by M A Comley
“Of course. There’s nothing that important sitting on my desk right now that can’t be set aside for a few minutes. To do with a missing person?”
“Yes, unfortunately. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. Won’t be long.” Sara hung up. She gathered her notebook and pen, snatched up her phone and rushed out of the office. “Carla, we’ve got an appointment to keep.”
Carla scraped her chair and trotted to keep up with her as they headed up a flight of stairs to the next level.
Maddy was sitting at her desk and smiled when they entered her office. “Hello, you two. Pull up a chair. Now, what can I do for you?”
Sara held out her phone for Maddy to see. “It’s not gruesome, I promise.”
Maddy’s hand covered her cheek, and she shook her head, visibly distressed by the photo. “Oh my. That poor woman. Was she found in that suitcase?”
“She was. I wondered if you recognised her. I know it’s a long shot but I thought it was worth a punt. If anyone is likely to recognise her, it’s you, right?”
“Well, I do spend a majority of my time trawling through the images on our database. Give me a second.” She twisted the phone in different directions, sourcing a better angle. “I take it she was found in this area?”
“Sorry, I should have said. Yes, out near my neck of the woods, close to Marden.”
“Okay, well, that will hopefully narrow it down. Why don’t I do a search of all the young women in the area who have been reported missing in the last year? How’s that?”
“Sounds perfect.” Sara held up her crossed fingers.
Maddy tapped her keyboard and swivelled her monitor so that all three of them could see the screen. “The computer is on slow today, typical hey.”
Sara grinned. “I guess we’re not the only ones who have the blues on a Monday morning.”
Maddy smiled. Sara watched the egg timer in the centre of the screen in an almost hypnotic trance until a dozen or more pictures filled it.
“Ahh, there at last. We’ve got two pages of people.”
“Can we study each person in detail? Carla seems to think the woman may have changed her appearance in some way. I had a brief look through the online Mis Pers database last night, and nothing came to light.”
“Let’s do that then. Why don’t we focus on the woman’s facial features? Obviously, her eyes are closed, so we won’t be able to identify her from her eye colour, but I hardly think she’ll change the shape of her jawline or possibly her nose. Mind you, we’ll have to look past all the bruising.”
The three of them fell silent while the photos of the missing persons on the screen absorbed their attention. “I can’t find anything of use on this page. What about you, guys?” Sara asked.
Carla and Maddy both shook their heads.
“Let’s flip the page. Ready to focus again, ladies?” Maddy asked, hitting a button on her keyboard.
A dozen new images appeared on the screen. Sara found her eyes drawn to one particular woman in the centre. She reached for her phone and held the photo of the girl in the suitcase alongside the woman who had drawn her attention. “What do you think?”
“Looks like a clear match to me,” Maddy said.
“She’s dyed her hair. I had an inkling that would be the case. There are not many genuine black-haired people walking the streets,” Carla stated, surprising Sara.
“Really? I suppose you’re right. I’ve never really thought about that before. Can you give us a name, Maddy?”
“Let me do that for you now.” Her fingers worked nonstop until the printer sparked into life beside her. She withdrew the paper from the tray and handed it to Sara. “Everything you need to know should be on there for you.”
Sara checked the sheet of paper and punched the air, delighted their trip had been worthwhile for a change. “You’re brilliant. Thanks for your help, Maddy.”
“Always a pleasure, even if the circumstances turn out to be the sad variety as in this case. At least the family will have closure now.”
“There is that. Thanks, Maddy. See you soon.”
Sara and Carla rushed out of the office and back down the stairs. “We need to go and visit her next of kin,” Sara said, sighing heavily.
“Now?”
“Yep, let me drop by and tell the others what we’ve found out first.” She pushed through the incident room door, recapped what they had learnt from Maddy and put Jill in charge of carrying out a background check on the woman. “We’ll see you later.”
Sara and Carla left the station. They arrived at Dawn Dawson’s mother’s house on the edge of the city at Tupsley around ten minutes later.
Sara prepared herself for the trauma she was aware that lay ahead of them and rang the bell.
A woman with a warm smile whom Sara guessed to be in her fifties opened the door. “Hello, can I help?”
Sara and Carla held up their warrant cards. “Hello, Mrs Dawson. Would it be all right if we come in and spoke to you for a moment?”
She clutched the edges of her cardigan, and her eyes widened. “Have you found her, Dawn?”
Sara nodded. “It would be better if we didn’t do this out here.”
Mrs Dawson pulled the door open and pushed herself back against the wall. “She’s dead, isn’t she? My baby is dead!”
Sara nodded. “I’m so sorry.”
Mrs Dawson covered her face with both hands and sobbed. Sara gulped down the emotions threatening to emerge. Why is this part of the job so difficult? “Is there anyone else at home?”
Shaking her head, Mrs Dawson led the way into the lounge. She sat on the edge of the sofa. “My husband is away on business, he’s not due back for another few days. Where? Where did you find her? Has she been assaulted? Please tell me she hasn’t.”
