Silent Scream

Seventy-Six

Kim knocked on the door and took a deep breath.

The door opened.

‘Detective, good morning. Please come in.’

‘Good morning, Nicola,’ Kim said, entering the flat.

Nicola closed the door and stood in front of it. ‘You’re alone today?’

Kim nodded. ‘I have to give my team some time off.’

‘But not yourself?’

‘Soon, Nicola. Very soon.’

‘Please, sit.’

Kim did so. As she lowered herself down her eyes rested on the edge of the sofa, and her mind now fully registered the significance of what she had glimpsed on her last visit.

‘How can I help?’ Nicola asked.

Kim took a second to analyse Nicola’s expression. It was open and earnest. Kim detected no deceit at all. Dammit.

‘We’ve uncovered another body.’

Nicola’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh God, no.’

The shock was genuine.

‘Nicola, do you have any idea at all who the fourth victim could be?’

Nicola stood and paced back and forth behind the sofa. ‘I can’t even begin to imagine who ...’

‘Nicola, was there a fourth member in that group?’

Nicola frowned. Her eye movement indicated she was searching her memory.

‘No, Detective. I’m sure there were only three.’

Kim sighed and stood as though to leave. ‘Oh, perhaps Beth might recall another girl?’ Kim asked, hopefully.

Nicola shook her head. ‘Beth’s out shopping at the moment but when she comes back ...’

‘Are you sure?’ Kim asked.

‘Of course I’m sure,’ Nicola said, smiling.

Kim nodded towards the edge of the sofa. ‘Then why didn’t she take her stick?’

Nicola’s eyes rested on the walking aid hooked over the back of the sofa. Her expression was one of genuine confusion.

Kim took the momentum and strode across the room. She headed for the first door and just hoped it was the right one.

‘Perhaps she hasn’t left yet. Perhaps she will ...’

‘Detective, don’t go in there. Beth doesn’t like ...’

Her words trailed away as Kim pushed open the door.

Nicola was beside her and they surveyed the room together. The single bed was a box spring and mattress. There were no sheets or a duvet cover. A two-drawer cabinet sat beside the unused bed.

Kim strode to the wardrobe in the corner and opened it. Seven empty coat hangers stared back at her.

Kim looked back at Nicola who stood, horrified, in the doorway.

Kim waited for a response but Nicola continued to stare into the empty room.

A single tear rolled down her cheek. ‘She’s gone again ‒ and she never even said goodbye.’

Kim ushered Nicola out of the doorway and closed the door behind her. She guided Nicola to the sofa and sat beside her.

‘Has Beth done this before?’ she asked, gently.

Nicola nodded. ‘She’s been doing it ever since we left Crestwood.’ A fresh wave of tears rolled over her cheeks. She wiped them away with the sleeve of her jumper. ‘She’s always so angry with me but she won’t tell me why. This is what she does. She comes back and then just leaves me again. It’s so unfair. She knows I have no one else.’

Kim went to the kitchen and retrieved a few squares of kitchen roll. She sat and handed the tissue to Nicola. The tears were not over yet.

‘Can you remember when she last came back?’

Nicola stopped crying and thought. She sniffed and nodded. ‘It was two years ago, when I had glandular fever and was taken into hospital. I woke up and there she was, sitting beside the bed.’

‘And the time before that?’

‘I’d had a minor car accident, just a shunt really. I wasn’t badly injured but it frightened me a lot at the time. I hadn’t been driving very long.’

‘So, she’s been in and out of your life since leaving Crestwood. Do you have any idea why she might be angry with you?’

Nicola shook her head vehemently. ‘She won’t tell me.’

Kim heard the exasperation in Nicola’s voice and realised this was going to be even harder than she’d imagined.

Kim reached for Nicola’s hand. ‘I need you to think back to the day of the fire. I think there’s something there that you may have forgotten. Do you think you could do that if I’m right here with you?’

‘There’s nothing,’ she said, confused.

Kim squeezed the hand. ‘It’s okay, Nicola. I’m right here. Tell me step-by-step what you remember from that day and we’ll see what we can piece together.’

Nicola stared forward, her eyes focused on the opposite wall. ‘I know it was cold and Beth and I had argued about something. She was giving me the silent treatment so I went to the common room.’

