Echoes of the Past (3 page)

Lee
turned on to the dirt path that led to Hill House. It was only a five-minute drive from her house, but the hedges and dirt road made the old house seem more remote than it really was. Even when Lee was a younger girl living here, both she and her sister Sarah, would race up this part of the path. They would not stop until they had reached the safety of the front garden and the light that spilled from the porch on to the lawn.

Lee
climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. With a ring of the bell, she pushed the door open calling out for Tom.

Tom
and Jess had just finished their film and were clearing away the last of the pop corn.

“Hi,
Aunt Lee. Come on in.”

“I
have got a load of stuff to tell you, Tom, about Angela.” Lee walked over and kissed Jess on the head. “Hi, sweetie, do you know, I don’t think there’s anything you can’t find online today.”

“Look
what Uncle Matt got for me in Singapore.” Jess pulled back her hair to show a set of dragon stud earrings sitting in her ears. “And look.” She picked a blue silk robe from the bag. “It’s real silk.”

Lee
admired the gifts. “I wish Matt was my uncle.” She laughed.

Tom
rose and led Lee through to the cosy warmth of the kitchen and filled the kettle. Lee cleared the last of the chip wrappers off the table, the scent of vinegar wafted up her nose making her mouth water.

“See
you’re taking great care of the arteries around here.”

Tom
laughed as Lee emptied the papers from her bag on to the table.

“Boy,
you’ve really gone to town with this detective thing. Haven’t you.”

Lee
gave a smile that promised a secret would be revealed.

The
kettle boiled and Tom made two coffees. “I spoke to Matt today. He’s back from Singapore. He remembers Angela but he had already left for university by the time she disappeared. So he couldn’t tell me much.”

“Did
he tell you about her friend Samantha?” Lee smiled.

Tom
pulled the chair out and sat across the table from her. Half amused at her amateur detective act.

“No,
who’s Samantha?”

Lee
cleared her throat and settled herself in the wooden dining chair. She handed a picture of a plain looking dark headed girl.

“All
right,” Tom said looking at the printed picture, “Give me everything you found, I can see you’re desperate to.”

Lee
smiled. “Ok. Samantha was Angela Harrison’s best friend. That is until she threatened her with a knife.”

“What?
You are joking.”

“Nope.
When Angela began dating Patrick, Samantha got jealous. Apparently, she also liked the young farmer. And, of course, sparks began to fly.”

“I
don’t recall her name in the case file. Was she ever a suspect?”

“No,
a short time after Angela disappeared; Samantha was committed to the Dale. Obsessive, compulsive behaviour apparently.”

“The
Dale Psychiatric Hospital? Is she still there?”

“No,
she was released back in the 80s. I found her through her face book page. Her parents own the Deer Lodge Hotel on the High Street.”

“And
are they still there?”

“Yes.
Her Dad is John Caulder. You know him.”

Tom
did not have to think about it. John Caulder had owned the Deer Lodge for as long as Tom could remember. Back when he and Sarah were dating, he used to take her there for lunch on special occasions. He squinted again at the picture.

“I
don’t think I can ever remember her. Not at school and not at the pub.”

“No,
her parents were strict. She was not allowed in the hotel bar. Even when she turned eighteen, having said that, she would have barely been eighteen when she was committed. As for school, Angela was pretty, intelligent and popular. Samantha, not so much. I think a lot of people thought they were a bit of an odd match as friends, but they had gone all through school together, since nursery. Angela didn’t care what other people thought, she liked Samantha.”

“Yes,
till she assaulted her with a knife.”

“She
didn’t assault her, she only threatened to, Tom.”

“Oh,
that’s all right then.” He smiled mockingly at Lee. “What put you on to her in the first place?”

“I
had forgotten all about her. I was just trying to find out who Angela’s friends were at the time. Here, I’ve written down her Facebook page. In case you want to check her out.”

“I
think I might pay John a visit. Find out what happened back then and why he couldn’t get his daughter out of dodge quick enough.” Tom perused the pictures and face book printouts for a moment. He rose from the chair feeling a little impressed with what Lee had found.

“Wait.
There is something else.” The excitement from Lee had turned more to apprehension. She squinted a little in her chair as if deciding whether or not to share something with Tom. Tom sat back down and waited.

“Look,
Tom. I don’t want you to laugh at me, but I have a feeling about something and I just want to run it past you.”

Tom
reached for his sister in laws hand and gave it a pat. “Lee. You can tell me anything.”

“All
right. There was a barmaid who worked down in Arrochar in the late 1960s, she disappeared, and the police said she just took off. A bit like Angela. Only there wasn’t much of a missing persons investigation with this one. And another girl who worked on the London train in the refreshment carriage, she disappeared in the late 1970s. Then again in the 1980s, another young woman disappeared from the Lands End pub in Edinburgh, not a trace.” Lee began to speak faster and spread papers all over the kitchen table, with faces of lovely young girls from all different eras. Tom started to pick them up one at a time and look at them.

“What
makes you think any of these are connected, Lee?”

“I
don’t really know. I think it’s because they all look so alike. Not only that, but the police didn’t do a great deal at the time to find them, there was no suspicious circumstances to investigate and they were all adults. Their cases are all still open. Their families are still looking for them. Another thing, all three of theses cases are like Angela. They all left their cars behind.”

