by Carol Wyer
What had happened to the trunk? Had Elliot not brought it back with him or had he hidden it from his mother’s sight? There simply wasn’t enough to go on, yet it was all she had. For the umpteenth time that day she wondered where Siobhan Connors was being held and if she was still alive. ‘Hang on,’ she whispered. ‘We’ll find you.’
Fifty-Five
Anna’s eyes never left the screen of the Apple Mac as she spoke. ‘There’s oodles of history. Do we know which dates I should be searching for?’
Robyn checked her notes. ‘Amber was on duty every evening in November.’
‘I’ll go through all the sites during prep time, shall I?’ Anna manoeuvred her mouse deftly across the screen.
Robyn watched her young colleague. ‘Yes, and if that doesn’t yield results, search for Fox or Dog and note when it was accessed.’ She wandered over to the whiteboard and added the words ‘trunk’ and ‘Zafira’, then began searching websites.
‘Anyone know anything about cars?’
Mitz shrugged. ‘Not really. What do you need to know?’
Robyn looked across. ‘The boot capacity of a Vauxhall Zafira.’
‘It’ll be big, because you can fold the seats down.’
‘Think it would be big enough to fit that trunk you found in?’
He nodded. ‘Don’t see why not. Why not google it?’
‘Good idea, Mitz.’ After several attempts and calculations, she had the information she needed. The trunk would be able to fit into a Vauxhall Zafira. Elliot could have transported it to The Oaks when he returned from university and hidden it. But where had he kept Carrie Miller for so long? There were too many questions still to be answered. She rubbed at her forehead and stood. ‘Coffee anyone?’
Mitz gave a lengthy yawn that was cut off, leaving his mouth wide open. ‘Siobhan. Siobhan Connors.’
Robyn stopped in mid stride. ‘You’ve found her.’
Mitz pointed at the screen. ‘Sexy S.’
‘She’s called herself Sexy S?’ Robyn crossed the room to join him.
‘Yes, it’s her.’ Mitz tilted the screen so Robyn could see more clearly.
She nodded, re-energised by this news, and her words burst out. ‘Cross-check all the men who liked her profile picture with those that liked Carrie’s, and start with Hunter.’ She strode back to her desk, coffee forgotten.
‘It’s not a very friendly site,’ Robyn said, scrolling down the list on her own computer. ‘Some people leave snide remarks about each other. I thought it was for finding dates. I didn’t register the comments at first, they’re hidden below the profiles and you have to click on the comment box there to see them. One or two caught my eye. Someone called Twiglet called Angel19 “a mega dick-licking mongrel”.’ Whatever possessed people to behave in such a way?
‘Some are followed up by “LOL”. I think they’re joshing each other,’ said Mitz.
‘I have no idea what makes youngsters tick these days,’ Robyn replied with a sad shrug.
‘Me neither, and I’m only just out of nappies myself,’ said Mitz, earning a smile.
‘How are you getting on, Anna?’
Anna’s face told Robyn what she needed to hear. ‘You were right. One of the girls accessed Fox or Dog every evening between seven and eight for the last week in November.’
‘Was it Amber?’ Robyn asked.
‘I’m just checking that. Yes. It was Amber. This is her profile page.’
Amber Dalton, wide-eyed and beautiful, stared out from the screen. Robyn’s breath caught in her throat. The girl was stunning.
‘All these girls used this website. I have a strong feeling about this. Mitz, how’re you getting on?’
‘Slowly. Both Carrie and Siobhan attracted many of the same men. There are so many fox emojis under their profiles it’s difficult to work out who they might have chatted to.’
‘I’ll help,’ said Anna. ‘It’ll be quicker with us all on it.’
Mitz threw her a wink. She returned it along with a warm smile.
Robyn stared at her own screen with unfocused eyes. Then she stood and wrote ‘dating app’ on the whiteboard. A thought flittered through her mind before evaporating. She couldn’t hang onto it long enough to register its significance.
Fifty-Six
PC David Marker came into the office, his hair flattened by the wind. ‘It’s lousy out there.’
‘What do you expect? It’s January,’ said Anna.
‘I’ve spent all morning freezing my nuts off at Dovefields Retail Park while you’ve been sitting snugly in the office.’
