Skipping any thoughts of dropping in at Huw’s house, Ava drove straight back to the Birtleys’. As she bumped back into the potholed yard, there was another vehicle parked outside the stone building. Ava parked quickly and joined Sophie in her car.
The DI was curt and got straight down to business. ‘Just to reiterate, obviously you can’t, officially, be anywhere near this investigation, but we’re running out of time. I listened to the voicemail, and Jack sent over the photos. They are definitely of Bethan and as he mentioned, definitely underground, but Christ knows where.’
‘I assume the search team have been all over the area where Cerys was found?’ Ava queried.
Sophie gave her a cold look. ‘The weather has beaten us a couple of times, but yes, of course.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to—’
The other woman interrupted her. ‘We’ve got bodies mapping the area at the moment, and the PULSAR Team are on their way with extra equipment and dogs. I’m getting more men and extra funding after the last briefing because the DCI has declared a Critical Incident. We will find her, and find the bastard doing all this. Anything else come in?’ She paused for breath, turning the car heater on to combat the bitter cold outside.
‘None. I keep checking my phone.’ Ava waved at Mr Birtley as he scuttled down the path to pick up his mail from the little wooden box at the gate. He half-heartedly raised a hand, slipped in the snow a little, and then continued his errand with his gaze fixed firmly on the ground. ‘Do you think Cerys is telling the truth about being attacked by the other contestants?’
Sophie shrugged. ‘It’s possible, but equally it’s possible that this was arranged by the suspect as a diversion tactic, or as part of their game. Either way, although she has been interviewed, she insisted on staying at the camp. The medics have given her the all clear…’
‘What about the voicemail on my phone?’
‘We can’t get the voice any clearer, and of course the phone was untraceable. I’ve got divers searching the reservoir, but after this I’ll call them off. We have to assume that these pictures are meant to show us Bethan is still alive, and the game is still on, not that she’s at the bottom of the lake. It’s also a big old stretch of water, and I don’t have bodies to waste at this moment in time.’
Ava yawned. ‘I need coffee. I’ve been up since five. That store has a machine, not great, but better than going back to the Birtleys’ and having Mrs B trying to get all the gossip. I’m sure you agree it would be better if we aren’t seen together as much as possible.’
Sophie nodded curtly. ‘Agreed. My boss would be going crazy if he knew that I was talking to you like this, but you have a way in, and I don’t. I’ll use any leverage I can get if it saves a girl’s life.’
‘Your DCI is right though – how do you know I didn’t kill Ellen, and came back to wreak havoc on Aberdyth?’
The other woman studied her, green eyes narrowing, and she gave that harsh blast of laughter. ‘I’ve been working a long time, Detective Cole, and let’s just say I don’t think you killed Ellen. Alex Jennington? Maybe, but you aren’t top of my hit list. Believe me, you’d know all about it, if you were.’ Her expression was grim.
Ava grinned. ‘Fair enough. I’ll go back and see if I can get anything else out of Leo later. You said on the phone you wanted me to go and see Rhodri?’
‘Yes. When we spoke yesterday you mentioned he seemed upset when you showed him Ellen’s hairband and bracelet. You might be able to build on that. I don’t want to pull anyone in for questioning just yet. DI Hevis agrees, and he’s working day and bloody night on this one. The way I see it, the suspect needs to think they are way ahead of us, and hopefully we just need to give them a bit more rope… I’ll wait here in the car, and you see if you can get anything sensible out of Rhodri.’
Ava sighed. ‘Depends how much he’s taken. It’s funny isn’t it, it was such a joke at the time, the pills, and the effects, but now the effects have spread way beyond teenage amusement.’
‘Do you remember who first gave you drugs? What did you take?’ Sophie asked, tapping her fingers lightly on the steering wheel. Her phone buzzed and she quickly checked the screen.
‘I honestly don’t remember. If I had to guess it would be Paul, because he or Leo used to have them in little plastic sandwich bags. We would laugh at them, and call them our dealers, but they would never say where they came from. It wasn’t an issue. They just appeared like bags of candy, and we discovered that this type of candy made us lose our inhibitions, fly to the stars and spin around in the darkness.’
