“Vincent Whitehall was a convenient person to blame for an accident,” Chad lifted his eyebrow.“Unless it wasn’t an accident.”
“Are you seriously suggesting I—”
“You checked into a hotel rather than stay with your family on the farm.There was plenty of room.It might not have been the ideal time, but you would’ve gotten to see your grandsons,” Chad glanced at the pictures on the shelves.“Your great grandsons.”
“I didn’t want to inconvenience them—”
“When I first met you, and we discussed Harriet and her tattoo.Your words were, ‘there’s no way you’ve found her’.That was odd ...how could you be so sure, that was what we were trying to achieve after all, but you were adamant we hadn’t found her, and the thought that Vincent had seen this tattoo that even you didn’t know about, confused you.The rib as well, what I mistook for horror was actually confusion and mild panic.That’s why you had to leave.”
Michael pressed his lips in a thin line.All the color left them.
“Your wife wrote to Vincent over the years, trying to appeal to his human side by telling him stories about Harriet.She told him about the accident with the bike and her missing rib.She told him about the tattoo once she’d found out about it from Gavin, Harriet’s ex-boyfriend.That’s how he knew, not because he’d seen her, but because of information he’d picked up over the years.I think you were so certain we hadn’t found her because you know where she is.I think you were confused about Vincent’s revelations because you just couldn’t understand where he’d gotten that information from.”
“No,” Michael bowed his head.“That’s not true.”
“I think you were desperate to move away from Little Wren, abandoning your wife and your remaining daughter in the process, not because of grief, but because of guilt.I think that’s also the reason there are no photographs of Harriet in this villa.I’d even go as far as saying that the reason you didn’t stay on that farm with your family during the search for her remains is because you know where she is, you know she’s there.She’s still on that fucking farm.”
Michael dropped his head into his hands, sobbing.Out of the corner of Chad’s eye, he saw Romeo shifting, getting edgy, needing Chad to wrap things up.
“That got me thinking,” Chad whispered.“If I killed someone, where could I hide them on your farm with only a night to dispose of them.It’s a big area, but it would be searched, huge numbers of locals would come out to search the land, and dogs,” Chad nodded.“There would be dogs, not cadaver dogs at first, but they’d be used, too, eventually.”He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a folded blueprint of the cottages on the farm.“Three of them are modern, one is older, but one,” Chad stabbed his finger down on the page.“This one is really old.It has a septic tank, doesn’t it?”
Michael didn’t answer.
“Scent dogs ...well, the cottage would’ve smelled of Harriet anyway, and the cadaver dogs weren’t taken to the right place, they were used in the ditches around your property.Harriet had vanished, and after initially blaming James, you must’ve been relieved the police were linking her to other disappearances of young women.You must’ve thought you won the lottery when Vincent Whitehall was caught and claimed Harriet as one of his victims.You’d gotten away with it.But I guess defecating on your own daughter’s dead body started to get to you.”
“Stop it,” Michael snapped.He lurched upright.Romeo took a step closer, but Chad held up his hand, telling him to wait.“Don’t talk about her like that.I-it was an accident.”
“What was?”
“I didn’t mean to kill her.But she blamed me for James ending things with her.She never understood I was just trying to protect her.He was a predator.She pushed me, and I ...I hit her.I wrapped my hands around her neck.She was always the ungrateful one, always pushing my buttons.I think part of why she liked James was because she knew it angered me.I killed her, and I didn’t know what to do.I’d only had the septic tank drained the month before, had watched them do it.There was access to it beside the cottage, and I shoved her down the shaft.She’s been there ever since.”
“She was a few meters from her mum and sister the whole time.”
“I didn’t mean to kill her.It was the heat of the moment.An accident.I’ve had to live with that—”
Chad snorted.“You’ve been here, sunning it up while your wife desperately pleaded with a serial killer to be allowed her daughter’s body parts.A serial killer that hadn’t even killed her.That’s what she wanted more than anything, to be reunited with her daughter in death.”
Michael’s top lip curled.“Well, she got another daughter to join her in her grave, didn’t she.”
Chad stiffened.
“Chad...”Romeo growled.
He held up his hand again, keeping Romeo at bay.
“She did,” Chad whispered.“And I played my part in that.But it wouldn’t have happened.None of that would have, if you’d just told us where Harriet was.You could’ve made an anonymous phone call, I doubt there’s much evidence on your daughter’s body now to implicate you, but you didn’t.I’m going to do what you should have.I’m going to make that anonymous call to reunite whatever is left of Harriet with her mother and sister.”
“What about me?”Michael asked.“What happens to me?”
“I’m so glad you asked,” Chad said.“Because I’m sick of the sight of you.I’m sick of the sight of you ...alive.”
Michael’s brow twitched in confusion.
Chad looked to Romeo.“Kill him.”
“Wait just a minute,” Michael said, getting to his feet.
He didn’t get a chance to say anything else.In two strides Romeo had crossed the room and taken hold of Michael’s throat in his right hand.Michael pushed Romeo in the chest, crashing into the table as he tried to get away, but Romeo didn’t let go.He started to squeeze.
