The Night She Dies, page 16
‘And do you remember what time you found Lucy?’ he asks, his tone suggesting my efforts haven’t worked.
I think about my frantic journey up Church Road followed by my relieved one back down with my daughter in tow. I stayed on the opposite side of the road to the shops on my way there. Can I risk assuming the cameras didn’t pick me up? Or is continuing to lie pointless now? If they can put Lucy on Keens Lane before 10 p.m., then theoretically she’d have time to kill Amber anyway. ‘Lucy was in the churchyard,’ I say nervously. ‘I don’t know the exact time I found her, but it was around eleven fifteen, or a bit later. We stayed for a while, chatting, before heading home. It’s hard to be certain how long we were there.’
DI Finnemore nods. ‘Of course, I understand.’ He lifts out of the sofa.
‘So that’s everything you need?’ I ask, mirroring his movement.
‘For now, yes. We might need to talk to Lucy again, but it can wait until next week. I’ll let you know.’ He smiles and I return it. Surely he wouldn’t be this nice if he thought Lucy was a killer?
‘How’s the investigation going in general?’ I ask, trying to sound like I’m just making conversation.
‘There’s been some progress,’ he says sagely. ‘I’m doing a press conference in an hour actually, so there’ll be an update on the local news this evening.’
‘Oh?’ I think about Steve’s account of the young mechanic getting hauled off by the police, and Colleen mentioning a boyfriend. ‘Does that mean you have a suspect?’
He looks at me quizzically, and I worry that I’ve gone too far. But then his expression softens. ‘We have somebody in custody, but it’s early days. Now, I must go, otherwise I’ll be late for my own TV show.’
‘Well, good luck,’ I mumble. He nods, then walks through the door and pulls it behind him. I take a long breath.
‘They’ve arrested someone then,’ Matt says, appearing from the kitchen. ‘That’s good news.’
‘Yes,’ I say in a quiet voice, forcing myself to block out the detective’s interest in Lucy and focus on the positive. ‘Do you think we should call tonight off? If they’ve got someone in custody, and are willing to tell the press, they must be pretty confident he did it. And then there would be nothing for Jess to blackmail Lucy over.’ I watch Matt consider my question in his usual way, pitting the pros and cons against each other.
‘No,’ he finally says. ‘Let the girl have her money. Then tomorrow it will all be over.’
Email from DI Finnemore (SIO) to DCI Bishop
Subject: Friday 10th May update
Sir,
You must be all conferenced out by now. Hope you enjoy your few days’ break in Copenhagen with the missus.
We are building a case against Caden Carter – a 17-year-old trainee mechanic from Towersey with a historical conviction for serious assault (at 14 years old). We believe he was the victim’s boyfriend at the time of her murder. We initially picked him up on Tuesday – the kid even had scratch marks on his face – and interviewed him under a caution plus three. He was predictably uncommunicative but did admit to knowing Amber. We got a warrant to search his home, which took place on Wednesday. We found two lip balm tins in his drawer – one with ecstasy pills, and another with hash parcels wrapped in clingfilm. He has no history of either possession or supply, so our working theory is that he stole these from the victim. We also took a number of personal items from his room. I fast-tracked the samples for analysis and the results arrived yesterday.
It gave us all the relevant forensic evidence we needed to arrest him – which took place today – and we’re hopeful the CPS will allow us to proceed to charge. Carter’s DNA was already on NDNAD from his earlier conviction. Both the saliva around the victim’s mouth and the skin cells under her fingernails are a match. Blood found on Carter’s jumper is a DNA match for Amber. Fibres from the jumper were also found at the scene. Carter’s car was picked up passing the railway station car park CCTV camera driving up Hill Road at 22.20. No more cameras past that point, but it is the obvious route to access the nature reserve car park via Hill Top Lane. His car was then picked up making the return journey at 23.31 – plenty of time to commit murder.
Mud in his trainer treads matched that collected from the scene. As Carter also has a history of violence (and in my opinion was lucky to get off with a youth rehabilitation order for his earlier offence), we believe there’s a strong case against him.
