

Marguerite O'Callaghan was born in Cork City in 1982 and now lives in North London with artist Luci Maclaren and a black cat called Angelo. She is a self-confessed ethical hedonist, existentialist, animal lover, and she claims to laugh more than the average person. Marguerite also works as a television producer, specialising in true crime. She has a BA in English and Sociology, an MA in Irish Writing, and has studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia at post-graduate level.

Also by Marguerite O'Callaghan

Fiction

This Dark Town ll: The House in the Woods

This Dark Town lll: Us and Them

LINKS:

Click me for Amazon US link to 'The House in the Woods'

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Click me for Amazon AU link to 'The House in the Woods'

Click me for Amazon US link to 'Us and Them'

Click me for Amazon UK link to 'Us and Them'

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Click me for Amazon AU link to 'Us and Them'

This Dark Town I:

WHEN

YOU'RE

GONE

marguerite o'callaghan

.

for lost girls, everywhere.
Prologue

No-one has seen or heard from eighteen-year-old Kate Stone in almost five days. She just went out one night and never came home. No texts. No calls. Nothing.

Kate is extremely popular and well-liked, a successful model with a wide circle of friends and a large extended family.

At first, police assume it will be a classic runaway situation and the teenager will be home as soon as she gets lonely, bored or runs out of money, but new information just received means things have escalated and a full team is now on the case.

CCTV cameras place Kate at a night-club in south London on the night she went missing: Friday 6th May.

The strange thing is the footage shows Kate going into the night-club, but there is no evidence she ever came back out.

It's like the ground just opened up and swallowed her whole.

1

Detective Tom McCarthy parks just off East Heath Road in Hampstead, North London. He's outside Hepburn House and about to meet the people who live there; the distraught family of missing teenager, Kate Stone.

This gothic mansion has been in the Stone family for almost a century and it's the last place Kate was seen by her family on Friday night.

McCarthy is sure that someone, or something inside its giant walls will help him to figure out where she is.

The detective rolls his eyes when he spots his partner, Phil Davies smoking and staring at his phone outside the front gates of Hepburn House. McCarthy slams the car door behind him, nods at Davies, and walks the short distance to where he's standing.

'Are you undercover, mate? What's with the denim, and that stain on your shirt? Have you been up all night or something?'

Davies didn't make it in for the morning meeting, and it isn't the first time he's looked so disheveled at work, either. McCarthy lets him know it's not going unnoticed and Davies shakes his head dramatically in apology.

'Sorry, boss. I had another fight with Caroline and ended up driving off in a hurry. I stayed at a friend's place in Chalk Farm.'

McCarthy responds with an unimpressed look and opens the small gate in front of them leading to the Stone's driveway.

Davies, quickly drops his cigarette to the ground and as he follows McCarthy through the gate and across the graveled driveway, he changes the subject to Kate Stone.

'Hey, I googled this missing girl and all I can say is 'wow'. You never said she was a model. She looks like Cheryl Cole, man!'

McCarthy silences his partner with a solemn look.

'When are you going to grow up, Davies? She's a missing person, not a potential Tinder date. You know, I can actually have a more mature conversation with my four-year-old daughter. Get a grip!'

McCarthy rings the doorbell and rolls his eyes. His patience is wearing thin.

But, Davies can't help himself, and after a few brief moments of silence, starts again.

'You know what the best thing is?'

McCarthy turns and glares at him, wide-eyed.

'What?' he almost spits.

Davies leans in closer and with a slight smile and a distinct twinkle in his eye, whispers:

'There's two of them. She's got a twin!'

Before McCarthy can tell his idiotic partner to shut up and take things a little bit more seriously, the door opens and a pale and disturbed-looking Mrs Stone appears before them.

'Gentlemen. Good morning. I'm Barbara. Come in please. I'll make us some tea.'

Barbara delivers her words gracefully and manages a weak smile before making her way down the long hall towards the kitchen.

The men step inside and close the heavy door behind them. McCarthy gives his partner a look of warning, but Davies is blissfully unaware and stares around, open-mouthed.

Hepburn House is huge. The hallway alone is about two-hundred square feet and its walls are covered in sculptures, abstract landscapes, portraits and old maps.

Some of the traditional pieces look like they've come straight out of The National Gallery and the ceilings are the highest Davies has ever seen in a domestic residence.

But there's not enough time to look as hard as he would like to and he follows McCarthy and Barbara down the hall to the large well-lit kitchen at the back of the house.

Barbara Stone is often mistaken for her twin daughters' older sister. She's undeniably beautiful, with olive skin, hazel eyes and long dark hair that hovers just above her narrow waist.

She had Kate and Lydia when she was twenty-three and felt like the three of them grew up together.

Due to a medical complication during the birth, Barbara wasn't able to have any more children after the twins were born, but she and her husband, Brian are perfectly content with their family exactly the way it is.

It was only when the twins got to thirteen or fourteen that Barbara felt a bit left out, like she'd lost her best friends. The spa days and late-night cinema outings came to a sudden halt and the girls - especially Kate - wanted privacy above all else and didn't even like Barbara coming into their bedrooms.

Everyone kept saying that's just what teenagers were like, but Barbara had felt tossed aside.

That being said, she knew she was lucky to have Brian and the girls. Her life could have taken a very different turn if it wasn't for them and in the eighteen years since the twins were born she has been asking herself what she did to deserve this happy, comfortable life.

Nothing could ever have prepared her for what was happening now.

'Mrs Stone, will your husband be joining us, as planned?'

McCarthy's voice is gentle. He waits patiently for Barbara's response and watches as she pours tea into three large green mugs.

'Yes. Sorry. He's upstairs with Lydia at the moment. She's had a bad night. Give them a minute. They know you're here... and please, Detective, call me Barbara.'

Even in the middle of this, Barbara is the perfect hostess, bringing fruit cake and biscuits to the table and doing her best to make the men feel welcome.

But, she looks up at the ceiling, hoping her husband will appear soon.

She doesn't want to do this alone.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Brian appears at the kitchen door.

He's a tall slim man with sparkling blue eyes, thin lips, receding grey hair and a short beard. At fifty-eight, he's seventeen years older than his wife.

He introduces himself, shakes hands with McCarthy and Davies and thanks them for coming before giving Barbara a kiss on the cheek.

Brian was the one to call 999 on Saturday, but because of Kate's age and the fact that she hadn't been missing for more than twenty-four hours, police could do very little besides writing up a report at that stage.

The lady he'd spoken to had been very helpful and given him some comfort in the statistics she was aware of, as she explained how lots of teenage girls did this sort of thing after a fight with a boyfriend or experimenting with alcohol.

She also said that as upsetting as it is, the vast majority of missing teenagers turn up after a few days and she asked if Kate had done anything like this before.

Brian snapped back at her in response, saying that of course she hadn't. Then, he remembered her sixteenth birthday.

Kate had wanted to go to Brighton for the weekend with a couple of school friends and he and Barbara had said she was too young to go away for that length of time.

She'd had a huge tantrum, stormed out of the house and didn't call or text for the whole weekend.

They were furious and grounded her for two months when she came back. Even Lydia had stopped talking to her for a few days and those two were usually joined at the hip.

Kate had always been loud and a bit of a risk-taker, but this blatant betrayal of trust had left the whole family in a state of shock. None of them could believe that she would do something so rebellious.

Brian had hung up the phone and turned to his wife, smiling weakly as he reminded her about the Brighton weekend.

Since that first call to police, another day had passed. And another.

When Barbara called them again on Monday she was completely frantic and literally begging for their help.

The family had already contacted all of Kate's friends and nobody had any idea where she might be, and it didn't look like she ran off somewhere for fun either.

Barbara had felt in her gut that something awful had happened to her daughter.

Now, McCarthy and Davies sit at one side of the table and the Stones sit at the other.

Brian tells them to ask anything at all they think might help, but McCarthy wants to leave the questions until Lydia joins them.

Lydia's been lurking out in the hallway for a few minutes and when she hears her name, she meekly enters the room, walks to the large kitchen table and slides onto the bench next to her dad, without catching anyone's eye or acknowledging the detectives' presence.

She is naturally slim like her sister and extraordinarily beautiful, with the same dark eyes, exquisite bone structure and long dark hair.

But, today she also looks frail and ill. Her blue cardigan falls off to one side and the exposed bare shoulder looks skeletal.

Lydia's usually perfect skin is pale and blotchy too and her eyes are bloodshot from crying.

Barbara instinctively reaches out to fix Lydia's cardigan and gently moves her long hair out of her face.

'Tea, my love?'

Lydia says yes to tea, smiles weakly at the strangers sitting opposite and fiddles with the bracelets on her wrist.

It doesn't take long for McCarthy to get down to business and over the next hour the family answer question after question about Kate's life.

They hand over her laptop, phone, some personal photographs and make a list of anyone they can think of that she may have been in touch with.

McCarthy asks about her modelling career and how she got into that line of work in the first place, so Lydia carefully tells him about the night they both met Hugh Thomas at a cabaret show at Proud in Camden.

Hugh had given Kate his business card and told her he owned a modelling agency, but neither she nor Lydia believed he was the real deal until they googled him the next day.

Then, Kate had been delirious with excitement. She'd dreamed about getting into modelling since she was twelve or thirteen, and immediately started talking about flying all over the world, meeting celebrities and getting into acting one day.

Kate was thrilled at the idea of being famous and Hugh Thomas was offering just that.

But, Kate was only sixteen at that point and Hugh wanted her parents' permission before she did any work for him.

'My husband and I weren't sure about all this modelling business at first, but to be honest it didn't come as a huge shock when she was scouted. Did it, Brian?'

Brian nods to his wife in agreement and takes over when she stops speaking.

'Kate wanted to do lots of things... acting, art, fashion blogging. But this modelling thing just lit her whole face up, you know? And she had what it took to make it, so... how could we say no?'

Brian looks at Lydia and explains to McCarthy and Davies that his daughters are very different from each other.

Hugh had asked Lydia to consider modelling too, but she wasn't interested.

Brian explains that Lydia is shy, quite introverted compared to her sister and isn't really into fashion or make-up or being the centre of attention.

Lydia looks self-conscious and irritated at the way her father is describing her and she almost squirms uncomfortably in her seat.

She continues to play with the bracelets on her wrist as her parents explain that since signing with Hugh's agency, Kate has done really well, travelled lots and was planning to defer her journalism degree for a couple of years.

She wanted to model first, see the world. She'd also won some big campaigns in the past two years, earning large amounts of money.

On hearing this, McCarthy asks what Kate does with her earnings and Barbara and Brian look at one another, as if trying to figure out if the other one knows how to answer his question.

Lydia rolls her eyes and sighs at their reaction.

'Kate spends her modelling money.'

Her tone is matter of fact and her voice is louder than before.

'I'm sure she's got some in the bank and she's bought a new car and things like that, but she spends a lot on partying, holidays, clothes...'

'How much money are we talking?' McCarthy asks.

'It's important we know how much she can get her hands on.'

Before exchanging a look and nod with her husband, Barbara tells the detectives that she doesn't know the exact amount, but she could see that the balance on Kate's current account was £175,000 recently when Kate was accessing her online bank account on her laptop.

'...and that doesn't include her investment plan or savings account.'

Davies whistles under his breath and McCarthy shoots him a look.

'That's a lot of cash for a teenager to have access to. Does your daughter have an accountant?' McCarthy asks, calmly.

'...and can we get a breakdown of her earnings? Has anyone been able to see if she's accessed any money since Friday? That's really the most important thing to know.'

Barbara and Brian look at one another for reassurance.

It's obvious that neither of them have a clue about Kate's finances.

'Mr and Mrs Stone, I need one of you to call the bank immediately to escalate this. Give them my name, the reference number on this card and tell them they can call the police station directly to verify this is real. As of today, this is a missing person case and we need to move fast.'

Barbara leaves the room to call the bank and McCarthy continues to flick through Kate's modelling portfolio.

It's obvious that the twins are identical, but in the modelling shots Kate looks so much older than her sister and some of the images are extremely provocative.

In one, for a well-known lingerie brand, she's lying on a bed, wearing high heels and the smallest piece of black lace imaginable, her hair barely covering her breasts.

Lydia hovers next to him as he slowly turns the pages.

'She's almost unrecognisable with all that make-up, isn't she? Glamour shots they call those.'

As she comments on the images, McCarthy notices the smell of cigarette smoke on Lydia's clothes and the chipped nail varnish on her bitten, unkempt fingernails.

He has a feeling that she isn't the shy wall-flower her parents think she is.

Maybe, compared to her twin sister she seems quiet, but Lydia Stone certainly has all the typical teenage girl traits he's seen in his nieces.

McCarthy has grown to believe that there is a certain contradiction in the way teenagers want to be perceived.

They want to blend in with their peers but they also long to stand out, to be original and special.

It seems like they're in constant turmoil about who they are; one of the crowd or totally unique.

McCarthy imagines eighteen must be a pretty tricky age, not quite an adult but not a child anymore, either.

He's also getting the impression that Lydia doesn't love the fact that Kate is such a successful model and he wonders if she's jealous of all the attention and money her sister gets.

He notices the way Lydia looks at him as he flicks through Kate's modelling photographs and thinks she definitely seems irritated.

He leans in to take a closer look at the lingerie shot.

'This doesn't leave much to the imagination. Does it?'

Lydia responds immediately, her voice a little louder than his.

'Quite slutty I think, but Kate doesn't care. She loves it, actually.'

Brian gives his daughter a stern look when he hears what she's said.

McCarthy changes the subject.

'I need to ask about the club Kate went to on Friday night.'

McCarthy looks at Brian first, then Lydia. He wants to make sure they're paying attention before he continues.

'Haven, as you may or may not know, is not a regular night club. It's quite... specific... It's a fetish club. And it's not for the faint-hearted.'

Brian stares at McCarthy in disbelief and shakes his head as McCarthy continues.

'Why would Kate have gone there? Lydia, you were the one who passed the club name on to the police when she first went missing, weren't you? What can you tell us?'

Lydia takes a deep breath, and is about to say something, when her father's booming voice fills the room.

'A fetish club? Are you sure? Kate is eighteen-years-old, Detective McCarthy! There's no way she even knows what the word 'fetish' means.'

Brian looks to his wife who has just re-entered the room. She is wide-eyed and disturbed-looking. Both of her parents look at Lydia as if she is somehow in on something and keeping a secret from them.

'What? Why are you looking at me like I know anything about this? I just know the name of the club! It's Kate for God's sake! She doesn't tell me anything. I don't care how you want to portray things to the police, but she's wild, and you both know it. She knew exactly what kind of club she was going to. Dungeons and whips and all kinds of weird shit.'

Lydia glares at her father, then turns and shrugs her shoulders at McCarthy, before leaving the room and slamming the door on the way out.

Barbara is quick to defend her daughter, telling them that she knows Lydia is acting like this because she's worried people will think less of Kate if they find out she went to Haven. She tells them that Lydia feels it's her duty to protect her sister, and they've always been unbelievably close. Barbara swears they can communicate without speaking, and when they were babies they seemed to have their own little language that no-one else understood. She excuses herself and goes to follow Lydia upstairs, but McCarthy stops her, motions to Davies that they need to go, and tells the Stones he will be in touch later on to discuss the next steps.

'I know this is tough, but it's important we gather as much information as we can, as quickly as possible.'
2

McCarthy and Davies drive in contemplative silence before pulling over for an early lunch at Eat Tokyo in Golders Green.

When they finish eating, McCarthy tells Davies to set up some interviews with Kate's close friends and her agent, Hugh Thomas.

'I want everyone on the list booked in for today or tomorrow, okay?'

Davies nods.

'If they don't come to the station, tell them we know where they live and we'll be popping around for a visit.'

Davies knows he has to work hard to avoid McCarthy submitting another complaint about him. This case is way more interesting to him than the last one he worked on and he genuinely wants to get things right for Kate Stone and her family, but when McCarthy mentions visiting Haven, Davies imagines both of them in fetish clothing as they interview the club manager.

'Do we need to get leather trousers and gimp masks for the club? Is that the kind of thing we can put on the expenses sheet, boss?'

McCarthy smiles weakly and shakes his head, before getting up from the table and walking outside, leaving Davies to pay the bill.

He needs to make a private call.

3

Lydia is in her bedroom with her boyfriend, Simon and they're posting about Kate online.

Molly, Lydia's spaniel sleeps at the bottom of the bed.

Lydia and Simon have been in one another's lives since they were five years old. They were friends first, and on Lydia's sixteenth birthday, Simon finally asked her out, never expecting her to actually say yes.

He is steady, consistent and happy to stay in the background, like Lydia, but she knows he's as stunned as anyone about Kate's disappearance. The Stone family are everything to Simon and he wants to show them just how dependable and strong he can be in a crisis, even taking it upon himself to set up the Facebook page for Kate, urging people to make contact if they have any information that might help.

Thousands of people have already shared the page, expressing shock and bewilderment at the story. There are also lots of private messages that the couple have to trawl through, in case anyone knows something that might be useful.

Lydia scrolls through the countless comments under photos of her missing sister.

'There are way more perverts in the world than I thought possible. One guy has written "This girl is hot as shit. I would probably kidnap her myself if given half the chance" and it says thirty-two people liked that comment?! Why are people saying she was kidnapped, Simon?'

Simon shakes his head and shuffles his way along the bed towards Lydia, takes the laptop from her and gently closes it. Everything is so quiet, careful and precise with Simon. He puts an arm around her, pulls her close, suggests a break for an hour to get a little bit of sleep, and offers to wait next to her, so he can wake her if any calls or important messages come through. Lydia wipes the tears from her eyes, gets up, and walks across the room. For some reason, she can't stand being close to anyone right now, especially Simon. Until Kate is found safe, Lydia needs as much space as possible. She puts on her coat and calls out for Molly.

'I'll call you tonight, Si. I just need to be on my own for a while.'

Although his face shows he's hurt, Simon nods and smiles gently, but Lydia is already gazing beyond him, out the window and into the woods across the road.

Hampstead Heath has always been the place Lydia feels most like herself, and she knows just how lucky she is to live so close to the centre of London, and also right in the middle of all this green, wildness, and fresh air. In Lydia's opinion, Hampstead is the most beautiful part of London, and she never wants to live anywhere else. Even on grey, cold days, the heath is stunningly beautiful, and it changes so much with every season.

There's a gentle buzz of growth about today, and she can smell spring in the air. The wild flowers are blooming too, and she likes to remind herself what each one is called as she sees it for the first time. She and Kate have done this since they were little, and their mum had taught them what everything was. Walking towards the duck pond, Lydia sees cornflowers, daisies, marigolds, and corn chamomile, and she names each aloud. Molly runs along beside her, occasionally stopping to sniff something or greet another dog. It's a bright day and not even 2PM, but there's a wind that occasionally blasts Lydia in the ears, and the sensation, mixed with the sound of swaying trees, makes her suddenly feel disoriented. Molly, sensing that Lydia isn't well, barks at her from time to time and stays close, sometimes letting out a cry or whine until Lydia sits on a bench and comforts her.

Molly is a rescue dog that Kate and Mum got for Lydia when she was thirteen and just had her tonsils out. The day she got Molly was one of the happiest of Lydia's whole life. It had been a bad few months with exams, illness and mean girls at school, and she was recovering from the operation at home when the family threw a surprise party for her. Her friends had arrived with 'Get Well Soon' cards, balloons and presents and her cousins in Florida even skyped in to join the party. Simon was there too with his little brother George and they played a special song on a tiny keyboard they'd written for Lydia. It was absolutely adorable and made her laugh so much. She remembers it all so clearly; sun-light flooded the room, her mum had made delicious snacks and drinks for everyone, and just when Lydia thought the day couldn't be any more special, Kate came in with the little wicker laundry basket they used to share and a huge smile on her face. Lydia knew she was up to something.

Kate was so beautiful that day, wearing one of their mother's vintage dresses and a purple feather boa. She loved dressing up almost as much as she loved to tease her sister.

'Just coz you've had your tonsils out doesn't mean you don't have to do your laundry, sis!'

Kate had made this announcement and placed the basket on floor right next to Lydia's bed.

'Open it!' Kate mouthed to her, her eyes glowing with love and excitement. Lydia remembers how everyone in the room went quiet, watching as she opened the basket to find a twelve-week-old Molly inside; a tiny ball of golden perfection, huddled in a pink blanket.

When Molly saw Lydia peering down at her, she jumped right out of the basket and into her arms, gave out a little yelp, and Lydia just melted. All she had ever wanted was a puppy, and it had finally happened. She was a sobbing mess and could barely speak with all of the emotion she was feeling, so she just held the little dog close and accepted all of the licks, kisses and tail wags Molly showered on her. Everyone was so happy in that magical moment.

Now, Molly is a constant reminder to Lydia of the happy times, how much Lydia's family love her, and the special bond the twins have with one another. The beautiful happy memory is in such stark contrast to today's reality and the fact that her sister is gone, that Lydia bursts into tears. Molly barks and yelps so Lydia leans down to cuddle her as tears stream from her eyes.

On the short journey home, Lydia is aware that she must look awful, and plans to get straight in the shower when she gets back and put some decent clothes on. She has got to pull herself together.

4

A few miles away, at the police station in Hendon Hugh Thomas answers question after question about Kate Stone.

McCarthy is highly suspicious of this man and doesn't trust a word he says. In his opinion, Hugh looks like he has been dressed by Jean Paul Gaulltier with the assistance of a woodland nymph; his navy and white t-shirt is skin-tight, except for sleeves that seem to have some sort of ruffle on them, and McCarthy wonders if the item was even meant to be worn by a man. Hugh's dark jeans have glitter on the buttons. These 'fashion people' baffled McCarthy.

Hugh tells them about the night he spotted Kate in Camden, and how he immediately wanted to sign her up to his agency. She was out partying with her sister and about five other teenagers, having a loud boisterous night at Proud Cabaret. Hugh recalls how he had approached the girls at the bar, handed them his card, and he hadn't even noticed they were twins until he was standing right next to them. Then, he was interested in signing both of the girls. They were stunning; the kind of young ladies a model agent only dreams of discovering: five-foot-nine, about 120lbs, exquisite bone structure, immaculate skin, perfect, long dark hair, and obviously plenty of personality. Kate was the striking one of course; she knew what her looks could do, and she worked it. Lydia was much more self-conscious, and still very much an awkward teen hiding under layers of clothes.

Hugh asks McCarthy if he's seen Kate's modelling portfolio and McCarthy nods that he has.

'Good. You know what I mean then. That girl is on her way to being the next big thing.'

Davies asks Hugh how much money he makes from Kate and he refuses to answer. Then, Davies asks if he's ever had sex with her and Hugh stands up to leave. McCarthy shouts at him to sit back down, and answer the question or he'll regret it.

The tone in the room has changed and McCarthy's voice is deep and loud. Hugh is visibly shaken. He starts to stutter and he tells them he's happily married to Sandra, a wonderful woman he met in Holland five years ago. They have two children together and live in Kent. Hugh tells them he loves the fashion business but does not disrespect, or abuse people like they are suggesting. He cares about Kate and her family, considers them friends, and is worried sick about what the hell is going on. He tells them that he's deeply offended that anyone would suggest that he was even remotely interested in having sex with a young vulnerable girl like Kate Stone.

McCarthy is now sitting opposite Hugh, taking in every word and syllable, reading each blink, hand gesture and intonation. If he's lying, he's doing a bloody good job. McCarthy asks where he was on Friday night, and Hugh answers that he was at home with his family all evening. He adds that he had no idea that Kate was at Haven.

A few minutes later they say they'll be in touch and Hugh is free to go, for now. As soon as he's left the room, McCarthy grabs his coat and tells Davies to follow him.

'We're going to see what this club, Haven is all about.'
5

McCarthy has been with the police for sixteen years and seen a lot of London in that time; the seediest parts of Soho with its brothels, massage parlours, sex shops and twenty-four-hour gay saunas. He's also seen a wealthy privileged side, that in his opinion is much more hidden and insidious. Just nine months ago, McCarthy set up the raid of a west London mansion block in a trafficking case, arresting several men who turned out to be essentially, middle-eastern royalty who were buying and selling underage girls and keeping them as drugged-up sex slaves.

Yet, to date, no-one had been formally charged for these crimes and none of the victims were willing to press charges or testify. You couldn't make this stuff up; the city was full of sex and the business of sex was thriving.

McCarthy also knew the exploitation of immigrants was the worst. Often, these people had no family or friends in the UK and were desperate to make money and survive. Having fled war-torn countries and extreme poverty, they came to cities like London only to be abused and used. McCarthy has seen girls and boys as young as twelve living as slaves, with no way out, and even if they are discovered by authorities, nine times out of ten they will deny what's going on, terrified of being punished and full of shame.

Victims, McCarthy had come to learn, stayed victims way too often in this life. Fear and shame breaks people down, and that's what trauma and abuse instills in you; fear and shame.

And the inequality and corruption that exists in this world means that the poor, homeless, or those without a voice often stay hidden in the dark margins of society, remaining unprotected and powerless, unless they themselves become criminals or abusers. It was a cycle - a system - that meant he would never run short of cases to keep him busy.

McCarthy has two kids himself, a seven-year old boy called Felix, and a four-year-old girl, Elsa. When his children were born, he got a second wind for catching criminals; he had never loved properly until he held his babies in his arms, and with that love came the deepest, strongest urge to protect he could ever have imagined.

Having a family made him appreciate the fragility and preciousness of life so much more, and now when he saw or heard of a child in need of protection he was filled with determination to do whatever it took to help them. That's what he would expect if Felix or Elsa were in danger; utter dedication and respect, and that's what he brought to this job every single day.

Although he's never been to Haven, McCarthy has certainly heard about it and can imagine the clientele it attracts. It was pretty much world famous at this stage, and even A-List celebrities were said to pay its VIP balcony a visit. Cameras are strictly prohibited inside, and lots of people wear masks so it's the ideal place to party undercover if you want to disappear for a night. It was fetish and fantasy attire only, and the website read:

'No fancy-dress. No regular clothing.'

As they pull up outside the club, McCarthy is struck with how large the building is. It looks like it was once a factory or warehouse of some kind, and it's certainly not the type of place he had in mind for such a high-profile club event.

He finds his mind drifting to what goes on inside, how many entrances the club has. He wonders if it's so far out of town to avoid attention, and allow for guests to arrive and leave discreetly. Haven is quite near the river Thames too, and there's a definite smell of the river here, mixed with city pollution. Not exactly pleasant.

Davies asks McCarthy if they're meeting the owner and is promptly ignored. McCarthy wonders how this guy can be so slow, he told him back at the office about an hour ago that they were meeting Tony Briggs today and he's not going to repeat himself.

Instead, he sighs, pushes the heavy doors in front of him and enters the building. The lights are out in the long corridor leading from the front entrance to the main foyer, and as he and Davies walk down it, towards the second set of heavy double doors, McCarthy calls out to see if anyone is there. There's just enough light coming from small windows in the doors at the end of the corridor to navigate by, but it makes for a pretty creepy atmosphere to say the least.

The distinct smell of dry ice and perfume lingers in the air; the stink of hundreds of party-goers that were here just days ago, at the same time as Kate Stone.

Kate will have walked this exact corridor, McCarthy thinks to himself, and somewhere, amongst the particles of stale perfume, her scent lingers too.

The club itself is nestled deep within the building's walls and all of the rooms with windows are used for offices or storage, while inner spaces and staged areas lack natural light of any kind. Without music, people or proper lighting, the effect is tomb-like and as McCarthy walks around the place, he thinks to himself that this must be the most sound-proof space in London.

After a minute or so, they hear footsteps above their heads; the floorboards creak and the theatrical voice of Tony Briggs echoes dramatically from the gallery. He speaks carefully and loudly, annunciating every syllable much in the way a shakespearean actor would.

'Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen. I've got two sword swallowers and a gymnast dwarf up here waiting to get paid.'

Tony laughs loudly at the picture he has painted for these straight-looking detectives. He likes to shock. That never stops, not even when a police investigation is going on. He walks slowly and carefully down the stairs. The man certainly has presence, and this is not the first time his club has been under a magnifying glass, so he's not daunted by the thought of it happening again. In fact, the media coverage will be welcome; spring and summer are the quietest months and profits are always low. People's kinks and fetishes always seek a hiding place at Haven in the dark winter months, and often shy away in the light of the sun.

Tony shakes hands with his guests and offers them a coffee. Davies is staring, almost open-mouthed at him, as he shakes his head slowly from side to side without uttering a sound. To him, Tony looks like a vampire, with pale skin, gaunt frame and white spiked hair. He's wearing leather trousers and a shirt that seems to be made from thin grey rope, tied together in a series of intricate knots. Around his neck hang several silver spikes, chains and what looks like a bird claw. Over the top of the outfit, Tony is wearing a long leather coat; a look he's now famous for.

He's a walking advertisement for the alternative, hedonistic side of London and has been for almost two decades. He lives and breathes fetish, fantasy and escape and he reminds Davies of a character from 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'. He's a show man: flamboyant, sharp, highly entertaining, and most people will never have met anyone like him. He makes you feel like you're privy to something special and witness to a world that's forbidden, exciting and wild.

Tony offers the men a tour, and they willingly follow him around the main room and stage area, passing two large cages as they do.

'That's where we keep the really naughty ones.'

Tony announces this with an exaggerated wink and goes on to say that the club has a total capacity for two thousand people, with about eight hundred in the main room, alone. They follow him upstairs to the gallery space and VIP area with its extravagant black and gold walls, glass table-tops, and huge chandeliers. It's divided into sections, with one area for performance, another for viewing the massive dance floor below, and another for table dancing, complete with poles and mirrored walls. McCarthy spots a pink neon sign at the other side of the gallery that reads 'Play Room'. He points at it and asks to have a look.

Tony claps his hands and almost skips towards the entrance. 'The best bit!' he announces as he pushes the heavy doors open and disappears inside.

The 'Play Room' smells strongly of leather and talc, and is basically a sound-proofed dungeon; a space for those who like sadomasochism to indulge their desires in front of a small audience.

Davies has never seen anything like it, and he walks slowly and cautiously from one strange-looking contraption to another. It looks a bit like gym equipment to him, except with wrist and ankle ties, and he wonders how there can be so many different ways to tie someone up.

