He sat down again and shook his head. “She’ll be at work until six. She works at the electricity board office in town. I don’t want you turning up there, though,” he added quickly as an afterthought.
“No problem, I’ll contact her after we’ve both finished work. It makes no difference to me.” She smiled, trying to put him at ease. “So you returned home to find the house empty?”
“That’s right.”
“Any signs of forced entry?”
“No, nothing. You think someone broke in and abducted her?”
Ellen raised her hand. “Let’s not get carried away just yet. We need to figure out the facts first and then go from there. Did you ring Cheryl? Ask her if anything untoward happened to them while they were out on Friday?”
“Yeah, she was a bit evasive. Not sure if she was upset or keeping something from me. I didn’t want to push her. I thought I’d leave that job to someone in authority.”
Intrigue tapped her brain. “Talking of which, may I ask why you haven’t gone to the National Missing Persons Bureau and contacted us instead?”
“I have, sort of. I registered Donna’s disappearance, but they told me they couldn’t look at individual cases unless I had proof of something happening to her. Also… umm… I’ve got a police record.”
Ellen looked up from her notepad. “You have? And what is that exactly.”
Endersbe fidgeted in his seat for a second or two before clearing his throat to answer, “I did time when I was in my late teens.”
“For?” Ellen’s stomach clenched warningly, and she glanced around herself, noting an escape route.
“A GBH charge. I got put away for six months. But I’ve been as good as gold ever since, I promise. Since I met Donna, I’ve calmed down a lot. I wouldn’t jeopardise all that.” He pointed at the trophies in the cabinet. “I channel any anger that I once had into achieving my goal of being the world’s best bodybuilder.”
“I see. Looks like it’s working.”
“It is. Donna’s the proudest wife ever. I know she wouldn’t walk out on me. I know deep down that something is seriously wrong.”
“I’ll do my best to help find her. If you can give me a list of friends and relatives, I can make a start straight away. The first few hours of someone going missing are the most important. Although, if she’s been missing for over forty-eight hours already, we’re going to be up against it before we even start.”
“I’m sorry for the delay in getting in touch with you. I spent most of my weekend out searching, places we go together, you know. Honestly, you have to believe me when I say there is no reason I know of why Donna should just take off. Especially as she hasn’t taken any clothes with her.”
Experience told Ellen that sometimes, people did exactly that. She probed further. “Did your wife have any debts? Or any medical problems that you know of?”
“No, nothing. We live debt free. Only go on holidays when we’ve saved up enough money. We never use credit cards unless we can pay them off in full at the end of each month. As for her health, she’s really healthy, a bit of a health freak, like me. She often comes down to the gym with me.”
“Would you mind if I took a look at her latest credit card and bank statements? You needn’t show me if you’d rather not, but it might help me form a picture if I know some of her spending habits.” She’d had several cases where women had spent excessive amounts of money on clothes, handbags, or shoes and run up huge credit card debts. And rather than face the debts, they had just disappeared and started up new lives, often with new men.
Endersbe got up from the chair again and, this time, left the room. She heard his heavy footsteps go upstairs and move across the room above. With him out of the way, Ellen took the opportunity to nose around the living room. On the walls and the mantelpiece sat plenty of happy pictures of the couple. Looking deep into the blonde woman’s bright-green eyes, Ellen didn’t see any sign of unhappiness lingering there. She had already noted the sadness dwelling in Will’s eyes. No one could fake that. She replaced the silver-framed picture in its spot just as her client came back into the room. He was carrying a filing case. He sat in his seat again, and Ellen did the same, watching him go through the organised filing system.
After a while, he pulled out some Visa card statements and Lloyds bank statements, then handed them to her. She quickly scanned the sheets and shook her head. “Nothing out of place here that I can see. Has your wife mentioned a new work colleague at all?”
“No. They’re on a tight budget this year, not recruiting any extra staff.”
“Okay, here’s where we go from here. If you decide to hire us, we’ll visit everyone on your contact list and see what comes from that. Here’s our rates.”
He took the sheet of headed notepaper from her, and without even glancing at the list, he held out his hand for her to shake on the deal. “I don’t care what it costs, Ms. Brazil. If you think you can find my wife, you’re hired.”
They shook hands, then spent the next ten minutes going over a proposed schedule. Ellen was surprised when he insisted that she should take the address book with her and work from that. No one had ever done that before. It made her see him in a different light—she trusted him.
Ellen left the house and rang Brian at the office the minute she got back in the car.
“You had five minutes left. That was a long meeting, how did it go?”
“I’ve taken on the case. He seems genuine enough. He’s been in trouble with the police before so is unable to go down the usual route. I like him. I’m on my way back now. See you soon.”
She hung up and then took the scenic route back to the office, past the cricket ground and over the river near the cathedral. She used the time to think.
When she arrived, Brian made her a coffee. Then, using the address book Will had given her, they compiled a list of people to interview. Cheryl, Donna’s sister, would be at the top of that list at six-thirty that evening.
