When You're Gone
Page 17
67
They arrive at Norwich station, and Hayman is taken to an interrogation room.
McCarthy and Davies make a quick plan to send his laptop and phone off for analysis.
They need to get answers from him. Fast. If Kate is alive and being held somewhere, she could die if they don’t get to her soon.
McCarthy is not going to be playing good cop today.
When they enter the interrogation room, he rolls up his sleeves, drags a chair along the linoleum floor so it’s directly opposite Hayman, slams both of his hands down on the table, and stares menacingly into his eyes.
‘The sooner you tell me everything, the less painful this will be for all of us.’
Hayman looks ill, both physically and mentally. His complexion is pale, with dark rings and puffiness under his eyes.
He’s sweating profusely, too, even though the room is quite cool, and his shirt is heavily stained, making it look like he hasn’t washed for a few days.
He stares back at McCarthy.
McCarthy begins.
‘When was the last time you saw Kate Stone?’
Silence.
‘Where is Kate Stone?’
Silence.
‘Did you murder Kate Stone?’
At this, Matthew Hayman flinches, and he shakes his head from side to side a few times.
McCarthy asks again?
‘When did you murder Kate Stone?’
Hayman looks at him for a few seconds, then leans forward slightly.
His expression suddenly changes and his face becomes pinched, his eyes squinted.
He opens his mouth slowly to speak, and McCarthy can see tiny strings of spittle connecting his upper and lower teeth. It is shark-like and monstrous. It turns McCarthy’s stomach, and he wonders what the hell a beautiful, smart young girl like Kate was thinking when she got involved with this sick excuse for a human being. When Matthew finally speaks he’s almost snarling at McCarthy.
‘What the hell do you think I am? Kate was a friend! I cared about her and I never did anything to her!’
Hayman is almost shouting, and he furrows his brow.
‘You’re wasting your time, because I swear on my life, on the holy word of God, I never hurt that girl, and I haven’t seen or heard from her since I moved away from London.’
McCarthy sighs, and realises this was going to take a while.
There’s a knock on the door, and a young male officer pokes his head around apologetically to tell McCarthy there’s an urgent call for him on the main office phone.
McCarthy mutters to himself as he makes his way down the long hallway to the floor to take the call.
He’s tired, hungry, and feels like the day is getting away from him, and there’s still far too much to do.
He picks up the receiver, announces his name, and a female voice on the other side says something he’s not expecting to hear. It takes a second for the words to sink in.
‘You’re sure it’s her? And she’s dead?’
68
Brian is locked in the bathroom. He’s slumped on the floor, with his back to the wall, and sobbing into a white hand towel.
His body clenches and shakes as each long, desperate moan leaves him. The whole world seems to be dissolving around him, and he can’t bear it anymore.
He has wanted to smash something, or somebody for weeks now, and this constant frustration and sense of powerlessness has left him weak and empty.
First Kate. Now this.
He takes out his phone, opens the media gallery, and finds a family photo taken in the back garden last August. It was taken at his birthday BBQ, a surprise arranged by Kate and Lydia.
They were already going for a big dinner on the Saturday night, but the girls insisted on surprising him on the actual day of his birthday, and when he came home from work, he had heard his favourite Pink Floyd record playing loudly, and saw Barbara and the twins out in the garden, laughing and fussing around the place.
They hadn’t heard him arrive home above the music, and even Molly didn’t know he was watching through the window.
Kate was blowing up balloons, and having trouble tying the knots in them, Lydia was fixing fairy lights around the trees, and Barbara was setting the table.
He can remember clearly thinking to himself in that moment how incredibly lucky he was to have all of that love in his life, and three women who adored him, loved his company, and were always happy to see him.
He so often heard his colleagues talking about their teenage sons and daughters who hated them, and half of the married couples he knew were unhappy, or going through a divorce. Sure, he had the money and a big house, but that was just ‘stuff’, and it was these three people that were the greatest, most precious part of life for Brian.
Now, sitting on the cold tiles, he feels like it will never be possible to feel happiness again. He thought he knew his family, but now thinks he must have been fooling himself. He zooms in on Barbara’s beautiful face in the photo. Her huge dark eyes, he can now see, are brimming with sadness. Her mouth is smiling, but her eyes are filled with something else.
How could he not know?
Brian opens his fist, and the gold bracelet with ‘Margaret’ engraved on it falls to the floor next to him.
His face contorts as a fresh wave of sadness washes over him, and tears stream down his cheeks.
69
McCarthy stands outside the interrogation room with Davies.
‘We’re going to have to call a halt to this interview for a minute. Hayman’s mother committed suicide this morning, just after we left her. That’s what the call was about just now. Took an overdose.’
Davies looks into the distance as McCarthy’s words sink in. They will have to tell Hayman.