'Is this for torturing people, then?' he asks Tony, all of a sudden. It's the first thing he's said to this guy since they arrived and McCarthy winces upon hearing his partner's annoying voice. Trust him to make them both look like amateurs.

Tony leans on a piece of wooden furniture that looks like something between gym horse and gallows, and with a wry smile he tells Davies that the play room is for 'whatever he fancies'.

He winks again, making Davies blush this time, then proceeds to parade around the room showing off the new flogging area and equipment. He always gets a kick out of flirting with straight people. It was just too easy.

'You might think of this place as dark and seedy, but it's far from it, gentlemen. I run a professional business and everything here is top of the range, clean, monitored and managed. I look after my guests and my staff. I watch them, closely. Here, no-one gets hurt more than they want to get hurt and nothing happens here that I don't know about. And that includes your missing girl.'

Tony had already been questioned briefly by police a couple of days after Kate went missing. As soon as her family had reported her disappearance they said they believed she was headed to Haven on Friday night, so police had made contact with the club.

Tony had told them he would help in any way he could, and when they said they'd send through a photograph of Kate, he agreed to pass it on to the staff that were working that night. He recognised her, but couldn't be sure if it was through the club, or because he had seen one of her modelling campaigns at some point. Yesterday, they sent an officer around who told Tony they had CCTV from the front gates that showed Kate entering the club, and they needed access to any security system he had in place there, too. Tony had handed over everything he had, but now these guys were here looking at him like he had her tied up in the basement.

McCarthy asks if they can take a look at the security system, or any cameras they have, and Tony tells him the same thing he told the other officers; they don't have any internal cameras, only external ones, and police already have copies of all footage from the front door and the two fire exits. He also tells them that he was working himself on Friday night and saw and heard nothing out of the ordinary. When they closed, he even sat and had a drink with everyone who worked that night, apart from the bar staff who had gone home at that stage. No-one had reported anything unusual.

McCarthy believes Tony, but this does not help in any way. If there were no cameras at Haven that night, they would have to rely solely on finding people who saw Kate with their own eyes.

They also needed to go through the camera footage with a fine-tooth comb in case she slipped out one of the exits with a crowd.

Before they leave, McCarthy and Davies take photographs of every bit of the club and ask Tony for the floor plans. He hands them a copy and also gives them a training manual as well as a list of all the staff members that were on the rota for that night. Tony has highlighted the manager of each department, and says he's told everyone there's an investigation going on, so it won't be a surprise to any of them if they're contacted. Tony seems genuinely interested in helping, and concerned for Kate.

'She is an absolutely gorgeous girl. And so very young. I can't imagine what her family are going through. I really hope she turns up soon.'

As they're shaking hands at the front door, McCarthy lets Tony know they will likely have to do a full search of the venue, and he'll be in touch with details in the next few hours.

Once outside, the men are glad to see daylight. McCarthy squints into the bright grey sky, and tells Davies to drive the car back to the station.

'I'll take the train. It's faster. I need to go home for an hour or so. Keep me posted if anything happens and DO NOT turn your phone off or go to the pub, okay?'

McCarthy wants to make it home before his children's bed time, and calls Fran to let her know he'll be there in twenty minutes.

6

The next morning, Davies shows Brian and Barbara Stone into his office. It's now been six days since their daughter went missing.

The CCTV footage of Kate going into Haven is on a laptop in the corner of the room and as soon as they see it, Brian and Barbara rush over. Barbara is convinced that she will be able to see something the police have missed. McCarthy puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder and nods at Brian before leaning over to press play.

The black and white footage jumps about a bit and isn't easy to decipher. For a minute or two, they all watch the screen as people arrive at Haven, walk the short distance from the gates to the entrance, and show their tickets to the door staff.

The time code on the screen reads 23.17, when Kate appears and walks quickly towards the entrance. She's wearing a long black coat and her favourite Vivienne Westwood heels. Barbara lets out a gasp when she sees her and moves closer to the screen.

'Why isn't there any sound? Can we zoom in, please?'

McCarthy leans forward, pauses playback for a moment, and takes the time to explain to both of them that their digital team have done everything they can to make the image as clear as possible, but no sound exists for the footage. Barbara nods in understanding, asks him to play the rest, and they continue to watch as Kate joins the short queue outside the club, shows her ticket at the door, and walks inside. There's a brief moment when she looks behind her as the man checks her ticket. And that's it.

It's undeniably her, but there's nothing in the footage that tells them who Kate was meeting, or even what her state of mind was at the time. Brian says that he thinks it's strange she went in alone.

'Usually she has a big group, but I suppose she was meeting them inside. Whoever they are...'

McCarthy tells the Stones that they've gone through all recorded activity at the club from 9PM on Friday night, to when the last person left the next morning after 5AM. Kate is simply not seen leaving through the main doors or either of the fire exits at the back. They have also retrieved CCTV from the two streets adjacent to the building, had a team go over it numerous times, and there's no trace of her there, either.

Davies rewinds, then pauses on the frame of Kate looking over her shoulder, and all four of them stare at it for a few seconds. Then, McCarthy asks if they have thought of anything that was troubling her.

'Is there anything at all we should know about? No one had threatened her or was following her, that you're aware of? Your family doesn't have any known enemies or anything like that?'

Barbara looks like she is going to faint. She tells them she needs to lie down, and within minutes, she and Brian are in the car on the way home.

Kate's face, frozen on screen in black and white is fresh in her mind.

7

Lydia is walking down a familiar path on Hampstead Heath. The turning to the duck pond is coming up on the left and she has a longing to get there quickly, so she can sit down and rest on one of the benches.

All of a sudden, she sees someone in the distance who looks just like Kate. The girl is even wearing the same long blue parka with a fur hood that Kate liked to wear on Heath walks.

Lydia breaks into a light jog, making her way towards the figure. After a few seconds, the reality of the situation sinks in, the fact that Kate has been gone for nearly a week. Lydia frantically shouts out her sister's name and starts to run towards her as fast as she can, but she trips over a large branch and hits the hard ground.

She immediately pushes herself to her feet and can hear Kate calling out to her now, but Lydia can't see her anywhere. Her chest tightens in panic. She can feel hands on her and she wrestles with them as the world around her fades to black.

Her eyes open and she sees that the hands belong to her mother.

'Darling, Lydia! It's me. You've had another dream.'

8

On Friday May 13th, Lydia gets off the bus in Hendon Central and walks the short distance to the police station. It's now been a week since her twin sister's disappearance and police are no closer to finding her.

McCarthy meets her just inside the entrance and Lydia is relieved when he suggests coffee and a walk. He can see that she's anxious, and knows the cold, male-dominated police station might not be the best place for an eighteen-year-old girl to feel relaxed or able to open up.

As they walk down the street, McCarthy chats about his own wife and children and Lydia asks a few questions about them, like where they go to school and if they are as obsessed with iPads as every other child. She seems genuinely interested, and adds that if he ever needs a babysitter she'd be happy to help.

McCarthy is touched by the offer. Lydia is hardly doing it for the money, he thinks. From what he knows, her family have more than they could ever even begin to spend in any of their lifetimes and most eighteen-year-olds are usually too wrapped up in their own social lives to have evenings free to babysit. On top of this, her sister is a missing person. In this moment of chaos, Lydia is still thinking of others and able to be kind. This young woman, McCarthy decides, is one-of-a-kind and the sort of person he hopes his own childen will grow up to be.

He also realises that the first impression he got of her was wrong, and there's definitely more to Lydia Stone than he'd previously thought. McCarthy makes a mental note of the babysitting offer and decides to think about taking her up on it when all this is sorted out and Kate is home with her family again.

As if reading the detective's mind, Lydia starts to tell him about her twin. For some reason, she really trusts this man and can feel how much he wants to find her sister. She starts to tell him that there are things about Kate that no-one really knows; a wildness in her and a curiosity that Lydia always feared would get her into trouble.

Kate is a rebel and above all else she likes to break rules and push people, including herself, to the very limit. Lydia can remember feeling like there was no-one in the whole world that was more different to her than Kate, yet she was the closest to her on a biological level.

Kate has always been the one to jump off the highest cliff into the sea, sing at a party, or talk to a stranger, whereas Lydia has always been the worrier, list-maker, and insomniac. She often wondered how two souls born on the same day to the same parents and raised together in an identical environment with the same opportunities could be so incredibly different.

Kate kept a lot of secrets, and over the past couple of years, Lydia saw a definite change in her. She seemed preoccupied and distant. Others noticed too, and thought it was because of her modelling work and the constant stream of fashion parties, events and photo shoots she was doing. The girls' parents thought maybe the pressure was affecting Kate more than she thought it would, and all the intense focus on her looks, weight, and clothes was unhealthy. But, Lydia sensed there was more to it, and something else was going on.

McCarthy listens and nods in understanding, then asks about Kate's boyfriends. This is something that's been on Lydia's mind, too and she tells him that Kate seemed like she was seeing someone about a year ago, when for about three months she was constantly on her phone and seemed paranoid about anyone seeing her text messages. Lydia was convinced she was in love with someone, but when she asked Kate about it she firmly denied anything and laughed it off.

McCarthy asks if Kate could've been having an affair and felt she couldn't tell anyone? Lydia shrugs her shoulders, stops walking, and looks down at the ground for a moment. McCarthy stops too and waits for her to speak.

'The longer she's gone, the more I realise I don't know anything.'

Tears well in Lydia's eyes.

'I'm an awful sister. I'm stupid. Stupid! How could I not know?'

McCarthy immediately feels guilty for pushing her like this, and guides her towards the coffee shop on the corner.

Inside, with hot chocolate and a comfy chair, Lydia apologises for being such a cry baby. She brings up Haven and tells McCarthy she knows Kate had been there a couple of times before. She'd told her a little bit about what it was like, but Lydia didn't know who she went with, or if she knew anyone there at all. Kate had even asked Lydia to go with her once, but when she saw one of the promotional videos with almost-naked cage dancers and people wearing masks and hoods, Lydia was terrified. It didn't surprise her that Kate liked it at that particular club because she was such a thrill-seeker.

Lydia blushes slightly and clears her throat before telling McCarthy that Kate had a few casual relationships too - one night stands really - with models or actors. Lydia guessed they were models and actors anyway, because they were all so good looking from the photos Kate showed her.

McCarthy asks her to try to remember any names or details if she can. If there's a chance that any of them were there that night, or know anything about where Kate is, they need to speak to them as soon as possible.

Lydia nods in understanding, says she'll have a think, as well as take another look in Kate's bedroom for any phone numbers or names that might help.

McCarthy and the team are going to have access to Kate's social media accounts soon and he tells Lydia he'll be asking her to come into the station to go through it with him. They had found nothing out of the ordinary in her email account or on the phone she had left at home the night she went to Haven, but they are hoping there would be something on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram that might give them a few leads.

'And what does she think about you and Simon?'

The change of subject takes Lydia off guard. She looks confused.

'You and Simon are serious. Am I right?'

Lydia has been with Simon for over two years, even though sometimes it felt like longer than that, she tells McCarthy.

'He's just...always there, almost blends in with the furniture... and he's consistent and makes me feel loved and secure. But he's quiet too and has problems communicating his feelings.'

She goes on to tell McCarthy that Kate always seems indifferent to Simon and never really said if she liked or disliked him.

Lydia explains that Simon and Kate are very different from one another. He never goes out, and she's a party animal. He has no friends - apart from his brother - and Kate is the most popular girl for miles around. There's just very little common ground between them as far as Lydia is concerned.

An hour later, when McCarthy returns to the station after saying goodbye to Lydia, he realises he needs to interview Simon as soon as possible.

9

Lydia unlocks the front door to be greeted by a very excited Molly in the front hall. She kicks off her ankle boots on the way towards the kitchen and calls out to see if either of her parents are home.

As she waits for the kettle to boil, she leans on the counter, flicks through a celebrity magazine and a few pages in, spots a photo of Kate at a glamorous fashion event in Mayfair. She smiles and looks a little closer. In the photo, Kate is growling like a wild cat with one hand in a claw-like position. She's wearing a leopard-print, oversized t-shirt as a dress, bright red lipstick, and a green baseball cap. She's probably the only person in the world who could pull off an outfit like that, thinks Lydia. The other girl in the photograph is a pretty, wholesome-looking blonde, wearing a coral maxi dress, black cropped blazer and simple silver earrings. Lydia knows that if Kate saw this photo she'd find it highly entertaining and would enjoy seeing herself being so outrageous next to a sweet stranger she probably spoke to for two seconds before abandoning forever, their short friendship immortalised with the flash of a camera.

Lydia pulls the page out, makes some tea, and realises that this is the first time she's been able to smile in over a week. The thought washes over her, making her feel cold and ashamed, like she shouldn't be smiling. She grabs her bag, shoves the magazine cut-out inside then walks up towards her bedroom on the second floor, followed closely by Molly.

As she passes her parents' bedroom on the first floor, Lydia peeks inside to find them asleep on top of the bed covers, a red woolen blanket over their legs.

Her dad is spooning her mum, his mouth wide open, and he lets out a snore that gives Lydia a fright at first, then makes her smile. He's in a deep, exhausted sleep and looks kind of silly and vulnerable to Lydia, who isn't used to seeing her parents like this. Her mum is fast asleep too and looks more serene. This is the first time in a week where the couple don't look like frantic traumatised ghosts.

Lydia takes a few steps into the room, and Molly follows. She allows herself a minute to gaze at her parents, and the sight makes her suddenly feel strange. They look so adorable she almost lets out a sob and has the urge to climb into bed with them like she and Kate used to when they were younger.

Lydia's heart is flooded with love and emotion at seeing her parents looking so peaceful and ordinary. She knows she's lucky to have been raised by them. They're good people who love whole-heartedly, and she knows their hearts must be breaking right now, just like hers is.

As she moves quietly out of the room, Lydia feels different somehow, like she knows what she has to do. She must be strong. She must take action and be brave for her parents and her sister.

When she gets to her own room she takes a hot shower in the ensuite and hums to herself. She knows that she needs to make a plan. There are things she should be doing and people she needs to speak to, to learn more about Kate's life and where she could be.

When she's showered and towel-drying her hair, she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror over the sink. The condensation means her reflection is blurry. It could be anyone in the mirror. It could definitely be Kate. She wipes the wet surface to reveal a cheek, then another bit so she can see some of her mouth and nose. Then, she wipes a little more so she can see the reflection of dark wet hair and a few inches of pale collar bone. She uses her finger to write 'I miss you' on the mirror and watches as the letters drip and become distorted. Then, catching her mind drifting away from the task at hand, Lydia wipes the mirror totally clean and stares resolutely into her dark eyes for a second or two before turning and leaving the bathroom.

She isn't sure why, but she feels the need to take a look in her sister's room and doesn't want her parents to see her doing it. It's strange, because this is not a time to be careful with privacy and respecting family members' space, now that Kate has pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth, but it's been drilled into Lydia to stay out of her sister's stuff for so long that it seems like a betrayal to do it. Especially now.

A few minutes later, she quietly makes her way down the hall to Kate's room, closes the door behind her and starts to go through the dresser drawers.

She finds postcards and letters from Kate's friends and classmates, and a few cards from their family in Florida, but nothing particularly interesting at all, and certainly nothing that indicates where Kate might be.

Then, Lydia tackles the wardrobes, pulling out coats, shoes and several dresses. Before she knows it, the room looks like a bomb has exploded in it, but she doesn't stop. There are large storage boxes under the bed, so she makes some space near the window and starts to pull them out. As she's going through the first one, filled with old issues of Vogue, Lydia realises that she hasn't come across anything in Kate's handwriting yet. If someone were to go through Lydia's stuff, they would find so many random notes, diary entries, or doodles she's kept, never mind the bad poetry she's written over the years. But Kate has none of that stuff, and Lydia thinks she was probably too busy living life to actually plan it or think about it. Lydia is the daydreamer in the family, whereas Kate made her dreams up as she moved from one adventure to the next.

After a few minutes, she comes across a box of new, unopened make-up, and she thinks Kate must've been given it after a modelling job. She was always getting freebies like that. Lydia opens a black eyeliner stick, and using a compact mirror, puts some on her lower lids, just the way Kate does; taking it right to the inner corner of each eye, and making the line slightly thicker towards the outer edge. Lydia smiles and feels closer to her sister, now that they have matching make-up.

Then, she comes across an iPhone, and wonders if that was a freebie too. It doesn't have a box, so Lydia thinks it could be from when Kate was on a job in Japan six months ago. They sometimes gave them phones and iPads so they could stay in touch with everyone on the team during the project. Lydia sets the phone aside with the make-up and goes through the remaining boxes, but there's nothing out of the ordinary in any of them. They're mostly full of shoes, belts, handbags, and old school books.

When the room is almost back to normal after a quick tidy up, Lydia runs back to her own bedroom with the phone and make-up. Her parents are up, she can hear them moving around downstairs and she doesn't want them to come looking for her until she's had the chance to remove all the eye-liner and take a look at the phone.

She plugs it in, and waits for the light to come on. It needs a passcode. Her heart sinks. But, on the off-chance that there could be anything on there that could help to find Kate, she resolves to unlock it, and tries '1234', then '0000'.

Neither guesses are correct, and Lydia is afraid she'll be totally locked out of the phone if she enters another incorrect number. She takes a chance, and tries their birthday: '1008' for 10th August, and it works!

Her heart is racing, she goes straight to messages on the phone and scrolls through them. There are a few in the inbox from someone called 'Gig Guy' from nine months ago that seem a little flirty, and then suddenly come to an abrupt end. Then there's loads from someone called 'Matt' that are much older; from about eighteen months ago:

'Can you call me?'

'You're late'

'Are you okay?'

'Did you get my message?'

There are several from Kate in response. Lydia thinks it's a little strange because she's never heard of anyone by that name. She will have to give the phone to the police, and they can figure out who these guys are or if they know something. The texts are from ages ago, but maybe Kate still talks to them now on her new number.

She goes to the photo gallery on the phone and opens up the first image. At first, Lydia thinks it's a modelling shot from one of Kate's hyper-sexed lingerie campaigns, but she quickly realises what she's seeing is like nothing she's ever seen before.

In the photograph, there is rope tied around someone's wrists so that the flesh is red and bruised. Lydia sits down on the bed and stares at the image for a second, then swipes to the next one, which is even more shocking. It looks like Kate's mouth, and it's gagged with a scarf, or material of some kind.

It's too much for Lydia to take in; a cold sweat breaks out on her forehead, and she feels very light-headed. What were her parents going to think?

10

Barbara Stone has been on the phone all night. Since the police aren't getting very far with finding her daughter, she has decided to take action herself and is contacting everyone Kate has ever met, or spoken to, to tell them she's missing. Lots of people in the US haven't even heard the news yet, and it's important they're on the look-out for any sign of her.

After calling about twelve people, Barbara spends an hour talking to her sister, Jane about what's been going on, and although Jane offers to get on the next flight from Orlando to London, Barbara asks her not to. She appreciates the offer but tells Jane they are coping just fine on their own for now; they've had the media hounding them for interviews, and they're just trying to keep their heads down and stay focused on finding Kate.

Upstairs, on the second floor, there's a light on in Kate's bedroom. Fingers slowly trace over the pink floral sheets on her bed, over ornaments and books, then land on a photograph of Kate taken a few years ago.

A drawer is opened, and a black lace bra is carefully pulled out, examined, then put back in the drawer. A heavy, wooden jewelry box on the dresser is opened, and a delicate silver dragonfly choker pulled out. The person pushes the necklace into their pocket.

Suddenly Barbara sees that it's nearly 2AM, and decides to go to bed. She feels like she can finally sleep tonight. All the talking on the phone has left her feeling drained.

As she reaches the first-floor landing, she notices the light is on in Kate's room on the floor above, and for half a second she thinks it's all over, and her daughter is back. But then, she realises it must be Lydia; upset or unable to sleep, and decides to go and see if she's okay.

When she reaches the door, Barbara jumps, and lets out a squeal of surprise. Simon puts his hands up and apologises profusely, looking embarrassed and shocked. He stutters and blinks at Barbara.

'I'm so sorry Mrs Stone... I just... I couldn't sleep, and I wanted to come in here and just say a prayer for Kate, kind of, and... I'm sorry, I'll go!'

Simon pushes past her, and disappears down the hall to Lydia's room. Barbara takes a look around, then turns out the light and goes back downstairs to her own room, wondering why it felt so wrong to have him in there; like it was a violation of her daughter's space.

11

Lydia has been on social media constantly and if a notification comes through in the middle of the night on the 'Find Kate Stone' page she checks it immediately and makes sure the volume on her phone is at its maximum and right next to her head all night long.

But so far, no-one seems to know anything, and the messages haven't given her any new information about where Kate might be. She hasn't told anyone about the phone she found in Kate's room, either. But she can't stop thinking about it. She wants to know who 'Matt' and 'Gig Guy' are, but if she hands the phone over to police, they will see the weird photos of Kate. And the more Lydia looks at the photos, the more she thinks Kate took them for someone else; like some sexual fantasy, maybe. People are already saying awful things about her because she's a model and went to Haven, and strangers are jumping to wild conclusions that she is a high-class sex worker or on drugs. Some people have even started saying that she's faking her own kidnapping for media attention. Lydia knows that if these photos are leaked, they could end up all over the place. She will have to think very carefully about this, and part of her feels like Kate wanted it to be her that found them. Now was her chance to do something helpful and courageous for a change, not just sit on the sidelines like a scared little girl.

Lydia takes the phone out of a bag on the floor, and looks at the images again. A couple of them are just selfies that Kate could have done for fun, or as some weird experiment, but the one where she is gagged is disturbing. It looks so real. In fact, if the other images weren't there with it and obviously taken at the same time, Lydia would be terrified. She looks at the date and time on the images. They were all taken on July 18th, 2014, between 6.15pm and 7.00pm. Lydia imagines Kate took them in this house in her room, alone, and then just forgot about them or sent them to someone. Maybe a guy she was dating who asked for them. Lydia reads back over the messages from Matt and Gig Guy, but they seem so boring and innocent. It had to be someone else.

She opens her laptop and types 'fetish dating' into Google. She's not even sure what she's looking for, but part of her wonders if Kate could have had friends or boyfriends that no-one else knew about, people she went to Haven or other fetish clubs with. If people on the fetish scene know Kate, then they might know where she is now or who she was with that night at the club. The police haven't found anything yet, so she needs to do something that might help.

There's one site that keeps on popping up: 'FetWorld', and Lydia looks at it. It seems to be a lifestyle website with a forum, dating ads, a way to build profiles, make friends and find out about events. Lydia sees a thread in the events forum about Haven, starts reading, and after half an hour, she's totally engrossed and mesmerized. She can't believe that there's a whole world out there, in this very city, that she had no idea existed. The profile photos people use on the forum are pretty scary; there are lots of piercings, tattoos, corsets, latex and usernames like 'Dom4babygirl' or 'DaddysAngel'. Lydia clicks into a few of the profiles and learns that there are all kinds of labels for all kinds of fetishes or desires, and generally, people are looking for someone to either dominate them, or submit to. Most of the people on the forum are also involved with, or want to be involved with multiple partners. Lydia sees the word 'play' a lot too, and assumes it means something sexual. She can't believe that her eighteen-year-old sister went to events with people like this. How involved was Kate with the world of S&M? Some of the photos that girls put up are also eerily similar to the ones on Kate's phone and like lots of the images on the site, you can't actually identify Kate in the shots. Lydia only knows it's her on the phone images because she's so close to her, but on a site like this, it would be very easy to remain anonymous, as most of the profile pictures were body parts or masked faces.

Lydia scrolls through page after page of dating profiles, scared that she is going to see a photo of Kate, and simultaneously hoping for it. Then, she decides she's going to start a forum thread; there's no harm in it, and this is exactly the kind of place that people who go to Haven will see it. She sets up a profile as quickly as possible, and writes a post in the forum, asking anyone who knows Kate Stone, or thinks they may have seen her at Haven on Friday 6th May, to please get in touch. She attaches two photos of Kate; one modelling shot where she is wearing a PVC catsuit, and one taken from the school graduation ball. Lydia hopes that the PVC catsuit is closer to what she may have looked like at Haven. She clicks 'post', and is filled with hope; all it takes is for one person to see this, recognise Kate, and the door to her secret life could open, overnight.

Lydia rummages around in the make-up bag on her desk and pulls out the eyeliner she took from Kate's room, applies a thick line under each eye, and admires the effect in the mirror. She takes her hair down and realises that like this, she is much more like her sister. Lydia would have never worn eye make-up like this in the past; at most she wears a little bit of light brown eyeshadow and mascara if she has a big night out, and pretty much always ties her hair up. But she feels different now; braver, and wants to test drive her new look. Lydia looks at the clock. It's five-thirty PM; she has enough time to walk into the village and get a green tea before dinner.

She goes downstairs and slips out the front door without telling her parents. She doesn't want them to comment on her new look.

Lydia walks down East Heath Road, along the crumbling footpath at the edge of the woods, and glances occasionally into the trees. Spring is in full bloom now and she inhales its wonderful scent and thinks about the wild flowers she and Kate would pick, and give as gifts when they were younger, tying the little bouquets together with pieces of pink ribbon their mother cut up for them.

Birdsong drowns out the sound of the occasional car driving past, and the place is thick with growth and new life. Lydia longs to go into the heath, to walk through the wild grass, and see the squirrels climbing the trees, and the dogs out for their evening runs. But it will be getting dark soon, and it's not a place you want to be at night. Instead, she crosses the road, and walks the short distance into the village. There are lots of people around, but none that Lydia recognizes and she's suddenly aware that with her hair down and all this eye make-up on, she looks very different, and wonders if she'll bump into anyone she knows.

It also occurs to Lydia that she's pretending to be Kate. In fact, she really feels like her right now, with her hair and make-up this way, and she finds herself trying to walk more confidently and quickly, like Kate does.

She buys a green tea from a stall near the station, finds a bench and sits down to check her email. There's a new message from FetWorld, and her heart skips a beat when she sees the notification. It's from someone called 'YS13' and has: 'A friend of Kate' as the subject line. Lydia can barely breathe as she reads:

'Can you meet tonight at seven outside London Bridge station? I want to help.'

Lydia is on her feet immediately. It's six o clock now. There's time. She types: 'YES! I'll be there!', presses send, then power-walks up the road towards home. She needs to grab her bag, charge her phone a little bit and call a taxi to take her into town.

12

The sky seems to have taken a turn and is suddenly overcast and about to get dark.

Barbara is in the kitchen, washing dishes and notices the change in weather.

Then, she sees movement at the blue gate at the end of the garden and takes a few moments to let her eyes adjust.

She leans forward and stares, open-mouthed as Kate runs up the path towards the back door.

Barbara has spent eighteen years looking at her twin daughters and although they're identical, she can tell them apart, even from behind.

But this evening, when Lydia runs towards her in the half-light, she sees only Kate and cannot believe she's come home, alive and well.

She reaches the back door just as it's being pushed in and when she catches her daughter's eye, for a second, she still thinks it's Kate she's looking at.

When Barbara realises her mistake, she breaks into a sob.

'Lydia... your eyes... you look like...oh my God!'

Barbara goes to hug Lydia, but disappointment has flooded her body and she finds herself stumbling backwards instead.

She puts her hands out to steady herself, finds a chair, and collapses into it, head in hands.

Lydia immediately knows what's happened and glancing in the mirror across the room at her wild hair and the glint in her dark eyes, she can see why her own mother mistook her for her twin.

She instantly feels guilty and squats down in front of her mum to apologise.

'I know I look like her today. I'm so sorry, Mummy.'

Barbara takes a deep breath and shakes her head.

She stands up and so does Lydia. She whispers that it's okay, she had just been thinking about Kate and wondering where she was, then looked up and it was like she was there, running to her.

Lydia has imagined the same thing about twenty times a day for the past ten days, so she knows exactly what her mum is going through, but she doesn't have time to stop and apologise any more.

'I've got to go out, Mum. I'm sorry. I'm meeting some friends in town that might know stuff about this club, Haven. I'll let you know how it goes, okay?'

With that, Lydia runs upstairs. She needs to be out of the house in twenty minutes.

13

McCarthy and his team are having a meeting about Kate Stone. On the wall behind them is a large whiteboard with trafficking, kidnap, runaway, accidental death, cover-up and murder written in black marker. Under each heading are various scenarios, suspects, motives and outcomes.

McCarthy is pacing up and down the room. He's frustrated that they still don't have any information about who Kate was with at the club on the night she went missing. All of the bar staff and door men have been questioned and nobody can say with any certainty that they even remember seeing her.

The problem is that she may have been wearing a costume, mask, even something that covered her whole head. The police have spoken with the team who run the 'Play Room' and none of them recall seeing Kate that night either, although one or two say they might have seen her there before.

McCarthy has had another thought about how Kate may have left the club, although it's far-fetched, even for him.

He can see from the security footage that most of the performance equipment and dungeon set-up is event-specific and does not belong to the club. That means it was brought as a whole piece or assembled inside. What if Kate hid, or was hidden in one of these pieces and carried out, somehow?

McCarthy gets a small team looking at this theory. He needs a detailed list of everything that was in the club that night and information about who brought it in and out. He also wants a series of still images collected from the night, showing every time a piece of furniture, box, even a large suitcase that could potentially conceal a person or a body inside was moved in or out.

After the meeting, Jared Cooper knocks on the door, and introduces himself to McCarthy and Davies. Jared is a human trafficking expert, and has been called in to help locate possible places that Kate may be if she has been kidnapped and sold for sex. He suggests they start searching for her online, and explains that he and his team are dedicated to infiltrating and exposing criminals who use the dark web to advertise people who have been trafficked. The dark web exists in parallel to the internet as we know it, but to enter the forums and chat rooms there, you have to know exactly where to look, and what to say. Jared tells the detectives that he's familiar with Haven, and is certain that quite a lot of the people that hang out there are also involved with some very disturbing and illegal things. But he also thinks that Haven is nothing compared to the other clubs that exist in London. There are some really weird, twisted people out there, who know exactly how to groom a young girl, reel her in, and before she knows what's happening, she's isolated, and in danger.

Jared seems almost certain that Kate has been sex-trafficked, and although McCarthy is happy to have his experience and vigilance on the case, he's also slightly disturbed. Jared tells them that he and the team will start looking for anyone or anything that might lead them to Kate, using the aliases and profiles they have been working on.

