Echoes of the Past (2 page)

“No,
she’s walking home with Gemma, and I promised take out, but thanks any how.” Tom sipped the hot coffee. “Mm, that’s good.”

“Well,
that lets me go visit Dad tonight then, I’ve not been up this week at all.”

“How
is he?”

“I
called the Matron on Monday; she said he was fine, asking after Jess. I think he likes the home. Doesn’t have to worry about anything, all his meals prepared.”

Tom
nodded in agreement. He knew Jimmy had not been himself since the stroke.

“Where’s
Danny?” Lee asked.

“He’s
on his rounds, keeping Coppersfield safe. Before you go, Lee, can I pick your brains for a minute?”

Lee
settled into a chair with her coffee.

“What
can you tell me about a girl called Angela Harrison?”

“The
Harrison case, gosh, you’re going back a bit there, Tom. She was the year above me at school. A really pretty girl. Blonde wavy hair, slim. You know she went out with your best mate, Matt Ingles.”

Tom
thought for a moment. “I don’t remember Matt being with her.”

“Yeah,
well, you are going back a bit, and let’s be honest. Matt didn’t have a shortage of girl friends. Any way. She had a placement at Aberdeen University; I think she was doing nursing or something. She drove up to the university, unpacked some of her stuff, then she disappeared.”

“What
was the word at the time, what did people think happened to her?”

“Well,
at the start, they thought she had run off. She had a boyfriend, Patrick. He’s still here; he owns the farm about a mile past the church. He had gone up to Aberdeen to talk her out of moving. Scared she met someone else I suppose. He wanted to get married and move on to his Dad’s farm, but she was having none of it. So the police thought she had just gone off to think about things. That was the Friday, I think, but when she missed the start of her course on the Monday, the police began a full search of Aberdeen campus and the surrounding area.”

“Did
they ever search down here at Coppersfield, in case she had come home?”

“No,
her car was still on the campus. They pulled Patrick in a couple of times; sure he had done something to her. But in the end she was an adult, in the eyes of the police, if she wanted to walk away from her life, she had every right to do so. Police stopped looking, the news moved on to something else and it was forgotten. You know you are the first person I’ve heard mention her name in years.”

“Yeah,
well, I’ve been reading over her file. Shoddy police work doesn’t begin to cover it. The case was run by the Aberdeen police, and I tell you, they didn’t even question why, if she had gone off to think about things, she didn’t take her car.”

Lee
leaned forward in her seat with a look of mischief on her face.

“Are
you going to reopen it and kick ass?” she said.

Tom
laughed, “Well, the case was never closed, it’s still an open missing persons case and I am certainly not going to throw mud at the coppers who investigated, but I will have another look at it.”

“Great.”
Lee swallowed back her coffee and jumped to her feet. “I will dig out old pictures from school; I will give you Patrick’s address, although I don’t know how keen he’ll be to talk to you. And I will give you her mum’s address. She still lives in the same house on Church Street.” Lee scribbled the address on a piece of paper. “You have no idea how often I have thought about Angela. You just want to know what happened. Do you know what I mean? I’ll pop round later with the pictures, ok.” A peck on the cheek and she was gone.

Tom
picked up the file picture of Angela Harrison. She looked like Olivia. Small blonde and pretty. He could vaguely remember the case himself now. It was all anybody talked about in Coppersfield at the time. He was only 14 years old when she went missing. But things were starting to come back to him. Tom grabbed his jacket. He remembered Lee had said Angela had dated Matt. He would drive up to Ingaldean House and see if Matt could give him anything on Angela Harrison.

*****

Tom headed up Coppersfield High Street, past the rows of 18th century cottages that had now been converted into shops and tearooms mostly. He turned down School Wynd, before reaching the high school; he turned of on to a narrow lane. The sign stated,
Private
Road
. He headed up to the large double gates that opened on to the land of Ingaldean estate. The large gravel driveway led up to a very impressive home. Tom stopped the Jeep and climbed out as his closest friend opened the front door and came down the stairs to meet him.

“Hi,
Tom. What do I owe the pleasure to?” Matt said with his arm out stretched.

Tom
walked over and hugged him.

“Hi,
Matt. It’s been too long.”

“Come
on in, how’ve you been, and Jess. I take it she has settled in by now?”

“Yeah,
she’s doing great. How was your trip to Singapore? Last time we talked you were getting ready to go out there?” Matt led Tom through the impressive hallway to the snug. A comfortable room leading into the kitchen. Tom remembered playing here as a boy.

“Singapore
went well. The IT industry is booming we’re branching out there in the next couple of months. It was well worth the journey. Coffee?”

“Sure.”
Tom could never resist a good cup of coffee. “I’ve got a couple of questions I hope you can help me out with.”

Matt
placed a cup of coffee on the breakfast bar and poured another.

“Sorry,
Officer, is this a business call?” he joked.

Tom
smiled. “No, just a cold case I’m looking into.”

“I
thought you were about due to hang up the old night stick?”

“Yeah.
I think it will be coming. You know me, I’ll keep busy until then. Do you remember Angela Harrison? She went to school here around the same time as you?”

Matt
handed Tom his coffee. “Remember her. I went out with her. She was gorgeous. And a nice person to boot. What do you want to know?”

“Anything.
I just want to get a better feel for her. When did you go out with her?”

