by Anita Waller
‘Ray? You found that bike?’
‘Not yet, Hannah, we’ve got everybody out looking.’
‘There’s a bag attached to the back of the saddle. Should be her purse and her phone in it. We need them, Ray.’
‘Understood.’ He disconnected.
Luke picked up the carrier bag of paperwork to be returned to Debbie Carter, and held the door open for Kat to go through.
The snow had almost gone, and Kat hoped the weak rays of sunshine filtering through the clouds would be enough to get rid of the last of it.
‘Thank you, Luke,’ she said, and clicked her car keys. She waited for him to fasten his seat belt, and fired up the engine.
‘This is nice,’ he said appreciatively. ‘Bit bigger than mine.’
‘This isn’t the sort of car you start off with,’ she grinned. ‘You work towards this. And I need one this size because of the stuff that goes with Martha whenever we go out. You’ve not got that problem yet.’
‘So if I have a baby, I get a car like this,’ he mused. ‘That’s worth thinking about.’
‘Then think about the sleepless nights, the constant feeding, being tied to the house because it’s too much trouble to go out, and stick with your little Peugeot.’
Luke thought for a moment. ‘I’ll maybe buy it some new seat covers,’ he said with a laugh. ‘This is a really nice car though.’
They put the car on Kat’s driveway and walked to Debbie’s house.
She opened the door immediately.
Luke handed her the carrier bag and Kat spoke. ‘Thank you for these, Debbie, we’ve copied everything, and are working our way through all of it. Mouse and Nan have their heads stuck in their computers as we speak.’
‘Good. I have no idea if they’ll be able to track Danny down, ten years is such a long time, but I’m keeping everything crossed that they can. Danny was the reason I had Bridie. He was such a lovely child, no trouble at all, and he turned me maternal,’ Debbie said with a laugh. ‘I desperately want to know he’s okay, that he had a good life with Adam. It’s what everybody thought, you know. Nobody believed we were looking for bodies, we all guessed Adam had taken him.’
Debbie led them through to the kitchen, a familiar room to Kat who had shared quite a few moments with Debbie over the past five years or so. Not close friends, but friends.
‘Coffee?’ she said, holding up the jug. They nodded, and Debbie poured out the drinks.
‘Okay,’ she said, finally sitting down with them. ‘What can I help you with?’
‘Tell us about Adam Armstrong,’ Kat said.
A smile flashed briefly across Debbie’s face. ‘He was one of the nicest people you could ever meet. As you know, Nicola and I are – were – very close in age, less than two years between us. This meant that we were in the same school for quite some time in our teenage years. During that time the school had some big anniversary. I think it was a hundred or something. Anyway, they took all the pupils on coaches to Chester to celebrate, to the zoo.’
She paused briefly to enjoy the memories. ‘I’ve always been a little nervous of anything like that, so I stuck with Nicola’s group. Everybody was fine with it, except Nic of course. No street cred in having the kid sister hanging around, I suppose. Adam seemed to sense the problem, and he stayed with me for most of the day. We had a picnic lunch, and he sat on the grass with me, and when we had our photo taken, he was with me on that. Would you like to see it?’
‘You still have it?’
‘It’s in a drawer, I don’t have it on display or anything, but it was a memorable day, not least because I got a good hiding from Nicola afterwards.’
She moved into the lounge, returning with a dog-eared large photo. She handed it to Kat, who studied it.
‘This is you and Adam on the grass? And that is Nicola?’
‘How on earth did you know that?’ Debbie was surprised.
‘She’s glaring at the two of you.’
Debbie laughed. ‘Yeah, I suppose it does give her away. I wrote all the names on the back as soon as we got the photos. Her photo was different; she was with a group of girls from her class. I don’t know if she still has it, but I’ll always treasure mine.’
Kat studied the picture carefully. There were six boys and four girls in total. ‘You didn’t send this down to us with the other documents?’
