Final Cut(59)

‘How about you lot? No idea, either, I suppose?’

A couple of them shift uneasily. The one with the joint glances over, first at his friends, then at Gavin, then finally at me.

‘It’ll be him, won’t it? That pervy cunt.’ He waves his cupped hand in the direction of Bluff House, as if anyone were in any doubt to whom he was referring. I glance up, and for a moment I think I see someone there, a lone figure standing right on the edge of the cliff, watching us. Or preparing to jump.

I look away.

‘He’ll have taken her,’ says the boy. ‘Like he took the others.’

I stare at him. He’s a spotty kid. He knows nothing.

‘What makes you so sure?’

He laughs. ‘Everyone knows. Just no one’ll say it, like.’

I look back at The Rocks, but there’s no one there.

‘Come on,’ says Gavin. ‘We should go.’

We step on to the slipway. The clouds are thick; it’s getting dark. Ellie’s out there, somewhere. Perhaps alone, trying to escape. That is, if she’s lucky.

‘We need to find her,’ I say to Gavin, but before he can answer his phone rings.

‘It’s Bryan,’ he says when he’s finished the call. ‘They need the keys to the village hall. The police. They’ve arrived.’

When we get there, there’s a group waiting outside the front door. Monica’s there, and Bryan, too. With him stands a woman I don’t recognise, plus two police officers in uniforms. The last thing I wanted, but here they are.

‘Sorry,’ says Bryan as we approach. ‘I didn’t have my keys.’ The woman with him holds out her hand. She’s wearing a long black jacket, trousers, boots. Her face is pinched and severe; I imagine she’s not someone who enjoys, or is used to, being kept waiting.

‘Detective Superintendent Butler,’ she says as Gavin shakes her hand. ‘Heidi. Pleased to meet you.’ She turns to me. ‘And you are?’

‘Alex Young,’ I say. ‘I don’t live here. I’m here …’ I hesitate, and she cocks her head. ‘Working.’

‘Working? As?’

‘I’m making a film.’

She glances briefly from me to Gavin. ‘Right. Shall we?’

Gavin unlocks the door and we troop in. I look at Butler from behind. She’s compact, efficient. She exudes confidence, and it’s obvious Bryan at least is already under her spell. He’s following her like a hungry puppy. She scans the room, then speaks to one of the officers.

‘Where’s the girl?’

At first I think she means Ellie, then realise she’s referring to Kat.

‘On her way. The father, too.’

‘Right.’ She shakes her head. ‘So does anyone know anything?’

The officer fumbles with his notebook, and she sighs then looks round the room.

‘Anyone?’

Monica steps forward. ‘Kat,’ she begins hesitantly, ‘that’s Ellie’s friend, said they’d arranged to meet, but Ellie didn’t turn up, and when—’

‘When was this?’

Monica glances at the clock at the end of the hall. ‘Almost three hours ago, now.’

‘Meet where?’

‘The bandstand, I think.’

‘What for?’

No one answers. No one knows. Hanging around, I suppose. Smoking a joint. Doing nothing and everything at the same time, in that way that teenagers have.

‘No sightings?’ says Butler.

The officer to her right answers. ‘No.’

‘No witnesses to an abduction?’ He shakes his head. ‘She just didn’t turn up to meet her friend, and switched her phone off?’

‘Yes,’ he says. ‘But—’

‘She’s a teenage girl.’

‘I know—’

‘They do that all the time?’

‘—but this place,’ he continues. ‘It’s not the first time it’s happened here. We might need a Child Rescue Alert.’

She scans the room. ‘Tell me.’

She must be new to the area. Monica steps forward, and Bryan. They’re both clearly nervous.

‘Ten years ago,’ says Monica. ‘A girl disappeared. Sadie Davies.’

I look down at the floor. I can’t help it. I’m like a toddler who’s been found out.

‘Ten years. She didn’t turn up?’

The officer shakes his head. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘You don’t think so?’

‘She sort of did,’ says Bryan. ‘Her mother was told she’d been found. In London. But she didn’t want to come back.’

‘Right,’ says Butler. ‘So we have one girl who ran away to London. Ten years ago.’

Gavin steps forward. ‘There’s someone else. Zoe Pearson. She ran, too. About three and a half years ago. And she was never found.’

And Daisy, I think. And Daisy, but I say nothing. Officially, she’s dead. Officially, it was suicide.

Butler’s head cocks.

‘OK. Anything else?’

‘Zoe …’ Gavin glances at me. ‘She was pregnant.’

Both Monica and Bryan look over.