Page 34 of Worse Than Murder (DCI Matilda Darke Thriller #13)

T ania thought tracking down someone called Travis Montgomery would be easy.

It’s not a common name. However, she called six Montgomerys within the Liverpool area, and none were related to a Travis or even knew someone by that name.

She sucks hard on her vape, takes a sip of a cold cup of coffee, and unwraps a chocolate from a box of Roses she bought for herself.

She dials the next number on her list and waits for the call to be answered.

‘Hello?’ an elderly male voice asks.

She takes a breath, ready for her spiel. ‘Hello. My name is Tania Pritchard. I’m a journalist with Cumbria Today . I’m trying to track down Travis Montgomery. Does he live at this address?’

‘You’re calling about Travis?’

‘Yes. Do you know him?’

‘I’m his father.’

Tania’s eyes light up. Halle-fucking-lujah, she mouths. ‘Mr Montgomery, would it be possible for me to speak to Travis? If you don’t want to give me his number, I understand. If I can give you mine…’

‘Wait,’ he interrupts. ‘You’re calling from Cumbria?’

‘Yes. I live in a small village called High Chapel. Your son worked…’

‘Yes. I know. He worked on the Pemberton’s farm in 1992.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Why are you calling for him?’

‘He was working here around the time two young girls went missing. It’s coming up to the thirtieth anniversary of their disappearance and I’m wanting to put something together,’ she says, having worked on her excuse for tracking him down beforehand.

‘But… I don’t understand,’ he says. ‘Travis isn’t here.’

‘I see. Perhaps if I gave you my number you could pass it onto him.’

‘No. Don’t you know? Travis is a missing person. We haven’t seen him since he left here in 1992.’

Tania’s confused. She had checked with Claire Daniels before she started hunting down Travis Montgomery. Claire had informed her that his last known address was the farm in High Chapel. There is no mention of him being a missing person.

‘Did you report him missing?’ she asks.

‘Of course we did,’ he says, his voice taking on a severe tone.

‘He was supposed to come home for Christmas 1992,’ he begins before pausing to give a deep and raspy cough.

‘He was working at a farm in High Chapel. The family, they’d suffered some bad luck, the two girls went missing in the summer.

He phoned, told us what had happened, me and his mum, said he was staying on to help them out.

Next thing, we get another call saying there’d been a big storm and the father, can’t remember his name, had gone missing.

He said he didn’t feel as if he could leave them, but he’d visit at Christmas. He never turned up.’

‘Did you phone the Pembertons?’

‘We did. We were told that Travis had left the farm at the end of November. They said he felt he needed to move on.’

‘And when did you report him missing?’

‘It was between Christmas and New Year in 1992. My wife, Sylvia, Travis’s mother, she was beside herself. He’d been gone for more than a month before the police started looking for him, but they had nothing to go on. There hasn’t been a sighting or anything from that day to this.’

Tania can hear the sorrow and despair in his voice. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she says, genuinely meaning it. ‘I’m not sure how to say this, Mr Montgomery, but I contacted the police before I started ringing round and they don’t have Travis listed as a missing person.’

‘Ah, well, no, they wouldn’t. Travis was his middle name. He was called Julian, after me, but he hated it. Nobody ever called him Julian.’

‘Right. So, he’s listed as a missing person under his birth name of Julian Travis Montgomery?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m going to need to do some digging, Mr Montgomery. Am I okay to get back to you at some point?’

‘Of course. It’s just… why have you called? Why are you looking for Travis? You mentioned about the two girls going missing. Have they been found?’

For the first time in her life, Tania is stumped for something to say.

‘Are you still there?’ he asks.

‘Yes. I’m still here. Mr Montgomery, please, I promise I will get back in touch with you, but there’s someone I need to see. Take care.’

She ends the call without waiting for him to say goodbye.

She leans back in her chair and looks up at the ceiling, furrowing her brow as she tries to understand what everything means.

Travis’s car is missing, but not reported missing.

It’s then found at the bottom of the lake thirty years later with, potentially, two bodies in the back.

And Travis himself is reported missing at the end of 1992.

‘I wonder if he’s in the car as well?’ she asks herself.