by Carla Kovach
A call from the station had alerted Frank that his secret was out and that we were officially now in danger. As if driving by once or twice an hour could offer any protection and, if Frank was guilty of a murder, did we deserve any? Then there was the reply on my phone from Lara. The rage in Frank’s face when he read it had told me everything. Lara had seen the link on Twitter too. Her reply made me shiver as much as it hurt me.
You people sicken me. Murderers! We need to take action.
Maybe it’s good that Frank took my phone from me. Seeing those comments now would make everything worse. I shake my head. Frank is not a good person but he can’t be a murderer, which is why I lied. I need him. But now he’s gone, leaving me alone, once again friendless and stuck like this, I wonder how well I really know him.
A car engine starts and I know it’s our car. Frank is going somewhere and leaving me to deal with all the trouble that is coming our way, just like he did before. I don’t know where he’s going or when he’s coming back. Soon, there will be bricks through the window, red paint on the door, hate, chanting and shouting; and I’ll be alone. I’m so confused. My heart pounds and a sick feeling hits me.
When Frank saw Jim’s tweet, his face had tensed up. His stark-eyed stare and the spittle coming through his seething teeth made me cower. Our secret past was out for all to see and the mob was coming.
Awkwardly, I use my arms to shuffle into a sitting position until my back is against the headboard. No phone, no remote control and no idea of what is going on outside. I’m almost too scared to look but I can’t lie here in ignorance. I lift the curtain and see that there’s no one around; not yet. A young woman from the next row of cottages walks past with her dog, then she stops and stares at our cottage. She hurls an egg at my window as she shouts paedos. I drop the curtain, gasping for breath as I move my head back from the window, too scared to try that again.
I’m trapped, well and truly stuck and if someone attacks the cottage, there is no way I can call for help. Tears spill down my cheeks. My face burns as I clutch the sheet underneath. I’ve never hurt anyone and I’m not a paedo. That word burns through me like no other pain.
I reach over and grab the half empty glass of water from my bedside and throw it at the TV, hoping to shut it up but the glass smashes against the wall just above it. ‘I hate you, Frank,’ I yell. ‘I hate you.’
Twenty-Nine
Caro stared at the new message on her phone for just long enough, then it was gone. Shaking, she went to place a pillow over her head as she tried to drown out her parents arguing in the kitchen. They’d started off quietly but now each time they went for it, the house shook with slamming doors. At first, she had been the one in trouble for storming out of the house earlier. Both her parents had scolded her when she’d returned home but that had been the least of her worries. Someone had been watching her when she left Anthony earlier that day.
She glanced at her digital clock, five to midnight.
‘That bastard could have killed our daughter and what do you do? A big fat nothing. As always, it’s me who takes the action. I will go out there and protect our children from these disgusting vultures.’ Her mother slammed her hand down on the worktop. That’s a sound Caro could easily recognise. It was her mother’s go to temper move.
Another message lit up. She placed the pillow over her ears and lay on her side, staring at the Snapchat message.
I know your secret.
This time the number wasn’t hidden. She knew exactly who had sent that message and she knew why he was terrorising her. But that wasn’t the last message. They kept coming, then disappearing. She managed to snap one of them, preserving it forever.
Soon, everyone will know. You’re dead meat.
Another message. They were coming for her. Caro felt her own knuckles tense through the trembling. That last party was her downfall, the one she can barely remember. The one in which Oscar drugged her and they all did who-knows-what to her. She hoped Anthony was telling the truth about keeping an eye on her but then she remembered Oscar coming into her tent and falling asleep. Where was Anthony then? She released the pillow from her ear and the arguing had stopped. The house was silent. Her father slammed the front door and her mother was now crying in their bedroom. She had to know which secret her so-called friend was referring to and it couldn’t wait. Caro hadn’t hurt anyone or drugged anyone that night. They all did things to her, things that were still buried deep in her subconscious and she was going to get to the bottom of it all. Another message flashed up. This time it was from the unknown contact.
