The Girls Next Door

by Mel Sherratt

  ‘So you’re still denying attacking anyone last night?’ asked Sean.

  Damien nodded.

  ‘One of the three girls says she’s been stealing mobile phones to order for you, and you give her twenty pounds a piece for them.’

  ‘Whoever it is, she’s lying,’ said Damien.

  ‘She says that’s why you attacked her and why you told her to keep her mouth shut. Know anything about that either?’

  Damien physically shrank in his chair. He shook his head.

  ‘Is that no comment?’ asked Eden, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  ‘No comment,’ he replied.

  ‘Fine. We’re interviewing all three girls plus Cayden at the moment, so I trust you won’t mind waiting until we’re done. I’m sure some of their details will overlap.’

  ‘More importantly,’ added Sean, ‘if it’s proved that you’re involved with the abduction of Jess Mountford, then you and your brother are going to be looking at jail time. She’s only sixteen.’

  ‘I told you I don’t know anything about that!’ said Damien.

  ‘If we can’t corroborate anything then it will be up to the judge to work it out. It will mean both of you going on remand until the case comes to trial, I guess.’

  ‘Do you have anything to charge my client with?’ asked Dinnen.

  Sean shook his head. ‘But we’re working on it. It will just take time.’

  Damien leaned over and whispered something into Dinnen’s ear. After a few moments, Dinnen nodded.

  ‘I’d like some time alone with my client please,’ he said.

  Eden announced the interview had been paused and Sean got to his feet.

  ‘Coffee break, I think.’ He looked at Eden and then Damien. ‘We’ll join you later once you’ve had time to think about how much trouble you’ll be in if you continue wrapping yourself up in knots. In the meantime, we’ll keep checking through all the CCTV footage.’

  ‘But that could take hours,’ Damien protested.

  ‘Indeed it could. But if you won’t help us out and you prefer to get yourself and your brother into a whole heap of trouble. . .’

  Back in their office, Eden gave a huge sigh before dropping into her chair.

  ‘So far both Barker brothers have denied attacking all three girls now,’ she told Jordan, who was across from her. ‘They’re also strongly denying having anything to do with either Cayden’s assault or Jess’s disappearance.’

  ‘But it doesn’t add up!’ Jordan slammed down his pen. ‘What did they say about the phones?’

  ‘Strongly denied that too. Although that’s not our main priority right now. We need to find Jess.’

  ‘Do you believe them?’

  Eden shook her head. ‘Damien is talking to Martin Dinnen. I reckon he’ll confess after Sean put the fear of God into him about the consequences of lying. We have no evidence either way yet. Besides, they both told us where they were—’

  ‘But they were lying?’ Jordan broke in.

  ‘That’s why we’re scouring CCTV now.’

  ‘We’re checking to see if she went into A&E too,’ he added, ‘after the message was sent to say she was on her way.’

  Eden visibly shuddered at the thought.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Jordan. ‘I didn’t think.’

  ‘It has to be said.’ Eden shook her head. ‘If Jess is on camera then we know she went missing later in the evening, so it could be the Barker brothers.’ She looked up to see Amy walking towards her. She looked none too happy about something.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Eden asked as she drew near.

  ‘I – I think you might need to see this.’ Amy’s face was a mixture of dismay and anxiety.

  ‘What is it?’ Eden urged.

  ‘I’ve spotted someone pushing a person I believe to be Jess into the back of a white van.’

  Eden felt her legs turn to jelly, but she forced herself to follow Amy to the other end of the room. Jordan was right behind them.

  ‘Is it one of the Barker brothers?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Amy pressed play on the monitor, and they watched as the scene unfolded. They saw Jess run under the shelter that held the supermarket trolleys and a lone male walking past her. He stopped, said something to her and continued on his way. Then he doubled back and Jess followed him.

  ‘Why did she walk off after him?’ said Eden.

  ‘I’m not sure.’ After a moment, Amy pressed pause. ‘Are you sure you want to see this?’ she asked.

