by Lee Weeks
Are you booked into the hotel?’ asked Carter.
‘Yes. The Penhal?’
‘You’ll like it, it’s all nautical themes, badger’s-bum beer and not a flat-screen TV in sight.’ Carter grinned.
‘What makes you so sure Samuel was brought here to Penhal?’
‘Because we’ve exhausted every lead in Greenwich and we have the kind of set-up in this place that could make it happen. This is the village that Raymonds built and now it’s pissed off with him – the worm is turning.’
‘You have such an original turn of phrase, Carter.’
‘Thanks.’ Carter knew Sandford was being sarcastic but he decided he’d take it as a compliment.
‘Cam’s opened the café,’ said Willis, as Carter came back inside the police station.
‘Where’s Pascoe now?’
‘Gone back to Penhaligon to brief the detectives helping with Stokes’ murder.’
‘That should be an interesting conversation.’
‘He’ll manage,’ Willis said. ‘Robbo came back to me about sightings of people in Greenwich. The lad at the Cutty Sark museum was shown photos of everyone. He picked out Raymonds, Mary-Jane Trebethin, Kensa and Mawgan and Cam Simmons.’
‘Cam?’
‘Yes, he was also caught on camera talking with Mawgan. I got Robbo to double check the entrance to the train station and there’s no sign of Cam. Robbo’s checking all the service stations on all possible routes to and from London to see if we can find Kensa.’
‘Kensa thinks Cam is sweet on her. I wonder if he’s meant to give her that impression,’ said Carter.
Willis and Carter crossed the street and opened the door to Cam’s café.
‘Hello, Cam. Can we get a couple of coffees, please.’
‘Same as last time?’
They waited while he prepared the drinks and then took them from the counter.
‘We’d like to have a chat.’
‘Yes . . .’ He looked around at the empty café. ‘Rushed off my feet today, as you can see.’ He laughed nervously.
Willis pointed to a corner table away from the window.
‘Here okay?’
Cam nodded. He poured himself a glass of water and came to sit opposite them in the booth. Willis got out her notebook.
‘Mr Simmons, Cam,’ Carter began. ‘We’re just trying to get a little background on everyone. Could you tell us how long you’ve had this café?’
‘About a year now. I’ve been back here eighteen months.’
‘Where were you before?’
‘I was in Bristol.’
‘But you were from here originally?’ Carter kept a smile on his face, but it was strained.
‘Yes. I was brought up here.’
‘Something pulled you back to the old mother ship?’
He smiled. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’
‘Did you come back here with a partner?’
‘I’m divorced. I have two children who I see every other weekend. They come and stay with me.’
‘Great place for kids here. You don’t live in the village, do you?’
‘No, just outside. Near the old mine workings on the way to Penhaligon, past Garra Cove.’
Willis looked at him with pen poised. ‘What’s the address?’ Willis asked.
‘Wheal Cottage, Garra.’
‘It’s your own place?’
‘Yes, it was part of my family’s farm. I inherited it.’
‘And then sold it off?’
‘Most of it. I wasn’t much of a farmer.’
‘Your father was, wasn’t he? He died in a farming accident, we were told. I guess that’s enough to put you off?’ Cam nodded, smiled, looked from one detective to the other. ‘What about your sister?’
‘My sister?’
‘Yes, Ella, isn’t it?’
‘My sister’s been missing for a long time. She was presumed dead.’
‘I’m sorry, it’s tough, you seem to have had more than your fair share of family tragedy.’
‘That’s the way it goes in the farming community. People die in accidents all the time.’
‘But your sister went missing, you said?’ Carter asked the questions while Willis wrote in her notebook.
‘Yes. She disappeared, ran away.’
‘Sixteen, I remember hearing?’
‘Yes.’
‘Martin Stokes is dead, did you hear?’
‘Yes. It’s very worrying.’
