The Girls in the Woods

by Helen Phifer

  He turned to see the PCSOs walk into the hall giggling to each other – they took one look at the two chiefs standing near the kitchen and stopped. Will crossed the room towards them, smiling, and nodded for them to follow him outside – he had no idea why he didn’t want the bosses to hear this conversation but he didn’t. He disliked the Chief Super because of the way he treated Annie’s Inspector, Cathy Hayes, who also happened to be his ex wife. He also didn’t like the way he would crawl into an investigation, not do very much, and then take all the credit away from Will’s team who worked very hard to find the offenders and bring them in for questioning.

  ‘Are we in trouble, Will?’

  ‘As if. I just don’t want those two to know anything until I’m good and ready to tell them. You know what they’re both like.’

  ‘Unfortunately, we do. Stu asked us to go and check this address to see if the parents of the girl who went missing still lived there, but they don’t. The woman at the shop said they moved away about eight years ago, but she thinks she might have their address back home. She said she’ll go and check on her dinner break and come and find us if she does.’

  ‘That’s a shame, but thank you both. Would you do me a massive favour?’

  ‘Scene guard,’ they both said at the same time, their smiles turning into grimaces.

  ‘No, I need you to help me today – the others can scene guard. You’re now officially honorary members of CID. Could you start some house-to-house enquiries in all the local shops? Ask if anyone remembers the family. Was anyone friends with Sharon Sale or her parents. If you find anyone, get their contact details so either me or Stu can go and talk to them.’

  ‘Erm, I’m not entirely sure we want to be in your team, Will, but can we get a decent cup of coffee and some cake from that café that has those Guinness Book of Records-sized cakes in the window?’

  ‘If you find me someone who knew the family I’ll buy you the coffee and cake. Deal?’

  They both laughed. ‘Sounds like a deal to us.’

  ‘Good. Can you start now – and if those two ask what you’re up to, don’t tell them anything except you’re doing the house-to-house and it’s negative.’

  They nodded. Sam leant close to Will.

  ‘I wouldn’t tell those two that their hair was on fire. I don’t trust either of them – and besides, they won’t speak to us, it’s below them.’

  She winked at him and they turned and walked off back in the direction of the village and the cake shop. Will had no idea why he didn’t want to share any information with his superiors just yet – call it a hunch or whatever – but he just knew that for now he was keeping everything close to his chest. He’d figure out the why part later. He went back inside and pulled a chair over to where Stu was still doing a Google search on Sharon Sale, printing off whatever newspaper articles he could find in case they named friends or neighbours who might be able to shed some light on the case. After twenty minutes, Will’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket; he pulled it out.

  ‘You owe us two lattes and two slices of death by chocolate cake. So you better pay up, Ashworth.’

  Will began to laugh.

  ‘Bloody hell, you don’t mess around. What have you got?’

  ‘Come up to the café we’re standing outside and we’ll tell you.’

  He stood up, looking around the room at the various officers, PCSOs and bosses.

  ‘Be there in two minutes.’

  He nodded at Stu.

  ‘Come on, I’ll buy you a decent cup of coffee. Shut that down, though.’

  He pointed at the laptop which Stu had already begun to log off from. Then they both walked out into the warm summer sun; there were plenty of tourists watching the village hall with the assortment of marked police cars parked on the double yellow lines outside it and he felt as if he’d suddenly grown another head as a group of tourists stopped to stare at them.

  ‘I love the summer, it just makes you feel better.’

  ‘It does Stu, it really does.’

  ‘But I love cake more. What’s up with you this morning? You’re not only in a good mood, you’re wanting to eat cake?’

  ‘Are you saying I’m not always in a good mood, Stuart?’

  ‘No… but…’

  ‘But what?’

  ‘Forget it. I suppose if I’d been through the crap you had I wouldn’t have much to smile about.’

  Will frowned – as much as he liked Stu, he said the strangest things. He waved at Sam and Tracy who waved back and they went inside the same café that Annie had gone in for coffee with Jo.

