They sat down.
“This is a bit sensitive,” he said. “But it’s come to our attention that the other girls found in the words may have been abused by a member of their family. Did Arina mention anything like that to you?”
To their surprise, she bent over, hid her face behind her hands and burst into tears. They were tears of a woman who’d reached the end of her tether.
Rob felt awful.
“I’m sorry, Tessa. Would you like a minute? Can I get you something?”
She shook her head.
Then, she looked up. “I suspected he was abusing her, but I didn’t know for sure. I should have come out and asked her, but I was too scared.”
“Of your husband?” Mallory asked.
“Yes, he had a terrible temper.”
“Was he violent towards you?” Rob asked gently.
She nodded. “Sometimes, but it was Arina I was worried about.”
“Tell us why?” encouraged Rob.
She took a deep, wobbly breath. “She used to act strangely when I left them alone together. Wouldn’t come out of her room. Wouldn’t eat supper. At first, I thought it was just her being a teenager, but then I began to suspect Ramin might have something to do with it. They’d never had much of a relationship, but every now and then I’d catch him looking at her.”
She shuddered. “That’s why I was so worried when Arina disappeared and he left the country. I thought he’d done something to her.”
It was becoming clearer now. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
She shrugged. “It’s not something you tell, is it? It’s shameful.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And it wasn’t him, anyway. It wasn’t him who took my girl.”
“No, it wasn’t,” said Rob. “But he should have still been reported for what he was doing to Arina.”
“I tried to report him once,” she said, her voice barely audible.
“What?” asked Rob.
“I saw a flyer for one of those children's charities at the library and brought it home. I put it on the kitchen counter. I was going to call them. Then Arina came home, so I hid it in a drawer and forgot about it. Later, when I went to look for it, it was gone. I thought Ramin had found it and got rid of it.”
If only she’d made that call.
“Could Arina have taken it?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.” Tears welled again. “It was all so long ago, and what does it matter now? She’s not coming back.”
“It matters,” said Rob quietly. “It matters to you. I know it does because that’s why you kidnapped Katie. You wanted Arina’s case reopened, and now it is. We’re going to find the person who did this.”
“I wanted to know if she was really dead. I don’t care if you find him or not. It won’t bring her back.”
There was nothing he could say to that.
“I’ll get on to Childline,” said Mallory, once they got back to the station. “I didn’t manage to get hold of Father Ed, by the way. His phone kept diverting to voicemail. Do you want to have him picked up?”
“No, don’t worry. I’ll take a drive out there. I want to have another look at the crime scene. Can you hold the fort here?”
“Sure.” Mallory nodded.
“Want some company?” Jo asked, stretching her back. “I need some fresh air. I’ve been tied to this desk for too long.”
Rob smiled. He hadn’t done much of that lately. It felt weird, like it might crack. “Actually, that would be great. There is something I want to run by you.”
“Have you found anything interesting?” asked Rob as they turned onto the busy A316 and merged with the flow of traffic. The busy arterial road would take them onto the M3, the motorway that cut through the south western part of Surrey.
“Nothing I haven’t read before,” she admitted. “I’m still familiarising myself with the details of the investigation. There weren't any CCTV cameras in the town back then, so the police relied on witness accounts. Rachel said goodbye to her friend in the street, a shopkeeper saw them go their separate ways. She had four blocks to walk until she got home. That’s not a lot of time for someone to take her. Also, it was late afternoon, so not exactly dark. There would have been people milling about. It was a Saturday, as I recall.”
How much of this sounded familiar. Same story. Different day.
“Do you remember who this friend of hers was?”
She wrinkled her brow. “I don’t, it’s in the files back at the station. I’ll look it up when we get back. Why do you ask?” She glanced across at him.
“It might be worth talking to him again?” he said.
She blinked. “What now? After all these years? He probably doesn’t even remember Rachel.”
“I’m sure he’d remember a friend who went missing.” Rob braked behind a large truck at a traffic light. He could smell the exhaust fumes seeping in through the air conditioning unit.
“Maybe,” she mused. “Anyway, what was it you wanted to run by me?”
He hesitated. “Did you and your sister have a good relationship with your parents?”
“She did,” Jo said straight away. “I didn’t. My mother doted on Rachel. They were very similar, pretty and feminine. I was a tomboy.”
“What about your father?” he asked.
“Dad was always away,” she said. “He worked on projects all over the country. We often wouldn’t see him for months at a time.”
Rob decided to come clean. “You know there’s a pattern of abuse with the other dead girls…”
He didn’t have to continue, Jo leaped to the right conclusion easy enough.
“No,” she gasped. “Nothing like that.”
He nodded. “I didn’t think so, but if it’s the same killer…” He left it hanging.
Jo went very quiet. He left her to dwell on it. Sometimes it was only after the shock wore off that people saw things they should have seen all along, but didn’t.
He approached a turn-off for a McDonald's drive-through.
“Shall I stop?” he asked.
She nodded, distracted.
He pulled in. “A cheeseburger okay?”
When she didn’t reply, he ordered two,
