Twisted

Chapter 15

Agnes could not open the front door as the safety chain was on, so she walked up the lane towards the garage in the hope that Harry Dunn was there. The garage doors were closed; frustrated and concerned, Agnes hurried back to the front of the house and dialled the landline. It rang for what seemed an interminable time before Lena answered.

‘Mrs Fulford, it’s Agnes, the safety chain is on.’

Lena was still in her pyjamas and looked dreadful.

‘What time is it?’

Agnes said it was eight fifteen; she was early because she felt she should be at the house at this time of crisis. She’d brought a carrier bag full of newspapers, and reported that the appeal about Amy had also been on the local morning news. Lena slumped into a chair at the kitchen table. She had woken up lying on the floor by her bed; the telephone ringing had made her heart pump as she hoped it was Amy. Agnes took out the papers and then busied herself putting on the kettle and filling the coffee percolator. She placed the wine glasses into the dishwasher along with the soup plates and rinsed the soup pan out. Lena meanwhile scoured every article, which featured headlines such as TEENAGER AMY FULFORD MISSING, PARENTS’ FEARS FOR FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD SCHOOLGIRL GROW and AMY COME HOME. There were requests for anyone with information to come forward and two papers included a photograph, and yet it had not made the front page in a single paper.

‘The local papers will make more of it,’ Agnes said comfortingly while fetching a cup and saucer for Lena’s coffee.

‘I’m going to take a shower and get dressed. I’ll take my coffee upstairs,’ Lena told her, leaving the papers scattered over the table.

Agnes poured herself a mug as Harry Dunn rang the doorbell. He sat with Agnes and looked through the papers as she gave him a coffee and a Penguin biscuit. Eventually he refolded them and slowly tore off the wrapper of his biscuit.

‘What do you think?’ he asked morosely.

‘I don’t know. I mean those articles don’t say much, do they? They sort of underline that she’s missing but you don’t get any details, but if she has just run off then surely she’ll read the papers and make contact. If she doesn’t then God only knows what has happened to her.’

‘Is her passport missing?’ he wondered, crumpling the biscuit paper.

‘I don’t know. Mrs Fulford’s in a right state, she’s usually up by six and in her office upstairs. Not like her to oversleep, unless she doused herself with sleeping tablets – she’d left them out on her beside cabinet yesterday morning. I think her husband was here because there’s two empty bottles of wine and dirty crockery, unless she had some other visitor. She was holed up in the TV room watching videos when I left last night.’

They finished their coffee and Agnes cleared up the kitchen, with Harry still sitting at the table. They both looked anxiously towards the phone as it rang. Agnes let it carry on, expecting Lena to pick it up as the lights showed it was the business line. It stopped as the answer phone clicked in and then it rang again immediately, this time on the house line, and Agnes answered.

‘The Fulford residence,’ she said briskly.

Lena stepped out of the shower in her bathroom and, grabbing a towel, she snatched the receiver from the wall, to hear Agnes telling her there was a reporter wishing to speak to her and she didn’t know whether or not to put him through. Lena had a brief conversation with a journalist from the local newspaper but declined to give an interview. It was by now eight forty, and the home line rang continuously. Somehow the journalists had gained her ex-directory private number and they were persistent and quite aggressive. Added to the barrage of calls on her home line, the business line was ringing literally every minute. Staff from sales, receptionists, deliveries and even clients called to enquire about Amy, even though hardly any had ever met her, and they left message after message. Lena’s mobile was equally active, it never stopped, as her staff unable to get through on the business line reverted to attempting to speak to her via her mobile.

Lena was at her wits’ end; the perpetual ringing felt like a nightmare intrusion. She was afraid that even if Amy had tried to make contact she would not have been able to get through.

A journalist with a photographer approached Reid and Burrows as they drew up in their car and asked if there was news. Reid kept his cool and gave them a brief ‘sadly not as yet’ as he and Burrows hurried to the front door. An anxious-looking Agnes answered and let them both in as the telephones rang. ‘Mrs Fulford’s in the sitting room and she’s really becoming very distressed by all these phone calls,’ she confided.