Infiltrating a highly exclusive and secretive criminal circle takes months, sometimes years, but Jared is confident that they are in a good position to find out if Kate is out there; assuming the person or people that took her are trying to make money from her.

'The only problem is if she was a hit for someone, and they paid up-front. That way, they won't need to sell her now, and she could be anywhere... fingers crossed though!'

McCarthy watches Jared make his way down the hallway, and is pretty sure he can hear him whistling Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'.

To McCarthy, Jared Cooper is worryingly upbeat for a sex crime expert.

14

In the taxi, Lydia tries to stay calm, but nerves get the better of her and she starts to feel disoriented and a bit nauseous. When the driver tries to make conversation, she comes across as rude and disinterested, but she's just trying to stop herself from going into panic mode, crying or throwing up on the back seat.

They arrive at London Bridge just a few minutes before seven and Lydia fumbles with cash to pay for the fare. The driver has kind eyes, and smiles at her in the rearview mirror, asking if she's alright. Lydia is breathing quickly and barely able to speak, so she nods instead, holds out two twenty pound notes, and tells him to keep the change - almost nine pounds - as she grabs at the door handle to get out.

Once on the street, she realises how mad this whole thing is, and how unlikely it is, that this person she is meeting, whoever it is, knows anything about her sister. She had been so excited to get the message on FetWorld, that she hadn't really thought it through, and now that she's here, Lydia feels stupid and vulnerable for putting a post on a fetish website, expecting to get a normal response.

She starts to panic further and is convinced it's probably going to be some weird pervert that turns up, or worse, no-one at all. How will she even know what they look like? She doesn't have a phone number for this person, and there are three exits from the station. She has no idea which one to wait at.

Lydia chooses the busiest exit and stands right outside. She assumes that this person, if they really exist, has seen the photographs she put on the forum, or better yet, if they actually really know her sister, they will not have a problem recognising her. She is Kate's identical twin, after all.

Lydia checks the time on her phone, sees that it's four minutes past seven, takes a deep breath, and looks around. Everyone seems to be staring at her. She feels dizzy and reaches into her bag for the bottle of water she threw in there on her way out the door, then leans back on the tiled wall of the station entrance, and asks Kate to give her some courage to do this. She doesn't feel strong, or brave. In fact, she feels completely out of her comfort zone and lost.

It's extremely busy at the station too with a constant stream of city workers, students, and people on nights out. The shouting, noise and movement makes Lydia feel paralysed, like she's drowning in it all. She feels the familiar slow numb of panic start in her legs and creep upwards to her stomach and chest. She tells herself to concentrate on breathing and everything will be alright. Her phone rings, and she nearly jumps out of her skin. It's Simon.

'I'm at your house with your mum and... well... you're not here?'

She's actually kind of happy to hear from him for the first time in days. He tries to be cute, and says the last bit of the sentence in a sing-songy way, but Lydia finds it irritating; she can feel the anger rising in her chest, and she rolls her eyes. But, as annoying as Simon is, he is helping with the panic and Lydia can't help but be grateful for that.

'Sorry Si, I forgot you were coming over. I have to meet someone. Can I call you later?'

Simon says something in response, but Lydia doesn't hear; there's a woman standing about four feet away, smiling right at her.

Yukio Shimada introduces herself to Lydia and tells her quickly that she's a performer at Haven and knows her sister. When she hears this, Lydia feels confident that she's done the right thing in coming. She thanks Yukio profusely for responding to the message and tells her how desperate she is to find her sister.

They walk across the busy street, away from the crowds, through Borough Market, and towards the river. Yukio looks at Lydia very closely and smiles.

'You're a hundred percent identical. I can't believe it. Someone at the club told me that Kate was missing and they had read about you. I didn't know she had a sister until then, nevermind a twin.'

Yukio goes on to tell Lydia that she had met Kate a few times at Haven and they had got along very well. Lydia immediately fires a million questions at her, wanting to know what she did at the club, what she said to Yukio, who she was with, did she see her on Friday 6th? Yukio smiles, and suggests they sit on a bench, overlooking the river.

'I am so sorry, but I really don't recall many details of who Kate was with. One of the times, I spoke with her for about thirty minutes, and she seemed like she was there alone. I saw her in the crowd another night when I was performing, and she was having fun and dancing but, again, I didn't notice who she was with, if anyone.'

Lydia is frustrated. Why did Yukio meet her if she can't help? She tells her that it came as a shock to her parents to even find out that Kate was in any way interested in the fetish scene. In fact, they're deeply in denial about all that stuff.

The pair sit in silence for a minute or two and Lydia stares down at her hands, desperately trying to think about what to ask next. She glances up at Yukio, who's staring ahead now, in an almost meditative state. What a strange person, Lydia thinks. She has no idea what sort of performer Yukio is, but assumes she's a stripper or dancer of some kind.

Lydia has always been fascinated with Japan and Japanese people; especially with the contradiction in their culture; they could be so traditional, submissive, punctual, and at the same time, celebrate the quirky, cute and strange in a way that no other people seemed to. Yukio is a great example of this, she's demure, softly spoken and calm, with an air of integrity and grace about her, but she works as a fetish performer and is part of the S&M world. It seems like such a contradiction to Lydia and she struggles to believe it. But lately lots of things were hard to believe and her sister was maybe part of this world too, perhaps more than anyone could ever imagine.

Suddenly, Yukio starts to speak, but continues to stare ahead blankly and the words come out in quick succession, so that Lydia struggles to hear all of them. Her voice is so soft and so quiet, that Lydia has to lean in very close to catch any of it.

'Two beautiful princesses live in a castle in the middle of a huge, scary forest. The castle has three fierce dragons protecting it: one that breathes fire, one that breathes icy water, and one that breathes strong wind. If anyone tries to get inside the castle walls without the king's permission, the dragons will kill them, and likewise, if anyone tries to leave without his permission, the dragons will kill them, too.

One night when the princesses are falling asleep, a witch appears to them, and warns that if one of them doesn't leave, the whole castle will fall to the ground, killing everyone inside. And they must do it by their sixteenth birthday.

The princesses are terrified, and the next day they run to the king and queen to tell them about the witch. Of course, their parents convince them it was just a bad dream, to just ignore it and after a few months they start to forget about the witch and are happy again. Until, a week before their sixteenth birthday when they wake in the middle of the night and the ceiling is caving in around them. In the rubble and dust, the witch appears, and once again warns them that one of them has to leave before their sixteenth birthday or everyone around them will die. They must choose.

When the witch leaves, the princesses collapse in tears. They cannot decide which one of them should leave and they decide that they will both go because they want to stay together. But the night before they are supposed to leave, one princess stays awake while the other sleeps, and slips out into the night. She leaves a note to tell her sister not to follow her and to lead a happy life. She knows she's strong enough to get past the dragons and one day she'll return to the castle.'

Yukio turns and smiles widely at Lydia, as if she has given her some vital information. Lydia stares back, coldly, shaking her head in disbelief. She asks Yukio what her point is. There's an anger swelling in Lydia now. Yukio looks ashamed and apologises.

'What happens at the end of the story, anyway? At least tell me that much?' snaps Lydia.

But Yukio says that that's all she remembers of the story.

'What a load of crap! Do you know anything about my sister at all? What kind of freak are you?'

Lydia's on her feet, and paces up and down in front of Yukio. Her hands are shaking. She's never spoken to anyone like this before, but a rage is growing inside of her. She glares at Yukio, who continues to sit silently on the bench, looking out over the river.

Lydia walks away, lighting a cigarette to calm her nerves. She walks as far as Embankment station, across the bridge to Trafalgar Square and once she's calmed down, she calls her mum to tell her about Yukio.

Tears stream down her face as her mother's soothing voice tells her it will all be okay and to just get in a taxi and come home.

15

Lydia wakes in the middle of the night, covered in sweat. She's been having strange nightmares involving fetish scenarios with Yukio, Hugh Thomas, Simon, even her parents.

The trauma of her missing sister, mixed with the uncertainty of what has happened and all of the research she has been doing into Kate's secret life is making her feel like she's losing her mind and this is the third night in a row she's had a dream like this.

Lydia turns to see Simon sleeping soundly next to her. This is the first night he's stayed over in about a week and she'd hoped that having him close would mean the nightmares would stop.

She longs to have a hot shower, but it's not even 5AM and the noise is bound to wake Simon, so she decides to put on her dressing gown and go downstairs, instead. Camomile tea and maybe some television might help to relax her a bit and clear the dark thoughts of torture chambers and whips from her mind.

Lydia creeps down the stairs and gets Molly from her dog bed in the kitchen, pats a spot on the sofa for her to lay on and flicks through the channels, looking for something light to watch.

About five minutes into an episode of 'Friends', Lydia hears something that makes her jump. It sounds like someone whispering her name. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and she reaches for the remote to turn the volume down. Molly stirs at the movement and looks at Lydia out of one eye.

'Molly, did you hear something?'

Lydia is trying to comfort herself by talking to Molly and the dog cocks her head to one side in response to Lydia's question.

She listens for the voice again, but hears nothing, and stays on the sofa for the next few hours, occasionally dozing, but unable to sleep properly. She rests her hand on Molly's head, grateful for the comfort of having her close. As soon as she hears movement upstairs in the morning, Lydia goes to have a shower. She needs to get out of the house to clear her head.

Once on the heath again, Lydia immediately feels more normal, although she can't shake the memory of the voice she heard in the living room just a few hours previous. It had sounded so much like Kate.

She walks around the pond, and contemplates making an appointment with Dr Hendry. She is now, technically, hearing things and thinks that talking to a professional might help. She slows down and takes out her phone to find the surgery number.

Dr Hendry is a very friendly, wholesome woman who knows the Stones well and Lydia feels like she can trust her. But at the last second, she decides not to call, just yet. She can't bear the thought of one more person looking at her with sympathy. She already feels pathetic. Instead, Lydia decides to check her messages on Facebook and see if anyone new has contacted her about Kate.

There are three hundred new notifications on the 'Find Kate Stone' page and Lydia has to go through them one by one. Most are just people commenting on how sad they feel and saying how beautiful Kate is. Quite a few people have shared the story to their Facebook walls with words of condolence, but Lydia doesn't recognise one single name. At this stage, the story is all over the web, and strangers come across it as they scroll through videos of funny cats, cute babies or celebrity gossip. Kate is becoming a 'story'.

Then, Lydia sees a comment from someone called 'Joe Taylor' under Kate's photograph:

'best body iv seen in ages'.

Lydia feels sick and clicks on his profile to see who he is, and if he's said any other vulgar things about her sister. Sure enough, on his profile wall is a selection of cropped photos of Kate, so they just show her mouth, breasts, or bum. Underneath he's written:

'Shame this sexy girl has been taken away from us. RIP'.

Lydia feels herself getting hot with anger and notices her hand is shaking. How dare he write 'RIP'. Kate's not dead! She scrolls through the rest of Joe's wall and sees pretty much nothing but girls, breasts, a pole dancing video and a photograph of him with a baby. Lydia feels a mixture of sympathy for the child, and anger that he's even allowed to have one.

She puts her phone away and starts to make her way back towards home, when a poster on a tree catches her eye. She'd usually be walking too fast to even take the time to read something like this, but the fact that it might be a missing poster makes her feel connected to it somehow. Even if it's just someone looking for a missing pet, she can relate.

The poster is for a psychic in Hampstead and has a phone number and email address at the bottom. Lydia walks past, thinking that in another life, she is actually the kind of person who would visit a psychic. Then she stops; realising she has nothing to lose and she walks back to take a photo of the poster. Maybe she will contact them.

When she gets back to the house, it's after nine. Simon is just stirring. When he sees her enter the room, he reaches his hand out and playfully tugs at Lydia's coat, pulling her gently towards the bed. She flops down next to him and kicks her shoes off, breathing a sigh of relief.

'That's it, lay down next to me.' he says softly.

Lydia is aware that she's been very cold and distant with Simon and has little to give to the relationship at the moment, but she's content to lie here for a while with him.

They haven't really talked properly in days, so she tells him about her bad night and going downstairs after her nightmare. Simon asks why she didn't wake him and makes her promise she will if it happens again. Lydia nods and smiles at him and Simon kisses her gently, holding her face with one hand. She can tell by his breathing and the way he's kissing her that he wants to have sex and the thought makes her feel like throwing up. His tongue reaches into her mouth, and he gets on top of her.

'I've missed you', he whispers in her ear.

Suddenly, Lydia cannot bear his smell or the smell of the dirty sheets she's sweated in all night. She's exhausted and weak. She tries to kiss him back, but can't quite bring herself to and starts to push him away. He doesn't seem to notice.

Lydia has never rejected him before. She's avoided having sex or made up excuses when she doesn't feel like it, but she's never blatantly stopped things once they've got this far. He unzips her jeans and quickly pulls them down so he can move her underwear aside. She wriggles away, and mutters something about her parents being home. But, he's ignoring her. His fingers are touching her and within seconds, they're inside of her.

'Simon! Get off me!'

Lydia feels the rage again. The same feelings she had when she read the disgusting comments online about her sister or when that strange woman, Yukio, told her the ridiculous fairytale. She feels like she is the only person in the world that is taking Kate's disappearance seriously?

Simon moves off her and she expects him to apologise. Instead, he looks furious.

'It's been a month since we've had sex, Lyds. Don't tell me this has anything to do with Kate, because she's been missing for two weeks and we've been off for ages now. I can't take it anymore.'

Lydia can't believe it. She never expected Simon to be feeling what she was feeling, but here he was; angry and dissatisfied just like she was.

He asks if she thinks they're working or if she wants to make things right again and Lydia shakes her head. She tells him she's done.

And it's that easy. Within minutes, Simon is dressed and coldly wishing her goodbye and good luck.

She waits until she hears the front door slam, before she breathes a sigh of relief, then walks to the window and watches Simon march down the street. She realises she feels nothing. Her heart is a cold empty hollow in her chest and she wonders if she ever really loved Simon. She puts her hand to her stomach, and asks herself if she can even remember what love is. Maybe it was all just a convenient illusion.

When Lydia joins her mother in the living room a little while later, Barbara asks why Simon left without saying goodbye. She had assumed they had a fight, and is shocked when Lydia leans her head on her mum's shoulder and in a monosyllabic voice, tells her they've broken up. Barbara asks if she's sure, and Lydia tells her that she knows in her heart Simon isn't the one for her, he doesn't make her happy anymore, or understand her.

Barbara decides to tell her about finding him in Kate's room and how strange he had seemed.

The thought of Simon in her sister's room has made Lydia feel dizzy again for some reason, so she tells her mum she needs to lie down and goes back upstairs.

But this time, she goes into Kate's room. She doesn't want to be in her own bed that smells of Simon.

Under the cool sheets, Lydia immediately falls into a deep sleep and dreams she's swimming in the ocean. Kate is next to her, splashing and laughing.

Suddenly, the sand disappears under her feet. She's treading in deep freezing water and turns to see her sister, but all she sees is the choppy sea. Kate is gone.

Lydia starts to panic as salty water seeps into her mouth. She's coughing, drowning, being pulled further and further out to sea. There's a burning in her throat, her ears are ringing and she's totally powerless. She can hear someone screaming at her to swim back to shore, but it's not her they're screaming for. It's Kate. Suddenly, a hand grabs her, and Lydia turns to see Simon. She struggles to get away from him, but he pulls her ashore, drags her on to a sand bank and pushes her down, until she's flat on her back.

He's angry and panting, his face distorted and he almost grunts at her.

Lydia tries to scream, but no sound comes out. Then he grabs her throat with both hands, and starts to choke her.

She wakes from the dream, screaming, leaps out of bed, and runs downstairs to Barbara.

'I need Dr Hendry, Mummy. I think I'm going insane.'

16

McCarthy has received an email from Jared Cooper saying that he and his undercover sex-trafficking team have seen an advert in a private online forum for a 'Forever Slave' and they're about to meet someone about it. They think there is a chance it could be Kate.

An attached pdf file contains the forum post and advert. It sounds exactly like Kate Stone, matching her in age, weight, height, hair colour and skin tone.

The trafficking team have seen posts like this before, advertising someone as a 'live-in slave'. Most of the time the adverts are actually genuine and the 'slave' is not a sex worker but a fetishist who wants to be 'owned' by a master or mistress.

But, this advert is different. For one thing, there are no photographs of the 'slave' and the user that has placed the advert, 'MatchFive', is already known to the team as someone who sells women and girls. They have been working on building a relationship with him over the past few months, purchasing illegal online content and showing an interest in other girls he has advertised.

By purchasing the content, some of it violent, hardcore and potentially involving underage and non-consenting females, Jared and the team have given the impression that they're willing to break the law in a very big way. The team have spent a lot of money with this guy, and Jared seems confident that he will be meeting with one of the men behind the advert this evening.

McCarthy reads a few more of the adverts on the pdf and shakes his head. He can't believe there are people in the world who actually want to be owned and there are those that want to own them. He has heard that these people even draw up contracts to outline the terms of the relationship.

It's power play taken to a whole new level, and one of the reasons the human race never ceases to amaze McCarthy.

17

Lydia has been prescribed a mild anti-anxiety medication and is resting on the sofa. Dr Hendry has also written a letter to UCL that will hopefully mean she can take her end-of-year exams in August instead of June. There's no way she's able to concentrate on studying right now.

Barbara pulls a blanket over her daughter and kisses her forehead.

'Your dad will be home from work in a minute and we can all have a nice dinner together.'

A few minutes later, Barbara's in the kitchen preparing some vegetables for dinner, when she catches sight of Simon's camera sitting on a shelf. Her mind immediately returns to the memory of finding him in Kate's room that night, and how it had given her a strange feeling that she couldn't seem to shake.

Without really thinking, she picks up the camera and switches it on. She doesn't know anything about photography or technology, but after a quick play-around, she figures out how to look at the photos on the little screen.

She flicks back through a few recent images, and sees lots of boring shots of the heath, some clouds and even their dog, Molly. Barbara finds herself smiling at the innocence of it all and feels guilty for being so suspicious of Simon. He had always been loyal to Lydia, and it wasn't his fault he was a bit different.

But then, Barbara sees something that catches her eye and before she even knows what she's looking at, a cold feeling washes over her. Something is very wrong.

Even though she only took the first anti-anxiety tablet an hour ago, Lydia already feels better. She picks up her phone and decides to email Yukio to apologise for storming off the way she did the other day and to explain that she's been having a tough time and would love it if Yukio could forgive her.

Lydia hates the thought of upsetting anyone and the more she thinks about it, the more she realises she may have overreacted to the fairytale story Yukio told her. She had just been overwhelmed by the situation, and disappointed that Yukio didn't know where Kate was.

Brian arrives home at about six, and he and Lydia sit together in comfortable silence, half-watching the news, as Brian flicks through an astronomy magazine, and Lydia browses Facebook.

Then Lydia turns to him.

'I'm sorry Dad.'

Brian looks at her curiously, shaking his head, and shrugging his shoulders.

'Lydia, sorry for what? You've nothing to be sorry for as far as I'm concerned.'

Her eyes fill with tears and Lydia tells him that she's sorry that she's not stronger.

Before Brian can respond, Barbara enters the room, and when she sees her husband and daughter looking at one another, she knows they must be talking about something important. The couple aren't used to Lydia being so teary and vulnerable. Neither of the girls have been particularly open with them about their private lives over the past couple of years and it seems strange now that Lydia is opening up.

Lydia looks to her mother and is surprised to see Barbara staring out of the window, then notices what's in her hands.

Barbara looks down at the camera for a few seconds, then at Lydia, who giggles slightly in discomfort. She can see it's Simon's camera and wonders what her mother is doing with it and why she's acting so strangely.

Barbara hands it to her and asks her to take a look at the images on it.

Brian crosses the room to sit next to Lydia. He's also curious about what Barbara has seen on there that's suddenly so important and he watches as Lydia scrolls through the images. They are all taken at a distance and at first glance, look like boring shots of random streets around Hampstead, and a few of the garden, the dog, or birds at the feeder. Then, Lydia spots Kate in one of the photographs and zooms in. Kate has her back to the camera, and is quite a distance away, but it's definitely her. There are twenty, maybe thirty photographs of Kate like this, taken on different dates and at different places, but in every single one, she's at a distance, and seems unaware she's being photographed.

Lydia feels numb, and she hands the camera back to her mother, then runs to the toilet next to the kitchen. She feels like she is going to throw up. She sits in there for a few minutes, trying to work out a plausible reason for Simon to have those photographs. But she can think of none, and instead, she feels the slow creep of panic rising inside of her, until it seems to pulsate in her temples, making her heartbeat sound like a loud drumming in her ears.

Brian and Barbara sit in silence, waiting for their daughter to return. They are in shock too and know they have to go to the police with the images as soon as possible.

This is not going to look good for Simon. They don't want to assume anything yet, but if there is any chance that he's done something or knows more than he's letting on, they must get to the bottom of it.

After a few minutes, Lydia comes back into the room and sits on the sofa with her arms crossed over her chest. She's already thinking the same thing.

'Simon knows something about where Kate is.'

McCarthy gets the call from Brian Stone at 10PM, just as he and Fran are settling down with a nice bottle of red wine to watch a film. He whispers an apology to her and takes the call in the kitchen.

After hearing what Brian has to say about the images they found on the camera, McCarthy tells him they will speak to Simon again, tomorrow and get to the bottom of this.

Brian agrees to drop the camera off at the station first thing in the morning and not to speak to Simon or anyone else, until then.

McCarthy returns to the sofa, looking obviously disturbed at what he's just heard. Fran smiles at him and squeezes his hand.

'Is it Kate Stone?'

Her husband nods.

'I think the sister's boyfriend was stalking her. Going to speak to him tomorrow. This one just gets weirder and weirder.'

18

Early the next morning, Brian and Barbara take the camera to the police station in Hendon. They barely slept last night, imagining a hundred different scenarios about what Simon might know, or what he could have done. The photos of Kate are undoubtedly strange, but what did they mean, exactly?

After McCarthy sees the images, they all agree that no-one will contact Simon before the police have a chance to and McCarthy makes it clear that the best thing to do is not give him any idea they have seen the camera, so he doesn't have time to make a story up. They plan on bringing him in for questioning immediately.

As soon as Lydia heard her parents leave the house to go to the station, she'd burst into tears. She'd taken sleeping tablets on top of the anxiety tablets last night, and they had left her groggy and heavy-headed, but at least allowed her to temporarily shut out what was happening.

Now it has all come flooding back; the fact that Kate is missing, and Lydia can feel in her gut that Simon knows something and is lying to her.

How did she not see this coming? Her own boyfriend was obsessed with her sister, probably in love with her, it seems.

A new wave of nausea comes over Lydia and she opens the bedroom window to let some air in, then drinks the large glass of water that's been sitting on her bed-side table all night.

A thought occurs to her and she grabs her phone, scrolls to the photograph of the poster for the psychic, zooms in on the contact number and jots it down on a piece of paper.

Lydia dials, takes a deep breath and tells herself that anything was worth a shot at this stage.

The woman who answers the phone sounds about a hundred years old, but has a warm and patient voice. She tells Lydia that she has one available session this morning at ten, but the next time after that is in three days. Lydia quickly tells her that she'll be there at ten, and asks for the address.

It turns out that the psychic is extremely close to Lydia, only a ten-minute walk away, and forty minutes later, she's standing outside a large white house on Pond Street, across from the Royal Free Hospital.

Lydia finishes one cigarette, immediately lights another, then leans in the doorway, trying to gather her thoughts. She had assumed the person she was about to see rented a room in a house, or shared an office with others. In fact, she had imagined a rather dingy place with candles, and scarves over lamps and had assumed the psychic would be a gypsy with long skirts and jewelry around her head and neck.

Lydia mentally scolds herself for being so judgmental. This was a residential address and there was only one buzzer. It was no caravan, and whoever lived here was undoubtedly very wealthy. The houses along this road were worth an absolute fortune and mostly full of celebrities or city bankers.

Lydia glances into the downstairs front room, and can make out a large fireplace, high ceilings, and lots of plants and books around the place. It's modern, tastefully finished and looks more like it belongs to an interior designer than a psychic.

Suffice to say, this is not what Lydia had expected from someone who left posters on trees next to a duck pond. But, her natural cynicism makes her think maybe this is all part of an elaborate con and the fancy house is purposefully used to lull rich Hampstead folk into a false sense of security, so they'll be more willing to fall for a scam and part with their cash.

Lydia has a hundred pounds in her pocket and promises herself that she won't be spending a penny more than that today. She has heard stories about desperate people who end up selling their homes to pay for mediums and psychics to help find their missing loved-ones and she was not going to be duped like that.

She glances at the time on her phone and seeing that it's almost ten, she rings the buzzer.

19

At the station, McCarthy makes the call to the officers waiting outside Simon's flat and tells them to take him to the station. Then, he lets the Stones know that he'll keep them informed about what happens next and encourages them to go home.

Barbara tells him about finding Simon in Kate's bedroom in the middle of the night. She had completely forgotten about that with all the focus on the camera.

'You might want to search his flat, Detective. He knows something.'

McCarthy nods at her in understanding and thanks them both for coming.

Barbara has held it together all morning, but now that Simon is going to be interviewed, she feels worried that he will withhold the truth from them.

McCarthy reassures her that they will be taking this very seriously, and Simon is officially a suspect.

On the drive home, Barbara texts Lydia to say they'll be there in half an hour and are just going to do a little bit of grocery shopping.

She doesn't want to wake her with a phone call, but doesn't want her to worry if she comes downstairs to an empty house, either.

20

Ida finds Lydia on the doorstep, smiles widely, introduces herself, and gestures for her to come in.

She's an older lady, with white hair and what sounds like the remnants of an Irish accent. Ida's eyes are a bright, clear blue, in perfect harmony with her smiling mouth and Lydia is immediately at ease in her presence.

She happily follows Ida inside, through the spacious and airy entrance hall to the large kitchen at the back of the house.

This woman is obviously a plant-lover and keen gardener. The kitchen and conservatory are alive with green and the smell of tomato plants and other herbs drifts through the whole place.

Hanging from the ceiling is a huge shelf, filled with various green things and some hanging plants are only a few inches above Lydia's head as she walks underneath.

A white sleepy-looking cat appears in the doorway and comes to greet Lydia, looking up at her and meowing loudly.

Lydia crouches down to stroke her, and Ida laughs a little.

'That's Angel, there. She's almost fifteen years old, would you believe? A rescue from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. She's blind in one eye. And grumpy!'

Lydia is instantly enchanted with Angel, and with Ida's beautiful home. She wants to ask if anyone else lives here and tells her how tasteful and welcoming the place is.

'We have a few plants at home, too and herbs on the kitchen windowsill, but this is in a different league.'

Ida tells her that plants are her hobby, therapy, sometimes her obsession and she has been slowly filling the house with green life since her husband died, five years ago.

'Christopher was his name. He was the most elegant, insightful and kind man you could imagine. I still talk to him, you know... and I tell him that he's been replaced with cacti and ferns and spider plants!'

Ida laughs out loud again, and claps her hands together. Lydia cannot stop smiling and feels an urge to hug her. She's like the grandmother or eccentric great aunt she never had and Lydia realises how happy she is to be here, with this wonderfully kind and gentle woman, no matter what the outcome is.

Then, a thought occurs to her. If Ida is psychic, can she read her thoughts, right now? The idea instantly makes Lydia feel vulnerable and she's relieved when Ida suggests they sit in the conservatory, although she also feels a bit nervous, like things have just become more serious.

The chairs in the conservatory are made of wicker, and there's a creak when Lydia sits down, so she adjusts the cushions underneath in order to minimize the sound.

Ida continues to smile and asks if she would like a tarot card reading, or just to talk.

Lydia hasn't had time to think about what she wants from this session. The truth is she's desperate and just wants to know where her sister is.

She stares at the red and blue woven table mat in front of her, then moves it back and forth as she feels her eyes well up with tears. She has always been a fidgeter, and finds it extremely difficult to keep her hands still, especially if she's feeling nervous, as she is now.

Thoughts of Kate, Simon, and the whole messed up situation, surface, and Lydia's face burns red with embarrassment. How can she tell this stranger what's going on?

Ida, sensing that Lydia is a little lost, reaches into a drawer in a large antique dresser next to her, and takes out a wooden box. Inside, is a set of cards, and Ida puts them on the table in front of Lydia. She tells her to hold, then shuffle them and put all of her questions and energy about her current situation into the deck.

'I'll be back in five. How do you take your tea, love?'

Lydia responds that she likes her tea strong and milky, then seeing that she's alone, she picks the cards up, holds them with one hand underneath and one on top, closes her eyes and realises that she has no idea what tarot cards are.

This is the kind of thing that Lydia expected from a psychic, but she didn't realise that she would have to do anything herself.

Lydia decides that she will do her best and continues to follow Ida's instructions. She imagines Kate is there in the room with her, standing by her side, and smiles at the thought, knowing that her sister would think this was the funniest thing she had ever seen; her geeky sister hanging out with an old psychic lady and her cat.

Lydia feels a warm energy inside and after a few moments, she decides it's love. This is the energy she will put into the cards, this impenetrable love she has for her twin. She opens her eyes and confidently shuffles the cards. After a minute or two, Lydia stops shuffling and holds the deck between her palms again, concentrating on her question: Where is Kate?

She opens her eyes as Ida re-enters the room, closely followed by Angel.

Angel jumps up on the table as Ida sets down a tray with the tea and a plate of chocolate biscuits. The curious cat lays across from Lydia, her fluffy white tail swaying gently, her eyes closing for a nap. Lydia decides that the cat is smiling at her, wishing her well, and again she feels the warmth and welcoming energy of the house and is glad she came.

She thanks Ida for the tea, and after taking a sip, she says she's finished shuffling the cards.

Ida is very gentle and precise in her movements, and smiles as she works, carefully laying each card, face up, in a cross-like formation on the table in front of Lydia. Each card has a picture on it, as well as either a name or number. Lydia is surprised to see the tarot cards are nothing like traditional playing cards, and although they have a lot of detail on them, she has no idea what each one might mean.

Then, Ida starts to talk. She tells Lydia that she can see she's lost and blind to something, that there has been a loss or a tragedy recently and this is a time when Lydia is being tested. The universe is asking her to be stronger than she has ever been, to become a kind of warrior.