  Will looked at the huge chocolate cake in the window and smiled as Stu’s mouth dropped open. They went inside to the small table near the back where Sam and Tracy were already sitting and in the process of removing their body armour.

  ‘Well, my two favourite PCSOs – spill the beans, the suspense is killing me.’

  A waitress came over to take their order; if Will had to guess her age he’d say she was about thirty-five. He was normally quite good at aging people, and underneath her apron was a faded Stone Roses concert T-shirt; as she turned to the side he could see the list of tour dates on the back.

  ‘Will, this is Susie. She used to be friends with Sharon Sale before she went missing. She was also very good friends with a girl from Barrow, Wendy Cook, who also went missing about a month after Sharon. They all used to sit together on the bus which took students up to Kendal College every morning.’

  Will stood up and held out his hand to shake hers. She blushed and took his hand, shaking it gently.

  ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Will Ashworth. Would I be able to talk to you when you’ve finished work? I gather you’ve heard about the body found in the woods yesterday?’

  She nodded.

  ‘I did, and it’s so sad; do you think it could be Sharon or Wendy?’

  ‘I can’t really say at this moment – it’s a possibility, but as soon as they’ve been identified I will let you know immediately. Is that okay?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Yes, that’s fine, thank you. It’s been such a long time since I saw them both, but at the same time it feels like it was only yesterday. I never understood how two of my best friends could just disappear without a trace. I always assumed that they had run off together even though they both lived twenty miles apart, and were on different courses at the college. To be honest I’ve spent the last twenty years totally pissed off that they never asked me to go with them.’

  ‘Which college was that again?’ Stu was taking the notes, letting Will do what he was so good at – he had a knack of making people feel at ease so they didn’t feel as if they were being interrogated.

  ‘Kendal. I did hairdressing with Sharon Sale, and Wendy Cook did catering. We used to take the mickey out of her all the time. She used to say she would open up her own business – Cook’s Catering – and then we’d see who had the last laugh. It was only before Christmas that I tried to find them. I did loads of searches on Facebook, SnapChat, Twitter, Instagram… you name it and I tried it, but I couldn’t find either of them. That was when I sort of wondered if something bad had actually happened to them all those years ago.’

  Will had never heard of either girl before this morning. Their names had never been mentioned once since he started working at the station – but then again, he didn’t suppose there was any reason for them to be. He needed to check the records but if they were both down as missing persons, after a year it would be old news. By the time he’d started, years later, no one would have remembered except whoever took the missing persons reports at the time.

  ‘Stu, I need you to pull both girls’ files, see what’s in them. I also need you to find out who dealt with the cases. I doubt they still work at the station but it’s possible. Thanks, Susie. If I need to speak to you again what’s the best number to get hold of you on?’

  She reeled off her mobile number. ‘I’m here every day except for Sundays. My mum owns the shop. W
e always used to come here when we were little. I love this area. She bought it for something to do now she’s retired but she hasn’t been well so I’ve had to come and help out, which I don’t mind – I love it here. So if you can’t get hold of me by phone, because you know what the signal is like around here, then come to the shop. I live in the flat above; the door’s round the side.’

  ‘Thank you so much. That’s brilliant. You’ve been a big help.’

  ‘Now what can I get you?’

  ‘Four coffees and three slices of chocolate cake, please.’

  Sam looked at Will. ‘Are you not having any cake?’

  ‘No, I had a cooked breakfast not long ago. This six-pack doesn’t survive off cake.’

  Both women giggled.

  ‘What six-pack? We won’t believe you until you show us.’

  ‘Steady on, ladies, I’m a married man. You’ll just have to take my word for it.’