Reid and Burrows found Lena standing by the sofa, wearing a tracksuit and slippers. Her expression for a moment was so hopeful that Reid quickly had to say there were no developments. He asked if she would allow Barbara Burrows to begin fending the calls and mentioned that a journalist and a photographer were outside the property.

‘I obviously keep on hoping it will be Amy, so I can’t just let it ring.’ Lena’s face reverted to its former anxiety. ‘My business line has also been inundated with calls. I have the answer phone on but I will have to eventually check who has made contact. Right now I just can’t face having conversations with anyone.’ She clasped her hands together. ‘Sorry, what am I thinking of? Would you like something to drink, tea or…?’

‘No, no, it’s fine.’ Reid looked at her steadily. ‘Your housekeeper and driver were seen removing boxes from your garage yesterday afternoon – do you know anything about that?’

She frowned, confused. ‘Boxes?’

‘Yes, we had a report from a neighbour, and I have been instructed to search these premises and that includes the garage. I will be as diplomatic and unobtrusive as possible, but the focus will be on your daughter’s bedroom in the hope we will find some clue to her whereabouts. Do you know what was being removed from your garage?’

‘I have no idea – there must be some mistake.’

‘Both your driver and housekeeper were seen packing the boxes.’

Lena walked to the sitting-room door and opened it. ‘Agnes, can you come in here for a minute please?’

Agnes came to the door, thinking they were going to ask for coffee to be brought in, but Lena looked at her angrily. ‘Did you take anything out of the garage yesterday?’

‘Yes, you told Harry that he could clear some old things out and I took what he didn’t want. Neither of us would take anything without your knowledge or permission, Mrs Fulford.’

Reid held up his hand, and asked if Lena would mind leaving him with the housekeeper so he could talk to her privately. Lena was furious but at the same time confused because she couldn’t really remember giving Harry or Agnes permission. Reid asked if Harry was available, as he would also like to speak to him. Lena agreed to go into the kitchen and call him as he was probably in the garage. Throughout these exchanges the phones could be heard ringing constantly.

Agnes folded her arms. ‘She was looking for the old video player because she wanted to watch some tapes of her daughter. Harry said he’d been told to clear out the old boxes she’d been storing in there.’

Reid couldn’t help but notice how Agnes’s round face glistened with sweat and she kept on clasping and unclasping her hands. He also thought it rather rude that she kept referring to Mrs Fulford as ‘she’.

‘What was in Mrs Fulford’s boxes, Mrs Moors?’

She sighed with agitation. ‘Mostly old bed linen – well, to be honest, she probably thinks of it as old but to me it was very stylish. Couple of table cloths and a few pans and some crockery, that was all I took; whether or not Harry took other stuff I wouldn’t know… because he’d already earmarked a couple of boxes. To be honest, I mean I could be wrong, but I think she didn’t like keeping the sheets and things from when her husband was here.’

She paused, twisting her hair back from her face and hooking it behind her ears. ‘I can bring it back if you want me to, or if she wants it back, but that’s all I took and Harry said she gave him permission. I paid for a taxi to move it.’

‘Were there any of Mrs Fulford’s daughter’s belongings in the boxes?’

‘The boxes have been stacked up in the garage for quite a while, but I don’t recall seeing anything of hers.’

Reid thanked Agnes, and as she opened the door Lena walked in, saying that her driver was coming and that a van with SOCOs had drawn up outside.

‘DC Burrows said they were forensics officers – do I let them in? Or do you want to talk to them?’

He smiled and said that the SOCOs were assisting in the search and would need to be shown Amy’s bedroom, as he would like them to begin there. Hesitating, Lena apologized for the confusion with the contents of the garage. ‘I honestly can’t remember giving Harry permission, but I must have done – I was in such a state yesterday. I went over to the garage to find an old video player as I wanted to watch some family films and…’ She lifted her arms in a shrug.

‘Were there any of Amy’s belongings in the garage?’

‘No, I don’t think so. It was mostly crockery and linen. I meant to give it to the Princess Alice Trust months and months ago, but just never got around to it. I’m sorry…’

Harry Dunn tapped on the open door and anxiously eased his way into the room.

