Where the Memories Lie (20 page)

He said he was waiting at the bus stop just up the road here and

she walked past. He said hi to her but she didn’t say anything back, and then he watched her walking towards our house. We thought

at the time she was going to Abbotsbury. That was the last time

he saw her.’

DI Spencer leaned an elbow on the table and rested his chin in

his hand with a pensive look. ‘Did Chris say anything else?’

I shrugged. ‘Not much. I also went to see Mr Cook. He was

the village policeman at the time Katie went missing and he made

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a few enquiries after Rose and Jack found the letter Katie had left.

Um . . .’ I paused.

Everyone waited, watching me.

‘Well, it’s about her dad, Jack. I always thought he was . . .

I don’t know. Odd,’ I said.

‘He gave all the girls the creeps.’ Nadia grimaced.

‘Odd, how? You thought something inappropriate was going

on between Katie and Jack?’ DS Khan narrowed her eyes slightly.

‘Not at the time, I didn’t, but looking back on things, I think it

would explain a lot. Her behaviour, for one,’ I said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘She was the village slag is what my wife means,’ Ethan said.

‘From the age of about fourteen she’d sleep with anyone.’

‘She was looking for attention and love,’ I insisted, still defend-

ing her even though the discovery of her propositioning Ethan was

still raw in my mind. ‘Also, I found something else in her medical

notes that could raise a red flag for possible sexual abuse.’ I told them what I’d discovered about the vaginal infections.

Nadia let out a horrified gasp.

‘Anyway, then I went to see Mr Cook, to see if he remembered

what her goodbye letter said, to make sure she really wrote it. Katie put in the letter that she was leaving the village and they couldn’t stop her. She said, “You know what you both did”.’

DS Khan wrote that down. ‘Did the letter say anything else?’

‘Just that she hoped they rotted in hell.’

DS Khan wrote frantically in her notepad. ‘Did she ever

mention her father was abusing her?’

‘No. Never. And, of course, there could be reasonable explana-

tions for her symptoms.’

DI Spencer stared over my shoulder, looking deep in thought.

‘What was her relationship like with her parents?’

‘Not good. She hated them and they argued a lot.’

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‘She was a thief, too,’ Ethan butted in. ‘When she was seeing

Chris, she was here at the house all the time and things kept going missing. She stole stuff from Nadia.’

‘Is that right?’ DS Khan asked Nadia.

‘Yes, I’m afraid. She took things from my room. I confronted

her and she denied it but it must’ve been her.’

‘I was glad when Chris finished with her,’ Ethan said. ‘She was a

troublemaker. She would’ve messed his head up if he’d married her.’

‘Rose and Jack were alcoholics, although I don’t think any-

one realised how bad they were until after Katie left,’ I added,

still feeling as if I had to stick up for Katie. ‘Looking back, they must’ve neglected her from an early age. I think she had to fend

for herself most of the time, although she never admitted that to

me. As she got older, she didn’t spend much time at home if she

could help it.’

‘Did Katie drink, too? Or was she into drugs?’ DS Khan asked.

‘She liked to drink, I suppose. We both looked older than our

age so we used to sneak into pubs when we were seventeen,’ I said.

‘But it was just usual teenage experimenting. She wasn’t like Jack

and Rose or anything. And she never did drugs that I knew of.’

DI Spencer looked pensive. ‘Did she ever steal anything

from Tom?’

Nadia and Ethan looked at each other and shrugged.

‘Not that I know of,’ Nadia said.

‘He never said anything if she did,’ Ethan said. ‘But it wouldn’t

surprise me.’

A memory flashed into my head then. The last time I’d seen

her. Something else she’d said to me that had seemed insignificant

at the time but now it put a new slant on things. ‘Um . . . I think she might have taken something.’

‘What do you mean?’ Nadia turned her hands palms up in a

question. ‘What did she take?’

