On Deadly Tides Page 12

  “Your receptionist offered me something to drink, but I don’t want anything right now. I’ve come a very long way, and all I really want to do is talk to you. I have so many questions. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No, of course not. Please, make yourself comfortable.” Penny gestured to the woman’s chair, and when she was seated again, Penny closed the door and sat opposite her, on the edge of her chair, with her hands resting lightly on her knees.

  Mrs. Graham took a deep breath and looked around the room. “I still can’t believe this is really happening, and yet, here I am, so it must be.”

  “I cannot imagine.” Penny reached over the coffee table between them to take her hand. Instinctively and wordlessly, both women rose, and Penny pulled the coffee table out of the way. When Louise began to weep, Penny held her for a moment, and then, as her tears began to subside, she offered the box of tissues from a side table, and they sat again.

  “It’s just that the police told me that you were talking to our Jessica in the hotel the night before she died and that you must have been one of the last people to see her alive,” Louise said, her voice thick with grief. “So I wanted to see you. I feel close to you. Because you were there, and you spoke to her. Please, tell me where you were and what you talked about.”

  “It was on the Friday night. We were in the bar of the Beaumaris Arms Hotel,” Penny began. “I was chatting with a man I’d just met—a really nice man, as it turns out—and there was an empty chair at our table, and because the room was so crowded, Jessica asked if she could join us. She was such delightful company, so …” Penny almost said “full of life,” but deciding Jessica’s mother might find that too distressing, she said, “… so enthusiastic about her first trip abroad, and she was really excited about the stories she’d be working on for her newspaper. We were really taken with her and looking forward to seeing her again and learning more about her. She was just a lovely young woman, and you must have been so proud of her.”

  “Oh, we were.” Mrs. Graham choked at the use of the past tense and dabbed her eyes with her sodden tissues. She steeled herself and continued. “And then it was on the Saturday morning that you found her on that beach.”

  “Yes. A friend who was on the painting retreat with me, she and I went to Black Point to paint the lighthouse. We were on a headland, so it’s quite high up. I spotted something on the beach below, and when I got down there, I realized it was Jessica. We rang the emergency services, and I waited with her until help arrived. And I hope this is a bit of comfort to you, but I held her hand, and she wasn’t alone.”

  “Yes, the police told me if it hadn’t been for you, we might have lost her to the sea. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”

  “I’m just glad I was there.”

  They sat in silence for a moment, and then Penny asked how the family had heard about the tragedy.

  “The Auckland police came to the door. Two of them. A man and a woman. They asked if I was Jessica Graham’s mother. When I said yes, they asked if they could come in. And in that moment I knew that something terrible had happened to Jessica. My legs turned to jelly, and how I got to the lounge, I don’t know. And when they insisted that I sit down, I knew that the news was the worst possible. They said they’d received a call from the Welsh police and that”—she paused and gathered herself—“and that the body of a young woman believed to be Jessica had been found on a beach on the island of Anglesey, North Wales. They asked for the name of her dentist, to get her dental records as there was no one here who was close enough to her to formally identify her. And then the room started spinning, and I think the woman officer made tea, but I don’t remember any more after that. I was in such shock that I couldn’t take it in.

  “But they must have notified my husband at work because he arrived home soon after that, and the woman police officer stayed with us.”

  “Let me ask Rhian to get us some tea now. Shall I do that?” Louise nodded, and Penny darted down the hall to the reception desk. When she returned, Louise was a little more composed.

  “And did the North Wales police suggest that you come here, to the U.K.?” Penny asked.

  “They said it would be helpful if I could but that it wasn’t absolutely necessary. But I wanted to. To bring her home. But before I do that, I want to visit the place where she died. I don’t know, but I feel it might help me somehow. All this is simply unimaginable. You drive your daughter to the airport, you hug her, wave goodbye, and then this happens? She should have been safe here. How is this even possible? In your wildest dreams, nothing like this would …”

  “Louise, are you here in this country on your own?” Penny asked. “Your husband isn’t with you?”

  “No, he had to stay home. It was very expensive for me to come here because everything had to be arranged in such a hurry. We had to borrow the money for my flight. Friends and family chipped in, but their generosity could only go so far. The newspaper would have liked to help, but they didn’t have the funds, and although they offered to launch an appeal among the readership, we really didn’t want that kind of charity.”

  “I can understand that.”

  Penny knew what she had to do. “Would you like me to go to Anglesey with you? To show you where I found Jessica?”

  Louise raised puffy, tear-filled eyes to her. “Oh, I was hoping you would. I wanted to ask you, but it seemed too much. But yes, I would like that very much.”

  “We can go tomorrow, then.” Penny had a sudden thought. “And is this your first time here in the U.K.?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “And do you have someplace to stay?”

  “Well, I was going to stay at the hotel where she was. Is it far from here?”

  “Not if you’re driving. But it would be expensive in a taxi, and it will take quite a while on the bus, and the buses don’t run that often.” She met the woman’s tired eyes. “It’s too late now to go there today.”