  He winked at them both, setting them off into fits of giggles; Stu dead-eyed him and he smiled. Poor Stu was still jealous of his success with the women, which was a much politer way of saying it than how Stu had once worded it. He didn’t intentionally flirt with them; it was just how he was. It was his personality. Once upon a time he’d used it to sleep with a fair few women, but he looked down at his wedding ring and thought about Annie and how much he loved her. Stu was also looking at Will’s left hand, as if to remind him he was married, and he made a note to have a word with Stu about his sudden change in attitude the last couple of days whenever Will spoke to any women. He wondered if he was having problems at home with his wife, Debs; yep, he definitely should take him to one side to try and find out what was going on before the end of the day. If there was a problem at home that he was bringing to work Will needed to know about it. He needed Stu focused. They had to find out who it was that had been buried and left in the woods. Susie brought over a tray with four huge mugs of coffee and cake so big he didn’t think that any of them would be able to eat all of their slices. He thanked her and passed her one of his business cards.

  ‘You can reach me on either of those numbers should you need to.’

  She nodded and tucked the card into the pocket of her jeans, then went off to take some more orders, leaving them in complete silence whilst they began to dig into their mountains of cake. Will sipped his coffee, his mind working overtime thinking about Wendy and Sharon. Where were they now? Would both of them have run away and not told their best friend? It didn’t make sense. Teenage girls were generally not known for keeping secrets from their friends. If the body belonged to one of them then there was a good chance the other wouldn’t be too far away – and if that was so, who had killed them and put them there?

  Chapter 13

  Annie left the house and for a split second debated about driving into the village, but then told herself off for being lazy. It was another gorgeous day and the exercise would do her good, so she began the familiar walk – or waddle, as it was fast becoming – up the narrow lane which led onto the main road into the village. She felt restless. She couldn’t settle in the house and had phoned Jake to see if he was at work, hoping that he would be able to find an excuse to come and see her, but he wasn’t on duty until two and she would drive herself mad if she stayed in the house on her own until then. She would see if she could find out where the lovely but slightly mysterious Jo lived and invite her out for coffee. She needed to do something to keep herself busy. As she got to the village she saw Will’s car and her heart skipped a beat; she had never known she would love someone so completely. She had scoffed when watching love films back in the day when she was married to Mike, not believing it was possible to care about another person so much. It made her wonder how many people actually married partners that weren’t the one, or how many actually managed to find the one. Maybe it was a complete fluke that her and Will were so compatible and they were the exception to the norm; although, he did drive her mad with his almost permanent state of happiness. He rarely sulked, but he did like the ladies – or should she say, he used to like the ladies. He’d never cheated on her, but she still found it hard to believe that he had managed to stay so faithful considering his track record. As she turned the road into the village she saw not only Will, Stu and a couple of PCSOs coming out of the little café she loved; she also saw Jo walking up the small street past the village hall.

  There was one advantage to living in a place so small – you couldn’t help but fall over everyone. She watched Will run across the road to speak to Jo, gently taking her arm and pulling her to one side away from the others, and for one insane moment she felt a spark of jealousy ignite inside her. One which she tried her best to dampen before it had chance to take hold. Stu and the others wandered back in the direction of the village hall, leaving Will and Jo in deep conversation. Annie began to walk as fast as her stomach would let her, the whole time telling herself to behave because she was being completely irrational. It was Jo who spotted her first and waved at her, pulling away from Will and walking towards her. Will saw Annie and smiled; it didn’t look as if he had anything to be feeling guilty about.

  ‘Annie, how lovely to see you, how are you today?’

  ‘I’m great, thanks. I was just on a mission to see if I could find you and see if I could tempt you into sharing some cake.’

  ‘I’d love that; you don’t need me, do you?’

  Jo turned to Will, and Annie noticed the woman had her fingers crossed behind her back.

  ‘No, I don’t, but if you think of anything at all you’ll give me a ring, won’t you?’

  His tone of voice wasn’t his usual one and Annie opened her mouth, about to ask him what was up, when he shook his head at her.

  ‘Morning again, how are you getting on?’

  She had no idea what was going on but if he thought he could give her the cold shoulder and pretend he didn’t know her then two could play that game.

  ‘Oh you know how it is, officer – I’m lonely being stuck on my own all day and wondering what on earth is happening and what exactly my husband is up to while he’s at work.’

