Remember Me Page 13

  ‘That’s a shame about the site.’ Ava remembered some good times hanging around with Huw’s extended family. It was a whole different lifestyle to the one she was used to as a child, and the boys had been encouraged to be violent, the girls to keep the home clean. She turned to him again. ‘You know there’s a private investigator asking questions about Ellen’s death?’

  Huw clenched his hands on the wheel and drove straight through a large hole. ‘I heard.’

  ‘So? Will you speak to him? He said he’s going tomorrow, but I know you were on the list of people for him to interview.’

  Navigating an open five-bar gate set between a line of pine trees, he drove across the field to the little group of lorries and other 4x4s, yanked the handbrake on and turned to face her. His eyes were darting, frantic even. ‘No. It has nothing to do with me anymore. Ellen’s death was a tragic accident. Okay, we shouldn’t have covered it up, but we were scared kids, for Christ’s sake. And who’s to say her parents weren’t better off thinking she’d run away, and has been living quite happily all this time?’

  So that was it. Ava opened her mouth to speak, but he put a large, rough hand on her arm.

  ‘Don’t rock the boat, Ava. Your coming here has stirred things up. None of us want the past to come and bite our arses, so just let it go.’

  ‘Why would you think I’ve come back to drag up Ellen’s death? I’ve come to see Paul and Stephen, not to reopen old wounds.’ She was genuinely shocked that he would think that, and debated whether to show him the bracelet and hair band, confronting him. But she didn’t trust Huw. Even the new version of Huw, this ageing, angry man who seemed to shrink away from her, was dangerous.

  The force of his reaction shocked her. In some ways, he hadn’t changed at all. He leant right over to the passenger seat, reached up and cupped her chin in cruel fingers and spoke slowly, viciously. ‘You think I believe you? I mean, for fuck’s sake, Ava, you’re a copper now, aren’t you? I expect you could rig it so you got off with a little slap on the wrist, but you’d destroy the rest of us… I mean it, you fucking try anything and I’ll get my family round to the Birtleys—’

  She jerked her head away. ‘Don’t touch me, Huw, especially not like that, and I wouldn’t drag anything up. I just told you! Look, it’s like you said, it was an accident. Yes, we were pretty wild teenagers, but Ellen’s death was one of those awful things, and we made the wrong choice. I repeat, I haven’t come to tell the world what really happened. It didn’t even occur to me.’

  Huw was still ranting. ‘Don’t you think it’s better this way? If you told them their darling daughter took drugs and shagged me and Jesse every weekend for months, they would be devastated. How do you think they’ll feel? What’s the cost just for you to clear your conscience?’ His voice softened. ‘Let them keep the image they have of her.’

  Ava felt it then, in between her pain and Huw’s fear – Ellen was with them. Her brown eyes were bright as they had been that night, her ponytail swinging, and her full lips curved into a naughty smile. Was she wrong? But in her pocket her fingers brushed soft cotton and elastic. And Rhodri had suggested she go to the police… She really hoped it wasn’t Huw who had been in her room that night. The thought of his hands on her naked body was stomach-churningly awful. She took a deep breath, trying one last time to penetrate Huw’s single-minded fury. ‘I agree with you. I haven’t come to stir up trouble. You need to believe that. And, Huw?’

  He turned to her, sullen and still spoiling for a fight. How was this man a teacher? ‘What is it?’

  ‘Don’t ever threaten me again,’ she told him.

  ‘Hello, you two! Just catching up, are you?’ Leo banged on the bonnet and smiled at Ava, but his eyes locked onto Huw’s.

  ‘Yes. Just catching up,’ Ava told him, jumping out of the Land Rover and slamming the door behind her. ‘How’s filming going?’

  Leo’s sparkle faded slightly. ‘We had a slight incident and four of the girls ran off into the woods further up. They’ve been gone since the camp dinner last night. It does happen – they are all desperate for airtime and the more drama the better, but we’ve sent the crew out to find them.’

  Huw stamped round from the driver’s side. ‘Is Bethan one of the girls who ran off?’

