Where the Memories Lie

 

Where the Memories Lie ‘And he actually mentioned Katie Quinn?’ DS Khan asked.

 

‘The young woman who apparently ran away from home twenty-five years ago?’

 

I nodded.

 

Ethan ran his hands through his hair again. It would all fall out at this rate.

 

Nadia wiped her eyes with a tissue from her pocket; her cheeks were devoid of their usual rosiness.

 

‘Shouldn’t we get Chris here?’ I said. ‘This is going to involve him, too.’

 

‘Who’s Chris?’ DI Spencer asked.

 

‘Our brother,’ Ethan spoke his first words since his ‘No!’ out-burst and sat down, too. ‘He’s at a building site in Weymouth.’

 

‘We can speak to him later,’ DS Khan said. ‘For now, we need to get some more background information from all of you since you’re here.’ She locked her gaze on me. ‘Go on, please. What exactly did Mr Tate tell you?’

 

‘That he wasn’t talking about Georgia. And that he’d killed Katie. Um . . . he was rambling a lot, like he does these days, but he said it was an accident, that she wasn’t supposed to be there.

 

And then he said something about how he had to do it. I tried to get more out of him but he became very distressed and suffered a minor heart attack.’

 

‘You mentioned on the phone when you reported this that he was alive but very frail.’

 

‘Yes, the Alzheimer’s is taking its toll on his heart and lungs,’

 

I said. ‘He signed a DNR order when he was diagnosed and still in control of his mind, so they just gave him medication and made him comfortable after the heart attack.’

 

‘He’s not up to being questioned by you lot,’ Ethan said brusquely.

 

143

 

Sibel Hodge

 

DI Spencer studied him for a moment. ‘I know this is very dif-ficult and upsetting for you all.’

 

Ethan snorted. ‘That’s an understatement.’

 

I reached out and squeezed his hand but he snatched it away.

 

‘And then what happened after the heart attack?’ DI Spencer asked.

 

‘I went to see him a few days later and that’s when he told me that he’d . . . Oh, God!’ I shook my head. ‘That he’d . . . that he’d buried her under the floor in the garage.’

 

‘It’s been two days since then. Why didn’t you call us immedi-ately?’ DS Khan asked.

 

I glanced at Ethan. The agitation, disbelief and stress coming off him were almost tangible.

 

‘Don’t look at me. I didn’t even know until last night,’ he said.

 

‘I didn’t know until just now,’ Nadia said, gulping back a sob.

 

‘It’s . . . I just can’t . . .’ She replaced the balled-up, soggy tissue with a fresh one from a pocket-sized packet in her bag.

 

‘I didn’t want to believe it,’ I said. ‘And after the last time, when we’d just wasted everyone’s time with the Georgia business, I wanted to make sure.’

 

‘And what made you suddenly sure?’ DI Spencer asked.

 

‘Well, it was the medical records that made me suspect it was really true.’

 

‘Medical records?’ DI Spencer frowned.

 

‘I’d thought about her over the years, and always wondered what happened to her. You know, I thought it was weird when she didn’t get in touch again. But plenty of people run away and never contact the people they know, plus she’d left that letter to Rose and Jack, so I never thought to look at her medical records before. Not until Tom said what he did. And, it wasn’t strictly ethical for me to check them. Data protection and all that.’

 

144

 

Where the Memories Lie ‘Right. But you checked after Tom told you this, and what did you find?’ DS Khan wrote something down.

 

‘That no one had ever requested a copy of her medical records in the last twenty-five years since she’d disappeared. She would’ve had to have regular smear tests, plus she was on the pill, so some doctor’s surgery or clinic would’ve got in touch with the surgery.’

 

DS Khan exchanged another look with DI Spencer.