‘Yes, it is,’ Carter replied. ‘We are treating his death as murder. Were you up at the farm yesterday? We’re asking everyone their whereabouts. Nothing to worry about.’
‘Briefly, first thing.’
‘Why was that, if you don’t mind me asking?’
‘I wanted to speak to Mawgan,’ Cam said.
‘About?’
‘Just some personal stuff.’
‘Did you see anyone else at that time?’
‘When I was leaving I saw Mr Raymonds.’
‘What time was that?’asked Carter.
‘Abut ten.’
‘Did you intend to open the café?’
‘I changed my mind.’
‘When you left the farm, did you come back down the lane to the main road to Penhaligon?’
‘No,’ Cam said. ‘I think I went over the back way.’
‘Why was that?’
‘Just force of habit, no reason.’
‘You and Mawgan are good friends?’ asked Carter.
‘We’ve known one another all our lives.’
‘More than good friends?’
‘Not especially. Nothing that we want to share with anyone else.’
‘Especially Kensa?’
‘I’m very fond of Kensa, but I don’t feel any more than that,’ replied Cam.
‘But she thinks you do, did you know that?’ asked Carter. ‘She thinks you’re getting married.’
‘I’ve never given her hope of that. She lives in a fantasy world. I’ve always been honest with her.’
‘In your opinion, is Mawgan an honest person?’
‘Yes, I would say so.’
‘It’s just that she hasn’t been completely honest with us about the day of the funeral, the day Samuel was abducted in Greenwich,’ Carter said. ‘At first Mawgan said she went up and back by train and then she changed it to going up by train and coming back with Kensa. You also say you went up by train, is that still correct? You want to think if there’s anything here you need to amend? Because while we are spending valuable resources on scouring all the CCTV footage of passengers coming and going at stations, a little boy is dying somewhere.’ Willis passed Carter a photo from her bag and Carter slid it across the table.
‘Is this a photo of you and Mawgan in Greenwich on the Monday of the funeral?’
Cam stared at the photo for a few minutes and then he nodded. He took a drink of water. ‘Okay, I’m sorry. Mawgan phoned me in a panic. I wasn’t going to go that day and then Mawgan said Kensa had her car and intended to go and talk to Toby. I drove her up there. We went up in my car. We went to make sure Kensa was okay.’ He shook his head. ‘That’s all it was. Trouble is it coincided with the little boy being abducted. I didn’t want us to get blamed, or mixed up; I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry, really sorry.’
‘Why did you think you’d be blamed?’
‘I thought Kensa would. I didn’t want to admit seeing her there or going near Greenwich.’
‘So you made all of this up as soon as you heard about Samuel’s abduction?’ asked Carter.
‘Yes, I heard it that evening on the way home, on the news.’
‘Why didn’t Mawgan come back with you?’
‘Because Kensa was in a state and very unstable,’ Cam said. ‘Mawgan had no choice.’
‘Did Mawgan ask you to lie for her?’
‘No.’
‘Did you see any of the other people from Penhal while you were in Greenwich?’
‘I saw Raymonds.’
> ‘Did he see you?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Mawgan is someone you love, I think you’d lie for her.’
‘Not in this. Not to help her or Kensa or anyone else abduct a little boy.’
‘Mawgan’s had a tough life, hasn’t she?’ asked Carter.
‘Yes, farm life is hard round here.’ The sweat had gathered on Cam’s upper lip. He wiped it with the back of his hand.
‘You grew up on a farm next to Stokes’ place?’
‘Yes, we were neighbours.’
‘And Kensa?’
‘We were great friends when we were kids.’
Willis looked at Cam’s face – there was a hint of something in his eyes. There was a touch of dread and sadness at the line of questioning.
‘Did you get on with your father?’
‘Not too well.’
‘And Stokes?’
‘No. I didn’t like Martin Stokes.’
‘Why was that?’
‘He abused children.’
‘You?’
‘Yes, me and the girls.’ Cam took another drink of water.
