Alice Teale is Missing

by H. A. Linskey

  He gave Ricky a look that conveyed his disbelief. ‘In all the time she worked here, you never exchanged a word, not one?’

  ‘I might have said, “Alice, can you get me a few clean pint pots?” or “Alice, can you wipe those tables down for me, pet?”’

  ‘And that was it?’

  ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘She meant nothing to you?’

  His eyes narrowed then, as if Black were trying to trap him. ‘I didn’t say she meant nothing to me. Christ, I hope you find her, and she presumably means something to someone.’

  ‘Just not to you?’

  ‘I didn’t really have an opinion about her.’

  ‘That’s funny. I thought you did,’ said Black. ‘You didn’t want her, then?’

  Black watched him closely to see if the comment hit home. It did.

  ‘What?’ he managed.

  ‘I thought you wanted Alice Teale.’

  ‘Why would you think that?’ The words came out in a rush.

  ‘Because you said so,’ said Black reasonably. ‘To her, regularly.’

  ‘When you were asking her out,’ Beth reminded him, ‘which you kept doing, even though she turned you down, because she already had a boyfriend.’

  ‘Who said that?’

  ‘Alice did,’ said Black. ‘Indirectly. She told her friends, and they told us.’

  ‘That was just a bit of a laugh.’

  ‘Was it?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘So, you didn’t actually want her to go out with you at all?’

  ‘I asked her out, sure, but she’s a bonny lass.’ He shrugged, as if to imply that he asked out every pretty girl he met, and maybe he did.

  ‘Then why did you tell us you barely spoke to her?’ asked Beth.

  Ricky’s eyes darted from Beth to Black, as if he were weighing them both up. ‘I didn’t want to get in any trouble.’

  ‘Why would admitting you asked a girl out get you into trouble, Ricky?’ asked Black. ‘If you’d told us the truth, you’d have been fine, but you just lied to police officers, which makes me worry.’

  Ricky opened his mouth to answer but, before he could, one of his customers tapped a pound coin on the bar to attract his attention. He was holding his empty pint glass expectantly. ‘You know which pump it is,’ snapped Ricky. ‘Help yourself and leave the money on the bar. Can’t you see I’m helping the police?’

  ‘Helping them, are you?’ the old man replied archly as he went behind the bar. ‘That’s nice of you.’

  Ricky looked angry then, but he turned away from the old man just as Beth asked, ‘Why did you keep on at her, Ricky, when she’d made it clear she didn’t want to know?’

  ‘She might have said no,’ he explained, ‘but I could tell she was interested.’

  ‘So, “no” doesn’t always mean “no”, then?’ asked Beth.

  ‘Yes,’ he said quickly. ‘No, that’s not what I meant. “No” does mean “no” but I didn’t think she was all that into her boyfriend.’

  ‘How do you know?’ asked Black.

  ‘I could tell she was keen on me,’ he said. ‘At least, I thought she was.’

  ‘There you go again, Ricky,’ said Black, ‘not taking no for an answer. That’s what people have been saying about you.’

  ‘Which people?’

  ‘Never you mind.’

  ‘I haven’t done anything,’ he protested.

  ‘You sure about that?’ asked Black. ‘You don’t sound like someone who takes rejection too well.’

  ‘She didn’t reject me, she just wasn’t interested right there and then, and I had a bit of competition, didn’t I?’

  ‘Her boyfriend?’ asked Beth.

  ‘Not him.’

  ‘Who, then?’ demanded Black.

  He didn’t answer at first, then he finally settled on: ‘Lots of people.’

  ‘So, lots of people wanted to go out with her,’ Beth confirmed, ‘but was she seeing someone else?’

  He looked quickly round the room and lowered his voice to ensure he wasn’t overheard.

  ‘Maybe. I don’t know.’

  ‘Or are you just saying that because it was really you, Ricky?’ asked Black.

  ‘No.’ He shook his head.

  ‘You said she was interested,’ Beth reminded him, ‘and you kept on asking her.’

  ‘I thought she was,’ he said. ‘At first.’

