Page 71 of Worse Than Murder

‘Do you think Dad…’ She pauses and composes herself. ‘Do you think he killed my sisters as a sort of revenge for Mum and Travis being together?’

‘No, I don’t,’ I say, almost immediately. ‘If he had wanted to hurt your mother, he would have killed all three of you. You were all together on that day. There was no reason for him to leave you behind.’

She visibly relaxes. ‘Thank you,’ she squawks through her tears. ‘All the way over here I’ve been thinking that…’

‘I know. Alison, can I ask you a favour?’

She blows her nose again. ‘Of course.’

‘Take some time off. Take a step back from all this. I’ve got a feeling that you’ll get some answers very soon, but you can’t be a part of any of this. It will put all kinds of dark thoughts in your head, and you don’t want that. Wait for the answers.’

‘Are you sure you can get them?’

‘I’m doing my best.’

Reluctantly, she nods. ‘I looked Travis up. His last known address is the farm my mum lives in now. That was thirty years ago. What’s he been doing for the last thirty years? Is he missing, too?’

‘I think Tania said she was ringing around to try and find him. I’ll give her a call. We’ll find out what happened to him and what’s going on.’

‘I don’t think I can handle it, if Dad killed them,’ she says, the tears flowing once more.

I don’t know what to say to that. Until the truth about her father could be revealed, Alison needed to grow much stronger, and quickly.

Tania 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 withCumbria 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.