Odette felt the anger flutter inside, anger at something that had happened almost fifty years earlier.
'We knew our daughter, she was seventeen years old, there is no way she would have left us worrying.'
'Did Penny have a boyfriend?'
She looked back at Spenner and shook her head. 'No, she had no interest in boys, she'd loved school and had lots of friends, one or two were boys but the majority were girls and they all got along fine but no, she never had a boyfriend.'
'Did anyone come to see you the day after you reported her missing?'
When Joan Salter shook her head, Odette felt the anger increase at the seeming lack of interest shown by the people in charge back then.
'No, but we went back to the station, we were there at nine o'clock exactly, and this time we told the officer behind the desk that we were going nowhere until we saw his superior officer.'
'And then I take it you took them to the bus stop?' Odette asked.
'We sat there until Detective Ross came out of his office, and even then, he didn't seem concerned, but my John had heard enough and I'm afraid he lost his temper with Ross and, in the end, he agreed to come with us.'
'What did he say when he saw the blood?'
Joan turned in her seat as the kettle clicked off, rising she walked back to the sink to get a couple of cups. 'Trouble is, it had been raining during the night and a lot of the blood had been washed away. Eventually, Ross arranged to have the woodland park searched and then he went to the gas board to question those who worked there. Penny worked in the office with three other girls, they all said she had been fine when she left to get the bus, it was just another day, nothing unusual had happened.'
'And no one came forward to offer any help?' Spenner enquired.
Joan shook her head, her eyes full of distress. 'They spent the day searching the park and then that was it.'
'There were no more follow ups?' Odette asked, trying her best to keep the disbelief from her voice.
'Ross said that although there was blood at the bus stop, there was no way to prove that it belonged to Penny and besides, like I said, it had rained during the night, so it was more of a faint stain than a puddle like it had been the night before.'
'But surely they questioned individuals about it?' Spenner asked.
'No,' Joan added water to the drinks and a splash of milk and sugar before carrying them back to the table and sitting down. 'I know it seems pathetic, and we thought the same thing, but what hurt the most was that we started to believe the things that Ross was saying.'
'What kind of things?'
The woman's shoulders fell, her face crumpling with a pain that had never left her for the past fifty years, an agony buried deep inside that had never really gone away.
'We went back to the station three times, Ross said the case was ongoing but that's all he would say, John tried to get the man to provide details, but he just wouldn't do it. So, we went back a week later, and this time he asked us if we really knew our daughter, I mean, at first we didn't understand what he was talking about.'
'Did he explain what he actually meant?' Odette asked, the coffee in front of her untouched.
They could feel her distress filling the room, her liver-spotted hands shaking slightly as she folded them in her lap. 'He made out that we didn't really know Penny at all, he said that perhaps she'd had a boyfriend that we knew nothing about, John got angry and started shouting, but Ross just turned away and vanished into his office. We couldn't believe it, we just stood there, even the desk sergeant looked surprised though he just kind of shrugged, we came away from the place feeling as if we were somehow bad parents. My husband died five years ago, and over the years the words that Ross said have been going around my head. I started to think that he could have been right, maybe we hadn't known our daughter at all, you hear of people just vanishing and starting a new life somewhere else, don't you?' she looked at Odette, the despair shining in her eyes.
Spenner placed his hands on the table, his face full of empathy. 'That's true it does happen but even those who vanish usually get in touch with their family at some point, Mrs Salter, and that has never happened with Penny, has it?'
'We never heard a thing, we even used to walk the streets looking for her, but time passes, and you realise that you can't keep doing that, you can't keep torturing yourself year after year.'
'We can understand that, Joan,' Odette said, her words heartfelt. 'But my colleague's right and you knew your daughter better than anyone, it sounds to us as if you were treated very badly by those in charge at the time.'
More tears spilled free as she bowed her head slightly. 'Back then you knew no different, you respected the police, we thought that they would find out what had happened to our Penny, but they never did.'
'You said you went to the station three times?' Spenner asked.
'That's right, but the third time we called, Ross refused to see us, flatly refused and that was the last time we ever went there.'
Spenner and Odette exchanged a brief look, both seeing the shock and disbelief in the other's eyes.
'My husband even went to the bus station to find out who had been driving the bus on the night she vanished, and the driver said he didn't even stop that night on Frog Lane, there was no one waiting to get on or off, but he did say he knew Penny, he used to pick her up regularly, so he was surprised when she wasn't at the stop.'
Picking up the cup, Odette took a drink even though she didn't feel thirsty, she didn't want to offend the lady opposite, who remained with her head bowed, her blue-grey hair reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher's.
When Joan raised her head there was a glimmer of hope mixed with the despair in her eyes. 'Are you reopening the case?' she asked in a tremulous voice.
Odette felt Spenner tense slightly by her side, and she chose her next words carefully. 'The truth is a case like this is never really closed, but you've been most helpful, and I promise that if we find anything then we will let you know, we won't keep you in the dark.'
