by Helen Phifer
‘Are you sure you’re OK?’
She nodded her head, trying to compose herself so that her voice didn’t betray the fear that had taken over. Annie wanted to sound normal but she couldn’t remember how being normal felt. ‘I’m fine, really.’
They walked back to the farmhouse in silence. As they reached the gate she turned to him. ‘Do you want a lift to your car? I need to go into town so I can drop you off.’
‘That would be brilliant. You’re a little star, do you know that?’
She laughed and felt her heart tug as she wondered if this was it now, that she had served her purpose.
‘You know, if you fancy something nice to eat for a change I could come up and cook you a meal,’ said Will. ‘You provide the wine and I’ll provide the ingredients and the personal chef. Don’t think I’m being pushy but judging by the contents of your fridge I think a good home-cooked meal wouldn’t go amiss. The food will do you a world of good, not to mention my excellent company.’
Annie paused for effect. ‘I’ll have to check my diary.’ Then she giggled. ‘If you’re willing to cook that’s an offer I can’t refuse. I would really like that.’
‘How about tomorrow? It’s my day off. I could come up then.’
She tried to contain the excitement that was bubbling under her cool exterior. ‘Tomorrow it is then.’ She winked at him. Even though she knew it was a hopeless situation it wouldn’t hurt to just enjoy it for the moment. She needed cheering up and had never realised that underneath the reputation and the cool, calm exterior there was a man who was funny, kind and a bit of a gentleman. Better stick a lucky dip on the lottery, maybe your luck is about to change.
Chapter 9
The traffic was awful on the way back into town and getting parked was going to be a total nightmare. Next to the police station were the Social Services offices: they had a lovely big car park. Will drove in as if he worked there and parked in the last empty space, feeling momentarily guilty. He got out of the car and walked briskly along the narrow alley between the two buildings that led to the rear yard of the station. A van came whizzing out of the open gates, lights flashing; it almost took him out. He waved at the driver who mouthed ‘sorry’ then sped off, sirens wailing into the distance. The rear yard was pitiful compared to the one next door. There was just enough room to park roughly twelve assorted vans and cars depending on who parked them. Outside the back door two uniformed coppers were trying various door codes to get into the building.
‘For Christ’s sake, why do they change the code on a Monday morning when nobody has a clue what it is?’
Will stepped forward and typed in the four-digit code, releasing the lock and opening the door.
‘Cheers, Will. We’ve been here five minutes and no one has got off their lazy arses to open the door.’
‘Busy people, you know how it is. How many times have you bothered to open the door when someone has been knocking?’
Smithy looked at Will as if trying to work it out. ‘Err, none.’
‘See. Busy people or so I’ve heard.’ Will left them to it and headed down to the CID office. As he walked in four heads turned to look at him and they chorused, ‘Morning, Sarge.’
‘Yeah right, less of the “Sarge” and one of you get the kettle on. Any news on Jenna?’ Four blank faces stared back at him. He walked across to the huge whiteboard. Jenna’s picture stared defiantly back at him. He wondered why she needed to wear all that crap on her face. What was she hiding? Or who was she hiding from? He’d seen a picture of her two years before she discovered a love of pop stars that looked like corpses. She had been a pretty girl.
Underneath her picture was a list of all her family, friends and tutors. All of them had been spoken to except one. The rest had big red ticks next to them. Not one person on the list thought that Jenna was capable of running away, not that kind of girl. The name that was unchecked was that of her best friend who had been to Manchester all weekend. She needed speaking to this morning, sooner rather than later.
Laura handed him a chipped mug of coffee. He took it and sat down at his desk. He opened his emails. Scrolling through them he found one about a collection for Annie. It said that she was off ill and there was a card and collection in the community office. Before yesterday he wouldn’t have even realised who she was. It was amazing how much your life could change in twenty-four hours. He finished his drink and stood up.
‘Laura, are you on with anything?’
‘No, I’ve just finished going through the list of Jenna’s friends.’
‘Good, you can come with me then.’
She grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair, grateful to get out of the office for a bit. Stu blew her a kiss and she stuck two fingers up behind her back. Will grabbed a set of keys from the whiteboard. He called into the patrol sergeant’s office, where Kav was eating his way through a giant bacon and egg bun. He nodded at Will and gave him the thumbs-up. Will wanted to talk to him but not where there was an audience.
‘Fancy a pint later?’ asked Will.
‘If you’re buying, I’d love one.’
‘I am, but only the first. You could drink a well dry.’
‘I finish at six. Anything on our missing girl?’
‘Stu is chasing up a mobile number with no registered owner. I’m hoping she might be hiding out with this mystery associate.’
‘I hope so, mate, because Jake is convinced she’s been abducted by little green men,’ said Kav.
‘Sounds like Jake. I’m off to speak to her best friend now.’
‘Good luck. I’ll see you in the The Black Dog about quarter past for that pint.’
Will went back into the corridor and threw the car keys to Laura, who was leaning against the wall chewing on her thumbnail.
‘You drive.’
They went in search of the car which, judging by the smudged numbers on the key ring, could be any one of the hundreds of cars parked on the massive public car park opposite the station.
