‘This whole place is fucking freaky,’ she said as they passed the ruined part of Drummondale House, before veering off towards the car park. ‘Why would anyone want to holiday here? Give me Benidorm any day of the week.’
She came to a stop, and pulled on the handbrake. ‘Looks like they’re waiting for us, Gav.’ The brightness of the sun silhouetted the group of ten, all statue-still on the grass – some sitting, some standing.
Gavin nodded, opened the car door, and dragged his six-foot, heavily built self out of the car and onto the cobbles, where he stretched his arms into the air.
Kate took a deep breath. She’d wasted no time after getting the call from Robert Taylor. A wee lass disappearing in the middle of the night, possibly with a man in his mid-thirties, had to be investigated. Totally out of character, her father had said on the phone. I’ve never trusted Jackson Cromwell.
Kate took another deep breath – her daughter had just turned seventeen. Thought she was so grown-up, yet …
She climbed from the car. At five foot, and tiny-framed, she’d often been told she looked younger than her forty-eight years. But she was strong. With cropped black hair, Doc Martens, and a fierce Glaswegian accent, she knew she could take on anyone.
They crossed the car park, cobbles crunching under their feet, and onto the grass.
‘I’m Detective Inspector Kate Beynon,’ she said on reaching the gathered group, brandishing her badge, before shoving it back into her jacket pocket. ‘And this is Detective Sergeant Gavin McKay.’
Gavin’s silver-threaded ponytail and bushy grey beard gave him an ageing rock-star look. He was older than Kate – late fifties – and her opposite in many ways, with his gentle persona and kindly face.
‘Which of you is Robert Taylor?’ Kate said, scanning their bewildered faces.
‘Me.’ A tall man in a long black coat raised his hand.
‘You called in?’
He nodded. ‘Lark, my daughter – she’s missing.’ He blinked. Anxious? ‘Jackson took her.’
‘We don’t know that, Robert.’ A woman with a pale-blue scarf around her head and wearing a parka, despite the warm day, met Kate’s eye. ‘I’m Lark’s mother. Caroline Taylor.’ Her voice cracked. ‘My partner, Jackson Cromwell, is missing too, but I’m not convinced it’s connected.’
‘OK,’ Kate said. ‘So, I understand from your call that Jackson’s car was driven away in the middle of the night. Is it possible they would they have gone away together?’ She had to ask the question.
‘Never,’ Caroline said without hesitation. ‘I just said, it’s not connected.’
‘And one of you heard a scream?’ Kate’s eyes cruised the worried faces.
‘Me.’ A pretty redhead, who looked as though she hadn’t slept in a month, raised her hand. ‘Though I can’t be sure. It could have been an animal … I don’t know … but with her disappearance I assume it was …’
Kate narrowed her eyes. ‘We can’t assume anything … and you are?’
‘Amelia Taylor. Lark’s sister.’
‘Well, if one of you could give DS McKay here the registration number and make of Jackson’s car, we can then check CCTV and get the number plate out to traffic police.’
A car drove onto the cobbles, and came to a stop. Kate turned to see a young woman climb from the driver’s side of a yellow sports car.
‘Who’s that?’ Kate asked.
‘Julia Collis,’ a scruffy young man with an attractive face said, rising from where he’d been sitting on the grass fiddling with a blade of grass. ‘Julia!’ he called to her, raising his hand. ‘She’s Michael Collis’s daughter. He owns Drummondale estate.’
‘We’ll need to speak to them both.’
‘Michael’s abroad at the moment; Julia stays at the farmhouse while he’s away.’
Julia was in her twenties, overweight, and wearing a long, patterned skirt, high boots, and a mustard-yellow fake-fur jacket. ‘What’s happening, Finn?’ she called to the man, as she headed towards him, her fair hair twisted into a long plait down her back. ‘I heard sirens.’
‘Two guests have gone missing,’ Finn called back.
Kate turned and eyed the guests once more. ‘I’ll need to speak to you all individually,’ she said. ‘Is there somewhere we could set up? We need to know more about Lark.’
Was she a happy teenager? Taking any medication? When did you last see her? How did she seem?
‘Oh God,’ Caroline said, turning to Robert, who wrapped his arms around her.
Two police cars appeared and pulled up next to Julia’s car.
‘Ah, good, uniform.’ Kate took a deep breath and addressed the gathered guests, ‘Even though the car’s gone, we can’t rule out that one of them could still be on site,’ she said. ‘I’ll organise an immediate search of the area.’
*
They were called into the conservatory one by one. They’d all seen Lark the night before at dinner, and Caroline told Kate that her daughter went straight to bed when they got back to their cottage.
Once the final guest had been questioned, Kate’s mind skittered over what they’d told her – breaking down the main points:
‘It was the man in the mask. I’ve seen him lots of times since I’ve been here. He took Lark.’ Elise Green
‘I’ve never really trusted Jackson. Not the kind of person I’d chum up with, if you know what I mean. He has a look about him, you know.’ Neil Green
‘Lark hasn’t been herself lately. She’s been taking Diazepam. It worries me. And she took off the day before when we were on the beach. She worried us all. I can’t believe Jackson would take her. But then why would she take off? She knows how ill I am.’ Caroline Taylor
‘She isn’t herself – that much is true. But I’ve never trusted him. I would catch him staring at my daughter. And then there was the night of the ghost walk. He led her off the path. She seemed upset.’ Robert Taylor
‘He’s a type, you know. Thought he could have any woman – or girl in this case – he wanted.’ Rosamund Green
‘I heard the scream first, about two in the morning. The squeaking
