Chapter 22
Sadie was surprised to see Detective Inspector Parker at her door so early.
‘Did you find Lily? Is she okay?’
Parker shook her head. ‘I’ve no news on Lily, I’m sorry. I can assure you searches and appeals are continuing. The entire force and the media are behind us. Can I come in? I’d like to ask you a favour.’
A series of images flashed through Sadie’s mind.
Was anything out of place inside? Any evidence remaining of Thomas’s anger the night before?
She’d applied heavy make-up to her face.
Reflexively a hand went to her ribs, where a dull ache seemed to echo so loudly she was sure the detective could hear it. Then she remembered her manners.
‘The place is a bit of a mess. I haven’t washed a cup or swept the floor yet. I’ve been out of my mind with worry over Lily. I can’t believe you have found absolutely nothing to indicate where she is. I want to go out and search for her myself.’
‘I think it’s best you stay put. Where is your husband?’ Parker tried to look over Sadie’s shoulder.
They were standing in the hall, and Sadie didn’t feel like inviting the woman in any further.
‘He… went out to search for Lily. Said he couldn’t sit here doing nothing.’ A lie, but it worked. God only knew where he was.
‘I understand, but my advice is for you to stay at home.’
‘Right.’ Sadie still didn’t move further than the hallway. She eyed the inspector, who looked tired and drawn, with her hands shoved deep in the pockets of her black puffer coat. ‘What is the favour you wanted from me?’
‘I’d like you to accompany me to Russell Avenue, to the Healy house.’
‘What on earth for?’
‘I want to know if you notice anything out of place or missing. Caroline’s mother is too distraught to help.’
‘I’m distraught too, and my little girl is missing. Anyway, you told me to stay here.’ Sadie knew she sounded childish, but she didn’t want to go anywhere near Caroline’s house. Not after what had happened there.
‘Please, give me a few minutes. As you’re not directly related to Caroline or her family, I thought you might be able to provide me with a detached perspective.’
Sadie shook her head. ‘I don’t think I can. My best friend and her child were murdered there. God, this is a bloody nightmare.’
‘I agree, and if there was any other way, I wouldn’t ask.’
‘If Cameron killed them and then himself, why would you be wondering if anything is different or missing?’
‘It’s just operational. Dotting i’s and crossing t’s at this stage. I need your help, Sadie.’
Sadie didn’t believe her. Did the guards think it wasn’t Cam after all? But Parker looked so lost and frustrated that she felt her resolve weaken. Even though her limbs felt like jelly, she grabbed a jacket and scarf and nodded. ‘Okay. I need to get some air anyhow.’
Lottie thought Sadie Clarke was pale despite the cake of make-up the young woman had on her face.
She noticed too how she kept one arm around her waist, hugging herself, but not too tightly.
It was as if she was keeping her insides from falling out.
Martina’s words reverberated through her brain.
If Sadie had suffered abuse at the hands of her husband, a man Lottie now thought of as a bollox of the highest order, wasn’t it odd that Caroline had suffered at the hands of her own husband too?
Was that coincidence, or something more alarming?
She watched Sadie climbing out of the car at Healy’s, grimacing as she stood upright. Shutting the door, she stared at the feature window on her friend’s house and took a step back.
‘Are you okay?’ Lottie asked, admiring the woman’s neat hair tied back with a black ribbon, tight-fit blue jeans and navy satin bomber jacket zipped to her throat.
Her own jeans had once been black but were now faded to an ashy grey, with the knees ready to rip.
She didn’t dare think of how ragged her long-sleeved white top was, and as for her coat, it wasn’t even fit for recycling.
‘I’m thinking how proud Caroline was of her new home,’ Sadie said. ‘It all counts for nothing.’
‘Anything strike you as being different outside?’
‘No.’
‘We’ll go around to the back garden.’
They sloshed through the puddles on the gravel path.
‘The balloon arch is still there, but there was a bouncy castle.’ Sadie pointed to a trampled part of the lawn. ‘Did they take it down?’
‘It was removed last night by the man who owned it. Christy Kearney. Do you know him?’
‘Don’t think so. Why?’
‘He’s the one who noticed Cameron’s body through the window and phoned emergency services.’
‘Oh, the poor man.’ Sadie shook her head disconsolately. ‘It’s such a shock. I can’t believe they’re dead. And my Lily is still missing.’ She swallowed a sob. ‘You have to find her. We’re wasting our time here. I can’t go inside the house. Are they… are their bodies still in there?’
‘God, no. They’ve been taken to the… hospital.’ Lottie had been about to say the Dead House mortuary and stopped herself just in time.
‘Okay then. Let’s get this over with. What if Lily turns up and there’s no one at home?’
‘I assigned a guard to patrol outside your house. We won’t be long. Come on.’
SOCOs had completed most of their work here, though a few were still poking around. There was now no need for PPE clothing, and anyhow, Sadie had been in the house for the party and on previous occasions. Her DNA and fingerprints could be easily explained, if it came to that.
Inside, the smell of death lingered like the mustiness of old clothes forgotten in a wardrobe. The odour clung to the walls and doors and cupboards. Lottie noticed Sadie shiver. The spectre of death sheathed every surface as if it was a visible entity.
‘It’s eerie, isn’t it?’ Sadie said. ‘You’d know something evil was here. The energy is all off.’