  “Oh well then, I’m not sure what I …”

  Penny leaned forward. “Louise, I have a spare room, and I’d be happy if you would stop with me for the night. Perhaps after a bath, something to eat, and a good night’s sleep, you’ll feel a bit better. And then we can go together to Beaumaris in the morning, after you’ve had a chance to rest. You must be utterly exhausted.”

  “That’s very kind of you. And I don’t think I’ve ever felt this exhausted. Just drained. Everything has been so stressful, and on top of that, there’s the jet lag. I don’t even know what day it is, let alone what time. I barely know how I got here. The doctor gave me some sleeping tablets in case I needed them, so I might take one tonight, and then hopefully I’ll be out like a light.”

  “Right. Well, that’s settled then.

  Rhian knocked on the door and entered with a tea tray. After a quick glance at Penny, she set it down on the low table and left.

  “Louise, I’m going to leave you for a few minutes while I make some arrangements. You can relax and have your tea. Is that all right?”

  Louise gave Penny a grateful nod and then added a splash of milk to her tea. Assured that her visitor would be all right for a few minutes, Penny walked down the hall and peered into the hair salon, where Sarah was admiring her newly trimmed hair.

  “You look terrific,” Penny said as their eyes met in the mirror.

  “Yes, it’s a great improvement. I shouldn’t have let it go so long.”

  “Listen, Sarah, I need to ask you something. It’s about that voucher you gave me for the hotel. The mother of Jessica Graham has arrived, and she’ll be spending a couple of nights in Beaumaris. Money’s a bit tight. I wondered if she could use the voucher to cover the cost of her stay at your hotel.”

  A look that Penny read as concern flashed across Sarah’s grey eyes.

  “Never mind the voucher,” she said. “You keep it. We can comp Mrs. Graham. Two nights, did you say? Has she registered?”

  “No.”

  “And when is she arriving?
”

  “She’s here now.”

  Sarah’s eyebrows shot up. “She’s here? Where? In the Spa?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, as I’m driving back to the hotel anyway, I could give her a lift.”

  Penny considered that before replying.

  “No, she’s had a very long journey, and she’s drained. She’s had more than enough travel for one day. I offered her my spare room for the night, and she seemed glad of it, so the best thing is if she stays with me and I bring her to Beaumaris tomorrow, when she’s had a chance to rest and is better prepared for what lies ahead of her. Just so you know, she wants to see where her daughter’s body was found, so it’s going to be an emotional time for her. Even more emotional, I should say, because it’s been very difficult for her getting this far.”

  Sarah adjusted the zebra-patterned hairdressing cape on her shoulders.

  “Yes, of course. Well, I’ll notify the front desk, and we’ll expect her sometime tomorrow. Do you know if she wants to stay in the room Jessica had, if it’s available? Sometimes people like to do that when they are retracing a loved one’s final journey. Other times, they don’t. But we wouldn’t offer it to her without knowing that’s what she wants.”

  “I don’t know if she wants to stay in it, but she may want to see it.”

  After thanking Sarah, Penny went in search of Victoria, and then, arrangements sorted for the next day, they tidied up, and when the last customer had left, they closed the Spa.

  “I think this must be what they mean when they talk about the kindness of strangers,” said Louise as the three women made their way to Victoria’s car for the short drive to Penny’s cottage.

  “I was a stranger here myself once,” said Penny, “and someone was very kind to me.”

  Chapter Twenty

  The salty tang of the sea and the calling of sea birds greeted Penny and Louise as they approached Black Point the next afternoon. Louise hesitated as they neared the edge of the cliff that overlooked the beach, and then, clutching Penny’s arm, took a step forward and peered over.

  “She was just down there,” Penny said, pointing.

  “Can we get down there?”

  “I used that rough path, just there, but it’s steep and dangerous. I was in a hurry to get to her, of course, so I just charged ahead. But we might walk a little way and see if there’s an easier way, and if not, we’ll use that path. We’ll just have to take our time and be careful.”

  They walked on and, a few hundred metres away, discovered several stone steps built into the side of the cliff face that were the start of a well-trodden dirt path that led to the beach on a kinder, gentler slope.

  They descended to the beach and picked their way across the pebbly beach until they reached the spot where Penny had found the body of Jessica Graham.

  “She was just here,” Penny said softly, and then took a few steps back.

  Louise sank to her knees and caressed the cold wet sand. Then she fell forward, buried her hands in it, and moved them back and forth with increasing desperation until her fingers were as raw as her grief. “Jessica,” she wailed. “Oh, Jessica, my darling girl.”

  * * *

  Penny handed Louise a cup of tea in the quiet of her hotel bedroom and then, at the ping of an incoming text alert, glanced at her phone.

  “Inspector Bethan Morgan of the North Wales Police is downstairs with Jessica’s personal effects. Shall I tell her to come up? Are you ready to meet her?”

  Louise took a sip of tea, set the cup down, and folded her hands in her lap. Five minutes later came a soft tap on the door.

  Penny opened it and Bethan entered, pulling a wheeled black suitcase behind her.

  Louise gasped when she saw it, then raised a hand and covered her mouth. Bethan set the suitcase to one side as Penny introduced them, and Bethan offered polite and formal condolences.