‘Who was in the common room?’ Kim asked, gently.

Nicola shook her head and then frowned. ‘No one. They were all outside, building a snowman.’

‘So, what did you do?’

Nicola tipped her head. ‘I heard voices, shouting. It was coming from Mr Croft’s office.’

‘What did you hear, Nicola?’

Kim was holding onto Nicola’s hand but her thumb rested on the slim wrist. The pulse had quickened.

‘They were talking about William, about covering something up. They were saying he would get into trouble, that he’d go to prison. They were talking about what would happen to Lucy.’

‘Do you remember who you heard in there?’

‘Mr Croft and Miss Wyatt were arguing. Father Wilks was talking quietly and I heard Tom Curtis and Arthur Connop in the background.’

Five of them, Kim thought. ‘What about Mary Andrews?’

Nicola shook her head. ‘She’d been off sick with the flu.’

‘What happened next, Nicola?’

‘Father Wilks opened the door and saw me. He looked angry. I ran away.’

Kim could feel the palm of Nicola’s hand turning clammy.

‘Where did you go?’

‘I went to find Beth. She was in our room. I was sick of people being angry with me.’

Kim’s voice was barely a whisper. ‘So, what did you do?’

‘I told her ... I told her ...’

Kim squeezed the hand but Nicola’s head was already shaking from side to side. Her eyes were darting around, searching her own memory, hoping to rearrange the past.

‘No. No. No. No. No.’

Kim tried to hang on to the hand but Nicola broke free easily.

She paced around the room like a caged animal looking for somewhere to hide.

The panic was rising in her. Her movements were quick and frantic.

‘No, it can’t be ... I couldn’t have ...’

Nicola’s hands thumped down on the breakfast bar. She turned and started banging her fists into the wall units and then punching herself in the head.

Kim ran over and grabbed Nicola from behind, forcing her arms to her sides to prevent her from any further damage to her own body.

‘What did you tell Beth?’

Nicola struggled to free herself from Kim’s hold but she had interlocked her fingers and she wasn’t about to let go.

‘Please stop, I can’t ...’

Kim’s voice grew louder. ‘Nicola, you have to remember. What did you tell Beth?’

Nicola’s head thrashed from side to side. Kim craned her own neck back to avoid being struck.

Kim was shouting in her ear. ‘Tell me, Nicola. What did you tell your sister?’

‘I told her she could have the damned cardigan if it would make her happy,’ Nicola screamed.

Silence fell between them. Suddenly the fight left Nicola’s body and she fell to the ground, taking Kim with her.

Kim refused to let go. She sat on the floor, holding Nicola close. Kim knew the events of ten years ago were finally playing in her mind.

‘She took it, didn’t she?’

Nicola nodded and Kim could feel the tears dripping onto her hands.

‘So, they all thought she was you, didn’t they, because of the cardigan?’

Nicola nodded again. ‘One minute I looked outside and she was playing with the others and then I couldn’t find her. I kept asking people and they all told me she was somewhere else. In the end I went to my room to wait for her but she never came.

‘Later, just before the fire, I saw them out of the kitchen window. They were all standing around a hole and I knew. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared they were going to come back for me so when the fire started I was just relieved that they couldn’t get me anymore.’

Kim knew that Beth wouldn’t have been able to run away. Her knee wouldn’t have allowed it in that cold weather.

‘When did Beth come back, Nicola?’

‘About two weeks ago,’ she answered hoarsely.

When the announcement was made about the dig and once again Nicola felt frightened.

‘You know now that you brought her back, don’t you, Nicola?’

‘Noooooo ...’

The sound was that of a keening animal. A poor wounded soul that was writhing in pain. Kim held fast while Nicola tried to escape the events in her own head.

The knowledge of what she’d done as Beth was not to be shared now. It was a realisation Nicola would reach eventually in the care of a good psychiatrist.

As she sat rocking the young, broken girl whose guilt had gained control of her, Kim doubted that Nicola would ever be fit to stand trial for the murder of Teresa Wyatt, Tom Curtis and Arthur Connop.

After a few minutes, Kim gently eased herself backwards.

It was time to make the call.