SAM LIMMOND:
When Zoe went into her room to get it, Alex leaned in and kind of quietly told Liu she should politely decline. Liu just shrugged and said we’d just watched her try to politely decline. Al insisted that Liu actually decline. Liu started to say maybe this wasn’t any of our business, but we were trying to point out, like, “Doesn’t Zoe seem strange to you?” It just seemed so obvious to us she was going through some kind of manic episode. We’d both already been through one of those together, Alex and me, and there were a few more in our future. We knew the signs, and so, I’m sure, did Liu. It felt like she was taking advantage. When Zoe came back, Liu took that laptop without a fight.
So yeah, when Zoe went missing, it didn’t come as a huge shock. I thought it was sad but that she’d done something to herself. And there was the other side of things as well. Alex told me this story after, the real reason she’d tried to get Liu Wai to turn down that laptop. Al could be really abrupt. Indecisive for a long time and then very suddenly decisive, she did a lot of turning on her heel. So she must have announced she was leaving their flat for the day with absolute certainty, then an hour later had a typical change of heart and turned around. Only, when she got back there, she walked in on something that made her quite uncomfortable. She got inside, shouted hello, and went down the corridor toward the kitchen. When she got there, she said she found Andrew and Zoe pulling their clothes back on, both breathless, trying to style it out.
Their business, right?
Except when they disappeared into a bedroom, Al said she saw Zoe’s laptop, set up on the bookcase facing the sofa. It was filming. No one said or explained anything, but she said Zoe was acting weird. She said she looked pale and sick, like she was scared of something. Alex basically came away thinking they’d been making a sex tape, but mainly that Zoe was frightened of Andrew. You know, he did not want her to talk about whatever it was they’d been doing.
ANDREW FLOWERS:
I’m sorry, what is it that you’re asking me? Did I say the wrong name once while I was sleeping with my girlfriend? Did I fuck once in front of a camera? Did I upset Zoe from time to time? Or are you asking me something else? Are you, perhaps, asking if I had something to do with her disappearance?
SAM LIMMOND:
Anyway, Alex knew there could be footage on that laptop. Footage Zoe might not want out there in the world. And she was concerned because Zoe had just given it to Liu Wai, who could be like the town gossip.
LIU WAI:
That night at Fifth seemed like a turning point in some senses, you know? Obviously Andrew and Zoe had their bust-up over Kim, Zoe told me she was moving on from Andrew, and Kim had some kind of ordeal that put her in a funk for a few days. Then she suddenly changed her image and went goth. And I mean, overnight. She originally had this beautiful blond hair just like Zoe. Then, coming up to Christmas, she got thinner and thinner, and suddenly the hair was just gone, down into this military brush cut or something. She dyed what was left of it black and started dressing really punk and stuff. Andrew called her “The Girl without the Dragon Tattoo,” which I had to admit was quite funny.
KIMBERLY NOLAN:
I couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me before. There’d always been differences in style and hair between Zoe and me. I didn’t think we looked that much alike, but people around campus always confused us or hinted I was pulling off the look less well. I’d never felt comfortable in my own skin. But when I shaved my hair off, I felt like I was onto something, something like the real me.
LIU WAI:
Well, I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. The other is that her sister was so beautiful, so pure. When Kim changed her image, it was like an act of self-harm? Like she was refuting everything that Zoe was, like she was criticizing it. And then the next thing that happened was that Zoe went missing without a trace, and no one ever saw her again. I’ll leave your readers to draw their own conclusions from that.
* * *
4 This interview was transcribed by Evelyn in early 2018, before Kimberly had publicly told the story of her abduction from outside Fifth Avenue nightclub.—JK
From: [email protected]
Sent: 2019-01-28 19:27
To: you
on Sun, Jan 27, 2019, Joseph Knox [email protected] wrote:
Right—finally got some free hours and am up to ch.8. My conclusions:
1. Kim wrote the message on Zoe’s laptop but didn’t mean it to go so far.
2. Andrew was the guy buzzing the door in the night, trying to get Kim’s attention again. Trying to reignite the same “spark” he got on the night that she actually answered him. This would also explain the “shadow man” staring at Kim.
3. I also conclude that Fintan badly needs to get laid and Liu Wai doth protesteth too much. Did she really love Zoe or did she just love having money spent on her?? And why do I feel like the laptop has more relevance?
4. Alex thinking Zoe was scared of Andrew is very interesting too. I wish we could talk to her and work out what she actually meant by that. I hate that it comes secondhand from this Sam guy.
5. And speaking of Sam’s hands—he mentions loving tattoos—there wouldn’t happen to be a ghoulish smiling face inked into his skin, would there? He also mentions vodka, which I think is what got poured on Kim after her van ordeal. Something’s weird there. We only have HIS word for what Alex saw.
J
# # #
Well, you’re the expert, but I feel like you’re being quick to judge on Kim, Andrew, Fintan and Liu. Re: Sam, that’s something that had never actually occurred to me. He’s one of the few people I’ve had to speak to over the phone because he lives in France now and his involvement’s so small. I’ve trawled Facebook for a picture but can’t get a close-up of his hands. A LOT of tattoos though…
Your spidey-sense is right on the laptop. It’s coming back. And really ALL of Zoe’s drive to give her things away feels troubling. My police contact says they really zoned in on that afterward （alongside all the money she was spending） because it’s something suicidal people so often do. It’s considered a BIG warning sign.