‘You did give me permission, Mrs Fulford, you said I could take whatever I wanted as they’d been stacked and left in the garage for so long. You had to move them aside to find the video recorder.’

Barbara Burrows stood behind Harry and signalled that the SOCOs were ready to go into Amy’s bedroom.

The house phone began to ring and Lena turned to Reid. ‘Is it all right if I show them upstairs and DC Burrows answers the phone?’

Reid nodded and Barbara went to take the phone. Harry remained standing just inside the door, and not until Reid signalled for him to come in and sit down did he nervously do as requested, closing the door.

‘Agnes told me there was some problems with the removal of stuff from the garage, but I swear I got permission, I would not have taken anything without knowing it was okay to do so. Mrs Fulford said for me to clear the boxes and that’s what I did – I mean I can bring it all back.’

‘That won’t be necessary, Mr Dunn,’ Reid assured him, ‘unless there were items that belonged to Amy, or anything that could give an indication as to where she might have gone.’

‘No, it was household stuff and Agnes took a lot of it, for her daughter. She got a local taxi firm to move it out.’

Reid rubbed at his chin; the simple explanation Harry and Agnes had given made him doubt there was an ulterior motive behind the removal of the boxes.

Harry edged to the end of his seat. ‘I’ve still got the stuff in the boxes at home.’

‘There was nothing unusual in any of these boxes?’

Harry looked puzzled, and Reid watched him closely. ‘Bad smells, stains, anything suspicious?’

‘No, sir. Also, the boxes had been done up with parcel tape and none of them had been recently opened. I tore it off to check what was inside – you know, choosing what I was going to take – and then Agnes came into the garage and she picked and mixed if you know what I mean?’

‘Thank you, that’ll be all, and you’ll be on hand, will you, if Mrs Fulford needs you?’

‘Yes, sir, I’ll be here.’

Harry made small quick steps to the door, and froze when Reid suddenly spoke again. ‘One more thing. Who gave you the order to clean Mr Fulford’s car?’

‘Agnes, she give me the keys and I gave it a wash and interior valet as it was filthy inside and out.’

‘You did a good job.’

Harry scuttled out, his heart thudding because for a minute he thought he was going to be asked about the watch he’d found between the front seats. He’d stashed it in a drawer at his flat, and now it worried him deeply and he realized he’d better get rid of it fast.

Lena stood in Amy’s bedroom doorway, watching the two forensics officers begin their work. After a few moments she went back down the stairs just as Reid walked into the hallway.

He asked Lena about the video films she had been watching and she told him that she would give the tapes to him if he wanted.

‘Some of them are from when she was a child, but there are more recent tapes – well, not for the last couple of years but…’ She hesitated enough for him to enquire if she felt they were important.

‘Can I show you what made me very agitated? It might mean nothing, but it’s something I never noticed before. If you’d like to come with me to the TV room the videotapes are all there.’

He suggested that Lena set up what she wanted him to look at as he needed to have a word with DC Burrows in the kitchen, where his colleague was now fending off the calls, which were coming in thick and fast. Burrows nimbly put off the numerous press requests for interviews and to anyone making a personal enquiry she was very polite, saying there was no news at present. She made careful notes on all the callers and was thankful for a tray of coffee and biscuits Agnes brought her.

Agnes was still hovering and Reid asked her to leave them for a moment. DC Burrows gestured to her notepad and said that the majority of calls were press enquiries but Mrs Fulford’s business answer phone was full and suggested that perhaps those messages should be checked out.

‘I’ll discuss it with Mrs Fulford. I want you to call the dog section and get a cadaver dog brought in to go over the garage.’

Barbara looked aghast and Reid was quick to explain himself.

‘We need to do everything by the book and I’m just being cautious.’

As Reid entered the TV room Lena turned from where she was standing by the television with videotapes in her hand.

‘I want you to see this one first. She’d be eleven – it was a birthday party in Spain when we were on holiday.’

