Burnt Paper Sky Read online

  FM: So apart from the negative press, were you happy with the response to the press conference? Did any good come of it?

  JC: We did get some positive response. Like I said we had a lot to manage but once we’d weeded out the nutters, we were hoping something would come of it, maybe a sighting, maybe people to add to the list we had to interview.

  He’s got me interested. If truth be told, this case fascinated me at the time, as it did many people. I must have let this show, the fact that I’m finding what he’s telling me compelling, because he leans forward, asks me the question that’s really on his mind.

  JC: How many sessions do you think it will take until you can sign me off?

  I have to put my professional face firmly back in place.

  FM: That’s impossible for me to say. All I can say is that you’re making good progress so far.

  He sits back again, but he’s agitated. His right knee jiggles up and down.

  FM: I’m interested in the work that the forensic psychologist was doing. Can you tell me more about that?

  JC: He’d not submitted anything in writing at this point, but Fraser and I had both talked to him.

  FM: And what were his thoughts?

  JC: They were a mixed bag.

  FM: Can you describe them to me?

  JC: It’s not nice stuff.

  FM: I’m interested. It’s not a million miles away from what I do.

  JC: The main distinction that profilers make in child abduction cases is between family and non-family abduction.

  FM: Is either one more likely?

  JC: Statistically, a family abduction, because they’re usually the result of divorces or custody arrangements that have gone bad. You often read about kids who are kidnapped and taken abroad by a parent. Rarely, a family abduction involves a member of close family: an uncle, or a stepfather maybe, who harbours an unhealthy sexual interest in a child, but in those cases the victim is usually a girl.

  FM: Presumably those cases are easier to solve.

  JC: Absolutely. The non-family perpetrator is much more challenging for us. If a child is snatched right out of their lives, without trace, the pool of potential suspects can become vast. Obviously we look at everyone they know, but once you’ve ruled them out, it could be anyone. And time is always against you.

  FM: It must leave the parents in a living hell.

  JC: You wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

  FM: No, you wouldn’t. There’s a term we use for it: ‘ambiguous grief’. It can be a life sentence. It’s a kind of unresolved grief. You might feel it if you have a child or another family member who is mentally impaired. You might mourn the person you think they could have been if things had turned out differently. That person is physically present but psychologically absent. Conversely, and this is what happens in cases of abduction, or more commonly in divorce, the child or the person is psychologically present but physically absent. And in the case of abduction the parents have the added uncertainty over whether the child is alive or dead.

  JC: It’s what we wanted to avoid. We wanted to get that kid back safe and well. We were waiting to get written profiles from the psychologist, but he’d told Fraser he was veering towards a non-family abduction, because of the circumstances of the abduction.

  FM: Why?

  JC: Based on Ben’s age and gender it was likely to be a lone male abductor with a sexual motive, probably acting opportunistically.

  FM: And how did he come to this conclusion?

  JC: Past cases, the circumstances of Ben’s life and his disappearance. He advised us to look out for someone odd when we were interviewing and looking through statements.

  FM: Odd? You surely didn’t need a profiler to tell you to look out for somebody odd?

  JC: I don’t mean overtly odd. There are signs to look for. Often they are craving control, in sexual relationships perhaps, or just in their lives.

  FM: Which presumably might have been a fit for your fantasy role-play suspect?

  JC: That’s right.

  Describing his work has given him an energy I haven’t seen before. I change the subject, hoping he’ll carry this momentum into talking about his personal life.

  FM: And Emma?

  JC: What about her?

  FM: What were her thoughts?

  JC: To be honest we hadn’t really had a chance to talk properly. She was getting on with the job though. Fraser was pleased with her.

  FM: I’m very surprised you hadn’t talked. I understood that you were living together.

  JC: It was hard once the case started. You don’t keep sociable hours. When you get home you’re so tired you just want to sleep. It was easier for us both to sleep at our own places some nights. And Emma could be hard to read sometimes, you know?

  FM: What do you mean?

  JC: I don’t know. You know how people sometimes get very quiet, go into themselves a bit when they’re focused on the job?

  FM: Yes.

  JC: She’s like that. So when she wanted to keep herself to herself I respected that. And, to be honest, we didn’t really have time for our relationship once the case started because it consumed us both. It’s the nature of it.

  FM: Do you think Emma was prepared for that?

  JC: Absolutely.

  FM: You put a lot of responsibility on her, recommending her for the post.

  JC: I’ve already told you, I had faith in her.

  FM: Did you talk about that?

  JC: I wasn’t going to patronise her. That would have been out of order. And she didn’t need me to.

  His foot begins to tap a swift staccato on the floor, signalling that he knows it’s only minutes until the end of our session.

  FM: Just one last thing before you go.

  He raises an eyebrow enquiringly.

  FM: Did you feel that you were able to keep your distance from the case? Personally?

  JC: What do you mean?

  FM: The age of Benedict Finch, the visit to his school. Occasionally when I read your report I get the feeling that he might have got under your skin a bit.