“I don’t believe she’s been sexually assaulted, although the pathologist has yet to perform a postmortem. That will be conducted today. I have to tell you that I was there when your daughter’s body was discovered. She was found in a suitcase.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just that. Someone placed your daughter’s body in a suitcase and left it lying on the side of the road.”
“For what reason? How heartless can people be?”
Sara shrugged. “I’m sorry. The forensics team will search the area and examine the suitcase thoroughly, looking for any clues to help us ID the person. Until that happens, we’ll be interviewing people who have been connected to Dawn in recent months, if we can find anyone. I’ll put out an appeal later for anyone who knew her. Hopefully we’ll be able to piece together what has happened to her since you reported her missing. That was five months ago, is that correct?”
“Yes. We used to be in regular contact, and then she just stopped ringing me. I went round to the flat she shared with her friend, and she told me that she had moved out.”
“Did her friend tell you why?” Sara noted down the answers in her notebook.
“No. Only that she’d started seeing this man recently and she seemed pretty keen on him.” She shook her head. “We used to be so close. She either forgot to tell me about the man she was seeing or was too embarrassed to mention him.” Fresh tears filled her eyes, and she plucked a tissue out of the box sitting on the table beside her.
“Does that mean you don’t know the man’s name?”
“That’s right. Otherwise I would have informed the police when I reported her missing. I’m as much in the dark about their relationship as you are.”
“What about her flatmate, did you ask her?”
“I went round there, but it was pointless. The girl was high on drugs, didn’t even know what time of the day it was, let alone anything else I tried to get answers to. I’m hoping that Dawn wasn’t into drugs; she was always a dependable young woman, up until she went missing. Once they’re out from under your nose, you really don’t have a clue what they get up to, do you?” She sniffled and wiped her nose and then her eyes with a fresh part of the tissue
.
“Does the name Andy or Andrew Somers ring a bell with you?” Sara asked.
Mrs Dawson thought over the name for a few moments before she replied, “No. I can’t say I recognise it. Why? Should I?”
“Not really. We’ve spoken to a young man by that name in the past few days regarding another crime that has taken place in the area. It was a long shot on my part, if I’m honest with you.”
“Maybe her flatmate, or former flatmate, should I say, can help you out about that. God, I hate the thought of her getting involved with someone of that ilk. Obviously she has, somewhere along the line, otherwise she wouldn’t be d…” She swallowed loudly and covered her face again.
“I’m sorry, that’s quite often the case with these things. We’ll get to the bottom of this and punish the person who took your daughter’s life, I’ll promise you that.”
“Thank you. What if they’ve taken off by now? Will you still be able to find them?”
“We will. As long as we have a name. It’s surprising what we can do to find someone. Of course, without a name it makes our job so much harder.”
“I can understand that.”
“I’m sorry to have to put you out like this, but would it be possible to give us your daughter’s previous address? We’ll drop by and see what we can find out from her flatmate.”
The woman rose from her chair and walked across the room to open a drawer in an oak side cabinet. She withdrew a small address book and returned to her seat. She flipped to a page and stretched out her arm.
Sara took the address book and noted down the information, including the phone number, and handed it back to Mrs Dawson. “Can I ask where your daughter worked?”
“She was a barmaid in town, at the Weatherspoon’s pub down by the station.” She gasped, “Maybe they can give you what you need to know.”
“We’ll go and see them during the day. Do you need me to call anyone to come and sit with you?”
“No. I’ll be fine once I’ve had a good cry. Truth be told, I’m all cried out. I had a feeling someone would knock on my door one day with disastrous news. It was inevitable, I suppose.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. We’d better get the investigation underway.”
Mrs Dawson showed them to the front door and shook their hands. “Please, do all you can to get Dawn the justice she deserves.”
“We’ll do our very best. I’ll be in touch with you soon with our progress.”
Chapter 23
Sara decided, as the pub was closer, to drop in there first. The lunchtime rush was about to get underway. “Fancy a sandwich?”
Carla nodded. “Why not? We’ve got to eat, right?”
“I’ll place the order and ask the manager to come and see us when he has a spare few minutes. It’ll take the pressure off him then. What do you fancy?”
“This is on me, remember?” Carla insisted. She grabbed the menu off the bar and ran her finger down it. “I fancy a chicken and salad baguette. What about you?”
“Make it two. I’ll have a small OJ as well, please.” She took out a tenner from her purse, but Carla shoved her hand away. Sara tutted and went to the other end of the bar to try to locate the manager.
She walked up to a youngish man whom she had seen issuing orders and took that to mean he was the manager. “Hi, I appreciate how busy you are.” She flashed her ID. “I’d like a brief chat if it’s not too much trouble. We’ve ordered lunch, so we’ll be around for the next half an hour or so anyway.”
“Can I ask what this is about? We don’t get a lot of trouble in here, not lately.”
“About a former employee of yours, Dawn Dawson.”
His brow furrowed. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard for a few months. Okay, I don’t know much. Give me ten minutes. Enjoy your meal in the meantime.”
“Thanks.” Sara smiled and rejoined Carla who was placing their order.
“Everything all right? From a distance he didn’t seem that enamoured about us being here.”
