The Girls Who Disappeared(87)

‘What a fucking toad,’ I say, shocked. ‘Was he sleeping with her?’

‘He says so. Before he started going out with Olivia, but while she was with me.’ He shrugs. ‘He could be lying, of course. A way to goad me, no doubt. Why else would he admit that now?’

‘And what about Ralph? Do you know who killed him?’

‘Wesley says it was Jay. That Ralph didn’t want to be a dealer any more. They could no longer trust him, apparently. But, well, Wesley would say that, wouldn’t he? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Wesley who’d killed him. But, of course, we can’t prove that.’

‘And the photos that were in Ralph’s caravan?’

‘Anastacia said Jay had taken them from John-Paul’s coat and hidden them in Ralph’s caravan because he didn’t know where else to put them. He was worried about burying them with John-Paul’s body because he didn’t want there to be a link between him and Olivia if his body was ever found. He could have burnt them, of course, which makes me think he kept them at Ralph’s to set him up if it ever came to it.’

‘Where did Jay bury John-Paul and … the girls?’

Dale grimaces. ‘He would have had people to call upon. His drug-dealing mates. The police will put pressure on them to reveal it. And Anastacia too. I’m sure she knows.’

I think of Madame Tovey’s words about John-Paul, Katie, Tamzin and Sally still being here, in Stafferbury, and a shiver runs down my spine. She was right. Maybe she isn’t a charlatan after all.

‘Wesley said Jay was so worried about the tourism going down, and nobody visiting Stafferbury that he perpetuated the myths about the strange goings-on around here,’ says Dale. ‘There were recordings on Jay’s phone of a child crying.’

‘Wait! So that child crying I heard? That was just some kind of recording?’

Dale purses his mouth and nods.

‘I heard it on the night I was attacked.’

‘Wesley has admitted to attacking you and playing the recording. He said he never meant to hurt you. Jay wanted him to scare you away so that you’d talk about the supernatural elements of Stafferbury in your podcast. I think he was hoping you’d not focus so much on the crash. Jay always got someone else to do his dirty work. He was a bit of a father figure to Wesley by all accounts, especially in the last few years. He admitted to the dead birds too.’

‘God.’ I let this information digest and curdle in my stomach.

‘I think on one hand Jay wanted you around to report on the myths and legends in order to boost tourism, but on the other he didn’t want you to find out what was really going on with the drugs ring and the girls’ disappearance.’

I touch the back of my head where I was struck. I’d had a lucky escape.

Dale rubs his stubble. He looks exhausted with shadows under his eyes, his hair even messier than usual. ‘God, this has been a case and a half. I need a holiday.’

I suddenly think of something. ‘Can I be the one to tell Brenda?’

He chuckles. ‘Sure. I need to get back to work anyway. Another day, another caseload.’ He stands up and I follow suit. There is a moment of awkwardness and our eyes lock. ‘Thank you, Jenna. I’ve enjoyed you being here, having someone to chat to about all this.’ He pulls me into his arms and hugs me tightly. I’m so surprised I inhale sharply, breathing in his musky scent. I hug him back.

We stay like that for a moment before I pull away. ‘You’ll keep an eye on Olivia, won’t you? I’m worried about her.’

‘I promise,’ he says.

I follow him to the door and watch as he walks to his car. Before getting in he turns to me, his expression pensive, and then he folds himself into the driver’s seat.

As I wave him off a lump forms in my throat.

An hour and a half later, my bags are packed into the boot of my Audi and the keys posted through the letter box. I wonder what will happen to Knapton Developments. I stand outside, looking up at the cabin, my heart heavy. I’ve updated my editor, Layla, who was beyond excited when she heard I’d have a conclusion to the podcast after all. After Dale left earlier I’d gone to see Brenda and told her everything. She’d stared at me in wide-eyed surprise as I recounted it all, her hands to her face as I told her about how Jay chased me with a knife.

‘I can die happy now,’ Brenda had said, as she showed me out. ‘I was worried I’d never find out what happened to them.’

It’s a relief to be leaving even if I will miss Olivia and, if I’m honest with myself, Dale too. As I get behind the wheel and drive slowly away I bid a silent farewell to the cabin in the forest where so much has happened.

As I turn onto the Devil’s Corridor and away from Stafferbury, the heavens open. And I don’t know if it’s the misty rain causing my mind to see things that aren’t there, but in my rear-view mirror I’m sure I see the shape of a hooded figure standing in the road.





Epilogue



Three months later


The room is noisy with the hum of excitable chatter and it smells of vegetables and bad breath. The guard shows Olivia to where her mother is sitting behind a table and gives her instructions on not touching or getting too close.

‘Thank you for coming.’ Her mother looks up with haunted eyes. Olivia thinks she seems well, considering. Her grey hair is longer and is tied back at the base of her neck, making her appear older but her eyes tell a different story. They are mirrors of grief and horror and loneliness. ‘I didn’t think you would visit,’ she says.