by Sam Short
“You’ll report it today?” said Millie.
Tom reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone. “Right this moment,” he promised. “You can wait with me until somebody arrives, if you like.”
Judith greeted Millie at the front desk of the police station, a stack of paperwork in front of her, and two mugs of coffee alongside her phone. “On time as always,” she said with a grin. She glanced at her phone. “Actually, it’s two minutes to eleven. You’re early.” She pushed one of the mugs towards Millie. “I was so sure you wouldn’t be late, I made you a coffee knowing it wouldn’t go cold.”
Millie grabbed her mug and blew steam from the hot liquid. “I almost was late,” she confessed. “But that’s what happens when you discover the bones of a dinosaur previously unknown to the scientific community.”
Puzzlement etched on her face, Judith stared at Millie. “What? You’ve done what, now?”
Millie laughed. “Tom Temples found it,” she confessed. “While he was looking for gold coins on the beach, but I was there when the guy from the museum turned up. He was very excited! He says he’s never seen anything like it. It’s an unknown species, he reckons. A predator of some description, he thinks. He measured the skull and believes that if the whole skeleton is present, it could be the length of a bus!”
“How exciting!” said Judith.
Millie grinned. “That’s exactly what I said. Tom wasn’t as excited as me, though. He wanted to finish searching the area for gold, but he’s got no chance of doing that now. He had to leave so he could take his car to the garage to have some work done, and the man from the museum has already begun some sort of legal procedure to get the area sealed off so they can begin digging. He told us we had to vacate the area immediately. Nobody’s allowed anywhere near the site.”
“And there was me thinking my morning was exciting because I managed to fry two eggs without any oil spitting out of the pan and burning my arm,” said Judith.
“And very nice eggs they were, too,” said Sergeant Spencer, appearing in the office doorway behind Judith. “My daughter keeps me well fed, I must admit.”
“Good morning, Sergeant,” said Millie.
Sergeant Spencer frowned, the laughter lines around his eyes forming deeper furrows. “Come on, Millie,” he said. “I’ve told you before… you don’t need to keep calling me that. Call me Dave, or David, at least.”
Millie looked away. “It feels weird,” she explained. “I called you Sergeant Spencer when I first moved to the bay, and it’s hard to break the habit, especially while you’re wearing your uniform and we’re in the police station. It feels unprofessional.”
Sergeant Spencer gave a bellowing laugh, and stared around the small area. “Unprofessional?” he said. “You don’t work for me. Everything you do to help me is from the goodness of your heart. I’m the only copper in this town, and my little police station consists of two cells, an interrogation room, my office and the front desk you’re standing at. The fact that the concealment spell keeps the rest of the police force from interfering in town business makes what I do here far from professional by normal policing standards. I think you calling me Dave is hardly going to break any more important guidelines!”
Millie smiled at the big man. “I’ll try,” she promised.
“Good!” said the sergeant, placing his hat on his head. He grabbed his fluorescent jacket from the back of a chair and glanced at his watch. “I’m sorry, girls,” he said. “I can’t help with the cold cases this morning. I’ve just received a phone call — it seems my services are required elsewhere. I’ve explained to Judith what I’d like you two to help me with, so I’m sure you won’t need my input.”
“Where are you going, Dad?” asked Judith. “Off to solve an urgent crime, or give Mrs Raymond a lift home from town with her shopping again? That woman takes advantage of you. She might be in her eighties, but she’s as sharp as a razor-blade. She only hobbles around with that stick when it suits her. I’ve seen her power-walking along the cliff top with the rest of the pensioner’s fitness club! I’ve even seen her walking through the sand dunes, and that’s hard going by anybody’s standards. Even if she did struggle to walk, she could afford a taxi home with her shopping… she’s rich, Dad.”