  ‘That makes the two of us then. I have no idea, either. Enjoy your coffee, ladies.’

  He turned and walked away and for the first time in forever Annie actually felt angry enough with him that she could have run after him and wiped the smile from his face. He had his head bent and was busy texting on his phone. Instead of running after him she forced herself to turn away and smile at Jo. The bruising underneath her eye had faded to a yellow colour and was harder to detect than it had been yesterday, but the point was it was still there, and it very likely hadn’t got there through any fault of her own.

  ‘I don’t like this. It’s scary – all these police men and women are everywhere asking questions. Have they been to your house as well?’

  ‘Erm, yes, sort of. I already know him.’

  ‘Do you? He seems very nice. He came to my house yesterday with another detective because we look out onto the woods where that body was found. It’s so horrible thinking that all this time someone was buried behind my house. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about it – gave me the shivers it did.’

  Annie’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out.

  ‘Forgive me, don’t be angry. I’ll tell you everything later, but can you try and get as much info out of her as possible? She won’t speak if she knows you’re a copper and I’m your husband. I’m worried about her. Love you xxx’

  Annie didn’t know whether she was even more annoyed with him after that text or not. She tucked the phone back in her pocket. She had no idea what was going on, but it didn’t seem as if Jo knew him very well so maybe she should stop being so paranoid.

  ‘Sorry, Jo, what did you say?’

  She laughed.

  ‘I was just saying that he’s a bit dreamy, isn’t he, so good looking – a bit like that guy off The Mentalist. Have you ever watched that? I love it. It’s my favourite television programme. But h
e’s married. Not that I’m interested, you know. I don’t want you to think I’m a terrible person, but he kept playing with his wedding ring when he was at my house yesterday so it was kind of hard to miss.’

  ‘Oh, yes, he is married. I know his wife as well.’

  ‘Really, what’s she like? I bet she’s drop-dead gorgeous as well. I can’t imagine how nice it must be waking up to him every morning. Some women get all the luck.’

  Annie laughed.

  ‘Yes, it would be rather nice, wouldn’t it? What’s your husband like?’

  The woman’s cheeks flared red and she lowered her head.

  ‘Busy, he’s always busy. We don’t see a lot of each other really, considering he works from home.’

  ‘What does he do?’

  ‘He’s a photographer.’

  ‘Does he do portraits?’

  ‘Oh yes, he does all those sorts of things – he has a lot of wealthy older women coming in, wanting him to make them look beautiful.’

  Annie began to laugh.

  ‘That must be a nightmare. I’ve been thinking of getting a portrait done – well, not so much of me because I hate having my picture taken; more of my bump. You know, to have as a keepsake.’

  ‘He’s done lots of mother and bump photoshoots, right through to baby’s first birthday portraits; they seem to be all the fashion now along with those baby showers. I can’t believe how Americanised this country is getting.’

  ‘I might come and speak to him about it then, see if he can fit me in before my stomach explodes. That is, I would if I knew where to find him.’

  Annie winked at Jo who blushed. They reached the coffee shop and Annie pushed the door open for Jo to go through.

  ‘I’ll give you a business card with our address and phone number on, but he’s really very busy. He might not be able to fit you in. There’s another photographer in Bowness who might be more suitable.’

  Annie wondered why Jo didn’t want her to meet her husband or have him take her photo; not that she had any intention of letting him photograph her, but she wanted to see what he looked like. See if he was similar to Mike. Annie knew she was getting too involved. She hardly knew Jo, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself now even if she tried. They both smiled at the woman behind the counter and sat down ready to order. Annie thought about Will’s text – what did he want to know about the woman next to her? She spent the next thirty minutes trying to coax out how long Jo had lived in the village, where she was originally from and if she was happily married. Every time Annie asked about her husband Jo would try and change the subject, so she tried a different approach and didn’t mention him at all, hoping it would make Jo feel comfortable enough to relax. She did finally, until she looked at her watch.