Dangerous Promises (37 page)

‘She’ll remember,’ Mona murmured, pressing her face against the glass. Yes, Sadie would remember that Mona had followed her during all that silly business with Eddie, that she knew about Oaklands. It was the natural place for them to meet up again. It was only a matter of time. She’d be here soon, tomorrow or the day after. And then what?

Mona had money that she’d withdrawn from a savings account, over a hundred quid. She had some gold jewellery too, a watch, three pairs of cufflinks and a tie pin, all of which she’d nicked from her father’s bedroom. Once they were sold, the cash would keep them going for a while. They could go over to France and… She frowned. Would Sadie have brought her passport? Maybe she wouldn’t have thought of it. Or maybe she hadn’t even had time to go back to the flat. Well, it didn’t matter. There was Ireland or Scotland, plenty of places they could hide until the fuss died down.

‘Plenty of places,’ she said out loud.

Mona gazed down at the Sunday traffic, getting sparser now as night drew in. She shifted her gaze to focus on the door of Oaklands. The inside of her head was starting to feel odd, muffled, like it was wrapped in cotton wool. But that didn’t matter. She lifted the bottle to her lips and drank. Everything was going to be all right. Sadie needed her help and she was here to give it. She’d keep on waiting until she came.

50

Inspector Gerald Frayne sat back in the chair and studied the man in front of him. He felt sorry for Joel, who reminded him, in some ways, of his own son. They were of a similar age and had the same trusting eyes. Those eyes were filled with confusion at the moment – it was clear that he had no idea at all where Sadie Wise had gone or why she’d disappeared.

Gerald kept his voice calm and reassuring. ‘Try not to worry. I’m sure we’ll soon get to the bottom of this. When exactly was the last time you saw her?’

‘Early in the morning,’ Joel said. ‘Yesterday. She’d decided not to come to the Lake District. I think… I don’t know, I think maybe she was worried about all the people who’d be there, that they’d be gossiping about her and Eddie. She was upset about it all.’

‘And she didn’t mention going anywhere while you were away?’

Joel pushed the palms of his hands down his thighs. ‘Only her mum’s, but I’ve checked and she hasn’t heard from her. I don’t understand. This isn’t like her, Inspector. She wouldn’t just… And the bed wasn’t slept in last night; we made it before I left and it’s still… No, I’m sure it hasn’t been. Something bad must have happened. It must have.’

The ‘something bad’ Gerald suspected was the murder of Peter Royston but it wasn’t a thought he was going to share with Joel. ‘Let’s not go jumping to any conclusions. She hasn’t been gone that long. Is it possible that she’s just gone to see a friend, someone in Haverlea perhaps, and stayed over for the night?’

‘She’s never done it before. And I can’t think of anyone she’s that close to round here. I mean, we’ve got friends but… Anyway, I’ve rung round and none of them have seen her.’

Gerald gave a nod. It had taken them a while to track Joel Hunter down. The house in Grasmere had no phone and so the local police had been enlisted to pass on the information that Sadie Wise appeared to be missing. Joel had driven straight back to Haverlea, arriving at about six fifteen. It was now almost seven o’clock. ‘What about friends in other places? London perhaps. She used to live there, didn’t she?’

‘That was years ago. No, I can’t think of…’ Joel paused, frowned a little and then said, ‘Well, there’s Anne. She called me earlier, just after I got back, but she was trying to get hold of Sadie too.’

‘Anne?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you know what her surname is?’

Joel shook his head. ‘Sorry. Sadie might have mentioned it but…’

‘An address then.’

Joel shook his head again. ‘I didn’t really know her that well. I’ve only met her once, a few weeks back when she turned up out of the blue. It was my mum’s birthday and there was a party so we all went to it together. She didn’t stay long though, only half an hour or so. Sadie said she wasn’t feeling well.’

‘Does Sadie have an address book?’

Joel, as if eager to be doing something useful, jumped up off the sofa. ‘Yes, it’s by the phone.’ He crossed the room, retrieved a small pale blue book, walked back and gave it to Gerald. ‘This is it.’

Gerald in turn passed the book to PC Turner. ‘Have a flick through this, John, see if you can find an Anne in it.’ He waited until Joel sat down again before asking his next question: ‘Has Sadie ever mentioned the name Mona Farrell to you?’

‘No, I don’t —’ Joel stopped abruptly as if something had just occurred to him. ‘Hold on, yes, she might have mentioned a Mona. I’m not sure. When she got back from London. A friend she’d bumped into at Eddie’s funeral? I think so. I couldn’t swear to it, though.’