  JC: I was professional.

  FM: I’m not suggesting for a moment that you weren’t.

  He stares at me.

  JC: It’s not wrong to care.

  FM: Was this the first case you worked on where a child was involved, or in danger?

  JC: Yes.

  FM: Was that hard?

  JC: It was hard in that we had to find him. It was our responsibility to him. He’d done nothing wrong. He was just a kid. But that didn’t make any difference to anything I did.

  FM: Do you think your response to the case could have been affected by the relatively recent death of your father?

  JC: What?

  FM: Sometimes when we lose a parent it makes us reflect on our childhoods. It’s not an uncommon response to parental bereavement. That might have made you more vulnerable to identifying with Benedict Finch, and what could be happening to him?

  He doesn’t reply. He looks incredulous.

  FM: DI Clemo?

  JC: No. It didn’t. You’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I was doing my job. Isn’t this session supposed to be over by now?

  Although there’s a clock in plain view on my desk, he glances at his watch. It’s obvious that he’s not going to engage with this today.

  DAY 4

  WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2012

  Crimes against children, particularly cases involving abduction and homicide, continue to be problematic as both a social phenomenon and judicial responsibility. Such cases routinely receive intense community, media, and law enforcement attention, and can rapidly overwhelm local investigative resources.

  Boudreaux M C, Lord W D, Dutra R L, ‘Child Abduction: Aged-based Analyses of Offender, Victim, and Offense Characteristics in 550 Cases of Alleged Child Disappearance’, J Forensic Sci, 44(3), 1999

  Stay united in your fight to find your child. Don’t allow the stress of the investigation to drive a wedge into your
family life. When emotions run wild, be careful that you do not lash out at or cast blame on others… Remember that everyone deals with crises and grief differently, so don’t judge others because they do not respond to the disappearance in the same way you do.

  ‘When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide’, Missing Kids USA Parental Guide, US Department of Justice, OJJDP Report

  Email

  To: Corinne Fraser

  Cc: James Clemo ; Giles Martyn

  From: Janie Green

  24 October 2012 at 06:58

  OPERATION HUCKLEBERRY – PRESS REVIEW 24/10/12

  Morning Corinne

  Round up of this morning’s press coverage relating to Operation Huckleberry below. This is just the nationals and locals. Due to the vast quantity of material, we’ve yet to go through everything that’s online, so I’ll forward that later. As usual, ‘highlights’ below with link to scanned copies.

  I’m copying this in to DS Martyn at his request. The material is concerning him and he’d like us all to get together later this morning to discuss tactics. He and I can do 10 or 11?

  Janie Green

  Press Officer, Avon and Somerset Constabulary

  RACHEL

  I slept only fitfully after looking online. The phrases I’d read repeated in my head over and over again. When I woke up for what felt like the hundredth time, the Stormtrooper clock beside the bed read 4.47 am. Ben’s bedding was twisted around me and I felt exhausted and cold. Nicky was sleeping in my room, with the door open. I didn’t want to wake her. I crept downstairs quietly and didn’t turn any lights on.

  On the kitchen table I found her laptop. I opened it and the glow from the screen lit up my fingers, poised over the keyboard. It asked me for a password. I watched the cursor blinking as I tried to think what it might be. I knew it wouldn’t be the name of any of her daughters. She’d lectured me once on password security and the foolishness of using your children’s or pet’s names. I tried ‘Rosedown’, which was the name of the cottage we grew up in. ‘Incorrect password’ was the computer’s response. I tried ‘rhubarbcustard’ – a reference to Nicky’s blog. It didn’t work. I had one more shot at it, and no clue what to try. On a whim, because it was my password in spite of her advice, and because my exhausted brain couldn’t come up with anything else, I tried ‘Benedict’.

  It worked. I leaned back in my chair in surprise, but then I felt a rush of affection towards Nicky: my bossy sister, a proud enough aunty to use Ben’s name as her password.

  Now that I was in, I searched ‘Benedict Finch Missing’. News items from all different sources appeared on the screen. The story had exploded. Images of me from the press conference appeared alongside Ben’s photo: my bleeding head, my white pallor, my body language and my angry eyes. Many of the news headlines were blatantly aggressive towards me.

  But I still couldn’t help myself.

  Like a moth to a flame I clicked on the Facebook site.

  There were hundreds of posts. The top one was from somebody called Cathy Franklin.

  Cathy Franklin The mother has done something to him thats obvious

  2 hours ago · Like

  Stuart Weston Police wouldn’t have let her tlk at press conf if they suspected her

  2 hours ago · Like

  Cathy Franklin Stuart that’s not true has been seen before that people crying in press confs have been convicted.

  about an hour ago · Like

  Rich Jameson Some people hang themselves like that perhaps they’re trying to catch her out. U wouldn’t believe how many people have done this go to www.whereisbenedictfinch.wordpress.com u be amazed.

  42 minutes ago · Like · 6

  Write a comment...