“And lonely,” said Sergeant Spencer. “That fitness club is the only place she goes to socialise, and that’s only a couple of times a week. I know what she’s up to, but I don’t care. I’m not just here to throw people in jail. I’m here to help, too.” He snatched his car keys from the front desk, and winked at Judith. “Anyway, it’s neither of those two things, clever-clogs. Mrs Raymond hasn’t asked for my help all week. Somebody has discovered some sort of dinosaur skeleton on the beach, and I’ve got to waste my time setting up a cordon to keep people away. I’ve got far better things to be doing with my time. Bloody fossil hunters. What sort of boring person gets off on digging up long-dead animals? A sad sort of person — that’s who!”
Millie cleared her throat and hid a smirk. “Actually,” she said, “it was a metal detectorist who found it, and it was me who made him report it. I’m the person responsible for wasting your time, and I happen to think that dinosaurs are incredibly interesting.”
His cheeks turning crimson, Sergeant Spencer nodded. “Yes, I suppose they are quite interesting, in their own peculiar way. Well done, Millie. You did the correct thing by making him report it to the relevant authorities.” He glanced at a sheet of paper on top of a filing cabinet next to his office door. “It wasn’t Tom Temples who found it by any chance, was it?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Millie. “It was Tom.”
Sliding a small potted plant aside, Sergeant Spencer picked up the sheet of paper, and a small white envelope next to it. He placed them on the front desk, next to Judith. “He was in here yesterday with a ring he’d found while metal detecting on the beach. I’ve been meaning to file the details and put the ring in the lost property cabinet. Could you do it for me, Judith? The ring is in the little envelope, and all the details of where he found it are written on the paper.”
“Yes,” sighed Judith. “I’ll do that, as well as working through the big stack of cold cases you want my help with. I don’t mind in the slightest. It’s not like I’m your daughter helping you out for no pay, and not a fully paid police officer.”
“Sarcasm?” said Sergeant Spencer, hurrying towards the door.
“A little,” said Judith.
“Well, it’s not like I’m your father allowing you to live in my house rent free, and not some wealthy landlord charging a fortune for the privilege of living beneath my roof,” countered Sergeant Spencer, unable to disguise the humour in his eyes.
Judith picked up the little white envelope. “Consider it done,” she said.
Sergeant Spencer exited the room, his laughter leaving with him. “Thank you,” he called. “I’ll see you two girls later! And remember to give Millie her identification card!”
“Identification card?” said Millie. “As in police identification?”
Judith smiled and slid a black leather wallet across the desk. “Your card and badge are inside,” she said. “I have one, too. As far as everybody is concerned, you’re now Detective Constable Millie Thorn. Don’t ask me how he got them done, but I do know it had something to do with Henry Pinkerton, a magic spell and a box of doughnuts. They’re totally legitimate. When you help Dad out in the future, you’ll be able to pass as a police officer.”
As the sound of the police car’s engine roared into life outside, Judith opened the little envelope and tipped the contents onto the desktop. “I’ll file this ring away for him, and then we’ll go and interview some people,” said Judith.
“We’re going interviewing people?” said Millie. “I thought we’d be stuck in here doing paperwork.”
Judith picked up the gold ring and held it to the light. “We’re interviewing the families of missing people,” she explained. “Not people who are suspected of crimes. Dad ju
st wants to find out if any more information has come to light since the people went missing.” She spun the ring between two fingers. “This has an inscription on the inside edge,” she said. “Write this down, would you, please? It’s in a foreign language. French, I presume.”
Millie plucked a pen from the chipped mug masquerading as a stationary pot. “Go on,” she said, the pen poised over the sheet of paper Sergeant Spencer had given Judith.
When Judith had finished painstakingly spelling out the words on the ring, Millie read them out loud. “Je t'aimerai pour toujours,” she said. “I can’t remember any of my French from school, but considering the ring has a heart on it, I’d say it’s a romantic phrase, whatever it means.”
Judith slipped the ring back into the envelope. “Somebody will be sad that they lost it,” she said. “Give me ten minutes to file it away safely, and we’ll go and do some interviews. Let’s see if we can shed some light on some of Dad’s missing person’s cold cases. We’ll take your lovely little car, I presume? Dad’s taken the only police car we have.” She looked away briefly, and picked at a thumbnail. “I bet your car is really nice to drive, isn’t it? I bet it’s really, really nice to drive with the roof down?”