Lydia listens as Ida describes a situation where 'the walls are peeling back' and she's 'seeing things for the first time'. Ida says that the truth will be shocking in this situation and it will take every ounce of Lydia's strength and faith, to get through it.

She asks Ida what she means about the loss or tragedy she mentioned. Lydia doesn't want to tell her about Kate and wants to make sure she doesn't influence the tarot reading in any way. She's not sure if she even believes in any of this stuff, after all and doesn't want to give Ida any hints that might change what she tells her.

But, it's obvious Lydia is distressed and Ida reaches out and gives her right hand a reassuring squeeze.

'I won't pretend that I don't know about your sister, love. I heard about it the other day on the radio, and I knew it was you, her twin, as soon as I heard your lovely voice on the phone earlier.'

Lydia can't help herself, and becomes immediately suspicious about Ida's psychic ability. These cards haven't told her anything new. Ida heard it all on the radio.

As if sensing that she is losing Lydia's trust, Ida says something that grabs her attention.

'Simon was there the night Kate went missing.'

21

The officers outside Simon's flat have been banging on the door for ten minutes, and there has been no sound or movement from within.

They call McCarthy to let him know, and he decides to try Simon's phone himself. If that doesn't work, he'll ask Lydia to make contact, if she's up to it.

The sooner they find out where he is, the better.

A shaky Lydia makes her way down the front steps of Ida's house and calls her mum. She wants to tell her what Ida said about Simon, and can see that Barbara has been calling and texting for the past hour.

Barbara's line is busy and Lydia starts to jog towards home instead. She's desperate to tell her parents about what just happened and to make sure that police search Simon's flat. She also thinks they should look at the Haven CCTV footage again, in case he's on it.

The only way that she can stop herself from sobbing with frustration and fear is the fact that Lydia knows she has to hold it together for Kate's sake.

As she runs up the slight incline of East Heath Road, Lydia realises she hasn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon. Dizziness and disorientation take her over.

She knows she should stop to get her breath back, but she's close to home and figures if she can just make it to the front door, everything will be alright.

Images of Simon and Kate together are already forming in her head. Was Ida right about the fact that Simon had been there that night at the club? If Lydia had heard this a few days ago, before she saw his camera or heard about him being in Kate's room, she would have laughed at the idea of her boyfriend, the one who has been by her side since she was a child, having anything to do with her sister's disappearance.

He was also the last person in the world that would go to Haven. Wasn't he?

Then, another thought occurs to Lydia. What if Kate planned to meet Simon that night?

Her palms are sweating now and she's aware that she's stumbling around and can barely stay on her feet, never mind continue jogging.

The images she found on Kate's phone flash into her mind.

A woman passes with a baby in a pram and shoots Lydia a cold look, before averting her eyes the other way.

Lydia realises that, stumbling around like this, she probably looks drunk to passers-by.

Then, she's aware that someone is standing across the road and staring straight at her. The next thing she knows, she hits the ground, hard. Her body feels heavy and numb and her head hurts badly, where its hit the concrete.

She stares up at blue sky, and for a few seconds, everything is silent and calm. In her mind, she sees her sister smiling at her again and she feels happy for a moment.

Then everything fades to black.

Lydia's brain wakes up before her heavy eyes can open. She can't move. The throbbing pain in her head is still there, although it's not as sharp as before, and she wonders if she's at home.

She furiously tries to remember what happened, but can't.

She manages to open her eyes, squints into the bright, white light around her and can make out some movement at the other side of the room. Someone is walking towards her. The figure is male, and Lydia tries to focus on his features as he moves closer. After a few seconds, she realises it's Simon. He stands over her, smiling, and everything comes flooding back to Lydia; the photos of Kate on the camera and what the psychic had said.

Fear and panic start to take a grip on her again and it helps her to find the strength to call out.

'Get away from me!'

Another man appears now, goes to Lydia's side and adjusts the needle attached to her arm.

Within seconds, she's unconscious.

22

Brian's phone rings. It's Detective McCarthy.

'We can't find Simon and we need your help tracking him down.'

Brian's heart drops in his chest as he tells the detective they can't find Lydia either. They came home from the station to find an empty house and thought she must have gone out while they were at the station. But she isn't answering her phone.

As Brian and McCarthy are talking, the house phone rings and Barbara picks up, motioning for Brian to be quiet.

She holds the phone to her ear, at the same time she tells her husband to find the car keys. Lydia is at the Royal Free Hospital and Simon is with her.

Brian quickly relays the news to McCarthy and tells him that now they know where Simon is, they can take him in for questioning.

Simon is not expecting to see the officers at the hospital when they arrive fifteen minutes later.

He tells them there must be some mistake. He was the one that found Lydia and took her to hospital. He didn't hurt her.

He calls out to Barbara and Brian, begging them to tell the police he's done nothing wrong, saying he was on the way to see Lydia and happened to find her on the street just as she collapsed. But, the officers are already handcuffing Simon and the couple ignore his pleas as he's led away.

All they care about right now is Lydia and they know they have to let the police deal with Simon.
23

McCarthy and Davies are waiting for Simon in an interrogation room.

They had already interviewed him briefly in connection with Kate's disappearance, but that was before they had seen the images on his camera. He has not been a real suspect, until now.

McCarthy asks how long he has been obsessed with Kate Stone and Simon looks at him in shock then stating that he wants a lawyer before he answers any questions.

McCarthy ignores him and loudly asks if he has done this with other girls in the past. He tells Simon they have evidence that he's involved with Kate Stone's disappearance and if he doesn't tell them where she is, he will be going away for a very long time.

Simon's face has gone a shade of red and his eyes are bloodshot and raw. He blinks furiously and spits out his words, as if an unseen force is choking him.

'I would never hurt Kate, or anyone.'

He's hunched over the table and holding his hands in a strange way, like they are cramping. His fingers are contorted, bent and stiff-looking and there are tears in his eyes.

McCarthy has seen this kind of behaviour before. It's fear.

Simon's carefully assembled persona is cracking, McCarthy thinks. This is a man who has been caught doing something that's going to get him into serious trouble.

24

At the hospital, Lydia wakes to find her parents at her bedside.

When she sees their smiling faces, she cries with relief. She'd been so scared and disoriented when she first woke after the accident and had actually thought Simon had kidnapped her and was going to kill her.

Barbara strokes her daughter's forehead, tells her everything is going to be okay and the police will get to the bottom of whatever is going on with Simon.

Brian explains that she's had stitches in her head where she hit it and needs to stay in hospital for a day or two to have some tests and make sure everything is okay.

'Darling, promise me you'll start taking care of yourself? I've already got one daughter gone and...'

Brian closes his eyes, takes a breath, but can't finish his sentence. Lydia reaches out to take his hand and promises she won't do anything like that again and will start taking care of herself.

She tells them where she was that morning before she fell, that she went to see a psychic called Ida and what she'd said about Simon.

Without taking a breath, Lydia asks if they've heard anything from the police yet, but before they can answer, a nurse comes into the room and checks Lydia's chart, telling her that she has to rest for now and will be going for a CT scan in the next thirty minutes and may also need an MRI.

Brian and Barbara catch one another's eye in concern. Lydia is breathing quickly and her face is paler than it's ever been. Her dad tells her to try to relax, but she pushes him away.

'Don't patronise me, please. Didn't you hear what I said? This woman, who knows nothing about us, said Simon was with Kate the night she went missing!'

Before he can respond, Brian's phone rings. It's McCarthy.

Brian walks away to take the call and when Lydia realises who he's talking to, she sits up.

'Dad, tell him he has to check the CCTV from the club! He has to prove Simon was there that night. That's what the psychic said!'

Barbara encourages Lydia to calm down and comforts her while Brian finishes his phone call out in the corridor.

When he joins them a few minutes later, he relays what McCarthy has said. Simon is still at the station and they have a search warrant for his flat.

Lydia shakes her head in disbelief at what she's hearing. It's all so surreal.

It's good to know that Simon is at least with the police now, but she's afraid he's already had too much time to cover his tracks.

A wave of nausea and light-headedness washes over her again as she realises what all of this could mean.

25

At the station, McCarthy has ordered for a team to be prepped to search Simon's property and a warrant is being written up.

His phone vibrates and he sees a missed call from Lydia Stone, but there's no time to call her back and he shouts out to a member of the team to make sure everything is okay with the Stone family.

McCarthy has also left instructions to get DNA and prints from Simon if possible, as well as contact and background information from his work-place, family and flatmate. They've got Kate Stone's fingerprints already, so they can run those against any prints found at Simon's place.

Twenty minutes later, he and two officers leave to search Simon's home. He has provided them with keys, but reiterates they won't find anything there.

While they are searching the property, Simon will have a chance to talk to his lawyer and McCarthy knows that unless they find something, they will have to release him in an hour or two.

Suspicion of stalking is not a big enough reason to keep someone in custody. Even if Kate Stone herself was here at the station, stalking and harassment would be difficult to prove.

Simon's flat is immaculate. He's one of those people who catalogues everything and there are shelves and shelves of DVDs, computer games, books and CDs, covering every wall of the living room all in alphabetical order.

McCarthy tells the officers gathering prints in the kitchen to concentrate on Simon's bedroom and ensuite, instead.

If Kate's prints turn up there, there better be a good reason for it, he thinks to himself.

McCarthy goes into Simon's bedroom and starts going through his wardrobe, but doesn't notice anything out of place.

The same goes for the chest of drawers by the window. In fact, the entire room is perfectly arranged and McCarthy thinks that Simon is too clever to leave anything around that might look unusual.

He walks to the flatmate's room at the end of the hall and decides to search that and shouts at Davies to give him a hand, telling him to go through every box on the shelves, while he tackles the wardrobes.

'Anything out of place, let me know.'

After a few minutes, Davies finds something and whistles loudly. It's a small suitcase with some clothing inside.

'Holy shit. This stuff! Most of it's made from rubber!'

McCarthy was not expecting this. He nudges Davies out of the way so he can take a look himself and counts about six different items of clothing, a latex dress, two skirts, and a few tops. There are also some accessories, including a purple butterfly mask, make-up and a little silver choker.

The team take prints from all over the flat to cross-reference with Kate's, Simon's, and his flatmate's. They also take his laptop and another digital camera for further examination.

If Simon has been doing anything secretive or illegal online, or if there are any other images of Kate on his laptop, then the lab will be able to find them.

McCarthy feels like they are finally getting closer to some answers about where Kate might be.
26

Back at the station, Simon and his lawyer are with Detective Davies in one room and Simon's flatmate, Donald Pelling is in another room, alone.

McCarthy wants them kept apart until he can question them about the clothes in the suitcase and he has the results back about Simon's laptop, phone and camera.

McCarthy calls Brian Stone who's at the hospital with Lydia and Barbara and tells him he'll be sending a few images through via text message that he needs Brian, Barbara and Lydia to look at. He tells them to call him back if they recognise any of the items in the images.

Brian agrees, hangs up and tells his wife and daughter what's going on. The family sit in silence, wondering what the images could possibly be.

A few seconds later, they start to come through to Brian's phone. There are nine in total.

After taking a quick look, Brian shakes his head and passes the phone to Lydia. Barbara looks over her shoulder as she goes quickly from image to image, and for a moment she thinks the photos are from a crime scene. They're the kind of thing you see on television, when shoes or a torn dress are found after someone goes missing. It's never a good sign.

All three of them are confused as to why McCarthy is asking them to look through photographs of someone's clothes. This isn't what Kate was wearing the night she went to Haven.

Then, Brian points at one of the images.

'I recognise this. Don't I?'

Lydia looks at the image. It's a small silver dragonfly choker. Kate used to wear one just like it.

She hands the phone back to her father and a dark thought enters her head. She gets out of the hospital bed.

What if these are clothes taken from a crime scene, she wonders. Could they all belong to Kate?

It's too much for Lydia and she raises her voice in frustration and panic.

'Why aren't they telling us what's going on? They're keeping things from us! Where were these clothes found? Oh my God.'

Barbara recognizes the necklace too and suggests that Simon could have taken it the time he was snooping around in Kate's bedroom. She tells Brian to call McCarthy back immediately.

27

Donald Pelling has lived with Simon for just over a year. He's twenty-four years old, grew up in Kent and is a recent science graduate. He works in a horticultural lab and met Simon a couple of years ago through a running club. This is his first time speaking to police and he's extremely nervous.

McCarthy gets straight to the point and asks Donald how well he knows Kate Stone.

His response is that he's never spoken to her, but knows who she is. He met her sister, Lydia a few times at the flat, but he just keeps to himself if Lydia is around and he and Simon aren't really friends, either.

McCarthy decides to show Donald the clothing they found in his room and pulls out the small suitcase from under the table.

'Recognise this?

Donald shakes his head and tells McCarthy he's never seen it before.

McCarthy glares back at him coldly and asks if anyone else knows his secret.

Donald looks confused and just continues to stare blankly at the small black case.

'You're into some really weird things, aren't you Donald? Rubber, latex, whips... that kind of thing?'

Donald's eyes widen, he laughs nervously, seems genuinely surprised, even entertained at what McCarthy is suggesting.

McCarthy shows Donald images on an iPad of the clothes found in his room earlier that day. The actual items will need to be tested for prints and DNA and are currently at the lab.

'This isn't a bloody joke, son. We found these inside the case in YOUR room, Donald. Who owns them? A girlfriend?'

Donald says that he has no idea who put that stuff in his room, but it definitely isn't his and he's never seen any of it before. He looks genuinely panicked and has started to sweat.

Before McCarthy can say anything else, his phone rings and when he sees it's Brian Stone, he excuses himself from the room.

Brian tells him about the image of choker that they all believe to be Kate's, and says they don't recognise any of the other items. McCarthy thanks him, tells them to sit tight, then marches down the hall and into the room where Simon and his lawyer are.

He doesn't want to waste any time, and within five minutes they are recording an interview.

Simon is light-headed and shaky. McCarthy has seen enough guilty people in his life to recognise one when they are sitting in front of him.

McCarthy begins his questioning and asks again, where Simon was on Friday 6th May, the night that Kate Stone went missing.

Simon tells him he was at home, alone.

McCarthy nods and decides to skip to the necklace.

'Simon why were you in Kate Stone's bedroom a week ago in the middle of the night?

Simon seems like he was expecting this to come up and explains that he couldn't sleep that night and just found himself in Kate's room.

McCarthy asks if he removed anything from the room that night and Simon shakes his head and whispers 'No'.

'Can you repeat your answer to the question please Simon. Did you steal anything from Kate Stone's bedroom?

'No... I... no.'

His lawyer looks uneasy. McCarthy states that several items were collected from Simon's residence earlier that day and he would like to ask him about some of them.

He instructs Simon and his lawyer to look at the images of the items marked SK2.1 to SK2.9 on the screen in front of them.

'Let's start with image SK2.1 on the screen. Tell me what you see.'

Simon and his lawyer lean in to have a closer look at the image. It's Kate's silver dragonfly choker. Simon shakes his head from side to side.

'I have no idea what that is. It's not mine.'

A frustrated McCarthy lets him know that the item has already been verified as belonging to Kate Stone and he's only making things worse for himself by withholding information.

'If you are innocent and have nothing to do with Kate's disappearance, then you'll tell me right now how that necklace got into your flat.'

Simon is silent.

McCarthy asks him to look through the other images on the screen marked SK2.2 to SK2.9 and to tell him what they are.

It's the clothing and accessories from the suitcase.

Simon says he has never seen any of it before. He looks extremely uncomfortable and there is no doubt in McCarthy's mind that he knows exactly what those items are.

McCarthy picks up the tablet and finds the file with the images retrieved from Simon's camera. Simon will have had time to discuss this with his lawyer, thinks McCarthy but he's curious to see what his response is.

'Simon, the images you can see now, marked SK3.01 to SK3.25, are the ones we retrieved from your camera earlier today. Can you tell me about those?'

Simon exchanges a quick glance and a nod with his lawyer.

'Yes, these are photographs I took. I... I take lots of photographs of people and these... they are all of Kate Stone. I took them months ago and honestly forgot I even had them.'

Simon finishes speaking and looks at McCarthy. He seems calmer now and McCarthy thinks he must feel confident he can pass the photographs off as innocent.

'Simon, did Ms Stone know you were photographing her at the time?

'No, I don't think she did, actually. I did it discreetly. It was the nature of the photography project, Detective.'

McCarthy sits down opposite him and inhales deeply, then strokes the dark stubble on his chin.

'Did anyone else know that you were following Ms Stone and taking photographs of her in secret?

Simon shakes his head.

'No, sir.'

'You were in love with her, weren't you Simon? You were obsessed with her.'

McCarthy really wants Simon to crack and glares at him across the table. But then, Simon does something unexpected and smiles at McCarthy. It's a guilty smile and makes McCarthy furious. His face flushes red, he places his palms on the table in front of him and takes another deep breath.

McCarthy's voice is much louder the next time he speaks.

'What do you know about Kate's disappearance, Simon? Were you really at home all night on Friday 6th? When we go through your internet browsing history and phone records will we see that you were home all night? Or did you follow Kate Stone?

Simon hesitates with his response, then tells McCarthy that he can't remember exactly what he was doing that night, but he's pretty sure he went to bed early.

'So, you didn't speak to anyone on the phone. Your girlfriend? No text messages? This all has to add up, or you will be in serious trouble for lying to police and obstructing the course of justice. This is all being recorded, Simon. Are you telling the truth, son?'

Simon turns to his lawyer, then back to McCarthy and says that as far as he remembers he was home all night on Friday 6th.

McCarthy knows he's lying.

'Simon do you know where Kate Stone is?

'No sir'

'Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?

'No sir'

'Do you know anyone who might know where she is?

'No sir'

'Simon, did you murder Kate Stone'

'I did not! Of course I didn't. I... I loved Kate.'

McCarthy has a think and gets to his feet.

'Were you in love with Kate Stone?'

Simon immediately answers that he was not and is not, in love with Kate, but he loves her like family, admires her and enjoys spending time with her, but he would never wish any harm to her.

McCarthy calls an end to the interview. He tells Simon to wait and his lawyer asks when he can leave, if they aren't charging him with anything. McCarthy asks them to be patient and says he'll be back in ten minutes.

He walks down the hall, pulls Davies out of the Donald Pelling interview room and tells him to follow him to his office.

When they get there, an email has come through from the lab to say there's a delay in retrieving the relevant information from Simon's laptop, phone and cameras.

McCarthy swears loudly. They will have to let him go, for now.

He calls Brian Stone to let him know what's going on, and urges the Stones not to see or speak to Simon while they continue the investigation.

'Promise me, Mr Stone. No matter how angry or frustrated you all are, you have to stay away from him, okay? For Kate's sake. Leave it to us. We will get answers.'

28

In a pub in Brixton, Jared Cooper is waiting for 'Dave' or 'MatchFive', the man who responded to his enquiry about the 'slave' that matches Kate's description online.

He's been here for almost an hour and there's no sign of Dave, so he sends another online message:

'I'm serious about meeting. Are you? Been waiting since 9. Leaving soon.'

Jared thinks that whoever is behind the advertisement might have got last minute nerves, or realised they didn't know enough about Jared to take a risk on him. Maybe they were on to him and the team this whole time, and knew they were police.

Jared finishes his drink and texts McCarthy to let him know what's happening, but as he puts his phone back in his pocket, he notices a man has come into the pub, and is now staring at him from the other side of the bar. He immediately assumes it's Dave and nods to him in greeting, but the man stares back, angrily chewing gum.

Jared looks away, then glances at his watch, gets up to leave and calls out a 'Cheers' to the barman.

Outside, he lights a cigarette, and before he's fully inhaled the first drag, he feels a firm hand on his shoulder. He turns around slowly and sees the angry-looking man from the bar standing there. His face is fractionally softer now and he seems to have stopped chewing, but still hasn't said a word.

Jared tries to keep his cool and asks if he's Dave? The man says he's not, but he can take him to see Dave if he wants to talk.

Jared wasn't expecting this to happen, but nods, and agrees to go with him.

29

Later that night, Lydia calls McCarthy from her hospital bed and tells him about Ida.

Her mum has already filled her in about Simon being back home, and that police are investigating where he was on Friday 6th, but Lydia has had another idea, something that could help them in the meantime.

'Detective, if Simon was there that night at the club, then he will be on the CCTV. Please tell me you'll look?'

McCarthy is already on it and has a team going through the footage again with a fine-tooth comb.

Lydia is relieved to hear this is happening, but there's more she wants to say:

'I've also been thinking about something, Detective. Maybe you need to look for the clothes you found with Kate's necklace. Maybe they aren't Kate's. Maybe they belong to Simon and he could've been wearing them that night.'

McCarthy had to hand it to Lydia. For a teenager, she was certainly smart. He had assumed the clothes were Kate's or some other girl's.

Could they actually belong to Simon? He hadn't even told the Stones that the items were found at Simon's flat. Lydia had come to that conclusion on her own.

McCarthy realises he will have to instruct the team looking at the CCTV to look for a female wearing the items, especially the butterfly mask, but also a male. It could be Simon.

30

Early the next morning, Jared Cooper literally falls out the back door of a Hackney warehouse. He's spent the night inside getting drunk and high.

After he had met the man at the bar who offered to take him to see 'Dave', Jared realised he wasn't the only one who had enquired about the online ad for the girl.

At the warehouse, he and four other men sat around a table and watched as six girls entered the room, then the men were each given price lists, explaining how much it would cost to have the girls move in with them full-time or visit them casually as 'girlfriends' and so on.

There was literally a printed 'menu' for each girl, detailing her measurements, age, what she liked sexually, and other things.

The men eyed the girls and their 'menus' greedily, with sick smiles on their faces. It was disgusting, nevermind completely illegal, but Jared had to keep his cool and when the girls were told to go and chat to him, he asked lots of questions to make it seem like he was serious and spent at least fifteen minutes with each of them.

They used fake names, Jared was sure of that, and all claimed to be nineteen or twenty, although one girl looked about fifteen. She was Russian, about five-foot three, with pale skin, hazel eyes, and tiny freckles on her nose and cheeks. Jared tried to memorise what she looked like, so that he could check it against missing person files, later.

Another was from Poland and seemed really interested in Jared, wanting to know how much money he earned and what his job was. He had a fake name too of course, with fake ID to match, and a backstory about a broken marriage, a big house in Islington and a job as a hedge fund manager. The polish girl seemed impressed and genuinely interested in getting to know him better, and it crossed Jared's mind that not all of the girls were being forced to be here, not directly anyway and it might be difficult to prove that the men controlling them were forcing them to have sex for money.

This was often the case when it came to prosecuting anyone, because the girls were brainwashed into thinking that this is what they wanted for their lives.

At about four in the morning, Dave had pulled Jared aside and asked if one of the girls would be good for him 'in the long-term'. Jared asked what that would mean.

'You saw the prices for these girls, didn't you? So, you decide if you want sex on a call-out basis, or maybe you want a girlfriend... or maybe you want, what we call a 'slave', eh? All these girls are looking for someone to look after them, but it's not free.'

Jared decided that it was a good time to bring up the girl from the advert. The one who could be Kate. He hadn't mentioned her up to now because he didn't want Dave and his men to suspect anything, but he needed to convince this guy that he had a very specific type.

He said he wanted a tall skinny girl with long dark hair, and preferably english as her first language. He told Dave that he had a lot of money to spend but she had to be worth it.

'The girl in that advert you placed sounded perfect, mate. Is she a real girl? Dark eyes, tall. Tall is great.'

Dave had eyed him up and down, suspiciously and then looked kind of amused.

'You are one sick bastard of a yank.'

He laughed loudly and Jared was immediately repulsed at his yellowing, stained teeth and stale alcohol breath.

'You perverts are all the same. The more money you have, the more specific you want your girls to be.'

Jared felt like he was making progress. He had been officially branded a pervert by this man and that was actually an accomplishment. It meant that he believed him and Jared was being seen as one of them.

But he didn't want to push it any more, tonight. He had made it known that he had big money, knew what he wanted and that was enough, for now.

Dave had poured him another whisky and offered him a smoke, then nodded in the direction of the girls and asked if he liked any of them or wanted to try them out.

'Do what you want with them here, upstairs, or put one in a taxi and take her home for a day or two, eh?'

He laughed again, and Jared had to struggle to not look disgusted. Dave suddenly seemed to be enjoying his company and Jared took a few moments to pretend that he was considering one of the other girls, then turned to Dave and with a serious tone said:

'You know, call me a freak but... I don't really do prostitutes that much anymore. What I want is much more specific, you know?

Dave had seen everything in the twenty years he'd been in this business, so this didn't actually surprise him. He'd found girls for customers in the past who didn't even want to touch them or just wanted to cuddle, watch them in the shower, take them on a date once a month or pay for their university education. He'd had requests for blind girls, amputees, girls with little or no english, fat girls, spotty girls, girls who liked to act like toddlers.

He nodded at Jared, and walked back to the rest of the men.

'Gents, I hope my colleague here can help you decide what you want. Thanks for coming.'

And that was it. Dave was about to leave. Jared cursed to himself, and was about to give up, then Dave had shouted back at him that he'd be in touch about that special girl he's into. And with a wink, he was gone.

Jared stayed for another half hour and then fell out into the cold morning air. He needed to get home to sober up, before he could write his report for the team, and pass his findings on to McCarthy.
31

Tony Briggs is throwing a lavish dinner party at his home in Kensington when McCarthy calls just before 7PM.

McCarthy needs Tony to take a look at some photographs of Simon to see if he recognises him, and all of his staff at Haven need to do the same.

Tony is happy to help and lets the detective know that he'll contact him immediately if he, or anyone else at the club recognises Simon from the images.

The results from Simon's laptop and phone have also come back and so far, they haven't revealed anything unusual. There is nothing that links him to Kate or Haven.

His browsing history doesn't have anything from Friday evening either and Simon's phone records show he made one call at ten o clock to Lydia Stone, sent a few online messages to friends and his brother George. And that was it.

McCarthy is disappointed and surprised in equal measure. He is sure that Simon is hiding something, and knows from experience that if someone has a dark secret, their web history is usually where that secret hides. If Simon was at Haven that night, surely, he would have brought his phone with him, thinks McCarthy.

Then again, Kate hadn't brought her phone out with her the night she went missing either.

32

Barbara and Lydia arrive home from the hospital.

Lydia looks pale and fragile. She gets out of the passenger side and opens the large black gate that leads into their driveway as her mother slowly drives the car inside.

She barely slept at the hospital and felt like every time she closed her eyes, Simon was going to somehow get into her room and do something to her. It was alarming how quickly she had gone from loving and trusting him, to totally believing he had done something to her sister and could hurt her too.

The expression 'pulling the rug from under your feet' had come into Lydia's mind so many times over the past couple of days.

First, the images on Simon's camera, then the necklace and fetish clothes found at his flat, and the fact that even a psychic, who couldn't possibly know his name placed Simon at Haven the night Kate went missing.

It was all so hard to believe.

It had also crossed her mind that maybe Simon had pushed her the other day and that's how she hit her head. Either way, Lydia is now officially terrified of him and the thought that he's out there somewhere, possibly knowing where Kate is, torments her.

She can't bear to think that she was intimate with this monster and every time she thinks about him touching her, a wave of nausea comes over her.

She has no choice but to block it from her mind.

Lydia has no strength left, no energy to cry, fight, or try to figure any of this out. She just wants it to be over, and for Kate to be safe and home again.

When Lydia goes upstairs to have a shower, Barbara stays in the hallway, crying and clutching a photograph of Kate.

She's been hiding her tears for the past few days, desperately trying to keep it together for Brian and Lydia.

They are all struggling, and the two weeks that Kate had been gone have felt like two years.

33

While the rest of the city is getting settled down for the night, McCarthy is on his way down the high street in Hendon to grab a coffee.

Julia from the office calls to say she's found something on the CCTV footage from Haven, and after hearing what she has to say, McCarthy rushes back. The coffee can wait.

Within five minutes, he's looking at the screen himself.

In black and white silent footage, he can see a male figure arrive at the club just before midnight on Friday 6th May, wearing a butterfly mask, identical to the one found in Simon's flat, as well as a long black coat and chunky black boots.

Julia skips forward to show McCarthy the same person leaving the club, just before 1AM. His facial features are clearer in this bit and Julia freezes the frame, zooms and sharpens.

It's clearly Simon, although most of his face is covered by the butterfly mask.

McCarthy needs to get him back in for questioning as soon as possible. They need answers.

But McCarthy worries that the image on CCTV isn't enough to make an arrest, simply because it will not be considered a close enough match due to the mask obstructing a view of Simon's face.

They need him to talk.

They need him to break.

34

The next day, Simon calls in sick to work and sits in his little kitchen with his head in his hands.

He hasn't been able to sleep or eat, and he feels unsafe, like his time is almost up and he must do something drastic to save himself from the circling wolves.

He thinks about getting on a train to the west coast of Scotland and just disappearing for a while. But his mind goes to his family, especially his brother. George is only seventeen and it would kill him to say goodbye to him. Plus, running away might make him look even guiltier in his family's eyes.

On the other hand, if the police continue to investigate, Simon knows its only a matter of time before the truth starts to spill out and then he could lose everything, anyway.

They would never look at him the same way if they knew the truth.

The first time Simon went to Haven, he had been so scared, having seen their insane promo reels on YouTube and hearing the rumours about dungeons and gimp masks.

He was literally shaking at the thought, but his friend, Lauren really wanted to go for her eighteenth birthday. And she was pretty persuasive.

Lauren Cunningham had always been Simon's 'fun' friend, the first person he got drunk or stoned with, the first girl he had seen naked when she decided to strip off and jump into Highgate ponds one summer evening.

Her parents were the rich absent type and Lauren was left to her own devices most of the time.

She was equal measures of child-like and wild because of it.

Her mum and dad would do things like disappear for the weekend, leaving five hundred pounds on the kitchen table with a note telling Lauren to take her friends to dinner or the movies. It was actually really sad and Simon could see that she longed for more of a stable home life, and the kind of parents who cooked dinner, asked about school and had normal boundaries.

Simon had been kind of obsessed with Lauren at junior school, and then one day, she just decided that he was her new best friend and she'd had enough of girly drama.

