Where the Memories Lie

 

‘Of course she didn’t change her name!’ It was my turn to snap as I pointed towards the garage. ‘She didn’t change her name because she was buried under the garage!’

 

‘We don’t know it’s her!’ He gave me a brittle stare.

 

‘OK, OK, let’s all try to calm down.’ DI Spencer waved his hands in what he thought was a calming gesture but only seemed to inflame Ethan even more.

 

‘Calm down?’ Ethan said. ‘ Calm down? You’re accusing my dad of murdering someone and you want me to be calm?’

 

‘Ethan! They’re just doing their job.’ Nadia laid a hand on his arm.

 

His shoulders heaved up and down as he breathed hard.

 

‘We’re just trying to establish the facts, Mr Tate,’ DS Khan said gently.

 

‘How do we know the facts? Who’s going to remember anything after twenty-five years?’ Ethan shook his head but at least he sat back down.

 

For some reason, I wanted to slap him. Pretending it wasn’t happening wasn’t going to solve anything. Yes, he was upset by this, but we all were. We had to deal with it whether we liked it or not.

 

It wasn’t like we could brush it under the carpet ? or concrete ? and forget all about it. Not now.

 

145

 

Sibel Hodge

 

‘It’s true that most people won’t remember what they were doing twenty-five years ago, but we still have to ask,’ DI Spencer said. ‘This is a murder enquiry now, and if you remember anything, no matter how small, it could help us piece together what happened.’ He turned to me. ‘What did you do after you checked her medical records?’

 

‘I went to see Chris next, because I remembered we’d talked a lot about Katie running away when it happened. I thought maybe he might remember something I’d forgotten.’

 

‘Chris, your brother-in-law?’

 

‘Yes.’

 

‘Can we have his contact details?’ DS Khan asked.

 

I gave them his full name, address, landline and mobile phone number.

 

‘And did he remember anything?’ DI Spencer asked.

 

‘Well, mostly. He was going out with Katie for about nine months, you see, and he’d broken things off with her about seven months before she . . . um . . . went.’

 

‘Why did they break up?’ DS Khan again.

 

‘Well, he was still in love with her, but she was pressuring him to settle down and move in together and get married and he wasn’t ready for it.’ I glanced down the table, trying to recall what he’d said the other night. ‘Apparently, he was the last person to see her.

 

He said he was waiting at the bus stop just up the road here and she walked past. He said hi to her but she didn’t say anything back, and then he watched her walking towards our house. We thought at the time she was going to Abbotsbury. That was the last time he saw her.’

 

DI Spencer leaned an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand with a pensive look. ‘Did Chris say anything else?’

 

I shrugged. ‘Not much. I also went to see Mr Cook. He was the village policeman at the time Katie went missing and he made 146

 

Where the Memories Lie a few enquiries after Rose and Jack found the letter Katie had left.

 

Um . . .’ I paused.

 

Everyone waited, watching me.

 

‘Well, it’s about her dad, Jack. I always thought he was . . .

 

I don’t know. Odd,’ I said.

 

‘He gave all the girls the creeps.’ Nadia grimaced.

 

‘Odd, how? You thought something inappropriate was going on between Katie and Jack?’ DS Khan narrowed her eyes slightly.

 

‘Not at the time, I didn’t, but looking back on things, I think it would explain a lot. Her behaviour, for one,’ I said.

 

‘What do you mean?’

 

‘She was the village slag is what my wife means,’ Ethan said.