  Eden nodded, dread creeping through her veins.

  Amy pressed play again.

  Eden covered her mouth with her hand as she watched the man punch Jess full in the face. She felt tears sting her eyes as he bundled her niece into the back of a small white van. There was a kerfuffle as Jess put up a fight, but he managed to get the door shut. Shortly afterwards the van moved away.

  Eden banged her hand on the desk and groaned. ‘If I ever get my hands on him, I’ll swing for the bastard. He could be anyone, could have taken her anywhere!’ She looked at Amy. ‘Do we have the plates?’

  Amy shook her head. ‘Only partials. They’ve been smeared with mud or something so we can’t see them. But we’re working on all the images now, as well as hoping to pick up a good one of his face that we can put out to the media.’

  ‘Which means he planned this?’ Eden gulped. ‘Is she anywhere else on CCTV?’

  ‘I’m still going through it,’ said Amy.

  ‘Me too,’ said Jordan. ‘We’ll find her.’

  Eden breathed deeply. She had watched Jess being born sixteen years ago, held her soon after she had taken her first breaths. She had fed her, changed her and looked after her on numerous occasions. They couldn’t lose her, not after Laura had lost Neil too. It would be too much to bear.

  She wiped a stray tear away before she looked up again.

  ‘This is looking like it will go much deeper than a group of kids stealing mobile phones and playing tricks, Eden,’ said Sean, who had joined them. ‘Dinnen says that Damien Barker is ready to talk. I’m going in there now.’

  ‘What did he mean by that?’ asked Amy once Sean had gone. ‘Surely everything has to be connected?’

  ‘It means that Jess could have been taken by someone further up who’s out to prove a point. Or it might even mean this has nothing to do with the mobile phones.’ Eden got up quickly. ‘I’m going to join Sean. Oh God, and then I’ll have to let Laura know what we’ve found out so far.’

  Chapter Fifty

  Eden glanced at herself in the rear-view mirror as she parked up outside Laura’s house. Her hair was a mess where she had run her hands through it; her face looked pale, worried eyes staring back at her. She seemed to have aged ten years in as many hours.

  How could she tell her sister what she knew? That she had seen her niece being punched and then dragged into a van before it drove off to Lord knows where. She’d have to put on a brave face. It wouldn’t do for her to crack too, no matter how hard it was to deal with.

  During the second part of the interview, Damien Barker had finally admitted that he and Travis had played the tricks on the girls, and Sean had given him a dressing down, saying there was having a laugh and causing offence with threatening intent, and what they had done was clearly the latter. They had assaulted each girl and would be charged and bailed pending further enquiries. Yet Damien, and subsequently Travis, categorically denied any involvement in the attack on Cayden – nor were they aware of Jess going missing until she and Sean had told them.

  She’d collected Casey on her way over to her sister’s house. Eden had wanted to tell her in person what had happened. She couldn’t let Casey hear from anyone else – it wouldn’t be fair to keep her out of the loop. Besides, Eden had wanted to see her, hug her, reassure her as well as know that she was safe.

  Sarah opened the door. In the hallway there were hugs all round before anyone spoke.

  ‘Casey, will you help Sarah make drinks while I
have a chat with Laura?’ Eden asked.

  Casey nodded and followed her cousin into the kitchen.

  Eden and Laura went into the living room. Eden took a deep breath, but before she could say anything, Laura looked at her sheepishly. Her cheeks were tinged with red.

  ‘I went to see Lulu Barker,’ she admitted.

  ‘You had no right to do that!’ Eden looked at her sister with wide eyes.

  ‘I only wanted to know if anyone had seen Jess!’

  ‘And we’re looking into that. You have to let us do our jobs. We have the Barker brothers in custody. I don’t want you making matters worse.’ Eden wondered if she would have to go and see Lulu again, limit the damage that might have been done. ‘What happened?’