‘That poor woman. Do you think she knew something more about Kate, though?
Davies looks towards the interrogation room that Hayman’s in.
‘You think he might crack now? Or maybe be relieved she can’t tell us anything?’
McCarthy shakes his head in response. He’s at a loss. Hayman isn’t talking. They are no closer to finding Kate, and now that his mother is dead, he might close down altogether, and use this as a way to avoid further questioning.
Without evidence, they can’t keep him here for much longer, anyway.
‘Let’s leave him for a minute. Get an officer to keep an eye on him while we chase up the laptop and phone.’
70
Lydia is waiting for her dad at the bottom of the stairs.
He walks down slowly, doesn’t look up from his feet, and when he gets to the last step, he pauses and looks at her.
She can see that his face has changed. He looks broken, and it shocks her to see him like this. He seems to have aged fifteen years in the past few weeks, and it breaks her heart.
She puts her arms around his waist, buries her head in his chest, and he puts his arms around her, resting his head on hers.
They hold one another for a few seconds until they hear keys in the front door.
‘Mum!’ Lydia exclaims, as she sees the door open, and Barbara walks in, slowly closing the door behind her.
Molly appears from the kitchen, jumps up to greet her, and she leans down to give the dog a pat on the head, then walks to her daughter and husband.
She looks at each of them tenderly.
‘Were you at the station, Mum? What did they say? Any updates in the past hour? We haven’t heard anything in a while, have we, Dad?’
Lydia wonders why her mother isn’t looking at her while she’s speaking. She seems to be gazing at Brian instead.
‘Dad? Hello! Dad! Mum?’
Lydia is confused as to why her parents are ignoring her, and staring at one another in such a strange way.
Without breaking eye contact with her husband, Barbara responds to Lydia by gently squeezing her hand.
‘Darling, I think I need to talk to yo
ur father, alone.
This isn’t like her parents, and Lydia feels instantly worried.
Sensing this, Barbara tells her that nothing new, or worrying has happened, and she needs to talk to him about something else.
Barbara is even calmer and more softly spoken than usual, and has a sort of serenity about her.
Lydia calls the dog, goes into the living room, and closes the door behind her.
Brian and Barbara listen as the TV is turned on, and Lydia flicks through the channels, then Brian walks upstairs, and Barbara follows.
71
McCarthy curses loudly when he learns that Hayman’s phone and laptop have been given the all-clear for signs of communicating with Kate.
The office has also let him know that the number for ‘Matt’ on Kate’s phone that Lydia found, was registered to Hayman until the end of April 2015.
It looks like Hayman knew he had to cover his tracks and ditched that phone when things got messy with Kate, thinks McCarthy.
There was, of course a strong case against him for sex with a minor, but that wasn’t going to help them find Kate.
After the news about his mother is delivered to him, and he’s told he’s free to go, a solemn looking Hayman leaves the station, and gets into a taxi.
McCarthy and Davies are following him discreetly.
If he does anything out the ordinary they want to be there.
As they make their way east, and out of the city, towards the area where Hayman lives, McCarthy and Davies exchange theories about where he might be hiding Kate.
There’s lots of farmland and fields around here, and there’s even a caravan park at the end of the narrow road behind Hayman’s bungalow.
There is no harm taking a look there, McCarthy suggests.
He can feel his blood pressure rising as he wonders if he could be wrong about Hayman’s guilt.
It was so obvious he knew something. Hayman had sex with Kate, and probably other underage girls, if what his mother said was true. Then he stalked and harassed her afterwards, and now he was hiding out in some weird old cottage in the Norfolk countryside.
All of the signs pointed to him being a guilty sex predator. Now, if only they could prove he was in London the night Kate went missing…
McCarthy thinks about the photos on Kate’s iPhone. He’d seen this kind of thing before where young girls are pressured into sending sexually explicit images to men they’re involved with, and he wonders if Hayman was into the S&M scene too.
As if reading his mind, Julia calls to give them an update on the CCTV search.
‘Sir, it’s about the man in the mask. We’ve worked out that he’s about six-foot-two and we were wondering if you could confirm Hayman’s height for us?’
McCarthy looks to Davies in the passenger seat and they both shake their head.
Hayman was no more than five-foot-nine.
McCarthy tells Julia that it doesn’t sound like a match for Hayman.
She goes on to tell him that Tony Briggs has been trying to contact him as well, and called the office about an hour ago.
Tony said that he had spoken to the guys that were loading up at the same time the man in the mask was hanging around on the night Kate went missing, and between them, they seem to think he was definitely up to something.
They were all keen to get out of there that night, and weren’t really taking much notice about what he was doing, each one of them thinking he knew someone else there. But now that they think he may have been an intruder.
‘Jesus. Okay, Julia. I have to go. I’ll call you back.’
