One Left Behind: A completely gripping and addictive crime thriller with nail-biting suspense (Detective Gina Harte Book 9)

by Carla Kovach

‘What you were all doing… having a party… maybe drinking. Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter. Do you hear me?’

  ‘Yes.’ Naomi swallowed.

  ‘We need to find out who killed Leah. That’s what’s important right now.’ Mrs Carpenter held her daughter’s hand and squeezed.

  ‘Thanks, Mum, and I’m sorry I lied to you about sleeping over at Leah’s house. I’ll never do anything like that again.’ Naomi took a couple of breaths and wiped the tears that meandered down her cheeks. ‘We planned this party about a week ago, well, it was Oscar’s idea. It was just meant to be a bit of fun, that’s all.’ She paused in thought. ‘We met Oscar in the car park of the corner shop on the new estate. He borrowed what he calls his dad’s battered car, a cheap run-around his dad uses when he doesn’t want his posh car dinked. Because Oscar hasn’t been driving long, his dad tells him to take it out and practise. I think the street the shop is on is called Herringbone Close. We all got into the car and parked up near Oak Tree Walk, which is where we walked from with all our camping gear. It was either park there or on the truck stop car park, but he charges to park which is why we parked on the street.’ She paused and scrunched her brow. ‘A couple of the people living in the cottages gave us the evils through their kitchen windows as we passed. I think they knew what we were up to, I guess all the camping gear and bags gave us away. Or maybe we’d nicked their parking space. Who knows? Oscar said the car was taxed and they were a bunch of losers who needed to get a life. I know a lot of kids come to party over here so I guess they were annoyed. I don’t know.’ She shrugged.

  ‘What happened after that?’ Gina leaned forward slightly and placed a clump of stray hair behind her ear.

  ‘Oscar led us to the clearing and we pitched up.’

  ‘What time was that?’

  ‘I’d say about six that evening. I was really rubbish at putting up my tent so it took a while and Oscar and Jordan began trying to light a fire. Leah had brought marshmallows with her. We were going to toast them on the fire when it got dark. We set up and sat around talking for a bit, then we started drinking and the music went on. Oscar and Elsa had managed to get some bottles of cider and beer. I think Oscar brought a bottle of vodka from his dad’s drinks cabinet so we had that too.’

  ‘Did any of you take anything else?’

  ‘You mean drugs?’

  Gina nodded. ‘Yes.’

  Naomi glanced at her mother who swallowed as if not wanting to hear the answer to that question.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mum. We had some weed, which we lit and passed around. It was just the one and we shared it.’

  Dina Carpenter inhaled and squeezed her daughter’s hand. ‘That’s okay, just tell the truth.’

  Naomi turned her attention back to Gina. ‘Yeah, we had weed. Just one spliff, that’s all. I had one puff and it made me feel sick so I didn’t have another.’

  Jacob scribbled a few notes.

  ‘You’re doing really well, Naomi, and I thank you for your honesty. With what happened, I know all this isn’t easy. Could you please continue telling me about what happened after?’ Gina noticed the tremble in the girl’s hand. She began to tap her fingers on the table. The sixteen-year-old seemed a lot younger. Messy hair, no make-up and her tiny frame made her look more like a thirteen-year-old. Her skin was almost translucent and a blue vein pulsed at her temple. Gina had to remind herself that Naomi was potentially a suspect though and drilling down on her relationship with Leah was essential. Leah was killed in such a way that it wouldn’t take much strength, which made each one of them physically capable.

  The girl bit her lip and flinched as it bled before continuing. She dabbed it with a tissue. ‘Leah said she was really hungry after a few puffs on the spliff so she went to the Waterside Café, that’s the truck stop. It’s not too far from the river. We all put our orders in and she left.’

  ‘What time did she leave?’

  The girl shrugged. ‘I have no idea. It shuts at ten so it must have been before then.’

  ‘How long was she gone?’

  ‘That was the weird thing. She should have been back after about twenty minutes at the most but she was gone nearly an hour and she looked a bit more drunk than she should have. She seemed a little sleepy and was slurring her words too.’

  ‘Did she say why she’d been gone so long?’