  ‘We had words. Lulu told me her boys had nothing to do with Jess being missing. But she did tell me you were talking to them.’

  Eden pointed to the settee. They sat together as, with a heavy heart, she updated Laura with everything she had found out over the past two hours about the Barker brothers. She watched her sister drop her head into her hands.

  ‘But if you know it’s not those two, then who has her?’ Laura wanted to know. ‘You’re sure it’s not them?’

  ‘Damien said they wouldn’t do anything like that with the trial coming up on Monday. He said there was going to be enough media looking at them and that they just wanted to warn the girls off.’

  ‘Warn the girls off what?’

  ‘The money that Jess had?’ There was no easy way for Eden to tell Laura about it. ‘It looks like she’s been in a gang that’s been stealing mobile phones and selling them on for cash.’

  ‘But I don’t understand.’

  ‘The three girls who were attacked were all warned to keep their mouths shut. At first we thought it was something to do with the trial, but now we know the Barker brothers were warning them off saying anything about their sideline business.’

  Laura shook her head, tears running down her face. ‘Jess would never be involved with anything like that. Would she?’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Eden squeezed her sister’s hand again. ‘We’re going to charge them and then bail them for now.’ When Laura began to protest, she stopped her. ‘We don’t have enough evidence yet, but we will.’

  ‘Maybe it’s someone who the Barker brothers have upset,’ Laura whispered, almost pleading with Eden to say differently.

  Eden bit her lip, cursing herself inwardly. She’d put off this moment, talking about the brothers because she didn’t know how to put everything else into words. She should have told Laura what she knew as soon as she’d arrived.

  She didn’t want to cause her sister any more distress, but she had to tell her everything they had found out.

  ‘Laura,’ she swallowed, ‘we’ve seen someone pushing Jess into the back of a white van.’

  Laura stood up quickly. ‘When? What do you mean?’

  Eden couldn’t speak for a moment. She almost felt like she would choke if she said the words.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Laura cried, looking down at her. ‘Who has her?’

  ‘We don’t know.’ Eden stood up and told her sister what she knew. Held her while she broke down in her arms. Told her they would get the bastard who had taken Jess.

  ‘Can you see the man’s face in the picture?’ Laura asked through her sobs.

  ‘We’re getting the images enhanced.’

  Eden felt helpless as Laura cried. She didn’t need to say that since this wasn’t connected with the pranks, everything had turned a lot darker now.

  Katie – August 2015

  Dear Mum,

  It’s been four months now, and I miss you so much. The way you always make me feel loved and protected. The way you always know how to cheer me up. The way you can always make me smile. I miss you so much it hurts.

  I miss Dad laughing and joking. The way he’d try to flick my ears whenever I walked past. The way he always burns cheese on toast and then blames me. The way he’d try and hug me to embarrass me.

  I miss Matty, even though he’s a pain at times. I miss his smile, his laughter and his goofy ways. I even miss both of us bickering and arguing between ourselves, usually over something silly.

  I miss my room. I miss my clothes and all my shoes. I know I have some to wear here, but I have so many more at home. I miss having my own TV in my room. I miss being able to go to bed when I want, unless it’s a school night obviously. I miss being able to eat what I want for breakfast. And school – I even miss going there. It’s not the same here. I miss my friends.

  I really miss hanging around with Jess. We used to swap clothes and magazines and messages – anything. I miss talking to her over FaceTime and as you would say, Mum, being in each other’s pockets. Me and Jess are more like sisters – you always called us the terrible twins.

  I don’t have anyone to confide in here. I miss being able to talk to her when I’m feeling low, when I want to share a joke with her or when I hear a new song on the tinny radio in the kitchen. I want to share it with her or dance around our kitchen with her.

  Will she even want to be my friend if I’m found guilty? I hope she comes and sees me again soon. Jess will know how to cheer me up. She can make me smile and laugh. She’ll tell me what’s going on with the old gang, and keep me up with the gossip until I come home.

