Chapter 88 Elin

88

Elin

Parque Nacional, Portugal, October 2021

‘You're going to have to backtrack a little here.' Isaac pulls his coffee towards him. ‘Tell me where you're coming from.'

‘I think we started this the wrong way round. We've been seeing the camp's secrecy as something negative, but I don't think that's right.' Elin tries to steady the shaking in her hands as she picks her plate off the tray.

He leans over the table. ‘Explain.'

‘What he said just then, in the tourist office, about the leaflet being for people who need it the most , it tells us that whatever Maggie's doing is something that helps people, right?'

Isaac nods.

‘It got me thinking about some things Bridie's said. She was talking about the camp being like a family, said something about Leah understanding her. Got what it was like. She mentioned Leah being like a daughter to Maggie too.'

Isaac still looks bemused .

‘I took what she was saying about Maggie in a purely matriarchal way, but seeing this' – Elin lays her hand on the leaflet – ‘I think it's more than that. I think the camp … I think it's a refuge, and the pira is some kind of …' She gropes for the right word. ‘Symbol for it.'

Hand still trembling, she waits a moment before continuing, watching as he tries to put the pieces together.

‘A refuge ?' Isaac says finally.

‘Yes, and I think Maggie is running it. It explains the secrecy, the hostility to outsiders. We saw how fragile Leah was, her worries about her ex being the one who blew up the van.' She pauses. ‘Think about the scars on her arms, Maggie's face too.'

‘But that could be explained by something else, surely? It doesn't definitively tell us it's a refuge.'

‘You might change your mind after seeing this.' Elin passes him her phone. ‘I've just found an article about Leah's ex, Raymond Kenney. He just got out of prison for a serious assault. Look at the name of the victim. Indie Blake . It says she was seriously injured by Raymond after Indie came to her sister's defence when she found him attacking her at their home.' She gestures to the screen. ‘The sister's name—'

Isaac takes a sharp intake of breath. ‘April Blake . That explains what Leah said to us at the falls. It should have been me, not her .'

‘Exactly, and all this, the refuge – it would explain why Romy would leave New York like she did and end up here, with a new identity.'

‘You said some of the charities Romy was involved with were related to domestic abuse.' His foot is tapping the floor, his eyes flickering from left to right as he thinks it over. ‘I'm guessing we got Ned all wrong too.'

She nods. ‘Looks that way. He must have been helping Leah down from the falls, like Bridie said, offering Kier support rather than anything romantic.'

Isaac's quiet for a moment. ‘All of this,' he says eventually, ‘makes sense, bar Kier. I don't get why she'd have joined them.'

‘I'm wondering if Kier needed refuge too.' Elin takes a breath, trying to steady herself for what she was about to say next. Something she's still trying to grapple with.

‘From whom?'

‘Zeph. I've been thinking about the connection between Kier and Romy, the evidence we have about them befriending each other. After we found his passport, I did some digging. One of the photos I found triggered something.' Elin screws up her face, thinking, aware she's probably not going to be able to describe it properly. ‘A memory, about the time Kier said she was in contact with me. Only got a flicker, but I remembered seeing Zeph.'

‘In Devon?'

‘Yes, and just then, sitting here, parts of it came to me. I remembered Zeph leaving a van near the beach. There was someone shouting, slamming a door.' Elin chooses her words carefully. ‘Another time, outside a club.' Closing her eyes, she plays it out again in her mind, trying to make sure she does the memory justice. ‘Two people, arguing. One of them was Zeph, I'm certain. I saw him push a woman, I'm guessing Kier, against a wall. I remember going closer, but that's it. Nothing else.' She hears the tremor in her voice. ‘Maybe that's how Kier and I connected. I approached her outside the club because of what Zeph was doing. It explains why I struggled to remember Kier. My focus was all on Zeph.'

‘But what about everything Clio said about Kier's behaviour towards Zeph? That doesn't fit.'

‘I think we've got to question that. Most of what we know about Zeph and Kier's relationship is based solely on what Zeph told Steed and Clio. What if it isn't true? What if Zeph planted seeds with them both, probably other people too, about Kier's behaviour?'

‘But Clio saw the messages Kier sent him.'

‘Well worth the effort to fabricate if your aim was to take control of the narrative. We know what Zeph did to trigger the closure of his restaurant. He's clearly volatile, had anger issues. Steed said he wasn't keen when they first met, before he warmed to him. Maybe his initial instinct was right. Perhaps Zeph's behaviour was the reason they broke up. The same thing that triggered Romy's decision to leave New York. '

‘I see what you're getting at, but after everything that happened with her parents, would Kier stay with someone who was abusive towards her?' Isaac's fingers tighten around his cup. ‘Surely that's the last thing she'd put up with.'

‘I don't think that's always the case. I remember a colleague working on a domestic abuse case telling me that people who've witnessed abuse, experienced it themselves, can sometimes be more vulnerable to it. Maybe Zeph sensed that. Used it against her.'

‘Christ.' Isaac bites down on his lip, shaking his head. ‘If all this is true, Steed clearly had no idea.'

Elin lowers her voice as an elderly couple take a seat at the table next to them. ‘I don't reckon he did.'

‘So what are you thinking about why Kier came out here, found Romy?'

‘Maybe she wanted to know why Romy dropped off the map. Clio said Kier asked about Romy when she called. Perhaps she was worried because of her own experience with Zeph.'

‘Then when Kier came out here, spoke to Romy, she found out that she had good right to be,' Isaac says softly. ‘So say Kier discovered the refuge, decided to stay, then what?'

‘My guess, from finding Zeph's passport and the leaflet with it, is that he tracked her down.'

‘And from there, there's only one way this ends, isn't there?' Isaac pushes his cup away. ‘Finding Kier's clothes, burnt up like that, the passport stashed away, both of them missing …' His expression is set. ‘Something happened, didn't it? Between Zeph and Kier.' A loud beep sounds out from his phone. Scanning the screen, he frowns.

‘What is it?'

‘Steed's just messaged.' His eyes widen. ‘Something … odd. It says … you lied .' Scrolling down, his brow furrows . ‘He's attached a photograph.' He tilts the screen towards her. ‘It's the fire at the clearing.'

‘He found Kier's clothes.' Elin takes a sharp intake of breath. ‘Did he say anything else? '

‘No, just the photo and message.' Isaac's expression is bleak as he pulls his eyes up to meet hers. ‘The tone … it feels off, doesn't it?'

Elin's throat tightens as she takes in the fear in his eyes. She gets what he's implying. Knowing how close Steed was to the edge, the message is ominous.

This was exactly what she was frightened of when she'd seen him at the clearing: that once he found Kier's clothing, he'd extrapolate from that, draw the worst conclusions.

Once Steed believed Kier was hurt, all bets would be off, and she genuinely has no idea what he's capable of.