Darkness Falls (Kate Marshall, #3)(79)

“Nick Lacey owned a top-of-the-range BMW. Maple Terrace is miles away. It’s a posh area of Exeter. Why would he be parking his car on the Moor Side Estate?” asked Kate. “And Marnie said she backed into Nick Lacey’s car early in the morning, the day after Joanna went missing, so he could have parked there the night before.”

“Bev said her car was stolen from the same place on the night Joanna went missing,” said Tristan.

“It’s too much of a coincidence. Nick Lacey is linked to the commune, which links to David Lamb and, potentially, Gabe Kemp, and their deaths are linked to Hayden Oakley.”

Kate called up the case files on the computer.

“What are you looking for?” asked Tristan.

“I want to get it straight in my head where everyone was on the night Joanna went missing. Can we print off everyone’s statements?”

“We don’t have a statement from Nick.”

“No, I want to see the details of where Fred, Bev, and Bill were, and Marnie . . . There’s something bothering me—an idea.”

Kate got up from the chair, and Tristan sat down. He pulled up the police statements from Fred, Bev, Marnie, and Bill and printed them off.

Kate went to the whiteboard and wiped it clean.

“Okay. Let’s start with Joanna. She was at work on Saturday, September seventh, 2002. How did she get to work?”

“Fred said she took their car, which was a blue Ford. She left around eight thirty in the morning, and we know she was at work all day. She left work at five thirty p.m. and walked up to the Deansgate multistory car park. She was photographed close to the bus stop at five forty-one p.m., and that’s the last known sighting of her.”

“Okay, on to Fred. He’s at home all day. Having it away with Famke in the afternoon. He’s expecting Joanna home at six, but she doesn’t show up. He tries Joanna’s phone a few times after six p.m., and it’s switched off. He then phones Bev, who is at home in her flat on the Moor Side Estate . . .”

“Then they—” started Tristan.

“Hang on, let’s deal with where Bill and Bev were up to that point,” said Kate.

Tristan flicked through the statements until he found Bev’s. “Okay. Bill and Bev went to Killerton House in Devon on Saturday the seventh. It’s a National Trust house twenty miles outside Exeter. They left at nine a.m. . . .”

“How did they get there?” asked Kate.

“By car. Bev picked up Bill in her car, and then they drove to Killerton House, arriving just after ten a.m. They spent the day there until four p.m., when they came back because Bill was called into work.”

“Where?”

Tristan could see Kate was getting impatient.

“Do you want to switch? I’ll write on the board?” he said.

“No. Sorry, I’m not annoyed with you. I’ve just got this niggling thing in my head. You know when you know something, but it’s just out of your grasp?”

“Bill’s work was an office block they had under construction, Teybridge House. It’s quite close to where Bev lived on the Moor Side Estate. They left Killerton House at four p.m., and drove over to Teybridge House in Bev’s car . . . Bev then walked home from Teybridge House to her flat on the Moor Side Estate, leaving her car with Bill. He says in his statement that he stayed at Teybridge House until eight thirty, then drove Bev’s car back to her flat.”

“So around eight forty-five or nine p.m. on Saturday night, Bev’s car was back parked on the road at the Moor Side Estate?” asked Kate.

“According to Bill’s statement. Yes.”

“But at eight p.m., Bev was no longer at her flat.”

“Yes. Fred had phoned Bev at seven p.m., asking if Joanna was with her, saying she hadn’t come home from work. Bev tries ringing Bill a few times, but his phone is also off. Bev asks Fred to come and get her in his car so they can go out and look for Joanna,” said Tristan.

“Fred leaves home at seven thirty p.m. and shows up at the Moor Side Estate in his car around seven forty-five p.m. He picks up Bev, and they drive back into Exeter and go to the multistory car park, where they find Joanna’s car with her phone underneath. Bev calls the police. They say that Joanna can’t be classed as missing until twenty-four hours have passed, so Bev and Fred start driving around the local hospitals to try and find her,” said Kate.

“Bev tries calling her flat at a quarter to nine, using a phone box, as neither her or Fred owned a mobile phone. Bill answers the landline, and says he just got in and tells her his phone battery died. Bev tells him that Joanna is missing. He agrees to stay at Bev’s flat in case Joanna shows up there. Fred and Bev continue driving around the local hospitals, but they have no luck finding Joanna. Fred drops Bev back at her flat just before midnight. Fred drives home in case Joanna has showed up there but confirms to Bev half an hour later that she didn’t,” said Tristan. There was a long silence as they looked at the timeline Kate had written on the whiteboard.

“At some point that night, or early morning, Nick Lacey parks his BMW outside the Moor Side Estate,” said Kate. “What if Nick and Bill know each other? Bill was on his own at the flat from eight forty-five p.m. until midnight, when Fred dropped Bev back at the flat. They could have met?”

“Bill also has the time from when he went to work at four forty-five p.m. until he got back to the flat at eight forty-five p.m., and then between eight forty-five and midnight,” said Tristan.