‘No. It’s a picture from the pre-Adam and Nicola days. Adam didn’t even like her at this stage, he told me I was so much nicer than my sister. Unfortunately for Adam, Nicola decided she wanted him, and she set out to get him. On their wedding day he jokingly said to me that he hoped he’d picked the right sister.’ Debbie hesitated for a moment, lost in her memories. ‘It was at their wedding that I met Rob. A bad wedding all round really.’
The baby monitor burst into life and Debbie stood. ‘Excuse me a minute. I’ll just go and get Charlie.’
She left the kitchen and Kat took out her phone. She snapped both sides of the photograph, counted the names and bodies on the picture. They tallied, and the written names were annotated as top row, middle row and grass. She put her phone away as Debbie returned carrying her little boy.
‘Sorry about this, he doesn’t sleep for very long in the morning. So, what else can I tell you?’ She stared thoughtfully into the distance.
‘At first they seemed happy enough, and during this time, right at the beginning, Adam’s dad died. He received a pretty hefty inheritance, and they were starting to look round for a new home when my mum died. The house in Baslow was left to Nic, me and Simon, to be shared equally. Nic and Adam proposed they have it valued, and buy Simon and I out, so they could keep the house. We agreed. That’s how I could afford to live at Eyam. Simon stayed where he was, and presumably still has his share. The family home then became jointly owned by Adam and Nicola.’
‘And when did things change?’
‘I saw Adam with a slash down his arm that was very angry looking, and I said it looked infected and he should see a doctor. He said he’d fallen on some broken glass. Anyway, he did see a doctor, and all was well in the end. But one day I asked Nic how his arm was, and she flared up, had a proper go at me and said he’d obviously told me how she’d slashed him with a knife.’
‘That was the first time you became aware of her temper?’
‘Not really. She’d always been quite violent towards me, and occasionally Simon. I honestly was shocked that she would have attacked Adam though. He was, is, such a nice bloke. I’m praying you find him, Kat. I would hate to think he was dead.’
‘And Danny?’
‘Her pregnancy seemed to quieten her down, and some of the love came back into the relationship. They set up the nursery, shopped together for everything they would need, and I think it was the best time in their marriage, because as soon as she had the baby, she changed back to the screaming harridan she was before she got pregnant. At first, Adam said it was her hormones, but pregnancy hormones don’t last five years. He constantly made excuses for her nastiness, and then one day I put my arms around him when he was really upset. He yelled out in pain, and I made him take off his shirt. That photo in the paperwork is what I saw. In real life it looked much worse than on the picture. She’d gone for him with that blessed baseball bat she keeps in the hall behind the front door.’
‘And the picture of the little boy with the cast on his arm?’
‘Danny.’ There was a long pause. ‘My lovely Danny. He was just five and she knocked him down the stairs because he said he wanted to go out with his daddy. It was obviously the end, because two days later they disappeared. I… I encouraged it. I told him he couldn’t stay with her, that Danny was at risk, that he was at risk. He simply nodded. He said nothing about any plans, and even now I don’t know whether he left or whether…’ There was a choking sound in the back of Debbie’s throat. ‘Or whether she killed them and hid their bodies somewhere. I always thought he would have contacted me at some point. He knew how I felt, and we used to jok
e about me being Team Adam, and not Team Nicola.’
The tension in the air was palpable, and all three of them sat back in their chairs and allowed their minds to settle.
‘You really think they’re dead?’ Luke opened his mouth for the first time, unable to exit the story.
Debbie turned to him and smiled through her tears. ‘No I don’t, Luke. I’ve never thought they were dead. And I need them both to know that they can come home, finally. I need Connection to find them for me, and tell them they’re safe.’
16
Doris and Mouse listened intently to the recording of the interview with Debbie Carter, while Luke and Kat made additional notes to the thoughts they had already garnered from the morning’s work.
Luke had spent the journey back to the office apologising for speaking out, but Kat had said it was the right thing to do, and what he had said was exactly what was needed. It had clarified the whole conversation.
On their return, he had taken Kat’s phone from her and printed off four copies of the photograph showing the school friends at Chester Zoo, along with the names from the reverse side.
