Behind Closed Doors (14 page)
Read Behind Closed Doors Online
Authors: Elizabeth Haynes
The last time any of the family had seen Scarlett had been when they had all retired to bed, on the last night of their holiday, which was Friday 22 August, 2003. The parents had a studio apartment next to the one shared by Scarlett and her sister, Juliette. They had been out for the evening to a taverna in the main town square, and returned by half-past nine in the evening. They had gone to bed. The next morning, Clive and Annie had gone to the room next door to find Juliette reading, and Scarlett missing. It had been as simple as that.
If she had gone willingly, she had taken nothing with her; her clothes, shoes, passport, even her mobile phone had all been left behind. At first there had been a disagreement about what she had been wearing that night, and whether her pyjamas were missing, or some clothes. Eventually, confused, distressed, Annie had worked out that Scarlett had been wearing shorts and a short-sleeved blouse, with sneakers. Her shortie pyjamas were found in the tangle of clothes that spilled out of the open suitcase on the floor.
They’d asked Annie what she and Clive had done after leaving the girls that evening. They’d sat out on the patio drinking a beer, as they had done most nights. Eventually – Annie wasn’t able to give a specific time – they’d gone inside. Had they checked on the girls before retiring? No. There was no need. The light was off in the girls’ apartment; they would both have been asleep. They had had no reason to have any concerns.
It wasn’t very thorough, Lou decided. They’d asked these open questions but were not getting detailed responses. It would have been better to take Annie through it bit by bit: who said what, how did she seem, what did she do? All of that. It would have been the way the interviews were conducted if Scarlett had disappeared in the UK. As it was, the investigators had limited time, and were working in what they called ‘close co-operation’ with their colleagues in the Greek police force. There was a strong sense of frustration coming out of the official wording of the notes, what was unsaid telling Lou almost as much as the words that had made it on to the paper.
Could she have run away? they wanted to know.
Annie had answered:
I guess so
.
Lou flicked through the pages until she got to the official witness statements that had been taken after the Rainsfords returned home, and the one she herself had conducted and signed: the first interview with Annie Rainsford, Briarstone Police Station, Interview Room Three.
By that time, they had established that on the night Scarlett went missing the family had eaten out as a threesome – Clive, Annie and Juliette. The taverna owner, who had served the four of them on the Wednesday evening, was certain beyond any doubt that the older girl had not been with them on their second visit. He had asked them about it, and the man had told him that she was not feeling well and they’d left her back at the apartments. The restaurateur had even offered to make up a takeaway parcel for the absent daughter. This had been declined. When questioned further, the taverna owner had found the till receipt indicating that the party had eaten one salad (Juliette), one beef
stifado
(Clive) and one lamb kebab with rice (Annie). One mineral water, and four beers – two each for the adults. That was all.
This had been Lou’s objective for the interview – to try to clear up that discrepancy. She remembered Annie well: pale cheeks under her tan; big, liquid blue eyes made even bigger by her habit of keeping a wide, earnest stare going at all times; long straight hair. She was tiny, barely five feet tall, and slightly built. She seemed the sort of person you immediately wanted to look after, and yet she did not invite protection. For the duration of the interview she sat straight in her chair, occasionally sitting on her hands as if they were cold. Other than that, she did not move.
Transcript of Interview in Relation to Op Diamond (Missing Person Enquiry in Relation to Scarlett Rainsford)
Briarstone Police Station, Interview Room Three
Date:15 September 2003, 09:01
Present:Annie RAINSFORD (AR)
DC Louisa SMITH (LS)
DC Sarah JONES (SJ)
LS
: Annie, can we go back to the evening Scarlett disappeared? You ate out at the Zeus Taverna, is that right?
AR
: Yes.
LS
: Can you tell us what you remember, from the time you left the apartments to go out to dinner?
AR
: Scarlett wasn’t well. We left about… seven o’clock. Scarlett was in bed when we went. We walked down towards the town and we got to the taverna about twenty minutes later. We had dinner… we were there a couple of hours… and then we came back.
LS
: What was the matter with Scarlett?
AR
: She said she had a tummy ache.
LS
: She said? Didn’t you believe her?
AR
: I never knew what to believe with Scarlett. But we’d all had an upset tummy at some point during the week. It’s part of going on holiday, isn’t it?
LS
: And you were comfortable, leaving her on her own like that?
AR
: She knew where we were; we’d eaten there earlier in the week.
