Page 35 of Vengeance is Mine

‘It was twice, actually. Anyway, we got chatting, and we had a laugh and he asked me out,’ she said coyly, like an excited schoolgirl.

‘Well done. That’s the fastest you’ve ever bagged a bloke. Wine?’ I asked, heading back to the fridge for another bottle. There must have been a leak in my glass.

‘Better not. I need to lose half a stone by Friday.’

‘There’s nothing on you.’ I looked her up and down in her tight skinny jeans and skimpy bra top.

‘I’ll give you all the details on Saturday lunchtime. I’m bound to stay at his for breakfast.’ She sat down on my sofa and picked up the copy of the local paper from the coffee table. ‘Have you read this?’

‘I’ve glanced at it,’ I said, as I handed her a glass of wine.

‘I can’t believe it’s been twenty years since he was put away. God, I remember it like it was yesterday.’

‘You remember Dominic Griffiths going to prison?’

‘Yes. Wait. Didn’t I tell you?’

‘Tell me what?’

‘I knew the girl he killed – Stephanie White. I was actually on the local news. I went to place a bunch of flowers outside the school, you know, like you do, and the BBC were there filming it. My one claim to fame.’ She smiled. ‘Actually, that’s not true. I’m pretty sure I was sat two tables away from Will Young in Patisserie Valerie in St Pancras station last year.’

‘How did you know Stephanie White?’

‘Well, we weren’t best friends or anything, but we were in the same class at school.’

The penny suddenly dropped. Stephanie would have been thirty-three now, and Robyn had kept mentioning her thirty-third birthday being on a Friday night this year and how we should definitely have a pub crawl around Newcastle.

‘I saw her on the day she went missing actually,’ Robyn said, sipping her wine and playing with her hair with her free hand.

‘Really? Did you say anything?’

‘Yes. They held a big assembly at school the next day. The police turned up and everything. I remember it being quite a frightening time. After Stephanie went missing, my mum picked me up and dropped me off for ages.’ She half-laughed at a sudden memory. ‘My dad, right, he said that?—’

‘What did you say to the police?’ I interrupted, sitting down next to her. I didn’t want to seem too eager, but this was brand-new information. Well, it was to me anyway.

‘I told them what I saw. Stephanie was at the back of the shops in Winlaton. Do you know them? There’s an alley between the Co-op and… What’s the one next door? Is it a Premier? Anyway, Stephanie was leaning against the wall. She was wearing rollerblades and a Newcastle United top. I only recognised her because of the top. It stood out.’

‘Where were you?’

Robyn rolled her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘We always had to go and visit my gammy on Sundays. She wasn’t really my grandmother – my father was adopted. She was horrible. Face like a slapped arse. And she was tight with her Christmas presents. Do you know what she gave me when I was ten? A bloody apron. Anyway, we were driving past the shops when I saw her.’

‘Was she with anyone?’

‘Yes. She was talking to a bloke.’

My heart almost stopped beating. This was almost too perfect. An eyewitness to Stephanie’s disappearance right on my doorstep. I could feel the blood thundering through my ears.

‘What did he look like?’

‘I only saw him from behind,’ Robyn said.

I deflated. ‘You must have been able to tell something about his appearance.’

‘Well, yes. I mean, he was taller than Stephanie. Thin, but not skinny. He was wearing a tracksuit. Dark blue, I think. Or it could have been black. He was wearing white trainers.’

‘Did you say all this to the police?’ I asked excitedly.

‘Oh yes. At school the next day – I told you the police came round – anyway, they had a designated room where you could go in and chat to some of the detectives. I went to speak to this woman in uniform. I told her what I saw, and she went off to get this plain-clothed detective, and I had to repeat my story. Then, I had to go to the police station with my dad and tell them the story again, so they could turn it into a proper statement. You always think police work is exciting, but when you’re involved in it, you realise how boring it really is. I must have told my story to about ten different people.’

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