Reid sat on the sofa and watched as five children tucked into large bowls of ice cream. The focus was on the birthday girl who suddenly took off her sun hat and swirled it over her head, laughing. She was golden brown, her hair bleached white from the sun, and she was standing up on her chair as a birthday cake was brought to the table by her equally suntanned father. She was an extraordinarily pretty child, very slender, and her excited shrieks and laughter were infectious as she clapped her hands and blew out the candles. Lena switched off the tape.

‘She was always laughing.’ She patted a stack of videos, all dated with handwritten labels. ‘All of these are showing how much fun she was, a real delight to be around, and now I want you to look at this tape; it’s from a couple of years ago, so she would be thirteen.’

Lena busied herself ejecting one tape and inserting the other, then came and sat close to him. ‘I have to be honest – you know, we used to takes reels and reels of videos, and I don’t even recall sitting watching these latest ones, and Amy never asked to watch them. I am not making excuses, but this one was taken when Marcus and I were not getting along, although at no time did we ever make it obvious to Amy.’ She pointed the remote at the television and pressed play.

Reid found it slightly uncomfortable to be sitting so close to her, not that she appeared to notice. Leaning forward with her attention on the screen, she fast-forwarded, stopped and gestured towards the TV set. Reid watched the footage of Amy, who was wearing another floppy straw sunhat, big round dark glasses, and a white bikini. She was tall and lithe, bordering on skinny, but somewhat surprisingly for a thirteen-year-old, there was a definite sexual quality to her as she walked towards a sun lounger. She was carrying a bottle of water and a book.

‘This was when we were in Antigua; we had a cabana opening onto the private beach,’ Lena said quietly. Amy bent to a small side table by the lounger and put down her bottle of water and book. She then picked up a folded yellow beach towel and carefully shook it out to fold over the cushions. She removed her sunglasses, holding them laconically in her left hand and with her right she snatched off her sunhat and threw it angrily towards the camera.

‘Turn that fucking thing off!’

It was quite shocking to hear her swearing. Her thick blonde hair fell loose to her shoulders and she was stunningly pretty, but her face was contorted with anger. The camera angle moved to the side and then it shut off. There were a few seconds of close-up on sand as the film started again and Lena could be seen using the sun lounger next to Amy’s; she was deeply tanned, her body oiled, and she was wearing the same sunhat. The sea was only ten feet or so away; palm trees swayed gently beside their cabana and now Amy was filmed coming out of the water, her wet hair plastered back from her perfect face as she moved closer towards the sun loungers. She bent to pick up her towel and then realized she was being filmed. This time she twisted the towel and began to flick it towards the camera, shouting for it to be turned off.

‘Who’s doing the filming?’ Reid asked.

‘Marcus. That’s him laughing.’

Reid sneaked a look at his wristwatch as Lena began to fast-forward the footage. He couldn’t understand what point she was trying to make, but didn’t want to appear uninterested or upset her by asking. She showed another scene of Amy sitting reading her book, and then Amy curled in a foetal position at the edge of the water as it gently lapped around her. Reid was becoming impatient as he really had more pressing issues to deal with and although he appreciated being shown the footage, he decided that he should get on with his job.

‘Thank you, Mrs Fulford,’ he said, about to stand.

‘Please, I’m not finished. You may not realize it, but she is never smiling, not on any of the footage, and I have been trying to recall exactly when this was filmed, because what you have just seen is not like Amy, and there is one section that has really disturbed me.’

Reid thought to himself that it was just a growing teenager with angst who didn’t like being filmed. But being polite he waited as she fast-forwarded through what appeared to be candlelit dinners, beach volleyball games, and then she turned to him.

‘This section, and before you ask, I actually filmed this because I remember going into her room; we were going to have dinner on the beach.’

The interior of the cabana was very simple – white muslin drapes, white duvet and sheets, and a mosquito net surrounding the double bed. Numerous flickering candles gave the room a shadowy yellowish glow. The slatted door was open and through it could be seen the soft yellow beach beyond the veranda and the glistening dark sea, like a picture postcard of tropical calm. Amy was naked on the bed, her blonde hair splayed out across the pillow. There was just a few seconds of the film before Amy swiped away the mosquito net and her face distorted with rage as she shouted, ‘Get out and leave me alone!’

