“It’s clearly a distressing finding,” Jonah went on, “but it does help us to be clearer on who we’re looking for.”
“Who are you looking for, then?” Tom said, his voice a little thick.
“A male, potentially one of the group she was camping with,” he said carefully. “We’re looking into whether anyone else knew about the place where Aurora was found. We can’t be conclusive about that yet, but we do know that the kids who were camping were familiar with it. We’re also investigating possible drug use at the party.”
Jonah felt instinctively guilty at having to give him so much disturbing news at once. But it was better for them to know now, he knew. Delaying it only made it harder if further evidence was found.
He saw Topaz’s face color, and she picked up a glass of water and drank from it with a hand that shook slightly. Tom glanced at her, and Jonah thought that there might be a difficult conversation coming up.
“Do you think it was connected?” Tom asked eventually.
“It’s possible,” Jonah said. “But I’m not assuming anything just yet.” He took a momentary breath. “I wondered if we could ask for something from you.”
“What’s that?”
“We want to talk to Aurora’s other friends,” Jonah said. “Anyone she was close to or might have confided in.”
“Well, I can’t…Topaz and Joy can help, I suppose,” he said, nodding to his wife. “I’ve never been much good with names.”
“No, he hasn’t,” Joy agreed a little breathlessly. “Terrible memory, haven’t you, Tom?”
“That’s fine,” Jonah reassured him. “The three of you can talk it through and let me know later today. You can give the names to one of my team if I’m not available.”
“Your team,” Tom said, considering. “How many are there on your team?”
“Three, apart from me,” he said. “Constable Hanson you’ve already met. I also have Sergeants O’Malley and Lightman, and support from the DCS, the forensics team, and other teams as needed.”
“Four of you directly working on the case, then,” Mr. Jackson said. He nodded his approval, though his voice still sounded unsteady. “That’s good to know.”
Jonah rose and left, regretting that he couldn’t be there to hear Tom and Topaz discuss those drugs. It would have made for interesting listening.
* * *
—
O’MALLEY WAS THE last one to arrive, at 9:20. An early enough morning, but it seemed halfway through the day to Jonah.
Jonah asked them into a briefing room to tell them about Hanson’s thoughts on the dogs being fooled, and about the confirmation that Aurora had been raped.
They all nodded grimly when he was finished.
“So our key question,” Jonah said, “has to be whether Connor Dooley was the one to rape her. What do we have on him since yesterday?”
“Not a lot,” Lightman said. “Coralie was the only one to see him up and about, and we’ve yet to hear more about him attempting to kiss Aurora.”
“That’s something to press our other campers on,” Jonah replied.
“I’ve checked his account of the following morning, when he realized she was gone, and there aren’t any holes. He gives a good account of himself, with a few details that drop in and out as you’d expect from someone trying to remember what happened. And he seemed eager to find her.”
“Or at least, pretended to be eager,” Hanson chipped in.
“He was up first,” Jonah pointed out. “He could have gone and made sure he’d covered his tracks before he woke anyone. I’d like to check those statements in detail for anything about the next morning. Any traces they might have seen that were later forgotten.”
Hanson and Lightman both nodded, and O’Malley raised a hand.
“I tracked down the dealer who supplied Daniel Benham with those drugs,” the sergeant said. “I went and had a little chat with him, and he could potentially be persuaded to come in and give a statement.”
Jonah blinked, slightly knocked back by the speed of that development. “When did you do that?”
“Yesterday evening,” O’Malley said with the ghost of a grin. “He’s an interesting one. He confirmed how the sale had worked, via Jojo and her brother. He felt Daniel Benham largely did it to help him out, but denied any further involvement with any of them. I’ll type up a report.”
“Thank you, Domnall. That’s…excellent work. Anything else?”
“Mackenzie’s ex-girlfriend will be here by twelve thirty,” Hanson volunteered.
“That’s great. All right. Off we go.”
* * *
—
CORALIE CHECKED HER phone again, but there were no messages. Not from any of them. And she felt a sick surge of loneliness that wasn’t helped by the isolation of a hotel restaurant at breakfast.
She hadn’t really expected Topaz or Connor to be in touch, though they might have wanted to rage at her for betraying their secrets. She’d almost been looking forward to it, despite the guilt that twisted her stomach. Jojo wasn’t going to message, obviously. She’d never bothered to contact Coralie in all the years they’d known each other.
But from Brett and Daniel that behavior hurt. She’d messaged each of them twice last night. She could see that all her messages had been read, and yet neither of them had replied.
After everything between them all, it was hurtful. It made her feel excluded, and afraid. Were they talking to the police about her now? Had they turned on her?
She’d suddenly had enough of waiting. She snatched up her phone and the key-card for her room, and left her breakfast half-eaten.
She was already calling Brett’s number by the time she’d reached the corridor.
* * *
—
THE DCS ARRIVED at Jonah’s office shortly after the briefing. Which, in his experience, could mean there was trouble brewing. Jonah gave him a nod, and let him into the office, thinking that there might be more trouble once the DCS knew about Mackenzie.
“I don’t know if you’ve been reading the news,” the detective chief superintendent said, closing the door behind him, “but there’s a lot of Secret History–type speculation going on about a group of kids getting up to warped practices. I’d like you to be able to issue an update today, to calm the theorizing.”