She was funny, silly, full of energy and effortlessly beautiful, with long blonde hair and giant blue eyes. Lauren's parents used to call her Lauren Bacall after the actress, but when Simon googled Lauren Bacall, he thought they were crazy. In his eyes, Lauren was the most beautiful girl in the world and far more beautiful than Lauren Bacall, or anyone else he had seen for that matter.

She was also the first girl Simon ever kissed. When they were fourteen, they had spent the day hanging around together in Soho, and went back to Lauren's house in Notting Hill afterwards, where she stole a bottle of vodka from her dad's stash, took two large swigs and proceeded to make-out with him on her bed.

Simon had never felt like that before, and was devastated when, a few minutes later, Lauren laughed and brushed off the kiss, telling him that they had to kiss, just once, to get rid of the sexual tension that would inevitably exist between them.

Simon had laughed along, although he was secretly devastated that Lauren didn't actually like him like that.

But, the kiss gave him hope, too, and from that moment on, Simon would do anything Lauren asked him to do.

No matter what time of the day or night, if she called or texted, he was there. He couldn't stop thinking about that kiss, or help fantasising that they might end up together one day.

So, when Lauren asked Simon to secretly go with her to Haven, he couldn't help himself. Like every night they went out together, Simon thought this could be the night. They were drunk before they even got to the club, and Simon was worried that Lauren wouldn't be allowed to go in if the doormen spotted how unsteady she was on her feet.

But, she flashed them a big smile and she and Simon got in without a problem.

A few minutes later, they were in the middle of the wildest party they could ever have imagined.

Lauren disappeared to the toilets and Simon found himself walking around, mesmerised by every single person he saw. He was also relieved to see that there were obvious newbies like him around the place and guys who were a little self-conscious in their fetish wear.

Simon was wearing tiny PVC shorts, lots of body paint, glitter on his chest, and black lipstick and eyeliner.

Lauren had arranged it all and convinced him that if he didn't dress properly, he would be turned away at the door.

He had brought a jacket in his bag just in case, but with the alcohol buzz, dim lighting and the fact that everyone around was also dressed up, Simon actually felt totally liberated, and like he really belonged there.

The theme that night was 'Fantasy and Freaks', and there were people wearing all kinds of incredible fetish costumes. He saw men in their forties and fifties on all fours with dog collars around their necks, being led around by their 'masters' for the night, and although lots of people seemed like they were pretty used to the scene, the vast majority weren't taking themselves too seriously.

He felt empowered and elated that he was able to be part of such a wild and brave event and found himself standing rather proudly in his PVC shorts.

But the night ended quickly for Lauren, who, true to form, hooked up with a guy in less than an hour and asked Simon if he wanted to jump in a taxi with them. They were going back to her place.

Simon couldn't believe that Lauren had made such a huge deal of the night and then rushed off so quickly because she met some hot guy.

He joked to her and her new friend that they could just stay and have sex in one of the play rooms upstairs, but they ignored him and staggered off towards the exit.

Simon was used to this sort of thing happening with Lauren, used to the heart-sinking feeling he got every time she didn't choose him, every time it seemed like she would rather sleep with any other boy on the planet, apart from him.

But he also felt something else that night too, a strange relief that she was gone and he had free rein to enjoy himself.

In the current fog of confusion and panic, Simon decides to send Lauren an email.

He hasn't seen or heard from her in about a year, and she seems to have disappeared from social media, too.

Simon has a tablet that the police didn't find and logs into his email account, sends Lauren a one-line email, asking how she is and if she's heard about Kate's disappearance.

Then his phone rings. It's the police.

They tell him they're on their way and need to take him down to the station immediately.

Simon doesn't argue. He hangs up, and calmly calls his lawyer.

35

Lydia is sitting at a wooden table in her back garden, listening to music with her headphones and eating a cheese and Marmite sandwich.

She kicks Molly's tennis ball to her and smiles at the little dog's antics.

Animals just know when something is wrong and Molly had been peeing inside and crying in the night ever since Kate went missing.

Lydia feels a pang of guilt as she realises this is the first time she's seen the dog playing in weeks and she turns the music off and throws the ball all the way down the garden, towards the shed at the bottom, clapping her hands in encouragement as Molly races for the ball and rolls it back up the lawn to her.

Lydia rewards her with the end of the sandwich, a small piece of buttery crust and watches as Molly devours it, then barks excitedly for the ball game to continue.

A text comes through from Simon.

Just seeing his name on the screen makes Lydia's heart race and her mouth becomes dry.

'Lydia, I know I'm not supposed to contact you, but I just wanted to say that I won't hide anything, anymore. I'm on my way to the police station again. I love you Lydia. And your family. I would never do anything to hurt you guys. No matter what happens, please believe that xx'

She re-reads the words a few times until tears blur her vision. She wants to believe Simon, doesn't want to think about him hiding things from her, lying, being obsessed with Kate, stealing things and God knows what else.

How can one person be so many things at the same time? Geeky, thoughtful, affectionate, peaceful and also deceitful, secretive and perverted?

Lydia calls Molly and goes back inside, locking the door behind her.
36

At the station, Simon agrees to speak to McCarthy without his lawyer present.

He now knows that the CCTV footage from Haven proves he was there the same night as Kate and he knows his DNA might be found on the items of clothing they found at his flat, too. He can't keep avoiding this.

McCarthy hits RECORD and the interview commences.

As before, Simon states his full name and address first, then McCarthy asks him to tell them what he was doing at Haven on the night of May 6th.

Simon tries to stay calm, but his hands are shaking.

'I've never told anyone about this side of my life. I went to Haven on Friday the 6th of May on my own. I swear. No-one knows that I dress like that sometimes and no-one knows I'm into the stuff that goes on at Haven. I didn't tell anyone I was there that night because I need to keep this a secret. I had no idea I would see Kate and when I did, I freaked out and left before she could see me.'

McCarthy is examining Simon's every breath, movement and word.

He seems to be telling the truth, but this was too much of a coincidence. He was clearly obsessed with Kate, had taken weird photos of her over the course of ten months, stolen jewelry from her bedroom and then 'just happened' to be at the same club as her the night she went missing?

McCarthy is sceptical, to say the least.

'Simon, I feel like you're keeping something from us. Tell me, did you always cover your face inside the club?'

Simon looks at him directly and nods.

'Yeah. Pretty much. I always covered my face, apart from once or twice when I first went there, a couple of years ago. I wore masks or whatever and liked being anonymous. Lots of people do that in there.'

McCarthy remains calm and holds eye contact with Simon, nodding encouragingly for him to continue.

'And what exactly did you do inside of this club, Simon? Remember, if you don't tell us, someone else will. We've just started interviewing people that recognise you from there and are confident we will have a clear picture of every move you ever made inside that place, soon. Do you understand?'

Simon feels extremely dizzy. He had no idea what would actually happen when he told the police what he was doing at Haven that night, but he hoped they would believe he was innocent and knew nothing about Kate's disappearance.

Now they were looking at him like he was a terrible person and a liar. He would have to elaborate.

He tells them he has secretly been involved in London's S&M scene, on and off, for about two years and he went to a few of the club nights now and then, always wearing a mask of some kind.

He wore latex, usually womens clothes and he felt like he could never tell Lydia.

He tells them he thought it was just something he needed to get out of his system. His family were extremely conservative and they wouldn't understand either.

At the thought of his parents and younger brother, Simon starts to cry and McCarthy wonders if he's crying because he's so ashamed of his lifestyle or because he's guilty of something much worse than wearing latex and womens clothing.

McCarthy asks him to explain why he took photographs of Kate.

'It wasn't for a photography project, was it?

Simon hesitates before he answers and his eyes dart around the room as he searches for words to explain it all.

'Look, this is hard to explain. I admire Kate. She is kind of who I want. I mean, who I want to be, you know? She's confident and beautiful and has this edgy side. I admire her and I suppose it could be seen as an obsession, but I would NEVER hurt her. Why would I? I want to find her as much as anyone.'

McCarthy nods in understanding and keeping a gentle tone, he urges Simon to tell him more.

'And why did you take the necklace from her room?'

Simon thinks for a few seconds before answering. Then, staring vacantly ahead, he tells them, almost in a whisper, that he wanted something to help him feel close to Kate.

He didn't plan on taking the necklace, but when he saw it there, in her room, he felt like she would want him to have it.

The questioning continues for almost an hour. McCarthy wants to know if Simon has been withholding information about anyone else that might know Kate from the scene and what he remembers from the night he saw her at the club.

Simon tells them that he arrived at Haven at around midnight and watched a few of the performances in the main room, before checking out the 'PlayRoom'.

There, he chatted to a few people that he vaguely recognised and planned on spending some time in there later on in the night.

He was about to get a drink when he saw Kate and he got such a fright that he just got his stuff from the cloakroom and left.

He tells them that he had no idea if she was there with anyone and all he knows is that he saw her coming up the stairs, as he was coming down.

Kate hadn't recognised Simon with his face covered. She was wearing a small mask too, but he knew it was her. He was sure of it.

McCarthy asks why he didn't take his phone with him. Surely, he would need it to get a taxi home, if nothing else? Simon says he didn't always take his phone when he went to nights like that and as they were strictly forbidden at Haven, it was easier and safer to just leave it switched off at home.

The CCTV footage shows that Simon left before 1AM, and he tells them that he has a credit card bill to prove he paid for a taxi home at that time.

McCarthy takes a moment to decide what to ask him next.

So far, the story, however bizarre it might sound, is adding up.

'What did you think when you saw Kate?'

'Well, I got a real fright, because I never expected to see anyone I knew in there, especially one of the twins, but I suppose it made sense, because a lot of these fashion people hang out there, and quite a few models. It didn't necessarily mean they were into the fetish scene, as such. I guess it was just a kind of cool thing to do.'

McCarthy suggests a break and offers Simon a coffee while he takes a call in the other room.

He needs to think of another way to get him to open up. There has to be something Simon isn't telling them.

37

Yukio has sent another message on FetWorld asking if Lydia wants to go to Haven tomorrow night. She has a spare ticket.

This Friday will be the first club night they've held since Kate went missing three weeks before.

In fact, ticket sales went through the roof as soon as the media started linking Haven to Kate Stone. The excitement, shock and mystery around the case had prompted regulars to pay a visit and certainly encouraged some newcomers to check it out, too.

In a twisted way, the story was the greatest advertisement Tony Briggs could have asked for and he's made sure that some of his best acts are booked to perform, to make the night extra special.

Lydia didn't even know it was happening and it had never occurred to her that she should go to Haven to try to get some information about her sister.

But, now that Yukio had made the suggestion, how could she say no?

It was the perfect opportunity to find out what people knew about Kate and she had the advantage of looking exactly like her. If someone recognises Lydia, that means they recognise her twin and might know something about where she is.

Lydia can't help but feel both excited and nervous about seeing what the fetish scene is all about and also 'being Kate' for the night.

She responds quickly to Yukio with her phone number and says that she definitely wants to join on Friday.

Then, she goes straight to Kate's room to pick out something to wear, knowing there's no way she'll have anything suitable in her own wardrobe.

After a bit of rummaging, Lydia finds a leather skirt and black corset she thinks look good together and she hopes it's the right kind of thing for Haven.

A cheerful text arrives from Yukio with an address in Bermondsey, telling her to come around at 8pm for drinks and 'to meet the gang' before they go out.

Lydia's stomach flips.

This will be the wildest thing she's ever done.
38

McCarthy meets with Jared Cooper to get an update on the online search for Kate.

Although Jared says he's still no closer to finding her, he tells McCarthy all about Dave and the other men from the Hackney warehouse.

A few days after he had met Dave at the warehouse, Jared had made contact again and asked him about the girl from the online advert. Dave responded by offering him another two girls, sent some naked photographs of them via email, and although they had similar features to Kate, they definitely weren't her.

Jared seems disappointed and tells McCarthy that they are now pursuing other avenues to find Kate.

But, McCarthy has another idea. He knows that Haven is opening its doors tomorrow night for the first time since Kate went missing. He thinks Jared should go to see if he can find anyone who might know her.

'There's just one thing, mate. You have to eh... dress up, if you know what I mean.'

McCarthy can't help but smile when he sees Jared's face turn bright red at the mention of dressing up.

'You got something 'alternative' to wear, so you fit in at the club?

Jared's fumbles with his bag and gathers his things together to leave, telling McCarthy, in a quiet voice, that he's got a pair of leather trousers that will do just fine.

'I'll let you know how it goes, and if the team uncover anything else in the meantime, I'll be in touch, Detective McCarthy.'

McCarthy waits until Jared is halfway down the hall before he allows himself to laugh.

Just thinking about that guy at a fetish night is enough to make McCarthy giggle, never mind the leather trousers he mentioned.

39

The next day goes by in a blur and all Lydia can think about is Yukio, the people she's going to meet later and what the night ahead at Haven might have in store.

Lydia hasn't told anyone about where she's going in case they try to stop her and that means lying to her parents.

She decides to tell them she's going to meet some friends from school she hasn't seen for a while for pizza and a few drinks.

Barbara and Brian both agree that getting out for the night is just what she needs and her dad even offers to give her a lift into town.

Lydia refuses, hugs her parents goodbye and before they can say a word, she's out the door with a bag full of Kate's clothes and make-up.

Lydia has always been the well-behaved daughter. The one who never lies or parties, the one who always does her homework on time and keeps her room tidy.

But, breaking the rules like this actually feels surprisingly good to her and she doesn't think about anything else except making the most of this opportunity to get a taste of Kate's secret life and gather as much information as possible.

The taxi journey seems to take forever and when they finally pull up at Yukio's address in Bermondsey, Lydia is exhausted. The adrenaline she felt when she left the house has disappeared and now she just feels the familiar rise of anxiety in her chest.

Nevertheless, a few minutes later she's standing in front of a towering row of houses about to ring the doorbell.

When there's no answer after the fifth ring, Lydia starts to panic and wonders if Yukio is playing with her or trying to get revenge for the way Lydia had treated her the night by the river.

But, eventually she hears loud footsteps approaching the door from inside and it swings open to reveal a tall pierced and tattooed girl with milky white skin, bright blue eyes and a blonde mohawk.

The girl smiles at Lydia, shakes her hand and says her name is Naomi, then explains that Yukio is doing some cam work in her bedroom but will be finished soon.

Lydia manages a casual 'Okay. Cool!' but she's furiously trying to figure out what 'cam work' is.

She's heard the term before and knows it has something to do with webcams.

She decides that as Yukio is a performer, she must have to do some web promotion.

Lydia follows Naomi up the dark narrow staircase into the flat and when they get to the landing, she notices how huge the place is inside.

Naomi tells her that it's spread over four floors and leads her towards a room at the front, where she says everyone's hanging out.

As they approach the door, Lydia can hear music and lots of chatter coming from inside and her heart starts to race.

This is not the kind of house party she's used to and suddenly, she feels about twelve-years-old.

Inside, Lydia is introduced to five other people: Ian, Eustace, Dee, Cara and Emma.

Ian and Eustace are a beautiful bronzed gay couple, all over each other in the corner and dressed head to toe in leather.

Eustace is wearing what looks like a military officer's hat and he doesn't stop smiling or touching his partner, even when he says hi to Lydia.

Lydia waves to a scantily clad Cara and Emma who wave back but are deep in conversation about some kind of portfolio they're looking through.

She says hi to Dee and sits on a stool near her.

Dee shakes her head and tells Lydia to come and sit on the sofa, instead.

'That stool is so uncomfortable! I don't know why Yukio still keeps it.'

Dee has a loud voice, huge teeth and seems really warm and approachable. Lydia notices that out of everyone in the room, she's more physically similar to Lydia as well, with almost identical long dark hair, parted in the middle and even the same dark eyes.

Dee's outfit for the evening seems slightly more demure than the others, consisting of black latex trousers and a black latex halter-neck top with two red hearts across the chest.

'You're the one with the missing sister, aren't you?' she asks, quietly.

Lydia nods.

'You poor little lamb. That's awful. How are you coping?'

Naomi reappears all of a sudden and hands Lydia a beer, sits on the uncomfortable stool next to them and joins in with the conversation.

Lydia, aware that these two strangers really seem to care about what she's going through, is suddenly quite emotional while telling them about Kate.

Dee puts her hand lightly on Lydia's arm when she sees that she's looking sad and Lydia starts to tell them both about what's been going on, the nightmares, the uncertainty about everything, how her own boyfriend was obsessed with Kate and actually a suspect now. Although she's not supposed to talk about it.

Dee and Naomi are enthralled. Lydia shows them a photo of Simon on her phone to see if they recognise him, but they shake their heads. They've never seen him before.

With Lydia's permission, Naomi passes the phone around the room to see if any of the others recognise him, but no-one seems to.

Dee notices that Lydia is looking a bit teary and anxious and decides to change the subject.

'So, Lydia, you're eighteen? That's insane. I'm thirty-four and I honestly can't imagine having the guts to come to a house full of strangers like this at your age. You seem so calm and collected! You're just cool Lydia.'

Dee raises her glass to cheers Lydia's beer bottle, and does the same to Naomi's.

'Cheers to Lydia, everyone!'

Lydia is starting to think that these guys aren't as weird or intimidating as she thought they'd be and realises she feels more comfortable with them than she has with anyone in a very long time.

Suddenly, Yukio appears, looking incredible in a pink latex nurse's outfit and gigantic red fetish heels.

She squeals when she sees Lydia and rushes over to give her a big hug.

'I really hope we can get some information about Kate tonight and maybe it'll be good for you to get away from everything, have a few drinks, meet some new people, you know?'

Lydia nods in agreement. She's already feeling super-relaxed.

After an hour or so of chatting with her new friends and telling them all about her sister, Lydia goes to the bathroom downstairs to put some make-up on and start getting ready for the club.

She applies thick black eye-liner to her lower lids and a dark brown shadow all over the top of her eyelids.

Then, feeling more courageous, she decides to add a flick of black at the outer corners of her eyes.

She's always wanted to try this look.

When she's satisfied with the result, Lydia admires herself in the mirror, barely recognizing the girl staring back at her.

She runs her fingers through her long, thick hair and decides to back-brush it a little. She feels like she needs to make things a little sexier tonight, to go with the outfit she's about to put on.

She does her best to give her hair more volume, using a small comb to back-brush from the roots and when it's full and messy, she uses hairspray to fix it that way.

She smiles at herself in the mirror and it's like looking right into her sister's eyes.

The alcohol and excitement at meeting new people lets Lydia's mind drift somewhere that she's been too scared to go up to now, to the part of her that wonders if her sister is still alive.

When they were little girls, Lydia used to feel so connected to Kate. They would play games to test if they were telepathically connected, convinced they could continue to communicate even when physically separated.

But, that was a long time ago and it's been years since the two of them were that close.

They had grown apart. And now that Kate was gone, Lydia longs for that connection to be reignited somehow and to channel Kate's energy tonight.

She wonders what Kate would think if she could see her getting drunk with this cool older crowd from London's fetish scene and about to wear something sexy to go clubbing in?

Lydia gives herself a smile in the mirror, zips up her makeup bag and decides to go back upstairs before the others come looking for her. She can change her clothes later on, before they leave.

She opens the bathroom door to find Yukio waiting on the landing outside with a huge grin on her face, holding up a bundle of ropes.

Lydia looks at the ropes questioningly and Yukio explains that it's actually a dress she had made especially for a performance at the Halloween Ball last year.

She thinks it will be a good fit for Lydia.

Before she realises what's happening, Lydia is being dragged into Yukio's bedroom to try it on.

It fits her perfectly and Lydia thinks it's probably way better than the leather skirt and corset she had planned to wear, although it's definitely shorter than anything she would ordinarily go out in.

There's lots of flesh on display and Lydia wonders if this is how Kate usually feels before she's about to do a catwalk show.

Yukio, delighted with the transformation, claps her hands in excitement, jumps up and down a little and pours two shots of tequila, handing one to Lydia.

'You are honestly going to be the most beautiful girl at the club tonight. I can't believe you're not a model too, Lydia.'

Yukio circles her, lightly touching Lydia's shoulder, admiring her slender figure and adjusting the ropes so they fall the way they should.

Lydia blushes and turns her face away, pretending to read the titles of a few books on the shelves behind her.

She doesn't know what to do when someone says she's beautiful or looks at her like that. Kate is the one who likes attention for her looks. Not Lydia.

She mumbles something about needing to check her phone and hurries out of the room, not wanting Yukio to see how red-faced she is.

By the time they get into the large taxi, two hours later, Lydia is well and truly drunk and can't stop giggling at the fact she's wearing a bundle of ropes.

The others laugh along with her and recall the various awful outfits they've worn over the years.

Naomi remembers the time she bought cheap body paint online and sweated it all off in a club after half an hour of dancing, so it looked like she'd arrived naked, with a bottle of ketchup thrown over her.

Cara gleefully reminds Ian and Eustace about the time they were handcuffed together, back to back, at Haven, and lost the key for the cuffs, so ended up falling on to the street as they tried and failed, to hail a taxi home.

They are all howling with laughter at this stage and Lydia can actually feel a tear running down her cheek as she imagines the two men in fetish clothing, handcuffed together on the streets of London.

In fact, her whole face hurts from laughing and it feels like this is the most fun she's ever had in her whole life.

A few minutes later, they arrive at Haven and enter the club with ease.

The doormen seem to know everyone and barely look at the tickets that Yukio flashes to them.

As they walk down the long corridor between the outer and inner doors, Lydia asks Yukio how much she owes her for the ticket and reaches to get some money from her purse.

Yukio squeezes her arm gently, gives her a wink and says the tickets were free.

'Always free for me, honey! Anyway, I'm performing tonight. Did I not mention that?!'

Before Lydia can respond and ask Yukio what her performance is going to be, they push through the next set of doors and are suddenly immersed in the heart of the club.

It's almost eleven thirty. The place is packed and very warm, with latex, glitter and flesh everywhere.

The loud music vibrates through Lydia's body, giving her a rush of excitement and she realises she isn't half as nervous as she thought she would be.

Dee offers to show her around while Yukio goes backstage to get ready and as they make their way through the crowd, Dee smiles and waves at people all over the place.

She's obviously a regular here and extremely popular.

Around them, every single person is wearing some kind of fetish or fantasy outfit. Some girls are wearing lingerie with holes cut out around the nipples and others have extravagant fastenings. There's a lot of latex, uniforms and leather, as well as people with masks or hoods that look quite scary to Lydia. Some people are just wearing body paint or jewelry and no clothes at all.

Lydia spots a man on all-fours wearing a muzzle, being led around on a leash by a short-haired muscular woman, in leather trousers and waistcoat.

Lydia can't help but giggle at the absurdity of it, when she notices the woman in leather is smiling back and motioning for her to come over.

Lydia stops laughing and stares in shock as the woman starts winking and licking her lips in an overtly sexual way, beckoning Lydia to her.

Lydia's heart starts to race, she grabs Dee's arm and turns to walk away.

In her head, Lydia had imagined everyone would be really serious about the whole fetish thing, but people here are laughing, chatting and drinking, just like they would in any other club and the DJ is playing pop and chart music, not the heavy metal or strange ambient stuff she had imagined.

Haven seems vibrant, warm and fun and it's starting to make sense that Kate would like it here.

As they continue to walk around, Lydia notices two modelesque black girls dancing in a large gold cage next to the main floor.

One of them waves at her as if she knows her and Lydia finds herself looking over her shoulder to see who the girl's waving at, before realising it's her. She wonders if the girl thinks she's Kate and makes a mental note to find her later.

Dee has been handed two drinks from somewhere and passes one to Lydia. It smells like whisky and coke and she gulps it down a little too quickly, realising she's actually really thirsty.

She tells Dee she's going to get some water and explore a little, and she will come and find her in a while.

40

Simon hasn't been charged with anything and is home again.

He's also been given his laptop, camera and phone back, and he checks his email to see a response from Lauren Cunningham to say she lands at Heathrow in the early-morning and needs to speak to him as soon as possible.

Lauren says she had no idea that Kate was missing. She's been at an off-grid yoga retreat for the past month and only just now read about Kate.

She needs to tell him something important that might help.

Simon responds to the email with his number and address, telling Lauren he can meet her as soon as possible.

He re-reads the final sentence of her email over and over:

'I think I know something about Kate that will help police, but I need to talk to you about it first. It's BIG.'

What the hell did she mean? What did Lauren know, and why did she need to speak to him about it?

As far as Simon was aware, Lauren and Kate hadn't hung out in years and were never really friends, anyway.

41

Lydia is feeling light-headed and a little bit euphoric.

She gets a glass of water from a very attractive and scantily clad young man at the bar, then climbs the metal staircase to the balcony and VIP area above.

She wants to take it all in and get a good view of the main room.

From the balcony, she can see the dance floor and her new group of friends, laughing and dancing together.

She catches Ian's eye and he smiles and points her out to the others, who all wave encouragingly.

Lydia smiles and waves back at them, feeling a warm rush of excitement and confidence. She's already thinking she might come back to Haven sometime, soon.

Then, she has a more sobering thought.

This is where Kate was, only a few weeks ago. She could have stood on this exact spot, could have felt the way Lydia is feeling, now.

Lydia feels her heart start to sink and a cold sweat breaks out on her lower back.

This was becoming a daily thing for her and she knows she needs to breathe and stay grounded.

She tells herself that she's safe and once she's pulled herself together, she can go and talk to some people and see if anyone knows Kate.

On the other side of the balcony, Lydia spots her reflection in a large mirror.

She doesn't want to stare or appear vain, but she thinks she looks kind of cool in her rope dress and is relieved that she fits in with the rest of the club.

A few seconds later, she glances casually back towards the mirror and her eyes open in shock.

It's not there. Instead, there's a group of people sitting on a sofa and a couple making-out next to them, against the wall.

Lydia feels disoriented and scared. She wonders if the anti-anxiety medication she's taking could be causing this.

Did she just hallucinate a mirror and her own reflection in it?

She thinks back to that morning a few days ago when she could have sworn she heard Kate whispering her name as she sat on the sofa.

Her mind wanders to Simon, then to Ida.

Life is so confusing right now and Lydia feels like her identity and sanity are slipping away.

She decides that another drink might help to calm her, and looks behind to see where the nearest bar is.

Lydia jumps in shock when she notices the short-haired woman from downstairs sitting just a few feet away.

The woman seems to have left her muzzled companion somewhere and is now smiling seductively at Lydia as she leans against a mirrored pillar and sips her drink.

Lydia makes a move to walk past her and towards the bar area, but the woman slides off her stool and puts her arm out to block Lydia's path.

'You can't just look the way you do, stare at me with those eyes and then expect to walk away again. Not tonight, baby.'

She looks Lydia up and down again.

'That dress. Those legs. You look incredible.'

Lydia is literally speechless. She is certain this woman is coming on to her in a very obvious way and she starts to feel even more dizzy.

Her admirer, noticing how unsteady she is, guides her gently towards a chair and after a minute or two, Lydia's breathing returns to normal and she starts to feel better.

She wonders where this woman is from and what her name is, but she's too shy and nervous to ask.

Lydia thinks she looks like a short-haired Thandie Newton and the thought of Thandie cutting off her hair and doing weights at the gym makes Lydia smile.

Her new friend notices, smiles back and brushes a strand of hair from Lydia's face, before leaning in and kissing her gently on the cheek.

The electricity from the kiss is palpable and it seems to run down Lydia's neck and spine, filling her entire body with a sensation unlike anything she's ever felt before.

She didn't think she could feel something like this for a woman and Lydia has no idea what to do next.

She finds the courage to look into the stranger's dark magnetic eyes for a second before she's kissed again. This time on the lips.

It's soft, tender, slow and Lydia can feel her face burn red with desire. She doesn't want it to end, but the woman pulls away.

'I haven't seen you around here in ages. I thought maybe you were something I dreamed up.'

Lydia can't believe what she's hearing. This woman can't be talking about her. She's never seen her before tonight.

Then, it occurs to Lydia. She must think she's Kate!

'I... I've never spoken to you before.'

'Correct. But we have seen each other, haven't we? I've seen you in some very... eh... interesting positions, if memory serves me.'

She's smiling now and her hands are all over Lydia.

She moves in to kiss her again, but Lydia pushes her away.

'Interesting positions? What does that mean?'

Lydia feels like she's going to pass out.

'I need. I need a drink. You think I'm my sister! We're twins. I've never been here before tonight but she has. And now she's missing. She's an actual missing person and the police are looking for her. Did you know that?'

Suddenly, Dee appears out of nowhere and asks Lydia if 'Belle' is bothering her.

The women obviously know each other but don't seem to be on friendly terms.

Lydia shakes her head, turns back to Belle and asks her to tell her what she knows about Kate.

Belle seems genuinely sad to hear that Kate is missing and ashamed that she had come on to Lydia so strongly when she was obviously in a vulnerable place.

She tells her that she recognised Kate from the club, had seen her a few times, once in the play room with a group of people and another couple of times dancing downstairs. But she couldn't remember who she was with, if anyone.

'All I remember is that she was beautiful and she smiled at me a couple of times. I really hope she's okay and you hear from her soon. I'm so sorry. About everything.'

With that, Belle backs away from them, smiles meekly at Lydia and goes back downstairs.

Lydia is in a state of shock.

She asks Dee why Belle said she saw Kate in the play room and what she did in there.

'Sweetie, it's really not that weird. I promise. It's basically spanking and a lot of people posing.

Some people do it for a release, others for a bit of fun and some for the voyeuristic element. Let me show you.'

With that, Dee leads Lydia to the other side of the balcony and towards the large fluorescent letters that spell out 'Play Room' above the double doors.

Lydia would ordinarily run a mile before going into a place like this, but she has to be brave for her sister and she isn't going to learn anything if she runs away now.

The room they enter is huge with high ceilings, massive pillars and black walls.

It smells of leather and perfume and looks more like a theatre than part of a night club, with dim lights apart from a few spotlights on the ceiling that point towards the centre of the room.

At the centre, there are various restraining devices and lots of people being tied up, flogged or humiliated in some way or another.

The only sounds in the room are coming from these people and there is no music.

The sounds of whips, moans and the occasional command from one of the 'dominants' fills the remaining sound space and gives Lydia chills.

It's all like some sort of perverted stage production to her.

Dee goes towards the circle of people in the middle of the room and Lydia follows slowly behind.

She leans against a pillar and watches as a scrawny young woman is told to remove her clothes.