CHAPTER TWO
Ellen headed to the other side of town, towards Norton, to meet Donna’s sister. The house was tucked away down a country lane and sat alongside three other houses surrounded by green fields. In the darkness, Ellen could just make out the shapes and odd patches of white belonging to the dozens of resident cows.
Cheryl was waiting on the doorstep when Ellen got out of the car.
“It’s a bit fresh this evening,” Ellen said, trying to put the woman at ease.
Cheryl smiled slightly, welcomed her into the warm house, and led her into the kitchen. “Mind if I get on with preparing dinner? Hubby is like a bear with a sore head if he doesn’t get fed on time.”
“Carry on.”
Ellen sat down at the kitchen table and watched Cheryl peel, chop, and dice the vegetables that would accompany the lamb chops she had already placed in the oven.
“First of all, I’m truly sorry about your sister’s disappearance. I want to assure you that my partner and I will do everything in our power to get her back. If she wants to come home, that is.”
Cheryl stopped chopping the carrot and turned sharply. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She swept her blonde fringe out of her eyes with the back of her hand.
“In my experience, some people choose not to return to the lives they had and wish to remain distant from their families.”
“Not Donna.” Cheryl’s response was emphatic. “She loves us. We’re all very close. She wouldn’t choose to stay away from us.”
“I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to alarm you. What can you tell me about your last meeting with Donna? I believe you were the last person to see her before she went missing. Is that right?”
“It’s okay. I realise you have to keep an open mind about people, but Donna isn’t like other people you deal with.”
There wasn’t really a defined model of person who went missing, not in Ellen’s book.
“I have to correct your assumption there. We deal with all sorts of people. You’d be
amazed about some of the reasons people just decide to take off. Can you tell me about that night?” Her last words were said in a gentle tone. She really didn’t want to cause the woman anymore anguish than she was already going through.
“We went to Gypsy’s nightclub, like we usually do on Fridays. Everything was fine until halfway through the evening.”
“Oh, what happened?”
“Donna kept shivering. I mean visibly trembling I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Gypsy’s, but that place gets hot really quickly. So to see my sister shuddering like that was kind of unnerving. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she felt like someone had just walked over… her grave.” Cheryl stumbled over her final words and wiped away a stray tear.
“Did she go into detail why she felt like that?”
“No. Although, I took a quick look around and saw this weird bloke watching us. I asked if she knew him, and Donna just shrugged. Then she dragged me out onto the dance floor. I didn’t think anything more about it after that.”
“Did you get a good look at this guy? Could you pick him out in a line-up, perhaps?”
“He was in a darkened alcove and sank back into it when I looked his way. Having thought about nothing else over the past two days, I think Donna knew this man. How or from where, I have no idea. I wish I had.”
“Can you give me any clues at all to go on, his height, build, the colour of his hair, anything?”
“All I can tell you is that he was stocky.”
“Bulky like your brother-in-law?”
“Come to think of it, yes. But it wasn’t Will. I know it wasn’t.”
“I’m not saying it was. He was in America anyway, wasn’t he?”
Cheryl tutted, annoyed with herself. “Yes, of course he was. My mind is all over the place at the moment. I’m scared about what Donna is going through.”
“No need to apologise. I completely understand. So are you sure this guy wasn’t outside when you left? Hanging around on a corner or something?”
“If he was, I didn’t see him.” She went quiet for a second or two. “But by then, we were a little worse for wear.”
Ellen nodded her understanding. “How did you get home that evening?”
“We got a taxi from the rank up the road from the club. The driver dropped me off first, and then—oh my God!”
“What? Have you remembered something?”
“The taxi driver. I should never have let Donna go home alone like that.”
“The taxi driver? I’m not following you.” Ellen frowned and stopped taking notes.
“What if he abducted her? Saw that she was drunk and took advantage of her?” Cheryl went out into the hallway. She returned with a business card in her hand.
Ellen took the card from her. “I’ll make this my next call. I’m sure the taxi driver will come back clean, but I’ll check him out all the same.”
The local press had reported a recent spate of women accusing taxi drivers of touching them up. So Ellen was keen to get to the taxi firm’s office to ask some questions. First, she needed to wind things up here with Cheryl. “Anything else you can think of? Anything strange occurred in the past few months that could trigger Donna wanting to get away? Was she stressed about anything? Work or the fact that Will goes away?”
“No. We told each other everything. If she was in the slightest bit of trouble or worried about anything, she would have mentioned it.”
Hmm… and yet Donna never mentioned to you about the bloke causing her to shudder! “Damn, I forgot to ask Will what type of job he did.”
“He’s a long-distance lorry driver.”
“With a local firm?”
“Yes, Scott’s Haulage. Quite a small business. They’re just starting out.”
“Has he always been a lorry driver?”
“That’s right. He used to work for an export firm before that. I can’t remember the name offhand—oh, wait a minute—Locke’s Exports I believe it was.”
“That’s really helpful, Cheryl. I’ve got enough information here to be getting on with for a few days. Try not to worry too much. I’ll do what I can to track your sister down.”
