by Joy Ellis
‘Right up until she disappeared?’
‘No. My missus forbade Delia to see Avril, oh, a long while before she went missing. She reckoned Gordon had, well, you know, got at her in some way. It was rubbish of course, but Delia had gone a bit quiet and withdrawn. I knew the two girls met in secret ’cause I’d seen them, but I didn’t let on to the wife. After a while they just found different chums, I suppose. I saw Avril one day in West Salterby. She said she was going to a dance with some new pals, and we didn’t see much of her after that.’
‘Do you think she was the type of child to run away, Mr Roberts?’
‘She was smart enough, and she was a teenager by then. They get funny ideas, teenagers, but I can’t see it meself.’
‘Why do you think your Delia became withdrawn?’ Yvonne peered at Cyril over the rim of her cup.
‘She were growin’ up, that’s all. Girls get bees in their bonnets over things at that age — boys an’ stuff, I suppose. She’d been poorly for a while and lost quite a bit o’ schoolin’. I know that worried her.’
‘Nothing like the other children, then? No bruises or cuts and scrapes?’
Cyril stood up abruptly and took his cup to the sink. ‘No. Nothing at all like that.’
Yvonne looked at Cat and changed the subject. ‘Mr Roberts, if Avril did run away, have you any idea where she might have gone?’
‘None at all. Her mum’s sister lived in Cambridge. Snooty lot, ’er side o’ the family. Didn’t like Gordon, and I don’t think they had much time for Avril either. No, no idea.’
‘Mr Roberts, you said that Avril was brighter than your Delia, but Delia seems to have done very well for herself. She has a high-powered job with a big company, doesn’t she? Do you see much of her?’
‘You’ve answered that yerself, Detective Constable. A high flyin’ job. Done too bloody well to bother about me. That, on top of all her mother did to poison her mind. No, I don’t see her much at all.’ He still had his back to them. ‘It’s not always what you know, but who you know that gets you where you want to be.’ He sounded bitter, and his earlier friendliness seemed to have gone. There was obviously little more to be gleaned here, so they thanked him for the tea and left.
Outside in the car, Cat went through her folder until she came to the doctor’s file on the abused children. ‘Here, listen to this:
‘Delia Roberts. Mother brought her in for a check-up after a bout of tonsillitis.
I noticed a considerable change in the child. She was quiet and uncommunicative, whereas before she has always been chatty and friendly. While examining her throat, I noticed a discolouration around her right wrist. She must have seen me looking at it as she proceeded to pull both sleeves down. I assumed from this that there were marks on both wrists. Although I had no time to make a detailed examination, I considered that the marks were consistent with contusions of the skin made by a ligature of some kind.’
‘Either he didn’t know what was happening or didn’t want to. I wonder if that’s why he split with his wife, over the child, I mean?’ Cat looked up from the page.
‘Most likely. Did you see his face when I mentioned the other kiddies’ injuries?’
‘And when he told us that his wife put a stop to the girls’ friendship, and “poisoned her mind.”’ Cat puffed out her cheeks. ‘I wonder if his story will match whatever Delia Roberts has to tell us.’
Yvonne turned to her. ‘What say we go and find out?’
‘Why not? We should catch her before she leaves work. Let’s go.’
Half an hour later, Cat and Yvonne were waiting outside a large glass-fronted conference room.
‘It’s customary to make an appointment, isn’t it?’ Delia said irritably, sounding nothing like the accommodating woman who had spoken to Nikki and Joseph.
‘I’m so sorry. We would normally, but we happened to be here in the area and we won’t take too much of your time.’
Cat’s calm and friendly manner failed to placate Ms Roberts.
‘Everyone in the village said that Avril was dead, and that her father had killed her. I know no more than that, Detective Constable. Look, I’ve left an important meeting to speak to you. I should get back in there.’ Delia Roberts nodded towards the large double wooden doors marked Boardroom.
Cat persisted. ‘We believe that you were Avril Hammond’s best friend. Is that true?’
‘Oh, when we were small, I suppose. She went her own way as we got older. Now, do you think . . . ?’
