talked to Tracey?” asked Charlotte.
Nina nodded. “I suppose it was.”
“How did Tracey react?”
“When Karen first came over I think she was a bit - I don’t know - a bit worried. I think I would have been.”
“But Karen put her at her ease.”
“Yes.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Nina thought for a moment. “As far as I remember Karen said she wanted to talk to her about something private. And, when Tracey didn’t immediately get up and follow her, she said it was nothing to worry about. It was just something she wanted to ask her.”
“And when she came back, how did she seem? Was she worried or excited?”
“Hmm.” Nina thought carefully. “I would say she wasn’t worried. Perhaps she was more excited. But she was - well - she was sort of thoughtful.”
“But she wouldn’t tell you anything about it.”
“Actually,” said Nina, “it was as though she wasn’t really listening to me when I asked her about it. You know, as though her thoughts were somewhere else.”
Charlotte was impressed with Nina’s perception. “That’s very interesting, Nina. I think I’ll have to have a chat with this girl, Karen Tilt.”
They continued their talk for another ten minutes but no further useful information came out of the discussion. When she spoke to the other half of the class they were able to provide her with little more detail than she had already picked up from the first fifteen youngsters.
“But still,” she told Bobbie, “it will all help to give us a fuller picture of Tracey and her typical movements and her usual contacts when we put it on the computer. Now we’d better go back and see the head and ask him about this fourth former, Karen Tilt.”
When they were back in the head’s study and Charlotte asked if she could have a short chat with Karen she was slightly amused to note that the headmaster knew immediately who she was talking about. Obviously Karen Tilt was a girl who got herself noticed.
“Do you want me to get her for you?” he offered. “It would be convenient for you to talk to her in here. May I suggest that it would be a good idea if I was present, so that her parents couldn’t object if she got emotional later?”
“I agree that would be a good idea,” said Charlotte.
When he returned five minutes later with the girl, Charlotte saw exactly what the young Barry had meant in his description of her. Despite the fact that she was only fifteen and dressed in the summer uniform of a plain green dress, Karen contrived to look frankly sexy. Her skirt ended several inches above the knees, revealing plenty of shapely leg. She was wearing a broad belt which pulled her waist in so as to accentuate her hour-glass figure. She had on an uplift bra which made the most of her already full breasts. Although the top buttons of her dress were now done up, Charlotte didn’t doubt that at least two of them would be undone when she met any boys who she wanted to impress. The general impression was of a girl very interested in the opposite sex.
“Sit here, Karen.” The head indicated one of the group of low chairs which occupied a corner of his study and where Charlotte and Bobbie were already sitting.
He introduced the two detectives. “They want to ask you a few questions connected with the disappearance yesterday of Tracey Bostock.”
“Hello, Karen. Please don’t be worried. It’s only filling a gap in the picture we’re trying to build up of Tracey’s recent movements.”
The girl nodded. In fact Charlotte noted she didn’t seem in the least worried. She was obviously a girl with a lot of self-confidence.
“I’ve been talking to Tracey’s class-mates and I gather from them that you went to talk to her during lunch-break on Tuesday when she was sitting with some friends near the tennis courts. Is that correct?”
Karen looked from her to the head and back. “What have they been saying?”
Charlotte smiled. “The other girls said you spoke to her and told her not to worry but you wanted to ask her something.”
She replied a simple, “Yes.”
“And you asked her to go somewhere with you and, according to these friends, it was about ten minutes before Tracey returned to where they were sitting. Is that right?”
“I suppose so.”
The head intervened. “Is it correct or
not, Karen?”
“I shouldn’t have thought it was as long as ten minutes.”
“The time isn’t important,” said Charlotte. “Where did you go in those few minutes?”
“What did those girls say?”
“They didn’t know. Tracey didn’t tell them.”
“Oh.” The girl shrugged. “We just went round the corner - somewhere private.”
“I didn’t know there was anywhere private in those leisure break areas,” said the head. “You must tell me where that is.”
“I meant somewhere where her friends wouldn’t hear what we were talking about.” Charlotte admired Karen’s self-possession when she was with three senior adults. “I knew if I talked to her in front of them it would soon be all over the school.”
“And what was it you talked to her about?”
“Oh.” She looked a little uncomfortable for the first time. “I - I had been told she’d been seen with my boyfriend and I wanted to ask her if this was correct.”
“And was it correct?”
“No, it wasn’t - not according to Tracey.” She shook her head firmly.
“Is that all you talked about?”
“Yes.”
“And that took you ten minutes?”
Karen looked a little worried. “It took us a bit longer than me just telling you about it. And then, I said I wasn’t sure we were talking for ten minutes. It might have been less.”
“I see.” Charlotte nodded. “I suppose you had to tell Tracey who the boy was and when they’d been seen together.”
“That’s right.”
“And it took some time for Tracey to convince you and explain why the information you had been given was wrong.”
“Yes. It did.”
Charlotte was almost sure by now that the girl was lying but she wasn’t sure what she could do about it. Then she suddenly had an idea. But it would take a more roundabout approach than she could take at this moment.
“OK, Karen. I think that’s all we need to know for now. Thank you for answering my questions so readily.”
The girl was released and Charlotte and Bobbie took their leave of the headmaster after thanking him for his help.
As she returned Bobbie to the station with instructions to enter all the details they had picked up on to the computer, Charlotte kept to herself the fact that she was almost sure Karen Tilt was lying.
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