Chapter 40
FORTY
‘This is going to cheer you up, boss.’ DS Mitchell’s eyes are wide and hopeful, more hopeful than I’m currently feeling anyway. Even a hot sausage sandwich and a cup of tea hasn’t done the usual job of lifting my mood. ‘Tell him what you’ve got, Adriana.’ Mitchell nods at her, encouragingly.
‘Well,’ – Adriana takes a breath as I bite into my sandwich – ‘I managed to trace the sender of that message, the one who left the comment underneath Tilly’s sketch of Samantha Valentine.
Her name is Katy Russell and she lives in Subiaco, a suburb in Perth, Western Australia.
We spoke on the phone – I have to say, she was a bit freaked out at first, being contacted by the British police out of the blue about a random comment she made on social media – but she soon came on board.
She readily told me the story about her best friend at school, Samantha Valentine, and how she took her own life when she was eleven years old.
She hanged herself from a tree at the bottom of the family garden, apparently.
’ My eyes widen. ‘I know,’ Adriana says, ‘it sounded like a real tragedy. Anyway, she talked about this other girl too, a third girl who joined their class mid-term at prep school, an English girl, who went on to steal her best friend, Samantha, from her, so to speak… you know, like it is with kids that age, all the friendship dramas…’
I really hope this is going somewhere good, for Adriana’s sake as much as anyone’s. I take another bite of my sandwich.
‘And?’
‘Annnnd…’ – she elongates the word – ‘on the off chance I sent her Erin Santos’s photograph, and Katy Russell has positively identified Erin as being the English girl who joined their prep school mid-term and stole her best friend, Samantha Valentine.’
I stop mid-bite, try to let that just sink in for a moment.
‘What? So, this Katy Russell is saying that Erin was living in Australia as a young girl, and that they both knew Samantha Valentine, a girl from their class who went on to kill herself?’
‘Uh-huh.’ Mitchell is nodding and smiling. ‘She says it’s the same person.’
‘And Katy Russell has positively identified Erin Santos as being this old classmate of hers, in Australia?’ I blink at Mitchell, shaking my head.
‘But we’ve checked Erin out – she’s never lived in Australia.
She was born in Leeds and has lived there most of her life, when she wasn’t locked up in Larksmere anyway. This Katy woman must’ve got it wrong.’
Mitchell shrugs.
‘It’s what she says, boss. Obviously, Erin looks older in the photo, but Katy says she recognises her, gov. She sounded pretty certain that the photo Adriana sent her of Erin was someone she knew back then as Julie Edwards.’
‘Julie Edwards?’
So now Erin Santos is three different people? I’m struggling to cope with this idea already. Maybe Fiona is right and I should stand back and let the big boys take over.
‘So,’ – Adriana picks up where Mitchell has left off – ‘after doing the calculations from the dates Katy Russell provided, I found a Julie Edwards from the BMD records in Western Australia, born in the right area and in the right year.’ Her blue eyes twinkle as she speaks.
‘I also found a phone number for an Edwards family listed in the local directory, along with an address. I rang it but no one picked up. It let me leave a voice message though. So I gave them the incident room number – asked them to give us a call.’
She checks my expression. How is it possible for Erin Santos and Julie Edwards to be the same person? My heartbeat starts to pulse in my ears – how can that be?
‘We’ve also found Samantha Valentine’s family details. They still live in the area, by the looks of it. Shona and Ned Valentine, her parents. We’ve got a number, gov.’ She checks her watch. ‘It’s around 8 p.m. in Perth. Now might be a good time to call.’
‘OK, see if you can get them on the phone – and great work, both of you.’
My head is buzzing as I make my way into my office.
Maybe Katy Russell is mistaken? She has to be.
After all, it was thirty-odd years ago now and some people change much more than others over the years.
We’ll need more than that to go on to justify us digging around Down Under.
Maybe this Katy has some old school photographs she can give us that would help clarify Erin’s identity?
That said, when my old mate from back in the day, Tony Wentworth, had strong-armed me into attending an old school reunion with him a couple of years back, aside from the bald heads, weight gain, wrinkles and even tooth loss in ol’ Jason Redfoot’s case (he was the school heartthrob, once upon a time), I recognised more or less everyone from class 5G of Newton Comp on sight.
They all looked the same really, just older and more jaded.
I’m about to pick the phone up when Archer bursts into the room.
‘Someone found a wig.’
I’d like to think that today couldn’t get any more bizarre, but I’m mindful of tempting fate.
‘Found a what? Where?’
‘Stuffed in a ladies’ sanitary bin inside a toilet at the media communications centre – a red wig.
A cleaner found it and handed it in. Anyway, you should’ve told me you were looking for a redhead.
’ She flutters her eyes at me, mock-flirtatiously.
I try not to look as horrified as it makes me feel, even in jest.
Superintendent Archer has red hair, though it’s not as vibrant as the woman’s from the press conference, hair that now transpires was most likely a wig.
‘Seems she just waltzed right into the building, past security, without anyone noticing her, while also somehow managing to avoid the CCTV cameras.’
Archer seems to be enjoying watching me squirm. How the hell had that happened?
‘I’ve asked Lucy to get it sent off to the lab, see if they can get any DNA from it, find out who it belongs to.
’ She shakes her head at me and tuts. ‘Your fans will be disappointed in you, Riley. You do realise that if we don’t find Erin Santos soon, you’ll be cancelled on social media.
The keyboard Karens and wannabe Miss Marples can turn on you in a flash, you know… ’
My phone rings.
Saved by the bell.
‘I’ve got a Mrs Shona Valentine on the line, gov, Samantha Valentine’s mum in Australia. Hopefully she can shed some light on this, clear up any confusion about who her daughter was, and about this Julie Edwards girl.’ I hear the hopeful anticipation in Adriana’s voice.
‘Put her straight through.’