The Silent Twin (27 page)

‘
Y
ou’ve got
to make her tell,’ Joanna sobbed as Fiona was driven away ‘Why won’t she tell?’

Jennifer inhaled a deep sigh as she rushed back into the house. The cool air refreshed her mind, and sharpened her judgement. Fiona was never going to tell them where Abigail was. But she knew someone who could. Jennifer exchanged glances with Nick as the truth was laid bare.

‘Fiona wasn’t responsible for Abigail’s disappearance.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Joanna said, her eyes swimming with emotion. She looked to her husband. ‘Nick? What’s she talking about?’

‘No,’ Nick whispered, his voice catching in his throat.

But Jennifer’s words were strong. Determined. Nick would recover from being sliced with the knife. But the truth Jennifer was about to reveal would leave a much deeper scar.

‘There’s only one person who knows what happened to Abigail that day, and they’re much closer to home.’

Her glance took her to the window, where Fiona had looked just seconds before. Olivia’s face was pressed close as her breath fogged the glass, her ghostly features haunted with a dreadful secret. A sluggish, sick feeling descended over Jennifer in preparation for what lay ahead.

Nick shook his head. ‘You can’t be serious. Not our Olivia.’

She turned to Nick and Joanna, now holding hands, clinging to each other like a raft in a storm.

‘You both have to trust me. Let me talk to her alone. I only need to know where she’s left her. It’s not in anyone’s interest to prosecute a child.’

‘No . . .’ Joanna said. ‘She would have told me. Fiona’s . . . Doreen’s lying.
She’s
taken our daughter. Abigail’s dead, and it’s all my fault.’

Jennifer shook her head. ‘You heard her. Fiona’s mission was to hurt you, not your daughter. But when Abigail went missing, she just sat back and enjoyed the show. And in the midst of it all, she distorted your memories, filled you full of guilt, and played on your worst fears.’ She glanced at the crease of blood seeping through Nick’s shirt. ‘You’d better get that seen to.’

‘It’s nothing, just a scratch,’ he said, lifting his shirt to reveal a small flesh wound.

Olivia stepped out onto the landing, her mouth pursed. Slowly she descended the stairs, her sandaled feet creaking on the boards with weighty finality.

Jennifer bent down and took her by the hand. The life had left the little girl’s eyes, and was replaced by fear.

‘There’s no need to be scared any more. You’re not in any trouble, just tell us where she is,’ Jennifer said, not sure why she was whispering, but the softly spoken words felt right for the little girl who had been through so much.

Joanna took a step towards her daughter, and from the corner of her eye Jennifer saw Nick’s hand shoot out and still her movement.

Jennifer kept her eyes focused solely on the little girl in front of her.

‘Did Fiona frighten you? Is that why you couldn’t tell me? Did she say you’d be in trouble?’

Olivia nodded, her big moon eyes filling with tears. She took off her glasses and swiped at her face, then placed them back on the bridge of her nose. Jennifer took her by the hands. Her fingers were cool and stiff, as if a little bit of her was still with Abigail. Somewhere dark. Somewhere cold.

‘Sweetheart, listen to me. Fiona was not your friend. She lied because she wanted to hurt your family. I’m a police officer and I tell the truth. Do you understand that?’ She was going to say
like your daddy
, but was painfully aware that Olivia’s daddy had let her down in the past.

Olivia nodded again, dislodging the tears balancing on her long blonde lashes. They trickled down her cheeks and Jennifer thumbed them away from her soft pale skin.

‘I promise we’ll keep you out of trouble.’

Nick spoke now too, his voice low and gentle. ‘She’s right. Just tell us where she is, sweetheart. Let’s bring your sister home.’

‘But she’s . . . she’s dead.’ Olivia blurted out the words, falling into her daddy’s arms, burying her head in his shirt. Joanna’s legs wobbled, and she clung to the banister, her other hand resting on her husband’s back. Jennifer bit her lip. There was no time to spare.

‘Olivia, listen to me. I want you to talk me through what happened that day. Can you do that? Show me where she is?’

Olivia straightened up, a hiccup catching in her throat. She nodded grimly, reaching for her hand. ‘Outside. Abi’s outside.’