‘Only we’ve not been able to track down Mona Farrell either. She told her mother she was going to stay with friends for a few days but we don’t know where.’

‘What, you think Sadie might be with this Mona? Is that what you’re saying?’

Gerald didn’t tell him that Mona Farrell had booked into the Bold hotel on Saturday. He thought about the papers they’d found at Peter Royston’s flat, a few press cuttings about the death of Eddie Wise and some basic stuff on Sadie. There had, however, been a virtual dossier on Mona Farrell with information on her history, her family and her connection to Sadie. At the very end of this file, a question had been posed in Royston’s small neat handwriting:
Mona = Anne?

PC John Turner closed the address book and put it down on the table. ‘No Anne in it,’ he said. ‘No Mona Farrell either.’

Gerald paused for a second before asking Joel, ‘Do you think it’s possible that Mona Farrell and the woman you know as Anne are one and the same person?’

Joel looked bemused. ‘What? Why would they be? Look, what’s going on here? I don’t get it. I don’t understand.’

‘Do you know a journalist called Peter Royston?’

‘Yes, of course. I mean, I don’t know him well or anything. He’s a reporter on the local paper.’

‘Did you know he was looking into the murder of Eddie Wise?’

‘No, but I can’t say it surprises me. He likes scandal, likes writing about it. He’s not a particularly pleasant man.’

‘You haven’t heard then?’

‘Heard what?’ Joel asked.

Gerald leaned forward a little, keeping his eyes fixed on the other man. ‘Mr Royston was found murdered at the fairground on Saturday night.’

Joel flinched, his face paling. ‘He’s dead?’

‘I’m afraid so.’

‘I can’t believe it. Do you know who… how? Why? Have you arrested anyone?’ It took a few seconds for his brain to make the necessary connections and then the leap as to why the police were so eager to find Sadie. ‘God, you can’t think Sadie had anything to do with it. That’s crazy! She wouldn’t. She
couldn’t
.’

‘We’re not making any accusations, Joel. We simply want to talk to her. Does she often go to the fair?’

‘No, never.’

‘Well, we’re pretty sure she was there on Saturday night. We have a witness, a local woman, who claims she saw her standing by the Big Wheel at about eight o’clock. She looked as though she was waiting for someone.’

Joel gave a shake of his head and stood up again. He paced over to the window and stared out for a moment. ‘I don’t know why she’d go there. Maybe they’re wrong… this witness. Are they sure?’

‘Yes,’ Gerald said. ‘Does Sadie have a passport, Joel?’

Joel spun round, startled by the question. ‘What?’

‘A passport,’ Gerald repeated gently. ‘Please don’t be alarmed. It’s just procedure. One of those things we have to check when people go missing.’

‘Yes, she keeps it in the bedroom.’ Joel, as if he didn’t know what to do with his hands, put them in his pockets and then took them out again. ‘I’ll go and get it, shall I?’

‘If you would.’

Joel returned about thirty seconds later, brandishing the passport. ‘Here,’ he said, thrusting it into the inspector’s lap as if its presence in the flat was proof positive of Sadie’s innocence. ‘I knew it would still be here.’

Gerald flicked it open, checked that it hadn’t expired, gave a nod and passed it back. ‘Thank you.’

‘She didn’t have anything to do with the murder,’ Joel said insistently. ‘Even if she was at the fair, that doesn’t mean… Maybe she saw something and it scared her. Maybe she’s in danger or… my God, what if the same person who killed Royston has done something to her too?’

‘Why don’t you sit down,’ Gerald said. ‘Please try not to worry too much. We’ve got no reason to suspect that she’s been hurt in any way.’ He waited until Joel was back on the sofa before continuing. ‘How has Sadie been lately? I mean, in herself?’

Joel briefly lifted his hands before letting them drop back again. ‘As you’d expect. All this business with Eddie has knocked her for six. And it’s not easy being under suspicion, especially in a small town like this.’

‘You didn’t feel she had anything else on her mind?’

‘Isn’t that enough?’

‘Yes, of course. It must have been very hard for her. For both of you. This type of thing can put a strain on relationships.’ Gerald saw a flicker in the younger man’s eyes and knew that he’d hit a nerve. Perhaps the relationship wasn’t quite as rosy as it appeared on the surface. He thought of the rumours about Sadie Wise and Nathan Stone. ‘Any unusual phone calls, anything like that?’

‘Unusual?’