  ‘No, but she came back with a four-pack of lager to add to our stash and she said someone on the truck stop car park gave it to her.’

  Gina felt her heart rate picking up. ‘Did she say who it was or what this person looked like?’

  ‘No, just some man.’

  ‘Did you ask why she was gone for so long?’

  ‘No. I was just happy to get my crisps and I’d had a few shots while she’d been gone. We all had. After that it gets blurrier. We basically drunk everything we had. At one point I saw Oscar snogging Elsa, then a while later it was Leah. We were all just messing around and wasted. The music was turned up loud by then. I got caught up in the night and spent most of the evening dancing like an idiot with whoever wanted to dance, that was until much later. Then…’ Naomi scrunched her brow.

  ‘Then, what?’

  ‘There was some sort of bust up, an argument, and Leah wasn’t very happy. I think it was the drink and weed. It sent her into a funny mood. She wanted to go home but Oscar couldn’t drive as he was drunk. She stormed off and said if he wouldn’t drive her, she’d walk. I remember grabbing her as she pushed past and she told me to let go or she’d make me. She sounded angry but I could tell she was more upset and teary. Her eyes were red. She left and we all just carried on partying. We thought she’d just walk home even though it would have taken about an hour. It wasn’t impossible and none of us could stop her. Besides, we were all in a state by then. I remember Oscar doing a staggering pacing walk while swearing, then we were back to the party. I fell asleep a couple of times after Leah had left, only for a few minutes each time. But saying that, I could have that wrong.’

  ‘As far as you’re aware, did anyone else leave the camp at any time after that?’

  ‘They might have but like I said, I drifted off a couple of times. I think everyone was there though, I could still hear them laughing and dancing around the fire.’

  ‘Did anyone else come to the camp? Someone who wasn’t a part of your party.’

  She shook her head and ran her fingers through her matted hair, raking a few strands out as she teased the lugs with her skinny fingers. ‘No, it was just us. But…’

  ‘But what?’ Gina gently urged the girl to carry on speaking.

  ‘I went to pee in the bushes a little while later and I’m sure I heard rustling. I don’t know if it was one of the others or someone else. They all denied it but then laughed as if they were playing a joke on me. I told them they were being dicks—’

  ‘Watch your language.’ Dina Carpenter placed her hand over her daughter’s hand.

  Naomi picked at the scratches on her arms. ‘Sorry, Mum. And that’s when I went to my tent to sleep. I woke up the next morning and walked a bit further away to pee, that’s when I discovered Leah’s body.’ A flood of tears ran down the girl’s cheek and she buried her head into her mother’s chest. ‘Leah was dead.’

  ‘I know this is hard, but can you tell me a little about how you knew Leah? Tell me about your friendship.’

  The crying girl blurted out words between sobs. ‘We were in most of the same classes at school. We have been since starting senior school. We went to the same junior school but we weren’t in the same class there. She was the person who spoke to me on the first day and we soon became really good friends, I’d say best friends. Sometimes, she’d stay over at mine and I’d stay over at hers.’

  ‘Do you know if she had any problems with anyone?’

  Naomi took a tissue from the box and blew her nose. ‘Everyone liked her. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.’

  As Naomi sought comfort in her mother and took a moment, Gina wondered how the
other interviews were going. DC Harry O’Connor and DC Wyre were currently interviewing Jordan Rolph. She needed to wrap this interview up. It was becoming distressing for Naomi and she really wanted to be the one who interviewed Oscar Spalding as he seemed to be the organiser of the party. As it stood, she had no evidence to suspect Naomi but all that could change depending on what forensics came back with and what was said in the other interviews.

  ‘Look, my daughter is in distress. Her friend has just been murdered and she needs a break.’

  Gina nodded not wanting to overstep the mark with the sixteen-year-old. ‘Of course. Naomi, thank you for being so helpful. Just one last question. Did anyone else attend the party at any time during the evening, or did anyone call, or maybe someone else who was invited didn’t turn up?’

  The girl took a few sniffs. ‘No one visited, but there were two others that were invited but they said they weren’t coming.’

  ‘And what are their names?’