The man who is speaking to her, does so with a firm, but low voice.

He walks around the girl in a wide circle as she undresses, and tells her to hurry up.

In seconds, her skirt and bra are on the floor with her shoes and he kicks them aside, telling her to take her underwear off too.

The girl nods and quickly does as he says. He lets her stand there, briefly and reminds her to stay looking at the ground until he says so.

She nods again. He motions to another man to join him and they proceed to tie the girl up, occasionally saying something degrading to her in a low voice.

Lydia watches as they fasten her arms behind her back. The rope almost goes to her elbows.

Her head hangs down and her mousey hair covers her face.

Lydia notices the bruises on the girl's buttocks and backs of her thighs and feels a rush of empathy.

She doesn't understand how anyone would agree to this sort of thing, or how it could possibly be pleasurable?

Dee, sensing Lydia's discomfort, whispers to her.

'This is pretty hardcore stuff. I really don't think your sis was into anything like this, honey.'

Lydia nods in response but she has already thought about the strange images she found on her sister's phone and how much this place reminds her of them.

One of the men in the centre of the room has now pulled the naked girl's hair back and is whispering something in her ear.

She nods quickly in response.

The other man is pacing back and forth behind them and takes some sort of long paddle from his belt, smacks it gently against the pillar behind her, and smiles.

The man that's pulling the girl's hair tells her to get on the floor, so that she's kneeling in front of him.

Lydia asks if the girl has given permission for this, and Dee nods.

The men start to flog the girl and she cries out.

Lydia wonders if she is crying in pain, pleasure, or a mixture of both.

One of the men has a paddle. The other has some sort of leather handle with lots of strings coming from it and stands a couple of metres from her, precisely hitting her bare back and bottom with the long leather strings.

On a balcony above them, Tony Briggs is watching Lydia closely.

One of the barmen, a friend of Yukio's, had let him know she was here, and he can't believe how identical to Kate she is and even more stunning in real life than she is in the magazines.

Tony jokes to his friend that if he ever goes through with a sex change he wants to look exactly like one of the Stone twins.

Lydia has no idea that Tony, or anyone is watching her.

She is transfixed with what's going on in the room.

Dee, suddenly realising that things are maybe a bit too intense for a newbie, says they have to go or they'll miss Yukio's performance.

Lydia breathes a huge sigh of relief as they re-enter the club's main room.

She hears a familiar Rihanna song and instantly feels more at home.

She's had adrenaline pumping through her veins for way too long and needs to chill out and rehydrate.

They rejoin the group downstairs and Lydia leans against the bar, waiting for Yukio to come on.

The MC shouts out the name of the next act, but it's not Yukio.

Instead, two people in full latex run on stage doing some sort of strange dance while covering one another in a jelly-like substance.

A few minutes into the act, Emma spots a table that's a bit closer to the stage, hurries to grab it for the group and soon, Lydia is able to take a seat.

She looks around to see if anyone else recognises her, and smiles at a few people, but no-one seems to actually know her and she assumes that means they don't know Kate, either.

Lydia had hoped she would meet lots of people who thought she was her sister tonight and find out more about who Kate knew from the club.

But so far, she had just seen some disturbing stuff in the play room and made out with a woman.

The lights suddenly get brighter as the latex duo leave the stage.

There's a loud drum-roll as they dim once more and Yukio appears on the balcony above their heads, flooded in orange light.

The MC announces her name and the crowd applaud and cheer enthusiastically.

Lydia looks around to see more and more people trying to get close to the stage and those that have been in other parts of the club, suddenly appear.

Yukio is obviously very well-known and extremely popular.

She looks incredible in a red, backless latex dress that trails along the floor as she walks.

On her head is an extravagant head-piece of red flowers and her black hair falls down her back in thick plaits.

Lydia knew that Yukio had some tattoos on her arms, but she had no idea she had this many. Her entire back is covered with dragons, flowers and skulls and the dress shows them off beautifully.

Lydia thinks back to the day, not too long ago, when she met Yukio for the first time at London Bridge.

She had been so gentle, softly spoken, the last person you'd expect to be doing this.

As she makes her way down the steps from the gallery to the stage, oriental electro music plays loudly and the crowd gets louder.

When she gets to the stage, Yukio opens a large wooden chest and the cheers get louder still.

Lydia still has no idea what the act is going to be. She had assumed Yukio was some sort of dancer.

She watches as her new friend pulls out a visor and makes a point of showing it to the cheering crowd before putting it on.

Everyone seems to know what's happening, except Lydia.

Then, Yukio picks up some sort of gun, points it into the air above the crowd and starts shooting.

She roars and snarls as flames fly out of the gun, travel a few feet into the air, then transform into hundreds of bright sparks that cascade down around the ecstatic fans.

Some sparks are extinguished only a couple of feet from people's faces and at one point, Lydia can actually feel her eyelashes curling in the heat. She can't believe they're allowed to do a fire show inside a building full of people. It's dangerous, exciting and extremely entertaining.

Yukio suddenly takes her visor off and grabs the mic from the stand behind her.

'Fire hazard!' she shouts, squealing with delight.

The crowd cheers again.

'Fire is SEXY!' Yukio roars at them.

Her face is contorted now, almost like a wild animal or as though she's possessed.

Lydia guesses that her cute girly personality doesn't really suit the fire act, and instead, she needs to be fierce and hard.

Lydia is clapping along with everyone else and smiling so hard, her face actually hurts.

She can't imagine what Yukio is going to do next and watches in awe as she takes out two long sticks and holds them up for the crowd to see. Then, she sets them alight, leans her head back, opens her mouth and extinguishes the flames in her throat.

Lydia can barely watch, but the act goes on like this for another ten to fifteen minutes and by the time Yukio disappears back upstairs to the roar of applause, the entire stage area is full of smoke.

Yukio comes to join them a few minutes later with two bottles of champagne. But, after a few minutes it seems obvious that there are too many fans in the main room. She's being bombarded with people asking for hugs and autographs or telling her how much they love her.

Lydia can't believe she's such a big star.

They move upstairs to the VIP area where it's quieter and a hostess leads them to a large table near the dance floor.

Lydia spots the cage dancer who waved at her earlier sitting at a table near them with a few other people and decides to go over and introduce herself.

'You waved at me earlier and I wondered if you knew my sister, Kate? We're twins.'

The girl nods and looks quite solemn as she shakes Lydia's hand.

'I'm Luci. Hi. I thought you were Kate at first, and then I remembered she was missing. I'm so sorry to hear about that. It's so weird.'

Lydia is relieved that someone finally knows Kate and asks if she knows anything that might help.

But, Luci says she really only knew Kate from a modelling job they did together a year ago in Paris.

Her own career didn't take off like Kate's had and the job in Paris was actually the last modelling gig she'd had.

Since then, she's been doing stuff like her job tonight, club appearances, dancing or hostessing.

She'd seen Kate out at other clubs before, but never here at Haven and she had no idea who she might have been with on the night she went missing, either.

Lydia struggles to hide her disappointment, thanks Luci and asks her to find her on Facebook if she remembers anything or meets anyone that might know something.

As she makes her way back to her own group, Lydia sees two men she recognises from the play room sitting in a booth and decides that there's no harm in speaking to them too.

She takes a deep breath and goes to introduce herself.

They seem like nice guys and have heard about Kate's disappearance, but neither of them know her or were there on Friday 6th.

Lydia asks if they know anyone who was there that night and they tell her about a guy called Gustav who's in the play room tonight.

They believe Gustav was there on Friday 6th.

Lydia tells Yukio and the others that she'll be back in a few minutes and makes her way to the play room, determined to find out something about her sister before she leaves.

Back inside, Lydia asks the first person she sees - a voluptuous blonde lady - if she knows who Gustav is and the lady gives her a knowing smile and points him out.

Gustav is hard to miss, standing at about six-foot-two with a shaved head, huge muscular shoulders and an outfit that makes him look like a gladiator from ancient Rome.

Lydia is scared just looking at Gustav and she watches as he gags and binds a woman, then hits her on the back with some sort of cane, but she moves towards the front of the crowd and tries to make herself visible to him, hoping that when he's finished what he's doing, she can speak to him.

Sure enough, after about ten minutes he finishes with the woman, but walks straight out a staff door at the back of the play room.

Lydia's heart sinks and she scolds herself for not making more of an effort.

She's thinking about following him, when she feels someone tap her lightly on the arm.

'You look like you might be interested in having a turn this evening. What are you in the mood for?'

Lydia is flustered and can barely get her words out in the correct order.

'Gustav? Hi. Yes. I wanted to talk to you about my twin sister Kate, actually. Do you know her?'

Gustav looks confused and asks again if she wants to try something with him.

He doesn't seem to be getting it.

'Do you recognise me? You've seen me before, right?'

Lydia tells him about her sister, but Gustav claims he hasn't even heard about Kate's disappearance until now and although Lydia finds it hard to believe, she gives him the benefit of the doubt.

There's something honest about Gustav. Something in his eyes.

He says he's a little freaked out by the fact that Lydia looks so much like Kate and Lydia wonders how well he knows her sister.

He tells her that he was right here on Friday 6th and Kate came in at around midnight or something like that.

He saw her a few times on her own, just watching from the crowd and then a while later, probably at 3AM when it was pretty quiet in the play room, she was with a man.

Lydia cannot believe she's hearing this and asks if he's one hundred percent sure it was Friday 6th and it was definitely Kate he saw.

Gustav nods confidently and says that Kate and the man were at the back of the room when he saw them and the man was wearing a white mask, was dressed in black, and possibly had a cloak or long coat on.

He recalls Kate had a smaller mask that she was briefly wearing in her hair at one point so he could see her face.

Lydia begs him to try to remember anything else he saw, but Gustav shakes his head and tells her that's all he knows.

'Gustav, this information has to go to the police, okay? I know it's a small detail but you are the only one who remembers anything about who Kate may have been with that night.'

Lydia discreetly takes her phone out and asks Gustav for his number. He gives it without question, nods and smiles, before walking towards a group of women waiting for him on the other side of the room.

Lydia goes back to the others in the VIP section and tells the gang that she has to go. She's exhausted and it's really late.

She hugs each of her new friends, tells Yukio she'll call her tomorrow and thanks everyone for an awesome night.

Naomi tells her that Sam at the front door will show her to a taxi, and they're usually lined up, right outside.

As Lydia waits for her coat and bag at the cloakroom, a pair of eyes remain fixed on her.

It's Jared Cooper.

He spotted her earlier, dancing with her friends and almost had a heart-attack.

He's had a photograph of Kate Stone pinned to the wall in his office for weeks and for a moment he thought he had found her.

Jared can't believe how identical the girls are.

He hadn't met Lydia and heard she was the quiet, shy sister, but the girl he saw on the dance floor tonight was certainly not shy.

In fact, it looked like she well and truly belonged at Haven.

42

At home, Lydia creeps in the front door and up the stairs, trying to avoid the creaky steps.

Her ears are still ringing from the music and she feels pretty drunk.

Tonight has been the strangest, most exciting night of her life and it will take some time for everything to sink in: kissing Belle, meeting Gustav, witnessing all that S&M stuff. Nevermind the fact that her new friend was a fire-eating, latex-loving fetish celebrity.

She makes it to her bedroom on the second floor, throws her coat down on the bed and looks at herself in the full-length mirror, thinking that if she took a snapshot of herself right this second, she would only see her sister.

The thought makes Lydia shiver and her mind flashes to the moment on the balcony at Haven when she thought she saw herself in a mirror.

She takes her shoes off and kicks them under the bed, walks to the ensuite, opens the shower door and leans in to press the power button to 'ON'.

She unties her dress at the neck and watches with amusement as the ropes fall to the ground and land in a heap at her feet.

When she can feel the shower is hot enough, Lydia gets in, closes the door behind her and allows the hot water to wash the day away and all of the strangeness she's encountered.

Lydia could spend hours in the shower if she had her way. She finds it so hypnotic and calming.

The events of the night drift through her mind, but she tries not to dwell on anything too much. After a sleep, things will, hopefully be clearer and she can tell Detective McCarthy what Gustav had seen.

She will just have to find a way to explain to her parents how she ended up at Haven.

Lydia steps out of the shower and is relieved to see her make-up free face looking back at her from the mirror.

She feels like herself again and hums as she towel-dries her hair, not being able to risk the hair dryer at this time, in case her parents wake.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye Lydia sees something reflected in the mirror that makes her freeze with fear.

A figure standing in her darkened bedroom.

She feels like her heart has actually stopped beating and she can't breathe.

She tells herself to count to three, closes her eyes on an inhale, holds her breath for a few seconds, then opens her eyes as she exhales and slowly turns around.

Whatever was there is gone.

She forces herself to walk into the room and turn the main light on.

'Oh my God, I'm going insane.' she whispers to herself.

She contemplates going to her parents but doesn't want to make things worse or for them to worry that she's going mad.

Instead, she quickly pulls on a long-sleeved t-shirt and some leggings, ties her hair up in a fresh towel and climbs into bed.

Once she's under the covers, Lydia starts to cry.

The figure she saw just now by the window had the same outline as her sister and earlier in the club, she thought she saw herself in the mirror on the balcony, but maybe that was Kate trying to contact her.

Lydia wonders if she is being haunted by her own sister and did that mean that Kate was dead?

She's never heard of someone being haunted by a living person.

Then, she thinks that maybe Kate is trying to contact her because she's the only one who can find her.

It takes Lydia almost an hour to fall asleep, but she's too scared to take the anti-anxiety meds on top of all the alcohol she has drunk.

43

It's only just after 8AM when Lauren Cunningham calls Simon from the taxi to let him know she's on her way to his flat.

She sounds exactly the same to him, with the same slightly too-loud, husky voice and an extremely dry sense of humour.

There was a time when Lauren coming to his house would have made Simon rush around to make the place look nice, but he's too exhausted and emotionally drained to be able to do anything beyond taking a shower.

When he's dressed, he puts the kettle on and sends Lydia another message. He needs her to know that the police have released him and he misses her and wants to see her.

It's only been a couple of days, but not being able to speak to Lydia has been driving him crazy. The way things ended between them wasn't right and he longs to be there for her until they figure out what's happened to Kate.

He texts:

'Lyds, I just wanted to say hi. The police let me go home after a couple of hours. Obviously they found nothing to worry about on my computer or phone. I miss you so, so much, and I love you, Lyds. Please can we talk? I want to explain a few things to you face to face. X'

A few seconds after pressing send, the buzzer goes and Simon opens the door to an exhausted-looking Lauren.

She's still gorgeous, with the same beautiful smile and dimples that Simon used to love.

The pair spend a few moments smiling at one another and hugging.

Lauren is the first person to touch him in days, and Simon holds her a little too tightly.

She looks concerned, asks what's been going on and Simon fills her in about Kate, the fact that they found weird photos on his camera and then discovered he'd been at the club the same night she went missing.

Lauren is just about the only person he can explain things to. She knows he went to Haven every once in a while.

Simon tells her that Lydia has dumped him, probably thinks he's a freak and the police think he has something to do with Kate's disappearance.

Lauren listens intently and when Simon is done she gives him another hug.

'My darling Simon. I believe you one hundred percent. I'm just glad I was able to get back in time and be here for you. It's such a mad coincidence that you emailed and I just literally had email access for the first time in almost a month. I know something and I think the police need to know too.'

She tells Simon that a couple of years ago, when she was in year twelve and the Stone twins were in year eleven, she had a substitute English teacher for a week or two called Mr Hayman.

One Friday, she and Kate started chatting to him after school and it quickly turned into very suggestive and flirtatious talk.

Lauren says she had no idea what came over them and it was like she and Kate were seeing who could shock Mr Hayman the most, or something.

'You know what I'm like, and Kate isn't much better. She likes to shock and seduce guys. She can have anyone she wants and I think we were getting competitive about this guy and a bit jealous of one another.'

Lauren continues to tell him that she was driving to her parents Notting Hill house that day and when Mr Hayman said he lived nearby in Holland Park, she insisted he travel with her.

Kate had looked defeated, but Lauren asked her to join too, and from that point on the day got more and more out of control.

The three of them got drunk and both girls made out with Mr Hayman and Kate ended up actually having sex with him.

She went home really late that night and got into trouble with her parents and she and Lauren had sworn never to tell anyone about what happened.

After that, Mr Hayman taught Lauren's class for a few more lessons and seemed genuinely embarrassed and shocked about what happened. But Kate just laughed about it and made Lauren swear she would never tell a soul.

A couple of weeks later, Lauren was out of school with glandular fever and by the time she recovered, the school year was nearly over.

Then, during the summer holidays she got a late-night phone call from Kate out of the blue and knew something was wrong.

Kate was hysterical and told her that she had been seeing Mr Hayman secretly for a couple of months, but he was into some really weird things and when she tried to end it, he got very upset.

Since then, he'd been contacting her relentlessly and was obviously very unstable.

Lauren had urged Kate to tell her parents and get advice about what to do, but she said she was too scared it would affect her modelling career and if her parents thought she wasn't safe, there was no way they would let her have the freedom she craved. They were already unsure about half the stuff she did and her dad was extremely uncomfortable with lots of the jobs she was taking.

Plus, she had just turned seventeen and if it got out that she had slept with a man in his thirties and a teacher for that matter, there would be serious consequences, especially for him.

She didn't want to provoke him further and didn't want her own reputation to be marred.

'I just remember thinking that she sounded so... vulnerable. Kate thought she knew what she was doing. But she didn't. She was in way over her head.'

Simon is in shock. He knows they have to go to the police with this information and he has to tell Lydia as soon as possible.

Whoever this guy is, he might know something about Kate.

44

Lydia sees a call come through from an unknown number and although it goes against her natural instinct, she decides to answer.

The young woman's voice on the other side is vaguely familiar but she can't really follow what she's saying.

She's still disorientated from last night, and finding it hard to think straight.

'Lydia, it's Lauren, Lauren Cunningham, we went to Keats together, but I was a year ahead? I was friends with your sister?'

Lydia tries to focus. She remembers Lauren, although she doesn't remember ever speaking to her directly. She was way too confident and cool to want to hang out with Lydia, although she and Simon used to be friends when they were younger, apparently.

'Yeah, do you know something? Have you heard from Kate?'

'I'm sorry if this is weird but I'm actually outside your house right now. I'd love to come in and talk if that's okay? I'm with Simon.'

Lydia's heart sinks in her chest. She can't believe this. Simon is obviously trying to trick her and using some girl who was friends with Kate to get to her.

She peeks through the living room window and can see Lauren and Simon standing outside the front gates.

She grips the receiver tightly.

'If you know something, tell me now, Lauren. You don't need to come in. Especially not with Simon. I don't want to be anywhere near him.'

Lauren turns to Simon and shakes her head.

'That's cool, Lydia. He just drove me here. Can I come in alone, please? I know something about Kate, about a secret man in her life.'

Lydia finds herself rushing to the front door and scrambling to open it.

She shouts out to Lauren, telling her to come in through the smaller gate at the side.

Simon tells Lauren he'll wait in the car and tries to get Lydia's attention, but she looks the other way.

Inside, Lauren fills Lydia in on everything she just told Simon and also the fact that she just found out about Kate last night, on her way back to London.

She wants Lydia to know that if she'd heard sooner, she would have come forward.

Lydia is silent and picks up her phone to call McCarthy

He picks up on the third ring and she breathes a sigh of relief, then goes on to tell him that a friend of Kate's has come forward with details about an older man - a teacher - that her sister was sleeping with.

McCarthy and Davies are driving through Camden and tell Lydia they'll be there in ten minutes.

'Lauren, I think this will take a while and having Simon outside will just look weird with the police coming. Can you tell him to go? I'll get you home safe or wherever you need to get to afterwards, okay?'

Lauren smiles weakly and agrees, then goes outside to tell Simon what the plan is.

He drives away, disappointed that Lydia still won't speak to him, but glad the police are acting so quickly.

He hopes that down the line, Lydia will see that it was his smart thinking to contact Lauren that brought this teacher affair to light.

Lydia leaves a voicemail on her mum's phone, saying that the police are coming over to have a quick chat about something she's discovered about an ex-boyfriend of Kate's.

She doesn't want her parents to panic when they arrive back to see the detective's car outside.

They're doing a radio and television interview today, appealing to anyone who might know anything about where Kate is.

45

A short distance from the Stone's house, Ida Hegarty is sitting with her cat, Angel, on her lap and listening to the radio.

Barbara Stone's desperate voice fills the room. It cracks and breaks as she begins to cry and the radio host repeats what she's just said in a respectful and slow way, giving her a moment to compose herself:

'Yes, Kate is eighteen years old and has her whole life ahead of her. If you know anything, please contact the police.'

Barbara interrupts him to add that she and her family miss Kate so much and if someone has her, is keeping her anywhere, there's still time to let her go.

Ida's eyes glaze over. She's feeling a message coming through.

Angel feels the energy shift too and jumps from her lap, onto a nearby coffee table.

Ida leans back in her chair and lets her eyes close.

She can see a woman in her sixties in a country kitchen.

The woman is broken hearted, disturbed-looking and knows something about Kate, is connected to her in some way.

The woman's body is skeletal and she looks like she is starving. Her bony hands come together at the palms as she closes her eyes and prays to God to forgive her.

Ida hasn't had a spontaneous vision like this for a while and it is deeply disturbing.

She usually has to focus and meditate in order to tune into the energy of a missing person and she wasn't even trying to with Kate Stone.

This is the side of the gift that she finds frustrating and the hardest to make peace with.

What was the point of the universe sending her this information, this disturbing vision of a troubled woman, when she had no power to do anything to help anyone, and no idea who the woman might be?

All she can do is hope that Lydia will come to see her again and then she can maybe find out who the woman in the vision is.

46

McCarthy and Davies listen intently as Lauren Cunningham tells them about Mr Hayman.

Lydia expected the interview to take a lot longer, but after ten minutes they're getting ready to leave.

They need to speak to the school immediately.

Before they go, Lydia asks McCarthy if she can have a quick word with him out in the hall. She needs to show him something.

She runs upstairs and roots around in a drawer for the iPhone she found under Kate's bed, then hurries back down and hands it to the detective.

'I found this in Kate's room ages ago, but there are some strange, kind of sexual selfies on there, of Kate and I thought it was better if no-one saw them. There are also texts from two guys. The dates could match the time she was involved with this teacher so I thought maybe you should know and could check out the numbers or whatever.'

McCarthy takes the phone from Lydia and asks if there's anything else she hasn't told him.

She looks embarrassed and wasn't planning on telling him like this, but explains that she went to Haven last night because she wanted to see if she could find anyone who knew her sister.

McCarthy is actually impressed. He didn't think she had it in her to do something like that.

Lydia goes on to tell him that she hasn't had the chance to tell anyone yet, but she met a man at Haven who saw Kate with some man on Friday 6th.

He didn't remember much, except for the fact that the man was dressed in black and wearing a white mask. The guy who saw them, Gustav, is willing to talk to the police too, Lydia explains.

McCarthy waits as she finds Gustav's number in her phone and then he jots it down in his notebook.

'That's it, Detective McCarthy. I swear. I'm sorry about the phone. I just didn't want those pictures getting into the wrong hands. The things people are already saying about my sister, you know...'

McCarthy gives her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then calls out for Davies to follow him to the car.

'Can you tell your parents I'll call them later?'

Within minutes, McCarthy and Davies are headed to Keats High School.

McCarthy tells Davies to call ahead to let the principal know they're coming. He has a feeling about this Hayman guy and needs to speak to him immediately to find out where he was on Friday 6th May.

47

Louisa Hume is a formidable woman, and everything you would expect the principal of an elite, private Hampstead school to be.

She shakes McCarthy's hand stiffly, looks Davies up and down, then tells them both to take a seat.

McCarthy gets straight to the point, and tells her that they need anything she may have on file about a teacher with the surname 'Hayman' who taught English on a substitute basis at the school at the end of 2014.

McCarthy doesn't tell her what it's in connection with, and when Louisa hesitates, he explains that it's a very serious, sensitive matter, and if she can't help today, he'll have to apply for a warrant to access the school records.

Louisa is on her feet in seconds, telling the detectives to wait in her office while she checks the records on the second floor.

Five minutes later, she returns with a print-out of Matthew Hayman's staff record, containing his date of birth, London address and social security number.

'Anything else on this guy? Did he work here before or after these dates?'

The form says he only did two weeks.

'This was all we had on the computer and I don't recognise his name or remember him, I'm afraid. We've seen many subs over the years here at Keats.'

McCarthy motions to Davies that they're leaving, and tells Louisa they'll be in touch if they need anything else.

With a raised eyebrow, and a dry, unsmiling mouth, she opens the door and wishes them good luck.

Once they're outside, McCarthy calls the station with the name and social security number for the team to run immediately.

He stays on the line while someone does the search, and in less than a minute they have a home telephone number for Hayman that's registered to an address in Norwich. There's also a recent speeding fine showing in the system, also in Norwich.

'Right, we're headed to Liverpool Street. Train to Norwich won't take more than an hour and a half, right? It's be too long a drive.'

McCarthy stays on the phone to let the team know what the plan is, and he mouths to Davies to start driving

His partner nods enthusiastically in response.

'Text me the address and numbers for this guy, will you? And everything else you get on him. We need to find him today. I need back up from local police there, too. We don't know what we're going to find.'

48

A thin wrinkled hand pours water from a kettle into a yellow chipped teapot.

The hand belongs to a lady in her sixties with large brown eyes and a mouth full of false teeth.

Her body is wasting away, and her mind has been lost for most of the last decade.

She pours tea into a little cup and adds three spoonfuls of sugar, counting them aloud as she does so.

Her hand shakes, so some of the sugar falls from the spoon on to the table. She curses at it, then takes a sip of tea, muttering something to herself as she stands up and crosses the room to pick up a black gym bag from the floor.

She places the bag on the table, takes another sip of tea, and looks at it curiously, nodding to herself.

She opens it, and pulls out a large hoody, a pair of dirty green socks, a phone charger and a bundle of papers.

A photograph falls out when she looks through the papers, and the woman picks it up and stares at it blankly.

Then, she shuffles over to the sofa where she sits down, and turns the television on via remote control.

On screen, the news reader gives an update about Kate Stone, and shows a short video clip of Barbara's appeal from that morning with the phone number for viewers to call if they have any information that might help.

The woman takes another look at the photograph in her hand, and a tear rolls down her cheek.

'What have you done?' she whispers, before putting the photograph down, and bringing her palms together in silent prayer.

49

McCarthy and Davies are on board the 12.45 train to Norwich, and McCarthy is going through the iPhone that Lydia gave to him earlier.

The photographs of Kate shock him a little, and he wonders who she took them for, and why she also thought to hide the phone.

He types the address they found for Matthew Hayman into Google Maps and sees that it's on a small victorian terrace, ten-minutes' walk from Norwich city centre.

It's not really what McCarthy was expecting, and not the sort of house you could easily hold someone captive in without a neighbour noticing.

The fear that Kate has already been murdered surfaces in McCarthy's mind just as an email comes through from Julia at the office with images of Hayman.

He's well-built and pale, with dark eyes and dark hair. There's also a link to a Facebook profile, and McCarthy looks through the public images and groups that Hayman belongs to.

There are about fifteen images of him online and it all looks pretty normal to McCarthy. The most recent one is at a football match in Norwich with two male friends, and there are others of a fishing trip, and quite a few of sunsets or funny memes, but nothing out of the ordinary that McCarthy can spot.

He takes out his notebook and dials Gustav's number.

They still need to have a formal interview with him, but a description of the man he saw with Kate on May 6th is enough for now.

Gustav is expecting the call, and happy to help. He tells McCarthy what he told Lydia; he had met Kate a few times at the club, and she had always been alone. But, on Friday 6th of May, he saw her standing next to a tall man, with a white mask that obscured most of his face. He was also wearing a long black coat or cloak.

Gustav also explains that the room they were in was pretty dark, especially where Kate and the man were standing, and he only glanced at them a few times.

McCarthy asks for more information about the mask, and Gustav takes a few moments to think, then says that the closest thing it resembled was the mask from 'Phantom of the Opera'.

McCarthy asks him to come by the station in Hendon to make a statement, and Gustav agrees.

As soon as McCarthy hangs up, he calls the station back and tells Julia they need to go through the CCTV again, looking for Hayman based on the photos they now have.

They also need to look for anyone going in or out of the club the night the Kate went missing who was wearing a white mask or a long black cloak.

Davies looks on, as his partner becomes more and more animated. McCarthy feels like they are close to breaking this.

50

The frail lady is staring at the photograph of Kate Stone and shaking her head in disbelief.

On the television screen is a paused frame of Barbara Stone's troubled face, and the information hotline to call.

She picks up the phone and slowly dials.

After a few rings, a male voice answers.

'I told you not to call this number.'

She hesitates before responding, and her words come out in a mumbling stutter, as if her mouth is full of something.

'I want to know what you've done with this girl Matthew. What have you done?'

Her voice is raised now, and frantic.

'I'm about to call the police.'

She listens and nods as the man explains something to her.

'You better not be lying to me, son. Not this time.'

As the line goes dead, she stares back at the silent television screen, and lets the phone fall to her side.

51

When McCarthy and Davies arrive at Lindley Street, they know that back-up is less than five minutes away.

Davies has never worked on a case as big as this, and looks genuinely terrified as they walk the short distance from the taxi to the front door of Matthew Hayman's home.

They ring the doorbell, and peer through the stained-glass window panels on the door, as they wait, hoping to spot any movement or light inside.

There's no answer. No movement. Nothing.

Davies peeks in the window of the front room. The netting only comes up halfway, and he can see the place looks lived-in. There are healthy-looking plants on the shelves, and an open magazine on the coffee table.

'Shit' McCarthy announces suddenly, and rings the doorbell two more times.

He's getting impatient. They're going to have to speak to neighbours if no-one answers soon.

He leans down, pushes the letter box open, and shouts into it, announcing that he's looking for Matthew Hayman.

Another few minutes pass, and McCarthy is about to give up and make a new plan, when suddenly, the door opens.

52

In a dark basement, Kate Stone struggles to breathe through the tight gag in her mouth.

She's afraid to cry because her hands are tied, and she can't wipe the tears and snot away.

The skin on her face is peeling and dry, and her eye sockets are so black it looks like she's been badly beaten.