  Because I will come home. I have to come home, Mum.

  But then I feel guilty. Because even though I miss all these things, at least I’m still alive. Deanna isn’t. She’s never coming back. She’s never going to wear nice clothes and fancy shoes ever again. She’s never going to see her mum and dad and all her brothers.

  And all I keep seeing is her face as she lay dying in my arms. I see it when I wake up. I see it before I go to bed. Sometimes I see one of the kids running towards me and I see her. It’s like her ghost is with me.

  All the blood – how could someone do that to another human being? I hope Nathan gets what he deserves. He’s evil to do that.

  I wish I could have saved her, Mum. She shouldn’t have died. It wasn’t fair.

  Love Katie x

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Laura was in the bathroom upstairs. It was the only way she could get a bit of peace and quiet to think. Over the last half hour, her kitchen had been taken over as more people had turned up to help with the search. Maxine and Carol were back from the park and were making drinks for everyone as they came and went. The police were out doing house-to-house, so they were taking trays of tea outside as well.

  She was so grateful for everything being done, for it all to be happening so quickly, but it terrified her too. Who was the man who had her daughter? Eden wouldn’t let her see the images of him pushing Jess into the van, but she had promised to let her see pictures of his face close up if they could get any.

  Her biggest fear was that she would know him. Not that she had made any enemies over the years, but it was common knowledge that most victims of crime knew their assailants. But worse, what would happen if she didn’t know him and couldn’t give the police any help?

  She glanced at her reflection as she splashed her face with cold water. Puffy eyes, blotchy face and neck. Her hair was greasy where she had run her fingers through it constantly. But she didn’t care what she looked like any more. All she cared about was finding Jess.

  It was 4.30 p.m. Why couldn’t Jess just come walking through the front door? Or even ring home so that Laura could go and pick her up? Unharmed, a little shocked but innocent of all the things that were running through her head right now.

  It was the not knowing that was torture. Not knowing where she was, not knowing who she was with. Not knowing. . .

  No, she would never think anything less than that Jess was alive. If she did, she’d crumble – and she wouldn’t do that. She would stay strong.

  When her phone rang, she reached for it out of her pocket. The name flashing up on the screen made her swipe at it quickly.

  ‘Jess!’ she cried
. ‘Where are you? Are you okay?’

  ‘It’s not Jess.’

  Laura gasped. The voice was male.

  ‘Who are you?’ she cried. ‘Where is my daughter? Why do you have her phone?’

  ‘Because I have your daughter.’

  Laura grasped the edge of the sink before sitting down on the side of the bath. All her specialist counselling training went out of the window in a split second. But she remembered to speak calmly and quietly, hoping not to antagonise him.

  ‘Please don’t hurt her,’ she said.

  ‘It’s too late for that.’

  His accent was local. Laura bunched her fingers into a fist.

  ‘Look, I’ll pay you back the money. Five hundred and forty pounds.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘If you leave her somewhere to make her own way home, just tell me and I’ll go and collect her. The police don’t need to know anything else. You can give—’

  ‘You’ve told the police?’

  ‘My sister is a detective sergeant. She was coming to see me when I realised Jess was missing.’ Laura lost her cool. ‘What have you done to her, you bastard? If you’ve hurt her, I’ll—’

  ‘You shouldn’t have involved the police! This was between me and you. I didn’t want anyone else to know!’

  ‘She’s my sister! And did you think no one was going to find out what you’ve done?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter about that. What you need to know is this has got nothing to do with money. No one owes me anything except you.’

  Laura wasn’t listening to him properly. ‘Please,’ her voice faltered. ‘Just let her go.’

  ‘You owe me an explanation first. It’s your fault I have her.’

  ‘Me? I don’t understand!’

  ‘My name is Jason Proctor. My daughter was Ashleigh Proctor. Does her name ring a bell?’

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  April 2015

  Laura: How are you feeling today, Ashleigh?