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‘I don’t know. But I just remembered something weird that she

said to me the day before she supposedly ran away. We were all

going to the Kings’ Arms on the Saturday night to see a band. There was Nadia, Lucas, Ethan, Tom, Chris and I going. I’d been spending

a lot of time with Ethan then, and Katie hadn’t wanted to go out

much because she was still upset about breaking up with Chris.

I went to the shop where she worked and asked if she wanted to

come with us all.’ A picture of Katie in the shop swam clearly into my head, then. How she’d looked frumpy and dowdy and plain,

but how her head was cocked as she spoke, her hand on her hip, her

defiant body language in complete contrast to her new meek look.

‘First of all she said, “If he thinks I’m going to fuck him again, he can fuck off.” Which I thought meant at the time she was talking

about Chris. And then she said, “I’ve got something he wants and

I’m going to make him pay”.’

‘You just happened to remember that, word for word, all this

time later?’ DS Khan looked up from her note-taking and raised

her eyebrows.

‘Well, I thought about it a lot at the time because I felt so guilty afterwards that I wasn’t there for her more. I think it was etched

into my brain and must’ve just needed a nudge to resurface again.’

‘So, it’s possible she meant she’d stolen something from Tom?’

DI Spencer tapped the table lightly.

‘Yes, I suppose.’

‘Who’s Lucas?’ DS Khan asked, pen poised.

‘My husband.

‘So if Katie was here at the house a lot when she was going out

with Chris, did Tom have much to do with her?’ DI Spencer looked

round the table.

‘Well, we weren’t living here when Katie . . . um . . . left,’ Nadia said. ‘We lived in another house on the other side of the village. This barn came up for sale and Dad was renovating it around that time.’

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‘So the garage was built at the same time he was renovating the

barn?’ DS Khan asked.

‘Yes,’ Ethan said.

‘Who would have had access to the garage when it was

being built?’

Ethan shrugged. ‘Dad and Chris. Other builders and contrac-

tors working for Tate Construction. But the site wasn’t secured

while they were working on it. At the weekends or evenings when

no one was around, anyone could’ve just walked in.’

‘But in order to hide a body under the floor of the garage, it

would have to have been someone who was involved in the renova-

tion?’ DI Spencer asked, although it was more of a statement than

a question.

Ethan stared at a spot above DI Spencer’s head. ‘I suppose so,

yes. I’m the company architect, but I wasn’t working there then.

I was at university, getting my architecture degree.’

‘So you don’t remember which employees would’ve been here?’

‘No.’

‘I was working for Tate Construction at that time, in their

offices,’ Nadia said. ‘But I just dealt with the accounts then.

I didn’t have anything to do with which employee was working on

which site.’

DI Spencer crossed one leg over the other and sat back. ‘Did

Katie and Tom get on with each other?’

Nadia shook her head. ‘I never noticed anything strange between

them, although I don’t think he approved of her. He thought Chris

could do better, but he never said anything bad about her to me.’

‘Dad didn’t like her,’ Ethan muttered quietly.

DI Spencer tilted his head. ‘Pardon?’

‘Dad didn’t like Katie,’ he repeated. ‘He thought she was trashy.

He was glad when Chris saw sense and dumped her.’

‘He said that?’

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‘No. Not in so many words. But I thought it was obvious.’

‘Did Tom and Jack have much to do with each other?’ DS

Khan asked.

‘What? No way.’ Ethan frowned. ‘He thought Jack and Rose

were even trashier.’

‘How was Katie’s state of mind before she disappeared?’ DI

Spencer asked me. ‘Was she angry, happy, depressed?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘You were her best friend, weren’t you?’

I thought about how she’d changed her appearance following

her break-up with Chris. How she’d avoided me and confined herself

to her house. A house she usually hated with vehemence. Analysing

it now, it was entirely possible she was suffering from depression.

‘Yes, but I hadn’t really seen her much for the six months before

she left so I don’t know for certain. But now I think maybe she was depressed. The only thing I really know for certain is that she hated her parents and they didn’t get on, and apparently they wanted her

to leave home, anyway.’