What I said about not talking. I meant it. You’re dead!
Thirty
Tuesday, 3 August
Jacob was already waiting outside Leah Fenmore’s house when Gina pulled up. The morning sun was just coming over the terrace of houses that were built in the late fifties. Gina reversed into the tight space between Jacob’s car and the car in front and a woman opened the door and left. Gina recognised her instantly, it was Ellyn, the family liaison officer.
‘Any updates?’ Gina asked as she got out of her car and stepped onto the path.
Ellyn shrugged, her loose bun bobbing on the top of her head. ‘I arrived about half an hour ago but they’ve just asked me to leave. They want to be alone. I sense there’s a lot of tension between them but that’s nothing unusual when a couple have lost a child. Various members of the family have popped by and so have friends. Nothing out of the ordinary to report on that front.’
Gina walked a little way from the house and the FLO followed. ‘Can you fill me in on how things were yesterday? I would have come earlier to speak to Leah’s parents but there have been so many leads to follow up on that we’ve barely been able to touch base.’
‘That sounds promising, about the leads.’
‘I wish. Dead ends mostly, which is why we’re going over initial statements. We have a possible person of interest but he appears to have an alibi but that’s it. I also know the kids have been holding something back about their party nights and I aim to find out what that is. It could very well be the information we need to break it and I don’t trust any of them. They are still firmly in the frame. So, what are your thoughts after spending a couple of days with the Fenmores?’
Jacob finished tapping on his phone and joined them.
Ellyn let her hair down, re-twisted it and clipped it back up into an even messier bun. A few stray brown hairs stuck to her T-shirt. ‘Parents are distraught. Leah was their only child and from what they’re saying, they had no idea that she’d been to any party, ever. They seem fairly strict. Leah told them that she was staying at Naomi’s house and they believed her.’
‘Ooh, trusting. I know first-hand how convincing teenagers can be. Been there and got the T-shirt.’ Hannah had lied to her on many occasions when she was in her teens. There were times she’d sneaked into nightclubs while underage, gone to drinking parties in the great outdoors – similar to what Leah had attended – and then there were the pubs and the boys. The deceit and the need for independence was all part of growing up but then most teens didn’t end up murdered and their parents don’t always find out what they were up to.
‘Yes, that’s for sure.’ Ellyn smiled. ‘I did pretty much the same. Different party every weekend and I looked like butter wouldn’t melt. My parents are still clueless as to all that I got up to and I’m thirty. As for Leah’s parents, they hate her friends, thinking that most of them were a bad influence on her, particularly Oscar. Leah got caught shoplifting but the Fenmores seem convinced that Oscar put her up to it. They don’t seem to like Naomi, Elsa, or Jordan. Over the past year, Leah’s academic performance suffered a little and the Fenmores think it’s because of this group of friends. They say she was set for grade As but now it’s Bs and Cs.’
‘That’s great to know. It gives me a starting point. How about them? Anything not stacking up?’
The FLO shook her head. ‘I’ll update the system in a short while. You’
ve probably read their initial statement. They were at a dinner party in Bromsgrove with friends and they were there until about two in the morning, drinking. The taxi company confirmed their drop-off time, which was approximately two thirty. Mrs Fenmore was paralytic from what the taxi driver said and Mr Fenmore was also in a state. Apparently he had to help them to the door. Their alibis were tight.’
‘Thank you for that. No opportunity and no motive. I suppose we best go in and I’ll check out your updates later.’ Ellyn waved at them as she got into her old red Fiesta and drove off.
Jacob knocked on the door and a few seconds later, a woman answered. Her tangled brown hair was twisted into an elastic band. She looked up at Gina through her red-ringed green eyes. ‘Mrs Fenmore? I’m DI Harte and this is DS Driscoll. We’re so sorry about what happened to your daughter. Could we please come in and talk to you? It would be good for our investigation if we got to know a little more about Leah.’
