by M A Comley
“Nothing at all, Inspector,” Thomas replied, speaking on behalf of his parents.
“I see.” Sally felt like she was treading water. “When your brother went missing all those years ago, were there any calls from anyone? Maybe someone who had abducted him, asking for a ransom of sorts?”
“Nothing at all. Jeff simply disappeared while out playing one day,” Thomas explained. He walked away from his parents and sat on the edge of the nearest easy chair. He ran a hand through his short grey hair. “We all used to play outside in those days. Never thought of the danger we were putting ourselves into back then. He went out one day and never returned. We set up several search parties in the neighbourhood but without success. This went on for months.”
“It must have been dreadful, not knowing.”
He nodded. “It was. It’s the not knowing that torments your waking days. Mum has been living in shock for years. I’m not surprised she passed out when you turned up. I think the Norfolk police gave up on us decades ago.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way. Maybe we can put things right, if you’ll let us?”
“Let you? You want to start raking through the dirt again? Put my mother and father through hell? Give them false hopes to latch on to? Don’t you think that would be a form of torture for them?”
“I know things will probably be tough to begin with. Maybe you and your brothers would be willing to help us with our enquiries rather than cause any further upset to your parents. ”
“We’re all still upset about this, Inspector. Not just Mum and Dad, although it is ten times worse for them obviously.”
“I appreciate that. I truly do. Just give me a few weeks to find the answers.”
Thomas glanced over at his parents. The colour had drained not only from his mother’s face but also from his father’s as well. “You can see my parents’ reaction to your visit, Inspector. I’m not sure either of them could go through a lot of useless questions that lead to nowhere.”
“Just a few questions, and then we’ll leave you alone. How’s that?” Sally persisted. It was getting harder not to mention the real reason they were there.
The three of them conferred then reluctantly agreed.
“Go on. Only a few questions, though. Make them count, Inspector,” Thomas said reluctantly.
“Thank you. I will. If you can cast your mind back to the time Jeff disappeared, can you tell me anything about your neighbours that didn’t sit right with you at the time?”
Thomas looked at his parents. They both seemed perplexed and deep in thought. His father was the first to answer.
He bashed his head with the palm of his hand. “Damn mind. I can’t think properly.”
“Don’t get yourself worked up about this, Dad. Take a breath and let it go for now. What about you, Mum?”
Janet Ryland shook her head. “I can’t say I remember anything that was suspicious back then. Wouldn’t the police have questioned the neighbours?”
“Probably. What about you, Thomas? Did you hear any gossip at school, perhaps?”
He fell silent, thinking, and then sighed heavily. “Nothing that is coming to mind. We had a few rowdy neighbours playing loud music and a couple of gangs that started up, but nothing major as far as I can remember. Are you referring to anything in particular?”
Sally swallowed. “What about the name May Childs?” She could feel the intensity of Jack’s gaze on her back.
“Well, that’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Do you remember May, William?” Janet asked her husband.
His brow furrowed. “The name rings a bell. I can’t for the life of me remember where I know it from. ”
“She was our next-door neighbour, wasn’t she, Mum? A petite lady, if I recall.”
“She was indeed, lad. We always used to get on well. Why do you mention her name, Inspector?”
Sally clasped her hands together in front of her and twisted her engagement ring. She decided if she didn’t confide in the family now, then she would lose their trust.
“Why the hesitation? What are you so reluctant to tell us?” Thomas asked, rising to his feet and taking a few steps towards the sofa to be near his mother.
“Maybe you remember her erecting a shed in her back garden?” Sally asked rather clumsily.
Janet nodded slowly. “I do, as it happens. It took her years to save up for it. She paid a local man up the road to lay the concrete base and erect it for her. We could see the top of it over our fence.”
“That’s right, love. It annoyed the hell out of me for weeks—no, months —until I put a climbing rose against the fence.”
Janet placed a loving hand on her husband’s cheek. “How could you forget that, right, love? It became our rose. Every time I was feeling down about Jeff, William used to cut a single rose from the climber and place it in a vase on the table for me. He’s such a romantic at heart.”
“That’s nice. Do you recall the builder’s name?”
“It was Bill Drake. He died a few years later, I believe,” Janet said.
“That’s a shame. Did you know that May died a while back too?”
Janet gasped. “No, I had no idea. How? Natural causes? Because she wasn’t that old really.”
“Yes, the lady living at your old house found her lying in her bed in two thousand and three.” For some reason, Sally connected her gaze with Thomas’s.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at her, and she felt uncomfortable.
“How dreadful. She was such a kind lady to us at the time Jeff went missing. Couldn’t do enough for us really. She used to help me out weekly with a spot of housework because she could see I wasn’t coping very well. Not sure how I would have managed if she hadn’t been on hand. You can imagine what it was like living in a household full of men, can’t you?”
Sally smiled. “I can. I fear men are no different today as they were back then, Mrs. Ryland. ”
Thomas paced the floor. Sally feared what was about to take place next.
“Enough! Enough of this. Why? Why come here and ask about the neighbours? What’s going on, Inspector? I’m warning you—if you don’t give me an adequate answer, then I will take it up with your superior. Tell us!”
