Convictions (15 page)

‘All six letters have certain things in common,’ Fitzgerald was telling the team. ‘First and foremost, they were all written by the children concerned, so at that point at least they were still alive.’

‘How soon after the kids were taken were the letters sent?’ asked Rob Winter.

‘Anything from five days to six weeks.’

‘Anything on the letters that might help find them?’

Fitzgerald shook her head. ‘No. We assume someone else must have handled them, if for no other reason than to post them, but there’s nothing so far.’

‘You said they had certain things in common. What are the other things?’

‘The type of paper and envelopes. The letters aren’t all from the same pad, but they are from the same make of pad. It’s stationery sold by Asda, and it’s their own brand.’ She paused. ‘And there’s one other thing: tears. All the kids were crying when they wrote the letters.’

‘With little Annie Snowdon, we thought that the “better place” reference meant that she was going to be killed. Do we still think that?’

‘To be honest, we don’t know what to think. For now, we look for missing children. Let’s do our job, people, see what’s out there.’

***

Later that morning, Fitzgerald took a phone call that both excited and confused her with regard to the case. She hurriedly got together with Rob Winter and Ruth Crinson.

‘What is it?’ Winter asked, intrigued by her agitation.

‘That was forensics. They’ve got what looks like a match on a partial thumb print from the letter sent by Ben Addams.’

‘Whose is it?’ asked Ruth.

‘They think Annie Snowdon’s.’

‘Is it possible Ben just happened to use the same notepad as Annie did years earlier?’

‘No, the letters are written on sheets of paper from different pads. And another thing … the print on Ben’s letter is bigger than the ones Annie left on her own letter. She was older when she handled the pad Ben used.’

‘Annie Snowdon is still alive?’

Karen nodded. ‘It certainly seems possible, which augurs well for the other missing kids. We just need to find them.’

‘How’s it going, Tina?’ asked Ruth. ‘Are you settling in all right?’

‘I’m okay, thanks, Ruth. Getting there, anyway. It’s different, though, you know?’

Ruth nodded. ‘I almost daren’t ask, but have you heard from your mum?’

‘I got a letter. She sent me a photograph of her and James on holiday in Tuscany. She’s renting the old house out, she didn’t sell it after all. Which isn’t great, but at least it’s still a connection to the family.’ She looked at Ruth for a while before speaking again. ‘I went out that day George Cotter was released from prison with no idea that I wouldn’t see my home again. It seems so long ago now. I suppose Mum must have packed up all my stuff, but I don’t know if she kept it or got rid of it and I’m not sure it matters. I only really want three things in life now.’

‘What are they?’

‘First, when I get out of here I want to have a long soak in the bath in my new home. Second, I want to walk on the beach on a clear day, smell the sea air and look for shells. And third …’

‘What, love?’

‘Third …’ Tina choked back tears.

Ruth squeezed her shoulder. ‘Don’t upset yourself.’

‘Ruth, I want to see Annie again.’

Ruth hesitated for just a moment, then said, ‘We’ve found some new evidence.’

‘What?’

‘Don’t get your hopes up too much, but it’s possible Annie is still alive.’

***

‘Let’s pray together, Martha. Kneel with me and say His special prayer.’

Amy knelt down beside the man.

‘Say it with me: Our Father …’

Amy joined in. ‘Who art in Heaven …’

***

Back at her desk, Ruth Crinson dug out Penny Balfour’s telephone number in Liverpool and picked up the handset. She hadn’t spoken to Penny since before she had remarried. She wondered if the woman had told her new husband about her daughters yet.

‘Hello, Penny, it’s Ruth Crinson.’

‘Hello, Ruth. What can I do for you?’ Penny sounded cagey.

‘Are you free to talk at the moment?’

‘As long as it doesn’t take too long.’

‘I’ve got news about Annie. Some new evidence has come to light,’ Ruth said. She explained about the thumb print. ‘We aren’t sure at this stage what it means, but we’re going to be talking to everyone again to see what we can find out. Perhaps someone will remember something, or if they were keeping quiet before, they may feel they no longer need to,’ she finished.

‘Does it mean that Annie is alive?’

‘We don’t know for sure, but it’s possible. Penny, have you told your husband about Annie and Tina yet?’

‘No,’ said Penny. ‘And I don’t intend to.’

‘You know, it would be easier all round if you did,’ said Ruth. ‘It’s not like there’s anything to be ashamed of.’

‘No, I know. I’m not ashamed, exactly, not of Annie anyway. But it’s better for me to just move on from all that. I have a new life here, a good life. James is an elder of the church. We’re respected.’

‘And you think somehow that Tina would make you … what? No longer respectable?’

‘She’s a criminal. She tried to kill someone.’

‘She’s an unhappy, confused girl who took the law into her own hands to try to make you proud of her.’

‘Yes, well, she was certainly confused. No mother could be proud of a child who was violent and murderous.’

‘Have you been in touch with her lately?’

‘I write.’

‘She’ll be released soon. Don’t you want to help Tina get her life back on track?’

Penny was silent. Ruth bit her tongue and waited.

‘I can’t,’ she said.

‘Oh, Penny!’

‘Ruth?’

‘Yes?’

‘About Annie.’

Ruth heard Penny breathing. ‘Don’t find her if she isn’t alive. Either bring me my daughter back living and breathing, or don’t bring her back at all.’

***

‘She’s madder than ever,’ observed Karen, when Ruth told her about the call.

‘I don’t get that business about only finding the kid alive,’ mused Ruth. ‘Obviously we want to find Annie in one piece, but most parents want to know either way what’s happened. They want closure.’