BUT forensic report also brought up a few anomalies. Most of the blood on the victim’s clothing was her own, but there were two additional samples found, neither of which are a match for Carter. Forensics extracted a full DNA profile from one – no match found on NDNAD – but only a partial from the other. There is a new test that should give us the full profile, but it’s pricey. I’d like to proceed (Carter’s defence team could have a field day if we can’t explain it) – and am attaching the quote for your sign-off. Also, victim’s blood found on Carter’s clothing was relatively minimal – nowhere close to what we’d expect from major head trauma. Blood spatter team are currently assessing whether this could be explained by him wearing a jacket over (that he later disposed of – although nothing found). Still no sign of the murder weapon. Final pathology report says it’s something with an even narrower circumference than a baseball bat – possibly rounders bat, bicycle pump, iron bar, even tree branch – although no wood splinters or metal fragments found.
Duty solicitor present at Carter’s interview. He began talking when forensic evidence was presented to him. He admitted to having started seeing Amber in the weeks preceding her death – said he believed her to be 16 but no sign of sexual assault anyway – and (eventually) to being with her at the nature reserve on Friday night. He claimed that she’d ignored him earlier in the evening, but then suddenly messaged asking him to meet her at the scene. He explained to us that he’d tried and failed to gate-crash the 18th birthday party in the village, then tried and failed to get served at The Crown, so had nothing better to do. They made out, then had an argument (during which Amber sliced his cheek with her fingernails) and he left. According to Carter, victim was alive and well at that point (approx. 23.10 according to him, which does fit with CCTV). Usual excuses for not revealing all this in his first interview – not trusting corrupt police, etc. etc.
However, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that he’s still our number-one suspect. We have him in custody for another day, so will go again tomorrow.
One other development – CCTV picked up Lucy Rose (bullying victim) twice on Friday night. Following some technical wizardry, she’s been identified as the girl who walked past the post office eight minutes after the victim was spotted there – at 21.55 – carrying a plastic bag that looks like it contained a bottle of vodka from its shape – plus another object that COULD be the shape of the murder weapon (stretching here though). Then at 23.49 she was seen with her mother outside the parade of shops on Church Road. That’s nearly two hours unaccounted for. Also, Lucy initially told Bzowski that she went out around 22.45 for thirty minutes – so why did she lie? And Lucy has very similar hair to the strands we found on the body (although so does her mother, Ms Salter, who found the body – sample currently with CSI).
However, this evening Ms Salter gave me a relatively plausible explanation for the discrepancy in Lucy’s timings. And if Carter is to be believed, the victim was alive at the crime scene at 23.10 – and even though it’s logistically possible, it’s hard to believe that Lucy could have killed her, and be back in Chinnor, walking along with her mum, in less than forty minutes. To be honest, she is so far removed from the profile of a murderer that I just can’t see it anyway. But she may know more than she’s currently letting on. Am planning to talk to her again next week.
But for now, Carter is our priority.
Simon
THE NIGHT SHE DIES
Friday 3rd May
Jess
Jess eyes the CCTV camera – the back of it, she’s not stupid – and wonders how long she should wait at the railway station car park. Jess was sure that Amber would appear from the trail that leads into it, but she hasn’t yet, and she’s also turned her map function off on Snapchat so Jess can’t track her.
The only other routes away from her meeting point with Lucy are back to the village – but that would mean her passing where Jess had been crouching – or heading up towards the Ridgeway, and she can’t believe Amber would go up to the woods in the pitch-black on her own. But she’s been waiting for over ten minutes now, and has sent like a thousand messages, and there’s still no sign.
She frowns. Did Amber definitely get away? It was completely still and silent up there, so Jess had assumed both girls had gone. But it was hard to see in the darkness.
And they had been fighting.
Did Lucy do something bad to Amber? Something bad enough for her to not be moving or speaking? But that wasn’t what she was threatening. She said she was going to tell everyone the truth. Which could mean she knows what Amber and Jess have done.
