Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Her oversized Friends mug isn’t here. She’s checked all three shelves, the sink and dishwasher, but there’s no sign of it. Jennie curses under her breath. She’d left it on the draining board yesterday evening, and now it’s gone. Bloody people just helping themselves to other people’s stuff. It’s not on – they’re police officers for God’s sake!

‘You all right?’ asks Martin, coming into the staff kitchen and switching on the kettle.

‘Someone’s pinched my mug,’ replies Jennie. She looks around the kitchen again. It’s small and basic with budget cabinets, a stainless-steel sink and a granite-effect laminate countertop. There are a few dirty mugs in the sink but definitely no sign of her Friends mug.

‘Yeah, happened to me a couple of weeks ago but it turned up again,’ says Martin. ‘It’s probably some rookie uniform who didn’t realise it’s not part of the communal stuff.’

I doubt that’s true, thinks Jennie. The communal mugs are plain white, and hers is very clearly not. She goes back to the dishwasher, double-checking her mug isn’t hiding in the jumble of used chinaware and cutlery. It isn’t.

Martin takes two mugs out of the cupboard and spoons coffee into them. He adds milk to one, then fills both with boiling water. He hands the one without milk to Jennie. ‘Here you go.’

‘Thanks,’ says Jennie.

He waits a fraction longer than she expects before letting go of the mug. ‘Are you okay, boss?’

No, I’m wondering where the hell my mug is.

‘I’m fine, I just—’

‘It can’t have been easy last night, finding the body.’ Martin lets go of the mug and steps back, leaning against the counter. ‘They said you had to cut him down?’

Jennie meets her DS’s gaze. He looks sympathetic, like he’d be a good listener if she told him her concerns, her fears. It’s tempting, but she doesn’t. She’s the boss here; she can’t go around burdening the team with what she’s got going on, she has to stay professional. ‘We should get to the incident room: the DCI wanted a full briefing.’

Not waiting for a response, Jennie turns and strides along the corridor to the incident room. The space is already crowded. Naomi and Steven are sitting over near the whiteboard. Zuri is in her usual spot at the front, and the DCI has taken the seat Jennie would usually have. He gives her a curt nod, reinforcing the fact that she’s not been forgiven for forcing him into keeping her as lead on the case. She turns her attention to the new faces in the room. There are a few uniforms standing towards the back who Jennie recognises as the first responders last night. She smiles and says hello.

Not able to be in her usual spot, Jennie sits down beside Zuri. There’s a seat free next to her, but Martin continues towards the back of the room and takes a seat in front of the uniforms. He looks irritated and Jennie wonders if it’s because she didn’t open up to him or if it’s because she’s sitting with Zuri. Whichever it is, she has no time for games or petty squabbles today.

She gives Zuri a nod to get started. ‘What have we got?’

Zuri looks from Jennie to the DCI, seemingly mindful of the hierarchy and the tension in the room. ‘Robert Marwood’s death has been ruled a suicide. The cause of death was asphyxiation. There were no defensive or self-inflicted wounds other than those caused by hanging. Hassan called it in first thing this morning.’

‘Okay,’ says Jennie, thoughtfully. ‘What about the scene?’

‘DI Strickland and his team caught the case; they were up last night,’ says Zuri, glancing towards the DCI.

Campbell clears his throat. ‘I thought you and your team had enough on your plate with the Hannah Jennings case. There’s a lot of public interest in finding her killer. I didn’t want you to be spread too thin.’

Bloody Strickland! The last thing she needs is him poking his nose into her case and her relationship with Rob Marwood. She wonders if putting Strickland on Rob Marwood’s death is the DCI’s way of getting another DI close to the Hannah Jennings case by stealth. ‘What did they—’

‘We agree with Hassan’s conclusion,’ says Detective Inspector Strickland as he walks into the room with more than a hint of swagger. ‘There was no sign of foul play in or around the site the body was found. The only footprints were Rob Marwood’s, DI Whitmore’s and the attending paramedics. We found no signs of a struggle. It’s a tragic incident, but there was no crime.’

‘With respect, I’d like to take a look at the evidence myself,’ says Jennie, doing her best to control her irritation. ‘Robert Marwood was a witness and potential suspect in the Hannah Jennings case. He was—’

‘A mate of yours?’ asks DI Strickland, raising his eyebrows. Rather than sit on one of the chairs he perches against the table at the front beside the DCI. ‘My team have done their job, DI Whitmore. Hassan and his CSIs have done theirs. We all agree, Robert Marwood took his own life.’