  ‘Yes. Sorry, Huw, but like I said they all go a bit crazy when we set them loose. This particular group were arguing with some of the boys, including Stephen, and the general gist is they thought they could make it to the next camp on their own. Great footage, of course, and the viewers will love the fact the girls have struck out on their own, but they do know they shouldn’t have done that.’

  Ava bit her lip. ‘I take it they haven’t turned up yet?’

  ‘Well, not yet. They are only around two hours late. But if they went off course a bit, and are probably coming at it from the other direction… Well, the hills are steep, and there is a good chance of getting lost in that wooded valley. They’ll be a bit cold and hungry, but that’s what the game is all about.’ Leo didn’t seem quite as confident as he could be, and flashed another loaded glance at Huw.

  Surprisingly, for a concerned parent, Huw was smiling as he lit a cigarette. ‘I figured as soon as you mentioned it that it would be Bethan. Told you before, Leo, my girl knows how to play it. She’ll turn up later and put it on for the cameras about how she was lost on the hills, then she’ll make up with Stephen and the viewers will love it. She’ll get more votes and go all the way.’

  ‘Aren’t you worried at all?’ Ava felt her voice rise incredulously.

  ‘No offence, Ava, but you haven’t really been a parent, have you? I know teenagers, and I know Bethan, and probably Stephen too, far better than you do.’

  Ava glared at him, but she couldn’t deny it.

  ‘Huw, do you want to grab a drink or something, and then we’ll go up to the next camp and watch the filming later. You know where everything is.’ Leo smiled at his friend.

  ‘Yeah. See you later, Ava.’ Huw gave Ava another unfriendly look and marched off towards the warmth and the catering Portakabin.

  Ava’s phone began to ring, and she glanced at the number before mouthing to Leo that she needed to take this. He nodded, moved away and took out his own phone.

  ‘Hallo?’

  ‘Ava. Can you talk?’ Jack Marsden, her immediate superior in LAPD did not ever ring for social chitchat. He had two passions – policing and surfing, and no time for anything else. Ava both liked and respected him.

  ‘Yes. Is there a problem? I’m on leave until next—’

  He cut her off. ‘It isn’t about your leave. Have you had any trouble in Wales, since you arrived?’

  ‘Trouble?’ Shit, how could he possibly know? All she’d given him were the basics – terminally ill ex-husband and estranged teenage son. ‘No. I’m just catching up with everyone. My ex-husband is pretty sick of course, but he’s managing at the moment. What do you mean?’

  ‘I got an email, with a link to some photos. The email came from your work account, but I’m guessing you didn’t send it?’

  Ava swallowed, moistening her lips. Some photographs. ‘No, I didn’t send you anything.’

  ‘Someone has hacked your account, Ava. They…’ Jack, who never had any problems saying anything, was clearly struggling for words. ‘Look, Ava, there’s no easy way to tell you this, but the photos were of you. They are on a website. I’ve got straight onto it and they’ll be taken down as soon as I can get it actioned, I promise you.’

  Chapter 16

  He’s such a colourless man, Alex Jennington. I’ve been dodging him for the last day or so, but after his chat with Ava, I supposed it would be better to gauge how much he had discovered. He sat neatly in the kitchen, asking his stupid questions, whilst I made him a coffee, and told him a bit about Aberdyth. The house doesn’t look much from the front, but the view from my windows is magnificent, daunting and awe-inspiring. I could almost see him wincing at the rural setting he’d been forced to work in f
or the last couple of days. I can imagine him living in a spotless flat in the city, and that alone makes me want to despise him. But I can also see that he is quite close to getting a sort of inverted version of the truth, after all his digging.

  It’s so useful that Jesse is dead, because dead men can’t defend themselves. Alex – he told me to drop the ‘Mr Jennington’ – was impressed by my memory. I hear myself speak, and my mind drifts back to the night Ellen died. She had no idea what was coming. She was so sure of herself, so confident and cosseted. If anything went wrong she could run back to Mummy and Daddy. I wanted her to see that some things are so bad that you can’t run to anyone. My players gave her exactly what she deserved, and I enjoyed every moment. It was thrilling, and worth all the pathetic mess afterwards.

