by Peter Martin
‘All right,’ she said rather coldly.
He gave her a half smile and a peck on the cheek before going up to their bedroom.
Alone in bed, he hoped to drop off easily, but kept fretting over the situation they were in, and the way it was affecting Maria – if it continued she’d end up having a breakdown. If that happened, life would be unbearable – but he shouldn’t torment himself over what might never happen.
Try as he might, although very tired, sleep eluded him, and he lay awake for hours, tossing and turning. Then the alarm clock buzzed, time to get up.
He walked into the living room, expecting to find Maria wide awake, sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring. To his surprise, her head and body were leaning against the sofa arm – she was fast asleep. It seemed a pity to wake her, so he placed a blanket over her legs and switched off the light.
In the darkness, he sat by her. How strange, now he needed to keep himself awake, he had a sudden urge for sleep. Aware of the fact he would probably drop off he moved the telephone from the table and positioned it on the arm of the sofa, right next to where he was sitting. Now in the unlikely event it did ring, even if he dozed off, it would jolt him awake.
That done, he stretched back on the sofa trying to relax, he was exhausted, and eventually sleep did overcome him.
Later he was brought back to life by the sound of the phone ringing. At first he thought he was dreaming, but the insistent noise forced him to come to his senses and rubbing his eyes he sat upright not quite able to take it all in. Then realisation took over, and he reached across to pick up the receiver.
‘Hallo.’ But no one answered. Someone was there, he could hear the sound of shallow breathing.
‘Tim – is that you?’ Bob asked as calmly as possible. There was no reply.
‘Please, if that’s you, answer me. Whatever’s troubling you, it doesn’t matter – I won’t get angry. Listen... don’t worry, as long as you come home, or let us know you’re all right, we won’t be mad at you…’
Then the line went dead.
‘Shit!’ He swore under his breath. For God’s sake, why had the caller put the phone down? He phoned 1471 to ring the number back, but got a message to say the number had been withheld.
Whether Tim was the caller, was impossible to say. But whatever the case, it had unnerved him, because he was sure there was someone listening to his pleas.
But why didn’t the person have the courage to speak? Now Bob was faced with a dilemma – should he tell Maria knowing this would start her off again?
Chapter 4
Maria had never been so tired, but wanted to keep herself awake until Bob came down, unfortunately however she gave way to sleep.
Now when she first opened her eyes, she found the room was filled with the bright light of a new sunny day. As she got up she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, from how she’d been lying – and was so annoyed with herself for being weak and dropping off so easily.
There sitting across from her was Bob, the phone perched on the arm of the settee next to him. She noticed he was awake too, looking rather forlorn, but he smiled at her when their eyes met.
‘Why didn’t you wake me up?’
‘Sorry. I thought you needed to rest.’
‘I told you, I didn’t want to go to sleep – that I wanted to be awake in case we heard from Tim.’
‘Don’t worry, everything’s under control. I’ve been awake the whole time, and no one’s rung. And no one’s knocked on the front or back doors either.’
‘You’re absolutely sure?’
‘Positive,’ he confirmed. ‘But if you don’t mind, I’d like to rest now. Can you take over for a bit?’
‘Yes, of course. Let me freshen myself up first, and change into clean clothes – and then you can lie down for a while.’
‘Ok, thanks.’
Maria was very groggy herself. Her whole body as well as her neck ached. And she was so furious with Bob for letting her sleep, despite his good intentions.
To get life into her body, she had a cool shower, washed her hair, changed her clothes and was back in the living room within half an hour.
‘All right Bob, you rest now. When do you want me to wake you?’
‘If I’m not up, in say three hours, come and get me, but of course if there’s any news, wake me straightaway.’
Once he’d gone, Maria began to tremble again. The longer Tim was missing, the less chance they had of getting him back. She was anxious and wondered what the police in their wisdom were doing. If this carried on she’d go out of her mind.
After making a black coffee to stay alert, she decided to have something to eat, but only managed a round of toast and butter.
Then sitting down again by the phone, she wanted something other than Tim to occupy her mind – but what? She wanted to talk to Bob, but he needed to sleep. But try as she might her thoughts continued to plague her, bringing her back to how the police were handling the situation. She guessed they were doing their best, but their resources were stretched. Maybe, when Bob woke it would be an idea to continue scouring the nearby streets, and any open spaces, they hadn’t searched before.
This went round and round in her head, driving her crazy. Whatever they did might cause a problem - if they stayed in, they may miss a chance of seeing Tim, but if they went out, he might return or phone while no one was in the house. And if that wasn’t enough, Bob’s attitude made her uncomfortable – no way would he want to spend hours travelling around Dexford again.
If only there was another way. Then it came to her. They should speak to Tim’s friends personally, perhaps one of them might let something slip. That would be better than driving around empty streets.
After half an hour, she couldn’t wait any longer. She’d have to wake Bob up and put the plan to him. Surely, he’d be of the same mind as her.
She went into the bedroom, saw him lying down, but surprisingly his eyes were open – he was awake.
‘Any news?’
She shook her head.
He reached out his hand, and Maria was glad to take it and sit down on the bed next to him.
‘I keep wracking my brains, trying to remember anything different about Tim’s behaviour lately, but apart from that last morning, when I had trouble getting him up, he was his normal self. How about you – did you notice a change in him?’
‘Not really. He seemed quiet, I assumed he was revising for his exams when he spent a lot of time in his bedroom on his own, but obviously he wasn’t. Not getting very far - are we love?’
‘But we mustn’t stop Bob. He’s out there somewhere, frightened, hungry and cold. If we could talk to him, it might make all the difference in the world.’
‘Of course,’ he said sadly. ‘So what shall we do today?’
‘I’m not sure – but I did have a thought. How about speaking to his friends?’ She said with bated breath. ‘After all it is Saturday, we may not get the chance again.’
‘Ok if you want. Let’s get on with it then, shall we?’ He agreed, getting up from the bed.
Maria glanced up at the ceiling, thanking God for Bob’s response.
So long as she did something useful, it would her get through this most difficult time.
<><><>
Bob groaned to himself over the prospect of spending the day visiting Tim’s friends. But he’d agreed rather than argue with Maria.
So they visited everyone they could think of, but nobody could, or wanted to, elaborate any further. It was almost as if a pact had been made between them to keep quiet.
All the way back she went on and on about Tim coming back while they’d been out; and what would he think if the house was empty? Bob tried his best to placate her but to no avail and once again she wept.
There was no sign of Tim on their return, and no one had telephoned either. But just as they sat down to a cup of tea, the phone rang, making Maria jump and spill her drink. Then she moved swiftly across to answer it.
‘H… hallo,’ she said in a jittery voice. But looking a little disgruntled and shaking her head at Bob she mouthed ‘It’s Gail’.
From the expression on his wife’s face, Bob feared bad news. But from what he gleaned from the one sided conversation, the police investigations hadn’t turned up any new leads. When Maria finally put the phone down, she looked even more upset.
‘What’s happened now?’
‘It appears the police have done house to house enquires around this road and the neighbouring areas. It seems nothing has come to light. So she wants to come round to see us within the hour.’
‘About what?’
‘Something about what they propose to do next. She wants to discuss the next phase of the investigation with us. But that should be good, seeing as they’re getting nowhere fast.’
‘They’re doing their best Maria, they seem to be taking the matter seriously and after all he has only been missing a few days.’
‘Maybe, but I’m wondering what brilliant idea they’ll come up with now?’ She laughed ironically.
He shrugged his shoulders, but didn’t speak. There didn’t seem a lot the police could do.
Just after seven o’clock Gail finally turned up alone. Bob had thought she’d forgotten them and was surprised to see her this late. After apologising for being late, due to another case, he realised how dedicated to her work she was, and having a son the same age as Tim must have struck a chord. Maybe she did care about Tim’s welfare after all. But that wouldn’t bring their son back to them - would it?
He’d just poured himself a beer when Gail had rung the bell, and now the sight of it brought displeasure to Maria’s face.
But where was the harm in one drink, he thought saying, ‘Drink, Gail?’ Pointing to the glass on the table.
‘Sorry, not when I’m on duty. A cup of coffee will do fine.’
As he walked towards the kitchen he saw Gail give Maria a slight lingering smile as if to say she could imagine what they were going through.
Now looking at Gail across the room Maria was filled with trepidation and wondered what she wanted to discuss this time.
‘So how are you coping, Maria?’ She asked sympathetically.
‘It’s very hard, and I don’t know how I’ve got myself through it, so far.’ She bit down on her thumb nail wishing Gail had something positive to report.
‘You’re doing fine. Coping as well as anyone, I’d say. Just keep your chin up and be positive.’
‘Deep down, I’m terrified I’ll never see Tim again. You know, I can remember vividly giving birth to him. He was born nine weeks prematurely, and it was touch and go for a while, but he was a fighter even then – and managed to pull through.
‘And he’s always been so good in and out of school – that’s why it’s so difficult to take. Why has he done this?’
‘Who can say? We’ll find him Maria, or he’ll come home of his own accord.’
Just then Bob came back into the room armed with two cups of coffee, which he handed to them. But as he took a long swig of his beer, Maria cleared her throat, and cut her eyes at him. She couldn’t imagine what Gail would think of him drinking alcohol at a time like this.
Obviously, sensing the atmosphere, Gail continued. ‘The thing is, we need to make sure the trail doesn’t go cold.’
‘So what do you have in mind?’ Maria asked.
‘We’d like to give the story to the media, namely the local newspapers and television, and have his picture distributed in prominent and public places. Also we intend searching rural areas in the vicinity. And in addition we think it would be beneficial to have a press conference. We would be by your side throughout giving our support when necessary. How would you feel about that?’
‘Well… I,’ Maria shook her head and felt the colour coming to her cheeks. The thought of facing the press and having everyone know about Tim’s disappearance wasn’t what she wanted at all.
‘No need to panic, it’s just standard procedure. We need to tell people so that it might jog someone’s memory. That’s the only way forward. Sooner or later the press will get wind of the story anyway; better the truth comes from us than from rumours and hearsay – which could be hurtful.’