  ‘Caro Blakely and Anthony Truss.’

  ‘Did they say why they weren’t going to attend the party?’

  She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know.’ Naomi’s shoulders went rigid and she looked down while biting her lip again. What wasn’t she telling them?

  ‘If you can give us their addresses before you leave, that would really help us.’ It would be quicker to get that information now than to wait for the school administrator to get back to them during the summer holidays.

  ‘I’m going to insist that my daughter has a break now. She’s upset.’

  Gina smiled sympathetically. ‘Thank you again. We may well be in touch again but in the meantime, if you think of anything that might help us, you can call me on this number.’ Gina passed a card to Dina Carpenter. ‘Also, I will ask that you please don’t discuss this on social media. It can hamper the case and we really want to catch whoever did this.’

  ‘I won’t. There is something else but it might be nothing. It’s probably me being silly. I didn’t like peeing in the bushes and I’d probably scared myself a bit.’

  ‘You’re not being silly. It may be something that can help us.’ Gina tilted her head to the side.

  ‘Just before I found Leah in the bushes this morning, I was having a wee. I heard a rustling, like someone was close by, then it stopped as if they’d gone. I didn’t see anyone and it might have been an animal. That’s it. That’s all I know.’

  ‘Thank you, Naomi. Interview terminated at twelve forty-five on Sunday the first of August.’ Jacob stopped the tape.

  Gina opened the door to the interview room and spotted PC Smith walking by. ‘Hey, could you please show Mrs Carpenter and her daughter out, then take the details of a Caro Blakely and Anthony Truss before they go?’

  ‘Will do, guv.’ PC Smith finished eating the bit of sandwich he was carrying and smiled.

  ‘Thank you.’ As she listened to their footsteps leaving the corridor she turned to Jacob. ‘I suspect more went down than she’s saying and we’ve been fed a few breadcrumbs. Question is, was it just innocent but embarrassing teenage antics, or is there more at play? I also want to know why the other two chose not to attend the party. They knew where it was and when it was so we definitely have to look into their whereabouts. What’s really making me concerned is that Leah Fenmore came back from the truck stop with a four-pack of lager that was apparently given to her by a man in the car park. I know we have Rodney Hackett the truck driver waiting to be interviewed. We also know that he was the only driver to stay there overnight. We need to speak to him next.’

  ‘Why would he give a teenager he doesn’t know alcohol?’

  Gina’s mind flitted to the condom that she spotted under the truck. ‘I wouldn’t like to think but we’re going to find out.’

  Ten

  ‘Sorry, lass. Your mum told me about what happened to your friend.’

  Caro couldn’t look at Grandad, instead she stared at her mother. ‘Why did you make me come out, Mum? I’ve just found out that my friend has been murdered.’ Not only that, she’d been sent a threatening message and all she wanted to do was hide in her room. Say a word and you’ll be next to die! Those words were making her feel sick.

  ‘I’m sorry, honey, but I didn’t want to leave you on your own in the house, not after what’s happened. Besides, I called Grandad and he’d already put dinner on.’

  ‘Eat your sprouts, sis.’ Jake flicked a pea at her and it landed on the tiled kitchen floor. Grandad’s yapping terrier raced over and ate it.

  ‘Jake, stop it. Your sister has had some really bad news and winding her up like that is only going to upset her more.’

  ‘I was only—’

  ‘Say you’re sorry.’

  Jake shook his head and half smiled as if testing his mother’s patience.

  ‘Enough.’ Her dad slammed down his paper napkin and the plates jumped on the flimsy table. ‘Jake, get on those stairs now. You will stay there, staring at the front door for a ten-minute timeout. You can have a long hard think about what your sister is going through before you come back to join us. Understand?’

  His bottom lip began to quiver as he left the room. Caro was now staring at his empty chair across the table. She stabbed one of the sprouts and it turned to mush. She couldn’t face the dinner, she couldn’t face talking and she couldn’t face her past. If her family knew the half of it, they’d hate her, she knew they would. The smell of grease that was ingrained into Grandad’s house made her stomach turn. The closing in surroundings reminded her of a part of her family’s past that she’d rather forget.

