The Missing Girls

by Carol Wyer

  ‘Lose a daughter? You have no idea how it rips into your very soul, consumes your every waking moment and destroys you.’ She sat up, her hands now on her lap. ‘I… don’t… know… where… she… is.’ She stared at Robyn. Robyn cursed herself. She’d read the situation incorrectly. She’d believed she could coax the woman into handing over Florence, and now she’d blown it. She drew herself up, regained control of the situation.

  ‘Sergeant Patel is going to conduct a search of the house, and then we’ll take you down to the station. We’re going to question you and Elliot further. Your son’s still in custody.’

  Cheryl’s mood flipped again. ‘Why’ve you got my son? He’s nothing to do with any of this nonsense. Leave the boy alone. He’s been through enough.’

  Mitz answered a rap on the front door. Anna was outside, eyes huge. ‘We’ve found a room hidden at the back of the garage. The car was blocking the door to it. There’s something you need to see. We think it’s a body.’

  Sixty-Three

  Robyn left Mitz watching over Cheryl and bounded outside. Anna accompanied her, the torchlight swinging back and forth as they trampled over to the shabby outbuilding. Anna’s voice was hushed. ‘There’s a body hidden in a chest freezer. We can’t be sure who it is and didn’t want to touch anything.’

  Robyn’s heart skipped a beat. She was too late. She’d let the girls down. One or both were dead. She slowed, unwilling to acknowledge what she was about to see. Her lips were dry. She followed Anna’s lead and squeezed past the vehicle. Ahead, a door was ajar. The room was small, and empty apart from the freezer chest humming quietly in the corner. Matt stood beside it. Robyn nodded at him and he lifted the lid. She peered inside. It was difficult to make out exactly what she was seeing in the light from the torches, but there was no doubt it was human. A thick plastic sheet was wrapped around the girl, whose face was almost invisible. Her eyes were closed, her lips blue-black. Robyn turned away. ‘Call forensics, take Mrs Chambers to the station and get a team out here. I want the house searched from top to bottom.’

  She gazed again at the frozen object before her, her heart heavy. Too late. Her pulse speeded again. There was only room for one body in the freezer. Somewhere there was another girl. Please don’t let this be Florence. As the light spilt into the chest it fell on a piece of plastic tucked in behind the body. ‘Matt, can you extract that, please?’

  Matt lifted out a plastic freezer bag and held it under the beam of his torch. Robyn stretched a pair of gloves them over her hands and took it from him, teasing the contents apart. Anna gasped. The bag contained pieces of almost transparent human flesh – three rectangles of almost identical size.

  ‘Give me some more light,’ said Robyn quietly. Anna added the beam from her torch to Matt’s. Robyn inhaled deeply and exhaled again – a long, sad sigh. Into each piece of flesh was carved one word – DOG. She passed the bag back to Matt. ‘Put it back exactly as you found it,’ she said.

  She knelt down and studied the freezer. No grime or marks were visible, and there was an energy sticker that had not been removed on one side. She followed the lead back to the plug and noted it was white and unmarked. ‘Does this freezer look new to you?’ she asked.

  ‘It isn’t grubby, if that’s what you mean. It might have been cleaned down,’ Matt said.

  ‘If it had been, this energy sticker would be showing signs of wear, or been removed. I’m thinking this is a recent purchase. A freezer in an outbuilding would have dust or dirt on it, especially on the plug. Nobody cleans plugs. We’ll need to search for an invoice and find out when this was purchased.’

  ‘Yes, guv,’ said Anna. ‘Can I ask why?’

  ‘This is only supposition, but if her old freezer broke down last week, it would explain the disposal of Amber’s body. Carrie’s body was kept in cold storage for months until it was moved to the self-storage unit. I suspect Cheryl intended hiding Amber’s body in the same freezer, but it stopped working and Cheryl had to dispose of the body quickly.’ She looked up at the ceiling, shining her torch into the corners of the room where cobwebs hung low. She ran the beam along the floor. ‘It’s definitely not clean in here,’ she said.

  Anna’s large dark eyes stood out in her pale face. ‘Do you think this is Siobhan?’

