Martin Edwards - The Hanging Wood

‘In all their publicity, the Madsens emphasise that the park is carefully managed and secure. They have never allowed their caravanners access to the Hanging Wood. Philip spent most of his time in the wood alone, apart from when Niamh’s children visited. It wasn’t frequented by locals, and even poachers gave it a wide berth.’

‘Niamh didn’t find Callum in the cottage?’ Linz asked.

‘No, Philip said he’d dropped in during the morning. He spent half an hour climbing trees around the cottage, a schoolboy letting off steam, if his uncle was to be believed. Philip was supposed to mend a fence on the site that afternoon, and Callum didn’t stop for lunch, though they often shared a bit of bread and cheese. According to Philip, the boy didn’t say where he was going afterwards, just said he had stuff to do. Philip helped Niamh search the wood, but there was no sign of Callum, so she ran back and phoned Mike Hinds. When he said he hadn’t seen his son, she rang the police. Within half an hour, the search spread further afield. First to the caravan site, then the farm.’

‘What about the grounds of Mockbeggar Hall?’ Maggie asked.

‘Eventually — much to the disgust of Alfred Hopes, who thought an Englishman’s hall was his castle. He sounds like a cantankerous old bugger.’

‘Could Callum have hidden in the cottage?’

‘It wasn’t until twenty-four hours had passed, with no trace of Callum, that Mike Hinds suggested to the police that his brother might be responsible for the boy’s disappearance. There was a tiny cellar under the cottage, and he said Philip might have put Callum there. Dead or drugged. Philip flew into panic mode when he got wind that he was a suspect. Said he’d rather die than harm a hair on the lad’s head, but barricaded the door and refused to let the police inside. In the end, they obtained a search warrant and forced their way in, but all they found in the cellar was a pile of wood chippings and a few ancient porn magazines.’

‘Heterosexual porn?’ Inevitably, it was Greg who wanted to know.

‘Old naturist magazines called Health and Efficiency , with black-and-white pictures of people playing volleyball and wearing only a smile, that sort of stuff. There was no evidence Philip had ever had any kind of sexual relationship, whether with man, woman or a child.’

‘Christ.’ Greg’s mind boggled at the very idea of lifelong celibacy.

‘Poor sod,’ Donna said.

‘The enquiry team was becoming desperate. They put Philip under a lot of pressure. It wouldn’t happen today.’

‘You don’t think so?’ Greg muttered.

Maggie asked, ‘Had Callum run away from home in the past?’

‘Niamh said not. She admitted that Kit had been cross with him, but that wasn’t unusual, and insisted his disappearance came out of the blue.’

‘Girlfriend?’ Les Bryant’s tone suggesting that he blamed most extraordinary male behaviour on trouble with the opposite sex.

‘Not as far as anyone knew.’

‘He could have kept her existence secret. A lot of kids do.’

‘One possibility was that he’d become involved with a girl on holiday with her family in one of the caravans. The Madsens had a rule that staff weren’t allowed to fraternise with holiday visitors, and Kit Payne insisted his stepchildren didn’t mix with them, even though they all lived cheek by jowl on the site. Callum was supposed to have been shy of girls.’

‘Yeah,’ Greg said. ‘Mums often think that about their lads. Mine did, that’s for sure. Little did she know.’

‘The team didn’t take Niamh’s word for it. Everyone on the site was questioned. The only clue was in a statement from a girl of sixteen, who said that she’d spotted Callum watching her as she stripped down to her bikini.’

‘What happened?’ Les asked.

‘She shouted at him to fuck off or she’d fetch her dad, and he ran for his life — if she was to be believed. The officer who took her statement reckoned she was looking for her fifteen minutes of fame. But that didn’t mean she was lying.’

‘Was this on the day he disappeared?’

‘No, a couple of days earlier, so it wasn’t thought to be of major significance.’

‘Unless he went back for another peep, and the girl’s dad caught him.’

‘The father was a police officer.’

Greg said, ‘Not all of us are lily-white.’

‘As a matter of fact, he was a DCI.’

His teeth flashed. ‘They can be the worst of the lot.’

‘Don’t push it. Everyone was quizzed, including the girl’s family. There was no proof that Callum ever went near their caravan again. He wasn’t the bravest soul, it seemed. Not your typical devil-may-care teenage lad. If the girl screamed abuse at him, he was probably scared stiff, as well as humiliated.’

‘Did anyone see him after he supposedly left his uncle’s cottage?’ Maggie asked.

‘No, and that turned out to be a huge problem for Philip. There was no trace of Callum’s movements after he visited the cottage. Of course, we had the usual crop of false sightings, everywhere from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay. All faithfully investigated, all dead ends. He’d vanished without trace. The press got excited, and the gossipmongers went into overdrive. Philip kept a pig, and that disappeared as well. All grist to the rumour mill. Soon, the received wisdom was that Philip had sexually assaulted his nephew, then killed him to keep him quiet. How to dispose of the remains? Simple — a snack for Porky.’

‘Was the pig found?’

‘No, what happened to it, nobody ever knew. Almost certainly, it made its way out into the countryside and tumbled down some gully or ravine. Unfortunately for Philip, there was nobody else in the frame as regards Callum’s disappearance. He was hauled in for questioning, and didn’t do himself any favours by buttoning his lip and refusing to cooperate. He became upset and confused and his brief made ominous noises about police brutality. Laughable, considering that the senior officer was Will Durston, whose reputation was more tabby cat than Torquemada.’

‘Was Philip represented by a duty solicitor?’

‘No, a sharp-suited lawyer from the biggest criminal practice in Leeds. Joseph Madsen footed the bill.’

‘Didn’t he want the truth to come out?’

‘Joseph’s story was that he felt obliged to see that Philip was properly defended. Bryan Madsen was furious, he wanted them to distance themselves from the man. But there was no proof Philip had harmed Callum, and the solicitor’s presence ensured there was no confession, so he was released. By that time, his cottage had been daubed with red paint. Obscene graffiti saying he was a child killer and a paedophile. Some people thought Mike Hinds was responsible, but of course he denied it.’

‘Wasn’t the place put under guard?’ Linz asked.

‘The Madsens were afraid that Callum’s disappearance would damage their business. Parents wouldn’t take their kids to a caravan site where a boy was missing, presumed abducted. So they persuaded Durston and his superiors to keep the police presence low-key.’

‘Typical,’ Linz grunted.

‘The Madsens carried a huge amount of clout in the district. Important employers, with plenty of friends in high places — you can’t ride roughshod over them. Philip insisted on going back to the Hanging Wood, and nobody could talk him out of it. An Englishman’s home is his castle and all that. Even if it is a semi-derelict ruin.’

Maggie wrinkled her nose. ‘And that’s where he committed suicide?’

‘Yes, Kit Payne found him dangling from a rope he’d tied to an oak branch at the back of the cottage.’

‘So it really did become the Hanging Wood,’ Linz said. ‘Why did Payne go to the cottage?’