The camera was switched off, and Lena turned to Reid. ‘You want to see it again?’

‘I can’t really see the point, Mrs Fulford.’

‘Then you didn’t see what she was doing, and nor did I until I replayed it. She was masturbating and she was only thirteen years old,’ Lena said, distressed.

Realizing how upset she was, he didn’t think it wise to view the tape again.

‘I’m sorry, I missed it, but I don’t doubt what you saw, Mrs Fulford. There could be an innocent explanation…’

‘Innocent? She’s only fifteen – why would she behave like that? I’m worried that she may have been abused.’

Reid himself was more open-minded and wondered if it was just the actions of a young girl who was discovering her body when her mother walked in unannounced. He wanted to try and change the subject and end the matter for now.

‘I will seek the opinion of a child protection expert back at the station,’ he said quietly, without elaborating on what she perceived to be the shocking content of the home movie.

She started walking back and forth, wringing her hands, reiterating that she should have been more aware and how guilty she felt that she had not seen the video before now. Suddenly she stopped. ‘Oh God, it was shortly after we returned from the holiday that Marcus suggested the separation. I remember now.’

Reid wondered if she was trying to cast aspersions on her ex-husband, or was suspicious about Marcus’s relationship with Amy, but he didn’t want to press her in case he was wrong and she became even more upset than she already was. He decided to approach his predicament from a different angle.

‘Has Mr Fulford seen the video you just showed me?’

‘No, no, not yet, but you see when she came home she showed no signs that anything was wrong but there had to be. I feel wretched about it.’

‘Well, maybe you should discuss it with him as well and let me know what he says about it. Amy’s behaviour may be related to something that happened in Antigua, so it will help if you make a list of everyone you can recall who came into contact with Amy during that holiday.’

‘Yes, yes, I’ll do that.’

Reid still didn’t know for certain if Amy had been sexually abused, and with Lena in this nervous state he felt that it was not the right time to start questioning her on the possibility.

As he opened the door into the hall, Harry Dunn entered via the garden doors. Lena turned to demand of Harry in a high-pitched voice why he was there, as she had not asked for him. Harry apologized as he had been told to vacate the garage by a dog handler.

‘I don’t understand,’ she cried, becoming even more agitated. ‘Inspector, just why are you bringing dogs into my house?’

‘It’s a cadaver dog, Mrs Fulford,’ Harry said, and then wished he’d kept his mouth shut as Lena had to grip hold of the back of a dining chair.

‘Why? Why have you got them here – is there something you haven’t told me?’ she asked accusingly. Reid explained it was just a precaution as there had been a lot of movement seen in and around the garage.

‘You think her body was in there?’

Reid, increasingly exasperated, again repeated that it was a precaution, and they had no evidence that anything untoward had happened to her daughter. Lena seemed to calm down, and Reid finally managed to excuse himself and went out to the garden. He crossed the wide lawn and made his way to the rear of the garage, where the dog handler was working with a small spaniel. The dog was wagging its tail as his handler made a fuss of him. ‘Good boy, that’s a good boy.’ The dog handler looked towards Reid. ‘Nothing, he’s been all over the garage with no reaction, I even moved the boxes left on the side there, but it’s all clear.’

In the kitchen Harry hovered at the door, listening as DC Burrows continued fending calls. Agnes joined Harry and jerked her head for him to move further away.

‘They brought in a cadaver dog,’ she said.

‘I know, they’re still out there; it’s just a little black and white spaniel.’

‘It’s because of us packing up the bloody boxes and they obviously think Amy’s dead.’

‘Oh Christ,’ Harry said.

At this point the two forensics officers came down the stairs from Amy’s bedroom carrying plastic boxes. They had removed clothing, bed linen, and a few items from which, with luck, they could lift Amy’s fingerprints. Both men had been taken aback by the immaculate orderliness of the room, and they had found it difficult to find sets of prints, which was unusual. They had been warned about the broken drawer, but every surface had been wiped clean and in the en-suite bathroom they had found no prints at all, although they had removed a toothbrush. Even the hairbrush had been recently cleaned and no stray hairs were caught between the bristles.