  Robyn looked again at the girl in the freezer and fought back the emotion threatening to overcome her. The body seemed a little too large to be Florence, but it was difficult to tell. Robyn wanted to rip open the plastic and confirm the girl’s identity but she couldn’t – not until the forensic team had arrived. She shut her eyes and shook her head.

  ‘Anna, I honestly don’t know.’ For a moment she couldn’t move or think. The fear that Florence was the girl in this freezer made her unable to concentrate or focus. She fought it. Florence had to be alive. In all probability this was Siobhan’s body, unless there was yet another victim they had not identified. She dismissed that thought. This was Siobhan. Florence was still alive. She said the words over and over again to herself. If there was only one freezer, then Florence was probably alive. She steeled herself again. ‘Matt, shut it back up, please, and come into the house.’

  The burden of responsibility weighed heavily upon her, almost too much to bear. Another girl had died. She threw open the front door. ‘Where is she?’ she shouted, marching into the sitting room. Cheryl Chambers refused to answer.

  Robyn tilted her head, eyes blazing. ‘Where’s Florence?’

  Cheryl stared at her, then gave a chilling smile. ‘You’re too late.’

  ‘So help me, if you’ve harmed her—’

  ‘Boss, come away.’ Mitz put a hand on her shoulder. ‘We have work to do.’

  Robyn was shaking – a mixture of anger and fear; fear that Florence Hallows was dead. ‘You’re right. Start searching the house.’

  Matt entered with a clatter. ‘I’ve called it in,’ he said.

  Robyn breathed deeply and regained her composure. ‘Thank you. Would you please read Mrs Chambers her rights, then take her to the station?’

  She drew Mitz into the hallway. ‘Take a good look about but don’t disturb anything in case any prints have been left by any of the victims. We’ll need her laptop and mobile. Go into the attic and all the cupboards – anywhere you think a young girl might be hidden.’

  Cheryl Chambers sat up tall and straight in the back of the car next to Anna. She threw Robyn one last smug look before the interior light went off and Matt drove away. Robyn stood on the doorstep, breathing in the cold air. The body in the freezer continued to immobilise her thought process. Although she felt responsible for the deaths she hadn’t been able to prevent, she’d feel much more responsibility for Florence’s. If anything dreadful had happened to the girl, she wouldn’t forgive herself. Amélie had phoned her, told her about Florence walking to the station, and Robyn had brushed away her concerns without a second thought. She kicked at a stone. It flew a few feet and landed with a soft thud. She ought to have listened to Amélie. Hot tears sprang to her eyes and she blinked them back. Crying would serve no purpose. She had to find Florence.

  A cold breeze made her shiver. She’d get a confession from Cheryl Chambers. She wouldn’t let up until she’d extracted every piece of information from the woman and charged her with murder. She looked across at the innocuous outbuilding – a simple structure that housed a horrible secret. Cheryl had killed Carrie, kept her in the freezer and moved her body when she had the opportunity. She hunched her shoulders against the breeze. She had to think it through logically. Why hadn’t Cheryl left Carrie’s body in the freezer? It was a big risk moving her.

  Robyn unclipped her torch again and walked across to the outbuilding where she stood next to the Zafira. She forced herself to concentrate. Had Cheryl emptied the freezer to make room for a second body – Amber Dalton? If Robyn’s theory about the new freezer was correct, Cheryl had been forced to dump Amber’s body and then used the new freezer for her third victim – Siobhan Connors. A tiny bubble of
hope rose from somewhere inside her chest. Florence might still be alive and be held captive on the premises.

  She returned to the house and began searching the sitting room for Florence. She pulled at the shabby chairs standing on faded rugs and dragged at the corners in the hope of finding a trapdoor under them. There was nothing. She tried moving a large cabinet away from the wall in the hope it hid a door. She tugged at it, her arm muscles straining as it shifted inch by inch away from the wall until there was sufficient space for Robyn to peer behind it. There was no door. Mitz called out Florence’s name. A pang like a dull firework went off in her chest. It was hopeless. Florence wasn’t here. She moved into the kitchen where she opened a wooden latched door that led into a dark pantry of shelves filled with jars and tins and plastic boxes. She shut the door again and wondered where else she should look, then heard Mitz calling her name.