‘So some type of drug that would induce hallucinations? Ecstasy?’
‘There was a sedative too – perhaps some diazepam derivative? Blue pills and white ones with a flower stamped in the middle. It made you feel limp like a ragdoll, and then you passed out. Even Rohypnol, I suppose, would have a similar effect. Penny hated that one. She would never take it, and I was always the first to pass out. It’s terrifying, looking back now, to see what we were doing. Our silly dare game, “True Lies”, stopped being about heights, and pushing ourselves physically, and became more about mental cruelty. There was the one where you were buried in a box for five minutes, and then, fuck I wish I could remember who thought of this one, but it was hanging, semi-strangulation.’
‘So your games became more about hurting each other, making each other afraid?’
‘Yes.’
‘And who were you most afraid of, Ava?’
She could see his face, laughing down at her as he shut the box, the moment of darkness, the smell of soil, and the thump as he shovelled earth on top. ‘Buried Alive’ was Huw’s favourite dare. ‘Huw enjoyed the cruelty, and was, and still seems to be, sexist, arrogant, and angry. He was always angry, and always one to say his family would “get us” if we crossed him.’
‘Was he angry with Ellen?’
‘With all of us sometimes. He fought Leo and Rhodri more than once. I mean proper fighting, not just a few punches. Leo had to have stitches in his forehead. But we were all wild and out of control. I hate myself for not being strong enough to stop it.’
‘You blame yourself for Ellen’s death?’
‘Of course. Wouldn’t you?’
‘I would, but I would also remind myself that I didn’t kill her.’
Ava shook her head. ‘But I did. I was there, and I should have stopped them.’
Sophie looked at her for a moment. ‘Let’s get that coffee, and then see what you can get out of Rhodri.’
* * *
The shop was crowded, mostly with elderly people doing the morning shop. Their baskets were crammed with brightly coloured boxes of soup and bags of bread. Talk was of the unexpected snow, the murder, and Bethan’s disappearance. A young woman with straggly highlighted hair was trying to calm two fractious toddlers, and everyone seemed to be trying to help her. Finally she burst into tears and fled, rattling the buggy over the road to the row of bungalows beyond.
A chorus of sympathetic chatter streamed out of the open door after her. Ava caught the gist. This was Huw’s girlfriend, Isabell. Bethan had mentioned her that first night. What had she said? That Huw wouldn’t marry her or something. She hadn’t seemed to particularly like or dislike her pseudo stepmother. It had been a passing comment about her mother leaving Huw. Interesting though. Ava made a mental note to ask Rhodri what happened to Bethan’s mother.
Clutching their paper coffee cups, Ava and Sophie brought the shop to a standstill. Whispers were hostile and glances sharp. She could guess what they were saying: that Ava Cole had come back, and brought nothing but trouble.
‘I spoke to her yesterday, Huw’s girlfriend. Nice girl, and very concerned about Bethan. More concerned than Huw, it seems…’ Sophie gulped her coffee, and headed for the safety of the car. ‘See you in a bit, and good luck.’
Ava walked back up the road, as far as the turning, and then began to climb around the rubbish piled around Rhodri’s house. The metal bin was scorched black from another recent fire, and a plastic box of electrical wires was propped on the bonnet of a grubby white Audi. It took a while to get to the front door, and as she had expected, he didn’t answer.
Sighing, she called his mobile again. No answer. The way around the back took her longer than last time, and she swore as she sliced her thumb on the skeleton of a rusty wheelbarrow. It occurred to her that Rhodri was literally barricading himself in. She peered in at the grimy windows as she navigated a heap of water troughs and farm gates. Nobody in the living room.
The back door was still unlocked, and she slid inside. A cat was mewing somewhere, and the stench was worse than before. Whatever happened, before she left the valley, she needed to get Rhodri some help, she thought grimly. Her phone rang, but she ignored it, focusing on the chill that wasn’t just the cold outside seeping into the flimsy bungalow. The quiet, the stillness, was all wrong to Ava, who was a veteran of hundreds of crime scenes. Something was very wrong. She slowed her breathing, long deep breaths, moving lightly on the balls of her feet, reaching for the hundredth time for a gun that wasn’t there. The beep of voicemail made her jump.
