My thanks to the Mitchell family, who forwarded the notes, tapes and documents that Evelyn had collected, and who kindly trusted me with their editing and publication. Some chapters were already in finished form, just as she would have liked them to be read. Others I had to pore through and assemble myself from her rough outlines. I sought out additional testimony where necessary, in some cases from experts, in some cases from people who Evelyn had never gotten around to interviewing, adding them to the established flow of her story.
As I worked, I saw that what had at first seemed like a digressive route through the secret lives of others was actually a menacing road map leading directly to the destruction of something good, a destruction that neither Evelyn nor I saw coming. Perhaps you can read these interviews differently, though. Perhaps you’ll see the danger sooner than we did. Perhaps you’re the person who could have done what I didn’t and prevented another useless death.
This book is dedicated to Evelyn Mitchell, to Zoe Nolan, and to everyone else who never came home.
From: [email protected]
Sent: 2019-01-10 18:04
To: you
Hey stinker
So here’s what I’m NOW proposing to open the book with. Don’t read what I sent before until you’ve read this prologue.
What follows actually happened BEFORE Zoe went missing and is more to do with her twin sister, Kim （no, I don’t think they fucking swapped places）。 It’s one of many unbelievable stories that takes place within this larger one—and in some ways it feels like the key to a lot of things that come later. I’ve tried to set it up as some kind of introduction to who all these people are and to hint at the relationships/grievances that shape a lot of the story.
And oh boy are there grievances. I’ve only had a handful of people from Zoe’s life who were unable or unavailable to speak, only one or two who’ve resisted my charms and refused to go on the record. Most of them feel like they HAVE to say something because they’re scared of what the others might say about them.
Early on, I saw there was so much cross-talk and contention that I’d have to share statements between interviewees. In most cases that provided what illumination I was looking for, but in others it led to these spirited responses, withering put-downs, rebuttals, etc. I think it gives the text a nice back-and-forth conversational style, but each interview was conducted in STRICT isolation. Mainly because most of them aren’t speaking to each other anymore…
Funny how that happens to people （eh Knoxy?）
I’m going old school with this one—no digital recordings: everything’s going down on tape. If you fancy hearing voices, I’m afraid you’ll have to come round. XXXXX XXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX XXXX*
Anyway, let me know what you think. If you’re intrigued then by all means carry on and read through the chapters I sent you SIX MONTHS AGO.
Ex
* Evelyn never intended for her email correspondence to be made public. As a result, some small redactions have been made to protect her privacy. –J.K.
0.
“Exposed Foundations”
November 8, 2011—forty days before Zoe’s disappearance
In late 2018, Kimberly Nolan, Zoe’s twin sister, claimed in a rare interview given to the Mail on Sunday that she had herself once been kidnapped. She claimed that this kidnapping occurred roughly one month prior to Zoe’s disappearance, while on a night out with her sister and three other friends.
KIMBERLY NOLAN, Zoe’s sister:
I feel like my Mail interview covered all this. There are just more interesting things we could talk about. We could go back into Zoe as a little girl, work out if there were any warning signs we all missed. Or we could cut right back to the good stuff, our move out to Manchester. First time in a new city, first time doing a lot of things. We could even rehash the night Zoe went missing, I mean, that’s why we’re here. I can take you through all that with my eyes closed. Midnight fire alarms, people I shouldn’t have slept with, psychotic men standing in the shadows…
I know all of it, all of that, by heart.
But here you are asking me about my weakest subject, Kimberly Nolan. What can I tell you? I hardly know the girl.
FINTAN MURPHY, Zoe’s course mate and friend:
Right, Kimberly’s kidnapping, this sad story. Would you like my opinion? I mean, let’s put ourselves in poor Kimberly’s position for a moment. Born a girl, an almost identical twin, but with a sister who was simply more attractive than she was, simply more intelligent. A sister who was outgoing and prodigiously gifted musically. Someone who effortlessly charmed everyone she met. I think we all might struggle if we were up against that.
Okay, so, remaining in Kimberly’s shoes. You go away to university to get out from under your sister’s shadow, but owing to an unfortunate series of events, you end up studying at the same place, living in the same flat even. Your physical resemblance is such that people routinely doubletake at you around town, seem visibly disappointed when they realize you’re Kimberly and not Zoe.
So you lose a load of weight and start wearing black. You cut your hair short and go goth. Your sister is reserved in some senses, so you act out and start sleeping around. She drinks sensibly, so you drink like an open hole in the floor. She goes missing and becomes front-page news, so you generate this harrowing, incredible tale of how you were kidnapped once too. I’d say in some senses that’s perfectly understandable. It’s one of the few things about Kimberly that really is.
JAI MAHMOOD, Zoe’s friend:
I don’t remember much, but I’m fairly sure Fintan wasn’t even there that night.
LIU WAI, Zoe’s flatmate and friend:
I think what probably happened was that Zoe and I decided to go out? I know it was a Tuesday, which is like a big student night in Manchester. Kim always tried to involve herself in mine and Zoe’s plans, so I generally expected her to try and tag along. And she did, in that kind of dour way where it’s clear she thinks she’s doing you a massive favor. This was before she dyed her hair black and stuff, but she always had that kind of personality. And then, because it was the three of us, the boys ended up coming too. So that made for an eventful evening…