Bring Them Home (Detective Karen Hart Book 1)

by D. S. Butler

  Thomas had gone to join the search party, and deep down, Leanne was glad he wasn’t in the house. His presence made her feel so guilty.

  It was ridiculously selfish to think of anything other than Sian at a time like this. In the grand scheme of things, did it even matter any more?

  When the police officers had spoken to her at the school, one of them had looked at her in a way that made her feel exposed. The police officer’s blue eyes had a steely glint, and she’d had to turn her head while she answered his questions. If she looked into his eyes, she was sure he’d discover what she was hiding.

  She’d confess everything if she thought it would help bring Sian back home. But her secret couldn’t have anything to do with why Sian was missing.

  Could it?

  DC Sophie Jones was waiting for Karen when she arrived back in the main office area. Sophie jumped up from her desk and dashed over. ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying so, Sarge, but I thought the super treated you very unfairly.’

  Karen raised an eyebrow.

  Sophie continued, ‘Everyone knows the history you had with the Palmer family on the Amy Fisher case. It made sense that you should be the one to question Jasper Palmer about the glove.’

  ‘The superintendent thought otherwise, Sophie.’ Karen’s tone was clipped, and she tried to hide her irritation. She was annoyed at her own unprofessionalism. It was very unlike her and didn’t set a good example. She’d been wrong to show her frustration at being told not to question Jasper. She believed in the line of command and challenging the superintendent’s authority was out of order. ‘The superintendent didn’t make the decision out of malice, Sophie. She decided on the best course of action, and we have to go along with that.’

  Sophie’s eyes widened, and she folded her arms over her chest. ‘Well, if it were me, I’d be spitting feathers. This finding could crack the case wide open. I mean, you hear about criminals taking trophies from the scene of the crime. Maybe Jasper Palmer took the glove as some kind of keepsake.’

  ‘If he did, it’s more likely he’d have kept it to himself, don’t you think?’

  Sophie thought for a moment. ‘True, but maybe this is his way of getting involved in the case. I read about that too. Criminal deviants integrate themselves into the search or aftermath of a crime. They get a sick kick out of being involved in the investigation.’

  ‘You’ve certainly spent a lot of time reading,’ Karen said.

  Sophie’s face fell. ‘Is that a bad thing?’

  ‘Of course not. But DI Morgan did make a good point. Nigel Palmer was our number one suspect after Amy Fisher disappeared, but if he’s abducted two ten-year-olds, it would mean his MO has changed dramatically, which is unlikely.’

  ‘MO: his modus operandi,’ Sophie stated, looking pleased with herself.

  ‘Yes. Now, are you ready?’

  Sophie did a double take. ‘Ready? For what?’

  ‘I thought you might like to come with me and talk to the Gibsons. It would be a good learning experience. It won’t be easy, but I’m sure you’re up to it.’

  Sophie nodded eagerly. ‘Absolutely. I’ll just grab my jacket.’

  As Karen picked up her raincoat that she’d flung over the back of her chair earlier, she watched Sophie eagerly grabbing her bag and mobile phone, while struggling to put on her coat at the same time. She certainly had enthusiasm for the job. Karen would have to say something to her on the way to the Gibsons’ house. She couldn’t have Sophie turning up full of beans, grinning. It wasn’t appropriate.

  Before they left the station, Karen had a quick word with DI Morgan. She’d still much rather she was going to question Jasper Palmer, but she ignored the nagging feeling gnawing at her and focused on the Gibsons instead.

  ‘Should I mention anything about Leanne’s run-in with Matthew Saunders earlier?’ Karen asked.

  DI Morgan thought for a moment before replying. ‘No, I don’t think so. We should be able to talk to him before it gets too late.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Focus on finding out as much about Sian as you can. Get the names of people who visit the house regularly or see Sian frequently. And go over the things she’s allowed to access on the internet. Try to find out if she could have used a computer, smartphone or tablet without her parents’ knowledge.’

  Karen nodded. ‘Will do. I’ll see you back here later. Good luck with Jasper.’

