The Missing Girls

by Carol Wyer

  ‘Emotion does things to your head. It changes you. I’d never felt such incredible unhappiness. Not even when I lost my husband, Tom. Losing Lotty was the worst thing I’d ever gone through. I was so damn furious with myself to start with. So angry and then so sad, I wanted to die. I felt so alone. Tom was dead, Lotty was dead and Elliot retreated into himself. I couldn’t get him to talk to me. As soon as Lotty was buried, he returned to Manchester. Couldn’t even look me in the eye. I didn’t know if that was because of the shock of it all, or because he blamed me for not knowing what was going on in Lotty’s head – for preventing it from happening.’ She stopped again, gathered her thoughts and began her confession.

  ‘After the paramedics had taken Lotty away, I went into her bedroom. Her mobile phone was on her bed. I picked it up and turned it on. I don’t know why. Maybe it was just to have contact with her – see her face on her photos – pretend none of it had happened. I don’t know. I came across the Fox or Dog app almost immediately. It was on the home screen. I clicked onto it and saw her photograph. I soon worked out what had happened to my precious girl. When the police arrived to speak to me much later the following day, I told them Lotty didn’t have a mobile or computer, that she did any computer work at the library. They didn’t ask Elliot the same question, thank goodness, or he might have contradicted me.

  ‘I knew why Lotty had taken her life. It was because of some website that claimed it would match up young people with members of the opposite sex. But instead, some cruel girls had broken her spirit. Words. Words wounded her, and burrowed into her soul. She died because of words. And what would the police have done about that? Given those bullies a warning? Shut down the website? They wouldn’t imprison anyone, would they? Even though those girls were guilty of bullying my daughter to the point where she felt worthless and committed suicide, what justice would have been served? And is the punishment for this crime great enough?’ Her eyes blazed with ferocity. ‘I had to take matters into my own hands.

  ‘Elliot buried himself in his studies, and pills from the doctor helped him through the ordeal. I had nothing to distract me from my pain. It grew and grew, driving me insane, and so I decided to trick these girls, meet up with them and somehow make them pay for what had happened to Lotty.

  ‘I started with Carrie Miller. I created a fake account on Fox or Dog, using the name Hunter, and hoped she’d like my profile picture. Sure enough she did. We chatted regularly. She told me a lot about herself and how she hated her father’s girlfriend. She was a cocky young madam, full of her own importance. At least, that’s how she came across. She was so easy to manipulate. I told her lie after lie. In the end, she was convinced I was a regular nice guy who’d like to meet up. She messaged me late in the afternoon on July the twenty-eighth, saying she’d had a major row with her dad’s girlfriend, Leah. I invited her to come and spend a few days with me at a music festival with a few friends. She jumped at the chance. She arrived at Uttoxeter station where I was hidden from view beside the car park. She made her way to the bus stop and stood there, facing up the road, waiting for him. I only had to wait a few minutes for the passengers to disperse. I approached her from behind, knocked her out with chloroform and dragged her to my car. I put her in the bedroom at the back of the first outbuilding. I’d fixed it up while Elliot was in the hospital and made it into a proper room. I’d decorated it to look like Lotty’s. I even used the same wallpaper that’s in her room.’ She sniffed back a tear and continued.

  ‘I was going to keep Carrie there a few days or a couple of weeks until she was scared rigid and had learnt the error of her ways, then let her go. I had to disguise myself, of course, so she’d never be able to tell who had abducted her. I used the cycling helmet to train a light on her at all times so she couldn’t see my face, and whispered a lot. I can do accents and voices, but keeping up a male voice is difficult. I can only do it for short bursts. I wanted her to tell the police she’d been kidnapped by a man. That would deflect any attention or suspicion from me.’

  She paused and stared at the mirror opposite her. From the other side of the one-way glass Matt Higham, Tom Shearer, DCI Flint and Anna Shamash watched while Cheryl Chambers continued as if in front of an audience.

