‘W-w-watkins. It was Neil Watkins. He had the phone… he sent the hearts… it was Watkins.’
‘Watkins?’ Laura checked, her face cloaked with confusion. ‘The groundsman from the school?’
Kate was nodding, but the memory was swiftly becoming a blur.
Laura looked over Kate’s shoulder. ‘You saw Watkins here? Was he leaning over? Did he lose his footing?’
Kate shook her head, blinking back the tears that were beginning to pool at the edge of her eyes. ‘Didn’t you see? He jumped.’
‘He jumped?’ Laura repeated, unable to keep the surprise from her tone.
Kate straightened up, feeling lightheaded. ‘One minute we were both here, and then he-he-he was over the railing and gone. Where were you two? Didn’t you see him?’
‘When we reached you, you were leaning over the edge,’ Laura said. ‘I thought you were going to fall, so I raced from the car, screaming your name. Didn’t you hear me?’
‘He must have panicked when your car approached. He was terrified. He wanted to tell me what’s been going on, but he couldn’t. Someone was making him keep quiet.’
Patel straightened, staring into the gulf of black. ‘I don’t understand, ma’am. What does Watkins have to do with Jackson and the other two?’
Kate clamped her eyes shut trying to order her thoughts into a logical sequence. ‘All I know is: Neil had Daisy’s phone, and he came here to switch it on. I think he wanted me to find him. He was terrified that whoever’s been manipulating him was a danger to Daisy. He said he was trying to keep Daisy safe.’ Kate’s eyes snapped open. ‘She must be close. That must be why he chose this place. We need to get everyone here straight away. We need the Coastguard, Search and Rescue, SSD, we don’t have long.’
* * *
The floodlight on the boat bobbed up and down as it rode the waves, lighting the foot of the cliff as a team of divers worked just beneath the surface of the water. Kate, Patel and Laura watched from the viewing platform nearby, as close as they could be without getting in the water. Kate’s eyes fell on the awkward shape of Neil’s body, his legs at opposite angles, splayed on three jagged rocks sticking out of the sea, waves crashing against them, sending white foam into the air and landing like snow on his torso. The drop must have been eighty feet at least, but she couldn’t remember him making a sound as he’d vaulted into the open air, like a trapeze artist expecting to be caught by a partner who didn’t appear.
At least he was at peace now, oblivious to the activity carrying on around him. The divers were working to identify whether he could have buried the chopped body parts of his victims nearby, but they wouldn’t be able to excavate properly until morning when the sea had moved back to reveal its secrets.
‘Coastguard has been up and down the shoreline,’ Patel advised, coming off the phone, ‘but there’s nowhere obvious he could be holding her. If this wind passes soon, the chopper is ready to go up and use heat-seeking equipment, but they’re still not cleared for take-off. Apparently, there’s a maze of caves around these parts, but with the tide in, it’s virtually impossible to search them. There’s not a lot else can be done until morning, ma’am. The supe wants us to get back to Southampton and wait for news. Personally, I think that’s the best idea. It’s freezing out here.’
Kate knew he meant well, but she didn’t want to leave until she found Daisy. ‘You two go. I want to wait.’
‘Can you remember anything else he said?’ Laura tried. ‘Any kind of clue where specifically he could have taken her? Given how cold it’s been this week, would he really hide her somewhere so exposed to the elements?’
‘He was too trusting,’ Kate said. ‘He was easily duped. A couple of boys convinced him to buy alcohol for them at the school once. It wouldn’t have been hard for one or all of the others to convince him to do their dirty work. But which one? What if Daisy witnessed what was going on at Abbotts Way? He couldn’t let her go to the police and blab everything, but if he told his partner what she’d seen, would the partner have ordered him to kill Daisy? He wasn’t a killer, I’m certain of it. Someone else is behind all this, and was using Neil. But who?’
Patel held his phone up. ‘Word from Humberidge is Vardan and Phillips are now in custody. Rogers picked up Phillips at his apartment. Why don’t we head back to the station and ask them all?’
Kate stared back out at the Coastguard’s boat, knowing she wouldn’t find the answers here. But determined that she would do whatever it took to bring Daisy home.
56
The cool-persona, polished grin and carefully coiffed hair were gone. Liam Phillips looked terrified as Kate entered the interview room and took her seat across the table from him. All they’d disclosed to the solicitor so far was that Phillips was involved in a double murder enquiry.
Kate had insisted on leading the interviews. She had to be in the driving seat as the finish line loomed in sight. Patel was alongside her to ensure she didn’t stray too far, and Laura had taken her place in the viewing suite. Both Jackson and Vardan had been set up in the next two interview rooms, and she would stalk from one to the next until she had the truth, and more importantly, the location of Daisy. According to Watkins, Daisy was alive, but she wouldn’t remain so for much longer. Jackson, Vardan and Phillips all had access to the school, and all had demonstrated they had the skills to manipulate a vulnerable man like Watkins who longed to be accepted. The question was: were they all involved or was it just one of them?
Kate watched Phillips as Patel started the recording and introduced them all. Phillips’ solicitor had objected to the lateness of the interview, but Kate had waved those concerns away. With a child’s life at stake, every second counted. The sweat shining off Phillips’ forehead confirmed he was worried about some sordid secret being exposed.
‘We know about you and Watkins,’ Kate began, watching his every twitch and jar. ‘And we know why Petr Nowakowski and Maria Alexandrou had to die.’
His eyebrows had almost formed a single line at the mention of Nowakowski’s name.
‘We also have two other suspects in custody, just down the hall, and the first to confess… well, the courts are usually kinder to the one who shows remorse sooner. So, is that going to be you, Mr Phillips? Are you going to save us all a lot of time and admit your involvement?’
The solicitor, her hair as dark as night scraped back into a bun, and her designer glasses perched on the end of her nose, leaned in and whispered into his ear.
‘No comment,’ Phillips offered.
‘You’ve already told us you knew Petr Nowakowski, and that the two of you met up a month ago. What you haven’t confirmed is why you agreed to give him the money he desperately craved. What did you get in return?’
‘No comment.’
Kate suddenly sat forward. ‘Can we cut the crap, Mr Phillips? We don’t have time to slowly tease out information. I need to know what you know and where that girl is.’ She rested her hands on the table, splaying her fingers. ‘So, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to lay all my cards on the table; I’m going to tell you everything we know, and then – if you have any sense – you’ll fill in the blanks.’
The solicitor reached for her pen, primed to scribble notes.
Kate took a deep breath. ‘We know you were using Neil Watkins.’
A flicker, almost impossible to see, but Kate had spotted it.
‘My team are currently confiscating the computers from your offices and your home. They will check every megabyte of data until they find the proof of what you’ve been up to.’