  DI Morgan looked up, and a smile tugged the corner of his lips. ‘From what you’ve said, it sounds like I’m going to need all the luck I can get.’

  The Gibsons lived in a new-build, three-bed detached house on Beech Road. It wasn’t far from the village centre and was one of the latest wave of new houses to be tagged on to Heighington.

  Karen looked enviously at the small neat patch of grass. There were no trees around the new development, and the street looked pristine. Leaves had smothered Karen’s garden in the last week, and she couldn’t even see the grass beneath the brown and orange carpet. It would take a few back-breaking hours with a rake to clear the ground. Maybe she’d get to it at the weekend if they’d found the girls by then.

  ‘Now, remember what I told you,’ Karen said, turning to Sophie. ‘Be polite and sympathetic and leave the questioning to me.’

  Sophie nodded. ‘Absolutely, Sarge. My lips are sealed.’ She made a zipping motion over her mouth.

  They walked side by side up the driveway. The downstairs lights were on, and a pair of child-sized wellingtons nestled beside two adult pairs near the front door. Karen swallowed hard. A soft rain had begun to fall. She hoped the girls had found some kind of shelter.

  If they were still alive.

  The front door opened before they reached it. Thomas Gibson stood silhouetted in the doorway.

  ‘Is there any news?’ he asked, his voice tinged with desperation.

  ‘I’m afraid we haven’t found them yet, Mr Gibson, but there is something we’d like to discuss with you.’

  He nodded rapidly and opened the door wide so they could go in.

  They stepped into a pleasantly decorated, narrow hallway, painted in shades of grey and duck-egg blue, with bright white woodwork.

  Thomas led the way through the kitchen into a large conservatory that had been added on to the back of the house. As they walked past the family-size chrome fridge covered with colourful childish drawings, Karen bit down on her lower lip.

  Everywhere they looked there were signs of Sian. There were various photographs displayed on the windowsills and a children’s word game on the kitchen counter.

  The family liaison officer, Nicky Stinnett, sat beside Leanne at a glass-topped table. Karen was full of admiration for anyone who could support people going through such a traumatic event. Family liaison officers needed to be sympathetic and kind without absorbing the feelings of sadness that surrounded them. Being around grief-stricken families all day wasn’t an easy job.

  Leanne Gibson’s hands gripped a coffee mug tightly, her hair hanging limply around her face. Only a few hours had passed since Karen had last seen her, but she looked like a different woman. The stress and panic had taken hold. She stared at Karen and Sophie with bloodshot eyes.

  Karen saw a flicker of hope pass across Leanne’s features and hated having to tell her they had not yet located Sian and Emily. The bitter disappointment on her face was painful to watch. She began to shake. Thomas stepped closer to his wife, putting a hand on her shoulder. ‘Please, sit down. What do you need to talk to us about?’

  Sophie took the seat beside Leanne, and Karen slid in opposite her. Thomas remained standing rigidly behind his wife.

  ‘We’ve found an item of clothing we believe belonged to Sian, and we wanted you to confirm it’s hers.’

  Leanne jolted, her hands jerking the coffee cup, spilling the contents over the glass table.

  ‘I’ll get something to clear that up,’ Nicky murmured and walked past Karen into the kitchen.

  ‘It’s a glove,’ Karen clarified quickly, knowing tha
t the parents would fear the worst. ‘Sian could have lost it at any time. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad has happened to her.’

  Leanne made a sound, a cross between a bark of laughter and a sob. ‘Something bad has happened to her! She’s been abducted!’

  Karen focused on Leanne. ‘I’ve got a photograph here of the glove. If you could identify it as Sian’s, and tell us if you know whether she lost it before today?’

  Karen pulled up the image on her smartphone and showed it to the Gibsons. ‘It has her name tag inside.’

  Thomas’s eyes filled with tears, and Leanne’s lower lip wobbled before she put her hands over her face.

  Thomas managed to nod and then cleared his throat. ‘Yes, that is Sian’s. I don’t know when she lost it . . .’ He looked towards his wife.

  ‘She had it this morning when she went to school,’ Leanne whispered.

