Chapter Ten

Chad spread his arms out for Lynn to pat him down. James paced in front of the door to Wiltknot, stopping every few seconds to glare at the red light. Dark circles hollowed his eyes.

They seemed to grow deeper the more time passed. His tie twisted to one side, and half his shirt had slipped free from his belt.

Chad wetted his lips. "You know, you're not in this alone."

James stopped. "What?"

"All of us want to find her."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah—"

"Then why does it feel like you're treating this as a holiday?" James stabbed a finger out at him. "I haven't seen you at Alborough station once, and all this talk of conducting your own research at home … where is it, Chad?"

"I haven't found anything worth mention—"

"Harriet is relying on me." His nose pulled in a snarl, but his eyes watered. Chad saw the anguish and had to look away. "She's here. She's in this county and she has been the whole time. I have to be the one that finds her. If I had just kept her in the car."

"You …were cautioning her for possession."

James's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Sorry I'm late," Lucy said as she stepped inside reception. Her eyes were just as deep and dark as James's and the parting in her hair zig-zagged. She stroked her fingers through it, trying to sort it out, but gave up when she hit a knot.

"Oh, it's fine," James snapped. He heaved. "It's not like Vincent could die at any moment or anything…"

Lucy ignored him and spoke to Chad. "I was with my dad," her eyes flashed with venom when she looked over to James. "He thought it was for the best he didn't come here, considering…"

James tsked beneath his breath then resumed pacing in front of the door. Chad stepped back, allowing Lucy to go through the pat down from Lynn.

"Considering…" he repeated, waiting for one of them to bite, but they exchanged glares instead.

"He's staying at a hotel close by," Lucy mumbled, "waiting for news."

James stopped. "Then let's hurry this up and get in there so we can give him some."

"What hotel?" Chad asked.

"The Swan and Oak."

"You're all set," Lynn said before gesturing to the officer behind the desk. The light switched from red to green, and James raced down the corridor with Lynn demanding he slow down. Lucy went without tears, with her chin raised, and her lips firmly pressed together.

Lynn unlocked the door to the visiting room, huffing when James pushed ahead of Lucy and went inside. He reclaimed the furthest chair, Lucy took the one closest to the door, leaving Chad in the middle, boxed in on both sides and in the direct path of Vincent's vacant glare.

Vincent looked greyer, and skinnier, and the wheeze and hiss of his oxygen tank tucked by his side droned on and on until it made Chad dizzy.

"We're all here again, Vincent, just like you wanted," James began. "We all want Harriet to be found."

"Yes." Vincent said into the corner with awe in his voice. He looked at James. "She needs to be found. The truth needs to be uncovered."

Chad sat up straighter.

"She was a beautiful girl." Vincent continued. "They all were."

James nodded. "None of the others were as beautiful as Harriet."

Chad frowned, side-eyeing James.

"Do you remember what she looked like?" James asked.

Vincent nodded, but his movements were jerky, and it looked like a struggle. "Long brown hair. Dark brown eyes." His hand shook as he touched his throat. "Necklace. Red coat."

James dragged his chair impossibly closer. "Yes, yes, Vincent, that's Harriet."

Chad looked away. All Vincent had done was recall the bullet points of Harriet's missing person poster. When Chad glanced at Vincent again, his heart skipped over its next few beats. Vincent had that dark look in his eyes again. The one for Chad. The one that told him this performance was all part of his punishment.

"That's her." James's breathing came fast. "Vincent, she went missing the 18th of April 1983—"

"Missing rib."

Chad blinked. Vincent continued to stare at him.

"Sorry, what did you say?" James asked, first glancing at Chad, then at Lucy.

"Missing rib." Vincent repeated, popping his lips with the B.

Lucy took a deep breath and let it out slowly against the glass. "Harriet had a rib removed when she was fourteen. She fell off her bike onto the curb, broke her ribs."

Shit.

Chad curled his toes in his shoes and kept up his poker face. Vincent slid his gaze skyward again. His brow contorted as if he was thinking, and they all waited on him.

"Dolphin tattoo."

Lucy gasped, covering her mouth.

James turned to her. "What is it?"

"She had a dolphin tattoo on her—"

"Don't say anything else," Chad interrupted. "Let Vincent tell us where it was."

"Left ankle. It was black and cheap."

Chad glanced at Lucy, who gave a singular nod.

Double shit.

Vincent's lips curled with the start of a smile. "I cut it off first. Then she was beautiful again."

"I didn't know she had a tattoo." James mumbled. "She never told me."

"Hardly anyone knew," Lucy replied. "If our dad had found out, he would've gone crazy."

James stiffened. His spine pulled taut. "You knew about it?"

