Lost Innocence

by M A Comley

  “I can do that, if that’s the route you want me to take, boss. Do you want me to ask where they think the girls went missing?”

  “That would be great, Jordan. It would be excellent if we can build some kind of map as to the area he was using. You never know, it might lead us eventually to where the other girls are buried or at least to the place where he was holding them. According to the file, Forensics went over his house and found no evidence at all that the girls were either held or killed there. ”

  “Leave it with me, boss. I’ll keep you informed on how things are progressing.”

  Sally squeezed his shoulder as she passed his chair. “Good man. Right, Jack, I think we should set off to try and find the Ryland brothers. Why don’t we start with Shaun Ryland first?”

  “Okay, he’s an accountant, I believe. I’ve got his work address here if you want to visit him there.”

  “Makes sense to me. Bring all the addresses you’ve gathered with you. We’ll hit all the brothers this morning.” She glanced up at the clock. It was already approaching eleven o’clock. “Damn, it’s later than I thought. Correct that, this morning and the early part of the afternoon.”

  Chapter 8

  The accountancy firm was larger than Sally had anticipated. Shaun Ryland was listed as a partner in the firm. Gesturing at the words etched on the window, she said, “He seems to have done well in the world, just like his other brother, Thomas.”

  “Yeah, looks that way. Strange that Warren didn’t go down the same financial route as his brothers. He opted to become a car mechanic instead.”

  Sally chuckled. “Maybe there weren’t enough brains to go around. Stupid observation. Ignore that.”

  “Take it as read,” Jack grumbled, rolling his eyes to the sky.

  Sally grinned and entered the building. A friendly brunette was sitting at a desk, but she stood up and approached the counter separating her from the public. “Hello there. Can I help you?”

  Sally held up her warrant card and introduced them. “DI Sally Parker and DS Jack Blackman. We’d like a word with Shaun Ryland if it’s possible?”

  “Ah, I see. I’m afraid he’s in a meeting with a client for the next thirty minutes or so. It’s with a huge client of ours, so I can’t interrupt him, either. Sorry.”

  “That’s a shame. We’ll go and grab something to eat and return in half an hour then. If you can let him know to expect us once he’s finished his meeting?”

  “Of course. May I ask what it’s in connection with? He’s bound to ask.”

  “I’d rather not say. It’s a personal matter, for him anyway.”

  She nodded and returned to her seat. “See you in a while then.”

  Sally and Jack left the office and turned right to go down the high street. “I spotted a small café when I drove past. I’ll shout you some lunch.”

  “That’s generous of you.”

  “Within reason. Nothing fancy, if they do it. ”

  “As if I would,” Jack replied, a large grin stretching his lips to the limit.

  The menu was extensive for a small place, though it comprised of mostly sandwiches and paninis. Sally decided on an egg mayonnaise sandwich while Jack opted for a bacon panini. They ordered a couple of large lattes to accompany their lunches.

  While they waited for their lunch to arrive, Sally took out her notebook and wrote down some questions she wanted to ask Shaun when they finally got to meet him. “Anything in particular you can think of to ask him, Jack?”

  “Not off the top of my head. Let’s hope he’s not as feisty as Thomas.”

  “I’m hoping that was a one-off for him. He was probably concerned about his parents’ well-being after receiving the devastating news.”

  “That’s just it—we haven’t had the news confirmed yet.”

  “I know. There’s still a possibility that it was Jeff we were referring to, though. I can’t imagine what that must be like to deal with. Let’s hope he’s more accepting of us when we show up at the bank to see him later.”

  A petite waitress appeared and placed their lunch on the table, along with their drinks. “There you go. I hope you enjoy it.”

  Sally smiled up at the woman. “Thank you, I’m sure we will.”

  “Er…do you have any ketchup?” Jack asked.

  “Of course. I’ll be right back.” She swept away and, true to her word, came back a few seconds later with a Heinz ketchup bottle.

  “Thanks. Can’t have a bacon sarnie without ketchup,” Jack said, accepting the bottle and squeezing a vast amount on his panini.

  The waitress sniggered and returned to the serving hatch to pick up the next order.

  “Good God, man, you’re so uncouth. How much ketchup? I’ll be surprised if you can taste the bacon at that rate.”

  Jack pulled a face at her. “Good job it’s my lunch and not yours then. Enjoy your egg mayo.”

  Sally placed half a sandwich to her lips. “I will, thanks,” she said then took a small bite. The sandwich was filled to capacity, and as she bit into it, the mayonnaise oozed out the side of her mouth. She quickly wiped the excess on a serviette. When she looked up to see if Jack had noticed, a blob of ketchup slipped from his panini and landed on his navy-blue tie as he bit into it .

  “Damn and blast. I haven’t got a spare tie with me.”

  She sniggered. “I’m sure it’ll clean up. It’s dark enough. Take more care with the rest of it. I told you that you’d put too much ketchup on.”

  “It must get tedious being right all the time, boss.”

  She shrugged. “Not really.”

  They finished their lunch without further mishaps, paid the bill and strolled back to the accountancy firm. A well-dressed man walked out of the building and hopped into a shiny Daimler.