  ‘I took her phone. It was obvious people would wonder where she’d got to. I was prepared to answer any text messages. As it was, only one person was concerned about her whereabouts – a girl called Jade. I made up some ridiculous story about running away with a boy, and she fell for it. I kept Carrie doped for a while. I put Valium in her drink. I hoped she’d realise the enormity of what she’d done. I showed her the photograph of my Lotty but she didn’t understand. I told her how the comments had driven Charlotte to take her own life, and do you know what she said? “No one takes that sort of thing seriously. It’s just banter. That’s what happens these days. You get dissed by someone and you diss them back. It’s no biggie.” What’s that supposed to mean? She wasn’t sorry at all for her part in it.’

  Cheryl shook her head. ‘It isn’t acceptable, is it? She seemed to think it was normal behaviour and hang the consequences. Anyway, I’d decided it was time to knock her out and drop her off. So I took her some drugged food. I think she must have worked out I was drugging her water to keep her quiet, and had been tipping it away, because the wretched creature was lying in wait for me behind the door. When I went in she pushed me over and ran for it. The tray landed on the floor and a glass broke. She was disorientated and fell over a few feet away from the room. I caught her. She struggled and lashed out. I had a piece of the broken glass in my hand. I don’t remember picking it up. She screamed. I wanted her to shut up. I didn’t think. I just jabbed the glass into her neck.’

  Behind the mirror, Anna winced.

  ‘I wrapped the bed sheet from the room around her neck, but it kept on bleeding. She died quickly. I bought some huge plastic bags from the local DIY store, washed off as much blood as I could, wrapped her in one, and then put her body in my chest freezer down in the cellar. I left her there and hadn’t thought about moving her body until I received a leaflet through the letter box. It was for a self-storage unit at Rugeley. Elliot had brought home a trunk that was about the right size for her body, which he’d left outside in one of the outbuildings, along with some boxes of costumes, books, kitchen equipment and so on. Using one of Elliot’s costumes, a wig and ample make-up as a disguise, I drove to Rugeley where I paid for a self-storage unit in cash. The owner was too distracted by his mobile to pay too much attention to me.’

  Robyn held her breath. This was a thorough confession. There would be no doubt whatsoever about Cheryl Chambers’s guilt. The woman continued.

  ‘I hired a van in my husband’s name. I’d kept his driving licence, and nobody even questioned me when I turned up dressed in one of his old outfits. I drove the van home, loaded up the trunk and her body, changed my disguise again, and drove to Rugeley. I gave a decent performance of a toffee-nosed woman who wanted to house a trunk of valuables from her soon-to-be ex-husband’s prying eyes. I asked the man at the self-storage unit to carry the trunk to the actual unit because I couldn’t lift it. In truth, I didn’t want to be spotted on the CCTV cameras. As far as I was concerned, Carrie Miller wasn’t going to be discovered for a very long time. My heart felt lighter than it’d felt since Lotty died. I’d freed up space in my freezer, which I figured I’d use again, this time for my latest online friend – Amber Dalton. I felt satisfied and content that I’d got some justice for my daughter.’

  Mitz leant across the table, unable to remain quiet any longer. His voice shook with emotion. ‘Mrs Chambers, those young women didn’t deserve to die. They were unkind, but they never intended to harm your daughter. You didn’t serve justice. Murder isn’t a form of justice.’

  Cheryl’s eyes bored into him. ‘You know the children’s rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you”? Officer, words can hurt. They can injure as deeply as a knife can, or be as d
eadly as a gunshot. Those girls killed my daughter with words. They deserved to die. I’m satisfied with their punishment.’

  A tear slid down Anna’s face. Mitz was right. The girls didn’t deserve their punishment. She wiped it away before any of the others could see it. She focused on Robyn, who continued to question the woman relentlessly. Robyn would ensure proper justice was served. Of that, Anna was convinced.

  Sixty-Six

  Outside the church, the mourners gathered under a pale-blue sky. Colourful crocuses stood to attention either side of the gravel drive as people left, pausing only to shake the hand of the man by the gate. Maneesh Shah, Carrie’s ex-form master, and Kevin Winters, the head teacher, walked side by side. Behind them were some fifty pupils from Fairline Academy, all in their teens, who had wanted to pay their respects to Carrie.