‘Rhodri? It’s me, Ava?’
She pushed her way over piles of clean laundry stacked on a narrow hall table. The house was cold. The bedroom door was shut, and she knocked gently, before pushing it open.
Rhodri was lying on his bed, sprawled on his back. One arm was flung away from him, the other was livid red and purple, and sported a tourniquet, and a syringe.
‘Fuck! Rhodri? Rhodri, can you hear me?’
He was still warm, and bending to his face, she could feel the faintest of breaths touch her cheek. His chest heaved, then stopped for a while, before his rib cage heaved again. Ava grabbed her mobile.
‘Sophie, I need the medics, and get in here now. It looks like an overdose.’ It would be quicker for Sophie to get her team up here, than go to all the trouble of phoning 999.
‘On my way. Is he breathing?’
‘Yes, but unconscious. Don’t worry, I haven’t moved him.’ Careful not to disturb anything, Ava kept a watch on Rhodri’s breathing as she waited for help to arrive.
The thin, sunken face was pale, lips slightly blue, and his messy red hair was greasy and tangled. His head was turned slightly to one side, and traces of vomit streaked his yellow pillowcase. How had it come to this? Had Ellen’s death set them all on their current paths, or would they have become who they were without the tragedy?
She glanced quickly around the room. It was impossible to tell if anyone else had been in here with all this clutter. It was a good fifteen minutes before her phoned buzzed with a text, and Sophie started hammering on the front door, calling her name. Hastily she began to clear a way to open the door, chucking random objects to the sides of the hallway. It didn’t take long before she was yanking at the rusty locks, and swinging the door as wide as she could. The paramedics were closely followed by Sophie Miles, and DS Sharon.
‘Any sign this wasn’t an overdose?’ Sophie muttered to Ava, who shook her head.
With the DS present, Ava kept her distance, unable to believe she was yet again first on scene, and the patient was potentially another murder victim.
Ava moved into another room, remembering she still needed to check her voicemail message. She was almost afraid to look, but it was just a message from Penny. Her heart rate was beginning to notch down a little. Rhodri’s guitar sat on the torn and grubby sofa in the living room, and she had to stop herself from trailing a gentle finger over it as she passed. Emotion stabbed her hard in the chest, but frustration wasn’t far off. The perp must know if they kept killing suspects the list would eventually close in on themselves, so perhaps this was a genuine suicide attempt. No obvious note though. She peeped into the bathroom, and wished she hadn’t.
The stinking, claustrophobic house was crowded, and she stepped outside, anxious not to get in the way of the teams working in there. Perched on a discarded car bonnet, Ava listened to Penny’s shrill, slightly sharp voice.
‘Ava, lovely, I hope you’re all right. Have you heard anything about Bethan? I know I shouldn’t ask, but Huw is going out of his mind with worry, so I just thought if you had heard anything unofficial that the police know more than they’ll tell us… He’s finally realised that his girl isn’t just playing for the cameras. They won’t let me talk to Stephen either, they’ve just locked all the contestants in the camp while they investigate. He must be going crazy. Even bloody Leo only said he was “okay”, not that I could talk to him or anything. If you want to meet up later, let me know. Paul has a hospital appointment, and I’m going to be up at Kingsmead Residential Home until about four, visiting Uncle Alf, but any time after. Bye, lovely.’
Ava sat in the cold and fiddled with her phone. She hit Jack’s number but his phone was switched off. Mentally she tried to work out the time difference and concluded he might actually be catching some sleep. She left a message, trying to inject a business-like tone into her voice. ‘Hi, Boss, just keeping you in the loop. I’ve got an OD on one of the suspects. The medics are with him now, and hopefully they got to him in time. He’s a known drug user, but as we know, it would be pretty easy for this to be down to the perp. My gut says it isn’t a genuine suicide attempt. Catch up soon.’
Rhodri was leaving the house now, swaddled up on a stretcher, an IV line replacing the tourniquet and syringe. His face was still and white, as though he was already dead.
