FINTAN MURPHY:
I think I told her that she had to be mistaken. I took my phone out and started showing her pictures from Facebook, like, “You don’t know this girl?”
DR. HANNAH DOCHERTY:
And I assured him that I’d never seen her before in my life. I explained that the only reason I recognized her name was because she was one of my black marks—she had, as far as I knew, never attended a single lecture, class, workshop, anything. I’d been sending emails and letters, trying to establish if she’d even arrived at the university. Of course I’d learned from the housing department that she had. Her friend, Mr. Murphy, was quite stunned. Quite impressive, though, in another sense. He seemed to be so much more mature than people usually are at that age. His diligence on Zoe’s behalf made me warm to him.
He explained to me that she’d gone missing, then had me produce attendance records, correspondence, you name it. I think he even asked for the email addresses of other students from the course, to corroborate that Zoe hadn’t been in class, but I gently explained there were privacy guidelines and that I might be better off talking to the police.
KIMBERLY NOLAN:
The university cleared out another apartment on the fifteenth floor for my parents, somewhere they could stay over the Christmas break until we heard something about Zoe. I didn’t get a say, but it would have been the last thing I ever suggested. We always ended up congregating in one kitchen or another, just watching the paint peel off the walls. Alex was still around for another couple of days, still coming down from whatever she’d taken at the party, so there were five of us for a while. Me, my parents, Alex and Liu, all kind of waiting, when Fintan and DC Manning burst in.
SARAH MANNING:
Fintan arrived back at the tower out of breath, telling me to call Zoe’s tutor to confirm what I couldn’t even understand he was saying. Once I did, once Dr. Docherty more fully explained the situation, it was clear we needed to talk to the family and friends. When I mentioned Hannah Docherty’s name to them, it was nods all around, as if to say, “Of course they’re close.”
So I was watching everyone when I told them that Zoe and Hannah Docherty had never actually met. Either it really was news to them or they were very good actors. Rob Nolan called her a liar and stormed out. Kim started pointing at Fintan before she could even put what she was trying to say into words. She shouted something like, “But you’re her course mate. You met her in class.”
FINTAN MURPHY:
I’d met Zoe at orientation, and after that, we’d attended meetings of the Choir and Orchestra Society together. They were off campus, at St. Chrysostom’s Church. We weren’t actually in the same modules for anything. And while everyone was trying to process the Hannah Docherty situation, Sarah, the family liaison officer, was, quite sensibly, trying to establish how we’d all come under such a grave misapprehension. Specifically, she kept asking, “So what was Zoe doing with her time? Where did she spend her days? Was she staying in the flat?”
KIMBERLY NOLAN:
But it was the opposite of that. She got ready and went in most mornings, more than the rest of us, more than anyone else I knew. Afternoons as well, even weekends, even days when she didn’t have to.
LIU WAI:
As far as I knew, Zoe lived for her studies. I’d never met anyone my age who was more motivated.
KIMBERLY NOLAN:
And now we’re all looking at each other. Me, my parents, Fintan, Liu and Alex. I don’t even remember who said it, but we were all thinking the same thing. So where was she? Where had she been going all this time?
ANDREW FLOWERS:
Yes, well, the police were very touching when it came to the scratch marks, very concerned for my well-being. They made sure I saw a doctor and got treated and everything. After they’d taken pictures of the wounds, of course, as if they were going anywhere anytime soon. Then they just returned to their new favorite subject. Jai and Zoe, sitting in a tree, F-U-C-K-I-N-G.
The special relationship.
Their takeaway was that they’d been doing the dirty behind my back for weeks, calling, texting, meeting, screwing. I reiterated that, obviously, I didn’t know anything about it. They asked me why that should be obvious, and I said, “Because if I’d known, I’d have done something about it, wouldn’t I?” Then I realized they were looking at me differently. They said, “Oh yeah? You’d have done something like what?”
SARAH MANNING:
Detective James, the team and I were in close contact. We all agreed that Andrew causing Zoe’s disappearance because he was struggling to end their relationship seemed unlikely, so I think we closed that door early on. But he did have a temper, he could be arrogant and project these feelings of entitlement, and it was looking more and more likely that his girlfriend had been having an affair with his best friend. I think his potential anger at finding that out seemed like a much more compelling motive to us.
ANDREW FLOWERS:
I told them that if I’d known of an affair, I’d have had my ticket out of there, wouldn’t I? It would have solved all my sodding problems.
SARAH MANNING:
Alex Wilson told us an interesting story, about walking in on Andrew and Zoe filming the leaked video. Alex, in my experience, could be quite up and down, but she was obviously incredibly concerned, and I remember struggling to get my colleagues to take her seriously. Once they did, they had to sit up and listen.
She said she’d gotten the sense that Zoe was scared to death of Andrew in the moment when she’d walked in on them. Partners are always high on the list of suspects in cases like these, but I’d say Andrew’s name got underlined as a result of that. I’d say in some police notebooks, it’s still underlined today.
ROBERT NOLAN:
I’d been pressing from the word go, from the minute we first got there. Let’s get on the news, let’s get in the papers, let’s get an appeal going. Let’s put some pressure on the pig who’s got her and keep it up.
SARAH MANNING:
Mr. Nolan was essentially trying to organize a press conference on the first afternoon he arrived, but DI James was able to talk him out of it. Within the first twenty-four hours, we couldn’t be absolutely certain if Zoe even really was missing.