Say You're Sorry(69)
“She said she could see flashing lights and a tall building like a smokestack or a windmill without any sails. The girls were under the ground, but not in the ground. Alive, that’s what she said, definitely alive.”
There is a sound from the bushes behind the practice net. A face appears. Young. Brazen. The reporter has mud stains on his knees.
“Mrs. Hadley, I spoke to Hayden McBain. He said that Natasha was raped and mutilated by a pedophile. Is that what you fear for Piper?”
Sarah’s fists tighten around the driver. She marches towards the reporter swinging the club through the air like a two-handed machete.
“You are a grubby little man,” she screams. “You’re a vulture… a ghoul… get off my property!”
He turns and runs, leaping onto the wall, his shoes scrabbling for purchase on the wet bricks.
Sarah drops a golf ball onto the lawn and takes her stance. The club swings through a graceful arc and she drills the ball towards the reporter, who has just reached the top of the wall and raised his arms to celebrate his escape. The ball hits him between the shoulder blades and he drops like a felled tree, making an oof sound as he lands in the neighboring garden.
26
We’ve had five hundred phone calls since six this morning,” says Drury, staring out the car window. “Each one of them has to be logged, categorized and followed up… I’m all in favor of public support, but we’re getting calls from every nutter, do-gooder and pissed-off ratepayer with a grudge against his neighbor.”
“Who broke the news blackout?”
“Hayden McBain took thirty pieces of silver from the Sun.”
“The news would have leaked eventually.”
Drury shakes his head in disgust, silent for a long moment. His job has become a lot harder. People are scared. Parents want reassurance and a quick resolution. The media will be demanding answers. Progress. Daily briefings. Failure will bring blame.
The road out of Bingham is choked with traffic, belching fumes into the frigid air. Drury tells Grievous to use the siren. Motorists pull over and the unmarked police car squeezes past.
Sarah Hadley’s words are still grinding through my mind. Grief has kept her busy for three years, held her upright. The news of Natasha hasn’t restored her belief, it has caused her to doubt.
“I want to ask you about Victor McBain,” I say.
The DCI glances over the seat. “What about him?”
“Nelson Stokes claims that he saw Natasha kissing her uncle in the front seat of his car. It wasn’t a peck on the cheek. He says he told police, but I can’t find any mention of it in his statement.”
Drury seems to be chewing on my question, deciding how much to say.
“We looked at Vic McBain,” he says, speaking to the windscreen. “You know how it works. When a child goes missing or is murdered we look at the family first, then friends. Ninety per cent of the time it’s a fair assumption.”
“Why wasn’t the allegation included in Stokes’s statement?”
“McBain threatened to sue the police if anyone repeated the claim.”
“Were the allegations investigated?”
“Of course.”
“So there’s no truth—”
Drury interrupts. “He gave Natasha some inappropriate gifts.”
“What gifts?”
“Bikinis, booze, condoms.”
“Not the sort of things an uncle gives a niece.”
“I saw Vic McBain three years ago. He would have torn this town apart to find Natasha. He also had an alibi for the morning the girls disappeared.”
“What about the night of the blizzard?”
Drury loses patience. “If you have new information, Professor, let’s hear it, but don’t play twenty questions with me. I don’t have the time.”
“Sarah Hadley said she talked to a medium—some woman who was introduced to her by Vic McBain. This medium claimed that Natasha and Piper were being held somewhere against their will. She used the phrase ‘Beneath the earth but not a part of it.’ ”
“Don’t tell me you believe this psychic shit? Do you know how many mediums and mystics we’ve heard from so far? Dozens of them.”
“This could be different. This medium saw a smokestack or a windmill. The pathologist found traces of heavy metals on Natasha’s clothing. What if Vic McBain fed her some of the details.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know, but there’s something else that bothers me. When the girls were planning to run away, Natasha told Emily that her uncle owed her money. When I asked Emily why, she clammed up and got upset.”
“You think Natasha was blackmailing her uncle?”