  ‘You ever go back to her house?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘So you’ve never been in her bedroom?’ Beth persisted.

  ‘How could I, if I’ve never been to her house?’ he protested.

  ‘It’s a small town, Ricky,’ said Black. ‘People talk, especially in bars. If she was seeing another guy, you might have heard something.’

  ‘Yeah, if she was seeing another guy.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘You know something,’ Black told him. ‘I know you do.’

  For a moment it looked as if he was about to weaken, and Beth waited for him to reveal something, but he seemed reluctant to say it out loud in the bar. When he finally spoke his voice was low but firm. ‘I don’t know anything about it, all right?’ Then he clammed up.

  To Beth’s surprise, Black actually smiled at the barman then. ‘Okay, Ricky,’ he said. ‘But if we find out you’re lying, we’re going to be straight back round here looking for you.’

  It was darker outside when they were finally finished with Ricky, the whole of Collemby made greyer thanks to a covering of black clouds. Rain made the pavements shine.

  ‘Looks like our sunny days are finally over,’ said Beth.

  ‘Let’s try the Dirty Donkey,’ said Black. ‘Hopefully, Sophie Mayhew will be there by now and we can talk to her at the scene of the crime, so to speak.’ He meant the drink that had been thrown into her face by Alice Teale’s brother, and, though they were obviously focusing on that, it was the rumours involving Daniel and Alice and what light Sophie could shed on these that were of most interest to them. Beth didn’t know what to think. It still seemed far-fetched, but hadn’t Ricky just said that he had ‘competition’ for Alice, and not just from her boyfriend?

  They crossed the car park towards the pub and Beth said, ‘Is this really the best way to interview someone?’

  ‘You get more out of people in an informal environment,’ Black told her. ‘They let their guard down in pubs and talk to you like a normal person. If you haul them to the station for questioning under caution, they get apprehensive and clam up. Also, solicitors complicate matters.’ As if anticipating her fears, he said, ‘We’re not really questioning Sophie about the disappearance of Alice Teale, just asking her about the incident with Daniel so we can learn a bit more about him.’

  ‘But’ she began hesitantly, ‘in front of her friends?’

  ‘I especially want her friends to be there.’ But he didn’t tell her why. ‘Come on. I’m buying.’

  ‘Wait, aren’t we on duty?’

  ‘At this hour? We’re just going for a drink and having a chat with the locals, if anyone asks.’

  21

  The Black Stallion was always busy on a Friday night. You could tell by the number of bar staff and how used they were to calmly serving large numbers of people.

  Beth and Black ordered drinks and, while they waited for them, Beth scanned the room for Sophie. She’d checked her pictures on Instagram and knew what the girl looked like. Sophie wore a lot of black clothing and dark eye make-up. She was one of those unsmiling young girls who looked almost permanently defiant.

  ‘She’s not here yet,’ Beth told him.

  ‘Let’s hope this isn’t the one night of the year she chooses not to show.’

  ‘Worst-case scenario – you’ve got a pint in your hand and intelligent company.’

  He pretended to look around. ‘Where?’

  ‘That was very nearly a joke.’

  At that point, an older member of the
bar staff walked by. He saw Black and said, ‘All right?’, like he knew the detective. When he was gone, Beth gave Black a quizzical look, but he just shrugged, as if he didn’t know why the man had bothered to greet him.

  Beth noticed something then. ‘I think those might be her mates,’ she said, jerking her head slightly to the far corner of the bar. They certainly looked familiar, from what she had seen of Sophie’s social media pics, which had a number of group shots.

  ‘Great. They’re here, and she isn’t.’

  They took a table at the other end of the room which gave them a view of the far corner, where Sophie’s friends had congregated.

  ‘Did that bloke know you?’ she asked.

  He shook his head then immediately changed the subject. ‘Doesn’t it bother you, being out in Collemby on a Friday night? Haven’t you got a million better things to do?’

  It was her turn to evade the question. ‘I don’t have a family either,’ she said, ‘and I also want to find Alice.’

  He took another sip, then said, ‘Yeah, well, don’t want it too much.’ Was he warning her not to be too devastated if the girl turned up dead?

