Lost Summer

by Stuart Harrison

  ‘Thanks,’ she said when he came back, and raising her glass took a sip. ‘So. You used to work for the Courier?’

  ‘Only in the holidays when I was at school.’

  She looked surprised. ‘You’re from this area?’

  ‘Not really.’ He explained his history briefly. ‘And what about you? What brings you here?’

  She shrugged. ‘This job for a start. I did media studies and journalism at university then I came here eighteen months ago as a general dogsbody. Now I get to cover the big stories, like chip shops that burn to the ground.’ She made a wry face. ‘Which paper do you work for?’

  ‘I don’t. I’m freelance. I do mostly in-depth features.’

  ‘Really? And what are you doing in this neck of the woods, Mr Turner?’ She fixed him with her gaze, and he knew if he was going to get anything out of her at all he was going to have to be straight with her.

  ‘I talked to someone called Ellie at the protest camp who thinks Jane Hanson was working on some idea that could stop the development there going ahead. An idea she got from talking to a journalist from the Courier. Which I assume was you. I’d like to know what that idea was.’

  ‘That tells me what you’re interested in, but not why.’

  ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘It’s lucky I’ve had a university education then, isn’t it?’

  ‘You know that’s not what I meant.’

  ‘Then what did you mean?’

  Adam grinned despite himself. He wondered where Janice had grown up and pictured her in some high-rise flat in a grim area of Dumfries where if you didn’t learn to stand your ground fast you quickly became a victim. ‘Okay, does the name Ben Pierce mean anything to you?’

  ‘Aye. He was the young guy Jane was going around with. He was killed in an accident a while back.’

  ‘Right. Well, Ben’s sister isn’t convinced the accident happened the way the police think it did.’ He outlined what Helen Pierce had told him about her brother, and also what he’d learned since he’d been in Castleton.

  ‘So, you think the sister is right?’

  ‘I think it’s strange that Ben was driving. If what Helen says is true, why didn’t one of the others drive? I’d also like to know where they’d been that night, and why they didn’t leave the area after the attack on the camp.’

  Janice took a packet of cigarettes out of her bag and lit one. ‘Do you smoke?’

  ‘No thanks. So, the bottom line is I need to know what Jane and the others were doing because it might have some bearing on what happened that night.’

  ‘What kind of bearing?’

  ‘I don’t know yet,’ he admitted. ‘At the moment I’m just digging around.’

  Janice tapped her cigarette ash into the ashtray, her expression deeply thoughtful. ‘Are you suggesting that what happened wasn’t an accident at all?’

  ‘I’m not suggesting anything.’

  ‘You might though, if I tell you what I know.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘If I tell you, what happens then?’

  ‘You mean if there’s a story? What do you want?’

  ‘I want first dibs on an exclusive.’

  ‘What?’ he said incredulously. ‘And why should I do that?’

  ‘Because I have something you’re going to be very interested in, that’s why.’ She leaned forward across the table, her expression suddenly animated. Her tone became persuasive. ‘Look, it doesnae matter to you. You said yourself you only do in-depth features. I just want the headlines. Something like this could be big.’

  ‘Hold on. Something like what?’

  ‘Listen, Mr Turner. I’m no’ stupid. We wouldnae be sitting here having this conversation if you didn’t suspect that Helen Pierce was right about her brother. And if she was, then mebbe that crash wasn’t an accident. Mebbe somebody wanted it to look like it was. Somebody with a motive.’

  ‘And you think you know who that might be?’

  ‘I could give you a list.’

  She picked up her glass and sipped her Scotch, and he knew he wouldn’t get another word out of her until they agreed terms. He couldn’t blame her; she was looking for the break that would get her out of Carlisle, off the Courier and maybe onto a national paper.

  ‘Okay,’ he agreed. ‘It’s a deal. You get the exclusive headline.’

  ‘There’s one other thing. You can’t mention any of this to Findlay.’

