‘See you back at the farm,’ Claire called out, as she and Nick walked off carrying most of their stuff. Maggie and Jason gathered up the remainder of the belongings and headed for the shingle track.
‘She will be OK, won’t she?’ Maggie asked, as they reached the top of the cliff. Even though they took the route regularly, she was out of breath. They continued along the gently rising path heading inland, Maggie walking backwards so she could get a view of the beach below in case the skinny little girl in her too-big swimsuit wandered back to where they’d been sitting. She could clearly see the message that Claire had written in the sand: Go home Lenni. They’d also told a lady sitting nearby that if she saw a little girl lost, please tell her to go home.
‘She’ll be fine,’ Jason said, sounding bored. ‘I don’t know why we’re all panicking. The surf’s just getting good.’ He eyed the sea longingly.
But they were all back at the beach soon enough. Maggie and Jason reached the farm, discovering that Lenni hadn’t come home as they’d hoped. Shona, oblivious to Lenni’s disappearance at this point, was talking to B & B guests and so they didn’t interrupt. The pair sat outside on a wall in the courtyard and, half an hour later, Claire and Nick marched down the drive, their faces expectant, salty and tanned. ‘Any sign at the shops?’ Maggie called out to them.
‘No. Didn’t she come home?’
Maggie shook her head.
‘God, will you come with me to search down at the beach again,’ Claire said, feeling the panic rising.
‘Did you ask at the ice cream shop if she’d been in?’ Jason said.
‘No, but we looked inside and saw she wasn’t there,’ Nick replied, thinking they should have done. ‘I’ll go back and check. Look, we’ll find her. She’s not stupid.’
Everyone was silent as the weight of that sunk in. Lenni was stupid. Not because she couldn’t do her sums or hum a tune or bake a cake or play board games – no. Lenni was touched with something that no one had ever identified, a cowl of innocence that she’d been born with. Her delightful, trusting nature radiated from her and may as well have been a sign on her head. A sign that told the unscrupulous that she was ripe for the picking. The way she allowed the kids at school to take her belongings, how she offered up her dinner money, or let them ruin her solitary games at playtime, over the years it had made her seem stupid. The more her parents smothered and protected her, the more they tried to keep her safe and out of harm’s way, the weaker her defences became. Until she had none left. Lenni would believe absolutely anything anyone told her.
* * *
‘Rain’s not bloody stupid,’ Maggie kept saying. ‘She wouldn’t just go off with anyone.’
‘I’m sure she’s not,’ PC Wyndham replied. Her arrival at the farm, along with PC Holt, had made the group fear bad news, although she’d put their minds at rest immediately. ‘There’s not much more to report, I’m afraid.’
There was a collective sigh of relief. Clothing likely belonging to Rain may have been found, but as long as there was no body, then there was a strong possibility she was still alive.
‘I feel so helpless. She didn’t take her phone or purse and that’s just not like her.’ Maggie was going over everything again and again. She drank whatever anyone put into her hands – water, tea, a bedtime Scotch to help her fitful sleep – but she hadn’t eaten more than a few morsels since Sunday afternoon. She kept repeating unhelpful facts, staring blankly at the wall, thinking back to when Rain was a little girl, a toddler, a baby, as if forcing back time in her mind might allow her to relive it all over again, give her a second chance.
‘It’s actually Marcus I’ve come to see,’ the officer said, making Claire take Callum’s fingers as she edged closer to him.
‘Not without a lawyer, you don’t,’ Callum said. ‘You’ve spoken to him once. Marcus hasn’t done anything wrong. You’re harassing the boy.’
‘I’m certainly not implying he has done anything wrong, Mr Rodway. But the nightclub has provided CCTV recordings from the rear of their property. It’s a secluded alley and they’ve had a few concerns in the past, so they installed cameras.’
‘He isn’t in trouble, is he?’ Shona asked.
‘Not if he helps us with our enquiries, no.’ The PC’s tone was kind and calm, unlike Callum who was bristling.
The back door suddenly flung open and a flood of noise and banter spilt into the kitchen. ‘Hey, Nan,’ Marcus said, eyeing everyone, shoving against Alex with a raucous, incongruous noise that soon faded when they realised the officers were in the room. They stumbled to a stop beside the sink.
‘I told you,’ Callum reiterated, while glaring at Marcus. ‘If you want to speak to my son, then he’ll need a solicitor.’
‘Cal, I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ Claire said. ‘What about if my husband sits in with you when you talk to him?’
‘Dad, what’s going on?’ Marcus looked at each of his parents, then at the officer, his cheeks pinking up.
‘That would be fine,’ PC Wyndham said. Callum gave a grudging nod and led the way to the sitting room. Claire patted her son on the shoulder as he passed her, a terrified look on his face.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Callum sat on the arm of the sofa. It creaked under his weight. Marcus sank down into the cushions beside him. Why couldn’t the silly boy just have gone to the house party in the first place, like he’d said?
‘No need to look so worried, Marcus.’ The PC smiled, trying to put him at ease, but her kindness made him tense up more. ‘I just want to go over a few things again, like when you took Rain outside for some fresh air. No trick questions, I promise.’
‘You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, son. I can insist we have a lawyer.’
‘Mr Rodway, I understand your concern. But this really is just a chat, so we can piece together a timeline.’ A smile again, doing nothing to allay Marcus’s fears. ‘If you can start from when she said she felt sick.’
‘Like I said, I took her out the back to get some air. She took a few deep breaths. We stood there and listened to the sea. I asked her if she wanted to go home, but she said no. She wanted to stay out.’
‘OK,’ PC Wyndham replied, waiting for her colleague to write everything down. ‘So where, exactly, were you standing?’
Marcus swallowed. ‘After we went outside, we walked down towards the sea. We ended up down by the railings overlooking the beach.’
‘And while you were walking down, or when you were down by the railings, did you touch Rain at all?’
‘Really!’ Callum said. ‘What kind of question is that?’
‘If you can’t remain silent, Mr Rodway, I’ll have to ask you to leave.’ The officer raised her eyebrows.
Marcus’s breath was shallow. ‘No, I swear I didn’t do anything!’ His fists balled up, pressing into the cushions. ‘I mean, maybe I put out a hand to steady her or something. She was pissed.’ Marcus stared at his feet.
‘So you didn’t kiss her?’
‘Maybe like just a peck. I dunno.’
‘Was there any other sexual contact between you?’ PC Wyndham pressed on. ‘Did Rain tell you to stop?’
‘Not really,’ he said, trying to swallow. His mouth and throat were so dry.
‘Don’t say anything else, Marcus.’ Callum stood up. ‘I’m not happy with you asking these types of questions without my son having a lawyer. It sounds to me like you’re blaming him for her disappearance even though he behaved like a responsible teenager by helping the girl.’
‘Mr Rodway, please calm down. If you like, we can conduct this interview under more formal conditions down at the police station. I thought it was in Marcus’s interests to keep things informal.’ She turned back to him. ‘Please, Marcus, if you know of any reason why Rain might be upset, then you must tell me.’
Marcus suddenly stood, throwing his hands above his head before dropping them down by his thighs. ‘I fancied her, all right? I thought she was leading me on. She was flirting back. She let me do stuff.’
‘Oh, for Christ’s sake,’ Callum said, thumping the sofa arm. ‘Marcus, don’t say another word.’