Once the recording had ended, they each pulled a photo towards them and studied it.
After a while, Kat sat back in her seat. ‘Thoughts?’
‘Plenty,’ Mouse said. ‘It seems to me that there was something between Adam Armstrong and Debbie. Look at the way she is with him. And his hand is over the top of hers. But it’s equally clear that Nicola isn’t happy about it. Her eyes are on both of them, rather than turned towards the camera and laughing like the rest of the group. I wonder what it was that made him choose Nicola. I know Nicola was the same age as him, they were in the same year, but Debbie was only two years younger. This is something we need to ask Debbie about.’
Doris picked up the list of names, and pursed her lips. ‘I know this is just a thought, and it’s off the top of my head, but if you needed to escape, as Adam and Danny did, how would you do it? You’d have to have somewhere to go, for a start, because you can’t sleep on a beach somewhere with a five-year-old in tow, and I’m guessing there would have to be an instant name change for both of them. And with that comes documents like birth certificates, passports, a driving licence. Plans would have been made, and I suspect he would have turned to a friend. Possibly an old school friend.’ She tapped on the names in front of her. ‘Instead of this being cherchez la femme, it could be cherchez l’ami. I think Mouse and I need to take these names apart, follow them as deep as we can, and see if there’s anything that makes us stop and think. Seriously stop and think.’
Mouse pulled the names towards her. ‘Okay. Six boys and four girls. We can take out Debbie, Nicola and Adam. That leaves us with seven. Nan, will you take four of them, and I’ll take the other three? I’ve some work to do for Manchester before I can tackle this.’
Doris looked down at the names. ‘Okay. I’ll go with the first four on the top row, the ones who are standing, then if you take the middle row with the two girls, and the last boy on the end of the top row. That means you get Zak Garside, Susie Long, and Wendy Thompson. Can you manage them?’
‘I can. Thanks, Nan. We need to keep our bread and butter sweet, as well as our other clients.’
‘Joel’s bread and butter, is he?’ Doris laughed. ‘I’d got him down as being pure chocolate doughnuts. So that leaves me with Mark Brogan, Barry Earnshaw, Ethan King and Kenny Wilkinson. Agreed, everybody?’
Luke finished his note taking, and nodded. ‘I’ve written everything down. I’ll type it up and let you all have copies. Can I do anything to help on the search side, Mrs Lester?’
Doris shook her head. ‘Not on deep searches, Luke. I’d hate to see you locked up.’
Luke grinned at her. ‘Okay. I’ll stick with Kat. But if you ever need to know the codes for the nuclear missiles, just ask me.’ He gathered up the cups and went to refill them from the freshly brewed coffee.
‘You believe him?’ Mouse asked, pulling her laptop towards her.
‘Every word,’ Doris said.
‘And I definitely do,’ Kat joined in. ‘He even managed to print that photo off my phone! How do you do that without breaking the printer?’
The doorbell went and Luke jumped. He’d been immersed in the course he was taking; his ladies were quiet, and he thought he could complete part two easily. He pressed the door release, and Hannah came through.
‘Anybody in?’
‘Me,’ he smiled.
‘I can see that, numpty. Any ladies in?’
‘All of them at the moment. Which one would you like.’
‘Kat. She busy?’
‘Let me check. She might be asleep. I understand Martha wanted to play at two this morning.’
He knocked on Kat’s door and opened it slightly. ’You asleep, Kat?’ He laughed.
‘I would be if I didn’t have cheeky brats opening my office door. Problem?’
‘No. DS Granger is here.’
‘Hannah? Send her through.’
‘I’ve only come for a coffee,’ Hannah called.
‘Then you’re very welcome,’ Kat called back to her, and waited for Hannah to close the door before saying anything further.
Luke went back to his computer, and his legal section about surveillance.
Kat leaned back in her chair. ‘Something wrong?’
‘Lots at the moment.’ Hannah cradled the mug of coffee, staring thoughtfully into the outer regions of space. ‘I needed time out. Sometimes Tessa does that, and now I know why.’
‘Seems strange to see you without her.’
