“I turned the yard light on and looked out of the window, but I couldn’t see anything.”
“Did you have the television on, some music?”
“No. That’s why I could hear the sounds outside so clearly. Usually it’s so quiet and peaceful up here. All you can hear at night is the wind through the trees, and sometimes a lost sheep baa-ing, or a curlew up on the moors.”
“Weren’t you scared being by yourself?”
“No. I like it. Even when I heard the noise I just thought it might be a stray dog or a sheep or something.”
“Where were your parents at this time?”
“They were out. It’s their wedding anniversary. Their twenty-first. They went out to dinner in Eastvale.”
“You didn’t want to go with them?”
“No. Well… I mean, it was their anniversary, wasn’t it?” She turned up her nose. “Besides, I don’t like fancy restaurants. And I don’t like Italian food. Anyway, it’s not as if it was Home Alone or something. I am nearly sixteen, you know. And it was my choice. I’d rather stay home and read. I don’t mind being by myself.”
Perhaps, Banks guessed, they hadn’t invited her. “Carry on,” he said. “After you turned the yard light on, what did you do?”
“When I couldn’t see anything, I just sort of brushed it off. Then I heard another noise, like a stone or something, hitting the wall. I was fed up of being disturbed by then, so I decided to go out and see what it was.”
“You still weren’t frightened?”
“A bit, maybe, by then. But not really scared. I still thought it was probably an animal or something like that, maybe a fox. We get them sometimes.”
“Then what happened?”
“I opened the front door, and as soon as I stepped out, someone grabbed me and dragged me back inside and tied me to the chair. Then they put a rag in my mouth and put tape over it. I couldn’t swallow properly. It was all dry and it tasted of salt and oil.”
Banks noticed her knuckles had turned white around the mug. He worried she would crush it. “How many of them were there, Alison?” he asked.
“Two.”
“Do you remember anything about them?”
She shook her head. “They were both dressed all in black, except one of them had white trainers on. The other had some sort of suede slip-ons, brown I think.”
“You didn’t see their faces?”
Alison hooked her feet over the crossbar. “No, they had balaclavas on, black ones. But they weren’t like the ones you’d buy to keep you warm. They were just made of cotton or some other thin material. They had little slits for the eyes and slits just under the nose so they could breathe.”
Banks noticed that she had turned paler. “Are you all right, Alison?” he asked. “Do you want to stop now and rest?”
Alison shook her head. Her teeth were clenched. “No. I’ll be all right. Just let me… ” She sipped some tea and seemed to relax a little.
“How tall were they?” Banks asked.
“One was about as big as you.” She looked at Banks, who at only five foot nine was quite small for a policeman – just over regulation height, in fact. “But he was fatter. Not really fat, but just not, you know, wiry… like you. The other was a few inches taller, maybe six foot, and quite thin.”
“You’re doing really well, Alison,” Banks said. “Was there anything else about them?”
“No. I can’t remember.”
“Did either of them speak?”
“When he dragged me back inside, the smaller one said, ‘Keep quiet and do as you’re told and we won’t hurt you.’”
“Did you notice his accent?”
“Not really. It sounded ordinary. I mean, not foreign or anything.”
“Local?”
“ Yorkshire, yes. But not Dales. Maybe Leeds or something. You know how it sounds different, more citified?”
“Good. You’re doing just fine. What happened next?”
“They tied me to the chair with some rope and just sat and watched television. First the news was on, then some horrible American film about a psycho slashing women. They seemed to like that. One of them kept laughing when a woman got killed, as if it was funny.”
“You heard them laugh?”
“Just one of them, the tall one. The other one told him to shut up. He sounded like he was in charge.”
“The smaller one?”
“Yes.”
“That’s all he said: ‘Shut up’?”
“Yes.”
“Was there anything unusual about the taller man’s laugh?”
“I… I don’t… I can’t remember.” Alison wiped a tear from her eye with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “It was just a laugh, that’s all.”
“It’s all right. Don’t worry about it. Did they harm you in any way?”
Alison reddened and looked down into her half-empty mug. “The smaller one came over to me when I was tied up, and he put his hand on my breast. But the other one made him stop. It was the only time he said anything.”
“How did he make him stop? What did he do?”
“He just said not to, that it wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Did he use those exact words, Alison? Did he say, ‘It’s not part of the deal’?”
“Yes. I think so. I mean, I’m not completely sure, but it was something like that. The smaller man didn’t seem to like it, being told what to do by the other, but he left me alone after that.”
“Did you see any kind of weapon?” Banks asked.
“Yes. The kind of gun that farmers have, with two barrels. A shotgun.”
“Who had it?”
“The smaller man, the one in charge.”
“Did you hear a car at any time?”
“No. Only when Mum and Dad came home. I mean, I heard cars go by on the road sometimes, you know, the one that goes through Relton and right over the moors into the next dale. But I didn’t hear anyone coming or going along our driveway.”
“What happened when your parents came home?”
Alison paused and swirled the tea in the bottom of her mug as if she were trying to see into her future. “It must have been about half past eleven or later. The men waited behind the door and the tall one grabbed Mum while the other put his gun to Dad’s neck. I tried to scream and warn them, honest I did, but the rag in my mouth… I just couldn’t make a sound…” She ran her sleeve across her eyes again and sniffled. Banks gestured to PC Weaver, who found a box of tissues on the window-sill and brought them over.