  ‘I’m in the cellar,’ he shouted. ‘Down the corridor.’

  She followed the sound of his voice. At the end of the corridor was an open door and below, a dull orange glow from a single light bulb. She descended the steep steps, hanging on to a rickety wooden banister. Mitz stood in front of a chest freezer, his face a mask of anxiety. Her heart stopped. She’d been utterly and completely wrong. Cheryl’s freezer hadn’t broken down at all. She hadn’t replaced it with a new one. Cheryl owned two chest freezers. One for Siobhan and one for Florence. Robyn’s mind began to shut down. She would never forgive herself for this. She forced herself to speak.

  ‘Open it,’ she whispered.

  Mitz pulled at the lid with both hands and heaved a sigh of relief. ‘It’s empty.’

  She leant forward and breathed out, hands on her knees as if she’d completed a marathon. ‘Thank goodness.’

  Mitz walked around it and groaned. ‘It’s not plugged in. I should have checked before I called you down. I just saw the freezer and panicked.’

  ‘I understand. You did the right thing to call me,’ said Robyn.

  Mitz held the lid up and examined it. ‘The lid hinges are broken and it smells of bleach.’ He wrinkled his nose.

  ‘We’ll get forensics to examine it.’

  Robyn glanced around the room. Various plastic boxes were stacked against the wall. ‘What’s that?’ she asked pointing at a helmet.

  ‘It looks like a cycling helmet. That’s one crazy headlight attached to it. You’d blind motorists with it. Somebody wanted to be seen in the dark.’

  ‘Have you spotted a bicycle anywhere?’

  Mitz shook his head.

  Robyn crouched beside the first box and examined the contents. It held various clean rags and a fruit juice bottle filled with liquid. She unscrewed the lid and sniffed. ‘Smells like antifreeze.’

  ‘That’s strange. Why would somebody pour antifreeze into a fruit juice bottle? Hang on a sec, wasn’t Amber Dalton poisoned? Do you think it was with antifreeze?’

  ‘Mitz, some days you astound me with your deductions. This bottle could well turn out to be a vital piece of evidence. Well done.’

  ‘Thanks, but I’d rather have found Florence alive. I’ve checked all the rooms upstairs and the attic, but I can’t find her, guv.’

  ‘She has to be here, Mitz.’

  The furrow between Mitz’s eyebrows deepened. ‘What if she’s not here?’

  Robyn digested his words. Then she recalled the look Cheryl Chambers had given her. The woman had definitely abducted Florence for whatever reason. Florence was here.

  ‘We’ll not give up yet, Mitz. Let’s try outside.’

  They left the house by the front door. Robyn shone her torch from left to right. She refused to leave without Florence. A squad car drew up outside the house. Tom Shearer got out.

  ‘I was on my way back to the station when I heard this being called in. You got your murderer?’

  ‘It seems that way.’ The shivering had started again. She preferred to put it down to the cold air rather than the anxiety she was experiencing. She didn’t want him to notice her shaking and, stamping her feet, walked towards him. ‘Want to help me search the site? I’m looking for a missing girl called Florence.’

  ‘Sure. I haven’t got anything better to do, only going to bed for the first time in three nights. Besides, sleep is so overrated.’ He shrugged.

  She managed a weak smile. ‘We found a room at the end of this garage. There might be more rooms like it in the other two outbuildings.’

  Tom headed towards the nearest one, a tumbledown wooden shed, once used to house agricultural tools. Robyn moved towards the furthest away building, stumbling over stones and broken slabs. Mitz shone his torch ahead, searching for an entrance. The building was made of concrete with a tin roof. The door – a broken-down wooden pallet – was not as heavy as it looked. Mitz pulled it away and put it against the wall. Robyn wrinkled her nose. ‘What’s that smell?’

  Mitz sniffed and pulled a face. ‘Damp hay? Chemicals for putting on crops? This used to be a smallholding.’

  Robyn sniffed again. ‘It’s a chemical. I think it might be bleach. Why would you clean a place like this with bleach? There’s no floor as such and what there is has crumbled away.’