"Yes—"

"You hated Harriet, would do anything to get her in trouble, and you didn't tell your dad?" James snorted, shaking his head.

"I was looking out for her—"

"She must've had something on you to stop you from telling your dad. What's worse than getting a tattoo at seventeen? What did she know that kept your silence?"

"You don't know me. You don't know mine and Harriet's relationship."

"She told me enough."

"Was that before or after you forced your hands down her knickers in your police car?"

James shot to his feet. His chair clattered to the floor behind him. "It's you that knows nothing!"

"I know you were being inappropriate with my sister," Lucy snapped back.

"And I know you were a bully to her."

"Harriet gave out as good as she got. We were sisters. Sister's fight sometimes."

Chad frowned at the back and forth between James and Lucy.

Vincent exhaled long and slow, then fumbled beneath his blanket. The door as his back swung open, and the nurse rushed to get him.

"Sorry, but the shouting," Vincent touched his ear. "Gives me such a headache."

"No," James slapped his hands together to beg, "Come on, Vincent, please. Just tell us where she is."

As soon as the door closed, James towered over Lucy still on her chair.

"You clueless bitch."

"James," Chad snapped, getting to his feet.

He trudged away, leaving Chad and Lucy alone in the room.

"I'm sorry he—"

"Don't apologize for his behavior, Chad. Everyone knows he's got a temper."

"What he said … about you bullying Harriet?"

Lucy's head whipped to him. "Don't be ridiculous. We were sisters. We had petty arguments, nothing big."

"James said Harriet told him—"

"James is delusional over Harriet. What he says happened, and what actually happened are two wildly different things. He's a fantasist, and he projected this … love story onto my sister. Harriet went with my dad to the police station and reported him. They were trying to file an injunction to keep him away, and when my sister was first reported missing, James was the top suspect. They even arrested him, but he was released a day later."

"You're not suggesting…"

"James killed my sister. Trust me, up until Vincent admitted to killing her, I thought it was James. I thought the police had covered it up from some fucked-up loyalty. They'd protected him, even knowing he was a sexual predator, they protected him. Was it such a giant leap to believe they'd also protect him after he'd lost all control and murdered my sister?"

"The tattoo. A dolphin?"

Lucy nodded. "She showed it to me. It was an inch big, the black outline of a dolphin."

"How long had she had it before she went missing?"

"At least four months."

"Did anyone else see it?"

"I don't know." She bit her lip. "Why are you asking about the tattoo? It isn't relevant, just some silly thing she got done."

Chad shrugged. "I was curious, that's all."

****

"That's one hell of a frown." Romeo remarked, lifting his eyebrow.

Chad shot him a look, then continued to flip through a folder from Harriet's file. "We've got a problem with your theory."

"Which explains why you went straight to the outhouse without saying hello to me or Mercutio."

Chad paused. He hugged the folder to his chest and crossed the room in three quick strides to press a kiss to Romeo's mouth. "Sorry."

"You're forgiven," Romeo said while Chad reached down to pat Merc's head. "What's the problem?"

"Well," Chad continued to flip through pages as he spoke, "out of nowhere Vincent has produced some details."

"That are public?"

"No."

Chad stopped on the page he'd been searching for, whipping his gaze back and forth before eyeing the naked pencil drawing of a woman and the labels that pointed at her abdomen. "Damn it."

"Chad, what details?"

"Harriet fell off her bike and landed on a curb when she was fourteen. She broke five ribs on her left side, and one had to be removed. She had a scar," Chad pointed Romeo towards the drawing and the referenced area. "This isn't common knowledge and Vincent knew."

"Missing rib…"

"That's not all. Vincent told us Harriet had a tattoo of a dolphin on her left ankle. He said it looked cheap." Chad flicked the page. "These were made for each of the missing girls to help identify whatever body parts that were found. A tattoo would be documented, but it's not here, it's not here because very few people knew about it."

"Then how do you know Vincent wasn't lying?"

"Lucy confirmed Harriet had a tattoo of a black dolphin on her ankle. How the hell does Vincent know about that when not even Harriet's parents knew?"

Romeo wandered away rubbing his chin.

"Maybe … it was him, Romeo. Maybe all this time he's been holding onto the details for this moment."

"No." Romeo said firmly.

"There was blood in Vincent's car. We don't know any of it belonged to Harriet, but equally, we don't know it didn't belong to her either. She fits the profile. She's in the right location, and Vincent's crimes were sporadic, there's no time pattern between one murder and the next." Chad strolled over to the whiteboard. Romeo had gleefully ripped Vincent's face from the suspects board two nights before, but Chad picked up the blue tac to reapply it.

"No," Romeo said, marching over and taking Vincent's mugshot. He folded it then shoved it in his back pocket. "I still don't think it was him."