‘Would you consider her capable of running away from home?’
‘What? Oh, well, surely anyone could run away if things were bad enough?’
Yvonne’s voice was cool. ‘We aren’t talking about anyone, Ms Roberts, we are talking about your old friend, Avril Hammond. She was a young teenager who may have witnessed awful things, and then been so terrified of her father that she ran away and has not been heard of for thirty years!’
Delia’s mouth worked. After a while, and with a stronger, colder voice she said, ‘She’s dead, Officer. And I can’t help you. Now if you’ll excuse me?’
They let her go.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
‘I can’t just walk out of work like this, Laura. I know you are upset, but you can’t expect me to drop everything every time you call.’ Joseph tried to keep the irritation out of his voice.
Laura slipped her arm through his, and they continued along the river path. ‘Oh, your wonderful boss will forgive you anything, Joe. And I was desperate.’
Joseph had never known his ex-wife to behave like this. Her character seemed to have changed completely. ‘I have a job to do, Laura, and we are very busy at present. Two murders and another older unexplained death too. I’m sorry, but this is the last time I do this. Ring me when I’m off duty, but not at work. Are we clear on that?’
‘Sorry, Joe. I won’t ring again.’ She pulled her arm away and walked a little faster. ‘I should have realised. Work always did come first, didn’t it?’
‘Laura?’ Joseph caught her up. ‘Please don’t start that again. We aren’t married anymore. We have our own lives. I’m really sorry it’s not a good time for you right now, but it will get better. Things go in circles. Your good times will come round again.’
‘So speaketh the expert life coach.’ This was waspish. ‘My whole life is devastated, my work and my personal life! I don’t need you to pontificate to me, Joe. I just need a friend, that’s all.’
Joseph felt exhausted. If only she would go back to Edinburgh. They had moved on years ago and had only kept in touch because of Tamsin. Now, although he felt sorry for her, she was draining him. He needed to find a way to draw a line without sending her into freefall.
They stopped at the town bridge and he took her arm again. ‘I am your friend, Laura. For Tamsin’s sake, I’ll always be your friend, but you can’t lean on me all the time.’ He looked at her sadly. ‘I’ll ring you tonight, okay? We’ll talk then.’
‘Darling Joe, I knew I could count on you. Come to my hotel, we’ll have a drink and I’ll tell you one or two thoughts that I’ve had since I’ve been here.’ She leant forward and brushed his cheek with a fleeting kiss. ‘See you later.’
Joseph watched her go, dreading what her “thoughts” might be.
He hurried back to the station and ran down to the basement.
‘The boss is upstairs in her office, Sarge.’ Dave stood up and pushed his chair under his desk. ‘I’m off home.’
‘And the others?’
‘Ben’s had a bit of luck tracing Millicent at last. He’s gone off out again, then he was going straight back to his digs. Cat and Yvonne are filling the boss in on their visit to Cyril Roberts.’
Joseph nodded. He walked over to his desk and sat down. He couldn’t face Nikki right now. He felt like a traitor, although of course he wasn’t. It was just that he’d become so caught up with Laura’s collapsing life.
He felt very tired. How come he could take on murderers, face any fle
sh-and-blood enemy, but was completely out of his depth when it came to emotional issues? He rubbed his eyes. Before Laura turned up, his life had been almost perfect. He and Nikki had decided what worked for them, and he had been happy. Now it had gone. He needed to find a way back to that happiness before it disappeared.
* * *
Lucy Clarke sat alone in her tiny flatlet. She had tried to eat some supper, but when she tried to swallow, she retched. And if what she feared was true, things were going to get worse. How long before the police came back? And what if she said something she shouldn’t? What if she finally told them what had been haunting her all these years? She closed her eyes. All these years.
The fear had her almost paralysed. Shock had set in, because she simply had not seen it coming. She had heard things, things that the grownups whispered about, but she dismissed them as the usual dark warnings that parents always give their kids. She ignored them.
But this was real. It was happening to her, and she was terrified.
“Now, do you know what happens to little girls who tell tales?”