  “I’m glad Penny’s looking after you, Mrs. Graham,” Bethan said. “You couldn’t be in better, kinder hands.”

  “Yes, I know. She’s been wonderful and I’m beyond grateful.”

  “What would you like to do now? Would you like to be alone to go through the suitcase? There’s a police security seal on it, but I can remove that, if you wish.”

  Louise frowned.

  “A security seal? Why?”

  “To show that the contents were examined and then to prevent anyone from opening it or tampering with the contents. It’s just routine.”

  “You went through her things?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? What were you looking for?”

  “We weren’t looking for anything. We examined the contents to make sure there was nothing there to indicate that her death was anything other than a terrible accident.”

  “And that’s it? That’s all you have? Just the suitcase?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so.”

  “But when she left, she also had a backpack. Where is that?”

  “We didn’t recover a backpack,” Bethan replied. “Just this suitcase that was in her room.”

  “Well, what happened to her backpack?”

  “I really don’t like to speculate, but we think she had it with her when she fell, and as the tide was going out, it took the backpack with it.”

  Louise’s mouth opened slightly, and she slumped forward.

  “I’ll go through the suitcase later, in my own time. I’m not ready to do that right now, and I don’t know when I will be. I might even wait until I get it home, and her father and I will do that together.”

  “Well, whatever you feel is best for you,” said Bethan. “If you have any more questions, I’m happy to answer them.”

  “I don’t have any at the minute, but I’ll be in touch if I do. I’m still trying to take in what you said about her backpack.”

  Bethan handed her a business card, and after once again offering condolences, left the room.

  “Well,” said Louise. “There’s something very wrong here.”

  “The backpack,” said Penny.

  Louise looked startled. “You think so, too?”

  “It’s bothered me since I heard that it wasn’t in her room. It is possible, I suppose, that she had it with her, and the tide took it, as Bethan suggested. The police have experts they can consult on such things.”

  “Here’s the thing,” said Louise. “She took that backpack everywhere, and if she’d had it with her, I’m sure it would have been found with her because she would most likely have been wearing it. She never carried it. She didn’t like the way the straps dragged on the ground when she carried it by the handle.”

  Penny thought back to the moment she had first seen Jessica, and as her mother had just described, she had been wearing the backpack.

  “I do have a lot of questions,” said Louise, “and the backpack is just part of it. Everything that I’ve been told about the circumstances surrounding my daughter’s death just seems like a dream that hasn’t been pieced together right. What on earth would she be doing out there, on a cliff, alone, in an unfamiliar place, in the middle of the night?” She raised her hands in a small gesture of puzzled defeat. “And when she must have been exhausted?”

  “It’s possible that with the jet lag, she fell asleep, then woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep and decided to go for a walk,” Penny suggested. “The sun might have been coming up, and she could have decided to do a bit of exploring. Black Point is quite a long way from the hotel, but she wouldn’t have known that. And then, exhausted and disoriented, she lost her balance and fell.”

  “That’s possible, I suppose. She enjoyed the outdoors, and of course she was naturally curious, so she might have gone for a walk. But that doesn’t explain how she fell off a cliff.”

  Seized by an idea, Penny asked, “Did she have any medical issues? Could she have had a bout of dizziness or vertigo and lost her balance?”

  “I don’t think so. She never mentioned anything like that to me, and if she’d been suffering f
rom something like that, I’m sure she would have asked me to go to the doctor with her.” Louise gave her head a little shake. “Oh, none of this makes any sense to me. I can’t make head nor tail of it, and believe me, I’ve thought about nothing else since those police officers knocked on my door.”

  “Then tell me this, Louise, without overthinking it. What do you think happened to Jessica? What does your heart tell you?”

  “I don’t think this was an accident. I think she was taken to that place, and then something unspeakable happened, or else she was lured there to her death,” Louise replied without hesitation.

  I agree with you, thought Penny.

  As if reading her thoughts, and with a flicker of something in her large hazel eyes that looked like fear, Louise asked, “What do you think? Do you think my Jessica was murdered?”

  Not wanting her response to add to Louise’s distress, Penny weighed her words before replying. “Although the police say there’s nothing to show that Jessica’s death was anything other than a tragic accident, yes, I believe it is possible that she was murdered.”

  Mrs. Graham’s eyes hardened as her face clouded, and her lips pressed together in a determined line.

  “Then something must be done. We must find out the truth, and I won’t rest until I get justice for Jessica. If there’s a murderer out there, that person must be found.”

  She reached out her hand to indicate she wanted the suitcase, and Penny brought it over to her. She rested her hand on the handle. “I wish the police hadn’t touched this. I would have liked to be the first to put my hand where Jessica’s was.”

  Penny stood silently for a moment, and then said, “Well, Louise, you’ve had a stressful morning. I’m sure you would like some time to yourself now, so I’m going to leave you to get some rest. You’ve got my number, so please just ring if you need me.”

  * * *

  Victoria, who had dropped Penny and Louise off at Black Point, then spent the morning on a hotel site visit discussing arrangements for the capsule spa at the hotel with Sarah Spencer, joined Penny in the lounge just before lunch.