by P. F. Ford
‘Has it occurred to you that their separation might not have anything to do with sex?’
‘Be serious. It’s nearly always about sex. You’ve just seen what he’s swapped his wife for. He’s obviously not there for the stimulating conversation is he? Of course it’s all about sex.’
‘Well, yeah. But what I meant was, maybe the reason he started looking elsewhere was nothing to do with sex. Perhaps they drifted apart and he was just looking for company.’
‘And he chose to look at the local sixth form college, right?’ said Darling. ‘Come on, get real, it’s all about sex, and you know it. God, if she was much younger we’d be nicking him for having sex with a minor.’
‘I’d love to continue this conversation about how shallow men are,’ said Slater, ‘because I’m intrigued to know why you’re getting so wound up about it. Maybe we’ll go down the pub one night and carry it on over a pint, but right now we’re getting off track. What did we learn from Clive Morrison? Apart from the fact he’s left his wife for a pneumatic, eighteen-year-old, would-be beauty queen.’
‘You’re right. I am going off track. I’m sorry. Let me see. We know he’s not much of a father. He sees her just once a month, although he lives less than two miles away from her, and he couldn’t be arsed to leave work early to help look for her now she’s missing. Even now, he doesn’t think it’s his place to be out looking for her. A real dad would be out walking the streets looking for her. Basically, he’s just a nob.’
‘Although it would probably be a first, I don’t think we can put “basically, he’s just a nob” in our report,’ said Slater, with a wry smile. ‘But I agree he’s not likely to be nominated for parent of the year any time soon. But, do we think he, or his girlfriend, have got anything to do with her disappearance?’
‘I can’t see it. Mr Nobhead isn’t interested in the kid, and anyway he was at work when she disappeared, and Miss Nothing-Between-The-Ears doesn’t have the intelligence to plan anything like that, and she’d be too worried about breaking a nail, or smudging her lipstick, to actually snatch a kid who might fight back.’
‘That’s amazing, and yet curiously reassuring,’ said Slater. ‘We appear to speak quite different versions of the same language, and yet we seem to have arrived at the same conclusion.’
‘What does that mean?’ asked Darling, as she turned into the police station car park.
‘It means, Darling, that we have agreed we know nothing, and we have no bloody idea where this kid might be.’
‘What now, then?’
‘Now, we write up our reports, make sure we’ve not missed anything, and then we go home and try to sleep. Then, tomorrow morning we come back at six to meet up with an expert search coordinator. At first light, the search will begin, with sniffer dogs and as many bodies as we can rustle up, and we pray we find her alive.’
‘Shouldn’t we stay all night?’ she asked. ‘It doesn’t seem right going home while she’s still missing.’
‘Should I stay or should I go?’ said Slater. ‘The words of a great song and also the words of a great dilemma. I understand what you mean, and I know it seems counter intuitive to go home, but you have to ask yourself: how well do you function on zero sleep? Is it your duty to keep going until you drop, becoming less efficient by the hour, or is it your duty to make sure you’re rested enough to be working as efficiently as possible, for as much of the time as possible?’
Darling didn’t look convinced, so Slater tried again.
‘There are already plenty of people out looking for her tonight. We need to make sure we’re ready for what tomorrow might bring.’
Darling nodded her head slowly and Slater thought perhaps he’d got through to her. He was impressed, though, by her dedication. He wasn’t sure what to make of he, but at least she was passionate.
‘I’ve never had to deal with one of these missing kid cases before,’ she said, suddenly.
Slater gently patted her shoulder.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It’s shit, isn’t it? I’m not going to say don’t let it get to you, because it will, and you can’t prevent it, unless there’s something wrong with you. Let’s just hope this will be your first, and your last.’ He opened his car door. ‘Come on, let’s get on. Maybe she’s turned up and we can all go home and sleep.’
But they both knew she hadn’t turned up. The airwaves would have been full of it if she had.