‘We’ve been out too,’ Mitz said.
David made a harrumphing noise and shuffled over to the coffee machine. ‘I found someone who might have spotted Amber Dalton.’
‘Might?’ Robyn asked.
‘It’s a waitress. She was on duty at the Frankie & Benny’s restaurant and nipped outside for a quick fag break. She thinks she saw Amber walking across the car park, looking at her mobile phone.’
Robyn leapt to her feet and picked up the black marker pen. ‘Day?’
‘Tuesday the third of January. She wasn’t too sure about the time. Put it between seven fifteen and seven thirty.’
‘What time does the train from Tutbury and Hatton get into Uttoxeter?’
‘Five past seven.’ David took his cup and wrapped his hands around it. ‘I timed it, and it only takes ten minutes to walk up to Dovefields. I’ll go back later and see if any other staff on duty that night noticed her. There’s a pub, a cinema, a bowling alley and an ice-skating rink. Somebody else who works there must have seen her too.’
‘Well done, David.’ Robyn added this new information to a Post-it note.
David sipped his coffee. ‘What’s happening here?’
Robyn folded her arms. ‘We’ve got three young women who signed up to the same dating app and who are dead or, in the case of Siobhan Connors, still missing. We think they were all involved with the same man online. Mitz found a guy using the name Hunter, and we’ve contacted the website owners to try and find out his real identity.’
A small squeak escaped Anna. ‘I’ve cross-checked every person who left emojis under the girls’ profiles. Hunter is the only one who left fox emojis under the profiles of all three girls, and all three of them left fox emojis under his profile. They could all have chatted with him.’
Robyn waved her black pen. ‘Good. It’s coming together. We have a possible suspect if only we can uncover his identity. Anna, contact the website administrators again. We must find out the real name of this man calling himself Hunter.’ She looked at her watch. It was coming up to five o’clock. How much longer would she have before DCI Flint insisted she dragged in Chambers for questioning?
‘Boss?’ Mitz had turned around to face her. ‘Who do you think this looks like?’
Robyn peered at the picture. The young girl looked frail. She looked up at the camera with a half-smile. I’m not perfect but I’ve got a lot to offer. I’m looking for someone to love me simply for being me. I like nature, animals and art. I’m looking for a quiet, gentle person to be my friend.
The words stuck in her throat. Her head swam with possibilities. ‘It looks like Charlotte Chambers.’
‘I thought so too. She even calls herself Likeable Lotty.’
‘Has she been left a fox emoji from Hunter?’
Mitz scrolled down the page and shook his head. ‘No. She’s got no fox emojis. There are quite a few dog emojis. There are comments too.’ He read through them, his nose wrinkling in disgust. ‘This is awful. There’s comment after comment about her weight, her face and even her sexuality.’
‘Was she being bullied online?’ Robyn leant across to read out the vile statements: ‘“No point you even looking for a fella. You’re an ugly cow.” That’s really harsh. She’s only a kid.’ Robyn said indignantly.
Anna voiced her opinion. ‘People can be cruel at times, but when they hide behind the barrier of the Internet, they’re completely callous.’
Robyn read out another comment, ‘This person isn’t joshing: “No one cud ever fancy you. You’re an absolute dog. Woof woof!” That’s unnecessary.’ She shook her head. ‘I see Charlotte replied. She got involved in verbal fisticuffs with them. It seems to have escalated into an online fight.’
Mitz was reading through the comments too. He drew in a breath. ‘Have you seen who wrote this? “Don’t diss me, you silly little slag. Take a look in the mirror.”’
‘Sexy S. That’s the name Siobhan Connors uses.’
A flash of comprehension made Robyn gasp. ‘What’s Amber’s nickname on this site?’
Anna called out, ‘Enchantress.’
‘She’s involved too. She called Charlotte a freak,’ Mitz said.
‘Okay, what’s going on? How come these girls have decided to pick on Charlotte?’
‘Carrie commented too. They’ve all criticised Charlotte.’ Anna read through them all. ‘They’re the ones involved in the abuse. Looks like they sided with each other to call her names. These are the most recent comments. There’s quite a history. I’ll print it out so you can all look at it without scrolling up and down.’