Kate hasn't drunk anything for nearly fourteen hours, or eaten for nearly eighteen hours. She's been wearing the same pink flannel night-dress since the day she woke up in this place, and it's definitely not enough to keep her warm.

She has no idea how she got here. The last thing she can remember is being at Haven, drinking, and having a good time.

Like so many other nights she'd spent at the club, she had wanted to disappear that evening, and to be as anonymous as possible.

Kate had gone over it so many times in her head, asking herself how she got so drunk that she had no memory of what happened.

Now, she was pretty sure he was going to kill her.

The question was, when?

53

Lydia waves goodbye to Lauren, goes back inside, and lets it all sink in.

There's so much happening right now, that she's finding it hard to keep up, and starting to feel strangely dissociated from reality.

She hardly slept last night, either, and decides to rest on the sofa til her mum gets home.

Five minutes later, she's sound asleep, with Molly at her feet.

Lydia dreams that she's looking for Kate in a big old house, with only the light of her phone to guide her.

She's terrified, and can hear her sister's voice in the distance calling for help.

One moment, the sound seems to be coming from upstairs, but as soon as she runs up a couple of flights, it starts to come from below her again.

She's running as fast as she can, and straining to hear. But, Kate's voice turns to a pained scream. It sounds like she's in agony, and Lydia knows if she doesn't find her soon, something terrible is going to happen.

She walks along an endless, dimly lit corridor with a large crucifix hanging on one side, and suddenly, Kate's voice is much, much closer.

Lydia sees a narrow wooden staircase leading down to a basement, and immediately knows that's where her sister is.

She hears her calling out: 'Please Lydia, please!', and Lydia hurries towards the basement entrance, and pushes the door open.

Kate is inside. She's tied up, naked, not moving.

Her head hangs down, hair covers her face, and fresh blood trickles down her chin on to her chest.

It's too late. She's already dead.

Lydia wakes to the sound of Molly barking in her face.

Shaking, she walks into the kitchen, and puts the kettle on, reaching into her pocket for the anti-anxiety pills Dr Hendry prescribed. She takes one, then another.

She knows she has got to find a way to control herself.

Then, Lydia has a thought, and rushes back into the living room to find her phone.

She dials a number and waits impatiently for the person on the other end to pick up. After a few rings, an automated greeting sends her to voicemail.

'It's me. It's Lydia Stone. I need to see you. I'm sorry for the short notice but, I'm desperate.'

54

Inside Beryl Hayman's house, McCarthy and Davies question her about her son, Matthew.

They can see that she's obviously suffering with some sort of mental health issue, or perhaps dementia.

She struggles to answer their questions and sometimes speaks randomly about religion, a television show, or the country's education system.

As soon as they came in, McCarthy had searched the house, and saw no sign of anyone else staying here.

There was no basement or garden shed, either. Nowhere that Kate could be hidden.

They ask Beryl when she last saw Matthew, and at first, she says he was here earlier that day, then, she seems to suddenly remember he didn't turn up at all, and her eyes fill with tears.

She points to the bag on the floor by the fridge.

The photograph of Kate is the first thing McCarthy sees when he unzips it.

'Where did you get this, Beryl? Who owns this bag? Is it Matthew's?'

She smiles widely when she hears his name, nods, and tells McCarthy that her son likes to leave his gym bag in the kitchen, ever since he was a little boy.

McCarthy points at Kate's image, and again, asks Beryl who it is.

She hangs her head and shakes it slowly from side to side.

'I told him to be careful, to make sure these girlfriends of his are old enough, but he never listened to me.'

Davies can't help but ask about the other girls and how young they were.

Beryl states in a matter of fact tone that they were all very lovely girls, but too young.

'One was fourteen, would you believe! I told him that he would get into trouble and they would bring more hassle into his life than joy, but he liked them young. He's young himself at heart you see. He never grew up, really.'

McCarthy sits back down at the kitchen table next to Beryl, holds her hand, and smiles gently.

'Mrs Hayman, it is very important that we speak to your son today. Do you know where he is? Can you tell us, please?'

Beryl has a long think.

Almost twenty seconds later, she nods and tells them that he has been living 'a spiritual life'.

He told her that he's changing his ways, and turning over a new leaf, repenting for his mistakes, and he is determined to make her proud.

'He's working at the library, the big glass-fronted one in town, and he's writing a book about God, I believe. Yes. That's it.'

Beryl seems happy that memory has served her this time, and smiles sweetly at the men.

McCarthy asks about other family members in the area, and she tells him about her sister, Doris who lives in Great Yarmouth, and her daughter Maeve in Australia.

At McCarthy's request, she gives them Doris's phone number and address, and also her own number.

They take a few minutes to ensure all of the details are correct, before McCarthy makes a move to leave.

He asks Beryl to contact him if she hears anything from her son, or remembers anything at all about where he might be, and he also tells her that they need to take the gym bag with them.

Reluctantly, she hands it over.

McCarthy and Davies start walking towards the centre of town and catch a taxi on Hall Road to take them to the library.

Beryl watches through the net curtains in the living room. Her bony arms are folded tightly under her chest, and she looks disturbed at what has just happened.

She hesitates momentarily, mutters something to herself, then picks up the phone.

When he answers, she tells her son that the police are looking for him.

55

Lydia has been at Ida's house for an hour.

She desperately needed to tell her about the hallucinations she was having about Kate, and how she knew she was alive and trying to send her a message.

Ida told her she had seen Kate too, and in her visions, she was tied up in a dark room, with a large crucifix on the wall.

Ida felt sure Kate was in some sort of basement and Lydia had started to sob when she heard that.

The vision was almost identical to the dream she had just had.

Lydia also told Ida about what she saw in the mirror last night at Haven, and that when she went home after the club, she had seen the outline of someone in her room.

Ida reassured Lydia that what she was going through was okay, and she wasn't going insane.

Ida believed that when people go through traumatic experiences, and are scared, confused, or lacking in sleep, they're more open to messages from loved ones, to visions and inexplicable things happening to them.

This wasn't a coincidence. Kate was trying to make contact, and to guide them to the truth of what happened to her.

With hesitation, Lydia had asked Ida if she believed her sister was alive, or if it was too late?

'I hope we aren't too late, my love. I really do. I'll do everything to help you, if you let me.'

With that, Lydia had allowed Ida to sit and meditate with her.

And now, an hour later, they're still trying to tap into Kate's energy to see if the message might be stronger and clearer if they tune into it, together.

But, nothing happens, and eventually Lydia gives up.

She's not used to this at all, and feels like Kate only contacts her when she's not expecting it. The things that she's heard or seen were mostly at home, or asleep, or under the influence of alcohol.

Frustrated and confused, Lydia tells Ida that she has to get home to talk to her parents about the club last night, and the new information they'd heard from Lauren.

She takes out a fifty-pound note, but Ida refuses to take it.

'Pay me the next time, okay? This wasn't a proper session, anyway. I see it as helping a friend.'

Lydia smiles in appreciation, grabs her bag, and makes her way to the front door.

Ida calls for her to wait a second.

'One thing I wanted to ask you, love. The name 'Margaret', does it mean anything at all to you? It's come up for me in relation to your sister.'

Lydia says she doesn't know anyone called Margaret. The name means nothing to her.

Ida shakes her head and watches as Lydia makes her way down the hill.

It's obvious that she's a very troubled girl, and Ida wishes there was more she could do to help.

She had been hoping Lydia would have reacted differently to the name 'Margaret', because something in her gut says that there is a woman by that name who knows Kate, and has something to do with all of this.

56

At Norwich library, McCarthy and Davies quickly locate a manager to ask about Hayman.

Frank is a slightly hunched, grey-haired man in his fifties, who nods upon hearing Matthew Hayman's name, and asks the detectives if their visit is about Matthew's sick mother.

When they shake their heads, Frank goes on to explain that Matthew has been off sick for a while, and only covered two or three shifts in the past few weeks.

Apparently, he's slipped a disc in his back and it's taking a long time to heal.

McCarthy and Davies realise the significance of this information at the same time, and exchange a knowing look with one another.

If Hayman had anything to do with Kate Stone's disappearance, it makes sense that he wouldn't have been coming to work as normal.

McCarthy explains that they need to get in touch with Matthew immediately, and they need Frank's cooperation. They ask him to provide any addresses, telephone numbers, or any other information on record about him, as well as any shift dates he worked over the past month.

Frank tells them that Matthew usually works four days a week, and has been employed at the library for about four months.

When Frank goes off to find an address and the shift record, McCarthy spots another employee sorting through a pile of books nearby, and asks her who Hayman's friends are at work.

She tells him that Matthew barely speaks to anyone at all in the place, apart from a lovely woman called Carol who works in the children's library who goes for lunch with him, sometimes.

McCarthy tells Davies to wait for Frank, and makes his way to the children's library at the back of the main floor.

Carol is friendly and forthcoming when McCarthy explains the situation to her, and she tells him that she and Matthew sometimes go for a coffee together after work, but all she really knows about him is that he used to be a teacher, but he found it too stressful.

He told her that he loved fishing, but was basically a bit of a loner, and the only family he ever spoke about was his mother.

'He's very quiet and so smart. To be honest, I don't know why he works here.'

Carol's laugh is uneasy, and she tells McCarthy that she isn't sure why Matthew hasn't been at work recently. They aren't really close enough to have one another's phone numbers or anything.

McCarthy can see that Carol doesn't have any useful information. He thanks her, and leaves his card in case she does remember anything.

'Just one last thing, Carol. Do you know where Matthew was on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th of May by any chance?

She gets a bit flustered and tries to remember the day.

'Please, think about that, and call me when you do remember? It's very important. Friday 6th and Saturday 7th. Got it?'

Through the glass that separates the children's library from the rest of the library, McCarthy can see Frank making his way back to Davies. He speeds up his pace to join them.

Outside, Davies buys two coffees from a nearby café while McCarthy calls Julia at the office.

Frank's given them an address they send Hayman's payslips to, and it's not the one they've just been to on Lindley Street, either.

McCarthy asks Julia to take a look at the new address on a map, and he listens eagerly for a description.

Julia tells him it's a large, detached cottage on about a quarter acre, with a big shed, two entrances, and plenty of tree coverage at the front and back.

She does a reverse search of the address, and confirms that it's a rental property.

McCarthy looks at his watch and estimates it will take them about half an hour to get there.

He tells her to let local back-up know that he and Davies are headed there now.

57

Barbara is exhausted. She has spent the past six hours doing interviews, and meeting with people who want to help find Kate.

She also met three other mothers who are looking for their missing children.

Up to today, Barbara had no idea that this kind of thing happened so often in the UK.

As she drives, she notices for the first time, that it's actually turning into a beautiful spring, and suddenly everyone seems to be in flip-flops and shorts.

If it wasn't for the hell that the Stone family were living through, this is the kind of evening that she and the girls would light the BBQ, and surprise Brian when he got home from work.

They'd had so many happy evenings in their beautiful garden.

She just needs to turn left at the bottom of Pond Street, and will be home in two minutes.

She sees a few people at the pedestrian crossing and stops to let them pass.

There's a well-dressed gay couple with an adorable puppy on a leash, and Barbara finds herself smiling in amusement as they try to coax the little dog across the road. It reminds Barbara of Molly when she was tiny. She'd been so scared of traffic and noise, and was always trying to jump into their arms during walks.

The couple wave in thanks at Barbara's patience, and she smiles back, giving them a little wave, too.

Then, she sees a man who had been walking behind the couple. He stops and stares at her.

'Margaret? Is that you Margaret? Oh my God!'

The man is pointing at her now, and his eyes are almost popping out of his head.

Barbara rolls up the windows and starts to drive, forcing him off the road. He shouts after the car, but she accelerates, and is out of sight in seconds.

She's still shaking when she parks in the driveway shortly afterwards.

Lydia has seen her mum return, and she and Molly are at the front door to greet her.

Lydia feels like she hasn't seen her mum in days, and so much has happened that she wants to talk to her about. She immediately notices that Barbara looks like she's seen a ghost, and asks what's wrong, but her mum just says that she found the morning's interviews draining.

Once inside, the pair sit and catch up about the past couple of days' events, and Lydia doesn't hold back with the details about Mr Hayman.

She's surprised her mother doesn't seem more shocked. Then, she mentions that she went to Haven last night, and lied to them about meeting friends.

She tells her mother that she didn't have any huge information to share, but did meet one person who remembered seeing Kate chat to a man in a white mask, and she had passed on all the information to McCarthy.

Barbara starts to pace around the kitchen, and suddenly looks anxious.

Lydia wonders if she's angry with her for lying about where she went last night.

She also knows she has to tell her about Kate's phone and the photos she found on there.

It's only a matter of time before the police mention it, anyway, so she just blurts it out.

Barbara nods and says she understands.

Lydia is used to her mum being a very present and attentive woman, and it's unnerving to see her pace and nod like this.

Lydia tries to coax her to sit down, but Barbara has a faraway, glazed look in her eye.

'We all have secrets don't we, Lydia? Kate does, you do, your father does. Even Simon shocked us, didn't he? I'm not worried that Kate took sexy photos of herself, or went to a wild night club.'

Barbara looks at her daughter properly for the first time since she got home, and her face becomes softer.

'No matter what you do, or what happens in this life, just know that I adore you, as I adore your father and Kate. Never be unsure about that. I will do everything to protect you.'

Lydia nods, and tries to smile.

She's not sure what her mother is going through, but it's obvious she's trying to make things better.

Barbara takes a deep breath, finishes her tea, and tells Lydia she's going to the station to get an update on the case.

She's been trying McCarthy's phone for the past hour, but he isn't picking up, and she wants to make sure they are still giving this their full attention.

She's heard stories about other missing people who are just forgotten by police when they run out of resources to continue searching for them, and she isn't going to let that happen to them.

Lydia nods in agreement, and offer to cook something for dinner while her mum is out. They haven't had a family meal since Kate went.

A few minutes later, as she waves Barbara off, and closes the gate behind her, Lydia sees something that makes her jump in shock.

Across the narrow road, by the entrance to the woods is a very strange-looking man.

He is staring straight at her, and looks insane, with huge bulging eyes and a peculiar stance, like he's in some kind of physical pain that's making him collapse to one side.

He's also carrying a plastic bag that looks almost empty, and wearing a dirty green anorak.

Lydia automatically takes a few steps back towards the house when she sees him, and Molly starts to bark.

But, the man doesn't move, and continues to stare at her blankly.

Lydia tries to keep her eyes on him, but a succession of cars and a large van drive past the gate, obscuring her view.

A few moments, when the traffic clears, he's somehow made his way across the road to the gate, and is just a few metres away from Lydia.

Lydia takes a sharp intake of breath, and contemplates calling out for help when she sees him pressing his face between the bars of the gate.

No-one has ever looked at her this intensely, or scared her this much.

'I followed the car here, but I was too afraid to knock.'

The man's voice is deep, his eyes look her up and down as he speaks, and Lydia can feel every hair on her body standing on edge, and her palms start to sweat.

She's only about ten feet from the front door, and could easily run inside to call the police.

But, the man speaks again, and this time he says something that catches her attention.

'Margaret lives here. Doesn't she?'

At first, Lydia is relieved, thinking this man has simply got the wrong house, and just happens to look scary.

She tells herself that she's just being paranoid, not thinking straight, and if all this other stuff wasn't happening, she wouldn't be scared at all.

But, as soon as that thought leaves her mind, and she's about to respond to his question, Lydia remembers Ida's words, only a couple of hours ago.

Was it really a coincidence that she had asked her about someone called Margaret, and now this strange man is asking the same thing?

Lydia suddenly longs to get inside, and tells Molly to follow her.

She shouts to the man that he's got the wrong house, and no-one called Margaret lives here.

Then, she turns and goes inside, locking and bolting the front door behind her.

She runs upstairs, and goes to the window at the end of the first-floor hall that looks out on to the driveway and road beyond.

From this vantage point, she sees the man walking slowly up the road.

He looks back at the house a few times, as if he knows she's watching, and Lydia hides so he doesn't see her.

She's trembling, and decides to call her dad to see how long he'll be. He should be on his way home by now.

Brian answers on the second ring, says he took the train, and is just walking from Hampstead station.

He'll be with her in five minutes.

58

In the cold basement, Kate Stone contemplates her own death.

She feels certain that her captor is waiting for the right time to kill her, or maybe he's trying to pluck up the courage.

She wonders if she should try to end her own life before he tortures her to death, and has worked out that dehydration could kill her if she doesn't drink anything for another few days.

It's already been so long since she's drunk anything.

It's been like this since she got here, her mind alternating between thoughts of family, and having faith that they will find her, and will never give up, and thoughts of the police looking for her, and of someone knowing how she got from the club that Friday night to whatever hell-pit she was in now.

But, Kate also finds herself thinking of all the horrific ways he could kill her if she doesn't get there first.

Her imagination has always been overactive, and she shudders at the thought of knives cutting out her tongue or eyes, blades peeling her skin, or a brutal and horrific rape.

Her mind is constantly thinking about the certainty that she will be murdered, probably in this basement, and she seeks comfort in the thought that maybe if she's already weakened and sick through undernourishment and cold, she might not feel the pain as much.

Each time he comes into the room, he tells her to be a good girl, to pray, and wait for his command.

He says the time for them is coming soon, and she must be patient and calm, and he reminds her that she has sinned and must do penance.

If Kate asks him a question, it's like she doesn't exist. He doesn't even look at her.

Kate wonders how a person gets like this. This man is twisted, cruel, the closest thing to evil she can imagine.

He brings a plastic container of food once a day, and throws her a bottle of water, but it's barely enough to sustain a small animal.

Kate has started to feel invisible, and is sure she's going mad.

She lost track of the number of days spent here after about a week, and it feels like the life that she led before this, and all of the love, fun, and adventure she experienced was never even real.

All she knows now is this dark, lonely, pain-filled nightmare.

59

Brian hasn't been greeted with such enthusiasm by anyone in years.

Lydia literally runs into his arms when he arrives home, and tells him about the strange man who came to the gate and scared her.

She even manages a little laugh about how paranoid she is these days, and says that she now realises the man was obviously just homeless or mentally unwell.

Brian puts his briefcase down in the usual spot in the hall next to the table, and hangs his coat on the stand next to it.

His daughter has been talking at such a fast pace, that he hasn't really heard what she's saying, and he asks her to repeat the story while he makes a cup of tea.

They walk into the kitchen together, and he goes about making the tea while Lydia pops a frozen casserole into the oven.

When she's done she starts from the start.

'Basically, about twenty minutes ago, just as I waved mum off, I saw this man staring at the house. He was just looking at me from across the road, and then he came over and started saying that he was looking for Margaret, and did she live here.'

Brian stops what he is doing, and turns to her.

'What did he look like, Lydia? Have you seen him before?

Her dad looks very concerned, and Lydia smiles, embarrassed that she's made him worry about something so small, when he's obviously devastated about Kate, and going through enough already.

She reassures him that the man left straight away, and she's never seen him before, either.

Brian sits down, takes a sip of tea, and makes Lydia promise to tell him if she ever sees that man again.

Then, Lydia fills him in about the teacher that Kate was involved with, her own visit to Haven last night, and the iPhone she had handed over to police.
60

Barbara didn't go to the station like she said she would.

After everything that has happened today, she just needs to breathe and get away from it all.

Her mind has reached capacity, and she knows if she had stayed at home she would have smashed something to pieces.

She arrives at Highgate cemetery feeling like she's not going to be able to hold it together for much longer.

She parks the car, opens the glove compartment, and pulls out two small brown containers of pills, and puts them into her handbag, then quickly zips it shut, and gets out of the vehicle.

After paying the entrance fee, Barbara tries to get lost at the back of the cemetery, like she's accidentally done so many times before.

She doesn't know what she's going to do with the pills, but moves them from her handbag to her pocket, holding on to them for comfort as she walks.

She thinks about how she has wanted to kill herself many times in her life, but never came close to actually doing anything.

This feels different, though, and her longing to escape is stronger than ever.

The peace of the cemetery is just what she needs to feel more grounded, and after twenty minutes or so, Barbara can breathe again.

She feels her heart rate returning to normal, and the heavy, dragging sensation in her stomach starts to subside, as she focuses on the happy birdsong around her and the gentle swishing of the trees.

This place is famous for its beautiful light. Some of the tombs are cracked, and ivy is growing around them, making the whole place look like a film set for a Halloween movie.

There's even a black cat roaming around somewhere.

Recently, the days were blending together for Barbara, into a never-ending cycle of worry, panic and regret.

And she can't speak to anyone about this secret fear she has about what really happened to Kate.

It's something she can never tell a soul. And the weight of it is tormenting and crushing her.

Barbara think that anyone she told would think she was crazy.

How could anyone ever understand that she knew it was her fault that her daughter was gone?

On the outside, they see a peaceful woman, a doting mother who would do anything for her family, someone who does yoga every morning, and makes her own jam, who hardly ever raises her voice, or says no to anything.

Barbara smiles, nods, and laughs just like a normal person, but on the inside, she knows it's all an act, and when she is alone, she stares into space, feeling entirely empty and detached.

It is only the connection to the people she loves that is keeping her alive.

And so, she does her best, blends into the background, and lets life grow and thrive around her, believe that the smaller she is, and the bigger everything else, the less she would ruin things.

She keeps quiet, has few opinions that she vocalises about anything, and instead, she mirrors her loved-ones, agrees with whatever they want, and plays the role of wife and mother, beautifully.

She knows that if anyone ever saw the real Barbara Stone, they would see how broken she is.

She feels this broken person is more than likely unlovable and too damaged to deserve the beautiful life she has.

But, when no one knows the real you, life can be incredibly lonely.

Barbara has been running from something for a long time, and there is a darkness that lives in her, that follows her around every day, like a shadow.

This shadow loomed over the twins when they were born. It was at its worst then, and when she sat up at night, nursing those tiny babies, Barbara felt the darkness becoming greater. She imagined crushing them and making it look like an accident.

Sometimes, the dark thoughts came and went in an instant, and she shook them off, and moved on.

But, once or twice, the destructive urges stayed for a few hours, and in those periods, she often felt no empathy.

She felt nothing, except a longing to climb into bed, or better yet, to climb into the ground, and end this ridiculous charade.

She didn't tell Brian that she had been referred to a psychiatrist, either, too terrified that he would ask questions she couldn't, answer.

She had always wondered why he had even married her, and felt that if he knew all that there was to know about her, he would be gone.

Brian was the only man she had ever loved, and the only time she felt safe was when she was next to him.

Lying to him, and pretending to be normal would have to be enough.

She couldn't risk losing him. She guessed that he loved her for being a good mother, for entertaining his colleagues, and for laughing at his bad jokes.

He didn't love her for who she was underneath that, because he didn't know that part of her. And that was okay with Barbara.
61

McCarthy and Davies are in a taxi on the way to Matthew Hayman's house when Julia calls from the office.

After examining the CCTV evidence from the night Kate went missing from Haven, the team have found several segments of footage with a man in a mask that matches Gustav's description of the man seen with Kate.

The interesting bit is that he was captured on the camera at the back of the club, and right at the time when the furniture and props were also being moved out.

This fits with McCarthy's original suspicions about the equipment removed from the club being used to move Kate out.

He asks Julia to send the footage to him in a zip file so he can watch iton his phone as soon as possible.

They also need to interview everyone that moved furniture in or out that night as soon as possible, and a good source for that information is Tony Briggs.

With McCarthy and Davies away, another member of the team needs to find Briggs today, and go through the footage with him.

McCarthy asks if they have found anyone on the footage that looks like Matthew Hayman, and Julia says they will go through it again with a fine-tooth comb, but so far, Hayman hasn't shown up.

McCarthy wonders if Matthew Hayman could be the man in the mask.

It has always been more likely that Kate left the club on foot, wearing something covering her head, making it impossible to be identified on the footage, but McCarthy also has to consider the possibility that she was carried out of there; concealed somehow.

If this masked man is the same one that was with Kate, they need to find out what he was doing there.

McCarthy hangs up just as they pull up outside Hayman's house, and asks the taxi to wait for a few minutes.

If there's no-one home, the journey might be in vain, and they will need to return to the city, and make another plan.

They open an old rusty gate and walk up the graveled path to Hayman's front door.

It's rotten and peeling. In fact, the entire building looks run down and unkempt, and the garden is an overgrown mess of weeds.

They ring the doorbell, but there's no movement from inside the house, and all of the blinds are shut, too.

The place looks derelict.

McCarthy bangs on the door, and Davies asks if he should try around the back of the house.

His partner nods, telling him to try to get a look inside while he's back there.

McCarthy bangs loudly on the door again, and calls out Hayman's name a few times.

Davies shouts out that there's a car parked around the back that matches the registration number they've got for Hayman.

62

Kate can hear movement from the floorboards above her head.

She's weaker than ever, and hopes her captor is coming to feed her, but she's also terrified about seeing him again, and worried that maybe this time he will hurt her.

The door opens slowly, and she looks up to see the familiar black boots make their way down the three steps.

He stands across the room and orders her to look at him.

He's never done this before.

Then, in a matter-of-fact tone, he tells her that the time is nearly up, and soon they will be able to take the next step together.

'Start praying, Kate'

She looks at him, puzzled, and he stares straight back at her, repeating the words: 'Start praying.'

Kate bows her head, and with a hoarse and shaky voice that she barely recognises as her own, she begins.

'Our father, who art in heaven. Hallow'd be thy name...'

63

Matthew Hayman's front door suddenly opens, just a crack.

'Hello? Mr Hayman?'

Nobody answer, and whoever opened the door seems to have gone back inside.

McCarthy quietly tells Davies to get back-up there as soon as possible, then he enters the dark house, calling out Hayman's name.

He edges his way down the hallway, looking for a light switch, and listening for any sort of movement.

Whoever opened the door seems to have disappeared.

The curtains and blinds are drawn in every room too, and McCarthy doesn't have a torch, but he makes his way to a back room, where there is some natural light.

As he approaches the doorway, McCarthy sees some a male figure sitting upright on the sofa. The line of his jaw is vaguely illuminated by a sliver of light coming from the window.

'Mr Hayman? Is that you? Are you back there? Mr Hayman, we'd like to talk to you please.'

There's no answer. The man sits absolutely still, and seems to be staring straight ahead.

This is one of those moments that makes McCarthy think about his family.

It's a crossroads.

It's not just himself that he must think about, but Fran and the kids.

Should he turn around, and wait until back-up arrives with torches, radios, bullet proof vests and helmets?

This is not strictly a safe environment. Hayman is wanted in connection with a missing teen he's had an illegal relationship with, and he's acting very strangely right now.

McCarthy has a bad feeling, like a fist in his gut.

Davies gives a loud 'Psst' from behind, to let McCarthy know he's there, and a thumbs-up that back-up is on their way.

McCarthy nods at him, takes a deep breath, and is about to speak again, but Matthew Hayman gets there first.

'I'm not going to bite, you know. You can come in, and speak to me. They turned off the electricity, and I haven't been able to sort it because of my back. Sorry about that.'

Hayman's voice is quiet, almost monosyllabic, and he sounds calm and unthreatening.

McCarthy slowly makes his way into the room, and closer to him, opening a blind on his way.

He watches as Hayman squints and covers his eyes when the light floods in.

The room is very dusty and there's a terrible smell like sour milk mixed with damp or mould.

If he didn't know better, McCarthy would think that no-one actually lived in this place.

Hayman asks what they want from him.

'Mr Hayman, we're investigating a missing person case and we need your help. Do you know the whereabouts of Kate Stone?'

Matthew takes his hands away from his squinting eyes, and looks at McCarthy for the first time, blinking repeatedly.

Dust particles dance in the air around him, and he coughs, as if he's just suddenly noticed the air he's breathing is alive with dirt.

Hayman looks at Davies who is standing a few feet behind McCarthy now, and nods to him in greeting, then announces that he doesn't know anything about a missing person.

'But you do know Kate Stone, right? From what we've heard, you know her very well.'

Matthew winces as if McCarthy's words are hurting him, and turns away, shaking his head several times.

McCarthy takes a few steps towards him, and holds out the photograph of Kate they retrieved from the gym bag at his mother's house.

'You left this lovely picture of her with your poor, worried mother. We got it this morning when we spoke to her. Did she mother warn you we were looking for you?'

At the mention of his mother, Matthew scrunches his face up, and his bottom lip starts to tremble like he's going to cry.

'I knew Kate briefly, ages ago, when I was in London. We were friends, but I haven't had any contact at all with her since then. I saw on the news that she was missing and I have been following it online. I've been praying for her every single day.'

Hayman's face softens and he looks directly at McCarthy. He seems concerned, mournful even, and McCarthy looks for something else behind his eyes. Something like guilt.

Matthew points at the large crucifix on the wall above the television and McCarthy notices there are three or four other religious statues around the place, too.

'I was lost and now I'm found. The Lord has saved me, and my faith is all I have left now. I've asked God to help you to find Kate, and I'm sorry that I can't do anything myself.'

McCarthy tells Davies to search the place, as he sits down across from Hayman on the side of an armchair.

This isn't the first religious fanatic he's met in his life, and it also isn't the first time he's seen someone who is so full of shame, turn to God for forgiveness.

He notices the stacks of papers on the floor, the magazines, books, leaflets, so many things gathering dust and mildew.

McCarthy tries not to turn his nose up in disgust, but he's finding it hard to breathe.

The place is freezing too, and having the blinds drawn makes it even worse.

This situation has got all the signs of someone who can't, or won't look after themselves, thinks McCarthy, and Matthew Hayman is obviously a damaged and broken man. But is he a criminal? Is he evil?

McCarthy asks Hayman where he was on Friday the 6th of May, and Hayman stares ahead blankly.

Then, as if he is genuinely amused, he asks McCarthy if he really thinks he had anything to do with Kate's disappearance.

He says he was right here at home, alone on the 6th of May, and hasn't been to London for months.

McCarthy tells him that if he is lying about any of this they will find out.

'There are ways of checking phone signals, bank statements, and so forth? If you're lying and know anything that will help us to find her, it won't look good if you say nothing, now.'

Matthew struggles to get comfortable on the sofa where he's propped up with cushions.

He picks up a tube of pills from underneath him, and moans slightly in pain.

'I'm in agony with my back. I'm sorry I can't help you to find Kate. But, I've done nothing wrong.'