  Black looked at his watch again so she said, ‘Second time you’ve done that. Got a hot date?’

  ‘No,’ he said quickly. ‘I promised a friend I’d drop something off for him.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘But I can do that afterwards.’ Then, to Beth’s amazement, he said, ‘You can come if you like. There’ll be food.’

  Beth hesitated. Normally, she would have welcomed the opportunity to break down the barrier of formality between her and a new colleague, but she felt uncomfortable at the thought of eating with someone who had gunned down a civilian.

  ‘Well,’ Beth said, after a pause that she belatedly realized was far too lengthy, ‘I do like food.’

  They had nearly finished their drinks when the rear door of the pub opened and a girl with a Goth look about her walked in and was greeted by the group of mates in the corner. One of them let her take his seat and he went to the bar to get her a drink. Beth and Black got up and walked over. They introduced themselves to Sophie and the group of girls and boys sipping cider and beer. Beth thought they might not want to talk to two detectives about Alice’s disappearance, but it seemed it was the only topic of conversation, judging by the animated way they asked questions or offered up theories they’d heard, most of which seemed little more than wild rumour.

  ‘Is it true she was pregnant?’ asked one of the girls, and Beth wondered if there was any substance to her question.

  ‘Not that we’re aware of,’ she told the girl. ‘Where did you hear that?’

  ‘Oh, just around.’ The girl seemed to shrink into her seat then, as if she were worried they thought she knew something they didn’t.

  It took a while for them to settle down and listen to Beth. She noticed how Black hung back and let her do most of the talking. Did he think a young woman would be more likely to get some answers from these kids than a burly man in middle age?

  Beth asked if they had noticed anything strange or out of the ordinary in Alice’s life. That was enough to get the reaction she was looking for.

  ‘You should start with her brother,’ said the girl who had asked if Alice was pregnant. The way she said it made it clear she felt there was something very wrong with him.

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘He’s not right, is he? In the head, I mean.’

  Beth noticed one of the girl’s friends look down then, and another looked away, as if they either didn’t agree with that assessment or thought it a harsh one under the circumstances; his sister was missing, after all. ‘What makes you say that?’ she asked.

  ‘He threw a drink in my friend’s face.’ She jerked her head at Sophie.

  ‘Where was this?’ asked Beth, as if she didn’t know already.

  ‘Here,’ confirmed Sophie.

  ‘When?’

  ‘A couple of weeks back.’

  Beth nodded slowly. ‘So he threw a drink at you’ – the girl nodded – ‘for no reason?’

  She looked sheepish. ‘He thought he had a reason, but he didn’t, not really.’ Some of the fire seemed to have gone out of her already.

  ‘What reason did he think he had?’

  ‘Said I’d been talking about him behind his back, and I never.’

  ‘He was wrong about that, then?’ Beth wasn’t expecting her to admit it. ‘What did he think you’d been saying?’

  ‘Stuff about him and his sister.’

  ‘What kind of stuff?’

  ‘That they were creepy together and not like a normal brother and sister.’

  ‘I see,’ said Beth. ‘And were they creepy together?’

  Before Sophie could answer, the other girl cut in to back up her friend. ‘They were always hugging and touching each other, if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘They were tactile?’ asked Beth.

  ‘Yeah, but it was more than that, and they told each other everything.’ She snorted. ‘I don’t tell my brother anything,’ she said, but no one laughed. The others were looking everywhere but at her, Sophie or the two detectives. There was an absence of solidarity here now. Beth could feel it.

  ‘They didn’t have a normal brother–sister relationship, then?’ asked Beth, her tone neutral.

  ‘It didn’t look normal,’ Sophie mumbled.

  ‘Sorry?’ Beth was deliberately challenging the girl to say it clearly.

  ‘It didn’t look normal,’ she almost shouted.

  ‘Did anyone else think that?’ Beth glanced at the other teenagers, but no one looked back at her. Sophie quickly interjected.

  ‘Lots of people.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  She shrugged. ‘People talk. We all did, about them.’

