A cold, dread wind swept down the Manchester Ship Canal from the Irish Sea and draped itself over the new developments and television studios of Salford Quays.
Once, not so long ago, this area had resounded to the whirr of cranes, the shouts of stevedores and the foghorns of ships as bags of grain, pallets of steel and boxes of consumer goods had come from all over the world, bypassing the port of Liverpool and sailing straight into the heart of Manchester.
These days, the traffic was in the opposite direction as programmes shot, produced and developed in the studios lining the old docks were transmitted out to the world.
Ridpath didn’t like the area much, always finding it cold and grey and sterile. For a place full of creative people, it was a remarkably uncreative environment. A factory manufacturing a product, rather than a place to nurture ideas.
He’d arranged to meet Rose Anstey in a cafe at the bottom of the Quayside Centre. She worked at ITV and only had a short lunch break.
‘You must be Rose Anstey?’ Ridpath stood up.
‘Right first time. How did you recognise me?’
He pointed to the badge hanging round her neck with the words ITV and ROSE ANSTEY written in block letters. ‘I wouldn’t be much of a detective if I couldn’t work it out.’
She laughed and sat down.
‘This is my colleague, DS Emily Parkinson. We’re investigating the disappearance of Jane Ryder in 2009.’
Rose Anstey made a moue with her mouth. ‘I’m impressed. I thought by now the police would have stopped looking for Jane. Top marks for persistence.’
‘You haven’t heard from her since she disappeared?’
Rose shook her head. ‘Nothing. I mean, we were best mates back then. I would’ve thought she’d send me something. A text or an email.’
‘But nothing…’
‘Not a word. It’s like she vanished into thin air. Kudos to you lot for still looking for her though.’
‘Actually, her parents have asked for a presumption of death certificate to be issued, that’s why we are re-investigating her disappearance.’ Ridpath decided not to mention the backpack or its connection to his case.
‘Oh?’
‘I wonder if you could take us through that time. Anything, even the smallest detail, could help us.’
‘The truth?’
‘The truth.’
‘Jane and I were best friends. Had been since we both started high school at eleven. We sort of hit it off straight away.’
‘So you knew each other’s secrets?’ asked Emily.
Rose smiled. ‘We told each other everything. A proper little cabal of two misfits we were.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, neither of us was too happy at home. Jane had been through a tough time in care…’
‘You knew she was in care?’
‘She didn’t talk about it a lot, only to me, but it wasn’t a happy time for her. Her mum had given her up when she was five years old, drug problems, I think. She’d been first fostered and then adopted by the Ryders when she was nine years old.’
‘You said there were problems at home for her?’
‘The Ryders were old and set in their ways. I think they wanted the perfect daughter, and Jane didn’t live up to their expectations. The dad was OK, but the mum… well the mum was… difficult. Jane didn’t talk much about it, but I had the feeling it was all too much for her.’
‘She’d run away before?’
‘Before 2009? Yes, twice before. Once with me. We travelled as far as Stoke before we were caught and brought back. We both had this crazy idea we were going to meet Robbie Williams. We thought it would be easy to find him in a place like Stoke. We found out later he was living in Los Angeles, shows you how naive we were.’
‘How old were you?’
‘We were both thirteen. Young, innocent and stupid.’
‘What happened when you were caught?’
‘We were both brought back. I was grounded and had to see some social worker or other. It was tougher for Jane though. She was adopted and still being monitored by Social Services.’
‘But she ran away again.’
‘When she was fifteen.’
‘You didn’t go with her?’
‘Not that time. I realised it was all a bit futile and decided to keep my head down and pretend.’ She stared off into the distance for a second. ‘I was good at pretending, Jane wasn’t.’
‘She was brought back again?’
‘A lorry driver picked her up on the M6 services, she was heading to London, but as soon as she told him her age, he dropped her off at the side of the road. The police found her walking along the hard shoulder trying to hitch a lift.’
‘Where was she going?’
‘She had this daft plan to go to London and work there. She wanted to be an actress and thought the bright lights of the big city would give her “life experience”.’ Rose formed quote marks with her fingers. ‘Instead, she discovered the bright lights of the big motorway. She was different after she came back.’
‘How?’
‘More wary and closed. She said she’d met someone. Didn’t tell me who. But he’d helped her to see stuff differently.’
‘That was all?’
‘Like I said, she was more closed after she came back. She didn’t talk much about what had happened.’
‘And June 12, the day of the festival, you were supposed to go with her?’
She shook her head and laughed. ‘No, it was just a story for our parents. I’d met this boy, Billy Drury. I was supposed to go camping with him on the weekend and Jane was meeting her friend at the festival, so we covered for each other, said we were going together.’
‘You never found out who her friend was?’
‘She wouldn’t say. I came back on the Sunday night and Jane’s parents rang my mum on Monday asking where she was.’ Again, she seemed to vanish back into her memories. ‘It all came out. I was forced to admit we hadn’t been at the festival together.’
‘You told this to the police?’
Rose nodded. ‘A social worker rang me and I told her most of it.’
‘Most?’
‘I didn’t go into all the details about the person she was supposed to be meeting. I thought she was going to come back and didn’t want to get her into trouble. I had enough shit from my parents.’
‘What about Andrea, Jane’s other friend?’
‘The hanger-on? She used to follow her around everywhere, puppy-dog eyes staring up at Jane. I didn’t like her much myself. Don’t know what happened to her afterwards, we weren’t close.’
‘Was she supposed to go to the festival too?’
‘No, that was the point. Jane wanted to go alone, we were supposed to give an alibi. I don’t know what Andrea did. Perhaps she did go to the festival, wouldn’t put it past her.’
‘One more question.’ Ridpath stopped taking notes and looked her straight in the eye. ‘Did Jane have a backpack?’
Rose smiled. ‘Her dad, I mean, Mr Ryder had given her some money for doing well in her exams. Dead chuffed she was with it. Showing it off around the school. A limited-edition something or other, can’t remember the brand. She bought it at Afflecks though, I remember because I was with her.’
‘What colour was it?’
Rose’s forehead lined as she tried to think. ‘A sort of green with red stripes. CLAT or CLAK was the brand, something like that. Sorry, can’t remember, it’s such a long time ago.’
‘No worries, you’ve been great so far. OK, any questions, Emily?’
The detective shook her head.
‘Anything else you’d like to say? Something you’ve thought about but wasn’t important at the time?’
Rose thought for a long time. ‘There was one thing that troubled me. Might be nothing though.’
‘What was it?’
‘I had the feeling she’d known the person she was meeting for a long time. She hadn’t recently met him or her.’
‘Why?’
‘Just a feeling. It was like she’d met them before.’
Emily leant forward. ‘Him or her?’
‘Yeah, Jane never talked about it being a he or a she. It was always they.’ She stared off into mid-air for a long time. ‘Jane was always in charge. I must admit I was a bit of a follower too, probably why I resented Andrea. I think she planned to go away at the festival. I can’t be sure, of course, you never knew what Jane was thinking.’
‘Thanks, Rose. Call me if there’s anything else you remember, no matter how small.’ Ridpath slid his card across the table.
‘I’ve just thought of a question, Rose.’ Emily paused for a moment. ‘Did Jane ever tell you which care home she lived in?’
‘It was Daisy House, the one in Northenden, not far from where we live now. I pass it walking the dog most days.’ She paused for a moment, her eyes glassing over. ‘I always think of Jane.’