Tom
thought for a moment. She did have a point. They all looked very alike, allowing for the fact that there were years between each case. And the fact that they all left their cars behind. If they had run off with someone, they would surely have taken the car. If they had moved down to Glasgow or London, again, having a car would be advantageous to them. Normally there is something before the case goes cold. For a second Olivia popped in to Toms mind. Just disappeared, no trace. He pushed her from his head, knowing only too well what can happen when a case you are too close to becomes an obsession. Tom didn’t understand why, but he too had a gut feeling about some of these girls.

“Well,
Lee. I’m certainly not laughing. In fact, I think I might have to deputise you.”

Lee
let out a breath that she had not realized she was holding, and laughed.

“Are
you going to look into them?”

“Yes,
were did you find them?”

“There’s
a web page where people post pictures of their loved ones that are missing. Thousands of them. But these three stood out. What do you want me to do?”

Tom
smiled. “Absolutely nothing. If you can continue to keep an eye on Jess when I’m working late, that is plenty. If I need any more snooping done you will be the first person I call.”

*****

Olivia dug her fingers into the hard dirt floor as she pulled her broken body toward the stairs. Hopelessly, slowly, only one goal in sight. To survive. She turned to look. Her face unrecognizable with bruising and swelling. Her neck black, where oversized hands had almost squeezed the life from her. Blood ran down the side of her once so pretty face.

*****

Jess let out a scream as her bedside lamp crashed to the floor. The noise saving her from the rest of the dream. Her dark hair lay limp and soaked on her scalp, her pyjama top was sticking to her body as the sweat rolled down her back. She took a moment to catch her breath.

Tom
opened the bedroom door. He knew what had happened. Another dream.

“You’re
all right, Jess. I’m here.” He sat on the edge of the bed pulling her close. Still raw from the dream, Jess sobbed on to his shoulder.

“Can
you tell me what it’s about?”

Jess
shook her head unable to put into words the fear and panic that she felt each time this dream disturbed her sleep. Tom gently stroked her long damp hair and rocked her back and forth, as though she were still a baby.

“Jess,
if you can’t tell me about this dream, maybe you could talk to Aunt Lee. Sometimes talking about something can make it seem less frightening.”

Jess
swallowed hard her eyes continuously flicking back to the dark corner of the room over Tom’s shoulder. A slight movement, almost imperceptible.

“Jess?”

“I’m fine Dad. It’s just a dream.”

“Is
it about Olivia?” he asked.

Jess
nodded. “I feel closer to her here, and I don’t understand why. But the dream. At first I couldn’t remember it. It was just a feeling of dread when I woke. Now, I’m remembering more and more of it, and it scares me.”

“What
happens in it?”

Jess
swallowed hard. “I don’t know, I just want to forget it.”

Tom
knew that Jess could remember but didn’t want to talk about it in detail.

“I
think you should talk to Aunt Lee, Jess. I know she can be a bit wacky, but she is good with this kind of thing.”

Jess
wriggled back down under the cover.

“Do
you want a hot drink?”

“I’m
all right, Dad.” Tom, reluctantly, stood to leave. “Dad, leave on the light please.” Tom smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

“Sure,
angel.”

It
was after 5am. Tom knew he would never get back to sleep, instead, he headed downstairs to the kitchen. He was almost relieved when he remembered he had the Angela Harrison case file to look over, for a cop, this was a welcome distraction. A cup of coffee and an early start he thought. The file from the night before was still lying on the table. Tom lifted it and began to look through it. He knew Lee was right. There was something about the girls that just did not sit well with Tom. After almost thirty years as a cop, he had developed an instinct for some things. He was, if nothing else, a hell of a copper. He opened his laptop and put in the web page Lee had told him about. Countless faces came up. Missing people from all over the world. He put in the name of the first girl on the list.

A
picture of a laughing twenty-year-old appeared on the screen. Susanna Wheeling. Fiery red hair. Brown eyes. Very pretty. She had disappeared from the local bar in Arrochar, just a half hours drive from Coppersfield in August 1968. The picture was followed by desperate pleas from her family for any information. Tom looked up the next girl. Jenny Phillips. A stunning twenty-three-year-old with blonde hair. She was from London. She worked on the refreshment carriage with British Rail. She disappeared in Glasgow during a lay over between journeys. Again, it was August, this time in 1979.

The
third girl was Jill Patterson. Age twenty-two. She was last seen at the Lands End pub in Edinburgh. Like Angela and Jenny, she was pretty, blonde and went missing in August, this time it was 1984.

Like
Angela, they had all disappeared during the first two weeks in August. Except they were years apart. There were ten years between Susanna Wheeling and Angela Harrison. One year later Jenny Phillips disappeared, and then another five years passed before Jill Patterson went missing. All the girls had striking similarities in their looks. All except, Susanna Wheeling, were blonde. Tom knew his best bet would be to input the details into the police net work and find out if there were any other girls that had been reported missing around this time that had been classified as open missing person.

Tom
heard Jess on the stairs. It was now 7.30am He closed his computer and got up to start breakfast. A tradition he had continued after his wife Sarah, had died, to keep Jess in a normal routine.

“Bacon
and eggs or pancakes?” Tom asked. Jess slipped in to a chair at the table and rubbed her eyes.

“Eh,
I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just have cereal this morning. I’m not all that hungry.”