The woman nodded and let the door creak open. It led straight into a tiny dark lounge with a fireplace on the main wall. She followed Mrs Fenmore into a small windowless dining room with stairs behind the table. ‘Take a seat.’
The stairs creaked and Mr Fenmore appeared, his gingery beard covering his whole chin. ‘Have you found the person who killed my daughter?’ His broad Scottish accent boomed through the room.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Fenmore, but we’re still investigating.’
‘I heard that you had someone in custody. Don’t tell me you let him go?’
‘We can conclusively say that it wasn’t him.’
Mr Fenmore slammed his fists on the wooden table and the empty fruit bowl bounced, making Gina flinch. ‘What about that disgusting nonce on Oak Tree Walk? The whole town is talking about him. Have you arrested him?’
‘There’s no evidence to suggest—’
‘No evidence. He’s been done for perving on young women. My guess is he was perving on those kids and my Leah was a vulnerable young woman when she left the pack for whatever reason. He saw her and he wanted her. Not just content with filming like he did in the past he decided to attack her. My daughter being my daughter would have fought him like mad so he killed her. You need to arrest that bastard before I kill him!’
Gina stepped back a little. She could see Mrs Fenmore quivering and her eyes were watering up. ‘I know you’re upset but we’re doing all we can, I promise you that.’
‘Bollocks. You’re here talking to us and there’s nothing that we can add that will lead you to our daughter’s killer. Waste of bloody time. Arrest the nonce.’
‘May we sit?’ If Gina could get the couple to sit and stop Mr Fenmore getting even angrier before they’d even spoken, that would help.
He pulled out a chair, scraping it on the tiles beneath and Mrs Fenmore sat beside him. With them all seated, Gina cleared her throat and started again. ‘We’d just like to know a little more about Leah. We feel that knowing Leah a bit better may give us more avenues to investigate and we were hoping that you won’t mind talking to us for a few minutes.’
‘Okay, what do you want to know?’ he asked.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ Mrs Fenmore went to stand but her husband’s hand came out and pulled her back into her seat.
‘Karina, they won’t be here that long. The nice detectives know that there is nothing more we can add and they’re going to hurry up and get the killer, isn’t that right?’
Gina nodded. ‘I promise, it won’t take long. Can you tell us how Leah got on at school?’
Karina Fenmore’s voice cracked as she began to speak. ‘She was so bright and good at sports but I suppose this last year, she hadn’t applied herself as well as we’d hoped. I think that was down to the company she kept.’
‘Can you elaborate on that?’
‘Really? We’ve been through all this with an officer and bloody FLO!’ The man folded his arms and tutted.
‘Hamish, please.’ The man huffed and stopped talking as his wife placed a gentle hand on his arm.
‘Sorry, as you can see, Hamish and I are struggling to cope. We loved her so much, she was everything to us and we’ve lost her. Knowing that she lied to us and put herself in such danger, it came as a shock. Losing her…’ Mrs Fenmore sniffed and blew her nose. ‘It hasn’t sunk in yet. People have brought us food, cards, and family keep calling and it’s hard. Nothing prepares anyone for losing a child. Her friends…’
Gina loosened the buttons at the top of her shirt. The heat was making her slightly light-headed, that and the three coffees she’d had to perk her up before setting off. After not sleeping most of the night, she’d finally nodded off about five in the morning only to have her alarm go off at six.
‘Elsa and Naomi seemed to be nice enough girls but she went out with them at Easter and came back with a lip piercing. I mean, we didn’t even get to talk about it. It was things like that and Leah’s attitude changed. She knew how to push our buttons but she’d only do this when she’d been hanging around with them. There was another girl, Caro. She came by sometimes but not often. A bit of an outsider, she was. Nice, quiet girl. We liked her.’
‘What about the boys?’