‘I agree.’
‘What do you want me to do?’ She wrung her hands, her voice catching in her throat, as if terrified.
‘Just walk with me and tell me what you see or feel that’s not right.’ Lottie paused. ‘I have to warn you, there’s blood in there.’ She indicated the sitting room. ‘Are you okay with that?’
‘Whose blood?’
‘Cameron’s.’
‘Then I’m fine with it.’
She led Sadie into the room, where the odour was tangible, distinctly putrid and metallic.
The blood had penetrated the stuffing of the sofa and dried there.
Not wanting to pressurise the young woman, Lottie stayed a step behind her and remained silent.
Sadie came to a stop in front of the bloodstained couch and took a few deep breaths.
After another glance at her surroundings, she shook her head.
‘It looks the same to me, except for that.’ She gestured towards the stain.
‘Okay. Upstairs, then.’
‘Is there blood up there too?’
‘No.’
‘How did they die?’
Sidestepping the question, Lottie said, ‘I want you to tell me if anything has been disturbed or is missing.’
‘Lead the way.’
‘I presume you’ve been upstairs here before?’
‘Loads of times. Mainly to fetch Lily when she wouldn’t come out of Freya’s room.
The pair of them were always stuck to Freya’s iPad.
Thomas has so many parental controls on Lily’s that it was a novelty for her when she came over here to be able to log on to Freya’s.
’ Sadie smiled wistfully, recalling the memory, before the veil of despair shaded her eyes again.
‘I’ve been in Caroline and Cam’s room too. Choosing outfits. Gossiping in secret.’
‘Why in secret?’
‘Away from our husbands’ ears.’
Her voice was resolute, and Lottie admired the woman’s resilience. Watching her move, though, she was convinced Sadie was in physical pain. Questions for later.
‘This is Caroline and Cam’s room.’ Sadie rubbed her arms through the sleeves of her jacket.
Glancing around, she added, ‘Nothing looks amiss. But I’m feeling sadness and hurt here and it’s distressing.
’ She walked to the dressing table, which held a minimal amount of cosmetics.
‘I can’t tell if anything is missing or not. ’
‘That’s fine.’ Lottie felt sorry now for bringing the woman here. It was unfair, but she’d thought she might have some insight into what had happened. All it had done was to distress her further.
‘If you don’t want to go into Freyas’s room, I understand.’
‘I’m here now. I can do it.’
In the child’s room, Lottie felt her breath stick in the back of her throat with sadness. She struggled to speak. ‘Sadie, can you remember what Freya was wearing for her party?’
‘Leggings. Blue, I think. And a white T-shirt. She was going through a rebellious stage, same as Lily. But sometimes you just have to give a little with kids. They respect you more in the long run. That’s why I don’t buy into the line that Lily ran away.
Someone took her. Maybe even Thomas, or the same person who killed my friends. ’
‘You think your husband took your daughter?’
‘To be honest, I don’t know what to think. But she is alive. I’d feel it if she wasn’t.’ Sadie walked around the bed and opened the dresser drawer. ‘This is where Freya kept her iPad. Did you take it?’
‘I’ll check with the team’s inventory of the items they removed from the scene.
’ Lottie knew they had taken it, and also that Freya’s party attire as described by Sadie was not what the child had been found dressed in.
She looked through the wardrobe and then the laundry basket in Freya’s en suite.
No sign of the blue leggings or a white T-shirt.
‘Did Freya own a pink party dress with a lace collar?’
‘God, I doubt it. I don’t think she’d be caught dead in anything like that.’ Sadie pressed a hand to her mouth as she realised what she’d said. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘Is that what she was wearing when she was found? A pink party dress?’
‘Yes.’
‘How awful,’ Sadie said, more animated now. ‘What was Caroline wearing?’
Lottie described the white high-necked blouse and brown flared trousers.
Biting her lip, Sadie remained silent.
‘What is it?’
She shrugged. ‘I’d guess Caroline owned nothing like you described.’ She stood in front of the wardrobe. ‘Can I open it?’
‘Sure.’
The door slid to the side and Lottie took in the array of clothing, some with tags still attached. ‘Wow, Caroline liked her clothes.’
‘Retail therapy, she called it.’ Sadie closed the door, then went to the window and looked down into the garden.
Lottie joined her. ‘My Thomas thought the balloon arch was tacky. I think Caroline overheard him say it and she had thunder in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong, but she said it was nothing.’
‘But you don’t think it was nothing, do you?’
‘It was like she wanted to pick a fight. There was a weird sort of vibe between them. I can’t explain it.’
‘Right.’ Lottie sensed there was more, but she didn’t like to push it. ‘Thanks for your help.’
They went down the stairs. In the kitchen, Lottie turned around but Sadie wasn’t behind her. She found her standing in the sitting room.
‘Where are Freya’s birthday cards? Her presents? She opened some of them in here. Did you take them?’
Lottie did a mental check over the room as she recalled what it was like when she’d first walked the crime scene. ‘No. I did think it was odd that there were no cards around. Would you be able to remember the gifts?’
‘Some of them. One was a PlayStation. Latest model. Freya was so excited.’ Sadie stared at her. ‘Maybe it was a burglary gone wrong.’
Lottie didn’t think that was the case, but it was another line of enquiry to pursue. ‘We are looking at all possibilities.’