Joan Salter looked relieved and then she nodded. 'Please believe me, I know my Penny wouldn't have run away, she was happy at home, she was never any trouble, and in the past if she'd had any problems then she would always come to either me or her father, she loved her job and got on with everyone, she had no enemies at all.'
'We believe you and, once again, we're sorry for the way you were treated,' Odette said as she rose to her feet, Spenner followed suit and then they were heading from the room with Joan close behind.
Opening the front door, they stepped outside before turning to look at the elderly woman, her eyes still swimming with tears, her hands locked together.
'We'll be in touch,' Odette said.
'Thank you so much for coming, it's such a relief to know that someone is taking me seriously after all these years.'
Odette smiled and Spenner nodded, and then they were heading towards the car.
Once inside, Odette sighed heavily, and Spenner shook his head.
'I have no idea who this Ross character was, but he sounds like a complete bloody tosser,' Spenner said as he started the engine.
Odette looked at the house just as Joan appeared at the front window and waved before closing the curtains. 'That poor woman,' she said in a heartfelt voice before pulling her phone out and scrolling through the numbers. 'I'll let Bannister know what she said, and then we need to get back to the station, we have some more digging to do, and I want to check up on this Ross character.'
Spenner nodded in understanding before flicking on the lights and pulling away from the kerb, his face set in a scowl of anger as he thought about the detective named Ross.
66
The drive home from the hospital felt tortuous, Hannah had spoken to the doctor who had informed her that James had been scanned again, they suspected a blood clot on the brain, but the schedule had been put back to the following morning when they would do some exploratory surgery. When she had explained to Morgan a
bout what was going to happen, her daughter had broken down and sobbed, and now she sat in the passenger seat in silence as the feeble daylight started to fade, the drab conditions making them feel even worse than they already did.
Trouble was Hannah had only told her daughter half the story, leaving out the dire warnings that the doctor had imparted about James and his condition. He had spoken about the possibility of brain damage to varying degrees, by the time she had left his office she had gone straight to the toilets and locked herself in one of the cubicles before breaking down completely.
Her mind had been full of images of James after the operation, eyes blank, his brain no longer functioning, she had pictured him at home, the earlier image of him strapped into a wheelchair with a sliver of drool hanging from his bottom lip coming back with a vengeance to haunt her. Then the guilt had flooded through her mind as she realised that she would never be able to cope with a situation like that, having to care for a man she no longer recognised.
It had taken her over fifteen minutes to regain some semblance of calm and even then, she had been shaking inside as she headed back through the hospital to give Morgan the censored version of what the doctor had told her.
Now, she tried to concentrate on the road ahead, her hands gripping the wheel tight as she fought to keep the image of a brain-damaged James from paralysing her mind. She couldn't allow herself to think how things might turn out, it was too painful, too agonising to imagine him lost and separated from the world and from those he loved.
'Lights!' Morgan suddenly screamed.
Hannah blinked and then slammed on the brakes as she spotted the red traffic light glaring through the rain. Despite the wet conditions, the tyres still screeched, and they were hurled forward, the seat belts biting into their shoulders.
Snapping her head to the left, Hannah looked at Morgan who stared back at her with wide eyes full of panic.
'I'm sorry, I was…'
'Miles away,' her daughter interrupted.
Licking her lips, Hannah nodded before checking the mirrors, her cheeks inflated in relief as she let the sigh escape.
'You were thinking about Dad, weren't you?'
The lights changed, and Hannah drove forward, her nerves stretched to breaking point, beads of sweat on her forehead. 'I'm sorry, I need to concentrate, Morgan, if it hadn't been for you then I would have gone straight through those lights.'
Reaching out, Morgan placed a hand on her mother's shoulder. 'It's OK, Mum, don't worry Dad's going to be OK.'
Slotting into another gear, Hannah risked a quick glance at her daughter, she was smiling although tears still shone in her eyes.
'I know you don't believe me, but he really will be OK.'
'But how do you know?' Hannah asked as she faced the front again.
'It's just a feeling.'
Hannah thought back to Morgan in tears as she told her about the dream she'd had the night before, her father's funeral, there had been terror in her eyes and voice, yet now she seemed to have changed her mind, and as far as Hannah was concerned that was a blessing.
The wipers swept back and forth, and Hannah Pence cleared her throat.
'Is Elle coming over again?' she asked.
'I'm not sure if I want to see her tonight.'
This time Hannah spotted the next set of lights and slowed down. 'You need some time alone?'
'I think so,' Morgan paused, 'the truth is I don't deserve a friend like Elle.'
Hannah felt the surprise register on her face. 'What makes you think that?' she asked, easing across the junction.
'When I was with Scott, I ignored her, I thought I had grown up and she hadn't, but the truth is I was just being pathetic.'
'Like I said last night, first love is never easy,' Hannah told her as she indicated left and turned onto the estate.
'But it wasn't love, I thought it was, but it was childish and immature, all I was doing was pretending to be something I'm not.'
'But Elle's still your friend, if you had upset her, she wouldn't have slept over.'
Morgan sighed heavily as they weaved along the twisting road before pulling onto the drive of the house.
