to Grace during the journey and as she spoke he couldn’t help but notice the combination of stale beer and fresh mouthwash on Sue’s breath.
As Sue disappeared into the kitchen Grace leaned towards Hunter almost planting her mouth on his ear. “Her breath smells like yours,” she whispered with a mischievous grin.
“Bollocks,” he retorted in a low voice between gritted teeth.
The flat was tidy and clean, but the furniture was old and worn and Hunter guessed it was the landlord’s choice rather than Sue’s.
Susan Siddons was chattering all the time she prepared the tea, her voice nervous and edgy, just making small talk, enquiring as to what Barry had already told them of her past.
Hunter responded with a small white lie. He didn’t want to bring up the incidents of Sue’s domestic battering, or anything relating to her term of imprisonment, to avoid any embarrassment or friction. Instead he dwelt mainly on the rose-tinted aspects of her life; her journalistic career, the birth of her daughter and the facts surrounding Carol’s disappearance all those years ago.
“You’ve found my baby now though, haven’t you?” She said rhetorically and invited them to sit on a sofa, which sank on its springs a little too much for the detectives’ liking, and then placed two cups of strong tea onto a stained coffee table before them. “Sorry it’s so strong”, she said, looking at the dark brew “I’ve just run out of milk.” She sat opposite them in an armchair, which wasn’t a match to the settee, gripping a steaming mug of tea between her slightly shaky hands.
“I know this will be upsetting for you Sue but tell us why you think it’s your daughter’s body we’ve found,” opened Grace, glancing down at the information penned on the front sheet of the ‘missing from home’ folder.
“Is that her file?” Sue enquired nodding towards Grace’s archived records. “Look I’ve got to be honest with you, when all that was written back then I wasn’t being entirely honest.” She sniffed and they noticed tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. “Now that you’ve found her I need to be straight with you and make things right.”
“But how do you know it’s definitely her?” asked Grace again.
“The clothing you showed on Crimewatch last night. That was what she was wearing.”
“How do you know that?” enquired Grace, now scrolling a finger down the report, flicking over pages and speed-reading the handwritten manuscript. “The last time you saw her was three weeks previous to her going missing when you visited her at the care home with Social Services.”
“That’s just it. That wasn’t the last time I saw her.” Susan paused and gulped. “It was the night she went missing. And there were several other nights before that as well.” She blushed and tried to cover her face by drinking her tea and then shuffled uneasily in her chair
“I think you’d better tell us everything Sue, don’t you?” interjected Hunter.
Susan Siddons began by recapping some of the background Barry Newstead had already given Hunter the previous evening. She gave depth and detail to the savage beatings she had suffered at the hands of her partner and they could hear real pain in her voice.
“It wasn’t just me he beat. Carol got some real hard slaps from him as well when he was that way out. He bruised her on more than one occasion and I had to keep her off nursery school on many an occasion. One night I came back from bingo and caught him urinating on her whilst she was in the bath. She was only four years old. Bloody hell, I flipped and just went berserk at him, and that’s when I got really badly beaten up, which Barry dealt with. You’re the only people I’ve ever told that to. I never even told Barry why Steve gave me that hiding.”
“Steve?” quizzed Hunter.
“Steve Paynton. You most probably will know him.”
Hunter and Grace looked at one another and nodded together. They
As Sue disappeared into the kitchen Grace leaned towards Hunter almost planting her mouth on his ear. “Her breath smells like yours,” she whispered with a mischievous grin.
“Bollocks,” he retorted in a low voice between gritted teeth.
The flat was tidy and clean, but the furniture was old and worn and Hunter guessed it was the landlord’s choice rather than Sue’s.
Susan Siddons was chattering all the time she prepared the tea, her voice nervous and edgy, just making small talk, enquiring as to what Barry had already told them of her past.
Hunter responded with a small white lie. He didn’t want to bring up the incidents of Sue’s domestic battering, or anything relating to her term of imprisonment, to avoid any embarrassment or friction. Instead he dwelt mainly on the rose-tinted aspects of her life; her journalistic career, the birth of her daughter and the facts surrounding Carol’s disappearance all those years ago.
“You’ve found my baby now though, haven’t you?” She said rhetorically and invited them to sit on a sofa, which sank on its springs a little too much for the detectives’ liking, and then placed two cups of strong tea onto a stained coffee table before them. “Sorry it’s so strong”, she said, looking at the dark brew “I’ve just run out of milk.” She sat opposite them in an armchair, which wasn’t a match to the settee, gripping a steaming mug of tea between her slightly shaky hands.
“I know this will be upsetting for you Sue but tell us why you think it’s your daughter’s body we’ve found,” opened Grace, glancing down at the information penned on the front sheet of the ‘missing from home’ folder.
“Is that her file?” Sue enquired nodding towards Grace’s archived records. “Look I’ve got to be honest with you, when all that was written back then I wasn’t being entirely honest.” She sniffed and they noticed tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. “Now that you’ve found her I need to be straight with you and make things right.”
“But how do you know it’s definitely her?” asked Grace again.
“The clothing you showed on Crimewatch last night. That was what she was wearing.”
“How do you know that?” enquired Grace, now scrolling a finger down the report, flicking over pages and speed-reading the handwritten manuscript. “The last time you saw her was three weeks previous to her going missing when you visited her at the care home with Social Services.”
“That’s just it. That wasn’t the last time I saw her.” Susan paused and gulped. “It was the night she went missing. And there were several other nights before that as well.” She blushed and tried to cover her face by drinking her tea and then shuffled uneasily in her chair
“I think you’d better tell us everything Sue, don’t you?” interjected Hunter.
Susan Siddons began by recapping some of the background Barry Newstead had already given Hunter the previous evening. She gave depth and detail to the savage beatings she had suffered at the hands of her partner and they could hear real pain in her voice.
“It wasn’t just me he beat. Carol got some real hard slaps from him as well when he was that way out. He bruised her on more than one occasion and I had to keep her off nursery school on many an occasion. One night I came back from bingo and caught him urinating on her whilst she was in the bath. She was only four years old. Bloody hell, I flipped and just went berserk at him, and that’s when I got really badly beaten up, which Barry dealt with. You’re the only people I’ve ever told that to. I never even told Barry why Steve gave me that hiding.”
“Steve?” quizzed Hunter.
“Steve Paynton. You most probably will know him.”
Hunter and Grace looked at one another and nodded together. They
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