‘These bloody cars should have central locking. At least when you pressed the key fob you would see the lights flash.’ She squinted trying to make out some of the numbers that had rubbed off. ‘And how hard would it be to rewrite the call sign back on?’
‘Found it.’ Will was halfway across the car park and Laura had to jog to catch up with him. He got into the passenger seat, pulling the small blue file from the side pocket. ‘There better be some petrol in it. I haven’t got time to mess around.’
Laura turned the ignition key; relieved the gauge showed the tank was three quarters full. ‘That’s another thing which does my head in, filling out those books every time we use a car, it’s like they don’t trust us.’
‘I hate to be the one to break it to you, Laura, but they don’t.’
They drove to Lesh Lane in silence. Laura couldn’t stop looking at Will and he wondered if he had something on his face or suit: she was freaking him out. She parked up outside the ex-council house. It had a neat garden and the windows were gleaming; he always noticed the small details. As they got out of the car he pulled his notebook from his pocket to check the girl’s name. She was seventeen so it wouldn’t matter if her parents weren’t present.. As Laura unlatched the gate the front door opened and a teary, red eyed teenager stood waiting for them.
‘Erin, my name is Will Ashworth. I’m a detective with the police.’ He stepped forward and shook her hand. ‘This is Laura Collins and she is a colleague of mine. We need to speak with you about Jenna, is it OK to come in?’
She stepped to one side to let them pass, pointing towards the kitchen at the back of the house. ‘My mum told me this morning when I got back that Jenna is missing. I don’t understand. It’s really not like her.’
Laura glanced at Will. He continued to lead the questioning. ‘Erin, I’m really worried about her. She didn’t take any money or clothes with her and the only thing we can’t find is her phone, which hasn’t been used since she disappeared. Did she have any
plans to go somewhere, maybe meet up with a boyfriend?’
Erin sniffed, rubbing her red eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. Jenna will kill me.’
‘Jenna hasn’t spoken to anyone or been seen since Friday night, you’re not grassing her up. What if she needs our help? Whatever it is you need to tell us, Jenna will thank you for it in the end?’
Erin paused and then the words that Will had been dreading came tumbling out. ‘She met some guy off the internet.’
Both Will and Laura sat up straight. Laura flipped open her notebook ready to write every detail down.
‘He’s a lot older than her but Jenna said that he was cool and loaded.’
‘Did you ever see him?’
She shook her head. ‘No, Jenna was going to meet him for the first time on Friday. They’d only ever spoken on webcam before but she kept saying how he was so like her and he really got where she was coming from. She even said they were a match made in heaven, can you believe that?’
‘Did she tell you his name, where he lived? Anything at all that may give us a clue where to find her.’
‘No, she wouldn’t tell me anything about him, said it was her little secret. He sent her two tickets for a Marilyn Manson concert in Manchester; he was going to take her there for the weekend. God, she was so happy when they arrived in the post and I was so mad with her. We always said we would go to our first Manson concert together and some old dude was going to take her while I sat at home twiddling my thumbs. That’s why I went to see my brother this weekend, we had a big argument and I wanted to be as far away from here as possible.’
Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks and Will felt bad for her, he patted her hand. ‘It’s not your fault, Erin, Jenna would have gone to meet this man whether you were here or not and I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted you tagging along on a first date. Did she tell you where she was meeting him?’
‘Something about a haunted house and ghost stories but I don’t know where, she wouldn’t tell me.’
She began sobbing again and Will knew he wouldn’t get anything more out of her so he pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘That’s my contact card. If you remember anything or you’re worried and need to speak to someone my mobile number is on there. You can ring me anytime.’
‘Do you think she’s dead?’
Will decided it was best to be honest. He didn’t want to give her false hope when he didn’t have a clue. ‘I don’t know, Erin. I hope that she is staying somewhere with him and she is OK but the truth is we just don’t know.’
Leaving Erin to her tears they walked back to the car.
‘We need to find those tickets and trace who bought them. Even if they came off eBay we can trace the seller. I need you to get onto headquarters and tell them to hurry up with her computer; it’s top priority now. If she met him on the internet it should be a goldmine full of clues. He could be anyone but he sounds like some fucking perv if you ask me,’ snarled Will.
‘I’ll get it sorted as soon as we get back, boss.’
Will dropped Laura off at the station and drove back to Jenna White’s house: he wouldn’t leave until he found those tickets.
Annie couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited a library, which was most likely something to do with the fact that she owed hundreds of pounds in overdue book fines from when she was younger. As a child she had spent hours in there, curled up reading everything she could get her hands on. Upstairs had been the reference library and the coolest museum she had ever been to, not that she had been to many. This one had stuffed birds and a huge moose head with big brown eyes that looked so sad. She’d probably look sad if someone had shot her, cut off her head and put it on public display for everyone to see. She used to make up scary stories about the flesh-eating moose that roamed the streets after dark looking for its body – it’s no wonder she used to have terrible nightmares.