  ‘Oh, so you did talk about him and his sister, then? Just now, you said you didn’t.’

  She folded her arms defensively. ‘I meant, I wasn’t the only one.’

  ‘But he heard you were one of the people talking about him and Alice,’ said Beth, and Sophie didn’t contradict this. ‘You’d been saying that his relationship with his sister wasn’t a normal one … meaning it was sexual.’

  ‘I never said that!’ Sophie looked panicked.

  ‘You didn’t have to. You said it wasn’t normal. You were implying they had an unnatural relationship. Strongly implying it, in fact.’

  ‘I never said …’ she began, and her eyes darted from right to left, looking for support, but none came, not even from the girl who’d interrupted before. ‘I never meant that.’

  ‘What was this rumour doing the rounds about them, then? Specifically, I mean.’

  ‘What rumour?’ Everyone’s eyes were averted now, so Beth knew they understood that there was a specific story about the Teale siblings.

  ‘Gossip everyone heard that made people believe there was something not quite right about Alice and Daniel? A couple of public hugs and a few shared confidences wouldn’t lead anyone to believe they were more than just close. It was something else. I can easily find out, so you might as well tell me.’

  Sophie looked towards her friends, but no one gave her any clues as to the wisdom of telling Beth the truth or not, so she began tentatively. ‘Well, the story was that Alice caught him.’ And she looked as if she didn’t want to go on.

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘She came home early one day and he was alone in his room.’ The girl who had been sticking up for Sophie actually let out a gasp, then, that was part nervous laughter, part embarrassment. Beth ignored her.

  ‘What was he doing in his room?’

  ‘I think you can guess.’ She rolled her eyes in a knowing, jaded way.

  ‘You’re implying he was masturbating and Alice walked in on him. That would be embarrassing for them both, but it doesn’t mean anything.’

  ‘Yeah, but …’

  ‘What? Come on, Sophie, out with it. You’ve obviously discussed this be
fore with your mates. They all know about it, I can tell, and we don’t embarrass easily.’

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘If you want to hear the truth, she didn’t leave.’

  ‘She stayed in the room?’

  ‘Yeah.’ She sniggered. ‘And she – you know – gave him a hand.’

  A couple of her friends lost control then and began sniggering.

  Until that point, Beth had been trying to keep an open mind regarding the gossip about Alice and Daniel’s unnatural relationship. It sounded messed up, but she supposed it could actually have been true. Sophie’s description of what supposedly happened between them ended those thoughts instantly. ‘Right,’ said Beth dryly. ‘Sounds plausible.’

  Black cut in then, his tone blunt. ‘You saw it, did you?’ he asked Sophie. ‘You were there, too?’

  ‘Eh?’ The girl looked panicked. ‘’Course not.’

  ‘Then how do you know about it?’

  ‘Word got round. Someone told someone and, soon, everyone knew. That’s how we heard.’

  ‘Okay, Sophie, explain this to me, then,’ Black demanded. ‘How did word get round? Who would tell anyone about that, if it actually happened? Would Daniel tell someone? Doubt it. Would Alice mention it to one of her friends? No chance. So, if not them, then who?’ The girl did not answer. ‘Was it you? I think it was.’

  ‘It wasn’t me,’ said Sophie, but she looked incredibly guilty. It hadn’t taken long for Black to completely undermine her. A few well-chosen questions from an experienced interrogator and Sophie Mayhew’s credibility was hanging by a thread.

  Beth knew just what to ask the girl next. ‘What happened on New Year’s Eve, Sophie?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You went off with Daniel, didn’t you?’

  ‘No, I never –’

  ‘Yes, you did,’ said one of her friends, almost without thinking, and turned to Beth. ‘They were gone for ages.’

  ‘You really wanted him,’ said Beth. ‘That’s what we were told.’

  She didn’t deny it. ‘Yeah, well, I thought he was cool, but that was before I knew how weird he was.’

  ‘You mean, on New Year’s Eve, he told you that little story about his sister?’

  ‘’Course not!’

  ‘So how did you know he was weird?’