  “Nice car. Must have cost a packet,” Jack noted. His gaze stuck with the car as it smoothly reversed out of the slot and purred away.

  “Wouldn’t be my choice of car if I had the dosh.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “Get you! I’ll take what’s on offer and be grateful for it.”

  “Each to their own, eh? If we all liked the same vehicles, a lot of the manufacturers would go out of business. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

  A tall man wearing a pin-stripe suit, with slicked-back black hair that was going grey at the sides, was talking to the receptionist when they walked in.

  The receptionist pointed in their direction. “Here they are now, Mr. Ryland.”

  Sally smiled at the gentleman, who eyed them warily. “You wanted to see me?”

  “If you have the time, sir? We met your mother, father and brother yesterday. Perhaps they informed you of our visit.”

  Shaun Ryland looked sideways at the receptionist then back at Sally. “Ah, yes. Thomas rang me last night. Why don’t we go through to my office? My next appointment isn’t for another half an hour, but I’d like to squeeze lunch in between, if that’s possible?”

  “Of course. We shouldn’t take up too much of your time, sir.”

  “Linzi, can you pop and get me a ham and cheese panini when you have a second?”

  “Of course. I’ll drop the latch on the door now and fetch it for you.”

  Shaun nodded his appreciation and placed ten pounds on the counter. Then he marched down the hallway, Sally and Jack close on his heels. The office was medium in size, and the large cherrywood desk dominated the room. The rest of the furniture consisted of matching filing cabinets and several bookshelves. Sally could tell immediately what type of clients used the accountancy firm—no Joe Blogs, that was for sure.

  “Take a seat. How can I help?”

  Sally and Jack sat opposite Shaun. She extracted her notebook. “We just wanted to see if you could remember around the time your brother went missing.”

  “Of course I can remember. The pain and anguish we all suffered at the time is etched into my mind and haunts my every waking moment. Thomas told me that you think you’ve discovered Jeff’s bod
y.”

  “I didn’t actually say that. It’s yet to be confirmed by the pathologist. A body was found at your ex-neighbour’s house, buried in the back garden under the shed.”

  “So Thomas said. Surely, it must be Jeff, right? Unless some other kid went missing around that time. Is that likely, Inspector?”

  “I’d rather keep things as they are for now, Mr. Ryland. I’d hate to suggest it was your brother and be proved wrong farther down the line. That could cause untold damage to you and your parents, and I’m just not prepared to do that to you all.”

  “I can understand you being cautious in that respect. How can I help then?”

  “We need to ascertain your brother’s final whereabouts or actions. Can you help us with that at all?”

  “Not really. I was a few years older than Jeff. You know what it’s like—the last thing you want is your younger brother hanging around with you when you’re out with your friends. Of course, now that I’m older and have had time to reflect on that line of thinking, I wish I had taken more interest in what Jeff got up to back then. Maybe if I had, he’d still be with us today. There’s not a day goes by that guilt doesn’t prod a finger at my chest.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Often in cases of child abduction, it comes to light that it’s extremely difficult for the family not to have recriminations. Even though there was little that could have been done at the time.”

  “That’s exactly right. None of us could have done anything. Jeff was a likeable lad. He had a lot of friends and was popular. We never got the impression that he needed his big brothers watching out for him. Like I have said already, the guilt is a bitter pill to swallow. ”

  “I can understand that. If you can cast your mind back to around the time he went missing, did you ever notice anything out of the ordinary? Someone hanging around? A stranger, perhaps?”

  He placed his forefingers on either side of his head and fell silent for a few seconds. “No, I can’t think of anything or anyone that fits the bill. We used to be a close-knit community as far as I can remember. The parents always watched out for all the kids on the street, not just their own. That’s why it was such a shock when Jeff went missing because no one ever saw anything that caused them an ounce of suspicion.”

  “That is strange. Can you remember what your neighbour was like?”

  “My neighbour? May Childs, you mean?”

  “Yes. The remains of the victim were found in her garden. Someone must have put them there.”

  “What? And you think May has had something to do with this?”

  Sally shrugged. “It’s a line of enquiry we need to go down to search for possible answers.”

  “All I remember about May was that she was small in stature and always kind to the children, in spite of having none of her own. She wasn’t married as far as I can recall. Most of the people in our neighbourhood were married. She stood out on that count, but I wouldn’t say it made her an outcast in the slightest.”

  “That’s good to know. Did she ever invite kids to the house?”

  His face screwed up. “Entice them in with the intention of killing them off? Is that what you’re implying?”

  “It’s something we’d be careless not to consider, given the circumstances.”

  He shook his head in horror. “I can’t recollect ever getting a bad feeling about the woman when I was in her presence. Mum used to be really close to her back then. Surely, if Mum had picked up any bad vibes, she wouldn’t have had anything to do with her.”

  “It’s not unheard of for people who abduct children to wear a mask for the general public.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Never. I just can’t believe it would be true of her. I’m not saying I’ve come across people of that ilk before, but bloody hell, never in a million years would I have suggested she’d be involved in something so sordid. ”

  “I’ll note it down. We’re going to have to canvass the neighbourhood again. I know years have passed, but there might be the odd neighbour living there still.”

