LIU WAI:
That night at Fifth seemed like a turning point in some senses, you know? Obviously Andrew and Zoe had their bust-up over Kim, Zoe told me she was moving on from Andrew, and Kim had some kind of ordeal that put her in a funk for a few days. Then she suddenly changed her image and went goth. And I mean, overnight. She originally had this beautiful blond hair just like Zoe. Then, coming up to Christmas, she got thinner and thinner, and suddenly the hair was just gone, down into this military brush cut or something. She dyed what was left of it black and started dressing really punk and stuff. Andrew called her “The Girl without the Dragon Tattoo,” which I had to admit was quite funny.
KIMBERLY NOLAN:
I couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me before. There’d always been differences in style and hair between Zoe and me. I didn’t think we looked that much alike, but people around campus always confused us or hinted I was pulling off the look less well. I’d never felt comfortable in my own skin. But when I shaved my hair off, I felt like I was onto something, something like the real me.
LIU WAI:
Well, I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. The other is that her sister was so beautiful, so pure. When Kim changed her image, it was like an act of self-harm? Like she was refuting everything that Zoe was, like she was criticizing it. And then the next thing that happened was that Zoe went missing without a trace, and no one ever saw her again. I’ll leave your readers to draw their own conclusions from that.
* * *
4 This interview was transcribed by Evelyn in early 2018, before Kimberly had publicly told the story of her abduction from outside Fifth Avenue nightclub.—JK
From: [email protected]
Sent: 2019-01-28 19:27
To: you
on Sun, Jan 27, 2019, Joseph Knox [email protected] wrote:
Right—finally got some free hours and am up to ch.8. My conclusions:
1. Kim wrote the message on Zoe’s laptop but didn’t mean it to go so far.
2. Andrew was the guy buzzing the door in the night, trying to get Kim’s attention again. Trying to reignite the same “spark” he got on the night that she actually answered him. This would also explain the “shadow man” staring at Kim.
3. I also conclude that Fintan badly needs to get laid and Liu Wai doth protesteth too much. Did she really love Zoe or did she just love having money spent on her?? And why do I feel like the laptop has more relevance?
4. Alex thinking Zoe was scared of Andrew is very interesting too. I wish we could talk to her and work out what she actually meant by that. I hate that it comes secondhand from this Sam guy.
5. And speaking of Sam’s hands—he mentions loving tattoos—there wouldn’t happen to be a ghoulish smiling face inked into his skin, would there? He also mentions vodka, which I think is what got poured on Kim after her van ordeal. Something’s weird there. We only have HIS word for what Alex saw.
J
# # #
Well, you’re the expert, but I feel like you’re being quick to judge on Kim, Andrew, Fintan and Liu. Re: Sam, that’s something that had never actually occurred to me. He’s one of the few people I’ve had to speak to over the phone because he lives in France now and his involvement’s so small. I’ve trawled Facebook for a picture but can’t get a close-up of his hands. A LOT of tattoos though…
Your spidey-sense is right on the laptop. It’s coming back. And really ALL of Zoe’s drive to give her things away feels troubling. My police contact says they really zoned in on that afterward (alongside all the money she was spending) because it’s something suicidal people so often do. It’s considered a BIG warning sign.
Her mental health issues had reverberations through the whole case, really. When she first went missing, I think the authorities just assumed she was having an “episode” or something, but as well, it really put a glass ceiling on how invested the press ever got. She was damaged goods—too working class, probably too old to fit the missing blond girl archetype (at 19!)
I know that sounds cynical, but when you look at stories like this that have blown up in our lifetime, you get the sense that people prefer their missing girls to be virgins, which is some sad shit. (And yes, before you say it, I know that means no one would come looking for me. XXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXX).
The next chapter is Zoe’s actual disappearance, so let me know what you think. I’ve taken your advice and unplugged the phone for the night—so if you were gonna call me you’re OFF THE HOOK.
Ex
9.
“Nowhere Girl”
On their last night in Manchester before the Christmas break, the occupants of the tower’s fifteenth floor throw a party doomed to live in infamy. But the release of an illicit tape and a building-wide evacuation are only the start of their problems.
ANDREW FLOWERS:
Not my finest hour.
JAI MAHMOOD:
One of the worst nights of my life, man, and given how my life’s actually gone since, that’s saying something.
LIU WAI:
I don’t know whose idea the party was, but not stopping it’s obviously one of the greatest regrets of my life. I’m sure everyone feels roughly the same, though. Imagine the average stupid student night, just covered in cheap tinsel. Everyone far too lubricated, the music far too loud. The girls all dressed beautifully and the boys wearing their best Family Guy T-shirts.
KIMBERLY NOLAN:
Well, there were six other apartments on fifteenth, and the idea was that all the doors would be open between them so the party could spread across the whole floor. I can’t say it was what I would have chosen to do on our last night, but there was no escape. Christmas songs and girls dressed as slutty elves. Shit music, shit people, a series of shit events, and the last night I saw my sister.
FINTAN MURPHY:
I suppose in that case, I must be one of the “shit people” she’s describing. It was the first time I met most of them, not quite the best circumstances. I think, given the way that Zoe and I interacted, discussing what might seem like quite juvenile concepts of nervousness and not fitting in, she was a bit embarrassed to have me around her standoffish boyfriend and hard-drinking sister. She knew I didn’t drink at all, of course, so when she brought me up there, I could see she was hesitant. I remember saying, “Hey, I’m not my family, you’re not your friends.”
We got separated almost immediately, which is when I met Kimberly. I could just about see the resemblance to Zoe through all her black clothes and makeup, but she seemed in so many senses her opposite. She struck me at the time as kind of out of control, and I can’t say as I liked her image. I’ve spent much more time around the gay community now—I understand burlesque, glam, punk and leather these days—but I think back then, I could be quite judgmental. At the time, I just thought, why would you do this to your appearance when you started out looking like Zoe? It was like drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa.