concerning Jade Carnegie. The other two had not rung any bells but this one did. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes trying to visualize the family.
Slowly the picture took shape in his brain. The mother had been attractive; a slim, honey blonde, with anxious blue eyes. He recalled she had been some sort of teacher. Her husband had looked more like a man of the earth, with his checked work shirt and jeans. His shoulders were rounded and he had a perpetual stoop, which gave the impression he was uncomfortable with his height. Bill recalled he had dirt under his fingernails and remembered the man was a gardener. There had also been two kids. The boy who was about fifteen had been in tears. The girl was younger, a sullen little miss who had watched him with large emotionless eyes.
The couple had been out of their minds with worry, convinced their missing daughter had been abducted. He could remember the mother saying, ‘Jade’s a good girl, she’d never go off and not tell us.’ One of the things Bill remembered most from that first interview was the long uncomfortable silence that followed – a silence broken by the boy’s sobs.
For a time the mother had turned up at the office demanding to know what progress the police had made and what they were doing to find Jade. But they never found Jade and she remained on the missing persons list. After a time the mother stopped coming and Bill assumed she’d come to terms with her daughter’s disappearance. It had been a relief not to have to face her and make excuses for their failure, although he’d felt responsible for that failure.
He opened his eyes and sifted through the reports in the file hoping to find something they might have missed. But it was as much a mystery today as it had been five years ago.
He pushed the other two files to the side of his desk and retained the one he’d been studying. ‘I’ll have another look at this one,’ he said to Sue. ‘I was part of the original investigation into the Carnegie case.’
‘What about the others?’
‘I’ll have a look at them when I come back.’
Sue raised her eyebrows.
‘I’m off to see the family.’ Bill closed the file and buttoned his jacket.
‘Isn’t it early days to be doing that?’
‘I suppose so, but you said a woman phoned in and I’d guess it was probably Mrs Carnegie. I’d be interested to know what the new development is, plus check out how things have been for them since I saw them last.’ He was not prepared to tell Sue that something in Diane Carnegie’s eyes had got to him.
The DI was clattering about in her office when he passed it, but she hadn’t opened the venetian blinds yet. She wouldn’t see him leave. He hunched his shoulders and quickened his pace. He was not in the mood to explain his actions to a new team leader. In his hurry he forgot to sign himself out on the staff movements’ board.
Chapter Six
A faint smell of alcohol and sweat hung in the air as Diane carried her bucket of hot water and a waste sack through the disco-bar area of the club
She pushed the swing door with her shoulder and set the bucket down on the tiled floor while she fumbled for the light switch. Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the smell of urine mingled with the odour from a pool of vomit in front of the last sink, she wondered why it was women’s toilets were no better than the men’s.
She mopped up the vomit with paper towels and disposed of them in the waste sack, dropped to her knees and started to scrub. The hot water burned her hands but the scrubbing motion that ground the soapy suds into the tiles was something that satisfied her need to get rid of everything soiled, filthy and dirty.
Sometimes the scrubbing helped and sometimes it did not, and today was one of those days when it did not. Dropping the brush into the bucket of hot water she sat back on her heels. Tears dribbled down her cheeks. It had been five years, three weeks and two days since Jade
Slowly the picture took shape in his brain. The mother had been attractive; a slim, honey blonde, with anxious blue eyes. He recalled she had been some sort of teacher. Her husband had looked more like a man of the earth, with his checked work shirt and jeans. His shoulders were rounded and he had a perpetual stoop, which gave the impression he was uncomfortable with his height. Bill recalled he had dirt under his fingernails and remembered the man was a gardener. There had also been two kids. The boy who was about fifteen had been in tears. The girl was younger, a sullen little miss who had watched him with large emotionless eyes.
The couple had been out of their minds with worry, convinced their missing daughter had been abducted. He could remember the mother saying, ‘Jade’s a good girl, she’d never go off and not tell us.’ One of the things Bill remembered most from that first interview was the long uncomfortable silence that followed – a silence broken by the boy’s sobs.
For a time the mother had turned up at the office demanding to know what progress the police had made and what they were doing to find Jade. But they never found Jade and she remained on the missing persons list. After a time the mother stopped coming and Bill assumed she’d come to terms with her daughter’s disappearance. It had been a relief not to have to face her and make excuses for their failure, although he’d felt responsible for that failure.
He opened his eyes and sifted through the reports in the file hoping to find something they might have missed. But it was as much a mystery today as it had been five years ago.
He pushed the other two files to the side of his desk and retained the one he’d been studying. ‘I’ll have another look at this one,’ he said to Sue. ‘I was part of the original investigation into the Carnegie case.’
‘What about the others?’
‘I’ll have a look at them when I come back.’
Sue raised her eyebrows.
‘I’m off to see the family.’ Bill closed the file and buttoned his jacket.
‘Isn’t it early days to be doing that?’
‘I suppose so, but you said a woman phoned in and I’d guess it was probably Mrs Carnegie. I’d be interested to know what the new development is, plus check out how things have been for them since I saw them last.’ He was not prepared to tell Sue that something in Diane Carnegie’s eyes had got to him.
The DI was clattering about in her office when he passed it, but she hadn’t opened the venetian blinds yet. She wouldn’t see him leave. He hunched his shoulders and quickened his pace. He was not in the mood to explain his actions to a new team leader. In his hurry he forgot to sign himself out on the staff movements’ board.
Chapter Six
A faint smell of alcohol and sweat hung in the air as Diane carried her bucket of hot water and a waste sack through the disco-bar area of the club
She pushed the swing door with her shoulder and set the bucket down on the tiled floor while she fumbled for the light switch. Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the smell of urine mingled with the odour from a pool of vomit in front of the last sink, she wondered why it was women’s toilets were no better than the men’s.
She mopped up the vomit with paper towels and disposed of them in the waste sack, dropped to her knees and started to scrub. The hot water burned her hands but the scrubbing motion that ground the soapy suds into the tiles was something that satisfied her need to get rid of everything soiled, filthy and dirty.
Sometimes the scrubbing helped and sometimes it did not, and today was one of those days when it did not. Dropping the brush into the bucket of hot water she sat back on her heels. Tears dribbled down her cheeks. It had been five years, three weeks and two days since Jade
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