Ava felt her stomach lurch, as he was bundled into the ambulance, and a flash of fear made her speak more sharply than she intended. ‘How’s he looking?’
Sophie came up behind her, dusted her leather jacket off, pulled down her ski hat, and shrugged. ‘Okay for now. Obs are good, considering. Looks like he took a lot, but you got there in time. You sure you didn’t mention to anyone that you were visiting him today? Just a passing comment?’
‘No. You only suggested it this morning. So, any thoughts?’
‘Same as you probably. If he was going to OD, why wait until now? You get home and the body count rises. On the other side of the coin, I looked into Jesse’s RTA, and it seems the investigating officer wasn’t happy with the verdict. There wasn’t enough evidence to prove anything, but the diesel on the road was a convenient way to get a bike to skid out. The fact that lorries and tractors use that road all the time meant that it was impossible to prove it was a deliberate sabotage act. Jesse had been drinking, and he was over the limit, which wasn’t helpful. That would have been a contributory factor to any incident, of course.’
‘Did they interview anyone?’
‘Yes. Jesse’s parents, Ellen’s parents, and his friends. That would be Huw, Rhodri, Leo, Paul and Penny. The usual suspects, but in this case, the same names that keep cropping up. The Family Liaison Officer noted that Jesse’s dad seemed to be angrier that his son had stirred things up about Ellen, than at the fact he was dead.’ Sophie was looking sideways at Ava. ‘Any perceptive or enlightening thoughts, Detective?’
‘Rhodri ran a garage. He had the knowledge, and I suppose all the others might have known. Leo had a bike once. I stole it when I ran away.’ Ava sighed, trying to dredge up anything that would be of more help. The DS was watching her, taking notes now and again. God, she really needed to come up with something useful, something that would lead to the killer.
She turned back to Sophie. ‘Back to Jesse though… He was always so in love with Ellen, but she used to tease him. She was a flirt. She’d flirt with anyone, the boys at school, older men when we were out. Hell, she even tried to chat up Coach Thomas at football practice. But she did eventually start seeing Jesse on a regular basis.’
‘But if Jesse knew what happened, I don’t understand what he needed to check? He could have just told the Smiths there and then.’
Something was niggling at Ava’s brain, but she couldn’t quite pin it down. She needed to talk to Jackie and Peter again. What had they said about Jesse checking, before he told them? Something jarred, but eventually she shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I’ll leave you to get on and let you know if I get any more messages or genius ideas. Oh, one last thing. Are the Tough Love contestants allowed contact with the outside world? I really need to talk to my son.’ She was so used to Stephen being at the back of her mind in everything she did, but the fact that he was so close, but she was unable to contact him was driving her crazy. Penny was right, too; he must be freaked by Bethan’s disappearance.
‘We kept them corralled for forty-eight hours whilst we questioned them about Jennington’s murder, and again when we found the girl. Apart from that, I believe it is in their contracts that they have to stay put and get on with the game. No contact with families and friends and no internet access.’
Ava nodded. It had been worth a try. She would get on to Leo and ask him about Stephen. ‘I’ll get on then.’
‘Thanks, Ava.’ The DI turned away and was quickly absorbed in conversation with her team.
Wearily threading her way through a few curious bystanders, and two men in jeans and inappropriate jackets who were clearly reporters, Ava made her way back to the B&B. The snow was still light and steady, sugar-coating Aberdyth as it dusted the ambulance tracks with ice.
Mrs Birtley was behind her desk, but for once she ignored Ava, pursing her lips and turning deliberately to lift some paperwork from a drawer. Ava’s door was still locked, and everything appeared untouched. Tugging off her boots, she pulled the elastic out of her hair, letting it fall heavily across her shoulders, breathing deeply. God, she was so tired. Out of habit, she checked her phone. Her mom wanted her to call back and discuss Ellen. No surprises there. She imagined that Jackie and Peter had been straight on the phone to her parents to blast their eardrums off.
