The Girls in the Woods (12 page)

Will decided that skeleton in the woods was a much better option than trying to decipher the instructions that had come with the cot. He knew he should have insisted on buying one ready built, but Annie would not waste money – which was sweet, but on this occasion he really wouldn’t have minded paying the extra. He got into his car and backed out of the drive; every time he left this house he felt as if he was leaving a tiny piece of himself behind, he loved it so much. It struck him that maybe that was how ghosts came to be, leaving so much of themselves behind that when they died they stayed in the place they loved. Then he told himself to man up. Annie being pregnant was turning his brain to mush. Before he knew it he’d be wandering around barefoot writing poetry and hugging trees. Although somehow he didn’t think his tough, funny wife would allow that. Because of the scrapes she’d got into the last couple of years he had also become much tougher; he had been ready to kill Henry Smith with his bare hands and he had felt no regrets, questions or doubts about it. Before he’d stepped into that kitchen at the lake house he’d felt a calmness descend on his entire body like no other. It had been a blanket of white. No rational thoughts could infiltrate it, and he often wondered late at night when he couldn’t sleep thinking about what had happened if this was how all people felt before they committed murder; if the bubble they wrapped themselves up in turned off all of their emotions. Of course his bubble hadn’t lasted long because Megan had literally burst it with a six-inch carving knife that had gone right through his kidney. The calmness had soon been replaced with white hot pain – pain that had seared his entire body, making him collapse before he even got to face Smith. He turned the car into the car park and wondered how the hell he had got there – he had been so deep in thought the car must have driven itself, because he didn’t remember anything other than leaving the drive.
Shit, pay attention Will. You could have killed someone or crashed and what good would you have been then?

He jumped out of the car and strode the short distance across to the village hall; he hoped Stu was not going to act like an idiot all day because he really couldn’t be bothered. He wanted everyone focused and ready to go out and find some answers. The hall looked like the old major incident room back at the station. The tables had been set up into small workspaces and there were two laptops, a printer and endless coffee cups and scraps of paper strewn across them. He smiled then stopped as soon as he saw the Detective Chief Inspector and the Chief Super come out of the kitchen with mugs of coffee and deep in conversation. A voice whispered in his ear.

‘Sarge, I think you might want to come and take a look at this before those two tossers do.’

He turned to see Stu, who nodded at him.

‘They got here ten minutes ago and have done nothing but talk about who is putting in for the Inspector’s exam and moan about the fact that there are no decent biscuits.’

‘Wankers.’

‘Tell me about it. I’ve been doing some research on missing persons in the area and in 1995 there was a local girl, Sharon Sale, who disappeared off the face of the earth. She was only seventeen, but on her missing person’s report it was written down that most people thought she ran away because her parents were too strict with her. Both parents had no trace on the system and neither of them had ever been in trouble.’

‘Brilliant, Stu – it’s possible it could be her. Do her parents still live in the village?’

‘I sent Tracy and Sam to go and knock at their old address and see if they did. They should be back soon.’

Stu pointed to the image on the computer screen of a very pretty teenager who was trying her best not to smile for what could have passed as her passport photograph. Will felt his heart skip a beat; he didn’t know whether he wanted the body to be her so her family could have closure or whether he didn’t want it to be her so they could believe that she was still out there somewhere enjoying the morning sun on her face and living her life to the full. Fuck, he loved his job but at the same time he also hated it.

He turned to see the PCSOs walk into the hall giggling to each other – they took one look at the two chiefs standing near the kitchen and stopped. Will crossed the room towards them, smiling, and nodded for them to follow him outside – he had no idea why he didn’t want the bosses to hear this conversation but he didn’t. He disliked the Chief Super because of the way he treated Annie’s Inspector, Cathy Hayes, who also happened to be his ex wife. He also didn’t like the way he would crawl into an investigation, not do very much, and then take all the credit away from Will’s team who worked very hard to find the offenders and bring them in for questioning.

‘Are we in trouble, Will?’

‘As if. I just don’t want those two to know anything until I’m good and ready to tell them. You know what they’re both like.’

