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In a puff of smoke

Our daughter's house was in flames and she'd disappeared...but how?


Published by: Laura Hinton & Sharon Ward
Published on: 18th August 2011

Smoke billowed from the treetops as I forced my foot down on the accelerator, willing my car to go faster.
Heart pounding, I was speeding towards my stepdaughter’s house.
I’d dropped everything when my hubby Pat, 59, had called me at work. His voice still echoed through my mind now… ‘There’s a fire. At Kelly and Scott’s.’
Turning down the road that led to the beautiful white-framed house she shared with her husband of six years, smoke was pouring from the roof.
As I got closer, I saw orange flames licking at the walls, destroying everything they touched. I couldn’t believe it. I’d only been there last night.
I’d popped over after Scott had called me.
‘Taylor’s trodden on a pencil. I’m worried she’s hurt herself,’ he’d said.
Taylor, eight, was Kelly’s daughter from a previous relationship, but Scott had taken her on as his own.
Because I was a nursing administrator, he wanted me to check her over.
‘There’s nothing in your foot, sweetie,’ I’d smiled, popping a kiss on my granddaughter’s head. ‘I’ll just put a plaster on to cover the wound.’
‘I want one, too!’ her sister Haley, five, had squealed.
‘But there’s nothing wrong with you!’ I’d chuckled.
Still, sticking one on her knee, she’d run off smiling, giving me and Kelly, 28, a chance to speak.
She’d started a new job that day at an insurance company, and she’d been so excited about it.
‘I love it,’ she’d beamed. ‘The people are really nice. When my new shoes started rubbing, one of them gave me a plaster.’
‘You’re as bad as the kids,’ I’d teased.
The whirr of fire engine sirens snapped me back to reality.
Pulling up outside Kelly’s house, I pushed through the crowd of neighbours gathered outside and spotted Scott, 35.
‘I can’t believe it,’ I gasped.
They’d put so much effort into making this a family home, painting the girls’ rooms pink, building a kennel for their two Chihuahuas. Now, though, it was turning to cinders before our eyes.
‘I’m devastated,’ Scott sighed.
‘How did it happen?’ I asked, grimacing as a fireman pulled burnt belongings on to the front lawn.
Scott’s eyes misted over, and
he shrugged. Poor guy was so shocked, he just didn’t know what to say.
Pat rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘It’s all right, son,’ he said. ‘You can stay with us until you’ve got yourself sorted.’
‘Where’s Kelly?’ I asked.
‘At-at work,’ Scott mumbled, unable to take his eyes off his burning home.
‘Has anyone called her? Is she on her way here?’ I asked.
‘I’ve tried, but I can’t get hold of her,’ shrugged Pat.
‘She must still be there,’ I said, jumping back as more firemen pushed past. ‘I’ll go and get her. I can’t have her just turning up and seeing this.’
On the way there, I wondered how I’d break the news of the fire to Kelly.
Poor love, that house was her life. Family was everything to her.
When her mates had chosen to move away to college, she’d decided to study locally, living with me and her dad.
Even though she was my stepdaughter, I treated her and her brother Carl, 35, as my own. And even now, she only lived 15 minutes away and phoned me every day for a chinwag.
Moments later, I was at her office being pointed in the direction of the boss.
‘I need to speak to Kelly,’ I said.
‘Kelly?’ he frowned. ‘She’s not here, she never showed up for work today. We tried calling.’
‘But Scott said…’ I blurted. ‘Then where is she?’
‘We assumed she was ill.’
But I’d seen her last night – she’d been fine.
So where was she?
Convinced he must have been wrong somehow, I got the security guard to help me search for Kelly’s Honda Accord in the car park. But it wasn’t there.
A chill ran down my spine.
Could she still have been in the house when the fire broke out?
‘Oh God,’ I gulped, dialling Pat.
‘Calm down,’ he soothed. ‘The fire officer said there was no one in the house. There has to be a logical explanation. Get back here, and we’ll speak to Scott.’
But where else could she be?
The kids were in school, Scott was at home…
‘When did you last see her?’ I asked him.
‘Last night,’ he said. ‘She went looking for one of the dogs which had got loose. I drifted off to sleep, and she was gone this morning.’
‘So where is she now?’
‘I-I don’t know,’ he shrugged, looking up at the burnt remains of his house.
I couldn’t understand why he was so calm – his wife was missing and his home had just gone up in flames. Then again, the poor guy had to be in shock.
He probably didn’t know what to worry about first… Kelly, the house, the kids.
My mind, though, was in overdrive. ‘We need to call the police,’ I said to Pat.
‘Look, you collect the kids from school,’ he said. ‘I’ll call them.’
But as I drove to collect Taylor and Haley from school, my phone rang. It was Pat.
‘They’ve found Kelly’s car on a nearby estate,’ he told me.
‘Oh, thank God,’ I sighed. ‘Was she there?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘Her bag, keys and mobile phone were inside. Juanita, I’m worried about her.’
‘Me, too,’ I told him.
Even though Kelly was my stepdaughter, my mother’s instinct told me something wasn’t right.
Kelly was a blue jeans, t-shirt, no-frills family girl. She wouldn’t just disappear like this.
And that’s exactly what I told the police when they came to see us that night.
‘Please find her,’ I urged.
A massive police hunt was launched.