It was almost eleven by the time Darling climbed into her car to drive home. What a day, she thought, I’m going to be lucky to get five hours’ sleep. And what about Slater? What was he all about? Goodnews had promised he was good fun to work with, she hadn’t said anything about him being depressed. Hashtag: shit first day.
Chapter Four
Slater had been rather surprised that Goodnews hadn’t been around when they got back yesterday, but she had made up for it by being there when he arrived at five forty-five this morning. He found her in the incident room, taking in all the information that was posted on the white boards that had been set up yesterday.
‘I’m sorry I wasn’t here yesterday evening,’ she said.
‘I don’t think there was anything you could have done.’
‘No, I see that.’ She indicated the boards.
‘Basically we’ve drawn a complete blank,’ Slater said. ‘And, if I’m honest, I’m not optimistic about how this is going to turn out.’
‘It’s not looking good, is it? How’s Darling getting on?’
‘It’s a baptism of fire. She’s not had to deal with one of these before.’
‘Is she coping?’ Goodnews stared at the picture of Chrissy that was pinned on the whiteboard.
‘So far.’
‘She’s tough. She’ll manage.’
‘She’s pretty spiky, isn’t she?’ said Slater.
‘Aye,’ agreed Goodnews. ‘And though she be but little, she is fierce.’
‘Perhaps Shakespeare met her in a previous life,’ he said, recognising the quote.
‘You know Shakespeare?’ Goodnews raised an eyebrow at him.
‘That surprised you, didn’t it?’ Slater grinned. ‘I’m not a total philistine, you know.’
‘So there is some culture in there somewhere, just waiting to be set free,’ she said, returning his smile.
‘I suppose I just haven’t found anyone who can tap into it yet.’
She held his gaze for just a moment, and started to open her mouth, but then the doors burst opeB and the moment was gone, leaving Slater wondering what it was she had been about to say.
As Darling crashed through the doors, she appeared to be in the middle of a rather expansive yawn, which would have taken a very large hand to cover. Being a small person, with only small hands, she hadn’t bothered.
‘Good grief, Naomi,’ said Goodnews. ‘Cover that up! Someone will fall in.’
‘Sorry, boss,’ said Darling, as she hastily tried to cover her mouth, but it was a case of much too little, and much too late. She looked at Slater. ‘Any news?’
‘Nothing. I’m afraid Chrissy is still missing. Let’s just hope a search will find her safe and sound. We’ve got a search coordinator, sniffer dogs, God knows how many officers, and loads of volunteers. I’ve also arranged for uniforms to be at the school gates just in case anyone remembers anything from yesterday afternoon.’
‘Do you think there will be many kids at school today?’ asked Goodnews.
‘I dunno,’ said Slater. ‘The headmistress isn’t quite sure what to expect, but she felt the school should be open as normal, so we’ll just have to see what happens.’
‘I want you two to stay back here and be ready to move just as soon as they find anything. And remember I told you I was getting someone to work as a researcher?’
‘You mean your civilian who won’t know procedure?’ Slater rubbed his temples. This was the last thing they needed at a time like this.
Goodnews smiled.
‘Aye, that’s the one. Well, he’l
l be starting this morning.’
Slater raised his eyebrows and sighed.
‘Oh great,’ he said. ‘As if we don’t have enough on our plates, you expect us to nursemaid a new guy.’
‘You’ll be fine,’ said Goodnews.
‘Yeah, Boss, but-’ began Slater.
‘Just stop complaining, and trust me. I know what I’m doing. Right?’
Slater knew better than to argue, but he didn’t see how this could be anything but a problem looming on the horizon.
At first light, the search began. Six teams, each led by a dog and handler, began a systematic search. Stage one was going to cover the town and surrounding area as far as two miles out. A helicopter droned overhead as it set about sweeping the area from the air. Surely if she was out there somewhere, they would find her.
Darling had never been part of such an investigation before, and she was impatient as she waited for some sort of development. Then, at eight o’clock, Slater was informed the uniformed officers covering the school gates had been approached by a lone parent who thought she had some information that could help them. Darling was quickly dispatched to bring her back to the station. Maybe this was going to be the breakthrough they needed.