  That much he’d already figured out. ‘Alright. At least I won’t without your okay.’

  Suddenly she looked wary. ‘How do I know I can trust you?’

  ‘The same way I know I can trust you.’

  She considered that and smiled wryly. ‘Fair enough. Okay. I did talk to Jane a couple of times. We had an agreement, which is partly why I’m being so cagey here. As you know, she wanted to stop the development, and I told her I thought we might be able to help each other. She was supposed to tell me everything she found out in return for the information I gave her. Only she went back to London without keeping her end of the bargain.’ She gave him a sardonic smile. ‘It’s no wonder they say we journalists end up being cynical is it?’

  ‘Constant exposure to human nature. So, how did you meet her?’

  ‘At the camp. I was doing a story on the protest back in July and we got talking. You’ve been there, so you know the type up there. Eco-warriors and dropouts and the like. Well Jane wasnae like that, you know? She sort of surprised me that way, which is probably why I liked her. She thought they were wasting their time building tree houses and digging tunnels. Like it was only delaying the inevitable. She had a point too. That kind of protest hardly ever succeeds in the end.’

  ‘Too many images of odd-looking people with rings through their noses and long hair living in burrows?’ Adam said.

  ‘Aye, something like that. Jane thought there had to be other ways of getting the public to back them. It just so happened that I thought I could help.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Well, my boyfriend works for a guy called Frank Henderson, do you know who he is?’

  Adam shook his head and took out his notepad. ‘You mind?’

  ‘Go ahead. Anyway, Frank Henderson used to be a building contractor. He owned one of the biggest firms around here. He’s also a big fat bastard, and a member of the district council, plus he’s on the planning committee.’

  ‘Aha,’ said Adam, beginning to see where this might be leading. ‘Let me guess. This would be the committee that approved the Forest Havens development?’

  ‘Aye. That was at the beginning of August, but I met Jane before then. Henderson has his finger in all kinds of pies these days. Earlier this year he broke his foot and couldn’t drive himself, so my boyfriend Danny was working as his chauffer for a while. He has actually got a business degree, by the way, but he took the job because he thought it might be interesting being around someone like Henderson. And it was, though not for the reasons he’d imagined. This was back in June, around the time when Forest Havens made their initial planning application. Findlay had assigned the story to me so Danny knew all about it. So anyway, one day he drives Henderson to a hotel in Haltwhistle, where he meets a man for lunch, and later Danny overhears Henderson on the phone talking to his brother-in-law, who’s another fat bastard by the name of Harry Cooke, and from this conversation it’s clear that if the Forest Havens plan goes ahead Cooke’s building company, which, surprise, surprise, used to belong to Henderson, will get part of the building contract.’

  ‘And this is what you told Jane?’ Adam asked.

  ‘This was only the beginning. You see about a week later Danny and I were in a pub and we saw two men having a drink. I recognized one of them as the guy from Forest Havens who was handling negotiations with the estate. The other one was the guy Danny had seen having lunch with Henderson. I did some checking. It turned out this same guy had been lobbying all the members of the planning committee on behalf of Forest Havens.’

 
‘Only you thought he was doing more than just lobbying?’

  ‘Aye, that’s the way it looked to me.’

  ‘Had you talked to Findlay about all of this?’ Adam asked.

  ‘Of course. It was taking up a lot of my time, so I had to, and by then there was a lot of opposition to the scheme from various environmental groups so he let me go ahead to see what I could dig up.’

  ‘Which was?’

  ‘It turned out that if the committee passed the Forest Havens plan, apart from Henderson one other member of the committee had an interest in a firm that stood to win contracts, though it wasn’t a provable interest. Of the other four on the committee two who’d started off opposed to the plan had suddenly changed their minds.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Meaning it seemed funny to me.’

  ‘You thought they’d been bribed?’ Adam suggested.

  ‘Let’s just say it was convenient.’