  The service had been more uplifting than sad – Carrie’s brief life was celebrated as best it could be. Her father, Vince, read out a poem about love and gratitude, his voice cracking at the last line. Jade North gave the eulogy and surprised them all by talking eloquently about Carrie’s aspiration to break into the fashion industry, and telling a couple of amusing stories about her friend. The pupils had all left red single roses on the coffin until there was no wood to be seen; it was now in the hearse waiting to go to Derby crematorium.

  Robyn had felt more than duty-bound to attend the service. Carrie had not deserved the punishment she’d received. Behind the bolshie mask was a girl who craved nothing more than love and attention. The collage of hearts on her bedroom wall had touched Robyn, and she wished Carrie had not tried to find love on such a cruel app.

  She waited until the crowd in front of her had dispersed, then stood in front of Vince Miller. ‘How are you bearing up?’ she asked. He had lost weight.

  ‘Okay, I guess. It’s going to be a slow process. I still wish I’d phoned her and asked her to come home. I’ll never forgive myself for turning my back on her.’

  Robyn touched the back of his hand briefly. ‘It wouldn’t have made any difference. She couldn’t have answered you. You know that.’

  He gave a small nod. ‘You’re right. She was already dead, wasn’t she? At least now I can lay her to rest.’

  Jade, in a large black parka with a furry hood, appeared next to him. ‘You coming back to the house later?’ she asked, looking at Robyn. ‘There’s food for everyone. You’d be welcome.’

  ‘Thanks, but I can’t. I have to deal with something else. You were great today,’ said Robyn. ‘Your eulogy was beautiful.’

  ‘I only said what was in my heart. Carrie was a proper friend. She looked after me. I’d have had a harder time at school if it hadn’t been for her. She was like my personal guardian angel. When you knew her, she was a different person to the one she pretended to be. We all put on a front at times to get by. She was very good at it, but I knew what she was really like. She had a big heart.’

  Vince agreed. ‘It was a lovely tribute. I was so glad her friends from school came too.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Jade. ‘It was really good so many came. I put the word out on Facebook. I wish Carrie could have seen them all. She’d have been well chuffed. She loved being the centre of attention.’

  Leah, who had been in conversation with the vicar, joined them and took Vince’s arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. ‘We’d best be going,’ she said. ‘We have to take her to the crematorium.’

  Vince nodded at Robyn and headed down the path, looking older than his years. Leah had one arm around him and Jade flanked his other side like a female bodyguard.

  Robyn turned to take one last look at the church, its huge wooden door now closed. The last time she’d attended a funeral it had been for Davies. That had been a quiet affair, with only a couple of his colleagues, his superior, Peter Cross, and close relatives – Brigitte, his ex-wife with her new husband Richard, pale-faced Amélie, and Robyn, his fiancée. Ross had accompanied Robyn, clung on to her when her legs refused to support her. The coffin was bare of tributes, as had been requested. The service had been very brief, with one hymn – ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’. She hadn’t been able to sing. The tears had filled her eyes and blocked her throat. The vicar had said a few words about the man who’d given his life to protect his country and how they should all be proud of him, and she was proud of him, in spite of the gaping wound in her heart. A small cough made her turn around.

  ‘You ready to leave, guv?’ Anna was standing behind her.

  ‘Yes. And thanks for coming, Anna.’

  Anna gave a slight shake of her head. ‘I wanted to. I had to. You understand, don’t you?’

  ‘I do. Now, how about we stop off on the way back to the office and grab a box of cakes for the team to cheer ourselves up?’

  ‘Best get a couple of extra large ones for Matt, guv. It might stop him scoffing all the biscuits.’

  Sixty-Seven

  Robyn stood beside the aviary in Stafford Park. The budgerigars chirped and flew from side to side – a blur of blue, yellow and green feathers swooping excitedly before settling on perches. She turned to face Ross who had just arrived, causing the kerfuffle.

  ‘And who is this?’

  ‘This is Duke.’

  The Staffordshire bull terrier pup looked up and wagged its tail, tugged at its lead and fell on its backside.