“He was fine. Stressed, that’s all. He’ll join us in a few minutes. Where do you want to sit?”
Carla pointed away from the crowd of diners over to a spare table close to the window. “Looks ideal over there.”
They took their drinks and made their way over to the table before anyone else beat them to it.
“Cheers,” Sara said, chinking her glass against her partner’s.
After taking a sip of the cold orange juice, Carla asked, “What do you think is going on then?”
Sara shrugged. “It’s looking more and more like the fella she was involved with is possibly behind her murder. Not sure what else we can say about her circumstances yet, not until we’ve spoken to the manager and the flatmate. Let’s hope the flatmate is around today. I’d like to wrap this up and get back to the other cases we’re dealing with swiftly.”
“Someone has to know something. One thing that’s bugging me.”
“Go on,” Sara said.
“If she was that close to her mother, why hasn’t she been in contact with her for the past five months? There’s no way her body had been in that suitcase all that time, so where has she been?”
“Maybe this man abducted her, kept her prisoner and then got rid of her.”
“Hmm…maybe. I know if I was close to my mum and in trouble, I’d do everything in my power to try and get word to her, if only to put her mind at rest that I was alive.”
“Me, too. Which makes me think she was being held against her will, possibly.”
The waitress arrived and placed their large baguettes in front of them. “Thanks. Crikey, maybe we should have shared one,” Sara said, lifting up the side of the roll to see the contents.
Carla chuckled. “I think you’re right. I’ll never get through this. Shame I haven’t got a dog, I could have asked for a doggie bag.”
Sara laughed. “Don’t say that. My bloody mother does that every time we go out. Either that or she nicks a serviette off the next table and places her leftovers in it.”
“Never! Mums can be so funny at times, can’t they?”
“Yep, I suppose so. I wouldn’t be without mine, though.”
“True. Mum and I really get on, too. She’s prone to interfering in my love life now and again, but that’s what mums do, right?”
“Mine never has. I guess I’m lucky on that front. She trusts me to do the right thing.”
“Did your parents get on well with your husband?”
“Yes. They treated him as if he were their own flesh and blood.”
“That’s wonderful. So sad you lost him at such a young age. Sorry, I know you don’t want to talk about it, ignore me.”
“It’s fine. I suppose I’m still very raw. I loved the very bones of that man. I always thought people who said that didn’t really know what they were saying, but it’s a great description when you actually share your life with your soulmate.” She took a bite from her baguette and felt relieved when she saw the manager striding towards them.
“Can we make this quick?” He drew up a chair and sat alongside Sara.
She wiped her mouth on her napkin and took out her notebook. “Of course. How long did Dawn work for you?”
“About a year on and off. She left for a few weeks but then pleaded with me to take her on again. She was a good worker, so I had no hesitation giving her another chance.”
“We’ve heard that she was involved with a man not long before she was reported missing. Did that man ever come in here?”
“He did once or twice. I wasn’t too happy about it. Looked a nice enough chap, but I can’t abide the staff fraternising with people they know when they should be working.” He held his hand up. “You can see how busy this place gets, it’s even worse in the evenings.”
“Understandable. I don’t suppose you can tell us what his name was?”
He placed a hand on his cheek and turned his head to the side as he thought. “Crap, I can’t. I think, but don’t quote me
on this, that it began with an M.”
“Mark, Mick, Michael, Matthew?”
He sighed. “Possibly Matthew, Matt. I’m not sure, though.”
“Thanks, we’ll note that down. I take it you haven’t seen Dawn since she was reported missing?”
“No. Not seen or heard from her for over five months I think it is now.” He glanced over his shoulder at the bar and tutted. “The queue is getting long now. Was there anything else?”
“Nothing else. Except that Dawn’s body was found yesterday.”
“Crap! Body? As in, she’s dead?”
“I’m afraid so. Can I give you my card? If you hear anything on the grapevine once the news gets out, will you ring me?”
“Of course I will. That poor girl. I feel terrible now, rushing our meeting. Life really sucks, doesn’t it?”
“Sometimes it does. Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to speak to us. Sorry if the news has come as a shock.”
“Don’t mention it. Her poor family. Her mother used to come in here regularly to see her, never got in the way, so I didn’t mind as such. I can’t believe anyone would kill her, or did they? You never said that, did you? I’m assuming that’s the case.”
“We believe so. We’ll pass on your condolences to the family when we see them.”
“Enjoy the rest of your lunch. Not sure how you can eat dealing with things like this every day.”
Sara smiled. “Thankfully, cases like this don’t happen that often. When they do, we just have to knuckle down and get on with it.”
He nodded and walked away.
By this time, Sara had gone off the lunch sitting in front of her and pushed her half-eaten baguette to one side. Carla had barely come up for air since she’d started eating hers and sighed contentedly when she placed her empty plate underneath Sara’s.
“Drink up,” Sara said, “we’ll nip over to see if the flatmate is in. First I need to ring Jane to set up another media appeal for this afternoon if possible.”
“I’d say you’re cutting it a bit fine, but it’s worth a shot.”