  ‘Did the Courier print any of what you found out?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ Janice shook her head. ‘I didnae have any proof, and Findlay said I hadn’t enough for him to stick his neck out. By then people knew I’d been nosing around and I think somebody put pressure on him to call me off. I cannae blame him I suppose.’

  ‘So, when you met Jane, you saw your chance. You told her your suspicions and gave her everything you had.’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘And the deal you made was that if she found proof of what you suspected she would share it with you? What made you think she could do any better than you?’

  ‘Because it didn’t matter who she pissed off. Nobody could fire her.’

  ‘And did she find anything?’

  Janice nodded sombrely. ‘That’s what really gets me, you know. I think she did. Only she wouldnae tell me what it was. Not until she had the evidence, which I’m pretty sure she believed she would get. And then, one day she up and left. Just like that. I went to the camp and somebody told me they thought she’d gone back to London. She was meant to be starting a new job there or something.’

  ‘But Ben and the others stayed?’

  ‘They’d gone too by the time I went there. At the time I assumed they’d gone back to London.’

  ‘So, this was after the attack on the camp?’

  Janice nodded. ‘That’s the last I heard from any of them. A couple of days later Ben and the other lads were killed.’

  ‘What about Jane? Did she return your file?’

  ‘No, and before you ask I didn’t make a copy. I should have, but I didn’t.’

  ‘Pity,’ he said. He wondered if this was a dead end. If Jane had found any kind of evidence of corruption, why had she returned to London? Perhaps in the end proof had eluded her. But, he reasoned, Ben must have known what she was doing. Was it possible that he and the others had stayed behind to continue the search? He told Janice what he was thinking.

  ‘I suppose it’s possible,’ she said. ‘There’s another possibility of course.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Jane found proof, and then somebody bought her off.’

  ‘That would explain her sudden departure wouldn’t it?’ Adam agreed. ‘What was the final planning committee vote by the way?’

  ‘Four in favour and two against.’

  ‘Give me the names of the committee members. Maybe I should talk to them myself. See what I can turn up.’ He wrote down the six names that Janice gave him. ‘Which ones voted for the development?’

  Janice ticked them off on her fingers. ‘Henderson of course. Campbell. His daughter-in-law owns a painting firm, and I’ll give you odds of ten to one she gets part of the contract when work starts up there. Then Carol Fraser and George Hunt. They’re the two that were originally against the plan.’

  ‘Do you know if Jane talked to any of these people?’

  ‘I expect so. Their names were in the files I gave her.’ She paused, frowning in thought. ‘I wouldn’t waste your time with Hunt. He’s that rare breed in my opinion, a man of principle. He’s just no’ the type to take a bribe. He’s a bit of a greenie at heart when it comes to this sort of thing.’

  ‘But he voted for the development?’

  ‘True. But I think in the end he decided the pros outweighed the cons as far as the local community’s concerned.’

  Adam put a question mark next to his name. ‘What about Carol Fraser?’

  Janice pursed her lips thoughtfully. ‘I’m not sure about her. I’ve met her a few times, and to be honest I like her. She’s always struck me as the sincere type, you know. She weighs up the issues and stands up for what she believes is right, and usually I’d agree with her. She stood as an independent at the last election and politically she’s moderate, she’s no’ hung up on party dogma.’

  ‘But?’

  ‘At first she was dead set against the development. Her argument was that they could buy the estate and have their holiday park without building in the wood. Fair point too, everybody wins. But Forest Havens weren’t interested. They insisted that all their parks are built in natural woodland or forest and this one had to be the same. In other words, our way or no way.’

  ‘So, Carol Fraser gave in.’

  ‘Aye. Somebody had to, I suppose. But it surprised me the way she did it. She didnae just give way. She started actively promoting the development.’

  Adam put a question mark next to her name. He wasn’t particularly surprised at the idea of corruption on the local council. Such things went on all the time one way or the other, but in this case if it could be proved it would certainly put an end to any plans for development. Clearly with a development of this size some people had plenty to lose.

