Lydia has a hundred pounds in her pocket and promises herself that she won’t be spending a penny more than that today. She has heard stories about desperate people who end up selling their homes to pay for mediums and psychics to help find their missing loved-ones and she was not going to be duped like that.
She glances at the time on her phone and seeing that it’s almost ten, she rings the buzzer.
19
At the station, McCarthy makes the call to the officers waiting outside Simon’s flat and tells them to take him to the station. Then, he lets the Stones know that he’ll keep them informed about what happens next and encourages them to go home.
Barbara tells him about finding Simon in Kate’s bedroom in the middle of the night. She had completely forgotten about that with all the focus on the camera.
‘You might want to search his flat, Detective. He knows something.’
McCarthy nods at her in understanding and thanks them both for coming.
Barbara has held it together all morning, but now that Simon is going to be interviewed, she feels worried that he will withhold the truth from them.
McCarthy reassures her that they will be taking this very seriously, and Simon is officially a suspect.
On the drive home, Barbara texts Lydia to say they’ll be there in half an hour and are just going to do a little bit of grocery shopping.
She doesn’t want to wake her with a phone call, but doesn’t want her to worry if she comes downstairs to an empty house, either.
20
Ida finds Lydia on the doorstep, smiles widely, introduces herself, and gestures for her to come in.
She’s an older lady, with white hair and what sounds like the remnants of an Irish accent. Ida’s eyes are a bright, clear blue, in perfect harmony with her smiling mouth and Lydia is immediately at ease in her presence.
She happily follows Ida inside, through the spacious and airy entrance hall to the large kitchen at the back of the house.
This woman is obviously a plant-lover and keen gardener. The kitchen and conservatory are alive with green and the smell of tomato plants and other herbs drifts through the whole place.
Hanging from the ceiling is a huge shelf, filled with various green things and some hanging plants are only a few inches above Lydia’s head as she walks underneath.
A white sleepy-looking cat appears in the doorway and comes to greet Lydia, looking up at her and meowing loudly.
Lydia crouches down to stroke her, and Ida laughs a little.
‘That’s Angel, there. She’s almost fifteen years old, would you believe? A rescue from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. She’s blind in one eye. And grumpy!’
Lydia is instantly enchanted with Angel, and with Ida’s beautiful home. She wants to ask if anyone else lives here and tells her how tasteful and welcoming the place is.
‘We have a few plants at home, too and herbs on the kitchen windowsill, but this is in a different league.’
Ida tells her that plants are her hobby, therapy, sometimes her obsession and she has been slowly filling the house with green life since her husband died, five years ago.
‘Christopher was his name. He was the most elegant, insightful and kind man you could imagine. I still talk to him, you know… and I tell him that he’s been replaced with cacti and ferns and spider plants!’
Ida laughs out loud again, and claps her hands together. Lydia cannot stop smiling and feels an urge to hug her. She’s like the grandmother or eccentric great aunt she never had and Lydia realises how happy she is to be here, with this wonderfully kind and gentle woman, no matter what the outcome is.
Then, a thought occurs to her. If Ida is psychic, can she read her thoughts, right now? The idea instantly makes Lydia feel vulnerable and she’s relieved when Ida suggests they sit in the conservatory, although she also feels a bit nervous, like things have just become more serious.
The chairs in the conservatory are made of wicker, and there’s a creak when Lydia sits down, so she adjusts the cushions underneath in order to minimize the sound.
Ida continues to smile and asks if she would like a tarot card reading, or just to talk.
Lydia hasn’t had time to think about what she wants from this session. The truth is she’s desperate and just wants to know where her sister is.
She stares at the red and blue woven table mat in front of her, then moves it back and forth as she feels her eyes well up with tears. She has always been a fidgeter, and finds it extremely difficult to keep her hands still, especially if she’s feeling nervous, as she is now.
Thoughts of Kate, Simon, and the whole messed up situation, surface, and Lydia’s face burns red with embarrassment. How can she tell this stranger what’s going on?
Ida, sensing that Lydia is a little lost, reaches into a drawer in a large antique dresser next to her, and takes out a wooden box. Inside, is a set of cards, and Ida puts them on the table in front of Lydia. She tells her to hold, then shuffle them and put all of her questions and energy about her current situation into the deck.
‘I’ll be back in five. How do you take your tea, love?’
Lydia responds that she likes her tea strong and milky, then seeing that she’s alone, she picks the cards up, holds them with one hand underneath and one on top, closes her eyes and realises that she has no idea what tarot cards are.
This is the kind of thing that Lydia expected from a psychic, but she didn’t realise that she would have to do anything herself.
Lydia decides that she will do her best and continues to follow Ida’s instructions. She imagines Kate is there in the room with her, standing by her side, and smiles at the thought, knowing that her sister would think this was the funniest thing she had ever seen; her geeky sister hanging out with an old psychic lady and her cat.