‘I don’t know them well. Oscar had been a long-standing friend of Leah’s but they’d had a bit of a falling out not long ago. He was waiting outside on the street when Leah came out with that phone charger from the shop on Cleevesford High Street. I forget the name of the shop. It sells phone cases and things like that.’
‘Came out with?’
‘Shoplifted. You lot called me to come and get her. The man who owned the shop detained her until the police got there, then I was called. Leah said that Oscar had been waiting outside. The worst of it was, the charger she tried to steal wasn’t even for her phone. I know he put her up to it but he speaks like a posh boy and no one thinks that Oscar could be behind something like that, but that boy is trouble, I’m telling you that. Aren’t friends meant to protect each other? If they’d have looked out for her, she’d still be alive. I blame them too. She was in a state and they let her leave, all alone, in the middle of the night.’ Mrs Fenmore sobbed and buried herself in Hamish Fenmore’s chest.
‘I know this is hard but it’s really helping us. Do you know if Leah had a boyfriend?’
‘No way. She would have told me if she was seeing someone.’
Gina knew that she probably wouldn’t have said anything to her parents. ‘May I take a look at her bedroom?’ Gina clenched her hands under the table, hoping that Mrs Fenmore would say yes.
Her husband held her tightly and kissed her head. ‘It’s the first room on the right at the top of the stairs.’
Gina exhaled. They left Mr Fenmore comforting his wife and headed up. Maybe there would be a clue, a diary, something that told her who wanted to kill Leah.
Thirty-One
‘Hurry up, Mildred,’ Gillian called as she started to make her way down the steep stony steps. She could hear the river thrashing below and about halfway down, the most amazing view would appear. Sunken low and surrounded by the wildest of trees, it was a delight to see. Maybe today they would spot some interesting birds. She pushed the overgrown stingers away with her arm and continued down. It was as if nature was closing in on the path and at the same time, concealing its dangers, but Gillian had taken this route many times and knew where it was safe to walk. It didn’t make it any less scary though. One wrong move and she knew she’d be in trouble and with her fall a month ago, she wasn’t about to risk another. Take it slowly, that’s what she’d do.
‘Is this where the spotters saw the kingfisher?’ Mildred undid her cardigan as she took another step.
‘Yes. I’ve got my binoculars and camera ready and I just hope I can get a photo. My new macro lens is the business.’
‘I can’t wait to see the photos but I’m also looking forward to getting back and eating those scones.’ Mildred took one step at a time and Gillian waited for her. She was, after all, waiting for a knee replacement an
d things were tough on her joints.
Gillian felt her vision shimmer a little as she stared down at the uneven steps. Mild vertigo when it came to even the tamest of heights did this to her. With each one she took, a flurry of gravel trickled down onto the next step and beyond. Flinching, she pushed the image of her head hitting the rocks and earth below if she fell. She wasn’t going to fall. As she took the bend, she stared at the view in front of her. A gathering of ducks and moorhens swam downstream and the sunbeams landing on the rippled water was a magical sight. Mildred caught up, laying a hand on Gillian’s arm as she reached her, causing them both to have a little wobble. Only about another thirty of these pesky steps to go. Her legs went a little jelly-like now as the descent got steeper and muddier. With Mildred now holding her arm, getting down was going to be even harder.
Foliage had grown over half of the path and the sections that remained in the shade were mossy and damp. All the easier to slip on.
‘What’s that?’ Mildred squinted and pointed at the base of the steps where a burnt orange hoodie caught her attention.
Gillian stared at it for a moment then carried on walking down the steps. ‘I don’t know, looks like someone lost their clothing.’
‘Looks like more than just clothing to me.’ Mildred’s brow furrowed.
Hurrying, Gillian reached the bottom. Mildred was right. She groaned as she kneeled on the earth below and took the person’s wrist; feeling for a pulse. As a first aider she’d done it many a time. She followed the red dots of blood to the pool beside the rock and her stomach half lurched. She’d never seen a skull crack like that. ‘Call the police. He’s dead.’