And on top of all that, there’s Sean, his weird, creepy message:
I see you.
Jess checks Snapchat again. But there’s no response from Amber, and with her map function switched off, Jess can’t tell if she’s chatting with Caden or Sean or anyone else.
Then a new thought glides forward. Sean is Amber’s friend, not hers. The two of them message all the time. So why has Sean messaged Jess tonight?
Is it because Amber is ghosting him too?
Amber never normally turns her map function off. Jess had assumed it was to do with her meet-up with Lucy, but could it really be about Sean? Is she hiding from him?
And if so, why? What does he know?
A jolt of anger rushes through Jess. Why does Amber always have to push her luck? Without ever considering the consequences? And why does it feel like Jess is the one who always gets burned for it?
She tries WhatsApp.
I’m out. Where are you?
The ticks stay grey.
Jess squints her eyes in concentration. However tough Amber comes across, if she knows Sean’s on to her about the money they’ve been skimming, she’ll be scared. Would she turn to Caden for help? Would she suddenly fancy him again if she needed protection from her dealer? Then Jess thinks about her message exchange with her ex, how he changed his mind about meeting up with her, and shudders with anger, grief, stupidity. She can’t believe she’s risked getting into more trouble with Molly and Bill for this. Shivering in a railway station car park with Sean on her case, and no idea where Amber is.
Her phone buzzes in her hand. And this time, it doesn’t stop. She squints at the line of numbers glowing on her screen; not someone in her contacts, but it might be Amber on the dumb phone. She lifts the handset to her ear. ‘Hello?’
‘Jess?’
Extra saliva forms in her mouth like it does when she’s about to be sick. ‘Yeah?’
‘Where the fuck is Amber?’
‘Uh, I dunno.’ But she needs more than that, a realistic excuse to calm Sean down. ‘I was grounded, so she went out without me.’
‘Don’t bullshit me! You’re by some train station.’
Jess swears silently. Why didn’t she follow Amber’s lead and turn her Snapchat map off? ‘Yeah, okay. I escaped, like twenty minutes a go, but I can’t find Amber either.’
Sean clicks his tongue. ‘Is she with that Caden guy?’
‘I swear, Sean, I don’t know.’
‘You expect me to believe that? You live in a village in the middle of nowhere. You’re hiding her, aren’t you,’ he accuses, his voice rising. There’s drill music in the background; it’s loud but scratchy, like the speakers can’t deal with the volume setting.
‘No, I promise,’ Jess says, not even trying to conceal her fear anymore. ‘Why would I hide her from you?’
‘Because she’s been skanking me, the bitch!’ His paranoia about privacy even on burner phones has clearly been side-lined by his fury. ‘Creaming a fiver off every gram. I can’t believe she’d do that to me.’ There’s a dull thwacking sound, like Sean hitting something inanimate, and Jess wonders where he is. Does he still live in his mum’s flat on the Leys estate or have the council kicked him out now? But suddenly there’s another background noise, a car horn hooting, and Jess realises he’s in his car. A Honda something, black with alloy wheels.
‘She never would, Sean,’ Jess tries. ‘Whoever told you that, they’re wrong.’ He goes quiet, but Jess finds the silence even more terrifying, so she prompts him. ‘Sean?’
He snorts bitter laughter. ‘You know, that’s what I thought,’ he says, the anger now replaced with an icy chill. ‘At first. Even when my mates warned me that she couldn’t be trusted. So I tested her, the last time we met, and I could tell something wasn’t right. She couldn’t look me in the eyes when I talked about upping the price – even though it was easy extra p’s, she didn’t want to know. So when she said she was going to hang around that party house tonight, I got a mate’s sister to pretend she was going to it, and buy some gear from Amber. Fucking fifteen quid, that’s what she charged.’
‘It’s only a fiver difference,’ Jess whispers, changing tack, but then falls silent. She needs to think of something better to say, find the words to get them out of trouble. But thinking and talking are two things that she’s not very good at under pressure.