The mood had changed in the office. Robyn gave a satisfied grunt. ‘I think we might have found a motive. Anna, find out if anyone else other than these three made comments on her profile and track them down. They might be in danger. Mitz, make a list of everyone who left a dog emoji on Charlotte’s profile.’ It was looking increasingly likely that Elliot Chambers was involved in avenging his dead sister. The net was closing in on him. The printer whirred, then spat out printouts of the communications among the girls.
Robyn picked up several sheets and sat down at her desk with them, a different coloured highlighter pen for each of the girls. She selected a blue one and struck it through the first comment made by Siobhan. These girls had formed an online alliance and together they had systematically cyberbullied Charlotte Chambers. If Elliot had also uncovered this, it would give him cause to retaliate. But what had made them create an alliance? They didn’t know each other.
She set up her computer so she could see all of the girls’ profile pictures at the same time. It helped to see their faces as she read through their conversations. As she glanced at Siobhan’s profile, she noticed for the first time that she had a star against her name. Amber’s and Carrie’s also had stars, whereas Charlotte’s did not. It took a moment to uncover their significance. Robyn clicked on Carrie’s star, which opened a new window, and a page she hadn’t uncovered before. The page revealed the ‘Top Ten Foxiest’. All three girls had been on what was referred to as the foxy leader board. They were all the foxiest girls.
Charlotte’s name had no star. Beside it was a cartoon image of a dog’s bone. Robyn clicked onto it. At last, it all made sense. She speed-read the conversation among the girls, highlighting passages and creating the full picture of what had happened. She spun around to face her team.
‘I think I know what occurred here. There’s a leader board of the most popular girls and boys on the site.’
‘Is there?’ said Mitz. ‘How did I miss that?’
‘We weren’t searching for it. We were concentrating on finding out if these three girls were using the website, and if they knew Hunter. Siobhan, Amber and Carrie were all on what they call the Top Ten Foxiest. It’s a chart of those members with the highest number of fox emojis each month. If they’re on the leader board, they automatically get preferential positioning on the website, which in turn means new members will automatically be shown the hottest or foxiest top ten before they look for others.’
‘Oh, yes. I remember being offered the chance to meet some foxy girls when I joined up,’ said Mitz.
‘You joined the site?’ Anna gave him a quizzical look.
He blushed. ‘It was a while ago. I only went on a couple of times before I decided it wasn’t for me,’ he said, seeing her expression. She rewarded him with a grin.
Mitz continued. ‘So all this top ten stuff, it’s almost like an online popularity contest? You collect fox emojis, and the more you get, the higher up the chart you go?’
Robyn nodded. ‘Yes, it’s like that. The site is primarily for meeting and chatting to people, but there’s this additional part to it. It’s a little confusing, but it seems not only must you get fox emojis to stay in the chart, but if you receive a dog emoji you are pulled down the chart or leader board, as they call it. Worse still, there’s a Top Ten Doggiest. The communications between Charlotte and these three girls start in January 2015, just after Charlotte joins the site. Charlotte must have left a dog emoji under Siobhan’s profile because Siobhan makes the comment, “Oi bitch. Why the dog emoji? You must be fucking blind or stupid. I didn’t deserve it.” Charlotte answers, “I didn’t think you were attractive. That’s all.” Anna, can you print off copies for you and Mitz, and read through it?’
‘Sure.’ She beetled across to the printer, snatched the printouts as soon as they fell, and handed Mitz a copy. In unison, they hunched over the sheets and read the script. Robyn waited for them to come to the same conclusions as her, and looked back through at what she’d already seen on the screen:
Siobhan/Sexy S: Fuck you. At least you deserve the dog emoji I’ve given you.
Charlotte/ Likeable Lotty: I don’t deserve it. You’re just annoyed with me because I gave you one.
Amber/Enchantress: She gave me a dog emoji too and now I’m no longer number one on the board.
Siobhan/Sexy S: It’s deliberate, Enchantress. She’s well-jel of us. Not surprising. She’s a skank.
Amber/Enchantress: Christ! Look at those glasses. She must be blind.
Charlotte/Likeable Lotty: I can see well enough to know that you’re not attractive.