  I’d just decided that he didn’t know anything that might ruin my game, and had been happily led right away from the truth by my little confidences, when the atmosphere changed. Right at the end of our conversation, Alex threw me with a few casual questions, and he was so near the mark, I nearly dropped the mugs I was taking to the sink. How typical that the stupid Smiths have accidentally hired someone with a brain, and someone who has discovered a well-hidden secret that doesn’t have anything to do with Ellen’s death. Not really anyway…

  Aberdyth is full of secrets and lies. They simmer just below the surface of the gossip, never quite rising to the top in a scum of bubbles, as they should. It scares people, how much I know, and they are always so pleased and eager to be my friend. Many things lie beneath the surface, as I know full well from my activity on the dark web. We skate along, safe in our own little bubbles, but deep inside, underneath that cosy exterior, the evil is rising.

  It won’t take Alex long to piece things together now, and then everything will be destroyed. I am not ready, and this wasn’t part of my plan. Only I can reveal these things and he will ruin everything. I can feel hatred bubbling in my chest, and when I bade him goodbye, I made sure to take his number. Next time we meet I will have to kill him. I will not have players behaving like this. He pushed his way in, and now he will find out the hard way that you either win or lose in my games. I take a long, calming breath, returning to my computer. I know Ava is pleased with her gifts. It has shaken her, I can tell, but she is alert and ready for the next roll of my dice.

  ‘Chwaraewch ymlaen, Ava Cole.’

  ‘Play on, Ava Cole.’

  Chapter 17

  The frozen field, the iced, white hills all swung slowly around her head, and Ava grabbed the Land Rover bonnet to steady herself. Her nails scraped metal, her head spun and she was breathing fast. Her boss was still talking, but she wasn’t taking it in. His voice seemed to be coming from miles away. Nausea was rising in her stomach, and her legs were shaky. ‘Fucking hell, Jack, what kind of website? On second thoughts, don’t tell me. I’ll take a look and ring you back. Send me the link.’

  She heard his slow intake of breath and pictured him leaning against the grimy wall of the precinct in the glaring LA sunshine, shirt sleeves rolled up, cigarette in his other hand. ‘Sure you want to see them?’

  ‘Just do it.’

  ‘Okay. Ring me straight back.’

  Leo was laughing at someone on his phone, but still watching Ava. She half-imagined she caught a flash of concern, but dismissed it instantly as more of the kind of look a predator gives before it kills its prey. Too bad. Someone was messing with her, and if it was Leo she’d fucking kill him.

  With trembling fingers Ava logged in to her email account and hit the link from Jack. The signal was crappy out here in the wilds, and the site took ages to load, whilst Ava did that pointless thing of waving her phone around, marching up and down the field, trying to get a better reception.

  ‘If you need to use the internet we’ve got a booster box set up in the office,’ Leo said, having finished his call. ‘What’s up?’

  The site still hadn’t loaded. Jack would be ringing back if she didn’t call him first. He was that sort of boss. ‘Yes, I need to get onto a website. Quickly.’ Furious, she felt a hot wetness behind her eyes, her throat tightening. It probably wasn’t as bad as she was imagining.

  It was worse. She got Leo to give her the code for the internet access, and then booted him out of his own office for privacy. Surprisingly, he went, touching her arm briefly in a way that might even have supposed to be comforting. Confused, she slammed the door shut, and sat down with her phone.

  The site was called ‘For My Eyes Only’. How original. It was a smutty, black and pink layout filled with adverts for escorts and sex toys. It was a busy site though, with a visits counter clicking up to two thousand visitors in the last hour. Most of the photographs were grainy, indistinct, and the subjects were all female. The link led her directly to a forum called ‘Last Night Nude’. Ava nearly vomited all over Leo’s very tidy desk. Both her hands were clenched on her phone, and her mind was whirling, detaching from the horror of the situation. This was far worse than the profile picture collage on her now deleted social media accounts. Here, there were five photographs of her lying in bed at the Birtleys’ B&B. She was naked, dark hair spread across the pillow, eyes closed, but her limbs had been arranged into various vaguely pornographic attitudes for the shots. The shot of her lower back and bum was at the top, again the tattoo clearly visible in this black-and-white version, but with no trace of what lay beneath it. It must be a warning.