‘She doesn’t want to rock the boat for a dead girl,’ said Karen. ‘She’ll take Annie alive because there’s a pay-off for being shown to have been a liar. In fact, knowing Penny, she’ll turn it to her advantage. She won’t want to be seen to have been lying if all she gets in return is a funeral to arrange.’

‘Either way, she’ll have to explain Tina.’

‘Do you know, I can’t imagine the grief of losing a child, but I’ll never forgive Penny for how she’s treated that kid. Whatever Tina has had to deal with has been made ten times worse by her mother.’

‘She’s riddled with guilt. Inside she’s still that frightened twelve-year old girl trying to make things right,’ said Ruth. ‘And Penny’s not out of the woods yet. One way or another, no matter how long it takes, we will find Annie, and then the details will be all over the news. Not just finding her, but the abduction, Cotter, Tina … there’s no way Penny can keep up the façade. She’s lucky she’s got away with it for so long. She will be found out and the longer it takes for the truth to come out, the worse it’ll be for her. I can’t imagine a church elder being happy that his wife lied to him for their entire relationship.’

‘Cotter’s an elder of his church, too. Very cosy with the pastor, by all accounts. Atkinson went to see him the other day, he said it was all fizzy drinks and sticky buns, because a few of the young people from the church had been round to clean the car and tidy the garden.’

‘They do seem to look after their own.’

‘Yes. You know, despite my better judgement, I do wonder sometimes …’

‘Wonder what, Karen?’

‘If there might be something in it. Not religion, but the community spirit some of these little churches seem to foster. The way they look out for each other, the younger ones helping the older ones, that sort of thing.’

‘Yeah, I know what you mean. Most of the kids you come across don’t even see anyone over twenty, even if they’re standing in front of them. Older people simply don’t exist for them. When I was a kid, I did bits of shopping or odd jobs for my nan, but you hardly ever see that now. Everyone’s so insular. Even when you have a family together in the same house, they’re all in their own little worlds. Computers, music, television …’

‘When I was a kid, getting sent to your room was a punishment.’

‘Do you think the young people of the church have televisions and computers in their rooms?’

‘Not if Cotter’s anything to go by. I think his telly only goes on once a week, and that’s for
Songs of Praise
.’ Karen rubbed her eyes. ‘I’ve got him coming in tomorrow. I want to talk to him about the Addams letter, see if there’s anything he can tell us that would help.’

Ruth snorted. ‘Good luck with that.’

***

‘Mr Cotter. Thank you for coming in.’ Fitzgerald had her hands clasped in front of her on the table in the interview room, partly to keep them from wrapping themselves around George Cotter’s neck and squeezing until that silly little smile vanished from his face. She had never doubted his guilt, and the thought of him being free while Tina Snowdon was locked up was hard to bear.

‘Always happy to help the police with their enquiries.’

Fitzgerald looked him over. She saw a small, grey man in a homemade jumper, a man with thinning hair and baggy eyes. She had to admit, he didn’t much look like the kind of man who could, never mind would, abduct children; Ben Addams had been thirteen, tall for his age and strong, when he was taken. It was a stretch to imagine Cotter overpowering a boy like that. Then again, appearances could be deceptive; Rose West looked like you could trust her to babysit.

Besides, Fitzgerald had learned over the years to trust her instincts, and they told her Cotter was responsible in some way for what seemed to be happening. She wondered if he had a dungeon full of kids, like Joseph Fritzl. She wondered what the hell he did with them, what state Annie Snowdon would be in after all these years. She had been eight years old when she was taken; she would be seventeen now. More than half her life in captivity.

‘Shortly after Annie Snowdon went missing, her parents received a letter from her.’

‘Yes, I seem to remember being asked about it at the time.’

‘Well, another child went missing two years ago. Ben Addams. His parents have also received a letter, and we have found what appears to be a partial thumb print from Annie Snowdon on the paper.’

‘I see.’

‘Mr Cotter, is there anything you can tell us, anything at all, that would help us to find Annie and Ben?’

‘Well, now, you see I don’t know anything about either of them.’

‘You did claim some years back to have been responsible for Annie’s disappearance.’

‘Yes, but that was a mistake. I was confused. I appealed, remember? And was released because of the lack of evidence.’ He placed particular emphasis on the final sentence.

‘Mr Cotter, a T-shirt exactly like the one Tina Snowdon bought for herself after the MC Boyz concert was found in your car. You have yet to offer any kind of explanation for that.’

‘I have no explanation for that. I have absolutely no idea where it came from. And it’s not as if there was any other sign of the girls having been there, is it?’

‘There wasn’t even any sign of you having been there. Which was peculiar, to say the least.’

‘Well, I can’t help that.’

Fitzgerald wanted to punch him. ‘If there’s anything you can tell us, now’s the time. If you know who took the children, help us to help them. While we still can.’

‘So you’re saying the Snowdon girl is still alive?’

‘We can’t say for sure, but it’s possible.’

‘Well then, that’s good news, isn’t it? Her mother will be pleased.’

‘Only if we find her, Mr Cotter. Otherwise she’s still just a missing girl.’

***

‘So that’s George Cotter. He’s quite … ordinary, isn’t he?’ PC Charlie Gray was talking to Sergeant Dave Cross, watching as Cotter was taken outside to a waiting car for the drive home.

‘Don’t be fooled. He’s guilty as sin. Me and Atkinson pulled him for Annie Snowdon’s abduction and I still reckon he did it.’

‘He was released from prison, though, wasn’t he?’

‘Only because he was clever about it. He would have served a sight more than six years if we’d got him on proper evidence, not just the confession.’

‘But without evidence, surely he shouldn’t have been found guilty in the first place? And isn’t he a practising Christian?’

‘He goes to that evangelist place, the Ebenezer one.’

‘Well, then, he wouldn’t lie.’