‘It’s NOT only a fiver, though, is it?!’ Sean shouts, the anger and volume back. ‘It’s a trust that’s been broken. And after I gave her a second chance.’
‘To do what?’ Jess whispers, her voice warbling, but loyalty giving her just enough courage to speak out. ‘She acts like you’re some kind of god, and you just use her to sell your drugs.’
Why is she saying this? Winding him up? Would Amber do the same for her?
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re the one who fucked up her life, not me,’ he hisses.
Jess’s eyes grow hot. Because he’s right, she did fail Amber. And whenever she thinks about it, she hates herself for it.
But maybe this is a way to make up for her mistake, to show her sister that she’s not chickenshit anymore. ‘You get the same amount of money from her deals, so why shouldn’t she make a bit more? She’s the one taking all the risks.’
‘Ha! Are you really that stupid?’
Jess closes her eyes. The energy, her fight, disintegrates. Of course she can’t win this. ‘I’ll get Amber to call you when I see her. But it’ll be tomorrow …’
‘Jesus, you are that stupid!’ he shouts, interrupting her. ‘Stop pretending you don’t know where she is! I’m on my way to Chinnor now. She’s told me about some parkland by a lake. Make sure she’s there in thirty minutes or I swear I’ll kill the fucking pair of you.’
The call cuts out and Jess’s hand shakes as she lowers her phone to her side. Her heart is beating like she’s sprinting the hundred metres, but her legs won’t move. She warned Amber against stealing from Sean, yes, but with how much force? And how genuinely? The truth is, she liked seeing Amber treat Sean like everyone else – like her – rather than being completely caught up in his spell.
And now they’re both going to pay for Amber’s deceit.
Except Amber doesn’t know Sean’s on his way.
Jess thinks again about the different routes Amber could have taken. And how there’s only one that really makes sense. Does Amber have the nerve to go up to the Ridgeway, through the woods, alone, in the dark? They both love it there in the daytime, and think of it as their safe place. If Caden’s with her, maybe it’s exactly where she’d want to be.
And there’s only one way to find out.
Jess turns towards the Ridgeway and sets off.
AFTER
Friday 10th May
Rachel
‘I still don’t think Milla should go,’ I say, but in a quiet voice and behind the closed kitchen door, in case she overhears and starts pulling me up on my feminism.
‘Me neither,’ Matt murmurs back. The room’s not warm, but sweat is trickling down his temples. ‘But it is true that she knows the off-road route better than either of us. And I trust her.’
‘I trust her too,’ I counter, hoping I don’t sound defensive. ‘I just don’t like the thought of her being in danger. Christ, her A levels start in a couple of weeks. Most parents would have their kids chained to the desk by now, and we’re letting ours do a ransom drop in the middle of the night. How has this happened?’ My eyes bubble with tears.
Matt sighs. ‘Life throws curveballs, Rachel. And there’s no point asking why, because you won’t get an answer. Do you know how many times I asked that question when that kid accused me of hitting him? I never worked it out, but I did get through it. Truth and fairness reigned in the end. You could say the same about this situation. It’s terrible right now, and tragic for Amber’s friends and family. But they’ve got a suspect in custody. And you never know, without anyone bullying her, Lucy might even start enjoying life again.’
I push my lips together. I still hate thinking that Lucy benefits from Amber dying, even though it’s true that she does. ‘None of that keeps Milla safe tonight,’ I remind him.
‘Well, I have an idea about that. I’m going to follow her.’
‘What?’ My volume rises a bit and Matt puts a finger to his lips.
‘After she leaves, I’ll go in the car. Park up on Chinnor Hill Road and walk down from there. I’ll keep out of sight, of course, but the trees will give me plenty of cover. And I’ll be close enough to help if Jess does do anything. Not that she will,’ he adds. ‘I’m sure she just wants the money. But it’s good to cover all eventualities.’
I open the fridge door and pull out a bottle of beer. I shouldn’t really drink at a time like this, not when I might need to make some quick decisions, but DI Finnemore’s visit has been rapping at my temples for hours now and I need something to relax me. ‘Want one?’