Lydia feels a warm energy inside and after a few moments, she decides it’s love. This is the energy she will put into the cards, this impenetrable love she has for her twin. She opens her eyes and confidently shuffles the cards. After a minute or two, Lydia stops shuffling and holds the deck between her palms again, concentrating on her question: Where is Kate?
She opens her eyes as Ida re-enters the room, closely followed by Angel.
Angel jumps up on the table as Ida sets down a tray with the tea and a plate of chocolate biscuits. The curious cat lays across from Lydia, her fluffy white tail swaying gently, her eyes closing for a nap. Lydia decides that the cat is smiling at her, wishing her well, and again she feels the warmth and welcoming energy of the house and is glad she came.
She thanks Ida for the tea, and after taking a sip, she says she’s finished shuffling the cards.
Ida is very gentle and precise in her movements, and smiles as she works, carefully laying each card, face up, in a cross-like formation on the table in front of Lydia. Each card has a picture on it, as well as either a name or number. Lydia is surprised to see the tarot cards are nothing like traditional playing cards, and although they have a lot of detail on them, she has no idea what each one might mean.
Then, Ida starts to talk. She tells Lydia that she can see she’s lost and blind to something, that there has been a loss or a tragedy recently and this is a time when Lydia is being tested. The universe is asking her to be stronger than she has ever been, to become a kind of warrior.
Lydia listens as Ida describes a situation where ‘the walls are peeling back’ and she’s ‘seeing things for the first time’. Ida says that the truth will be shocking in this situation and it will take every ounce of Lydia’s strength and faith, to get through it.
She asks Ida what she means about the loss or tragedy she mentioned. Lydia doesn’t want to tell her about Kate and wants to make sure she doesn’t influence the tarot reading in any way. She’s not sure if she even believes in any of this stuff, after all and doesn’t want to give Ida any hints that might change what she tells her.
But, it’s obvious Lydia is distressed and Ida reaches out
and gives her right hand a reassuring squeeze.
‘I won’t pretend that I don’t know about your sister, love. I heard about it the other day on the radio, and I knew it was you, her twin, as soon as I heard your lovely voice on the phone earlier.’
Lydia can’t help herself, and becomes immediately suspicious about Ida’s psychic ability. These cards haven’t told her anything new. Ida heard it all on the radio.
As if sensing that she is losing Lydia’s trust, Ida says something that grabs her attention.
‘Simon was there the night Kate went missing.’
21
The officers outside Simon’s flat have been banging on the door for ten minutes, and there has been no sound or movement from within.
They call McCarthy to let him know, and he decides to try Simon’s phone himself. If that doesn’t work, he’ll ask Lydia to make contact, if she’s up to it.
The sooner they find out where he is, the better.
A shaky Lydia makes her way down the front steps of Ida’s house and calls her mum. She wants to tell her what Ida said about Simon, and can see that Barbara has been calling and texting for the past hour.
Barbara’s line is busy and Lydia starts to jog towards home instead. She’s desperate to tell her parents about what just happened and to make sure that police search Simon’s flat. She also thinks they should look at the Haven CCTV footage again, in case he’s on it.
The only way that she can stop herself from sobbing with frustration and fear is the fact that Lydia knows she has to hold it together for Kate’s sake.
As she runs up the slight incline of East Heath Road, Lydia realises she hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon. Dizziness and disorientation take her over.
She knows she should stop to get her breath back, but she’s close to home and figures if she can just make it to the front door, everything will be alright.
Images of Simon and Kate together are already forming in her head. Was Ida right about the fact that Simon had been there that night at the club? If Lydia had heard this a few days ago, before she saw his camera or heard about him being in Kate’s room, she would have laughed at the idea of her boyfriend, the one who has been by her side since she was a child, having anything to do with her sister’s disappearance.
He was also the last person in the world that would go to Haven. Wasn’t he?
Then, another thought occurs to Lydia. What if Kate planned to meet Simon that night?
Her palms are sweating now and she’s aware that she’s stumbling around and can barely stay on her feet, never mind continue jogging.
The images she found on Kate’s phone flash into her mind.
A woman passes with a baby in a pram and shoots Lydia a cold look, before averting her eyes the other way.
Lydia realises that, stumbling around like this, she probably looks drunk to passers-by.
Then, she’s aware that someone is standing across the road and staring straight at her. The next thing she knows, she hits the ground, hard. Her body feels heavy and numb and her head hurts badly, where its hit the concrete.
She stares up at blue sky, and for a few seconds, everything is silent and calm. In her mind, she sees her sister smiling at her again and she feels happy for a moment.
Then everything fades to black.
Lydia’s brain wakes up before her heavy eyes can open. She can’t move. The throbbing pain in her head is still there, although it’s not as sharp as before, and she wonders if she’s at home.
She furiously tries to remember what happened, but can’t.