Jennie bridles at DI Strickland’s condescending tone. They’ve always been rivals, ever since Jennie got promotion ahead of him to DS and then DI, and she’s never appreciated his sexist attitude towards his female colleagues. After his mishandling of the attempted abductions, she would’ve thought DI Strickland would have reflected on his practice and made some changes, but it seems he’s just as arrogant as ever. She looks at the DCI. ‘Do you agree, sir?’

‘Having reviewed the evidence, I agree with your conclusion,’ says Campbell, his expression neutral. ‘The thing yet to be decided is whether Robert Marwood was Hannah Jennings’ killer. I understand you were interested in him?’

Shit.

‘He was one of a number of people we were talking to,’ says Jennie. ‘But we hadn’t reached any definite conclusion.’

‘The note he was holding is an admission of guilt though, surely?’ counters Zuri, referring to her notebook. ‘I had our handwriting expert take a look and they’ve confirmed that the writing on the note is a match with several other samples of Robert Marwood’s handwriting.’ She looks from Jennie to the DCI. ‘Surely it’s obvious that Marwood killed Hannah, and that’s what the note meant. It was a confession of sorts.’

Jennie frowns. That doesn’t sit right with her. ‘No. I don’t think it’s that clear-cut. Rob’s career was in tatters; we heard about that from him in his interview earlier yesterday – the malpractice claim obviously had him rattled. The note could have been referring to the patient who died under his care. My view is we need to continue our investigation until we’re totally sure. At the moment, the evidence against Rob is tenuous at best.’

‘I agree,’ says DCI Campbell. ‘You need to keep on with the investigation until you can prove without doubt that Robert Marwood, or someone else, killed Hannah Jennings. We have to be watertight on this.’

As Zuri opens her mouth to speak, the phone on the table beside the DCI rings. Answering the call, he nods as the person calling tells him something, then thanks them and hangs up. He looks at Jennie. ‘Elliott Naylor has arrived for his interview. I said you’d be right down.’

The mood is sombre. Jennie and Martin sit opposite Elliott Naylor in the small, boxy space of interview room two. Jennie watches as her old friend runs his hand through his hair, the anguish he’s feeling etched deep in the lines on his face.

‘I just can’t believe he’s gone. It was so sudden. First Hannah, now Rob.’ Elliott shakes his head, his eyes watery. ‘I never knew. He kept it all bottled up. I just wish he’d asked for help, you know?’

Jennie nods. Her tone is sympathetic. ‘Tell me what happened at the vigil last night.’

Elliott jerks his head up, surprised. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I was there,’ says Jennie, with a gentleness that she doesn’t feel. She wants to say, I was there but none of you noticed me, it was as if I didn’t exist, just as it has been since Hannah disappeared. But she doesn’t. Instead, she says, ‘I saw Simon and Rob arguing after Lottie’s speech.’

Elliott says nothing for a moment, then he sighs. ‘Yeah, they were arguing about Hannah. They always used to argue about Hannah, that’s why Rob never kept in touch with him. Last night Simon started going off on one about how we should have done more when she disappeared. Rob told him that we did all we could, but Simon wouldn’t let it go. He kept banging on and in the end, Rob couldn’t take it any more, so he left.’

It’s plausible, but to Jennie the argument between the men had looked more personal. Maybe there had been more to Rob and Hannah’s relationship than Rob had let on, and maybe Simon had always suspected that, causing a rift between them. Or maybe it was survivor’s guilt – that Hannah died and he didn’t prevent it. That, mingling with the guilt and pressure of the malpractice claim, could possibly have pushed an already highly stressed Rob to take his own life. Or perhaps, as Zuri believed, Rob had been the one who murdered Hannah.

The problem is, with Rob dead it’s going to be hard to know for sure. Jennie decides to change tack and move the questioning back to focus on Elliott. ‘When we last spoke, you made a change from the statement you gave in 1994: you told us that you’d seen Hannah on the night she disappeared, and left her in the darkroom in the basement of White Cross Academy with her father. You told us that her dad was in an angry and agitated state, and that you were afraid of him.’