  I clicked on the link. My heart was pounding, my mouth bone dry.

  The page appeared instantly:

  WEB PAGE – www.whereisbenedictfinch.wordpress.com

  WHERE IS BENEDICT FINCH? For the curious…

  FACTS

  Posted at 03.14 by LazyDonkey, on Wednesday, 24 October 2012

  Benedict Finch went missing at 15.30 on Sunday, 21 October.

  The last person to see him was his mother.

  She let him out of her sight.

  And she never saw him again.

  Yesterday, she appeared at a press conference to appeal for help finding Ben.

  This blog wants to draw your attention to some things that have happened in the past.

  CASE HISTORIES

  Ian Huntley

  This man appeared on television shortly after the disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. He was later convicted of their murder. He was the last person to see them alive.

  Shannon Matthews

  Shannon’s mother appeared on television on numerous occasions after the disappearance of her daughter. She was later convicted of her kidnapping.

  Tracie Andrews

  This woman appeared at a televised press conference to appeal for help finding her fiancé’s killer. She blamed a road rage incident. She was later convicted of murdering him herself.

  What do these things tell us?

  They tell us that nothing is what it seems.

  Comments

  54 people are discussing this post with 94 comments

  Cathy_07926

  I’m very troubled by what I’m reading here. Why don’t we all stop persecuting the mother. Have any of you ever heard of ‘innocent until proven guilty’?

  Jen loves cookies

  Cathy, I agree with you. As a human being who lives and breathes I want to hold out my hand to Rachel and Ben and the father so they know there are people out there praying for them and their little boy. I was awake all night thinking of them. What that family must be going through.

  SelinaY

  OMG you only have to look at that mother to know she’s done something. She is guilty until innocent for me, get real everybody how else will we stop evil scum hurting our kids.

  Mountain biker

  Why did the mother let her kid run off like that? Asking for trouble. And what about the father?

  JuliaPeachy

  That dad is a doctor. Saved my baby girl’s life. Heart goes out to him at this time.

  JohnDoe

  A kid running alone in the woods? Seriously? Did she want something to happen to him? That’s out of a nightmare.

  Joker_864

  Trees can walk. Ivy wraps around your feet. Branches carry you up and away. Little finches are prey for bigger birds.

  RichNix

  I wouldn’t want her for my mum. Scared me.

  Cloud99

  She shouldn’t be allowed a kid. It’s disgusting what she did. U don’t realise how stupid people are till you read this stuff. A child is a gift. I wouldn’t let my kids run off doesn’t she know the risks.

  HouseProud

  I feel sorry for Benedict Finch with that mum I hope his dad can take him after this.

  Forever twenty-one

  As a mum of four I would want people to stop speculating and start praying for that little boy.

  Rational_Dawn_to_Dusk

  Speculation is a drug. It fuels our society.

  Happyinmydressinggown

  People need to stop being sat in front of their screens and get out there and help look for this little boy. Police should give us more information. Whatever the mother has done we must pray for god to protect this poor little boy wherever he is.

  The kitchen light came on suddenly. Nicky was standing in the doorway. She looked crumpled and sleepy in her nightie.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  I gestured to the laptop. ‘Who would write something like this? Do you know what they’re saying?’

  She took a quick look, and pushed down the lid of the laptop.

  ‘Don’t look at it! You mustn’t. There’s no point. It’s sick people using Ben to get their moment. It’s grotesque. It’s a feeding frenzy. Promise
me you won’t look again. Promise me!’

  ‘It’s not just people. It’s the newspapers too.’

  ‘Promise me you won’t look!’

  I promised, but my hands shook for a long time afterwards.

  JIM

  I spoke to Emma before I left for work, a quick call because I’d missed her the night before.

  She answered her phone quickly – ‘Hey how are you?’ – but I could hear the drag of fatigue in her voice and she yawned generously.

  ‘Good. You? Did you sleep well?’

  ‘What do you reckon?’

  ‘I reckon you were awake half the night like me.’

  ‘I was.’

  ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘I’ve survived on less.’

  ‘Everyone on the investigation’s going to be feeling it.’

  ‘I know.’

  She still sounded flat, and I didn’t like it, because it wasn’t like her to let things get to her. I wanted to buoy her up.

  ‘But it’s what we do it for, isn’t it? A case like this.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right. If we get a result that is.’

  She stifled another yawn, apologised for it, and then she snapped back into something resembling her usual efficient tone, as if she’d suddenly realised how dispirited she sounded.

  ‘I was worried about you yesterday,’ she said.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The press conference, Rachel Jenner out of control, and the whole country watching? Don’t be obtuse.’

  I didn’t really want to answer that.

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘If I say I’m sure then I’m sure.’

  ‘OK. Good. Sorry, I’m not fully awake yet I don’t think. I overslept. I didn’t mean to upset you. Can I give you a quick call back in a few minutes, when I’ve finished getting ready?’

  ‘I’m on my way in already, I’m literally about to step out the door, so I’ll see you at the briefing.’