  “I’m sure they’ll say the same thing. Have you checked your records to see if there were any paedophiles living in the area at the time?”

  “We’re doing that now. The trouble is, people who abused children weren’t labelled as such back then.”

  “I see. There must have been some form of records for perverts documented, though, right?”

  “Of course. We’re searching now but not having much luck, I’m afraid.”

  “In what respect, Inspector?”

  “That nothing is highlighted in that area around the time you lived there. If there were any records of that nature, something would have shown up by now.”

  “I appreciate how hard a task this is for you to reinvestigate the case after thirty-three years. Please stick with it. Even if the body turns out not to be Jeff, it belonged to someone, and of course, Jeff is still missing after all these years.”

  “Our job is never easy, Mr. Ryland. The more information we can gather, the more likely we are to succeed in finding out what truly happened to Jeff. What are the odds on your brother running away from home?”

  He shook his head vehemently. “It just wasn’t in him to do that. Jeff loved his family. We were a happy family during our childhood. Mum and Dad rarely had to discipline us at all. We were brought up to recognise right from wrong. Which is why I don’t think Jeff would ever run off. Even if he did, he wouldn’t have lasted for long. He was totally reliant on what Mum did for him. She cossetted him because he was the baby of the family. She did it in turn with each of us as we were born.”

  “Usual displays of affections in public and behind closed doors?”

  “All the time. She loved us all equally—still does—but she always doted on the youngest child, whoever that was at the time. Jeff had more than his fair share of affection because he remained the youngest. By that I mean that she didn’t have any more kids after him.”

  “That much I gathered. Which is why it probably hit your mother so hard. Was it her idea to move or your father’s? ”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure. They announced it jointly once the decision had been made to leave. As a family, we never questioned our parents’ decisions. Our childhood, after Jeff went missing, dissolved pretty damn quickly, I can tell you. Dad insisted that we all knuckle down to work at school and when we went on to college. People didn’t tend to go to university in those days. Warren was the only one who didn’t knuckle down. He was the closest in age to Jeff, and I suppose the most sentimental out of all of us. There are days now when he drifts off if you’re holding a conversation with him.”

  “That’s a shame. In our experiences, people deal with grief in different ways. He possibly found it tougher, being only a few years older than Jeff.”

  “He did. He definitely went into his shell, and he’s kind of remained there ever since, if you ask me.”

  “Really? Even after all these years, he’s never managed to get past Jeff disappearing like that?”

  “Never. He’s the only one of us who has never married or had a regular girlfriend he could settle down with. We’ve always put it down to guilt. Such a sensitive lad. He has a heart of gold, will do anything for you. Thomas and I aren’t really handy and don’t have a clue about DIY around the house. Warren will drop by and have the problem sorted within hours. He’s very handy in that respect, but he gave up on his studies the day Jeff went missing. None of us realised how close he was to Jeff, not until he’d gone. Obviously, we all missed him terribly. It was just that whatever we felt as a family, Warren seemed to take all the grief on himself and failed to shake it off when the rest of us decided not to dwell on matters that were out of our control. If that makes sense?”

  “It does. We’ll be sure to remember that when we question him. We’ll go easy. Don’t worry.”

  “Thank you. I think that would be advisable, Inspector. Was there anything else you needed to know as time is getting on now?”

/>   “One last thing really before we leave you to it. Did you, as a family, ever go back to your old neighbourhood once you moved to Suffolk?”

  Sadness crossed his face. “I’ve gone back once or twice. Not had the balls to tell the rest of the family, however, in case I stirred up all the old feelings that were swirling around when Jeff disappeared.”

  “That must have been tough for you. Any reason why you went back? ”

  He inhaled a large breath. “I trawled the nearby streets, looking at folks to see if I recognised Jeff at all. I always thought he’d been abducted, you see. Hoped that he would escape his confines and run away one day.”

  “It’s good to have hope, Mr. Ryland. Not so good when nothing comes of it, I suspect. Casting your mind back to the time he went missing, did you and your family conduct a search at all?”

  “For a few weeks. Before school, after school, my brothers and I would be out there, scouring the streets and all the nooks and crannies we knew as kids. Then when Dad came home from work, we volunteered to go out with him for an hour or so. It was heartbreaking to see the old man with constant tears in his eyes. Devastating to see both our parents crumble before our eyes. All the stress proved too much for Mum to bear in the end. That’s why we moved. Now all this is starting up again, and I fear she’s not going to handle it so well.”

  Sally nodded. “I’m sorry for all the upset the family are enduring at present. Hopefully, we’ll be able to offer a definitive answer as to who the victim is soon.”

  “Fingers crossed that happens, Inspector, for all our sakes.”

  “We’ll go now. Thank you for seeing us at such short notice. It really is appreciated.”

  He walked them to the front door and shook their hands before they left.

  Sally exhaled a large breath as they returned to the car. “On to the next one.”

  “Which one? Warren or Thomas?”

  “Well, as we had the pleasure of talking to Thomas yesterday, I think we should visit Warren first. Have you got the address of where he works?”