When You're Gone

by Marguerite O'Callaghan

  His phone vibrates and he sees a missed call from Lydia Stone, but here’s no time to call her back and he shouts out to a member of the team to make sure everything is okay with the Stone family.

  McCarthy has also left instructions to get DNA and prints from Simon if possible, as well as contact and background information from his work-place, family and flatmate. They’ve got Kate Stone’s fingerprints already, so they can run those against any prints found at Simon’s place.

  Twenty minutes later, he and two officers leave to search Simon’s home. He has provided them with keys, but reiterates they won’t find anything there.

  While they are searching the property, Simon will have a chance to talk to his lawyer and McCarthy knows that unless they find something, they will have to release him in an hour or two.

  Suspicion of stalking is not a big enough reason to keep someone in custody. Even if Kate Stone herself was here at the station, stalking and harassment would be difficult to prove.

  Simon’s flat is immaculate. He’s one of those people who catalogues everything and there are shelves and shelves of DVDs, computer games, books and CDs, covering every wall of the living room all in alphabetical order.

  McCarthy tells the officers gathering prints in the kitchen to concentrate on Simon’s bedroom and ensuite, instead.

  If Kate’s prints turn up there, there better be a good reason for it, he thinks to himself.

  McCarthy goes into Simon’s bedroom and starts going through his wardrobe, but doesn’t notice anything out of place.

  The same goes for the chest of drawers by the window. In fact, the entire room is perfectly arranged and McCarthy thinks that Simon is too clever to leave anything around that might look unusual.

  He walks to the flatmate’s room at the end of the hall and decides to search that and shouts at Davies to give him a hand, telling him to go through every box on the shelves, while he tackles the wardrobes.

  ‘Anything out of place, let me know.’

  After a few minutes, Davies finds something and whistles loudly. It’s a small suitcase with some clothing inside.

  ‘Holy shit. This stuff! Most of it’s made from rubber!’

  McCarthy was not expecting this. He nudges Davies out of the way so he can take a look himself and counts about six different items of clothing, a latex dress, two skirts, and a few tops. There are also some accessories, including a purple butterfly mask, make-up and a little silver choker.

  The team take prints from all over the flat to cross-reference with Kate’s, Simon’s, and his flatmate’s. They also take his laptop and another digital camera for further examination.

  If Simon has been doing anything secretive or illegal online, or if there are any other images of Kate on his laptop, then the lab will be able to find them.

  McCarthy feels like they are finally getting closer to some answers about where Kate might be.

  26

  Back at the station, Simon and his lawyer are with Detective Davies in one room and Simon’s flatmate, Donald Pelling is in another room, alone.

  McCarthy wants them kept apart until he can question them about the clothes in the suitcase and he has the results back about Simon’s laptop, phone and camera.

  McCarthy calls Brian Stone who’s at the hospital with Lydia and Barbara and tells him he’ll be sending a few images through via text message that he needs Brian, Barbara and Lydia to look. He tells them to call him back if they recognise any of the items in the images.

  Brian agrees, hangs up and tells his wife and daughter what’s going on. The family sit in silence, wondering what the images could possibly be.

  A few seconds later, they start to come through to Brian’s phone. There are nine in total.

  After taking a quick look, Brian shakes his head and passes the phone to Lydia. Barbara looks over her shoulder as she goes quickly from image to image, and for a moment she thinks the photos are from a crime scene. They’re the kind of thing you see on television, when shoes or a torn dress are found after someone goes missing. It’s never a good sign.

  All three of them are confused as to why McCarthy is asking them to look through photographs of someone’s clothes. This isn’t what Kate was wearing the night she went to Haven.

  Then, Brian points at one of the images.

  ‘I recognise this. Don’t I?’

  Lydia looks at the image. It’s a small silver dragonfly choker. Kate used to wear one just like it.

  She hands the phone back to her father and a dark thought enters her head. She gets out of the hospital bed.

  What if these are clothes taken from a crime scene, she wonders. Could they all belong to Kate?

  It’s too much for Lydia and she raises her voice in frustration and panic.

  ‘Why aren’t they telling us what’s going on? They’re keeping things from us! Where were these clothes found? Oh my God.’

  Barbara recognizes the necklace too and suggests that Simon could have taken it the time he was snooping around in Kate’s bedroom. She tells Brian to call McCarthy back immediately.

  27

  Donald Pelling has lived with Simon for just over a year. He’s twenty-four years old, grew up in Kent and is a recent science graduate. He works in a horticultural lab and met Simon a couple of years ago through a running club. This is his first time speaking to police and he’s extremely nervous.

  McCarthy gets straight to the point and asks Donald how well he knows Kate Stone.

  His response is that he’s never spoken to her, but knows who she is. He met her sister, Lydia a few times at the flat, but he just keeps to himself if Lydia is around and he and Simon aren’t really friends, either.

  McCarthy decides to show Donald the clothing they found in his room and pulls out the small suitcase from under the table.

  ‘Recognise this?

  Donald shakes his head and tells McCarthy he’s never seen it before.

  McCarthy glares back at him coldly and asks if anyone else knows his secret.