‘We should consider it.’ Bob said, looking straight at his wife. ‘The more exposure we get, the better. With a wider audience, we’ll have more chance of finding out what’s happened to him. I’m not relishing the publicity, but if it helps us find our son, it has to be worth it – don’t you agree love?’
‘I’m not sure I can do this.’
‘Come on, you can do it. I’ll be with you the whole time, and so will Gail and her colleagues.’
Looking from one to the other Gail said, ‘You’ll get expert coaching. I assure you there’ll be no awkward questions, that’ll be dealt with beforehand. We should do this in a couple of days unless Tim comes home in the meantime. But tomorrow we’ll go over everything with you. Then we’ll have a dummy run before the real event. Think you could cope with that?’
‘Yes as far as I’m concerned. What about you love?’ Bob looked directly at Maria.
She nodded apprehensively.
‘Good, that’s settled. Now there are a few things we’d like to advise you to do. Firstly, we’d like to put a tap on your phone so any calls can be traced and monitored, and also an answer phone for when you are not in – it’s highly unlikely Tim will leave a message, but you never can tell. And secondly, we’re giving you a special number to ring day and night, that will get you straight through to an officer familiar with the case.
‘Lastly, we’d like to put surveillance on your house, just for a few days, after you’ve spoken to the press. It’s not to spy on you, but to keep an eye on the surrounding area.’
‘Yes, of course,’ Bob said.
‘Hope none of this frightens my poor boy away. What will he think when he knows we’re looking for him?’
‘We’ll have a better chance of finding him this way, love. It’s something positive as well.’
Gail nodded in agreement adding, ‘He can’t hide forever. Sooner or later he has to show, especially when the money runs out.’
‘All right... all right, I know,’ Maria sighed, her face screwed up with apprehension.
‘Good, then we’re all agreed,’ Gail said with a slight smile of relief. ‘Right, I’ll send someone round tomorrow to sort out your phones. And from midnight there’ll be an officer watching the house.
‘I’ve provisionally booked a room for eleven o’clock in the morning, if that’s convenient, when we’ll discuss what’s to be said at the press conference. Ok? So we’ll see you later?’
And with this Gail turned and left the room, Bob following her into the hall to thank her for what she’d done on their behalf. After seeing her out he went back to sit with his wife. They were both quiet for some time, lost in their own private thoughts when Bob broke the silence by saying, ‘I still can’t believe this has happened. You read about it in the newspapers, never dreaming you’ll be a victim like this. We thought we knew Tim inside out, but it looks like we don’t. I never guessed anything was wrong and that’s what I find rather scary.’
Reaching over Bob took hold of her hand, and she began to tremble all over again.
‘Hang on in there, love. Once he realises what he’s missing, he’ll be back with us before we know.’
In reply she just smiled at him, but there was no happiness in her smile. She’d never been as strong as him, and always a soft touch where Tim was concerned. That’s how some mothers were with their sons. Bob had been stricter and more level-headed even though he rarely needed to be. And until a couple of days ago Tim hadn’t given them any cause for concern.
From Maria’s point of view, she feared this was down to her spoiling him. What if he’d got in with the wrong crowd at school or when he was out? She’d never know, but these ‘what if’ thoughts tormented her.
It was late when they went to bed. Mar
ia had wanted to talk about every aspect of Tim’s life while continually reiterating her inability to carry on without him. This left Bob feeling befuddled, tired and unable to think straight. Sleep eluded him as he dwelled on his wife’s reaction to their dreadful plight. She too spent a night of restless sleep, probably thinking of the press conference and how the neighbours could take it. One thing for sure if he had to prop Maria up the pressure for him would be immense.
Finally, unable to lie there any longer he got out of bed, and within a matter of seconds Maria followed him downstairs. Dawn was breaking, and the sun shone through the kitchen window, when Bob opened the kitchen door.
Last night they’d left the front door unbolted and put the phone in their bedroom via an extension lead, but sadly no one had phoned. At the kitchen table Maria sat down in despair while eating a makeshift breakfast. Bob sat opposite, having made himself some toast. They didn’t speak much and after clearing up, they waited impatiently for the police car to pick them up. And as arranged, at ten thirty, a uniformed officer came to take them to Dexford Police Station.
They were shown to an interview room, where waiting for them was Gail and another officer, introduced as Inspector Dan Williams, the officer in charge of the case. He was a tall and wiry man, in his forties, with curly black hair, wearing a checked sports jacket with elbow patches. He shook hands with them, a pleasant gaze on his face.
They sat opposite the two police officers, full of foreboding. Bob hoped everything would go off as it should and that Maria’s nerves would hold up to the strain they’d be put under.
Dan Williams began, ‘Right, Mr and Mrs Shepherd, the purpose of this meeting is to discuss what we intend to broadcast to the media about your son’s disappearance. Then after that we’ll talk about the press conference itself that will take place tomorrow.
‘First, I’d like you to read through the press release, which we will also distribute to railway stations and shops etc., in the area.’ The A4 sheet of paper he put before them contained a photograph of Tim and read –