"I'm not saying it was, but he's a suspect, Romeo. He needs to be up here."

Chad waved a hand at the board. James and Lucy were on the board, along with Gavin Hargreaves, Harriet's ex-boyfriend, and Leslie Grant, James's wife at the time. Chad had drawn a red line through to indicate they were deceased. Gavin from an overdose twenty years ago, and Leslie from cancer, seven years ago.

They were still suspects, still had the motive. Gavin had been dumped. James's infatuation with Harriet must have angered his wife. The only other person on the board was the mystery person, a blue outline of a man with a question mark in their head, their identity, yet to be discovered. If they existed at all.

"There's a key bit of evidence missing," Romeo said. "It could support my theory."

"What is it?"

"The missing file."

Chad blinked. "What missing file?"

"The girl that got away. The one who escaped. Her evidence could be vital. Vincent says he murdered Harriet in the van, like he did to all of them, but he didn't with her. She escaped his house."

"The DI told me this is all he could give me. It's not uncommon for surviving victims' testimony to be protected—sealed for however many years."

"Maybe you could unseal it…"

"I can't. I don't have power to do that, not even the police have that. Decisions like that are for the courts to decide and they're only unsealed under specific circumstances."

Romeo turned away. "Did you find anything else out about James?"

Chad tilted his head, watching Romeo. "As it happens…" He sighed. "Lucy told me he is a fantasist and projected this love story onto Harriet. In reality, Harriet was afraid of him." He walked over to the open file on the desk and tapped his fingers on the open page. Romeo joined him and scanned through the text.

"Harriet reported him." Romeo mumbled.

"As did her dad. He wanted an injunction taken out against James to stop him from coming within two miles of Harriet."

Romeo ran his fingers against the text. "The officers said Harriet appeared frightened and cried throughout the meeting."

Chad nodded. "When Harriet was first reported missing, the police didn't assume the killer had struck again, they thought James was responsible and arrested him on the same day."

"It's him then." Romeo pointed his finger at James. "Now all you need to do is lure him here, we force a confession, get him to tell us what he did with her, then I get to kill him. Case closed."

Chad scrunched up his face. "They released James. They didn't even hold him for the full forty-eight hours, and why, if it was him and he'd gotten away with it for all these years, would he agree to these sessions with Vincent to find her?"

"So you've ruled him out?"

"No, but there is real torment in his eyes. He might well be a fantasist, but his feelings for Harriet are real."

"He wouldn't be the first killer to destroy the subject of their infatuation."

"I need to find out what happened that night in the car, but every time I bring up him with Harriet, he shuts me out. I need to get him to open up to me, but I don't know how."

"From James's point of view, him and Harriet were this inappropriate love story with everyone against them."

"Something like that."

"Like Romeo and Juliet." Romeo smiled. "If anyone knows inappropriate love, it's you."

Chad narrowed his eyes.

"Lucy," Romeo said with a chuckle. "Tell me about Lucy."

"She was … strong today. It was James that broke. He accused her of bullying Harriet, but she argued they were sisters, and sisters have petty arguments and squabbles. She hadn't told their parents about Harriet's tattoo, not wanting to get her into trouble. James seems to think that means Harriet must've had some dirt on Lucy to keep her mouth shut, but Lucy said she was looking out for her sister."

"The perfect little sister … can't possibly be her, right?"

Chad ran a hand through his hair. "She's the only one that confirmed the tattoo. She was reluctant from the start to meet with Vincent. What if … she told Vincent about the tattoo?"

"How?"

"I don't know. I've asked for all Vincent's visiting logs, his verified numbers and addresses, too. But so far, I've heard nothing from Lynn."

"The sister," Romeo nodded. "All you've got to do is lure her—"

"Romeo," Chad raised his eyebrows. "I don't know if it was Lucy. It could've been our mystery culprit, or it could've been Harriet herself, leaving the area. Missing people aren't always murdered people."

"Then we find Harriet, you lure her here—"

"Stop," Chad chuckled, pressing his palms to Romeo's chest. "Slow down. I want to get this right … I have to get it right. We need to outsmart him. We need to win."

Romeo wrapped his arms around Chad's back. He frowned, studying Chad and wound his arms even tighter around him, not breaking their gazes.

"Lucy's father has flown in from Italy. I need to speak to him. And I need to find someone else that can verify the dolphin tattoo." Chad glanced at the board. "My first thought was to contact Gavin—"

"As he's dead, I'm guessing we need to find a medium then."

Chad kissed Romeo on the nose.

"And what do you need from me?" Romeo asked.

"Vincent's motivation for this, and something more than the lack of detail to completely rule Vincent out. Until then," Chad slipped his hand into Romeo's back pocket, and pulled out the folded mugshot, "he goes on the board."