Tentatively, they followed Olivia’s lead, afraid to speak for fear it would break the spell. I’m walking in a nightmare, Jennifer thought, as Olivia led her past the outhouses to the scrubland at the bottom of the field. Her fingers warmed in the child’s grip, but it could not ease the passage of their journey. Their surroundings took on an ugly hue, as they faced their path with dread. Brown fence posts jutted up like rotting teeth, slanted after years of being battered by the wind. She stared up at the ashen sky, steeling herself for what lay ahead.

Olivia broke the silence, her voice punctuated with sobs. ‘We were playing hide and seek. I counted and she hid. I looked in the cow shed and found Daddy . . .’

Jennifer guessed what was to come, but the revelation would be too much for Joanna, whose interference would delay things even further. ‘That’s okay, Olivia. Tell me about Abigail.’

Olivia nodded. ‘I . . . I wanted to talk to her, because I was sad. But Abi wouldn’t listen. She said she wanted to play.’

Jennifer began to feel an internal clock ticking down. Precious seconds she could not afford to lose.

‘I told her I’d found a better place to play . . . somewhere secret.’

‘And you took her there?’

‘Yes,’ Olivia nodded as she kept walking. ‘It’s a hole in the ground, it goes way down.’

I’m in the ground with the dirt between my toes.
Abigail’s haunting words replayed in Jennifer’s mind.

Jennifer glanced behind, to see Joanna entwine her fingers tightly around Nick’s hand. She couldn’t begin to imagine how they felt, but at least they were facing this together. She wanted to run ahead, to ask Olivia exactly where her sister was, but she sensed her reluctance. She could just as quickly turn on her heel and run in the opposite direction, rather than face what lay ahead. Olivia climbed over a rusted gate, into a field far beyond where they were allowed to roam. Fiona most likely allowed them free rein when nobody was looking. Joanna would have to face up to not casting a watchful eye over her girls, but that was something she had a lifetime to contemplate. Jennifer joined Olivia on the other side, and quietly asked Nick to open the gate for the emergency services in case they needed to drive through. She walked ahead with Olivia while Joanna helped her husband lift the old rusted metal out of the way.

‘Were you still upset when you got to your secret place?’ Jennifer said, taking advantage of their time alone.

Olivia nodded. ‘I tried to tell Abi about Daddy
again
, but she wouldn’t believe me. I . . . I was mad because she wouldn’t listen. She started shouting, and calling me names . . . so I . . . I . . .’ Olivia said, her chin wobbling.

‘It’s okay, you can tell me,’ Jennifer said, crouching down to her level.

‘I pushed her. I pushed her in the hole.’ A sob caught in the little girl’s throat. ‘I called her, but she didn’t answer. I was too scared to talk to Daddy . . .’

‘So you told Fiona?’ Jennifer said, pre-empting her response.

Olivia nodded. ‘But she said it was too late, that Abigail was dead and I killed her. She said if I spoke that I would go to jail. She said there were lots of bad people in jail.’

‘Oh, my poor baby,’ Joanna said, catching the tail end of her daughter’s words. She reached out to touch the back of her head, but drew back as Olivia flinched.

‘Fiona said it was all your fault. That you knew. You knew and you didn’t care.’

‘I swear I didn’t. I just felt something was wrong, but didn’t know it had anything to do with you. Please, Olivia, that’s the truth.’

‘I’m sorry but we don’t have time for this,’ Jennifer said, gazing into the little girl’s eyes. ‘Can you point out your hiding place, Olivia? We need to get to Abigail.’

‘There,’ Olivia said, pointing over Jennifer’s shoulder. ‘She’s over there.’

Jennifer turned to follow her gaze – and her heart fell like a stone.

M
y sister must have sensed
something, because she made an effort to be nice to me. She was home from boarding school, something about a bounced cheque, and payments due. So I thought about my rescue. The only way to stop the monster was for him to be caught in the act. And she was the only person I could allow to find me in that way. But it wasn’t as easy as I thought. I left clues, dropped hints. They all went unnoticed. Mother threw herself into planning our joint tenth birthday party, and the night before, she allowed us to open one present each. I tried to forget all the bad stuff, just for one evening, and excitedly tore back the paper. I wanted a Simon game. I got a box of Lego. I hated the stuff, and swallowed back my disappointment. I watched eagerly as Joanna opened hers, hoping she might swap. Her present was gaudy, childish, and she loved it. Round and around she wound the handle of the Jack-in-the-box, the
plink plonk
tune getting on my nerves. All I remember about that day is her playing that infernal tune for hours on end.