DS Khan made more notes.

‘When was the last time you saw her?’ DI Spencer asked

Nadia.

‘I don’t know. I wasn’t friends with her. Probably when Chris

was still going out with her.’

‘How about you?’ he asked Ethan.

He shrugged. ‘I haven’t got a clue.’

‘Has Tom Tate ever made any other confessions to you about

crimes in the past?’ DI Spencer asked.

‘No, of course not!’ Ethan said.

‘Are you sure you don’t want something to drink?’ I asked them.

‘No, thanks.’ DI Spencer stood. ‘I think we’ve got enough

for now.’

DS Khan clicked the top of her pen closed and followed suit.

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‘The scene of crime team will be here for a while longer, but we

really need to go and speak to Mr Tate.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Ethan said. ‘He gets agitated

and confused easily. I don’t want him getting upset and having

another heart attack.’

‘Well, I was going to suggest that one of you accompany us to

try and keep things as calm and familiar for him as possible,’ DI

Spencer said.

‘I agree.’ Nadia nodded. ‘I’ll come with you.’

‘You’re not questioning him without me.’ Ethan stood, tower-

ing over DI Spencer.

DI Spencer looked at me, silently asking my opinion.

‘I’d like to go, too,’ I said.

‘Right. Well, shall we all jump in our car together?’ DS Khan

asked.

‘I’ll take my car,’ Nadia said. ‘I have to stop at the supermarket

on the way home.’

I wondered how she could even think about eating at a time

like this but stress and anxiety affected people in different ways.

Who was I to judge? Nadia’s drug of choice was comfort food. I’d

be numbing the anxiety later with wine.

‘I’ll drive, too.’ Ethan grabbed his car keys from the island and

clenched them in his fist before anyone could challenge him.

As we drove in convoy to the nursing home, I had the feeling

that my normal life would never be normal again.

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Chapter Seventeen

Tom’s room was crowded with all of us in there. I stood

in front of the window while DI Spencer and DS Khan

stood at the end of Tom’s bed. Nadia sat on the edge of

the bed next to her father, stroking his hand. Ethan stood protec-

tively on the other side, fists clenching and unclenching, looking

as if he was about to explode, or hit someone or . . . do something volatile. My heart squeezed in sympathy for him. He still wanted

to believe the impossible, to hang onto the insane idea that Tom

hadn’t committed this terrible crime. That there was some other

explanation. I got it, of course. I understood why no one would

want to believe their parent could be capable of something like his.

I didn’t want to believe it, either. Not of Tom. His words from a few days ago floated in my head.
I was just protecting my family. I was
just doing what a parent should.
It was exactly what Ethan was doing then, trying to protect his father. I was torn between wanting to

protect Tom and wanting him to rot in hell, just like Katie had told Jack to. Even if she’d stolen something or blackmailed Tom, or slept around and lied, or dared to dream of a better, more secure life, or tried to have sex with Ethan, she didn’t deserve to be murdered and buried under a pile of earth and concrete like a piece of rubbish.

Sibel Hodge

‘I don’t want an enema.’ Tom looked at DI Spencer and

DS Khan.

Nadia squeezed his hand. ‘They’re not doctors, Dad.’

‘Why are they in my room, then?’ Tom turned his head to her

for guidance.

‘They want to ask you some questions.’ Ethan’s voice was laced

with contempt for the officers that he didn’t bother to hide.

‘I’m tired.’ Tom rested his head back on the pillow and closed

his eyes. ‘I’m going on holiday later and I want a nap. I’m going to Spain. It’s nice there – have you been?’

I pictured us all about five years ago, before the Alzheimer’s

was really rearing its ugly head, when we had all taken a family

holiday out to stay with my parents at their converted
finca
in Andalucía. I didn’t get to see them that much after they moved

abroad so it was a great time, with both the Tates and Maxwells

spending lazy days around the pool, reading books or playing water