An hour later, they knew Chrissy had definitely been waiting at the gate. The witness knew this for a fact because her own daughter had walked down to the gate with Chrissy and said goodbye to her. This confirmed what they had already figured out, which was good to know, but in itself wasn’t particularly helpful. However, the woman was also quite sure she had seen a man hanging around the school gates, and she was pretty sure he wasn’t a parent. Darling felt a surge of excitement, but also a jolt of trepidation. It could prove to be a vital breakthrough in finding out where Chrissy Morrison was, but the implications as to what else it could mean were not lost on her.
Darling sat as their witness described the man to the artist. It felt like time was going backwards, and the minute the drawing was finished, she snatched it and rushed back to the incident room, where Slater and Goodnews were waiting.
‘Any news?’ she asked, hopefully, as she came through the doors.
Slater shook his head.
‘Zilch.’
Although Darling had never been on a case like this before, she was painfully aware that with every passing minute, the balance of probability leaned more and more towards finding a body.
‘My mum used to say no news is good news,’ she said, gloomily, as she walked towards them, ‘but then, she hadn’t seen the statistics about missing kids.’
She placed the drawing on the desk so they could all see it. Slater and Goodnews leaned over to get a better look. It was vague to say the least.
‘Jesus,’ said Slater. ‘This could be anyone you like.’
‘It’s not brilliant, is it?’ said Darling.
‘Think about it,’ said Goodnews. ‘Harassed mum, collecting her kid from school, other parents and other kids all over the place. We’re lucky she even noticed a stranger. We can hardly expect her to have photographic recall, now can we?’
She stepped away from the table and went over to the large map pinned up on the wall.
‘Yeah, but this could just as easily be me!’ said Slater, in exasperation.
‘It’s better than nothing,’ said Goodnews.
‘Yeah, I suppose you’re right,’ said Slater, ‘and it’s all we’ve got right now. Naomi, make some copies, please, and get them distributed. Get someone to make sure all the parents see it at the gates this afternoon. It might not be very accurate but it could be enough to trigger someone’s memory.’
‘Right,’ said Darling, surprised but also quietly pleased that Slater had used her Christian name for the first time. ‘I’ll do it straight away. All this hanging around is doing my head in anyway.’
‘She seems to be finding it a bit tough this morning,’ Slater said, as he joined Goodnews in front of the map.
‘It’s all the waiting around for something to happen,’ said Goodnews. ‘On top of that, we all know what we’re probably going to find, but none of us wants to say it out loud. I know how she feels. It’s doing my head in, and I’ve done it before, several times.’
‘It doesn’t get any easier, does it?’ said Slater.
‘Definitely not,’ she said. ‘If anything, it gets worse.’
There was a loud thump as someone backed into the doors. Slater looked around in alarm, just in time to see what appeared to be a large, wide body, wearing a seriously creased suit, stumbling backwards through the doors. The body was topped with wild, crazy hair. As the man cleared the doors, he turned around and they could see why he had come in backwards. He was carrying a tray laden with coffees and an enormous plate of cakes. It took a second for Slater to process what he was seeing.
‘Norm!’ cried Slater. ‘What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming back.’
His mind reeled. What was Norman doing here? Obviously he was back at work, but he hadn’t made the slightest effort to get fit, so how could he be back at work? Goodnews had made it very clear he couldn’t come back unless he got fit. What was it she had said? There was no room for Mr Roly-Poly. So what was he doing here, then? And then the penny dropped.
‘This is our new civilian, right?’ He turned to Goodnews, who was looking like the cat who had got the cream.
‘Detective Sergeant Slater, meet Mr Norman, our new researcher. Mr Norman, this is Detective Sergeant Slater. He’s heading the investigation I would like you to work on.’
Norman beamed at Slater, put his tray down, and held his hand out.
‘I used to work with a guy called Slater,’ he said. ‘He was a bit head-strong, but apart from that I guess he was okay.’