  ‘He’s payment for searching for Siobhan Connors. I didn’t want to take Lauren’s hard-earned cash from her, especially as I didn’t find her friend alive. Jeanette’s been saying for ages we should get a dog. It’s part of her plan to make sure I keep up my daily walks. Engaging little chap, isn’t he?’

  The dog chewed at Ross’s shoelaces while he talked. ‘Well done on cracking the case. I gather Cheryl Chambers confessed.’

  ‘Once she believed Elliot was going to be convicted for the murders, she couldn’t stop talking.’

  ‘And Elliot had no idea of what she’d done?’

  ‘None whatsoever. She said she killed Carrie unintentionally. She hid Carrie’s body in a chest freezer in the cellar and moved it to the self-storage unit to make room for her next victim. With Elliot at the mental health clinic, she didn’t try and trick Amber until he was more settled and had begun working at Delia Marsh School. Knowing Elliot was out with friends in Lichfield, she persuaded the girl to meet at his flat on the third of January. She had his front door key and waited there for Amber to show up. She drugged Amber using Rohypnol, carried her to the car parked nearby, and drove to the outside bedroom at The Oaks.’

  ‘Why didn’t Amber become suspicious when a woman instead of this chap, Hunter, opened the door?’

  Robyn stared at the girls sitting on a bench, chatting. Florence was bearing up after her abduction. She’d had a few days off school and had patched up her differences with Amélie. The sound of their laughter carried over. Duke’s ears pricked up at the sound.

  ‘Cheryl used to act, and spent years in the theatre. She had a large supply of wigs and make-up and used them to disguise herself. In the half-light of the flat, she confused Amber long enough to drug her.’

  ‘She can’t have been right in the head,’ said Ross.

  ‘That’s one way of putting it.’ Robyn thought again about the interview with Cheryl Chambers and the lengthy confession that had left Robyn drained. The woman had shown no remorse about the lives she’d taken, or for those who would be left to grieve. Her words had been delivered like lines that had to be learnt but devoid of expression and emotion. She’d explained her plans went awry when the chest freezer containing Amber’s body broke down. She’d foolishly panicked and driven Amber’s body to Cannock Chase, dragging her to a secluded spot, a dip in the ground, and covering her with leaves. She’d shrugged as if it was of no consequence. Robyn had thought of Florence and it had taken all of her willpower not to grab the woman and shake her hard.

  ‘And Siobhan?’ Ross pursed his lips. ‘I feel I ought to tell Lauren the complete truth.’

  ‘She tried to lure Siobha
n in the same way as the other girls, but Siobhan refused to meet up, and told Hunter she was going to try and make up with her boyfriend, Adam. Cheryl couldn’t let it go so easily and began waiting outside Siobhan’s flat, hoping to get an opportunity to abduct her. It happened on Friday the thirteenth when Siobhan walked to the station for a night out with Lauren. Cheryl tailed her in her car, and as soon as she realised Siobhan was headed for the station, she went on ahead to make sure the coast was clear. Then when Siobhan appeared she called the girl over to her car, claiming she was lost. Siobhan leant in to hear what Cheryl was saying. That was the moment Cheryl hauled her inside the car, restrained her and covered her mouth with a chloroform rag, much like the one she used on Florence. She took Siobhan’s phone, answered Lauren’s text message, and even had the forethought to ring Tesco, pretending to be Siobhan. She managed to give a convincing performance of a distressed Irish girl. It was enough to keep anyone from searching for her. Never met anyone quite as cold and calculating as her.’

  ‘Where did Florence fit into all this?’

  ‘It was Elliott. He told his mother about the rampant bullying at his school. He wanted do something to eradicate it and discussed writing a play about bullying and putting it on at the school to draw attention to the problem. Cheryl had already been watching the Fox or Dog site since Charlotte’s death, and after he told her about the kids at his school, she narrowed down the search to cover the Uttoxeter area. She wanted to make sure none of his pupils were using the site, and if they were, she wanted to ensure they didn’t get victimised. Her intentions were actually good. She left positive comments on lots of profiles where there were dog emojis. When she saw Florence’s profile, she decided to warn her off the site – do what she couldn’t do for Charlotte.’ She looked across at the girls still giggling and chatting.