PC Barnes sits again. ‘Why did you go to Polperro alone today?’
I pull my phone out and pass it to the officer with the message chain open showing them Will’s closed account. When they click on his profile, nothing comes up and in the message chain he’s also nameless.
Barnes scrolls around a little, taking in my profile too. ‘You’re the Kate whose baby sister drowned, aren’t you? I follow your page. I’m guessing that article has brought the cranks out.’
‘I follow it too. Such a sad thing to happen.’ PC Bickerford tilts her head.
Everything floods out. It’s as if I can’t stop talking. This is what I came for and while I have the police here, I want them to do more. I tell him about how I felt the messages were more than just a hoax, how I’d been watched since we’d arrived in Looe.
‘See, he even sent me a message stating that he saw me at the harbour. He was watching me then. My husband saw this and now he’s left me.’ Tears trickle down my face. I didn’t even get the chance to tell Damien that I’m not having an affair. That doesn’t excuse all my lies though, but I hope that he’ll be able to trust me again.
PC Barnes nods. ‘We take threats like this very seriously. If you see anyone hanging around again, call us straight away. When you received these messages, why didn’t you call us?’ PC Barnes presses his lips together.
‘I’ve called so many times with these type of messages and so has my dad.’ He nods. ‘They always lead to nothing. I thought I should dig a little more before contacting you. I didn’t want to waste your time again.’
He drank down the coffee and stood. ‘You will never be wasting our time. If anything else happens or you remember something that might help us later, call straight away. We’ll head to Polperro tomorrow and ask a few more questions, see if anyone saw anyone acting suspiciously. We’re already trying to locate where all the CCTV is and someone will go through it all, but that could take awhile and there’s definitely not any by the beach.’
‘I was there too.’ My dad speaks up.
‘At Polperro?’
‘Yes.’ He glances in my direction. ‘I came to see Katie and when I got there, I could see that she was in trouble so I signalled for help.’
PC Barnes scribbled down a few notes.
I exhale with relief. At last, I’m not alone. The police believe me and that’s all I could have hoped for.
For a moment, I wonder if I should say anything about the woman who owns the ice-cream shop but I can’t. If I tell the police, she might clam up and say nothing to them. She seemed reluctant to speak to me when I chased her down. No, I can’t afford to lose her trust. I will see her tomorrow and I will visit Cody’s father in the morning like I’d planned to do. The police have enough on their plates with going through CCTV and interviewing people. I’m not allowing Jess’s case to take a back seat, besides I’m only here for a few more days. I have to know what happened and I know the ice-cream seller is going to tell me what she knows.
I have to hang on a little longer.
Right now, I wish Damien were here. I want someone to hold me and comfort me in only the way that he does. If only I could turn back the clock on today and start again.
It’s as if my dad can sense my sadness. He places an arm over my shoulder. ‘It’s all going to be okay, Katie. The police will get to the bottom of all this.’
I wish I had as much faith in them as he does, but I don’t. Right now, I’ve never felt so abandoned and alone.
THIRTY-ONE
NATALIE
Tuesday, 25 October
Four in the morning.
Four ten – gust of wind rattles bedroom window.
Four thirty-five – seagull squawks.
Four thirty-eight – joists expanding as heating kicks in.
It’s no good. Natalie had barely slept all night and trying for a minute longer was tantamount to torture. That and the racing stress dreams that seemed to merge her encounter with Mary and bumping into Kate. She stepped into her slippers and headed to the kitchen. She didn’t intend for things to get that heated with Mary and when Kate nearly ran her over, it was like a sign that this all had to end. No more lies. She wasn’t going to be the one who prolonged this heartache any longer.
Mary, Kate, Cody, Laura, Archie – each one in turn flashed through her mind. She flicked the kettle on and gazed out over the harbour. Still the rain came down, although it was more of a misty drizzle now.
She tossed a tea bag into the same cup she’d used all day yesterday. Stained around the rim and bitty at the bottom, she didn’t care. Reaching into the fridge, she pulled out the last of the milk and gave it a sniff. Recoiling, she poured it down the sink. The sour milk perfectly reflected the sour mood that cast a shadow on the beautiful seaside town that she’d spent all her life in.
Grabbing her phone from the side, she took a seat at her little table and sipped the black tea. A tinge of bitterness hit her. The seat still had the awful seat pad on it that Alan used to like sitting on. For years, she’d tried to get rid of it. Now she could, it was proving hard. As scruffy as it was, it would stay for now. She glanced at the blue lint that had come off his jumper, still stuck to the rough material.