‘Unfortunately, we do. Stu asked us to go and check this address to see if the parents of the girl who went missing still lived there, but they don’t. The woman at the shop said they moved away about eight years ago, but she thinks she might have their address back home. She said she’ll go and check on her dinner break and come and find us if she does.’

‘That’s a shame, but thank you both. Would you do me a massive favour?’

‘Scene guard,’ they both said at the same time, their smiles turning into grimaces.

‘No, I need you to help me today – the others can scene guard. You’re now officially honorary members of CID. Could you start some house-to-house enquiries in all the local shops? Ask if anyone remembers the family. Was anyone friends with Sharon Sale or her parents. If you find anyone, get their contact details so either me or Stu can go and talk to them.’

‘Erm, I’m not entirely sure we want to be in your team, Will, but can we get a decent cup of coffee and some cake from that café that has those Guinness Book of Records-sized cakes in the window?’

‘If you find me someone who knew the family I’ll buy you the coffee and cake. Deal?’

They both laughed. ‘Sounds like a deal to us.’

‘Good. Can you start now – and if those two ask what you’re up to, don’t tell them anything except you’re doing the house-to-house and it’s negative.’

They nodded. Sam leant close to Will.

‘I wouldn’t tell those two that their hair was on fire. I don’t trust either of them – and besides, they won’t speak to us, it’s below them.’

She winked at him and they turned and walked off back in the direction of the village and the cake shop. Will had no idea why he didn’t want to share any information with his superiors just yet – call it a hunch or whatever – but he just knew that for now he was keeping everything close to his chest. He’d figure out the why part later. He went back inside and pulled a chair over to where Stu was still doing a Google search on Sharon Sale, printing off whatever newspaper articles he could find in case they named friends or neighbours who might be able to shed some light on the case. After twenty minutes, Will’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket; he pulled it out.

‘You owe us two lattes and two slices of death by chocolate cake. So you better pay up, Ashworth.’

Will began to laugh.

‘Bloody hell, you don’t mess around. What have you got?’

‘Come up to the café we’re standing outside and we’ll tell you.’

He stood up, looking around the room at the various officers, PCSOs and bosses.

‘Be there in two minutes.’

He nodded at Stu.

‘Come on, I’ll buy you a decent cup of coffee. Shut that down, though.’

He pointed at the laptop which Stu had already begun to log off from. Then they both walked out into the warm summer sun; there were plenty of tourists watching the village hall with the assortment of marked police cars parked on the double yellow lines outside it and he felt as if he’d suddenly grown another head as a group of tourists stopped to stare at them.

‘I love the summer, it just makes you feel better.’

‘It does Stu, it really does.’

‘But I love cake more. What’s up with you this morning? You’re not only in a good mood, you’re wanting to eat cake?’

‘Are you saying I’m not always in a good mood, Stuart?’

‘No… but…’

‘But what?’

‘Forget it. I suppose if I’d been through the crap you had I wouldn’t have much to smile about.’

Will frowned – as much as he liked Stu, he said the strangest things. He waved at Sam and Tracy who waved back and they went inside the same café that Annie had gone in for coffee with Jo.

Will looked at the huge chocolate cake in the window and smiled as Stu’s mouth dropped open. They went inside to the small table near the back where Sam and Tracy were already sitting and in the process of removing their body armour.

‘Well, my two favourite PCSOs – spill the beans, the suspense is killing me.’

A waitress came over to take their order; if Will had to guess her age he’d say she was about thirty-five. He was normally quite good at aging people, and underneath her apron was a faded Stone Roses concert T-shirt; as she turned to the side he could see the list of tour dates on the back.

‘Will, this is Susie. She used to be friends with Sharon Sale before she went missing. She was also very good friends with a girl from Barrow, Wendy Cook, who also went missing about a month after Sharon. They all used to sit together on the bus which took students up to Kendal College every morning.’

Will stood up and held out his hand to shake hers. She blushed and took his hand, shaking it gently.

‘I’m Detective Sergeant Will Ashworth. Would I be able to talk to you when you’ve finished work? I gather you’ve heard about the body found in the woods yesterday?’