  Donald looks confused and just continues to stare blankly at the small black case.

  ‘You’re into some really weird things, aren’t you Donald? Rubber, latex, whips... that kind of thing?’

  Donald’s eyes widen, he laughs nervously, seems genuinely surprised, even entertained at what McCarthy is suggesting.

  McCarthy shows Donald images on an iPad of the clothes found in his room earlier that day. The actual items will need to be tested for prints and DNA and are currently at the lab.

  ‘This isn’t a bloody joke, son. We found these inside the case in YOUR room, Donald. Who owns them? A girlfriend?’

  Donald says that he has no idea who put that stuff in his room, but it definitely isn’t his and he’s never seen any of it before. He looks genuinely panicked and has started to sweat.

  Before McCarthy can say anything else, his phone rings and when he sees it’s Brian Stone, he excuses himself from the room.

  Brian tells him about the image of choker that they all believe to be Kate’s, and says they don’t recognise any of the other items. McCarthy thanks him, tells them to sit tight, then marches down the hall and into the room where Simon and his lawyer are.

  He doesn’t want to waste any time, and within five minutes they are recording an interview.

  Simon is light-headed and shaky. McCarthy has seen enough guilty people in his life to recognise one when they are sitting in front of him.

  McCarthy begins his questioning and asks again, where Simon was on Friday 6th May, the night that Kate Stone went missing.

  Simon tells him he was at home, alone.

  McCarthy nods and decides to skip to the necklace.

  ‘Simon why were you in Kate Stone’s bedroom a week ago in the middle of the night?

  Simon seems like he was expecting this to come up and explains that he couldn’t sleep that night and just found himself in Kate’s room.

  McCarthy asks if he
removed anything from the room that night and Simon shakes his head and whispers ‘No’.

  ‘Can you repeat your answer to the question please Simon. Did you steal anything from Kate Stone’s bedroom?

  ‘No... I… no.’

  His lawyer looks uneasy. McCarthy states that several items were collected from Simon’s residence earlier that day and he would like to ask him about some of them.

  He instructs Simon and his lawyer to look at the images of the items marked SK2.1 to SK2.9 on the screen in front of them.

  ‘Let’s start with image SK2.1 on the screen. Tell me what you see.’

  Simon and his lawyer lean in to have a closer look at the image. It’s Kate’s silver dragonfly choker. Simon shakes his head from side to side.

  ‘I have no idea what that is. It’s not mine.’

  A frustrated McCarthy lets him know that the item has already been verified as belonging to Kate Stone and he’s only making things worse for himself by withholding information.

  ‘If you are innocent and have nothing to do with Kate’s disappearance, then you’ll tell me right now how that necklace got into your flat.’

  Simon is silent.

  McCarthy asks him to look through the other images on the screen marked SK2.2 to SK2.9 and to tell him what they are.

  It’s the clothing and accessories from the suitcase.

  Simon says he has never seen any of it before. He looks extremely uncomfortable and there is no doubt in McCarthy’s mind that he knows exactly what those items are.

  McCarthy picks up the tablet and finds the file with the images retrieved from Simon’s camera. Simon will have had time to discuss this with his lawyer, thinks McCarthy but he’s curious to see what his response is.

  ‘Simon, the images you can see now, marked SK3.01 to SK3.25, are the ones we retrieved from your camera earlier today. Can you tell me about those?’

  Simon exchanges a quick glance and a nod with his lawyer.

  ‘Yes, these are photographs I took. I... I take lots of photographs of people and these... they are all of Kate Stone. I took them months ago and honestly forgot I even had them.’

  Simon finishes speaking and looks at McCarthy. He seems calmer now and McCarthy thinks he must feel confident he can pass the photographs off as innocent.

  ‘Simon, did Ms Stone know you were photographing her at the time?

  ‘No, I don’t think she did, actually. I did it discreetly. It was the nature of the photography project, Detective.’

  McCarthy sits down opposite him and inhales deeply, then strokes the dark stubble on his chin.

  ‘Did anyone else know that you were following Ms Stone and taking photographs of her in secret?

  Simon shakes his head.

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘You were in love with her, weren’t you Simon? You were obsessed with her.’

  McCarthy really wants Simon to crack and glares at him across the table. But then, Simon does something unexpected and smiles at McCarthy. It’s a guilty smile and makes McCarthy furious. His face flushes red, he places his palms on the table in front of him and takes another deep breath.

  McCarthy’s voice is much louder the next time he speaks.

  ‘What do you know about Kate’s disappearance, Simon? Were you really at home all night on Friday 6th? When we go through your internet browsing history and phone records will we see that you were home all night? Or did you follow Kate Stone?

  Simon hesitates with his response, then tells McCarthy that he can’t remember exactly what he was doing that night, but he’s pretty sure he went to bed early.

  ‘So, you didn’t speak to anyone on the phone. Your girlfriend? No text messages? This all has to add up, or you will be in serious trouble for lying to police and obstructing the course of justice. This is all being recorded, Simon. Are you telling the truth, son?’

  Simon turns to his lawyer, then back to McCarthy and says that as far as he remembers he was home all night on Friday 6th.