She manages to open her eyes, squints into the bright, white light around her and can make out some movement at the other side of the room. Someone is walking towards her. The figure is male, and Lydia tries to focus on his features as he moves closer. After a few seconds, she realises it’s Simon. He stands over her, smiling, and everything comes flooding back to Lydia; the photos of Kate on the camera and what the psychic had said.
Fear and panic start to take a grip on her again and it helps her to find the strength to call out.
‘Get away from me!’
Another man appears now, goes to Lydia’s side and adjusts the needle attached to her arm.
Within seconds, she’s unconscious.
22
Brian’s phone rings. It’s Detective McCarthy.
‘We can’t find Simon and we need your help tracking him down.’
Brian’s heart drops in his chest as he tells the detective they can’t find Lydia either. They came home from the station to find an empty house and thought she must have gone out while they were at the station. But she isn’t answering her phone.
As Brian and McCarthy are talking, the house phone rings and Barbara picks up, motioning for Brian to be quiet.
She holds the phone to her ear, at the same time she tells her husband to find the car keys. Lydia is at the Royal Free Hospital and Simon is with her.
Brian quickly relays the news to McCarthy and tells him that now they know where Simon is, they can take him in for questioning.
Simon is not expecting to see the officers at the hospital when they arrive fifteen minutes later.
He tells them there must be some mistake. He was the one that found Lydia and took her to hospital. He didn’t hurt her.
He calls out to Barbara and Brian, begging them to tell the police he’s done nothing wrong, saying he was on the way to see Lydia and happened to find her on the street just as she collapsed. But, the officers are already handcuffing Simon and the couple ignore his pleas as he’s led away.
All they care about right now is Lydia and they know they have to let the police deal with Simon.
23
McCarthy and Davies are waiting for Simon in an interrogation room.
They had already interviewed him briefly in connection with Kate’s disappearance, but that was before they had seen the images on his camera. He has not been a real suspect, until now.
McCarthy asks how long he has been obsessed with Kate Stone and Simon looks at him in shock then stating that he wants a lawyer before he answers any questions.
McCarthy ignores him and loudly asks if he has done this with other girls in the past. He tells Simon they have evidence that he’s involved with Kate Stone’s disappearance and if he doesn’t tell them where she is, he will be going away for a very long time.
Simon’s face has gone a shade of red and his eyes are bloodshot and raw. He blinks furiously and spits out his words, as if an unseen force is choking him.
‘I would never hurt Kate, or anyone.’
He’s hunched over the table and holding his hands in a strange way, like they are cramping. His fingers are contorted, bent and stiff-looking and there are tears in his eyes.
McCarthy has seen this kind of behaviour before. It’s fear.
Simon’s carefully assembled persona is cracking, McCarthy thinks. This is a man who has been caught doing something that’s going to get him into serious trouble.
24
At the hospital, Lydia wakes to find her parents at her bedside.
When she sees their smiling faces, she cries with relief. She’d been so scared and disoriented when she first woke after the accident and had actually thought Simon had kidnapped her and was going to kill her.
Barbara strokes her daughter’s forehead, tells her everything is going to be okay and the police will get to the bottom of whatever is going on with Simon.
Brian explains that she’s had stitches in her head where she hit it and needs to stay in hospital for a day or two to have some tests and make sure everything is okay.
‘Darling, promise me you’ll start taking care of yourself? I’ve already got one daughter gone and...’
Brian closes his eyes, takes a breath, but can’t finish his sentence. Lydia reaches out to take his hand and promises she won’t do anything like that again and will start taking care of herself.
She tells them where she was that morning before she fell, that she went to see a psychic called Ida and what she’d said about Simon.
Without taking a breath, Lydia asks if they’ve heard anything from the police yet, but before they can answer, a nurse comes into the room and checks Lydia’s chart, telling her that she has to rest for now and will be going for a CT scan in the next thirty minutes and may also need an MRI.
Brian and Barbara catch one another’s eye in concern. Lydia is breathing quickly and her face is paler than it’s ever been. Her dad tells her to try to relax, but she pushes him away.
‘Don’t patronise me, please. Didn’t you hear what I said? This woman, who knows nothing about us, said Simon was with Kate the night she went missing!’
Before he can respond, Brian’s phone rings. It’s McCarthy.
Brian walks away to take the call and when Lydia realises who he’s talking to, she sits up.
‘Dad, tell him he has to check the CCTV from the club! He has to prove Simon was there that night. That’s what the psychic said!’
Barbara encourages Lydia to calm down and comforts her while Brian finishes his phone call out in the corridor.
When he joins them a few minutes later, he relays what McCarthy has said. Simon is still at the station and they have a search warrant for his flat.
Lydia shakes her head in disbelief at what she’s hearing. It’s all so surreal.
It’s good to know that Simon is at least with the police now, but she’s afraid he’s already had too much time to cover his tracks.
A wave of nausea and light-headedness washes over her again as she realises what all of this could mean.
25
At the station, McCarthy has ordered for a team to be prepped to search Simon’s property and a warrant is being written up.
When You're Gone Page 7