‘That’s funny,’ said Slater, taking Norman’s hand and pumping it hard. ‘I used to work with a guy called Norman. He was a right pain in the arse.’
Norman laughed.
‘I bet he was full of good advice, though, right?’
‘Yeah, I suppose.’
Slater beamed, delighted that his friend was back. Sure, they weren’t partners any more, but at least he’d have Norman to bounce ideas off of, and laugh and joke with. He wasn’t sure he shared the same sense of humour as his new partner. Goodnews was shifting awkwardly, and Slater realised she probably felt a bit like a gooseberry. He grinned at her.
‘Does this mean you’re not going to keep on moaning about having to nursemaid a civilian?’ she asked, looking pointedly at him.
‘You could have told me.’
‘I didn’t know for sure until last night. That’s where I was yesterday evening. I had to use all of my persuasive powers to get him to agree to take on the job.’
‘This is just a trial, don’t forget,’ said Norman. ‘I haven’t said I’m staying.’
‘I asked Norman to help us out because of the nature of this case.’
‘You didn’t give me much option, did you? How could I refuse to help when there’s an eight-year-old girl missing? It was emotional blackmail.’
‘Aye, it was,’ admitted Goodnews, ‘but you weren’t exactly hard to win over.’
‘Like I said. How could I refuse when there’s a little girl missing?’
They all looked little uncomfortable as they mulled this over. It was Norman who broke the mood.
‘I didn’t know how many people would be in here, so I got a trayful of coffees.’ He looked around the room, empty but for the three of them and two telephonists at the far end. ‘I see I overdid it. I didn’t get any cakes for you guys, though. I’m sorry about that.’
Slater surveyed the plateful of cakes on the tray.
‘What’s all that lot, then?’
‘That’s my supply to get me through the morning.’
‘All that sugar is hardly going to help you lose weight,’ said Goodnews.
‘But it keeps me alert,’ said Norman. ‘Anyhow, you didn’t say I had to get fit to be a civilian sitting behind a computer, did you?’
<
br /> Goodnews shook her head before taking a coffee from the tray and looking at Slater.
‘Can you get Norman up to speed and get him started? I need to start preparing for a press conference.’
‘Sure, no problem.’
Goodnews nodded her approval and made her way from the room.
‘I thought you’d done a runner, or something,’ said Slater to Norman. ‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you for days.’
‘I’m sorry about that. I had to get away for a few days to try and sort my head out, you know? I thought it might help me to make my mind up about things.’
‘What things?’
‘Like whether I wanted to take this job, or just walk away from the police force altogether.’
‘I thought you didn’t know about the job until last night,’ said Slater.
‘Oh, no, she suggested it weeks ago, around about the time she suggested I was going to have to lose about five stone if I wanted to come back to work. She tracked me down yesterday, and then last night she put me on the spot. I couldn’t say no to a case like this, could I?’
‘Tracked you down?’ said Slater. ‘Why where have you been?’
‘I actually spent a few days with Vinnie the Geek. You remember him?’
Slater remembered Vinnie. He had helped them, unofficially, on the very first case they had worked together. Slater had found Vinnie difficult, but there was no doubt he was also something of a genius when it came to computers.
‘Yeah, I remember,’ he said. ‘Why d’you go and see him?’
‘Training,’ said Norman. ‘I think I’m okay with this computer stuff, but I felt if I was going to take this job my skills needed to be raised a level or two.’
‘And, have they been?’
Norman held out his hands and flexed his fingers.
‘Just show me the keyboard and let me get to work,’ he said. ‘I’m a bona fide computer wizard now.’
‘Okay,’ said Slater. ‘Let’s bring you up to speed and get you settled at your computer.’ He led Norman across the room to a computer set up at a desk, especially for him. He pulled out the chair and handed Norman a file. ‘This is everything we have so far. It’s not much but it is what it is. The only thing you don’t have is a copy of the artist’s impression of a possible suspect. I’ll get Naomi to bring you one up.’