Half a pound of tuppenny rice, half a pound of treacle. That’s the way the money goes
. . .
Pop! Goes the weasel
.

That night, it replayed in my head as I tried to sleep, intermingling with dreams about a wolf stripping me of my flesh. But the wolf was sleeping in the room next door, and what he had taken was every ounce of my dignity. I climbed out of my bed and stared into the moonlight. And there, in the darkness, I began to hatch a plan.

‘
N
o
. . . please, not there,’ Jennifer whispered under her breath. Filled with trepidation, she stood on the barren scrubland, pushing back strands of her windswept hair. She faced the little girl, a cold sweat running down her back. Olivia spoke, her eyes wide and unblinking.

‘I pushed her down the hole. Except . . .’

Jennifer finished her sentence as she stared at the forked tree on the crown of the hill.

‘Except now it’s been filled in.’

Olivia nodded solemnly, looking more vulnerable than ever. Jennifer had been right all along. Abigail
had
been in the well. But by the time they found it, it was too late. Fiona had moved her somewhere else.

‘What do we do now?’ Nick said to his wife. But Joanna’s empty expression relayed that she didn’t have a clue.

Overhead, a flock of ravens cut through the sky, their iridescent feathers catching flecks of the dying light. Jennifer stood entranced as they swooped and cawed overhead. Her mind cleared, like clouds parting for the sun.

‘What was it that Fiona said?’ Jennifer searched the passages of her mind. ‘Something about not going through another tenth birthday . . .’ She grabbed Joanna by the arm so tightly it made her yelp. ‘Cast your mind back. I need you to remember that day.’

‘I . . . I can’t,’ Joanna whined, pulling back her bandaged arm. ‘It’s too confusing, I can’t remember.’

‘Listen to me,’ Jennifer said, facing her head-on. ‘If Fiona moved Abigail, then she could still be alive. But we may not have long. She’s been waiting until today to get revenge.’

Mouth gaping open, Joanna blinked twice, with no response.

Jennifer fought the impulse to scream. ‘Don’t you see? She’s reliving the past through the twins. You and Doreen shared the same birthday. In her mind, you’re Abigail. Please. Tell me what happened that day.’

‘My father, he was taking photos . . . bad pictures.’ She squeezed her eyes shut, blinking out fat droplets of tears. ‘It was the day before my . . . our birthday.’

Jennifer bit her bottom lip, wishing she had attended Joanna’s father’s house search like she insisted.

‘C’mon, there’s not a minute to lose,’ she said, marching Joanna back to the house.

‘Where are we going?’ Joanna said, as Nick scooped Olivia into his arms.

‘To your dad’s house. I know there’s tenants there, but if we –’

‘He didn’t take the photos in the house.’ Joanna’s words jolted as she tripped over a mound of earth. ‘He used his studio.’

‘Where’s that?’ Jennifer said, her frustration rising.

‘I can’t . . .’ Joanna clenched her fists and beat them against the side of her forehead. ‘I can’t remember,’ she sobbed in frustration, her wrist bandages blooming with slices of red.

‘Shhh, it’s okay, we’ll find it,’ Jennifer said, gently lowering Joanna’s hands from her head. She turned to Nick as she remembered the newspaper clipping that hung on the wall of the briefing room. ‘Your father – he used to be in the same photographic club as Joanna’s dad. Where did they meet?’

Nick rubbed his chin. ‘At the back of the old allotment site. They used a bungalow on the end of the lot. It’s derelict now . . . And it’s already been searched.’

Jennifer frowned as she recalled the list of searched properties. The bungalow
had
been searched by police when Abigail first went missing. But it hadn’t been visited since. It was situated on the far side of the woodlands, a couple of miles from where they stood. Near enough for Fiona to take the child in the middle of the night. Jennifer scanned the horizon, from her vantage point at the crest of the hill. A plume of smoke billowed between the trees, fracturing the landscape. Fiona’s words came back to haunt her.
I’ve cauterised the wound. It’s over.
She hadn’t understood her at the time, but now the meaning became clear. To cauterise was to burn.

‘Shit!’ she shouted to Nick, pointing at the smoke. ‘We’ve got to get to the allotment!’

Holding Olivia tightly in his arms, Nick took in the sight of the smoke before bolting down the hill. Jennifer wasted no time in giving chase, leaving Joanna floundering behind.