“Thank you. I know Will is employing you, but do you think you could keep me informed with what you find out also? I’m worried sick about her.”
“Sure.” Ellen packed her pad and pen into her bag and stood up. “If you think of anything else, anything at all, ring me day or night. Okay?”
At the front door, Ellen gave Cheryl a business card and waved farewell.
Tiredness was quickly creeping up on her, but she had one more place to visit before heading home. Rain had started to spatter the windscreen, and when she turned on the wipers, they had a strange hypnotic effect on her as she drove through the narrow lanes on the way back into town. Her concentration snapped back into focus when the car nearly ended up in a hedge. “Hey, concentrate, you,” she reprimanded herself. She had reached the edge of town and wasn’t far from the taxi firm.
Entering Taxi4Hire’s office, Ellen had to fight through the blanket of smoke saturating the tiny room to get to the rotund man sitting behind the desk.
“Where do you want to go to, love?”
“Sorry, I’m not here for a cab. I wondered if I could speak to one of your drivers, if that’s possible?”
“Which one? Copper, are you?” He stopped slouching and sat up straight.
“No, I’m not the police. I run a missing persons hotline. One of your drivers dropped a lady off last Friday, and she hasn’t been seen since.”
The rotund man was quick to respond. “What are you suggesting? That my guy had something to do with her disappearance?”
Ellen stayed quiet intentionally for a moment or two, then shook her head. “I’m not saying that in the least, but I need to talk to him, all the same. If you’re not willing to help, I have a contact in the force who’d be interested in what I found out.”
“I don’t want any trouble, lady. We run a clean firm. Any dodgy goings on, and the guys know I wouldn’t hesitate in giving them the boot. Who are you after?”
Ellen gave him the time and location of the pick-up and drop-offs and waited patiently as he searched through the Friday-night dockets that had been filed away in a shoebox.
“Ah, here it is. Car Nine picked the ladies up. Hold on a minute. He’s on duty now. Base to Car Nine?”
The radio crackled, and static, along with a man’s voice, filled the room. “Car Nine here. What’s up, Den?”
“After your next fare, call into the office, will you? There’s someone here to see you.”
“Just dropping off now. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Who is it?”
“You’ll find out when you get here. Make it snappy, mate.”
“Will do.” The man’s voice sounded unsure come the end.
Ellen sat down in one of the plastic chairs and glanced up at the TV on the wall. Bloody soaps! What the heck anybody sees in them is beyond me. She reached for the evening paper from the small table and was engrossed in the headline story about objections to a new housing estate on the outskirts of Worcester when a bearded man came marching through the front door. She noticed the troubled look that travelled between the two men and stood up. The man on control introduced her to the driver. “This is Stan, the driver you were after.”
“Nice to meet you, Stan. I’m Ellen Brazil from the Worcester Missing Persons Hotline.”
The man frowned, then threw himself into the chair Ellen had just vacated. “What can I do for you?”
“Last Friday, you picked up a couple of ladies around one in the morning. I suppose you’d class that as Saturday, to be fair. One lived out at Norton. The other—”
“Over at St. John’s. That’s right. What about it?” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket and looked at her through narrowed eyes.
“One of the women went missing that night.” Ellen didn’t say anymore, just tested the water to see what his reaction would be.
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“And?”
“And I wondered if you could throw any light on the woman’s disappearance.”
The man leapt out of his seat and rushed toward her. “What the fuck are you accusing me of, lady?”
“Take it easy, big man,” Den warned the driver.
“All I’m asking is whether you saw anything suspicious? Anyone hanging around when you dropped the last woman off at home?”
“No. I wasn’t looking for anyone, though. She was bloody drunk. I don’t suppose the other girl told you that, did she?” His lip curled into a snarl.
“Yes, I’m aware of that. Did you see the woman go in her house?”
“What am I, a bloody babysitter now? It’s not in my contract, lady, to make sure anyone gets home safely. Especially if they’re drunk.”
“I know it isn’t. Please, I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m simply building a picture of what happened that night. Why are you being so aggressive?”
“Why? You have the gall to ask me why. I know when I’m being interrogated.” His voice trailed off.
Ellen proceeded with caution. “I wasn’t aware I was interrogating you, Stan. I’m merely asking you a few questions.”
His head hung down in shame, and he admitted, “Well, the coppers came ’round, questioning all of us drivers after those attacks on them women a couple of months back. I guess I overreacted.”
“That’s okay. I’m just doing my job. Donna has been missing since that night, and as you’re probably aware, the longer someone is missing, the less hope there is of bringing that person home safe and well.”
“Yeah, I know the statistics, but, lady, you have to believe me when I say I dropped her off and then drove away.”
“Did you happen to see any other vehicle in the road? I went to the address. It’s fairly quiet around there. I’m sure you would have noticed another vehicle pull up the same time as you did.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t,” he said without hesitation. “I wish I had. Why do these girls get so paralytic? Why? Maybe, thinking about it, maybe I should have seen her to the door. The trouble is at that time of morning, the jobs are stacking up. Aren’t they, Den?” He glanced at the other man for corroboration.
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