Siobhan/Sexy S: Get a life, loser. Thanks to you, I’ve just dropped off the leader board. Don’t even know why you’re here. You’ll never get anyone to chat with you – you speccy cow.
Charlotte/Likeable Lotty: Leave me alone. I only did what the site said. I gave out fox and dogs emojis to people. I was being honest. It was my opinion. No one else has complained.
Carrie/Miss Mischief: You turd sandwich. I see you gave me one too. You’re the only person ever to give me a dog emoji. Is it cos you resent me and the others on the top ten list? You’ll never get on it, Likeable Lotty – a better name for you is Unlikeable Loser.
Amber/Enchantress: Nice one Miss Mischief. Tell the slut to get a life.
Charlotte/Likeable Lotty: I did what the site said. I gave out foxes and dogs, that’s all. Why’re you picking on me?
Carrie/Miss Mischief: Why’re you so obsessed with us? You do know you’re supposed to look at boys, you freak, not girls. You’re supposed to leave emojis for boys.
Siobhan/Miss Mischief: She must love girls more than boys. Do you love girls?
Amber/Enchantress: Yeah, right. She’s a pussy-lover, everyone.
Charlotte/Likeable Lotty: I’m not. I like boys. You’re being a bitch. I think some girls can look nice but I don’t fancy them.
Amber/Enchantress: I’m a bitch? Your mum’s a bitch for having a bitch like you. Face it, you’re not likeable and I bet you know deep down that everybody hates you. That’s why you’re here, trying to put us down.
Carrie/Miss Mischief: I bet everyone you know thinks you’re a freak and talks about you behind your back.
Charlotte/Likeable Lotty: Fuck off!
Carrie/Miss Mischief: Ooh, so you know a grown-up swear word. I’m so impressed – not! You’re a stupid kid with an attitude. You’re playing with proper grown-ups here so be careful, you skanky, twat-loving freakball.
Amber/Enchantress: Are you having a little girlie cry now, loser?
Charlotte/Likeable Lotty: No.
Amber/Enchantress: You should be crying. If I had a face like yours, I’d cry every day.
Siobhan/Sexy S: I’m going to tell all my mates about you and soon you’ll have so many dog emojis you’ll be on the top ten dogs leader board
.
Charlotte/Likeable Lotty: I didn’t know about the boards. Don’t, please. I’m sorry, okay?
Amber/Enchantress: Good idea. We’ll get you top of that board.
Mitz sat back in his seat. ‘Terrible,’ he said.
Anna spoke up. ‘It appears these girls were all keen to be in the top ten foxiest chart each week, but when Charlotte gave them dog emojis, it affected their rankings and they lost their position. They began by criticising her for her actions, and resorted to insulting her.’ She flicked through the sheets. ‘Then the situation becomes more charged and they encourage others on the website to give Charlotte dog emojis, until finally she is placed in the top ten dog chart.’
Robyn nodded gravely. ‘It was punishment for her actions, but she saw it as an attack on her personality. As far as I can see, the later comments are more vindictive. The girls took pleasure in her dismay and, using their own popularity, attempted to keep her in that dog chart for as long as possible.’
Anna grimaced. ‘This sucks. It’s a place where anyone can be victimised or ridiculed.’
‘Looks like our victims took the leader board and the emojis seriously.’
‘But it’s so petty,’ said Anna. ‘It’s only a stupid, made-up board. It isn’t important.’
‘It was important to these girls. Imagine what this did to Charlotte’s morale? It must have crushed her spirit. Having struggled through her ill health to be accepted at school, here she was being laughed at by three young women who didn’t even know her. Teenage girls struggle with self-image, and this situation would have been enough to destroy Charlotte’s, which I imagine was more fragile than most. We’ll only find out the truth if we can find Siobhan Connors. She might be able to enlighten us. It’s probable Charlotte took her life thanks to the events and exchanges on Fox or Dog. I think this points again to Elliot Chambers. It is looking increasingly likely he set out to avenge his sister’s suicide.’
‘What shall we do, guv? Bring him in?’
Robyn folded her arms and rested her chin on an open palm. ‘I’m not sure. I’m very concerned about Siobhan’s welfare. I don’t want to spook him into harming her. Let me think about it for a moment.’