TWENTY-SEVEN

‘Come on, Detective Sergeant, think about it logically. In a crime against a child what is the easiest way of silencing her? By placing a hand across her mouth, of course; and if you keep it there you will suffocate her. Nikki Montrose doesn’t have to have second sight to work that one out!’

‘Of course,’ Mohktar said defensively. ‘I know that, Inspector Blythe, but Miss Montrose is a twin and twins have a…connection with each other. I know this to be true. My wife’s sister had twin boys. One of them got trapped in an old freezer in his grandfather’s garden. The other twin was at home with his mother. He started to have breathing difficulties. He knew immediately that his brother was trapped somewhere. He made for his grandfather’s house, indeed, it was as if he was pulled by a magnet. The boy was saved in the nick of time.’

‘Well, unfortunately Miss Montrose did not have that ability to help us find her twin twenty-eight years ago, or we wouldn’t be sitting here now!’ Blythe said dryly, then seeing Mohktar’s face, he added, ‘I’m sorry. I know what you’re getting at, Mohktar, and you’re right. It’s very possible Nikki Montrose did see or hear something at the time without realising it. She was the first one up and out on the beach by late afternoon. I’ve asked Mrs Campbell if they could both write down everything they remember now, before they look at their original statements again. I’d like to compare them. May be a waste of time, but there’s an hour or so missing.’

He drummed the desk with his fingers. ‘A five-year-old has little sense of time. When she was questioned as a child, Nikki said she woke up and her sister was gone. She went out to find her on the beach but couldn’t see her anywhere. After a while she went back to her mother’s room but she was still sleeping.

‘She went out again, hungry and wanting her sister. This time the sun was low in the sky, we established that from her, and when the light began to go she was suddenly afraid and ran to the house to wake her mother.’

‘Something might have frightened her out there alone in the coming dark?’

‘Yes. I’ve also wondered why she didn’t go to the next rest house if she couldn’t wake her mother. Why didn’t she go to see if her sister had gone there? She must have seen the lights. They were all army families, people she knew…’ Blythe pulled the statements towards him. ‘Mrs Campbell’s parents left early that morning in a hired car to Kuala Lumpur to fly to Penang, and the wife in the next rest house – Beatrice Addison – called in to see if Fleur was all right on her own. She did not leave until nearly two and then Mrs Campbell and her children ate a late lunch.

‘The twins always slept straight after lunch at about one o’clock, but this afternoon it was two thirty. Fleur took both children into her room and they were in bed each side of her when she fell asleep. According to Nikki, Saffie woke first and tried to get her to wake up and go outside with her. Nikki got cross, turned over and went back to sleep. The last thing she remembered was Saffie out of bed and pulling her dress over her head.’