‘That’s right,’ says Elliott.

‘After you’d left Hannah in the basement that night, did you make any attempt to contact her?’

‘I … no.’ Elliott’s voice sounds strained.

‘Just to confirm, you didn’t try to make contact with Hannah Jennings to check on her wellbeing at any time after leaving her alone with her father in the school darkroom?’

‘I was worried about her, but I didn’t want to intrude. So I, I didn’t call her or anything.’ Elliott hangs his head, guilt-ridden. ‘I wished afterwards that I had. I wish I hadn’t left her that night …’

Jennie narrows her gaze. Elliott was one of Hannah’s closest friends, surely if he was that worried about her he’d have called? It makes no sense. As she watches him slump forward, his head in his hands, Jennie isn’t sure what to think. He had been one of her closest friends too, but he’d moved on very quickly the summer Hannah disappeared. Now, learning he withheld information from the police back in 1994, and did not bother to check in on Hannah after leaving her in the basement with her violent and angry dad, she wonders if she really knew him at all. The Elliott she thought she’d known was kind, thoughtful and empathetic, but his actions around the time Hannah disappeared seem to paint a different picture. Surely if he was that afraid of Hannah’s dad, it would have been even more reason to tell the police what he’d seen, especially after she’d gone missing?

She shifts in her seat, fighting the nagging feeling that Elliott is keeping things from her. Something’s not right here.

Opening the file on the table in front of her, Jennie removes the copies of Elliott’s bank statements which Naomi has marked up. ‘You make a monthly payment to Simon Ackhurst of a thousand pounds.’ Jennie taps her finger against one of the payments highlighted. ‘You’ve been paying him for almost thirty years. Why?’

Elliott glances at the bank statement then looks back at Jennie. ‘I’m just helping out an old friend who’s fallen on hard times. Is that a crime?’

Jennie watches Elliott. His tone is friendly enough, but his body language has changed – he’s sitting up straight now, his spine is rigid, and his arms are crossed. ‘Not a crime, no, but unusual perhaps.’

Elliott shrugs. ‘I don’t know what to tell you. I’m a generous guy.’

He’s definitely hiding something. Jennie glances at Martin, but he’s sitting back and clearly happy to let Jennie do all the questioning. She regrets not having Zuri in on the interview; she’s a great detective, and they make a good tag team. Martin never seems to be proactive about asking questions; she always has to prompt him beforehand. And for this interview, there wasn’t time.

Jennie decides to change tack again. ‘How were things between you and Hannah in the weeks before she went missing?’

‘They were fine,’ replies Elliott.

‘Is that right?’ says Jennie. ‘Because we have a witness statement saying that the two of you were arguing a lot in those last few weeks.’

Surprise flits across Elliott’s face before he quickly changes his expression to appear unbothered.

‘So, what were you arguing about, Elliott?’ says Jennie, her tone firmer now, pushing him for an answer.

Elliott grimaces, reluctant. He glances at the audio recorder. ‘It was a personal thing.’

‘I don’t doubt that,’ says Jennie. She softens her tone a little. ‘But I need to know. For the investigation.’

Exhaling hard, Elliott nods. ‘Look, if I’m honest, mine and Hannah’s relationship was a bit strained. It had been for a while, for months rather than weeks.’

It’s news to her, but Jennie tries not to let her surprise show. ‘Why?’

‘Earlier in the year, around Valentine’s Day, she outed me to a boy I was crushing on, Mark Fredricks. Let’s just say that Mark didn’t take it well. He came and found me after school and told me I was repulsive and a bunch of other foul things. Then he punched me. A lot.’

‘I never …’ Jennie fights back the urge to ask Elliott why he hadn’t told her. Martin’s giving her side-eye as it is. She can’t afford for him to catch wind that she and Elliott were proper friends at school. She clears her throat. ‘I imagine that might have caused a rift between you.’

‘Yeah.’

Jennie keeps her eyes on Elliott’s. He’s holding something back, she can sense it. ‘Was that hard?’

‘You could say.’ Elliott takes a breath. ‘I didn’t handle it well. I’d never had the courage to tell anyone I fancied how I felt. I was too afraid I’d be rejected, or ridiculed.’

Jennie nods. Keeps her gaze on Elliott.

He shakes his head. ‘I couldn’t believe Hannah just casually told this guy.’