Then there was a text from her boyfriend. ‘I don’t like to do this by text, but you have a lot going on. It feels weird that you are actually a mom, and I never knew…’ Great. She scanned down the lines. It was a brief break-up note. He had picked up a role in a biggish movie. It was being filmed in Chicago, of all places, and he would be away for at least four months. They had only ever been casual, but at this moment in time, she felt a pang of regret.
Wearily, she flicked her iPad on, and starting at the top of her list, she began to search. The police would be doing the same thing, of course, but if she could just use her insider knowledge, she might be able to snag a tiny detail they might not.
Leo’s latest press and social media was all about the new show. There was a bitchy piece in a showbiz magazine that was interesting. According to the journalist, his last couple of projects didn’t do so well, and he had borrowed a lot for this new series of Tough Love. So, Leo would be desperate for this series to hit high in the ratings. The viewing figures quoted were mind boggling, even for a short film that Leo had apparently funded, which promptly bombed. Millions tuned in for Tough Love, but Leo clearly enjoyed the high life. Fast cars, flying first class, owning four homes…
Leo had a home in the Hills in LA. That was… well, it was explainable, because he clearly spent some time there working on another show, but he’d never mentioned that one to her. Why?
She continued, interested to see Huw had won a teaching award a few months back. There was nothing on Rhodri. Penny’s company was doing well with her export business. Solid profits for the last few years. Slightly surprising, given the state of the market and small business in general, but nothing to suggest anything underhand. Penny would be the last person to launder money, or not pay her tax returns. Ava returned to her searches, checking entries against Companies House. There was nothing illegal, but she was shaken to see Paul was listed as the majority shareholder. Almost everything was in his name. Fingers shaking, she tapped out more searches. The house was only in his name, not jointly owned. Did Penny know? She seemed so business-like, but what had she said? That Paul and Leo did her website, and photographs for her. She had laughed that she was rubbish at things like that. Why would Paul have everything in his name? Especially now, given he was facing a death sentence.
Ava frowned, rubbing her forehead, feeling a headache gathering force. She got up, rubbing her sore neck, rummaging for the pills. For years she had been plagued with migraines, and once she felt one lurking, the only thing to do was zap them with pills.
* * *
She had meant to just lie down for a bit, sleep off the headache, and try to see everything more clearly. Sometimes she had solved cases in that queer, crystal clear moment between sleeping and waking, but today, exhaustion overtook her, and she slept.
The ringing of her phone woke her. It was dark, and she blinked in bewilderment for a few seconds.
‘Ava! Thank God. I’ve been trying to get hold of you… I nearly rang the police.’
‘Calm down, Penny. What’s happened?’
She heard Penny give a stifled sob. ‘Huw said he would get Paul from hospital. It’s a long drive to keep doing. Leo was helping out, but now he’s tied up with the filming and the police investigation. They took him down to Cadrington for questioning. Did you know? I stayed a bit longer with Uncle Alf, and when I got back I thought they would be home.’
‘Go on.’
‘They weren’t answering their phones, so I drove down there. I’m just outside A&E now. The day unit is shut but I found one of the nurses on her way out, and she said Huw was an hour late to collect Paul, and they’d only just left. She was cross, because she needed to close the unit, but Paul told her he didn’t have any other transport and would have to wait for Huw. Why would he say that? They’ve been planning something, the stupid boys, I know it. Then bloody Huw rang, and he said that he was taking Paul for a “long drive to nowhere”. Like some stupid cowboy. He loves those old Westerns… He said to tell you that he knows you know where Bethan is, and if we want Paul to be okay, you need to tell him.’
‘What the fuck?’ Ava was still dozy, fighting back to reality. ‘Look, I don’t know where she is, but the perp seems to have taken some pictures of her in a cave. They emailed the link to my boss in LA. We don’t know where she is, though, apart from the fact she is obviously underground.’
‘Oh!’ It was a little cry of fear followed by another stifled sob, and Ava felt her own gut clench painfully.
‘Sorry, Pen, but I wanted you to know. Can you think where she might be? The search teams are struggling with this shit weather, and with the temperature dropping, we need to find her. Regarding Huw, does he not think that if the police had the faintest idea where she might be they would be there by now?’
