Where the Memories Lie
By: Sibel Hodge
‘She wasn’t a bitch,’ I said automatically, used to defending her like I always had. But now I didn’t know what she was. In return for my loyalty and friendship she’d tried to sleep with my boyfriend.
A boyfriend she knew I was in love with. Still, it was years ago. Too late to worry about it now. We had more important things to worry about. ‘She was . . . she was living a shitty life with no one to love her. That’s what she was after. All the sleeping around was about searching for someone to love and take care of her. I just didn’t get it at the time. She kept everything locked deep inside. I never saw her cry, you know. Never once in all the years I’d known her. And 132
Where the Memories Lie
now I think about what it must’ve been like in that house with Rose and Jack pissed out of their heads, having to look after herself and grow up before her time.’
The words in her letter swam into my head again.
I’m leaving this place and you can’t stop me. You know what you both did. I hope you rot in hell!
Good riddance!
‘And if Jack abused her, then . . .’ I trailed off. ‘Well, wouldn’t you want to get away?’
‘Abused her?’
I told him about my suspicions.
He slumped further down on the stool. ‘I can’t bloody take this in. Wouldn’t she have said something if Jack had been . . . well, I can’t even say it. I mean, Katie wasn’t some quiet wallflower. She had a mouth on her. Why wouldn’t she tell anyone?’
‘A lot of child abuse victims blame themselves. Maybe she was scared to tell the truth in case no one believed her. Maybe Katie did tell Rose but Rose ignored it and let it carry on. Maybe Katie didn’t want to admit it was even going on.’
‘Then isn’t it more likely that if something happened to her, it was Jack?’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. If Jack was involved in her disappearance, why did Tom say he’d buried her?’
‘It doesn’t make sense. None of this does. He’s just confused.’
But his voice sounded doubtful now.
‘I don’t want to believe it, either, but too many things aren’t adding up.’ I reached out and threaded my fingers through his. ‘But we have to see if she’s under there, Ethan. You know that, don’t you?’
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Chapter Fifteen
They came with their vehicles and white suits and equipment. From the kitchen window I could see the double garage at a diagonal angle. The wooden doors were open, but I couldn’t see what they were doing inside. Didn’t want to see that.
I stood, cradling a cup of cold coffee, wondering if I should go out there and offer them all one. What was the proper hospitality etiquette when police were looking for a dead body on your property?
There was only room for one van on the drive with both Ethan’s and my car already there, and it belonged to the scene of crime officers. The plainclothes police officers who’d introduced themselves as Detective Inspector Spencer and Detective Sergeant Khan parked their black Ford Mondeo on the road outside, along with another woman’s BMW. The gates to the drive were open and anyone walking past could see the van emblazoned with ‘Crime Scene Investigation Unit’ in plain view. That would get the gossip-mongers’ tongues firing on all cylinders.
‘What are we going to say when people notice that van on the drive?’ Ethan sat at the island, laptop open in front of him on the counter, eyes bloodshot and hair spiked up where he’d been Where the Memories Lie
running his hands through it. He was supposed to be sending some work emails that couldn’t wait, but really he’d been staring out of the window since they arrived with some kind of imaging equipment, like I had. ‘Maybe we should just say the garage was broken into.’
I glanced at him with exasperation. ‘And say what, that some-one broke into the garage and deposited a body under the concrete floor, then left? Oh, wow, how did that happen?’