  Karen leaned forward, trying to make eye contact with Leanne. ‘Okay, that’s good. We now know we’re searching in the right location. We’re still out there looking for her. It looks like Sian and Emily left the school together.’

  Karen didn’t want to give the couple false hope. They all wanted to believe the girls had wandered off on some misguided adventure, but it was looking more and more likely that they had been abducted. Preparing for the worst was a terrible expression, but false hope could be more devastating.

  Nicky had made everyone fresh coffee and carried it through to the conservatory on a tray.

  ‘If you’re up to it, we’d like to ask you a few questions about Sian’s home life,’ Karen said.

  ‘I’ve already told you. She’s a happy little girl, and we don’t have any problems at home,’ Leanne said.

  ‘I know,’ Karen said gently. ‘The information I’m looking for is regarding the other people in Sian’s life. I’d like to know things like who Sian sees regularly. Is she involved in extracurricular activities? Do you have friends who regularly visit the house or babysit? I need to know everything you can tell me.’

  Thomas reached for his wife’s hand and squeezed.

  ‘Of course, we’ll do anything we can to help.’

  The questioning was hard. The last thing Karen wanted was to make things even harder than they already were. With each new line of enquiry, however, she could see she was grinding them down further, making them doubt friends and family and every detail of their lives.

  ‘We hardly ever go out and leave Sian,’ Leanne said. ‘We’ve only been out without her about three times this year, haven’t we, Thomas?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Thomas said. ‘I mean, we’re not the partying type. I work long hours and most of the time we’re happy watching films together and getting a takeaway.’

  Karen glanced across at Sophie, who was doing very well so far, staying quiet but taking it all in.

  ‘On the occasions you did go out, who looked after Sian?’ Karen asked.

  Leanne blinked. ‘My mother. Except . . .’ She broke off and looked at her husband.

  Thomas rapidly shook his head. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

  But Leanne was having none of it. She turned back to Karen.

  ‘The last time we went out was in September for my birthday. My mum had come down with tonsillitis so she couldn’t look after Sian. We’d booked the new Thai restaurant in Lincoln, but we could have cancelled. We were going to cancel.’

  ‘Who looked after Sian for you on that occasion?’ Karen looked at Leanne then Thomas, who had paled considerably.

  ‘Thomas’s brother, Nick. He lives in the village.’

  ‘Had he ever looked after Sian before?’

  Leanne’s eyes widened, and Karen guessed her mind was running through horrendous possibilities of what could have happened.

  ‘No, that was the first time.’

  ‘Did Sian mention anything when you got home? Was she upset?’ Sophie asked, unable to hold her tongue any longer.

  Leanne nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, she was upset.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Thomas said, raising his voice. ‘Sian was upset because Nick had stopped her playing with the iPad. He went to read her a story and found she was still playing games. She knows she’s not allowed to play with it unsupervised, so Nick took it away. That’s why Sian wasn’t happy. He didn’t hurt her or anything.’

  ‘That’s what Nick told us. We weren’t there. We don’t really know what happened,’ Leanne said and wrenched her hand away from her husband’s.

  ‘We’ll have a word with Nick. It’s probably like your husband has said.’ Karen was eager to reassure Leanne, so she didn’t start a witch-hunt with no proof.

  ‘Are you going to speak to him now?’ Leanne said, planting her palms flat on the table and starting to stand. ‘Shall I phone him? I could get him to come here.’

  Karen shook her head. ‘There’s no need for that. I think it’s best if we talk to him separately.’

  Leanne looked so traumatised. Karen rested her forearms on the table and leaned closer. ‘I can’t begin to understand how difficult this is for you. We have to ask all these questions. But that doesn’t mean your family and friends are guilty of anything.’

  Leanne nodded, but she didn’t look convinced.

  When they got outside, a few feet away from the Gibsons’ house, Sophie turned to Karen and asked, ‘How did I do, Sarge?’

  ‘You did well.’

  ‘I know I was supposed to keep quiet, but the question left my mouth before I could stop it.’

  ‘It’s fine. It was a sensible question, and I’d have asked it myself. It’s always a good idea to think before you speak, though. You need to weigh up how the parents will react to certain information.’