Friends and family made up 100 volunteers who searched the woods near Kelly’s house.
Oddly, Scott didn’t join in. He even refused to do a plea on television, and had decided to take the kids to stay with his parents.
‘He’s got enough on his plate,’ Pat reasoned. ‘The kids, the fire, now Kelly.’
He ran his own haulage company, too.
‘True,’ I sighed. ‘He needs to look after them, we can worry about Kelly.’
And as days turned into a week, it was all I did.
I even designed a missing person’s poster, using a picture of Kelly on her wedding day. It had been an intimate ceremony in a little chapel.
There she was, with her long brown hair and blue eyes, grinning at the camera. She had her arm linked through Scott’s.
‘They looked so happy,’ I sighed to Pat, showing him the picture. ‘Scott must be beside himself.’
‘I hope we get some news soon, for everyone’s sake,’ he agreed.
Looking at the photo, I stared deep into Kelly’s eyes.
Where are you, sweetie? How could you just disappear?
I wasn’t the only one asking questions either – Taylor and Haley were, too.
Since the fire, Scott’s parents had been dropping them off to visit us, he couldn’t face doing it himself.
I knew it must’ve been hard for him. Seeing us would only remind him of Kelly, and the children were missing her so much.
‘I want Mummy,’ mumbled Haley, her bottom lip quivering as I tucked her into bed.
My heart ripped.
‘Me, too,’ I soothed. ‘She’s gone away, and we’re trying to find her.’
‘Will she be home soon?’ she asked me.
‘I hope so,’ I said.
‘Okay,’ she sighed, drifting off to sleep.
The only piece of news came eight days after Kelly went missing. Fire investigators believed the fire at the house had been arson.
‘But who would do something like that?’ I asked Pat.
‘Maybe Scott saw something, he was the only one at…’ he suddenly went quiet.
We looked at each other, and I knew what he was thinking.
‘No,’ I whispered. ‘He wouldn’t.’
‘Think about it,’ Pat said. ‘He hasn’t joined in any of the searches, he’s staying with his parents – it feels like he’s avoiding us.’
But surely there were reasons for that? He needed to focus on the girls right now, make sure they were happy.
The seed of doubt, though, had been sown. And, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if Scott had anything to do with it.
Suddenly, I remembered back to a conversation I’d had with Kelly a month before her disappearance.
She’d popped over for a cuppa, and seemed really quiet.
‘Everything okay?’ I’d asked her.
‘Yeah,’ she’d sighed. ‘Well, no… me and Scott had an argument.’
‘All couples do.’
‘I know, but he’s got a bit of a temper,’ she’d said. ‘Sometimes he shouts at me in front
of the kids, and it’s not fair on them.’
‘You know you can always find refuge here,’ I’d assured her.
‘I know,’ she’d smiled. ‘It was nothing, I do love him.’
I thought they’d smoothed things over, she’d never mentioned it again.
But what if I was wrong?
Then again, every couple had their problems, maybe I was making more of this than there was? Only Kelly would be able to tell us the truth, though, and there was still no sign of her.
As one month turned into two, then six, then a year, I was desperate for answers and only grew more suspicious.
Since the fire, Scott hadn’t spoken to Pat or me once. Surely he’d want to check how his wife’s parents were doing, or was he scared he might give something away?
As for the blaze, had he started it to get rid of some evidence?
We were powerless to do anything about our suspicions, though. Without evidence, police had no reason to arrest him, and they were still investigating the arson.
It sounded sick but, in a way, I wished they’d find Kelly’s body. At least then we’d have answers and closure.
My wish sadly came true 14 months after her disappearance.
A man out hunting found the partial remains of a woman’s body, including half a skull, in 900 acres of woodland near Kelly’s home.
Police came to see us that day.
‘Dental records confirm the remains are Kelly’s,’ the inspector told us sadly. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Our poor girl,’ I sobbed.
‘Let’s hope the truth finally comes out,’ said Pat, taking me in his arms.
It seemed his prayers were answered too. That day Scott, whose full name was William Scott Morris, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and fraudulently burning a dwelling.
They believed he’d lied about where he was when Kelly had gone missing.
‘I can’t believe it,’ gasped Pat. ‘Finally, we can lay Kelly to rest.’
Scott, though, had other ideas.
In June, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal, meaning he received just 13 years in jail.
If that wasn’t disgusting enough, as part of that deal, he didn’t have to give any details of what he’d done to Kelly, or why.
And, because her body was so decomposed, police weren’t able to tell us what happened.
All they can assume was that Scott had burnt down the house to destroy evidence. We don’t even know when Kelly went missing, but assume he killed her the night before the fire.
‘We’ll never know anything for sure,’ sobbed Pat to me. ‘If Kelly put up a struggle, whether she suffered… nothing.’
It’s left us always dwelling on what happened that fateful night, and it’s torture.
Our salvation is gaining custody of Haley. Taylor is living with her biological dad now, but they still see each other all the time.
The saddest thing though, is that they’ll grow up without their mum. From now on, I’ll be the one patching up their cuts and trying to mend their broken lives.
Juanita Currin, 53, Stem, North Carolina, USA