  They finished their drinks and Adam promised he’d stay in touch, and he also gave Janice his number in case she thought of anything else. ‘I’ll get somebody in London to see if they can track Jane down.’

  Outside the pub Janice said, ‘Supposing Jane did find some kind of proof of what was going on and she was bought off. Do you think Ben and the others might have found out, and that’s why they stayed on?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Which could give somebody a motive for killing them to stop it getting out?’

  ‘People have been murdered for a lot less.’

  ‘But how does that explain the fact that Ben was driving? Or that he was drunk?’

  Adam shook his head. He didn’t have a clue what the answer was. ‘First the why, then maybe the how will fall into place. One more thing before you go, the man who was acting as an intermediary between Forest Havens and the planning committee, what was his name?’

  ‘A guy by the name of David Johnson. He owns a sawmill that has the contract for Castleton Wood, so he’s no’ exactly a disinterested party himself.’ She stopped when she saw Adam’s expression. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Do you know him?’

  ‘I did once,’ he admitted. ‘But it was a long time ago.’

  He promised again that he’d be in touch and left Janice on the corner watching him go, her expression deeply thoughtful.

  When he reached his car Adam used his mobile to call Karen in London.

  ‘I was wondering if I was ever going to hear from you,’ she said, when she came on the line. ‘How was your trip?’

  ‘It was fine.’

  ‘You found the place alright then?’

  ‘Uh-uh,’ he responded vaguely.

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I need you to do something for me.’

  ‘I might have known this wasn’t a social call. What is it?’

  ‘You remember Helen said her brother came up here with a girl called Jane Hanson. I think they were at university together, but Helen should be able to fill you in. See if you can get hold of her can you, and get me her phone number. I need to talk to her.’

  ‘Okay. Any particular reason?’

  He told her about his visit to the protest camp and his conversation with Janice. ‘If Jane was onto somethi
ng, I’d like to know what it was.’

  ‘If she was bought off she’s hardly likely to tell you is she?’

  ‘No, but maybe she wasn’t bought off. Maybe she had to start a new job and she ran out of time.’

  ‘But at any rate you think Helen is right about Ben?’ Karen asked.

  ‘Too early to say.’

  She promised she would get back to him as soon as she had a number. There was a brief silence, and then she said, ‘Are you okay? You sound strange.’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  Another silence, and then as if she’d just remembered she said, ‘By the way, I’ve got news of my own. Nigel proposed.’

  It took a second for what she’d said to sink in. ‘You mean he asked you to marry him?’

  ‘That’s generally the idea. It’s normal to offer congratulations, by the way.’

  ‘Sorry.’ He struggled to order his thoughts. ‘You took me by surprise. Congratulations.’ He tried to sound sincere, though even to his own ears there was a distracted ring to it. He was still thinking about what Janice had told him. That was partly it anyway.

  ‘Actually, I haven’t accepted yet. Not that you asked.’

  ‘Oh.’

  Neither of them spoke. It was a curious silence, as if each of them was waiting for the other to say something else.

  ‘I’ll let you know about Jane,’ Karen said abruptly.

  He started to thank her, but she had already hung up. He stared at his phone, and almost called her back, but what would he say? Perplexed, he gazed out of the window.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The lounge bar at the New Inn was quiet. A couple of old men sat over a table playing dominoes, occasionally sipping their pints, and the two couples from Birmingham were studying menus by the fireplace. Adam ordered a Scotch and picked up a bar menu, trying to decide if he was hungry. The man he’d met the night before joined him and ordered two roast specials and two fish and chips. He nodded to Adam and gestured to the menu he was looking at.

  ‘Alright there. The food’s not half bad here, you know.’

  ‘I might get something later,’ Adam said, unable to find anything to tempt him. ‘How was the fishing today?’