Millie fished the car keys from her pocket and placed them in front of Judith. “Would you like to drive? It’s really nice.”
Judith smiled. “You’ve had that car for two weeks. I thought you’d never ask!”
Chapter 5
The first person on Judith’s list of interviewees still lived in the same home she’d shared with her husband when he’d gone missing almost three decades ago. The large house occupied a few acres of land, built high on one of the steep hills overlooking the town.
The narrow winding lanes which led to the property gave Judith ample opportunity to enjoy Millie’s car, and she laughed with pleasure as the wind ruffled her hair while she took the final sweeping bend and turned into the gravel driveway.
“Did you enjoy it?” said Millie, getting her own hair back under control.
Judith brought the car to a halt next to a vibrant flowerbed, and applied the handbrake. “Did I enjoy driving a nineteen-seventy-two Triumph Spitfire, painted in original damson red, with the roof down, on the very type of British road it was originally designed to navigate? Let me think…” She gave a huge smile and pumped both fists above her head. “Hell yeah, I enjoyed it!”
Still laughing, Millie climbed out of her car and headed for the house. “We’d better wipe the smiles off our faces,” she suggested. “We’ve come to speak with Mrs Danvers about her missing husband. I think we should appear more solemn.”
Judith swiped a hand over her face, her smile replaced by a frown. “How’s this?” she said.
“Very solemn,” said Millie. “I like it.”
“Can I help you?” came a voice from Millie’s left. “I heard that awful sports car from a long way away. I hope there’s a good reason for this interruption of my peace? I was enjoying a book in the back garden. One of the classics — The Wind in the Willows.”
Millie turned to see the stern face of a woman who she estimated as being in her sixties, peering around the corner of the red brick building, her makeup perfect and her silver hair cropped short. She offered Mrs Danvers an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry for the interruption,” she said. “We’ve come to talk with you about your missing husband. I believe Sergeant Spencer telephoned you and asked if it would be convenient?”
“Oh,” said Mrs Danvers, looking the two girls up and down. “You must be plain-clothes detectives?” She gave the girls another look, her lips pursed. “Very plain-clothes indeed.”
“No,” said Millie. “We’re not —”
Judith stepped past Millie. She opened the black wallet in her hand, and showed Mrs Danvers the badge inside. “Yes, Mrs Danvers. We’re detectives. Could you spare some time to speak with us, or would you like us to return at a time more convenient to yourself?”
Mrs Danvers nodded. “Yes, of course I have time. Anything to get to the bottom of what happened to poor Colin. Would you mind following me around the back of the house — to the garden? I never allow dirty shoes in my home, and I’m not sure asking you to remove them would suffice. It’s a warm day, and socks can become very sweaty. Who knows what manner of bacteria you might infest my beautiful wool Wilton with.”
“The garden is fine,” said Judith, casting a glance at her scruffy trainers. “We shouldn’t need to take up too much of your time. We need to keep our records updated, and unless you can provide us with any more information since you spoke to the police after Mister Danvers initially went missing, this is purely a formality, so please don’t get your hopes up.”
Millie followed Judith and Mrs Danvers along the pathway leading behind the house, and into the large garden, populated by mature trees growing from the well-kept lawn.
Cast iron garden furniture filled a portion of the paved patio area adjacent to a small pond, and Millie took a seat next to Judith as Mrs Danvers plucked a half-finished wine bottle from an ice-bucket on the table, and filled her empty glass. “I’d offer you some, but you’re on duty,” she stated. “Some say it’s too early in the day for alcohol, but I say as long as it’s approaching noon — it’s wine time.”
“Indeed,” said Judith, flipping open her file and removing the case paperwork pertinent to Mrs Danvers. She studied the paper for a moment, and looked up. “It says here that on the fourteenth of May, nineteen-eighty-nine, you came home from an evening with friends to discover your husband, a Colin Danvers, missing — along with a large proportion of his clothing, and the car. Is that correct, Mrs Danvers?”