Sally puffed out her cheeks and took a step backwards, towards her partner, drawing the energy she needed to carry on. “Right, okay, I feel as though you’ve pushed me into a corner here. I have some news, but I need you to listen to me very carefully and not jump to any conclusions just yet.”
“Get on with it, for God’s sake,” Thomas insisted, the skin around his eyes developing a sudden angry twitch.
Sally faced Jack. When he shrugged, she turned back to the Rylands. “We received a call from the new owners of May Child’s old house yesterday morning. They had decided to pull down the shed and smashed up the old concrete base, only to find…bones.”
“What?” Thomas asked, incredulity spreading across his stern face.
“What does she mean, Thomas?” Janet asked, gripping her husband’s hand tightly.
“I’m waiting to hear the punchline myself, Mum. Go on, Inspector. What are you telling us without uttering the actual words?”
“The pathologist and his team went to the premises, and after careful digging, they revealed the remains of a body. At this point, we have not yet identified that body.”
Janet screamed, scaring everyone in the room. Her husband got to his feet and pummelled his head against the wall until Thomas intervened. He hugged his father to his chest.
Sally rushed over to the sofa to comfort Janet. She placed a hand over the woman’s. “Please, we have to be cautious not to think the obvious. The only reason we have come here today is to tell you in person that the remains had been found rather than you hear it in a news bulletin. We don’t know that they belong to your son.”
“When will you know?” Thomas asked.
“It could be days, or it could take weeks to complete a reconstruction of the skull. Please, you have to bear wi
th us on this.”
“Surely you know more than you’re letting on. Isn’t it obvious that this is Jeff? ”
“The last thing we want to do is jump to any conclusions without any evidence to back up such claims.” She sighed and squeezed the sobbing woman’s hand. “All I can tell you is the pathologist is pretty certain the bones belong to a child between the ages of eleven and thirteen.”
Janet withdrew her hand from Sally’s and covered her face as the wailing struck up again. “Jeff…it’s my Jeff. I know it is,” she cried out in between the sobs.
Thomas guided his father to the chair and crouched on the floor in between his parents. “Mum, Dad, hear me out. We have to listen to what the inspector says and take this news with a pinch of salt until they’ve formally identified the body. There’s no point in you both upsetting yourselves like this.”
Janet shook her head in disbelief. “No point! How can you say that, Thomas? You don’t know what it’s been like all these years. To lie awake at night, envisioning all sorts happening to my child. I know this is him. It has to be him. After all these years of not knowing where he was, and all the time, he was a mere few feet away from us. I should have known that. In my heart, I should have known he was within spitting distance of us. Why did we move from there? He was there all that time, and we deserted him…” Fresh tears emerged, and her voice trailed off.
“You mustn’t think like that, Mrs. Ryland. It would be best not to go down that route for your own sanity. Let’s wait to get the formal identification before we begin any self-recriminations,” Sally said, her own eyes misting up, reflecting the woman’s obvious pain.
Janet wiped the tears away and sat upright. “Thinking back, I believe the shed went up a few days after Jeff went missing. I seem to remember thinking how inconsiderate it was of May to carry out the work during the torturous time for us. When it was all over, she came round and apologised for the disturbance. She told me that the builder had a huge renovation job coming up and if he didn’t erect the shed then it would be months before he would be able to get back to complete the job, if the winter weather permitted him to do it.”
“That’s really helpful, Janet. It’ll put a timeline on things once the identification process is complete.”
Janet’s eyes glazed over. She started to speak then stopped herself. When she finally had the courage to say what was on her mind, everyone in the room stiffened a little. “You don’t suppose May had anything to do with his…disappearance, do you? ”
Sally exhaled a large breath. “It really is too soon to tell that. There are a lot of avenues for us to explore before we come to any conclusions.”
Thomas grunted. “It was either May or that builder she employed. A lot of good knowing that is going to do us—they’re both dead now!”
“That’s the problem we have dealing with cold cases. Quite often, the witnesses or the person guilty of committing the crime have died in the interim.”
Thomas’s arms flew out to the side and lowered again to slap his thighs. “That’s marvellous news. Just what we wanted to hear, Inspector.”
Sally shrugged. “I’m sorry. I thought we were being open with each other. I deal in facts, Mr. Ryland. Sometimes when these facts surface, the news isn’t always what people want to hear. Rest assured, my team and I will endeavour to probe into every aspect of the case to obtain the information we need for a conviction, if that is at all possible. If the culprit or culprits have died in the interim, then there is very little anyone can do about it.” She chewed the inside of her cheek, ashamed she had allowed Thomas to wind her up.
Thomas stared at her, scowling. Sally suddenly felt self-conscious and uncomfortable under his gaze.
Thankfully, Jack chose that instant to speak. “I think we should leave you now.”
Sally swivelled to look at him and winked. “I agree. I’ll leave you my card, along with my promise that I will keep chasing the pathologist for the results several times a day until they come through.”