She nodded.
“Are you sure about that, Lucy? Because you don’t sound very convincing to me.”
“I know, and I don’t tell tales.” Was that shaky baby voice her own?
“I think we’ll go over it again, just to make sure.”
She began to shiver.
“It would be such a pity, such an awful pity . . .”
The finger moved very slowly down her cheek, but she was too frightened to pull away. And then it was not a finger, but the cold blade of a wicked-looking knife. The same knife that had just hacked off one of her lovely blonde plaits. Her pride and joy.
“Think of a peach, Lucy. A soft, juicy, ripe peach. Think of how you peel a peach, the knife sliding beneath the skin and pe-e-e-e-ling it back from the flesh beneath.’ A little laugh. “Can you do that, Lucy? Can you peel a peach?”
The knife pressed into her cheek. ‘Yes, I can! Now please leave me alone! I swear I’ll never tell.’
“Convince me. Convince me that you’ll never be a tell-tale tit.”
She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t help it, the tears were falling. “Let me go. Please?”
‘Tell-tale tit! Tell-tale tit! Do you know what a tit is, Lucy?’
The knife moved down her chest, and stopped. She knew what the word meant.
“Yes.”
“Then show me.”
Lucy pulled her cardigan tighter around her and tried to control her breathing. It was hard to stop the horrible thoughts coming once they had started, but over the years she had found ways to push them back. But she still felt dirty every time the memories gripped her. For years afterwards she had washed obsessively, over and over again. But you couldn’t wash away the past. It never worked.
She wished that the police had never come. They made her frightened — not of them, but of what she might say. One day it could all just come pouring out, and then her fate would be sealed forever.
Lucy sighed. Although what could be worse than living life the way it was now?
* * *
‘How did your visit go?’ Nikki asked.
‘Could have been better.’ Cat looked disheartened. ‘We upset him. I don’t think that old man wants to face the truth, even after all these years.’
‘We were as gentle as possible,’ added Yvonne. ‘We asked him whether he thought his daughter had been hurt in any way, but he insisted it was just hormones, she was a growing girl and so forth.’
‘Which is contrary to Dr Draper’s report,’ continued Cat.
‘And he took great pains to tell us how close Delia and Avril were, until his wife put a stop to their friendship. She forbade Delia to see Avril, but Cyril knew they still met in secret.’ Yvonne looked across to Cat. ‘But then we spoke to Delia Roberts a little later, and she played down the “best friends” thing. She showed very little interest at all in Avril. All she said, rather succinctly, was that Avril was dead, end of.’
‘Curious.’ Nikki wondered which of them was telling the truth. ‘Cat? Do you know if the news about Gordon Hammond’s body ever made the national dailies?’
Cat shook her head. ‘There was a three liner in the Times about a mystery skeleton being found in Lincolnshire, but no one followed it up. The local rags did a few articles on it, but they were never told its identity.’
Nikki stretched. ‘With the exception of you, Cat, we are full steam ahead on the Prospero/Lawson investigations from tomorrow. I’ve spent these last few hours thinking about Gordon and his daughter, to try and tie things up.’ She leaned forward. ‘Let me give you a scenario, then tell me what you think.’ She took a breath. ‘Okay, if Avril is still alive she needs to know that the man who terrorised her is dead. And the only people who know that the mystery man is Gordon Hammond are those involved in our enquiry. That is us, the Quintin Eaudyke victims, their parents, and associated villagers like the doctor and his wife. I am suggesting that if she were scared enough to run away from her father, she might still be living in mortal terror of him coming back. There was no body, and as Sergeant Barnes always said, that terrible uncertainty never allows you to rest.’
‘She could be anywhere, ma’am! She may well have put some distance between herself and Quintin. She might even have gone abroad like the Cartwright girl.’
‘Absolutely, Yvonne. Or she could have stayed within range of what was going on at home, keep an eye on things, scan the local papers, listen to the gossip, so Daddy wouldn’t catch her out.’