‘You know, people putting the phone down when you answer it. Not speaking.’

Joel shook his head. ‘No.’ And then he frowned. ‘Well, maybe there was something.’ He hesitated as if weighing up in his mind any possible disloyalty to Sadie. A few seconds passed before he said, ‘The girl, Anne – Sadie was trying to avoid her.’

‘In what way?’

‘She didn’t want to take her calls. I had to keep telling her – Anne, I mean – that Sadie wasn’t in.’

‘Did Sadie tell you why?’

‘Only that Anne kept going on about Eddie. She didn’t want to talk about him. It was too much for her. I don’t think Anne was being deliberately unkind, just a bit insensitive.’

‘How often did she call?’

‘Quite a lot, almost every day.’ Joel ran the palms of his hands along his thighs again. He stared down at the floor before slowly lifting his gaze to look at the inspector. ‘Why do you think that Anne and Mona are the same person?’

‘I can’t really say at the moment.’

‘But you think Sadie might be with her?’

‘It’s possible.’

Joel pondered on this for a while. ‘But if that’s the case, then why did Anne call me earlier? Why would she be looking for Sadie if they were together?’

Gerald suspected that the girl had called to squeeze some information out of Joel, to try and suss out what was happening this end. ‘What did she say exactly?’

‘Nothing much, only that she didn’t know where she was.’ Joel screwed up his face, trying to remember the details of the conversation. ‘I told her the police were looking for Sadie and she asked me why. I said… I said I thought it was something to do with Eddie. I mean, I didn’t know about Peter Royston then.’

‘Did she mention Royston at all?’

‘No.’

‘And how did she sound?’

Joel gave a shrug. ‘Normal, the same. A bit worried, I suppose. She said to let her know if I heard anything. Oh, and she was calling from a phone box – she doesn’t usually. I heard the pips go when I picked up the phone.’

‘Any noise in the background?’

‘No, I don’t… I’m not sure. I can’t really remember. I don’t think so.’

Gerald gave a nod and, having decided that he’d gleaned as much information as he could from Joel Hunter, rose to his feet. ‘Well, thanks for all your help. As I’ve said, try not to worry too much. Obviously if you hear from Sadie, you’ll let us know?’

Joel stood up too. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Keep on looking. I’m sure she’ll turn up.’

‘She hasn’t done anything wrong, Inspector. I’d swear to it. Sadie isn’t… She’s a kind person. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. This is all…’ Joel’s mouth twisted as he struggled to come up with the right words. ‘You have to find her. She’d never just leave like this, she wouldn’t, not without, not… She just wouldn’t.’

Gerald, feeling sorry for the guy, reached out and gave him a paternal pat on the shoulder. ‘We’ll keep you informed. If you think of anything else, anything at all that might be useful, just give me a call.’

A few minutes later the two police officers were back in the car. ‘Poor bastard,’ Gerald said as he pulled across his seatbelt. ‘He hasn’t got a clue.’

Turner put the key in the ignition but didn’t immediately turn it. ‘Do you think Sadie could be with Nathan Stone?’

‘It’s possible. The Kellston lads have paid him a visit and he says not. But if she doesn’t want to be found, he’s hardly going to point them in the right direction.’ As he sat back and gazed along the road, Gerald was starting to revise his theory about why Anne/Mona had called the flat. ‘Maybe our two girls have got separated or had a falling out. Mona went home to pick up some things – we know that for a fact. What if she was supposed to meet up with Sadie later and Sadie didn’t show?’

‘So she rang to see if Sadie was here.’ Turner bowed his head a little to gaze up at the top windows. ‘The two of them killed Royston, did a runner to London, split up and… maybe Sadie
is
with Stone and doesn’t want Mona to find her.’

In his head Gerald quickly reviewed all the paperwork they’d found at Royston’s place. ‘But why kill him? Royston didn’t have any evidence to link either of them to the murder of Eddie Wise. Nothing solid, at least. He was certainly digging, but that’s about the sum of it.’

‘Well, you know what these reporters are like, devious sods the lot of them. Perhaps he gave the impression of knowing more than he did.’

Gerald gave a nod. ‘You could be right.’ The autopsy, which had been done this morning, hadn’t told them much more than they’d already been able to gather at the scene, that Peter Royston had died from a blow to the back of his head at around eight o’clock and that his skull had been fractured. There’d been no need for any conjecture about the murder weapon: the piece of lead pipe had been found by his side, still covered in blood. Forensics had confirmed that there were no fingerprints.