‘I know. I’m doing her job for a couple of days, she’s so poorly. Chest infection, I think. She’s no voice, can’t breathe, and she’s got this cough that is just about finishing her off. As a result I had to do a death notification which has left me feeling… wiped out.’
‘The second death at Chatsworth?’
‘Yes. She was only twenty-one, Kat. Lovely girl. Harry Hardy, who found Nicola Armstrong’s body, also found this one. He was showing a rep around the glasshouses and she was lying on the floor.’
‘There’s a connection, isn’t there? It’s linked to Nicola’s death, and it’s not just that the same man found them both.’
‘You’re right.’ Hannah sighed. ‘Same line used to strangle them. The cut ends of both pieces are a perfect match. But other than their deaths, I’m damned if I can see a link between the two women. They simply didn’t know each other. Nicola lived at Baslow, Olivia at Bakewell. Olivia is a generation away from Nicola, she still lived at home with her mum and dad. Telling them was really hard, as I’m sure you realise. Her dad has MS and is in a wheelchair, so her mum has enough on her plate with that. It’s been a shitty couple of days, so I thought I’d take half an hour out and come here for some lunch.’
‘You want me to ask Luke to fetch you a sandwich?’
Hannah waved a hand. ‘No, course not. I don’t actually want food; I just want the concept of a lunch hour today. I’ll settle for a ginger biscuit to dunk in my coffee though. That’s proper comfort eating.’
Kat smiled at her. She looked drained. Normally it would be Tessa sitting there looking out of sorts, but Hannah appeared to have shouldered Tessa’s worries for the duration of a chest infection.
The biscuits were produced, and both dunked in unison. ‘Luke and I went to see Debbie Carter earlier. You know she’s employed us to find her nephew? And his dad, of course, but I think really it’s all about Danny. We’re being careful not to tread on police toes.’
‘Luke’s doing okay?’
‘Better than we could have hoped. He’s totally embraced the job, he’s bright, willing to tackle anything, and polite. He didn’t say a word when we interviewed Debbie, and we were there for about an hour. Right at the end a question burst out of him, but he listened and learned for the most part.’
‘And what did he ask?’
‘If she thought they were dead.’
‘Mmm. So
she’d been ambiguous about it?’
‘She certainly hadn’t come down on any side, that’s for sure,’ Kat conceded. ‘But Luke’s timely question, right at the end of the interview, made her smile, and she said she didn’t believe they were dead.’
‘And you? Do you have feelings on it?’ Hannah was curious; she was aware of the regard Doris and Mouse held for Kat, always saying she was the brains, the thinker in the group, and usually correct.
‘I believe they’re alive. The timeline says they are. It seems Nicola was an abuser, and not only of her husband and child. She was pretty nasty to Debbie in their younger years. Danny’s broken arm happened after he “fell” down the stairs, and I think it was the push Adam needed, no pun intended. He’d been building up to it in various ways that included stockpiling money, so he went, and removed Danny from the danger that was his mother. If this didn’t happen, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Nicola killed them. I’m sure she was capable of it. But sooner or later, bodies tend to be found, and they never have been, so it’s another reason for believing they’re still alive. Where they are is another matter altogether. But we’re on it.’
‘Really? Already?’
Kat tapped the side of her nose. ‘Early days, Hannah, early days. But I promise if anything is thrown up that will help you with Nicola’s murder, we’ll pass it straight on to you, you know we will.’
The ginger biscuit box was looking depleted, so they had a second cup of coffee and continued dunking.
Luke was scrolling through what he had written when Hannah walked out of Kat’s office. He stood immediately, and waited while she closed Kat’s door before he headed towards the shop door to open it for her.
‘I’m hearing good things about you,’ Hannah said with a smile. ‘Getting qualifications, studying at home as well as at work – you’ve landed on your feet here. I’m pleased for you, Luke. I’ve known these ladies for a couple of years now and like to think I know them well. They’ll look after you, and if there’s one piece of advice I could give you, it’s don’t ever underestimate their intelligence. At times it’s scary.’