‘You find anything interesting?’ Reid asked quietly, appearing in the hallway to meet them. He was not terribly surprised to hear that they had never come across such a well-cleaned room, especially as it belonged to a teenager. In a bathroom cabinet they had found bottles of window spray, bathroom tile cleaner, marble polish and sets of surgical gloves similar to the ones they themselves used.

Reid told them they should get back to the lab, and to get a move on with testing not only the items removed that morning, but everything from Marcus Fulford’s flat. He had also ensured that forensics has been given Amy’s overnight cabin bag. He then went to have a word with Agnes, who was dusting along a wooden cabinet that looked as if it was already polished to within an inch of its life.

‘Do you clean Amy’s bedroom?’

‘Well, I give it a hoover and obviously change the sheets, but she is very particular about keeping it spotless herself. I mean, I have a daughter, a lot older than her, but she’s never been so obsessive about her bedroom. She sprays the shower in there after every use; she can be in there for hours polishing and dusting, and that includes her perfume bottles and moisturizer and she has a place for everything.’

‘That’s very unusual in a young girl,’ he remarked, encouraging the woman to continue.

‘Yes, I know. The reason I know just how obsessive, and I am using the right word, she can be is because once I’d moved something or other and she knew, gave me a right ticking off, saying that I was not to touch her personal things. From then on I’ve never touched anything because she is a right little madam, she can get this nasty tone to her voice, looking down at me as if I’m beneath her. I mean, I don’t want to say anything bad about her, but she is a very arrogant young woman.’

This was a somewhat different picture of Amy to her previous description. It was obvious Agnes didn’t like her – in fact he was getting used to realizing that the portrait they’d all painted of her was cracking.

‘Will you take care of Mrs Fulford?’

‘Yes of course. Will Barbara be staying on? If she is, I’ll prepare some lunch.’

‘That would be very kind.’

In the kitchen, DC Burrows was still answering the phones, but they had quietened down somewhat. Glancing up as he came in, she asked if he would like to look at the names of the callers, which she had divided into two lists, personal and press.

Reid skimmed the list of private calls, remarking that a Gail Summers had rung frequently.

‘What’s the connection?’

‘She runs Mrs Fulford’s children’s party business and seems desperate to talk to her; she appears genuinely very concerned. The other frequent caller is a Marjory Jordan – she said she was Mrs Fulford’s therapist and again was obviously very concerned about the missing girl.’

Reid passed the notebook back, asking DC Burrows to make a copy for him and to remain at the house. ‘And look, if Marcus Fulford calls or makes an appearance, then let me know. I’m going to have to head back.’

‘Of course.’ Barbara Burrows smiled as confidently as she could, hoping that this was all making a good impression on her boss.

Back at the incident room, DS James Lane was waiting as they had received a call from the television station to say they could do a three-minute slot on their new crime show, Crime Night. They were semi-interested in broadcasting a reconstruction, but it would take a few days to set up and would be used the following week – obviously, only if the girl was still missing.

‘How did it go at the house?’ Lane enquired and Reid sighed, taking his seat behind his desk.

‘As you can imagine, there was a highly charged atmosphere.’

‘About the cadaver dog?’

Reid smiled. ‘A bit, but the dog didn’t react to a thing, not even a bloody yelp out of it. Mrs Fulford’s got herself all worked up that Amy was sexually abused because she was masturbating in a video.’

‘What?’ a startled-looking Lane remarked.

‘It may be something or nothing, and if you blinked you’d miss it. Thing is, I think she suspects her husband as the abuser.’

‘You think it’s the father?’ Lane asked and Reid shrugged, reluctant to admit that was what he suspected, as he was also loath to cast aspersions until he knew for sure.

Lane pressed him. ‘Did she say as much?’

‘No, and part of me was worried, in case I was wrong, that if I asked her she’d bite my head off. There’s a good deal of dysfunction in the family and to be honest the quiet innocent teenager everyone has described Amy to be is now appearing to be something of a Lolita.’