‘Did you talk to her about it?’ says Jennie. She ignores Martin’s confused look, knowing he doesn’t get why she’s pursuing this line of questioning.

‘No.’

‘Because of what happened with Mark?’

‘Yes, because of what happened.’ Elliott sounds angry now. He clenches his fists. ‘I’d fancied Mark for months and when he found out he clearly thought me utterly abhorrent and beat the crap out of me. Can you imagine how that feels?’

‘I can’t even …’ Instinctively, she reaches out to put her hand on Elliott’s arm, needing him to know she would have been there for him if he’d have told her. ‘I wish I’d—’

‘It broke me, Jen.’ His voice cracks. ‘I … I didn’t think I could go on.’

Jennie’s breath catches in her throat. Elliott’s never let her in like this before. His hurt is still so raw it’s as if she can feel it too. ‘How did you?’

‘I …’ Elliott closes his eyes. His voice is barely a whisper. ‘I tried to end things.’

Jennie’s too stunned to speak. How didn’t I know? Elliott was my closest friend after Hannah, yet I was blind to his anguish. What does that say about our friendship? About me? ‘Jesus, Elliott, that’s so … I’m so sorry. I never knew. I—’

‘Most people didn’t.’ Elliott’s voice is flat, as if the emotion of telling her has overwhelmed him. ‘I was off school for a few weeks afterwards; my parents told our form tutor I had flu.’

‘I remember that,’ says Jennie, thinking back to the time and finding nothing to make her suspect that he’d been away for a different reason. ‘Did you speak to Hannah when you returned?’

‘Only when I had to. The worst thing was that she asked me why I hadn’t confided in her. She told me she would’ve supported me during my time of crisis. That she’d have understood.’ Elliott shakes his head, angrily. ‘She didn’t get that she had been the cause of my utter humiliation. I said a lot of things to her that I’m not proud of, but I was upset. I’d have forgiven her in time, but back then it was still so raw.’ He looks at Jennie.

She nods her head, trying to think of what next to say. Her head is spinning with everything Elliott’s told her. It’s so much to process, but she wants him to know she would have been there for him. If only he’d told her. ‘I totally get that.’

‘That’s why I didn’t call to check on her,’ continues Elliott. ‘It’s why I didn’t stay in the darkroom even though her dad was so angry and she looked afraid. If I’m honest, I didn’t want to be around her. She was still my friend, but I just didn’t like her very much.’

Jennie struggles to get her emotions in check. She can feel Elliott’s anguish, and can only imagine the awful turmoil he must have been in back when it all happened, but she can’t understand how she had been oblivious to it all. The investigation has brought out so many revelations about her friendship group and their individual relationships with Hannah that she feels as if she wasn’t really present at all that last year of sixth form. Rob and Hannah taking hard drugs together; Elliott and Hannah falling out after Hannah caused a chain of events that led Elliott to attempt to take his own life; Lottie’s continual insistence that she was Hannah’s best friend … It’s a real headfuck.

When the interview is over, and they’ve seen Elliott out, Jennie turns to Martin. ‘What did you think?’

‘Hannah Jennings sounds like a real piece of work,’ says Martin, dismissively. ‘Naylor was just a kid and he was dealing with a lot of shit. I’m not surprised they fell out, but I don’t think there was any more to it than that.’

Jennie nods, but she isn’t so sure. Pushing away the residual feelings from their childhood friendship, she tries to consider objectively what they’ve learned from Elliott’s interview: the payments to Simon his “old friend”, the falling out with Hannah, and the fact that he never checked in on Hannah to see if she was okay after being so worried about leaving her with her dad in the school basement. An occasion Hannah’s dad vehemently denies.

She hates to think that any of her school friends could have been involved in Hannah’s death, but can’t help wondering whether Elliott was so humiliated, so hurt by Hannah, that he confronted her about what she’d done. Today, Jennie has seen the anger he still feels about what happened all those years ago. Back then it would have been so much stronger. Did he confront her and did things get out of hand, turn violent?

Jennie’s jaw clenches. Elliott was one of her best friends; one of the good guys. Before this investigation she would’ve sworn on her life that he’d never do anyone harm. It makes her sick to her stomach to think it, but has she been blinkered to the truth?

Could Elliott be responsible for Hannah’s death?