  Her mind went back to the last party where she’d run through the woods naked for a dare, hyped up on adrenalin and alcohol. They’d all laughed and her friends had completed equally embarrassing dares too. She remembered the dancing and Jordan’s lips pressed on hers, his hand reaching under her shorts before she pushed him away. Then there was the scuffle followed by more drinking. She never knew that Anthony had a thing for her up until the moment he punched Jordan. The whole night had kicked off into a drunken brawl, leading to Anthony stomping off into the night. That’s when the memories blur until much later.

  ‘Caro?’ Her mother gave her a nudge.

  ‘Sorry, Mum. I just can’t stop thinking about what happened. I can’t eat this. Sorry, Grandad. I know you worked hard on the dinner.’ She began to choke up. Her cheeks began to burn with the cooking heat and her top had stuck to her chest as the midday temperatures soared. ‘I have to get some air.’ Darting past her little brother, she flung open the front door and ran into the front garden, sitting on Grandad’s weather-beaten wooden bench with her head between her legs and eyes pressed shut.

  A memory of someone’s nose touching hers as she drifted in and out of what felt like an uncontrollably heavy tiredness made her shiver. At that party, there was laughing and things were being done to her but it was still such a blur. It was dark where her tent had been pitched. Her own sweaty damp hair was all she remembered feeling when it went quiet.

  Anthony had fought for her. She’d kissed Jordan and Oscar had been laughing. He never gave his feelings away with ease and that was the worst thing about him.

  ‘Caro.’ Her mother sat beside her on the bench and placed an arm around her. ‘Come here.’ She slowly pulled Caro close to her and gave her a gentle hug.

  ‘It’s so scary, Mum. I—’ She paused and stuttered the word I several times but the rest of the sentence would not come. The last thing she wanted her mother and family to know were her shameful secrets. She wished she’d never gone to the previous party and now Leah was dead.

  ‘What is it, love? Do you know something?’

  Caro shook her head. ‘No, Mum. I wasn’t there. Why would I know anything?’ There were things she never wanted to discuss with her mother, especially that message.

  Jake came padding across the front lawn in his sandals. ‘I’m sorry, Caro.’ He joined in their group hug, the hug that was doing nothing to take
the pain away. That still lay in the pit of her stomach like a brick, turning and taunting; scratching her from the inside.

  Her phone beeped. She broke up the embrace. ‘Can I just have a couple of minutes? I’m feeling a little better. I just need a minute to myself.’

  ‘Of course, love. Come on, Jakey-boy. No more upsetting your sister, do you hear me?’

  ‘Yes, Mummy.’ She ruffled his hair and led him back into the house, his little hand gripping their mother’s, leaving Caro sitting alone on the bench.

  She pulled her phone out and glanced at the message from Anthony.

  WTF! U heard what happened? Need to call you now. A

  She pressed his number immediately and he answered just as quick.

  ‘Damn it, Caro. You can’t tell anyone what happened at the last party. The cops will ask us, I know it. As soon as they know we were meant to be at that party it’s gonna dredge up the last party and I did things I wish I hadn’t. Promise me.’

  She paused and wiped her eyes. ‘What happened to me at the last party?’

  ‘Nothing. The fight, the dares. That’s all.’

  ‘After, later?’

  He went silent.

  ‘Anthony, I need to know.’

  ‘Caro, are you okay?’ It was her mum, fussing again. She wouldn’t leave her alone for five minutes.

  ‘Look, my heads a mess. Just don’t say anything about the fight or about anything else. You know how strict my parents are and with losing my grandma that week, they’ll hate me. My mum will kill me if she knew what we were all up to. Besides, we didn’t kill her so the police would be looking in the wrong place anyway. There’s no need for everyone to know our business.’

  She went to tell Anthony about the message but then stopped. Would the messenger know she’d told and would she then die? Instead, she cleared her throat.

  ‘Caro.’ Her mother’s shadow spread across the grass, eventually covering Caro’s feet.

  ‘Got to go. I’ll call you later.’

  Anthony went to reply but she cut him off and stood. ‘I was just coming back in, Mum.’ She wondered how much of that conversation her mother had heard.