Cat gave a soft whistle. ‘But, ma’am, she was only just fifteen when she left, and it was the eighties, not the present day. I mean, nowadays the eleven-year-olds are all managing their own online bank accounts and comparing the superiority of £170 Air Jordans over £160 Nike Shox trainers, but how would she have survived back then?’
Nikki looked at the notes of her interview with Dr Draper. ‘The doctor said she was tall and well-built for her age. She could easily have passed herself off as a seventeen-year-old school leaver. Those are his words not mine, and she was very bright, everyone agrees on that. He also said that in the months before she disappeared she spent a fair bit of time with a group of older kids who lived in the West Salterby area. He saw her with them several times.’ She looked at Cat and Yvonne. ‘Which ties in with what Cyril Roberts said, that she made new pals in Salterby and went to dances with them.’ Nikki stared at the scored and worn surface of her temporary desk. ‘What worries me is the terrible effect the past has had on the victims. If they were so traumatised that they never got over it, what the hell would his own daughter have suffered?’ She did a quick calculation. ‘She would be forty-seven now, wouldn’t she? Not much older than the others, and look at their mental state. We have to work on the premise that she is still alive, and we have to find her. She needs to know everything that has happened, and that after thirty years we finally have her father’s body. She should know that he was murdered. We need to give her closure.’
‘What if she doesn’t want to be found?’ asked Cat quietly.
‘Then I guess we won’t find her, will we? But we have to try. Cat, tomorrow I want you to start from the premise that her mother helped her run away. You have the old family address in Cambridge. First thing, get down there and see if there are any old neighbours still living there, anyone who knew Gladys Hammond. See if she had any young visitors around that time. It’s a long shot, but worth a try.’
Cat nodded. ‘I agree, and I’ll check on those “new friends” from West Salterby. See if the doctor knew who they were. If not, PC Royal could help by asking the locals. Maybe one of her contemporaries might know where she went. It will only take one good memory to get me the start I need. Yes, ma’am, leave that with me.’ She looked hopefully at Nikki. ‘Any chance of help if I get a lead?’
‘Officially, no. I have direct orders to assign all my resources to the present investigations. Unofficially, keep me updated and I’ll see
what I can do.’ Nikki winked at her. ‘If Ben or Yvonne were to spend the odd hour working with you, I doubt anyone would notice.’ She stood up. ‘Now, get off home and get some rest.’
Nikki closed her office door and went downstairs to the place she was now affectionately referring to as her “grotto.”
Joseph sat alone at his desk, apparently unaware of her entry.
‘Penny for them?’
He looked up sharply. Clearly his thoughts had not been happy ones. ‘Sorry, I was daydreaming.’
‘But not beautiful dreams, I suspect?’
‘More like a nightmare.’ He rubbed his eyes. ‘I just don’t know what to do.’
Nikki sat down opposite him. ‘You do know the timing stinks, don’t you? I could really do with you performing at your best right now, not going into emotional meltdown.’
‘Don’t you think I know that? That’s one of the reasons I’m feeling this way. I’m not performing as I should, and I know it. I’m letting you down, and I hate that. But I can’t just dump her!’
‘It could be just what she needs. Had you considered that? A shock like that might well galvanise her into getting her act together. You’ve tried being kind and patient with her and it hasn’t worked, so try a different tack.’ Nikki stopped, before she said too much.
Joseph looked at her without speaking. For once, Nikki didn’t know what he was thinking.
After a while he just sighed. ‘You could be right, Nikki. But I don’t want her to shift all this angst onto Tamsin. This is my girl’s honeymoon and it should be special. She shouldn’t spend it worrying over her mother.’
Nikki stared at the desk. This was not going to be easy, but there was a double murderer out there somewhere. Dear friend, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you! ‘I think you had better take a few days off, Joseph, and sort this out one way or another. Frankly, you are no use to me right now. While you were out mopping up Laura’s crocodile tears, I was hauled over the coals in the super’s office. We need to buckle down and do some proper police work, before there’s another death.’ She stood up and looked down at him, saw his shocked expression. ‘I’m sorry, Joseph. But that’s the way it is.’