McCarthy isn't so sure.

He goes to find Davies, who's going through some drawers in the kitchen.

He hasn't found anything that looks suspicious, besides masses of books on Catholicism, a shed full of garden furniture, fishing equipment and tools.

It doesn't look like there's a basement, either. And the attic is empty.

'I've checked every cupboard, under the beds. Nothing, yet.'

Outside, they hear the back-up cars arrive, and McCarthy decides to take Hayman in for questioning.

A few hours in an uncomfortable chair, without his medication might be all it takes to get this guy talking.

Hayman resists of course, and shouts out in pain when they try to move him.

But, McCarthy thinks that if he could walk from the sofa to the door to open it for them, he can make it into a squad car with a little help.

64

Kate is alone again.

She clenches her jaw as her empty stomach starts to spasm, and she wonders what he meant earlier about it being 'time now'?

Time for what?

He had said it almost with a sort of tenderness, like it was something she should be grateful for.

But, Kate couldn't be sure she wasn't imagining the tenderness, and thinks he's probably upstairs right now, sharpening knives, or preparing some kind of poison for her.

Her head is spinning with exhaustion and hunger. It feels like her heart is about to stop, and give up beating altogether if she doesn't drink, or eat something.

As she closes her eyes, she thinks of her parents and Lydia, and in her mind, she tells them she loves them, something she's been doing constantly since she got here.

Kate has always believed in the power of thought, and used to think that if she willed something, wanted it hard enough, and didn't give up on that thought, it would happen.

She'd done it all her life with modelling jobs, or boys she wanted to like her.

One Christmas when she was seven or eight, she had even put a blank space in her letter to Santa to test out her theory.

It read something like:

'Santa, I know you will know what I want this year so I am leaving this bit blank to test my theory. I really want a _______ for Christmas.'

Unbeknown to Kate, her parents had found out what she wanted from Lydia, and when she opened up the box with the typewriter inside on Christmas morning, she thought she was magic.

Kate could now look back on that silliness with a smile, but she really did still believe in the power of positive thought, and that you could manifest something if you concentrated hard enough.

She thinks of her mother's face, and the extraordinary amount of love she has for her. Then, she thinks of the times she had disappointed her parents, like when she ran away to Brighton for almost three days.

Being in this dark place is the closest thing to death Kate can imagine.

She has always been a strong person, with such fire and light in her.

In fact, Kate felt pretty indestructible most of the time, like life was a game she was winning at every turn.

And the hand she had been dealt was a good one; she was beautiful, rich, popular, funny, and knew how to have a good time. She certainly wasn't a worrier or deep thinker like Lydia.

Kate wasn't afraid of anything. Never had been.

The only bad thing to ever happen to her up to this, was when Matthew Hayman had come into her life, and showed her the utter darkness that existed in the world.

From the first day Kate saw him in the school hallway, she was attracted to Matthew, and not because he was particularly good-looking, confident, or any of the regular things she would go for in a guy.

There was something really off about him, and something wrong in liking him, too.

It broke the rules, and Kate liked to break rules.

She guessed now that it was probably the darkness in him that attracted her, as well.

He had seen her staring at him that day in the hallway, and went bright red, before turning and crashing straight into a group of students.

Kate can still see them laughing at him.

Later that day, she had asked her friends who he was, and discovered he was only going to be at the school for a short time, covering Mr Clancy's English classes.

Kate saw him briefly over the next few days and started daydreaming about him a little bit.

But, she didn't tell anyone.

In fact, she was kind of embarrassed to admit that she was attracted to someone like Matthew, someone so unconventional and awkward.

But his shy smile stirred something in Kate, and made her feel powerful, like she knew she could make him feel better, and that was enough to hook her.

Thinking back to their first encounter outside the school seems like a lifetime ago to Kate.

She had no idea then what danger lay in getting involved with an older man. And a teacher for that matter. But she saw it all as a fun adventure, waiting to be taken, and the fact that it was forbidden and taboo made it all the more alluring to her.

Kate knew that she wanted to speak to him, at least once before he left the school. And when she saw him outside the school gates that day, her eyes locked with his, and she offered him a cigarette.

It was that simple.

Kate's gaze was magnetic, and pulled him in.

He barely took his eyes off her for a moment to take the cigarette, and awkwardly light it after three tries, his hands were shaking that much.

But for some reason, this just made Kate more excited. The effect she had on him was palpable, extreme, and it pleased her that she had this power over an older guy.

They stood there chatting about school for three or four minutes, and Kate had already managed to touch him, using the excuse of a piece of fluff on his blazer collar.

She had felt an overwhelming urge to kiss him, too, and was already concocting a plan about asking for help with her English essay.

Then, Lauren Cunningham had appeared. This girl was what you would call a 'frenemy' to Kate.

They were similar in that they were both beautiful, rich, and popular, but Kate was secretly intimidated by Lauren's ability to get along with boys.

And, although Kate loved her own dark features, there was something about Lauren's big blue eyes and blonde hair that was so natural, and appealed to guys in a different way.

Kate couldn't help but be a little bit jealous.

Lauren had seemed to sense what was going on immediately, and joined in with the flirting.

Kate noticed that Matthew relaxed a bit more, and decided that this was actually a good thing, and she could use Lauren as a wing-woman, and maybe get Matthew away from school grounds.

She could be the perfect partner in crime.

But, when they made their way to Lauren's empty Notting Hill house, and started drinking, things got a little trickier. Kate turned her back for a minute to put some music on, and when she turned around again, Lauren was kissing Mr Hayman.

Kate was immediately overcome with a cold, head-spinning jealousy, and without giving it a second thought, she walked straight over to the sofa, sat on the other side of him, and put her hand on his leg.

He pulled away from Lauren, looked at Kate's hand like it was the most shocking thing he had ever seen, and she and Lauren looked at one another and burst out laughing.

Then Kate put her other hand around Matthew's neck, told him to relax, and kissed him passionately.

She can remember thinking that she would have to make him pick her.

Lauren seemed to move away at this point, mumbling something about getting some drinks, and Kate found herself straddling Matthew and unbuttoning his shirt.

'I want you to be with me, not her. Okay?

A few minutes later, they walked past a silently fuming Lauren, and into one of the downstairs bedrooms.

Matthew didn't even ask her age, and when the door was closed, and Kate started to remove her clothes, Matthew Hayman didn't seem so shy anymore, either.

Two hours later, they emerged from the room and Kate ordered a taxi.

Her parents were going to freak out. She had fifteen missed calls and four messages on her phone.

Lauren was asleep on the sofa, and seemed to have consumed an entire bottle of champagne all by herself.

Kate remembers how Matthew had walked her to the door and kissed her gently.

'That was the best. You're amazing, Kate.'

She beamed back at him, and suddenly felt quite shy and sober.

'You know I'm only sixteen, right?'

With that, she winked and turned away, calling out that she'd see him at school.

What Kate didn't know was that Matthew Hayman had been watching her too, and already knew how old she was, where she lived, who her friends were, even the perfume she liked.

Kate Stone was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and now that he'd got her, there was no going back.

65

McCarthy and Davies travel in a car behind the one carrying Hayman.

McCarthy calls the office in London to let them know what's happening, and to say they've also found a photograph of Kate Stone at Hayman's mother's house.

He also asks for them to arrange for someone to drop in and check on Hayman's mother, as it's obvious she isn't very well and needs some help.

They've seized Hayman's laptop and phone, so it won't be long until they can see what he's been up to, and if he's had contact with Kate leading up to the date of her disappearance. McCarthy is confident that he's about to get some answers, he just needs to let Brian and Barbara know what's going on too.

66

Brian Stone goes into the bedroom he shares with his wife, and sits on the bed. He can't stop thinking about the strange man that Lydia saw outside the house, asking about someone called Margaret.

He gets up from the bed, and walks slowly to the dressing table in the corner of the room where Barbara keeps her jewelry and scarves.

There are a few small drawers at the side of the mirror. Brian opens them one by one, roots around inside, and after rummaging for a few seconds amongst chains, rings and broaches, he pulls out a delicate gold bracelet.

There's a flat rectangular section in the middle of it with a messy engraving on one side, like someone did it themselves in a sloppy way. It spells out 'Margaret'.

As Brian is examining it, his phone rings.

It's McCarthy, and Brian answers, simultaneously putting the bracelet back, and closing the little drawer.

'Hello, Detective?'

McCarthy wants to tell him about Matthew Hayman being taken in for questioning, and he also lets him know that they found a photograph of Kate at Hayman's mother's house, too.

Jogging downstairs, Brian asks if he thinks Hayman knows where his daughter is.

Lydia's in the hall, and hears what her dad is saying. She's eager to find out what's going on, and puts her hand on his arm as he gets to the bottom of the stairs.

Brian is just listening to what McCarthy is saying and nodding. He hangs up, and looks at Lydia.

'They found the teacher and they think he might know something.'

He and Lydia stare at one another in silence. Brian's face gets angrier and angrier.

'Are you sure you didn't know this was going on, Lydia?'

Her father looks at her accusingly, and it's like someone has scratched something sharp across Lydia's heart.

'Dad! What are you suggesting?'

Seeing that he's upset her, Brian puts his hands up in apology.

'I'm so sorry, my love. I didn't mean that. I'm just so bloody frustrated. You know? This sick man. This, this pedophile, was preying on Kate, and no-one knew! How can this have happened? I need to call your mother.'

67

They arrive at Norwich station, and Hayman is taken to an interrogation room.

McCarthy and Davies make a quick plan to send his laptop and phone off for analysis.

They need to get answers from him. Fast. If Kate is alive and being held somewhere, she could die if they don't get to her soon.

McCarthy is not going to be playing good cop today.

When they enter the interrogation room, he rolls up his sleeves, drags a chair along the linoleum floor so it's directly opposite Hayman, slams both of his hands down on the table, and stares menacingly into his eyes.

'The sooner you tell me everything, the less painful this will be for all of us.'

Hayman looks ill, both physically and mentally. His complexion is pale, with dark rings and puffiness under his eyes.

He's sweating profusely, too, even though the room is quite cool, and his shirt is heavily stained, making it look like he hasn't washed for a few days.

He stares back at McCarthy.

McCarthy begins.

'When was the last time you saw Kate Stone?'

Silence.

'Where is Kate Stone?'

Silence.

'Did you murder Kate Stone?'

At this, Matthew Hayman flinches, and he shakes his head from side to side a few times.

McCarthy asks again?

'When did you murder Kate Stone?'

Hayman looks at him for a few seconds, then leans forward slightly.

His expression suddenly changes and his face becomes pinched, his eyes squinted.

He opens his mouth slowly to speak, and McCarthy can see tiny strings of spittle connecting his upper and lower teeth. It is shark-like and monstrous. It turns McCarthy's stomach, and he wonders what the hell a beautiful, smart young girl like Kate was thinking when she got involved with this sick excuse for a human being. When Matthew finally speaks he's almost snarling at McCarthy.

'What the hell do you think I am? Kate was a friend! I cared about her and I never did anything to her!'

Hayman is almost shouting, and he furrows his brow.

'You're wasting your time, because I swear on my life, on the holy word of God, I never hurt that girl, and I haven't seen or heard from her since I moved away from London.'

McCarthy sighs, and realises this was going to take a while.

There's a knock on the door, and a young male officer pokes his head around apologetically to tell McCarthy there's an urgent call for him on the main office phone.

McCarthy mutters to himself as he makes his way down the long hallway to the floor to take the call.

He's tired, hungry, and feels like the day is getting away from him, and there's still far too much to do.

He picks up the receiver, announces his name, and a female voice on the other side says something he's not expecting to hear. It takes a second for the words to sink in.

'You're sure it's her? And she's dead?'

68

Brian is locked in the bathroom. He's slumped on the floor, with his back to the wall, and sobbing into a white hand towel.

His body clenches and shakes as each long, desperate moan leaves him. The whole world seems to be dissolving around him, and he can't bear it anymore.

He has wanted to smash something, or somebody for weeks now, and this constant frustration and sense of powerlessness has left him weak and empty.

First Kate. Now this.

He takes out his phone, opens the media gallery, and finds a family photo taken in the back garden last August. It was taken at his birthday BBQ, a surprise arranged by Kate and Lydia.

They were already going for a big dinner on the Saturday night, but the girls insisted on surprising him on the actual day of his birthday, and when he came home from work, he had heard his favourite Pink Floyd record playing loudly, and saw Barbara and the twins out in the garden, laughing and fussing around the place.

They hadn't heard him arrive home above the music, and even Molly didn't know he was watching through the window.

Kate was blowing up balloons, and having trouble tying the knots in them, Lydia was fixing fairy lights around the trees, and Barbara was setting the table.

He can remember clearly thinking to himself in that moment how incredibly lucky he was to have all of that love in his life, and three women who adored him, loved his company, and were always happy to see him.

He so often heard his colleagues talking about their teenage sons and daughters who hated them, and half of the married couples he knew were unhappy, or going through a divorce. Sure, he had the money and a big house, but that was just 'stuff', and it was these three people that were the greatest, most precious part of life for Brian.

Now, sitting on the cold tiles, he feels like it will never be possible to feel happiness again. He thought he knew his family, but now thinks he must have been fooling himself. He zooms in on Barbara's beautiful face in the photo. Her huge dark eyes, he can now see, are brimming with sadness. Her mouth is smiling, but her eyes are filled with something else.

How could he not know?

Brian opens his fist, and the gold bracelet with 'Margaret' engraved on it falls to the floor next to him.

His face contorts as a fresh wave of sadness washes over him, and tears stream down his cheeks.

69

McCarthy stands outside the interrogation room with Davies.

'We're going to have to call a halt to this interview for a minute. Hayman's mother committed suicide this morning, just after we left her. That's what the call was about just now. Took an overdose.'

Davies looks into the distance as McCarthy's words sink in. They will have to tell Hayman.

'That poor woman. Do you think she knew something more about Kate, though?

Davies looks towards the interrogation room that Hayman's in.

'You think he might crack now? Or maybe be relieved she can't tell us anything?'

McCarthy shakes his head in response. He's at a loss. Hayman isn't talking. They are no closer to finding Kate, and now that his mother is dead, he might close down altogether, and use this as a way to avoid further questioning.

Without evidence, they can't keep him here for much longer, anyway.

'Let's leave him for a minute. Get an officer to keep an eye on him while we chase up the laptop and phone.'

70

Lydia is waiting for her dad at the bottom of the stairs.

He walks down slowly, doesn't look up from his feet, and when he gets to the last step, he pauses and looks at her.

She can see that his face has changed. He looks broken, and it shocks her to see him like this. He seems to have aged fifteen years in the past few weeks, and it breaks her heart.

She puts her arms around his waist, buries her head in his chest, and he puts his arms around her, resting his head on hers.

They hold one another for a few seconds until they hear keys in the front door.

'Mum!' Lydia exclaims, as she sees the door open, and Barbara walks in, slowly closing the door behind her.

Molly appears from the kitchen, jumps up to greet her, and she leans down to give the dog a pat on the head, then walks to her daughter and husband.

She looks at each of them tenderly.

'Were you at the station, Mum? What did they say? Any updates in the past hour? We haven't heard anything in a while, have we, Dad?'

Lydia wonders why her mother isn't looking at her while she's speaking. She seems to be gazing at Brian instead.

'Dad? Hello! Dad! Mum?'

Lydia is confused as to why her parents are ignoring her, and staring at one another in such a strange way.

Without breaking eye contact with her husband, Barbara responds to Lydia by gently squeezing her hand.

'Darling, I think I need to talk to your father, alone.

This isn't like her parents, and Lydia feels instantly worried.

Sensing this, Barbara tells her that nothing new, or worrying has happened, and she needs to talk to him about something else.

Barbara is even calmer and more softly spoken than usual, and has a sort of serenity about her.

Lydia calls the dog, goes into the living room, and closes the door behind her.

Brian and Barbara listen as the TV is turned on, and Lydia flicks through the channels, then Brian walks upstairs, and Barbara follows.

71

McCarthy curses loudly when he learns that Hayman's phone and laptop have been given the all-clear for signs of communicating with Kate.

The office has also let him know that the number for 'Matt' on Kate's phone that Lydia found, was registered to Hayman until the end of April 2015.

It looks like Hayman knew he had to cover his tracks and ditched that phone when things got messy with Kate, thinks McCarthy.

There was, of course a strong case against him for sex with a minor, but that wasn't going to help them find Kate.

After the news about his mother is delivered to him, and he's told he's free to go, a solemn looking Hayman leaves the station, and gets into a taxi.

McCarthy and Davies are following him discreetly.

If he does anything out the ordinary they want to be there.

As they make their way east, and out of the city, towards the area where Hayman lives, McCarthy and Davies exchange theories about where he might be hiding Kate.

There's lots of farmland and fields around here, and there's even a caravan park at the end of the narrow road behind Hayman's bungalow.

There is no harm taking a look there, McCarthy suggests.

He can feel his blood pressure rising as he wonders if he could be wrong about Hayman's guilt.

It was so obvious he knew something. Hayman had sex with Kate, and probably other underage girls, if what his mother said was true. Then he stalked and harassed her afterwards, and now he was hiding out in some weird old cottage in the Norfolk countryside.

All of the signs pointed to him being a guilty sex predator. Now, if only they could prove he was in London the night Kate went missing...

McCarthy thinks about the photos on Kate's iPhone. He'd seen this kind of thing before where young girls are pressured into sending sexually explicit images to men they're involved with, and he wonders if Hayman was into the S&M scene too.

As if reading his mind, Julia calls to give them an update on the CCTV search.

'Sir, it's about the man in the mask. We've worked out that he's about six-foot-two and we were wondering if you could confirm Hayman's height for us?'

McCarthy looks to Davies in the passenger seat and they both shake their head.

Hayman was no more than five-foot-nine.

McCarthy tells Julia that it doesn't sound like a match for Hayman.

She goes on to tell him that Tony Briggs has been trying to contact him as well, and called the office about an hour ago.

Tony said that he had spoken to the guys that were loading up at the same time the man in the mask was hanging around on the night Kate went missing, and between them, they seem to think he was definitely up to something.

They were all keen to get out of there that night, and weren't really taking much notice about what he was doing, each one of them thinking he knew someone else there. But now that they think he may have been an intruder.

'Jesus. Okay, Julia. I have to go. I'll call you back.'

They see Hayman's taxi is indicating left.

'One more thing, Detective... I think you need to hear this. Tony and the guys that work there have said a large case is missing from that night, too. It was something they used to carry smaller items in. It seems to be gone. It was basically a large suitcase on wheels – like those big plastic cases that bands use to carry instruments.'

McCarthy takes a moment, then asks Julia what the dimensions of the case are. She hesitates then says she doesn't know exactly, but they can see it on CCTV and it's pretty huge. It was being pulled out by a guy who says he didn't pack it himself and it was rolled behind a van while they were being packed up.

McCarthy hangs up the phone without saying a word. They're waiting at the turn-off to Hayman's cottage. It seems like he's just got the car to drop him at his house, but McCarthy wants to see what he'll do when he gets there, hoping he'll go somewhere on foot, or in his own vehicle.

They reverse a little when the taxi comes back towards them, and then McCarthy gets out so he can get a better look.

Hayman is at the front door, and he's on the phone. He leans against the wall and looks around as he talks. His back doesn't seem to be as painful as it was earlier in the day, McCarthy notes.

A few minutes later, he goes inside.

Half an hour after that another car arrives, and an elderly lady and two younger women get out.

It's probably the mother's sister, Doris, McCarthy thinks.

About twenty minutes later, all four of them come out of the house. Hayman carrying a large bag, and he goes around the back of the house, gets into his own car, and the other women get into their vehicle.

Davies assumes they are going to let this go, at least for tonight, but McCarthy has other ideas, and wants to follow the cars, to make sure they aren't up to anything.

'For all we know, the whole family could've been in on it. Or they might be helping him cover something up.'

Davies isn't so sure. To him it seems pretty obvious that this aunt of Hayman's is coming to take him to her house in light of the news that Beryl is dead, but, he knows when to keep his mouth shut, and this is not the time to challenge McCarthy.

He nods in agreement, and listens to his partner theorise about how many of them could potentially be involved.

An hour later, as he and Davies sit outside Hayman's aunt's house in Great Yarmouth, McCarthy calls Fran to apologise. He isn't coming home until late tonight, if not tomorrow.

She's used to this sort of thing happening while her husband is in the middle of a case, and is very understanding.

Elsa and Felix take turns to say goodnight to their dad, and Elsa sings him a song about a rainbow and a little princess.

McCarthy hangs up and feels a familiar pang of guilt. He should have called earlier. There were plenty of chances, but his mind was elsewhere, and with another family.

72

Barbara sits on the bed as Brian stands opposite her, leaning against the dresser.

'Where were you today?' he asks quietly.

Brian's arms are folded tightly across his chest.

Barbara doesn't answer his question. Instead, her eyes well with tears.

'You know there are things you don't know about me, Brian.'

'Darling! You think I'm not aware of that? You think I don't notice when you check out? I've asked you so many times to get help. I know you had a difficult childhood. I know you were hurt.'

Barbara can't bear to hear any more; she gets to her feet, walks to her husband, reaches out, and touches his face gently.

His posture softens when she comes so close, and he longs to hold her.

She loves him. He knows that. He has never doubted it for a second, and he can see how her eyes light up when he comes into the room.

He cannot imagine a life without Barbara, but she's keeping something from him, and it's killing him.

He moves away from her and clears his throat.

'This guy came to the house today. He arrived as you left to go to the station and Lydia was outside closing the gate. He really scared her. He looked strange, deranged, and was asking if someone called Margaret lived here.'

Barbara opens her mouth in recognition of the name, and takes a couple of steps away from him.

Ordinarily, she would be able to cover it up much better if something took her off guard. But, she wasn't expecting this.

'This isn't the first time something like this has happened, Barbara, and I'm starting to think you're hiding something big from me, from all of us, about who Margaret is.'

Barbara looks shocked.

'Sweetheart, this sounds mad. This is mad. A mad accusation! What exactly do you think I'm hiding?'

Brian can't answer that.

He shakes his head, and reaches into his back pocket, then hands his wife the gold bracelet.

He looks at her, waiting for a reaction as she examines it, and then nods in recognition.

'This used to belong to an old school friend of mine. I gave my bracelet to her, and she gave hers to me. Oh my God, Brian! It's a bloody coincidence that this man has asked for Margaret! It's a very common name.'

Brian can't take anymore, and he knows he's being lied to.

He leaves the room, and slams the door behind him.

A forlorn Barbara collapses on the bed. She was planning on telling Brian about her mental state, the medication she's been on, and the fact that she's been finding it hard to tell the difference between what's real and not, these days.

This was the night she was going to turn to him for some support, because the temptation to end it all was greater than ever.

She wonders if maybe she has left it too late.

Her secret, the thing she has kept from every single person in her life since she was twenty-years-old, was catching up on her.

Things were slipping from Barbara's fingers.

She was losing her grip on life.

73

On the train journey home that evening, McCarthy watches the CCTV of the man in the mask.

He presses pause, zooms in, and swears to himself when he realises there's no way it could be Hayman.

He glances over at Davies sleeping opposite him, his head awkwardly supported by the back of the chair, and his shirt and tie crumpled.

They were both exhausted from the long day, and had boarded the train half an hour ago, ordered four small bottles of red wine, four cheese and pickle sandwiches and two packets of salt and vinegar crisps from the refreshment trolley.

Davies had devoured the food and wine in about five minutes, and almost immediately fallen into a deep, silent sleep.

McCarthy could never sleep while he travelled, no matter how tired he was, and there was no way he could sleep after a day like today.

There was too much to get his head around, and he needed to make a plan to meet with the team first thing in the morning.

He takes a pen and notepad from his briefcase and writes down the new information.

Evidence like the CCTV and the missing trunk pointed to this masked guy having something to do with Kate's disappearance, but Hayman was also still a suspect in McCarthy's mind.

He had to be. There was little else to chase right now.

The CCTV wasn't exactly comprehensive and there were lots of black spots, and unexplained things, like how the masked man could have lifted the trunk into the vehicle, and what vehicle he used to leave the location.

McCarthy hopes that in the morning the team will have some more information about any vehicle registration numbers identified by the cameras at the front of the club.

There has got to be something, somewhere.

74

Kate Stone wakes to a familiar sound.

Her captor is back, and in the haze and numbness of her dark cell, she almost smiles when she sees him.

He's a mirage in this empty, lonely desert she's in.

She forces a thank-you from her dry throat as he helps her to drink from a water bottle, and when she's finished drinking, he opens a container of warm rice and minced beef, with tomato sauce.

Kate's eyes open wide.

She's literally starving, and seeing her so desperate, pleases him.

He smiles as he takes out a spoon to feed her with, and Kate devours the food.

He tells her to slow down in case she chokes, but she eats as quickly as she can, and tries not to let any of the food spill.

She felt so close to dying, and it feels like this is her second chance at life.

In a deep southern American accent, the man starts to speak.

'Three days. Jesus was dead for this length of time, and then he rose from the tomb. You've passed my three-day test, little mouse. Now I can look after you properly, and we can do what we are meant to do, together.'

Kate looks up at him. She's never been this close before, and sees that his eyes are almost black. He has a short grey beard, and he's much older than she thought. Maybe in his late forties, or older.

His physique is impressive, and Kate can tell he's very strong under his loose shirt. He's tall too, maybe six-foot-two, or three, she thinks. She knows she would never stand a chance against him physically, even if she had a weapon. She dares not try, either.

'You don't remember, do you, little mouse?' he suddenly asks.

Kate shakes her head, and manages to respond.

'Remember what? I don't know how I got here.'

He touches her cheek gently, before continuing.

'I look different without the mask, huh?'

Kate suddenly connects him to that night at Haven, and things start to slowly trickle back into her consciousness.

He nods, smiles at her, and starts to untie her hands.

'It's all going to change now. You and I are going to make a beautiful family together, and make a beautiful life. In a few days, you'll be well enough to make love. Don't you think?'

His eyes light up at the words, and he licks his dry lips. Everything is a blur to Kate. She's only catching certain words this man us saying, and although he's speaking relatively slowly, it's still too fast for her. She needs him to repeat himself.

'I don't under... understand. Why do we need to do that, to make a family?'

Kate is too weak and desperate to feel repulsion for this man, and knows that all she can hope for is to understand his motives. Maybe then, she can get some control back, even if it means engaging in his twisted plan and trying to understand the kind of sickness he possesses.

'You owe me, Kate Stone. This was something that was promised to me a long time ago by your mother. Now, Margaret got away before I could get what she owed me, what she promised me, and now I'm making it right with you, her daughter. And you won't be able to get away like she did. Not this time.'

This story continues in 'This Dark Town II: The House in the Woods'.

You can find links to this title below, but if you want to find out how Barbara was involved with Kate's kidnapper right now, without starting the next book, you can read an excerpt from 'The House in the Woods' book on the next page!

Click me for Amazon US link to 'The House in the Woods'

Click me for Amazon UK link to: The House in the Woods'

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Click me for Amazon AU link to 'The House in the Woods'

Thanks for reading 'When You're Gone' and I really hope you enjoyed it!

This is the first book I've written and I can't tell you how grateful I would be for a short review if you have two minutes to write one for me! It's such a valuable thing for a self-published writer to have.

THANK YOU so much if you take the time to write one. It is very much appreciated.

Marguerite x

Links to write a review for my book:

Amazon US or  Amazon UK or Amazon CA or Amazon AU

START OF EXCERPT FROM 'The House in The Woods'...Melvin starts to tell her about life on the ranch in Texas, how many people lived there, how crazy a time it was, and how they had to hide from the law to keep the place secure.

They also needed to vet anyone who expressed an interest in joining them, and couldn't have afforded to allow any spies in, or anyone that would spread lies about them in the outside world.

He speaks about the ranch like it was the best place on earth.

'It was huge and beautiful. We had all these horses and cows. My father was the leader of course, and that meant I was one of the most respected of the men folk.'

Kate looks at Melvin and feels the urge to ask about her mother. He seems to know this.

'You're wondering about her, and her sister, aren't you?'

Kate nods gently and tries to smile at him.

'Only if you want to tell me.'

She's learned that being submissive gets the best results when you're in captivity, and guesses that by using simple reverse psychology, where she suggests he might want to tell her something more than she wants to know it, might just yield the results she longs for, to find out about her mother's past.

It works.

'Margaret arrived when she was sixteen-years –old, and I was eighteen. It was perfect. My father had been having the visions for years before that, and we all knew when we laid eyes on her that she was the one who would give birth to my child, and save our souls.'

Melvin goes on to speak for almost an hour about what happened after Margaret arrived at the ranch.

He thought that she would be afforded the same luxuries and treatment that he and his immediate family were, and that he was going to marry her.

But, there were men in the group who were suspicious of women, and unsure about whether Margaret was really 'the one'.

They insisted on putting her through a series of tests before she was allowed to marry Melvin, and if she passed, they would agree that she was the chosen woman, and give their blessing for him to take her as his wife.

Kate listens as Melvin describes the men. They sound like clan elders to her, older men who advised Melvin's father, and made all of the laws for the church members.

They sounded like misogynists to say the least, believing that the purpose of women was to serve men, and they were cruel to their wives and daughters.

They were also involved in lots of other strange rituals that Melvin doesn't want to tell Kate about, but he says they were very unusual and secretive.

When Melvin had asked his father about the men, and how cruel they were, his father explained they were the ones who battled with the dark side, and the evil in the world, so that the rest of them could live in peace.

Melvin says he never really understood that reasoning, but he trusted his father, nonetheless.

'What tests did my mother have to pass, Melvin?'

Kate hadn't planned on interrupting him, but she can't help herself. These men sound awful, and she is terrified about what they might have done to her mother.

'They would go off to do their rituals into the mountains for days, or sometimes longer, and they'd take girls with them. Some were only children, god bless them. I remember their mother's faces, and the screaming and tears when they left. I guess they needed to weed out the weak ones and... well, not all of the girls made it back.'

Kate is forming a picture in her head. It was obvious that her mother had been taken, raped, and maybe beaten by these men.

It is also obvious that this 'church' that Melvin belongs to is actually a cult that he now believes Kate is part of...END OF EXCERPT FROM 'The House in The Woods'