Mrs Danvers sipped her wine, and gave a soft sigh. “Yes,” she said. “It was awful. Whoever kidnapped him and stole our car and his belongings, did an awfully good job. There was no sign of a struggle, and the police failed to find any forensic evidence of an intruder.”
“Kidnapped?” said Millie.
Mrs Danvers nodded. “Yes. Of course! The police didn’t agree with me — they believed Colin had simply upped and left, but that was impossible. Absolutely impossible!”
“Why?” asked Millie, allowing her mind to tease a few of Mrs Danvers’s emotions and thoughts from the violent barrage which spewed from the tormented woman’s mind. Millie filtered the thoughts quickly, and focussed on the ones which would allow her a glimpse into how the real Mrs Danvers operated.
Her heart sinking with sadness, Millie softened her expression and gave Mrs Danvers a gentle smile. “Why was it impossible?”
“Because he hadn’t finished his chores,” said Mrs Danvers. “Colin wouldn’t have left the dishes unwashed, and the clothes in the dirty laundry basket — no way! He enjoyed pleasing me, and he knew full well that not finishing chores was a sure-fire way to enrage me.” She took a long swallow of wine, and shook her head. “No. Colin didn’t just up and go! He was kidnapped — probably by a jealous man who wanted my heart for his own. But it hasn’t worked — I’ve never taken another man, and I never will. Colin needs me to be strong for him. Colin is out there somewhere, wishing he was at home with me, cooking my meals and nurturing me. I’ll wait for as long as it takes until he’s found!”
Millie tuned out of Mrs Danvers’s thoughts as another despairing salvo of emotions crossed the space between them. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying not to concentrate too hard on the dejected eyes disguised by cheery bright blue eyeshadow. “I’m sorry he was kidnapped, and I’m sorry we couldn’t find him.”
Judith shifted in her seat, and scanned the paper she was holding. “Erm, Millie,” she said, quietly. “We don’t think he was kidnapped, it says here that the police who investigated at the time believed without doubt that he had left his —”
“But now we believe he was kidnapped,” interrupted Millie. She glanced at Mrs Danvers. “I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to find him, but I’m certain that wherever he is, he knows you’re waiting for him, and that’s giving him the streng
th he needs to go on. He’d want you to be happy, though, so make sure you try to enjoy your life, Mrs Danvers.”
Her face crumpling, Mrs Danvers placed her glass on the table with a trembling hand, stood up, and stumbled towards Millie, bending at the waist and wrapping both arms around her. “Thank you,” she sobbed. “You’re the first person who’s ever understood. I’ll never forget you.”
The older woman’s tears hot against her cheek, Millie returned the hug. “Try and move on,” she said. “Colin would want it.”
Judith remained quiet for most of the short journey to the next appointment, but as Millie parked the car outside the small terraced house, she broke her silence. “What happened back there?” she said. “That was strange.”
Millie switched off the engine and closed her eyes. “Poor woman,” she said. “I tuned in to her thoughts —”
“You said you were only going to do that in extreme circumstances,” said Judith, with a frown.
“I know,” said Millie. “And I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t be doing it again in a hurry. I feel so sad. Mrs Danvers knows Colin left her, and she lives with that fact every waking minute of her life. She can’t admit it to anybody, though, and it’s breaking her — I could literally feel her despair. I could feel her emptiness — her will to live almost gone. She knew she’d treated Colin badly, and she regrets it. She’s one of those people, though — the sort who can never be wrong, and I think she’s totally lost her grip on reality.”
“But she’s living a fantasy,” said Judith. “Surely that’s not healthy?”
“It’s healthier than fully admitting to herself that she was such a terrible wife her husband left her,” said Millie. “I sensed that all she wanted was for somebody in authority to tell her what she wanted to hear. To tell her that her husband had been kidnapped, and that he had no choice in leaving her. She knew I didn’t really believe it, but the words were enough to calm her mind. It may have been wrong of me, but I don’t care — she’s punished herself for twenty years, maybe she’ll have a few easier years ahead of her. I hope she will — her mind is a very tormented place at the moment.”