As she walked through the main doors she expected an alarm to sound and alert everyone she was here but all that greeted her were the hushed tones of the staff and the few people in there. For the first time in a couple of days she felt relaxed, childhood memories soothing her anxious mind and reminding her of the time her life was far less complicated. Following the signs she found the records office tucked away at the back of the huge building. Annie was mystified when the assistant told her she had to put her bag into a locker and could only makes notes with a pencil.
The woman picked up on her expression. ‘You wouldn’t believe how many of our documents have been damaged or stolen. We have to take these precautions to make sure we have some left.’
‘Oh that’s awful. I only have a pen do you have a pencil I could use?’
‘Yes, of course, dear, that’s fifty pence please.’
Annie fished in her pocket for some change and handed it over.
The woman gave her a pencil. ‘Do you have a reader’s card dear?’
For the second time Annie’s face went blank.
‘It’s a membership card so you can look at the documents. You will need something with your address on to prove who you are.’ The woman had the smuggest look on her face, clearly expecting Annie to have nothing with her.
Annie had to keep smiling to stop herself from grabbing hold of the woman and shaking her. ‘I’ll just look in my bag which you told me to put in the locker five minutes ago, I won’t be a minute.’ Inside her bag she found a crumpled bank statement and her police warrant card. She slammed the metal door shut and locked it, turning around to see the woman was now helping some man who wanted to trace his mother’s parents. Annie thought she might actually scream in frustration when a voice from behind came to her rescue.
‘Can I help you?’
She turned to see a young man in his late teens smiling at her. ‘Yes please, that would be wonderful. I’m trying to look for some information on the old house in the woods behind the Abbey. But I needed a pencil and a reader’s card and to be honest I haven’t got a clue what she’s on about: I’m confused.’
His name badge said Declan. Annie was relieved when he laughed. ‘Hmn Hilda tends to have that effect on everyone. Come on, I’ll sort you out.’
She followed him to the desk and within two minutes had filled out a form which Declan took from her along with her ID to photocopy. She was now the proud owner of a brand new, blue and white reader’s card.
‘You take a seat and I’ll bring over all the stuff we have on the manor house in Abbey Wood, that’s the one you’re talking about, isn’t it?’
‘Thank you. My brother is the caretaker for it and I’m interested in the history of the place.’
‘Wow really, that is so cool. It’s a big old scary place. You know he could make a fortune doing those ghost tours. I have loads of mates in college who would be interested.’
‘That’s not a bad idea, I’ll tell him about it. Between you and me, though, I think he’s too scared to even go in there.’
They both laughed too loud for Hilda’s liking and she threw them a death stare. Declan disappeared and Annie made her way to a huge oak desk in the corner, which could easily fit four people around it working comfortably.
He returned with two large boxes. ‘This is the best one. It has photo albums of the house when it was first built and the family who lived there; it really was a beautiful house. The other box has family letters in from the son to his mum, he must have been sent to boarding school or something. I was reading them a while back until Hilda caught me and made me start filing all the newspaper clippings from the beginning of time into alphabetical order. There is also a ledger with a list of staff for the house when it was running at full capacity. That should keep you busy for a while. If you need anything else give me a shout.’
He walked away and Annie felt her faith in human nature restored. Hilda walked past she was still glaring so Annie gave her the biggest smile she could muster. Picking up the heavy box with the photos the bu
tterflies in her stomach began to flutter again. Normally such an easygoing person the last few days were turning her into a nervous wreck.
Opening the first book she was greeted by photos of the house in all its splendor: it was breathtaking, it looked just as she had imagined it. The house was filled with fine art and beautifully crafted furniture. The worn sepia photographs would never do it justice but she took her time and studied each picture. Eventually she reached the last page and the schoolroom she had been in yesterday leapt out of the page at her: it was just the same: the books, the desks, everything. A chill spread over her as a voice whispered in her ear, ‘I’m coming to get you ready or not.’
A different voice broke her trance. ‘Are you OK?’
She looked up to see Declan standing over her, his face etched with concern. ‘Oh yes, thanks, sorry I was just daydreaming.’
He winked at her. ‘Hilda sent me over. She thought you were going to faint.’
He left her to it and she closed the book, placing it back in the box on top of the other one containing the family photos. She was terrified to look at them. She didn’t want to know if Edward looked like the scary, young man with the black eyes from her dreams. Or Alice, what if she looked like her, then what? Replacing the lid on the box she pulled the other box to her. It contained bundles of letters and a red leather ledger. She picked up a letter and began to read. Edward was telling his mum how much he missed her and Cook’s homemade cakes and all about his new school. It felt wrong that someone’s private letters should be available for the public to read. Almost as wrong as reading someone’s private diary, Annie? She would hate it for her personal stuff to be put on display, not that she had anything worth reading, but the thought still made her feel uncomfortable. The Edward who had written these letters seemed like a caring, loving young man. She placed them back and lifted out the ledger.
Written in a column down the first page was a list of staff names. They were all there: Alice, Harold, Alfie, Millie, Thomas and a few more she hadn’t heard of. Annie placed the book back into the box and stood up. She had seen enough evidence to prove to her the diary was not some fake. Everything in it was verified by the pictures and documents in front of her. She just wasn’t sure what it all meant or exactly what she had become involved in.