“About
18 months before she disappeared. We didn’t go out long; it was a casual thing. A few months after I stopped seeing her, she took up with a farmer’s boy from the village.”

“Patrick?”

“Yes, I believe he became the top suspect in her disappearance.”

“I
take it she was popular. No enemies, no falling outs, nothing like that.”

“God,
Tom, this is going back a long time. I didn’t move in the same circles as her. In fact, after we split I don’t think I saw her again. I left and went to Cambridge, so I couldn’t really tell you how she got on. I do know that she was a popular girl when I went out with her.”

Tom
sipped his coffee and thought for a moment. “Do you know anyone who was close to her? A best friend perhaps.”

“Couldn’t
tell you, mate. You know what I was like back then, I went from one girl to another.”

Tom
laughed, recollecting his best pal’s ability to charm. “Not much has changed.”

“Now,
now, Tom. Let’s not get personal.” Matt rose to his feet.

“Here,
I’ve got a present from Singapore for little Jess.” He lifted a bag from the corner of the room and handed it to Tom.

“You
spoil her.”

“Well,
I don’t have any of my own to spoil.”

Tom
took the bag. “That reminds me, Jess asked if she could come up and help out with the horses?”

Matt
laughed. “She knows she doesn’t need to ask, anytime.”

Tom
had forgotten just how comfortable he felt in his friends company. Matt was a couple of years older than him, but growing up in Coppersfield he had been more like his older brother, he had taught him to fish, and more importantly, how to chat up girls. He hadn’t realized just how much he had missed the friendship while he was in Singapore.

*****

Jess pulled her coat tight around her as she walked home down School Wynd with Gemma. She was beginning to wish she had taken her Dad up on the offer of a ride home from school. The weather had turned back to a wintry chill with a wind that cut through her.

“Doesn’t
your uncle live up there in the big house?”

Jess
turned as they passed the private road that led to Ingaldean. “Yeah, but he’s in Singapore or China or something like that. When he’s home I usually go up and go horse riding. He’s got stables up there.”

“I
heard he’s got acres of land and a huge swimming pool.”

Jess
laughed. She knew the house was grand but not that big a deal.

“No,
just stables and a bit of land. He does have the most beautiful contemplation garden. It’s a rose garden with a pond in it and a little bridge and bench.”

“The
next time you go up to see the horses, could I tag along?” Gemma said.

“Sure,
I didn’t know you were into riding”

“I
quite like it, but I would really love to see the house more.” Jess and Gemma laughed.

At
the bottom of School Wynd, the girls said goodbye and parted company. Gemma headed down the High Street to her home and Jess headed up a hedged path to Hill House.

Jess
walked up the gravel drive; a sense of foreboding came over her as she noticed neither her Dad nor Aunt Lee were here. She had become less and less comfortable being in the house alone, especially when it was dark. She had the feeling of being watched. The sensation of dread. She turned the key in the lock of the old farmhouse, which, much more resembled a manor house in Jess’s opinion. Stealing herself against the cold and fear, she pushed the door into the large hallway. The stairs curled around in an arch leading up to the second floor. She rushed passed them into the kitchen. It was here that she felt most secure. She closed the door and lit the fire, giving the place a homely feel. Jess made herself some tea, and opened up her Physics books.

“Damn
it.” The realisation that she had left her calculator in her bedroom sent a chill down her spine. She would have to leave the safety of the kitchen to retrieve it. Glancing at the window, she realized it was now getting dusky. It got dark here so much quicker than in the city. She considered for a moment the excuses she could make to her teacher for not doing her homework. Pushing against the ever-growing fear developing from somewhere deep in her stomach she turned and pulled the kitchen door open.

“Hi,
honey, how was school?”

Jess
let out a half-swallowed yelp as she saw her Dad standing in the hallway hanging up his jacket. He walked over and kissed her head.

“Sorry,
love, didn’t mean to scare you. When you are home alone, Jess, do me a favour in future, lock the front door. Anyone could walk in.” He walked passed her and set a chip shop bag down on the table. “Got dinner.” He gave her a wink.

Relief
swept through Jess. “You serve it up, I won’t be a minute,” she said as she ran upstairs to her bedroom looking for the calculator.

Jess
picked the clothes from the floor were she had hung them the night before. Just under the front of her bed lay the missing calculator. She quickly retrieved it and stood up. The sensation of dread swept through her followed by a banging sore head.

Shake
it
off
,
Jess
,
shake
it
off
, she thought as she turned to leave the room.

Silently, the girls pale face and dark eyes stared from the shadowy corner of the bedroom, her frustration growing as she watched Jess close the door behind her.

*****

Lee lifted the loose paper her printer had spewed out at her. She could feel an excitement building at the information she had found. She switched off the lights in the study, but left the living room and kitchen lights burning. Lee knew how dark the back of Potters Lane was. Even though it was next to Peel Street, and the police house, she still did not want to return home to complete darkness. She opened the icy cold iron gate at the bottom of her back garden and headed up to the lock up at the bottom of the lane. Unlocking her garage, she climbed in, reversed her blue mini out, and headed down the High Street to Hill House. The clear sky promised frost and a cold start tomorrow. There was already a sparkling of glittery frost on the narrow roads that lead through the small village. Winter was always bad here. A small price to pay for the breath taking scenery that surrounded the picturesque village. A small brick bridge was the only road in or out, which opened on to one of the most treacherous hillside roads in that part of Scotland.