  ‘Yes, I understand what you mean,’ Sophie said. ‘Leanne has latched on to the idea that her brother-in-law upset Sian.’

  Karen opened the car door. ‘Exactly. For all we know, it’s exactly how Thomas Gibson described. Her uncle took the iPad away, and she became upset. We still need to talk to him, though.’

  As they got into the car, Karen checked the time. ‘In fact, I doubt DI Morgan will have finished questioning Jasper yet, so I think we’ve got time to go and pay Nick Gibson a visit now.’

  ‘Excellent,’ Sophie said, grinning as she buckled up.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘It’s spooky out here, boss,’ DC Rick Cooper said, leaning forward in the passenger seat and squinting at the dark farmhouse.

  DI Morgan pulled on the handbrake and looked at Rick in surprise. ‘Is it?’

  He thought it was quite pleasant. The Palmer farmhouse was certainly isolated: surrounded by fields, accessible only by a country track and a good mile from any other house. But then DI Morgan had always relished solitude.

  He had to admit he’d experienced a feeling of unease earlier when he’d dropped Karen off to talk to Nigel Palmer. He wasn’t the superstitious type and would never describe an inanimate object like a house as eerie. But the tension had been coming off Karen in waves, and he’d been concerned. She was obviously deeply invested in the Amy Fisher case, which was perfectly understandable. No police officer liked an unsolved case hanging over them, but somehow, with Karen and the Palmers, it seemed a little too personal – which was why he’d offered to go into the farmhouse with her.

  It was also the reason why he wanted to talk to Jasper himself. He wanted to see what it was about this family that Karen didn’t trust. Although he hadn’t liked the way events had unfolded in the superintendent’s office. He’d intended to have a quiet word with Karen to explain. Instead, the impromptu meeting had seen her reprimanded, which was unfortunate. He liked Karen. She was a hard worker. But DI Morgan knew better than anyone that emotion could be the enemy when you were investigating a case.

  ‘There were bats here earlier,’ he said and enjoyed the look of terror on Rick’s face. Who would have guessed the cocky detective constable was scared of the dark and a few flying mammals?

  ‘Come on. It’s just a farmhouse,’
DI Morgan said and opened the car door.

  Rick followed him, his eyes darting left and right as they walked towards the farmhouse.

  DI Morgan shook his head. ‘Pull yourself together,’ he said and then knocked on the front door.

  The door was opened by a tall woman with fair hair and large blue eyes. She stared at DI Morgan without saying anything and then her gaze shifted to Rick.

  ‘DI Morgan and DC Rick Cooper. We’d like to talk to Jasper.’ DI Morgan showed his warrant card.

  The woman nodded and stepped back. ‘Come in,’ she said in a quiet voice.

  They stepped inside the farmhouse, and the woman led them along a narrow, dark hallway. DI Morgan asked for her name.

  ‘I’m Cathy,’ she said, sending a shy glance at Rick, who treated her to one of his confident grins.

  Rick was a good-looking lad, but there was a time and a place for flirting and it wasn’t during interviews. DI Morgan delivered a chastising look, and the grin slid off Rick’s face.

  Cathy led them into an enormous farmhouse kitchen. A great table stood to one side. Above it, copper pots and pans hung from the rafters. A huge open fire piled high with logs was pouring out heat, and DI Morgan removed his coat.

  Sitting beside the fire was an old man. He was extremely thin and clearly not well. His grey hair was combed to the side in an ineffective attempt to cover a large bald patch. He had bushy grey eyebrows which shot up when he saw DI Morgan and Rick.

  ‘Two visits from the coppers in one day. What have we done to deserve this?’ He spluttered the last few words.

  Karen had mentioned Nigel Palmer’s emphysema. She’d also said she didn’t believe it was that bad, and he probably laid it on thick for their benefit. DI Morgan guessed that was wishful thinking. Karen wanted to believe this man was strong and capable enough to abduct a healthy nineteen-year-old woman and two ten-year-old girls. But DI Morgan couldn’t see it. This man was genuinely sick. Even his skin had a grey tinge.