‘I don’t know! He’d been drinking, and I could hear Paul in the background laughing all crazy-like as he does when he’s been drinking… He isn’t supposed to have alcohol with his medication. Oh, Ava, he said if I told the police he and Paul would just go up into the hills and keep on driving. And why would Bethan be in a cave? I don’t understand, and I’m not sure I can cope with much more. We had to fill out some legal paperwork about Paul’s treatment today, and it makes it so much for real. He’s dying, Ava! What am I going to do?’
‘I’ll ring him… Or I can ring Huw?’
‘No. He said you need to meet him at the old outward bound centre – you know, Johnson’s. He said you need to tell him where Bethan is and then he’ll bring Paul home. I’m going to start driving back now, but it’ll take me a good hour at this time of night. Oh, the evil bastard, Ava – why is he doing this?’
‘Penny, you need to calm down, and drive safely. We’ll sort it out, okay? It sounds like Paul is all right at the moment. Look, drive carefully because this weather is a bitch, and I’ll go out to Johnson’s. I’m also going to tell the police.’
‘You can’t, Ava – he said not to!’
‘Penny, has it occurred to you that Huw could be behind all this? He might be the one who killed Ellen, who killed Alex, and…’ She’d almost been going to add Rhodri, but if Huw was driving around in the hills with Paul most of the afternoon, pissed and angry, he was unlikely to have been injecting a lethal dose into Rhodri’s veins a few hours ago. ‘What time did Huw pick up Paul?’
‘Um… I don’t know! He said he was over in Cadrington picking up a part for the Land Rover, and it would be easy for him to get Paul. He’s done it before, so I didn’t think anything of it…’
‘Okay. I’ll take Mr B’s truck and get over there.’
‘Ring me when you get there, lovely. Thank you, and I’m so sorry.’ She was calmer now, but subdued, and tears clearly weren’t far away.
‘It’s fine, we’ll sort it.’
After a moment’s deliberation, Ava called the police. ‘Sophie, I have another situation…’ She quickly updated the other woman.
‘It’s not a good idea for you to go, Ava. Let us handle it. You’re too involved.’
‘I need to go. I don’t know what those two idiots are planning, but Penny is going mad with worry.’
‘I don’t know why he should think we know anything more about Bethan. There is no news, other than the photographs at the moment. Someone is playing games again.’
‘I’m going, Sophie, but meet me at the outward bound centre. It’s derelict now apparently, and Huw said that’s where they are.’
‘I really don’t think you should be anywhere near this, Ava.’
‘I hear you. Oh, Sophie, did you find Alex’s phone? Was it on his body?’
Silence, then Sophie spoke again. ‘No. Nor in his room. Unfortunately, I think our suspect must have whipped it. Hang on a minute.’
Ava waited, hearing car doors slam, and quick urgent voices.
‘All right. Johnson’s did you say? I’m over in Coenheath at the moment, but I’ll bring some bodies down. Actually, I’ve still got a vehicle and team down at the Tough Love camp, so I’ll send them up too. They’ll take longer and they will have to go the other way, but I’d rather have some backup. We’ll be coming from the north, so any specific directions?’
‘I hardly remember myself, but I just Googled it…’ Ava gave her the postcode. ‘It was always hard to find, probably why it went bust in the end – a bit like my parents’ caravan park. It’s a track a few miles north of where Jesse had his bike accident. Right at the top of the hill. We can meet by the end of the track in’ – she checked her watch – ‘half an hour?’
‘Yes. And Ava?’
‘I know, I know, don’t go in by myself. I’ll wait at the end of the track.’
‘Right, and if anyone asks, I told you to keep yourself right out of it, okay?’
‘Understood,’ Ava said grimly. She was already fumbling for her boots. She was out the door in minutes, but got distracted by a text. Almost afraid to look, she made herself squint at the screen. Stephen’s name came up, and she scrolled down, confused. He hadn’t even given her his number, she’d had to ask Penny for it. And surely the contestants weren’t allowed to contact anyone on the outside.
‘You fucked up being a mum, so, Detective, why don’t you try and do what you’re supposed to and find my girlfriend.’
The very first text she had received from her son. She supposed it was progress of a sort.