When she saw James's car parked in the garage Hannah felt her heart skip a beat. 'Listen to me, Morg, we all make mistakes, no doubt Elle will make her own in time, but the main thing is we all need friends especially at times like this, so don't make the mistake of pushing her away.'
Daughter looked at mother and once again Morgan nodded. 'I'll give her a ring and ask her over.'
Hannah smiled as she pushed the car door open and stepped out into the rain, closing it before hurrying to the front door. As she slipped the key into the lock she turned, Morgan was still in the passenger seat, the phone held to her ear.
With a sense of relief, Hannah unlocked the door and stepped inside, she had taken four strides along the hall when the blow smashed into the back of her head and she pitched forward into the waiting darkness.
67
Lasser hung back in the shadows of the huge mill as Bannister stalked back and forth, his face like thunder.
When he came off the phone, Lasser waited for the DCI to explode but as he slipped the phone back into his pocket, Lasser saw his shoulders slump.
'What's happened?' he asked.
'That was Odette, she's spoken to Penny Salter's mother and she suspects that the girl could have been murdered, I tell you those in charge back then were either halfwits or bloody corrupt,' Bannister kept his voice to a low hiss afraid to raise it and have it booming out around the vast space.
Lasser listened as Bannister explained about the missing girl from nineteen seventy-three and the seeming lack of effort made by those in charge, by the time he had finished, Lasser understood exactly why the DCI was so angry.
Scrubbing a hand over his head, Bannister looked around the gloomy space. 'What we don't know is if Julie Rawlins killer knew about Penny Salter.'
Lasser thought for a moment before answering. 'The truth is all we can do is hope he turns up here with Clara Bell, we can't do anything about what happened in the past, if Penny Salter has never been found then I don't see how our guy can do a copycat killing. We have no real proof that the girl even died back then, and even is she did how could this bastard know about it?'
Bannister grunted and nodded. 'Christ, I hope you're right.'
They looked at one another, then Bannister pulled the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lighting two before handing one over, Lasser made no comment on the ''quitting'' front, instead he took a long pull before blowing the smoke out.
'Look at this place,' Bannister said. 'It just about sums this country up, we used to be at the forefront of everything, yet as always those in power fucked it all up, and the little people paid the price.'
'The ''little people'' probably worked every hour God sent in places like this for next to nothing,' Lasser replied.
Bannister flicked him a sour glance and then sighed. 'It just makes my blood boil.'
'Everything makes your blood boil.'
'Cheeky bastard.'
Lasser flicked ash onto the timber floor. 'I'm not saying it's a bad thing.'
'I should hope not, because you are equally as bad.'
Lasser didn't even bother mounting a defence. 'You want to take a look at the roof?' he asked.
'Yeah, we might as well get the layout of the place.'
They set off walking, the wind blowing through the glassless windows, rain speckling onto the oak boards.
'You can still smell the linseed,' Bannister commented as they crossed the space that at one time would have been full of machinery, spinning the cotton, the air full of the mechanical clattering and banging.
Reaching the far side of the huge space, they walked through a gap where a door would have once stood, through into another space identical to the one they had just left, in the distance they could see a flight of steps heading upwards.
'I wonder why the killer brought Norma Rowbot
tom here?' Lasser asked as they walked, the cigarette smoke trailing over their shoulders.
'I guess we'll never know,' Bannister replied as they started to climb the steps to the second floor.
'There must have been a reason, I mean, why not kill her on one of the lower levels or even outside?'
'I have no idea, all I'm concentrating on is the here and now, as much as I hate the thought of anyone suffering there's nothing we can do for Norma Rowbottom, but we can hopefully try and stop Clara Bell from ending up the same way.'
They fell silent as they made it to the second floor which was a carbon copy of the one they had just left, spotting the next flight of stairs to their left they headed over.
As they climbed, Lasser tried to picture the killer forty-seven years earlier, had he dragged Norma Rowbottom up these very same steps or had she come willingly, having no suspicions of the terrible danger she was in?
Even back then the mill had been closed, but again he turned the question over in his mind, why had he brought her here in the first place? He moved the puzzle pieces around in his mind and the more he thought about it the more he came to believe that Norma must have been unaware of what was going to happen to her on that fateful night.
If she had struggled, he couldn't see the killer manhandling her up to the roof, it would have been too risky and ultimately pointless, and if she had been unconscious then carrying her up all these steps would have been difficult and unnecessary. Dismissing the two thoughts, he was left with only two things that made sense, either Norma had arranged to meet the man up on the roof or they had come here together, and she had been clueless about his intentions until it was too late.
Reaching the third floor, they paused for a few seconds, the view from the window to their left showed the ring road that ran around the Orwell pub, a one-way system, the headlights of the cars rushing to get somewhere, the roadside lights shining through the rain as daylight slowly turned to night.
'I reckon Norma Rowbottom came here willingly with her killer, which means she must have known the bastard,' Bannister suddenly said.
Third Eye - DS Lasser Series 25 (2021) Page 22