LS
: When you were interviewed the next day – the Saturday – you told the Greek police that you’d all eaten out together that night. Is that right?
AR
: I can’t remember what we said. It was all so confusing. I was upset.
LS
: You said you all ate together and then went back to the apartments together.
AR
: I was confused. I must have been confused.
LS
: What time did you get back to the apartments?
AR
: I think it was about half-past nine.
LS
: And did you see Scarlett then?
AR
: We looked in on the girls’ apartment and Scarlett was asleep in bed.
LS
: In bed, or on the bed?
AR
: On the bed.
LS
: So she wasn’t covered over?
AR
: I don’t think so. No.
LS
: What was she wearing?
AR
: Her shorts and blouse.
LS
: You didn’t think to wake her, to get her changed?
AR
: No. She was asleep. She’s not a child; she was capable of getting changed herself if she’d wanted to. And she looked comfortable, so we let her sleep.
LS
: Did you go right into the apartment, or just look from the door?
AR
: We stood in the doorway.
LS
: But you were sure she was asleep?
AR
: I guess so.
LS
: She might have been pretending?
AR
: I suppose so; I don’t know.
LS
: What happened then?
AR
: Juliette went into the room. She turned on the bedside light so she could read. We went back to our apartment next door.
LS
: Did you close the door behind you?
AR
: I think so. Sometimes the girls left the door open to let the breeze in. It was very hot.
LS
: So that night, did you close it or leave it open?
AR
: I don’t remember. I closed it, I think. I don’t know if Juliette opened it again.
LS
: But it wasn’t locked?
AR
: No, we never locked it.
LS
: So what did you and Clive do then?
AR
: We sat on the patio outside drinking the last of the beers we had. Then we did some packing, then went to bed about half-past ten. We were supposed to fly home the next day. The bus was supposed to be picking us up at eleven.
LS
: Did you check on the girls before you went to bed?
AR
: No.
LS
: Did you hear anything from the room next door at all?
AR
: No. We woke up at about half-past seven. I got dressed and went next door. Juliette was reading her book. Scarlett wasn’t there. I asked Juliette where Scarlett was, and she said she hadn’t heard her go out; she assumed she was by the pool.
LS
: But she wasn’t by the pool?
AR
: No. I went to look for her but she wasn’t there. We thought she had gone for a walk, so we waited for a while. Clive went down to the beach in case he could see her, then he walked all the way into town and back again. I looked around the apartments. But she wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere. It was like she’d just vanished. We asked some of the people by the pool, and some of them – a British couple, and some girls – they helped us look. One of them said we should call the rep. So we did that. The rep – her name was Jenny – came down with the resort manager, I forget his name. And they called the police for us, and a woman who was acting as an interpreter for us. I can’t remember her name either. She was nice. She was kind.
LS
: So, just taking things back a step. The last time you saw Scarlett was – say – about 10 pm on the Friday night. And you first reported her absence to the Greek authorities at twenty past twelve on the Saturday?
AR
: That sounds about right.
LS
: She was missing for over fourteen hours before you reported it?
AR
: It wasn’t like that. [INDISTINCT]
LS
: I’d like you to explain it to me, then. Why were you not more concerned?
AR
: Do you have a teenage daughter?
LS
: Why were you not more concerned, Annie?
AR
: She was a teenager. She went off on her own sometimes, back home. She had sleepovers, she went to the town on her own on the bus, she even went to London with her mates once, on the train. We all thought she’d gone off for a walk somewhere and lost track of time. I thought she would have left me a note. I looked everywhere. I thought there would have been a note.
LS
: Did Scarlett have any reason to want to run away?
AR
: None at all.
LS
: Had there been any arguments, while you were all away?
AR
: No. It was fine. We had a good time together – all of us. A great time.
Lou frowned, put the paper down for a moment. Somewhere in the file, someone had mentioned a boy, a Greek boy, whom Scarlett had been seen with. Had it been in Juliette’s statement? Lou began to rifle through the pages, looking for it. She got to the end of the file, and went back to the beginning again. And then there it was, a single sheet. Lou started to read without taking it in. There was something else, something in Annie’s interview notes that had triggered a feeling of unease. What was it? Something was missing.
It was only twenty minutes and another coffee later that she had it: Annie had answered her questions, but she was not asking questions in return. No, ‘Where’s my daughter? Why hasn’t she been found?’ Not even the usual, ‘What are you doing asking me questions, when you should be out there looking?’