She nodded.

‘I did, and it’s so sad; do you think it could be Sharon or Wendy?’

‘I can’t really say at this moment – it’s a possibility, but as soon as they’ve been identified I will let you know immediately. Is that okay?’

She nodded.

‘Yes, that’s fine, thank you. It’s been such a long time since I saw them both, but at the same time it feels like it was only yesterday. I never understood how two of my best friends could just disappear without a trace. I always assumed that they had run off together even though they both lived twenty miles apart, and were on different courses at the college. To be honest I’ve spent the last twenty years totally pissed off that they never asked me to go with them.’

‘Which college was that again?’ Stu was taking the notes, letting Will do what he was so good at – he had a knack of making people feel at ease so they didn’t feel as if they were being interrogated.

‘Kendal. I did hairdressing with Sharon Sale, and Wendy Cook did catering. We used to take the mickey out of her all the time. She used to say she would open up her own business – Cook’s Catering – and then we’d see who had the last laugh. It was only before Christmas that I tried to find them. I did loads of searches on Facebook, SnapChat, Twitter, Instagram… you name it and I tried it, but I couldn’t find either of them. That was when I sort of wondered if something bad had actually happened to them all those years ago.’

Will had never heard of either girl before this morning. Their names had never been mentioned once since he started working at the station – but then again, he didn’t suppose there was any reason for them to be. He needed to check the records but if they were both down as missing persons, after a year it would be old news. By the time he’d started, years later, no one would have remembered except whoever took the missing persons reports at the time.

‘Stu, I need you to pull both girls’ files, see what’s in them. I also need you to find out who dealt with the cases. I doubt they still work at the station but it’s possible. Thanks, Susie. If I need to speak to you again what’s the best number to get hold of you on?’

She reeled off her mobile number. ‘I’m here every day except for Sundays. My mum owns the shop. We always used to come here when we were little. I love this area. She bought it for something to do now she’s retired but she hasn’t been well so I’ve had to come and help out, which I don’t mind – I love it here. So if you can’t get hold of me by phone, because you know what the signal is like around here, then come to the shop. I live in the flat above; the door’s round the side.’

‘Thank you so much. That’s brilliant. You’ve been a big help.’

‘Now what can I get you?’

‘Four coffees and three slices of chocolate cake, please.’

Sam looked at Will. ‘Are you not having any cake?’

‘No, I had a cooked breakfast not long ago. This six-pack doesn’t survive off cake.’

Both women giggled.

‘What six-pack? We won’t believe you until you show us.’

‘Steady on, ladies, I’m a married man. You’ll just have to take my word for it.’

He winked at them both, setting them off into fits of giggles; Stu dead-eyed him and he smiled. Poor Stu was still jealous of his success with the women, which was a much politer way of saying it than how Stu had once worded it. He didn’t intentionally flirt with them; it was just how he was. It was his personality. Once upon a time he’d used it to sleep with a fair few women, but he looked down at his wedding ring and thought about Annie and how much he loved her. Stu was also looking at Will’s left hand, as if to remind him he was married, and he made a note to have a word with Stu about his sudden change in attitude the last couple of days whenever Will spoke to any women. He wondered if he was having problems at home with his wife, Debs; yep, he definitely should take him to one side to try and find out what was going on before the end of the day. If there was a problem at home that he was bringing to work Will needed to know about it. He needed Stu focused. They had to find out who it was that had been buried and left in the woods. Susie brought over a tray with four huge mugs of coffee and cake so big he didn’t think that any of them would be able to eat all of their slices. He thanked her and passed her one of his business cards.

‘You can reach me on either of those numbers should you need to.’

She nodded and tucked the card into the pocket of her jeans, then went off to take some more orders, leaving them in complete silence whilst they began to dig into their mountains of cake. Will sipped his coffee, his mind working overtime thinking about Wendy and Sharon. Where were they now? Would both of them have run away and not told their best friend? It didn’t make sense. Teenage girls were generally not known for keeping secrets from their friends. If the body belonged to one of them then there was a good chance the other wouldn’t be too far away – and if that was so, who had killed them and put them there?