“I think that’s a wise decision on your part, Inspector, to leave us now you’ve stirred up all this emotional turmoil without any actual evidence.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mr. Ryland. I was merely putting myself in your mother’s shoes. I would want to know if there was an inkling my son’s remains had been found.”
“Leave it, Thomas. The inspector is right—she was damned if she told us and damned if she didn’t. Life deals us many blows during our existence, some lower than others. I’m glad the inspector and her partner have shared what they know. Maybe now the healing process can begin at last. If it turns out to be Jeff. I’ll do my best to keep my emotions in check as much as I can until he’s been identified.”
“Thank you for understanding, Janet. One last thing before I go. I don’t suppose you have any possessions of Jeff’s lying around, have you? Such as a comb, perhaps, or some of his baby teeth for DNA purposes. Something we’ll be able to match to if the pathologist requires it.”
Janet nodded and held out a hand for Thomas to assist her to stand. “I’ll see what I can find. There are a couple of boxes of Jeff’s things in the spare room. I got rid of a lot of things during the course of the move but not everything. Well, just in case he came back.”
When Janet left the room, an awkwardness shrouded Sally. She avoided eye contact with Thomas, hoping that would prevent any further conflict between them.
“I don’t understand,” William muttered, shaking his head slightly.
Thomas sat on the chair beside his father and flung an arm around his shoulders. “What don’t you understand, Dad?”
“Is Jeff coming home to us or not?”
Thomas glanced up, and his eyes narrowed as if accusing Sally of putting his father through unnecessary anguish. “Not yet, Dad. Hopefully one day.”
“Ah, that’s good then. It’ll be nice to have the lad home after all these years. I wonder where he’s been up until now. Strange he hasn’t been to see us. You boys used to be so close when you were younger.”
“Yes, Dad. Let’s not dwell on things like that for now.”
Luckily, with the air in the room getting colder by the second, Janet returned and offered Sally a comb she had found, plus a small jar which held several of Jeff’s teeth. “Have you got a plastic bag on you, Jack?”
He withdrew one from his pocket.
“Is that all you need now?” Thomas asked impatiently.
Sally opened the bag, and Janet dropped the comb and jar inside. After securing the bag, Sally nodded. “That’s all for now. Thank you for your cooperation. Hopefully, I’ll be in touch again soon with the information you need.”
“I’ll show you out,” Thomas announced, marching towards the door .
“Thank you, dear. I’m sorry we were all so wrapped up in our grief to really appreciate what a difficult job this must have been for you to deal with.”
Sally held out her hand for Janet to shake, and the woman clenched it in both her hands and smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you down, Janet.”
“I’m sure about that, my dear. Thank you.”
When Sally and Jack left the room, Sally could hear a confused William ask his wife who the strangers were in his house. Sally felt sorry for what the family continued to have to deal with.
Thomas was at the front door, holding it open for them, his expression blank. “We’ll see you again soon. No doubt when you have the evidence to back up your claims,” he said sharply.
“I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, Mr. Ryland. I’ve explained already why I felt the need to come and visit your parents. There really is no need for you to be angry over this issue.”
“I’m sorry my overprotectiveness towards my parents is coming across as me being angry, Inspector. I guess we all have our crosses to bear in this life.”
“We do, indeed. My partner and I will visit your parents once the ID has been made. We’ll also need to interview the whole family when we return, too. Will y
ou ensure your brothers understand that we’ll be contacting them?”
“I will. Although I’m not really sure we’ll be able to tell you anything that will help you solve the case, if it turns out to be Jeff.”
“Any information we can pick up will help, even if this happened decades ago.” Sally walked past him, and Jack followed. “We’ll be in touch soon. Sorry to drag you away from your work.”
“It was my choice. Goodbye, Inspector.” He closed the door.
They were settled back in the car before either of them spoke.
“Well, that went well,” Jack said.
“You think I was wrong telling them, don’t you? Go on, be honest, Jack. I have broad shoulders, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Don’t get antsy with me. I said right from the word go that I thought it would be wrong telling them.”
“What else was I supposed to do? Thomas twigged virtually straight away once I started asking questions about the neighbours.”
“Yeah!”
“What’s that tone supposed to mean?” she asked, turning the key in the ignition and pulling away from the house .
“Why was he so shitty? His attitude stank to me.”
“He apologised for being overprotective. I’m willing to put his manner down to that.”
“You’re too fond of thinking the best of people. I’m on the line with him.”
Sally stopped the car at a red light and faced him. “Are you saying you think he had something to do with his brother’s disappearance, or death, if that’s what comes to light?”
Jack kept his attention focussed on the road ahead and shrugged. “I’m just saying his attitude sucked back there, as if he was shielding something from us.” He pointed at the road.
The lights had changed, and she pressed her foot on the accelerator. “I think you’re reading too much into it, matey. He was abrupt, granted. How do you think you would react if two coppers turned up on your doorstep thirty-odd years later, like we did?”
“Okay, you’ve got me there. All I’m saying is we shouldn’t discount him from our enquiries.”
“Noted. But for the record, I think you’re pissing in the wind on this one.”