He kneels down, thigh muscles visible through the thin fabric of his trousers. Elin watches as he carefully empties the contents onto the floor. A jumble of recyclables, empty snack wrappers, water bottles, typewritten documents.
“Doesn’t look like anything else . . .” Steed trails off. “Hold on.” He holds up a small scrap of paper. The page is lined, ragged edged, clearly torn from a notebook. “There’s writing on this. Pretty messy . . . It says . . . Rock House.” He tips the paper, screwing up his forehead. “Yes, Rock House and then an S.”
“Rock House School,” Elin finishes uneasily, walking over.
“The writing hers?”
“Yes, I recognize it.”
“More digging?”
“Could be.” She frowns. “This school . . . it’s coming up everywhere. I’m wondering whether there’s some kind of connection to the case.”
Steed raises an eyebrow. “You reckon it might go further back than the Creacher murders?”
“Maybe.” She mulls it over. “Might be just a coincidence, but the fact that it’s in the bin with the photograph . . .”
He nods. “Seeing this, I’m thinking about what the woman at reception mentioned. I wonder if the urgent thing was a ruse to draw her to her office?”
“Could be, but what would have pulled her back here?” Elin examines Farrah’s desk. No sign of anything that might classify as urgent. It’s all work related—training documents, health and safety protocols, stock overviews. She flips up the screen of Farrah’s laptop, not expecting any luck: it’s bound to be password protected.
But she doesn’t need to go any further than the home screen.
Elin’s breath comes in one hard pull as a screen saver appears.
Two sentences in a bold white font against a black background.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID. I KNOW THAT YOU LIED.
66
Athreat. It’s the only interpretation.
A heavy pressure settles on Elin’s chest.
“Looks like someone else thinks she lied in her testimony,” Steed murmurs.
“Yes.” She’s unable to take her eyes off the blocky letters. “The timing of this . . . it can’t be a coincidence. If someone’s threatening her now and it does refer to her testimony, it’s more proof that this case links to the Creacher murders.”
Steed gives her a sideways glance. “They always say, don’t they, that a lie comes out in the end.”
She nods, knowing there’s only one reason for Farrah to tell a lie of that magnitude. She had something so important to hide that she was willing to take Creacher down in the process.
A false conviction will have huge ramifications for this investigation.
Only one person might know what Farrah lied about.
* * *
—
You’re sure she’s not somewhere else in the retreat?” Will’s voice is muted, and while he might have been able to conceal how he was feeling had it been an ordinary call, the rapid blinks, the tight set to his jaw, visible on FaceTime, give him away.
“I’m certain. We’ve spoken to all the staff, they’ve radioed out. No one’s seen her. Her phone keeps going to voice mail. I’ve got people looking inside and Steed’s taken a group out to search the immediate vicinity.”
“Maybe she’s taking a break, overwhelmed by what’s going on.”
Elin hesitates, wanting to offer reassurances but unable to. After seeing the inside of that cave, she’s frightened for Farrah. For Will. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think so.” She takes a breath. “Will, the reason I’m concerned is because things have escalated. The deaths this weekend, we’re pretty sure they’re not accidental. Possibly linked to the Creacher murders.”
A pause, his face conflicted as he processes it. “And you think”—he falters—“you think Farrah going missing is related?”
“I’m not sure.” Elin clears her throat—a delay tactic. It’s hard to find the words for what she’s about to do: break open a decades-old lie, expose it to the light. “Will, when Steed and I went to her office, we found a torn-up photograph in the bin of when Farrah was on the island as a kid. One of the Outward Bound courses.”
His face freezes. For a moment Elin thinks the signal has dropped, but no. A sudden intake of breath. “So you know.”
She nods. “It wasn’t just the photo. I spoke to a detective who worked the Creacher case. He told me that Farrah’s testimony was a key part of the prosecution’s case.”