‘What are we saying here, Cam?’
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Martin Stokes abused his kids and me and my sister on a regular basis. My father allowed it and participated in it. We lived in constant fear for our lives. What else is there for me to say?’ He blurted it out and then sat back in his chair and tapped his palms on the table as he looked towards the door.
‘I’m sorry, Cam.’ Willis studied Cam for signs of lying; there were none. He looked straight ahead and said it matter-of-factly but at the same time he sounded like he was trying to swallow something stuck in his throat.
‘Have you ever talked about this before?’ Willis asked. He shook his head. ‘Was there anyone else involved in this abuse apart from the two men?’
‘No.’
‘Did Raymonds know about it?’
‘I think so.’
‘Kensa told us she gave birth in the caravan. Must have been a tough thing, seeing your friend go through that?’ asked Carter.
‘I’m . . . sorry.’ Cam took another drink of water and a moment to gather his senses. ‘I’m truly sorry about that day. I have agonized over it and tried to make sense of it time and time again. Replayed it in my head. But, I was a minor. I was not in any position to question Sergeant Raymonds’ actions. I was so totally out of my depth. I have spent years regretting not helping her more.’
‘What could you have done?’ asked Willis.
‘I could have stayed with her that morning. I used to go and see her every day on my way to school. That day she was uncomfortable. She was restless. She kept moving around the van. I should have known something was wrong, but I didn’t, she wasn’t due for a month.’
‘What happened to her baby son?’ Willis asked.
Cam shook his head. ‘I have no idea. Raymonds brought the baby outside and went to fetch his wife, who was a nurse. I stayed with Kensa.’
‘Has she ever spoken to you about that time?’
‘Occasionally I see her on the cliff top near the old mine by my house. That’s where her caravan was then, just down the hill from my cottage. I see her and my heart breaks for her. She thinks she can hear him crying but it’s the wind in the old mine stack – it makes a horrible sound when it’s blowing in the wrong direction.’
‘I can see you are upset about what happened that day,’ Carter said as he watched Cam becoming more agitated.
‘It was something I never got over. After everything she’d been through, she deserved this one piece of happiness, but she didn’t get it.’
‘Do you know if the baby was born alive?’
‘Raymonds said it never drew breath. That’s all I know. I stayed with Kensa until Eileen came.’
‘What did Raymonds do with the baby’s body?’ asked Willis.
‘I have no idea.’
‘You didn’t ask him?’ Willis asked.
‘I didn’t really want to know. I was traumatized enough by it all. All I cared about was Kensa. I blamed myself for leaving her that morning – what if I’d gone to get help then? What if she’d gone to hospital then?’
‘What happened after that?’
‘Sergeant Raymonds and Eileen took over and I went back to my life. I didn’t see Kensa for a month after that. Every time I tried to see her they said she didn’t want to. When I did see her, I could see her falling apart; no one else knew about the baby except me and anyone Kensa told, like Mawgan. Kensa went to live in the caravan she has now and she became more isolated. She started to spend more time in Penhaligon. Social services took her in a couple of times but she always came back. I tried to reach her. I really tried. But I was just a kid myself and no one seemed to want to help her. Everyone thought it was someone else’s problem. In the end I had to leave. My own home situation wasn’t great and I went to live in Bristol.’
‘Why did you come back?’
‘I told you, my marriage ended and I came home. Like you do sometimes when you feel completely lost.’
‘You came home to this, that’s lucky?’ Carter sat back and took a sweeping gaze around the café. ‘That was a smart move, and now you have plans to expand up another level?’
‘That’s right. They’ve just been approved now. I’m hoping to put a restaurant on the top.’
‘Well, good luck with that. How do you feel about Raymonds now? You said it was a hard thing to get over, what happened to Kensa and the way it was dealt with?’
‘I suppose a lot of time has passed.’ He shook his head.
‘So, you didn’t come back here hoping to get justice for Kensa?’