  ‘To get rid of bloodstains?’ Mitz’s voice was solemn. His torch shone on a dark stain on the floor. Robyn knelt beside it.

  ‘Could be blood. Difficult to confirm in this light. Are there any other stains? It might be a spill from an old engine – oil, a leak of some description.’ Her words sounded hollow, even to herself. There would be no other reason to clean such a place other than to remove suspicious stains. Was this Florence’s blood? A small vibration of fear tingled at the base of her spine.

  Mitz trained the beam across the ground once more. Apart from the one patch, the ground was unmarked. Robyn rose, unsure of what to do. Fear of losing Florence was rattling her. She had to regain control or she’d never find the girl. This stain needed identifying.

  ‘Make sure forensics check it out.’

  Tom appeared and shook his head. ‘I found a shed, but it only contained an ancient mower and some mice. It stank of mouse pee.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘Pongs in here too.’

  ‘Might be bleach too,’ said Robyn. ‘Does this look like a bloodstain to you?’

  ‘Could be. Forensics will be able to tell.’ Tom swept the room with his torch and shrugged. ‘I don’t want to state the obvious, but Florence might not be anywhere on the premises, Robyn. She might never have been brought here.’

  Robyn refused to comment. Her instincts were right. They had to be. Florence had been transported to this house. They continued to search, their torch beams lighting the interior of the building like strobes at a nightclub. Robyn cursed. ‘There’s nothing. No door, no room, nothing. It’s not like the other building where we found the chest freezer. Mitz, try the house again. Look for any hidden doors, cupboards, anything.’ Her voice rose slightly. Her hand trembled.

  Mitz left immediately but Tom hung back. ‘I know you want her to be here, but you should steel yourself for a disappointment.’

  ‘No. You’re wrong. I’ll find her.’ She walked away before he could see the desperation in her eye. It was looking increasingly likely he was correct. He couldn’t be. Florence had been in touch with Hunter. Like the other girls, she’d disappeared in or around Uttoxeter. But she wasn’t at the station. She stilled the doubting voice. Florence had been seen in the main street. She might have been making her way to the station. The doubts continued. What if Anna was right and Florence, upset by the online comments, had run away, or worse still, like Charlotte Chambers, had taken her own life? She dismissed these thoughts once and for all and tramped across gravel and broken stones, her torch shining down the side of the building.

  Tom shrugged and left her to it, joining Mitz inside the house. She clambered over a low picket fence into the back garden, now no more than grass and weeds. The damp seeped through her boots. She checked for wells, coal bunkers, an old children’s playhouse, or anywhere that Florence could
have been concealed, all the while shouting her name. She knelt on the damp ground and hunted under bushes, lifting branches, all the while praying silently that she didn’t come across a lifeless body. At last, exhausted, and with freezing, wet feet, she admitted defeat. The weight of it threatened to drag her underground.

  The moon had become more visible and its silvery light danced on the fields beyond. She marched down to the hedgerow. What next? She’d been convinced they’d find Florence, and so far their extensive search had unveiled nothing to indicate she was, or had ever been, at The Oaks.

  An owl hooted loudly, startling her and making her spin around. As she did so, her torch beam swept across the back of the outbuilding she had checked with Tom, and across a wooden door. There was an entrance to the back of the building, yet when they’d checked inside there had only been a wall at the far end. Her mind suddenly propelled her into action. She sped to the door, and with trembling hands, felt for the handle and rattled it. It was locked. She banged on it and called out Florence’s name. There was no response. Too late? No, it can’t be. Come on – think, Robyn. She directed the beam of her torch along the building once more, searching it top to bottom, until she let out a soft gasp. There was a join where the building had been extended. This was without doubt the door to a secret room, out of sight behind the large building.

  She raised her leg and kicked the door, a move she had repeated many times in the gym. It barely moved. Her hip groaned with the shock. She ignored the pain and kicked again, and again. The door gave only slightly. She yelled out for help, and within seconds Mitz appeared, racing towards her.

  ‘The door,’ she puffed. ‘Help me open it.’

  Tom arrived. ‘Heard your screeching up in the bedroom. You can’t half yell. Need a hand?’

  Robyn growled, ‘Just open it.’