They see Hayman’s taxi is indicating left.
‘One more thing, Detective... I think you need to hear this. Tony and the guys that work there have said a large case is missing from that night, too. It was something they used to carry smaller items in. It seems to be gone. It was basically a large suitcase on wheels – like those big plastic cases that bands use to carry instruments.’
McCarthy takes a moment, then asks Julia what the dimensions of the case are. She hesitates then says she doesn’t know exactly, but they can see it on CCTV and it’s pretty huge. It was being pulled out by a guy who says he didn’t pack it himself and it was rolled behind a van while they were being packed up.
McCarthy hangs up the phone without saying a word. They’re waiting at the turn-off to Hayman’s cottage. It seems like he’s just got the car to drop him at his house, but McCarthy wants to see what he’ll do when he gets there, hoping he’ll go somewhere on foot, or in his own vehicle.
They reverse a little when the taxi comes back towards them, and then McCarthy gets out so he can get a better look.
Hayman is at the front door, and he’s on the phone. He leans against the wall and looks around as he talks. His back doesn’t seem to be as painful as it was earlier in the day, McCarthy notes.
A few minutes later, he goes inside.
Half an hour after that another car arrives, and an elderly lady and two younger women get out.
It’s probably the mother’s sister, Doris, McCarthy thinks.
About twenty minutes later, all four of them come out of the house. Hayman carrying a large bag, and he goes around the back of the house, gets into his own car, and the other women get into their vehicle.
Davies assumes they are going to let this go, at least for tonight, but McCarthy has other ideas, and wants to follow the cars, to make sure they aren’t up to anything.
‘For all we know, the whole family could’ve been in on it. Or they might be helping him cover something up.’
Davies isn’t so sure. To him it seems pretty obvious that this aunt of Hayman’s is coming to take him to her house in light of the news that Beryl is dead, but, he knows when to keep his mouth shut, and this is not the time to challenge McCarthy.
He nods in agreement, and listens to his partner theorise about how many of them could potentially be involved.
An hour later, as he and Davies sit outside Hayman’s aunt’s house in Great Yarmouth, McCarthy calls Fran to apologise. He isn’t coming home until late tonight, if not tomorrow.
She’s used to this sort of thing happening while her husband is in the middle of a case, and is very understanding.
Elsa and Felix take turns to say goodnight to their dad, and Elsa sings him a song about a rainbow and a little princess.
McCarthy hangs up and feels a familiar pang of guilt. He should have called earlier. There were plenty of chances, but his mind was elsewhere, and with another family.
72
Barbara sits on the bed as Brian stands opposite her, leaning against the dresser.
‘Where were you today?’ he asks quietly.
Brian’s arms are folded tightly across his chest.
Barbara doesn’t answer his question. Instead, her eyes well with tears.
‘You know there are things you don’t know about me, Brian.’
‘Darling! You think I’m not aware of that? You think I don’t notice when you check out? I’ve asked you so many times to get help. I know you had a difficult childhood. I know you were hurt.’
Barbara can’t bear to hear any more; she gets to her feet, walks to her husband, reaches out, and touches his face gently.
His posture softens when she comes so close, and he longs to hold her.
She loves him. He knows that. He has never doubted it for a second, and he can see how her eyes light up when he comes into the room.
He cannot imagine a life without Barbara, but she’s keeping something from him, and it’s killing him.
He moves away from her and clears his throat.
‘This guy came to the house today. He arrived as you left to go to the station and Lydia was outside closing the gate. He really scared her. He looked strange, deranged, and was asking if someone called Margaret lived here.’
Barbara opens her mouth in recognition of the name, and takes a couple of steps away from him.
‘This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, Barbara, and I’m starting to think you’re hiding something big from me, from all of us, about who Margaret is.’
Barbara looks shocked.
‘Sweetheart, this sounds mad. This is mad. A mad accusation! What exactly do you think I’m hiding?’
Brian can’t answer that.
He shakes his head, and reaches into his back pocket, then hands his wife the gold bracelet.
He looks at her, waiting for a reaction as she examines it, and then nods in recognition.
‘This used to belong to an old school friend of mine. I gave my bracelet to her, and she gave hers to me. Oh my God, Brian! It’s a bloody coincidence that this man has asked for Margaret! It’s a very common name.’
Brian can’t take anymore, and he knows he’s being lied to.
He leaves the room, and slams the door behind him.
A forlorn Barbara collapses on the bed. She was planning on telling Brian about her mental state, the medication she’s been on, and the fact that she’s been finding it hard to tell the difference between what’s real and not, these days.
This was the night she was going to turn to him for some support, because the temptation to end it all was greater than ever.
She wonders if maybe she has left it too late.
Her secret, the thing she has kept from every single person in her life since she was twenty-years-old, was catching up on her.