  Ava couldn’t stop shaking and clung on to the side of the chair as another wave of nausea hit. The room spun, and she was dimly aware of Leo knocking on the door.

  Okay, calm down, she told herself, remembering for the first time in years all those breathing exercises her therapist had given her. She needed to get herself into work mode, that was it. She could view this as a case, and distance herself from the fact some sick fucker, most likely one of her childhood friends, had drugged her, undressed her, touched her and…

  Leo was calling her name, hammering on the door now. Well, he was top of the list of suspects so she might as well start with him. At that moment her phone rang – Jack calling back. That was good, it would force her back to normality. She couldn’t show weakness in front of her boss.

  ‘Hi, Jack. Yeah, I got it. No, I’ve got no idea – well, actually I might have a bit of an idea. I think someone is trying to warn me off. It’s a cold case from my childhood down here.’

  ‘Have you told the local police?’ A sharper note crept into his voice. ‘I’m assuming you didn’t give permission for these photographs to be taken?’

  ‘Of course not!’

  ‘Right, well the local police should be your next stop. Ava, I’m sorry to ask this, but were you assaulted at all?’

  ‘No.’ She remembered the cut on her leg. ‘Not like that anyway. Look, Jack, there are a few things I need to sort out. This is a bit more complicated than it seems. Can I give you a call later?’

  Her boss agreed and added he would have it taken down within the hour. ‘Ava, whatever is going on, I can help, okay? Don’t try to handle this by yourself, and for Christ’s sake get the police over there involved. I’ll get this filth taken down first though.’

  That was a big promise, given the scope of the dark web, but whatever. Jack was no tech whizz, but their team included Zack, who had worked on various high-profile cases involving the dark web. The last one had been a child trafficking, and the perpetrators had been tracked via their online presence. She remembered Zack saying something about Tor software not being infallible. Even when users thought they had covered every base, concealing movements and identities, there would be other hackers, working on the other side, who could find the faintest of shadowed identities. She had no idea what he was talking about, but then Cyber Crimes guys and girls always seemed to talk in code. It didn’t matter, because they got shit done, and caught the bad guys simply by superior brain power.

  The hammering was increasing. ‘Ava, let me in! What the fuck is going on?’

  She opened the door
so quickly he almost fell through, and then she slammed it shut again, blocking out the curious faces, and amused expressions of the film crew.

  Leo handed her a Styrofoam cup of coffee and she downed the hot liquid, scalding her tongue, keeping her phone screen shielded from him. He appeared genuinely worried, but what if it was him? From what she knew of their childhood relationship, it would be just his style to play games like this.

  ‘Leo, I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the fucking truth, all right? This isn’t a game, this is grown-up crap.’

  He did that innocent face thing, and came and sat next to her, their knees touching.

  She moved slightly away, suddenly unsure how to begin. Think work, Ava. ‘Two weeks before I came back, I got some weird text messages, all from different numbers, all untraceable. Now I’m back, there have been a bunch of odd things going on… Leo, before I show you this, I want you to tell me straight up. When we all had dinner at the pub, did you spike my drink? Because I wasn’t just drunk that night, Leo, I was drugged.’

  ‘Ava? Are you sure? Of course not. Why would I do that? Come on, I just walked you back to the B&B. I was only taking the piss when I said I’d kissed you. It was just a bit of banter!’ The glint was back in his blue eyes, concern or amusement flickering across his face. ‘You and I always had a spark, didn’t we, babe? But come on, Ava, you know I wouldn’t do anything unless you wanted me to.’ He was serious again now, leaning into her space, searching out her gaze.

  ‘I don’t know that actually, but I do know that after that night out, I went back to the Birtleys’, and someone snuck into my room and took these…’ She spun the screen round so he could see the pictures, watching his face closely.

  There was anger, but something else that could have been fear… then it was gone and the smooth mask was back, ‘Christ, Ava, who would do this? I can’t believe you thought it was me. How did you find out? This was… you poor baby.’ He caught himself.