  McCarthy knows he’s lying.

  ‘Simon do you know where Kate Stone is?

  ‘No sir’

  ‘Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?

  ‘No sir’

  ‘Do you know anyone who might know where she is?

  ‘No sir’

  ‘Simon, did you murder Kate Stone’

  ‘I did not! Of course I didn’t. I... I loved Kate.’

  McCarthy has a think and gets to his feet.

  ‘Were you in love with Kate Stone?’

  Simon immediately answers that he was not and is not, in love with Kate, but he loves her like family, admires her and enjoys spending time with her, but he would never wish any harm to her.

  McCarthy calls an end to the interview. He tells Simon to wait and his lawyer asks when he can leave, if they aren’t charging him with anything. McCarthy asks them to be patient and says he’ll be back in ten minutes.

  He walks down the hall, pulls Davies out of the Donald Pelling interview room and tells him to follow him to his office.

  When they get there, an email has come through from the lab to say there’s a delay in retrieving the relevant information from Simon’s laptop, phone and cameras.

  McCarthy swears loudly. They will have to let him go, for now.

  He calls Brian Stone to let him know what’s going on, and urges the Stones not to see or speak to Simon while they continue the investigation.

  ‘Promise me, Mr Stone. No matter how angry or frustrated you all are, you have to stay away from him, okay? For Kate’s sake. Leave it to us. We will get answers.’

  28

  In a pub in Brixton, Jared Cooper is waiting for ‘Dave’ or ‘MatchFive’, the man who responded to his enquiry about the ‘slave’ that matches Kate’s description online.

  He’s been here for almost an hour and there’s no sign of Dave, so he sends another online message:

  ‘I’m serious about meeting. Are you? Been waiting since 9. Leaving soon.’

  Jared thinks that whoever is behind the advertisement might have got last minute nerves, or realised they didn’t know enough about Jared to take a risk on him. Maybe they were on to him and the team this whole time, and knew they were police.

  Jared finishes his drink and texts McCarthy to let him know what’s happening, but as he puts his phone back in his pocket, he notices a man has come into the pub, and is now staring at him from the other side of the bar. He immediately assumes it’s Dave and nods to him in greeting, but the man stares back, angrily chewing gum.

  Jared looks away, then glances at his watch, gets up to leave and calls out a ‘Cheers’ to the barman.

  Outside, he lights a cigarette, and before he’s fully inhaled the first drag, he feels a firm hand on his shoulder. He turns around slowly and sees the angry-looking man from the bar standing there. His face is fractionally softer now and he seems to have stopped chewing, but still hasn’t said a word.

  Jared tries to keep his cool and asks if he’s Dave? The man says he’s not, but he can take him to see Dave if he wants to talk.

  Jared wasn’t expecting this to happen, but nods, and agrees to go with him.

  29

  Later that night, Lydia calls McCarthy from her hospital bed and tells him about Ida.

  Her mum has already filled her in about Simon being back home, and that police are investigating where he was on Friday 6th, but Lydia has had another idea, something that could help them in the meantime.

  ‘Detective, if Simon was there that night at the club, then he will be on the CCTV. Please tell me you’ll look?’

  McCarthy is already on it and has a team going through the footage again with a fine-tooth comb.

  Lydia is relieved to hear this is happening, but there’s more she wants to say:

  ‘I’ve also been thinking about something, Detective. Maybe you need to look for the clothes you found with Kate’s necklace. Maybe they aren’t Ka
te’s. Maybe they belong to Simon and he could’ve been wearing them that night.’

  McCarthy had to hand it to Lydia. For a teenager, she was certainly smart. He had assumed the clothes were Kate’s or some other girl’s.

  Could they actually belong to Simon? He hadn’t even told the Stones that the items were found at Simon’s flat. Lydia had come to that conclusion on her own.

  McCarthy realises he will have to instruct the team looking at the CCTV to look for a female wearing the items, especially the butterfly mask, but also a male. It could be Simon.

  30

  Early the next morning, Jared Cooper literally falls out the back door of a Hackney warehouse. He’s spent the night inside getting drunk and high.

  After he had met the man at the bar who offered to take him to see ‘Dave’, Jared realised he wasn’t the only one who had enquired about the online ad for the girl.

  At the warehouse, he and four other men sat around a table and watched as six girls entered the room, then the men were each given price lists, explaining how much it would cost to have the girls move in with them full-time or visit them casually as ‘girlfriends’ and so on.

  There was literally a printed ‘menu’ for each girl, detailing her measurements, age, what she liked sexually, and other things.

  The men eyed the girls and their ‘menus’ greedily, with sick smiles on their faces. It was disgusting, nevermind completely illegal, but Jared had to keep his cool and when the girls were told to go and chat to him, he asked lots of questions to make it seem like he was serious and spent at least fifteen minutes with each of them.

  They used fake names, Jared was sure of that, and all claimed to be nineteen or twenty, although one girl looked about fifteen. She was Russian, about five-foot three, with pale skin, hazel eyes, and tiny freckles on her nose and cheeks. Jared tried to memorise what she looked like, so that he could check it against missing person files, later.