Simmons reddened and shook his head.
‘She knows she can always come in here and get a meal. I’ll always come if she needs me, but the past belongs there. I can’t change it. Raymonds did what he believed was right, no doubt. I have to live with my life and move on. I’ve learned to do that; I don’t want to be like Kensa or even Mawgan. I don’t want my past to ruin my future. I’m glad I went away and went through what I did. It almost destroyed me, it ruined my marriage, and I’m sad about that, but I have learned to exist with my past.’
‘Cam, what did your sister say happened that night at the house?’
He shook his head. He looked exhausted.
‘I never saw her again, she never came home that night. That was the night she left town.’
Chapter 37
Lauren stood on the doorstep waiting for Russell to finish his business. She couldn’t trust him to go out on the common because he didn’t come back for hours. She leaned against the front door frame and watched as the sun came out and sent everything shimmering in the breeze. She took a deep breath and heard the scurry of canine feet on the tile floor. Russell came scampering past her and straight onto the driveway but stopped as he caught a scent and disappeared inside the undergrowth. She waited for him to reappear and then called him back into the house. She stopped by the carved newel post at the foot of the stairs and rested her hand there, feeling the carved faces of the animals that decorated it.
She wondered if Toby had touched the same post as he had stood where she did nearly fourteen years ago. He must have. She walked up the stairs and reached the landing. Lauren turned into the space there and stood and imagined what Toby would have seen. Which room was his? she wondered, and then realized it was probably the one she slept in. It could have been the one Ebony was in – doubtful that it would have been the other one because it was too near the bathroom. That would have been the guest room, guests came first. She turned the handle of her bedroom door and let the door push open while she stayed looking around, opening her eyes to see things Toby must have seen. This was probably never a place for children, it struck her. She remembered what Toby had told her – that his father never spent time with him if he could help it, that he paid for him to holiday with other people. That he only ever brought him down here that once after
his mother left.
Why did he bring him that one time? Lauren wondered. He couldn’t have known it would end so badly?
She stepped into her bedroom and walked around opening the wardrobes again, even though she’d done it when she arrived – she did it again, this time imagining Toby as he put his things away. The fifteen-year-old, excited about coming away with his father at long last. So happy that his exams were over and so in love with a local girl.
It made her heart ache. In her mind she saw Kensa and Toby together and it didn’t seem so strange. They must have both been skinny little things, holding hands, kissing. It must have seemed like the beginning of something wonderful. Lauren went to stand in front of the mirror on the chimneybreast. Snowdrops and garden flower tiles decorated the hearth and grate surround. She looked into her own eyes and she imagined Toby standing behind her, his arms encircling her the way he did when they fell asleep after sex, and she always felt so loved at that moment, so content, sometimes she’d say to herself – if it all ends now this is the way I’d like to go. She felt the sting on the bridge of her nose that told her she was going to cry, but she had exhausted her crying capabilities on her son. Samuel got all her tears.
Then she knew she’d been wrong to push Toby away just when he needed her most. It wasn’t Toby’s fault. It was the person’s who took Samuel from them. When she thought about Toby and Kensa, she understood that what they had felt was real too. The first love – the first cut – deep pain and sweetness that stays for ever. Kensa still had love in her eyes. Kensa didn’t know what happened that night. Kensa and Lauren were the two women who knew what Toby was really like. Lauren smiled into the mirror as Toby’s image smiled back at her. She felt a surge of strength. She phoned him.
‘Toby?’
‘Lauren.’
‘Are you okay, Toby?’
‘Lauren, I’m so sorry I haven’t been honest with you.’ He took a deep breath. ‘There is someone else – I can’t live here without you and Samuel, but I also need Gareth in my life. He’s the man I work with. He’s become more than a good friend. I didn’t plan it. I didn’t want it. I always thought we’d be together for ever, you and I, and I’ve tried. I just can’t pretend any more.’
