“Then what happened? You saw her off and she walked down the street to meet her friend. Is that right?”
A sob. “That’s what I thought, but Candy must have gone on ahead. Katie was ten minutes later than usual. They normally meet on the corner at eight-thirty.”
“Candy live nearby?”
She nodded. “In the next street.”
“And you’ve confirmed Candy is at school today?”
“Yes, she arrived by herself.” She took a shuddering breath. “Shouldn’t you be out looking for my daughter rather than sitting here questioning me? I don’t know what else I can tell you.”
“We have people out looking for her,” he assured her. Uniformed police were doing a systematic search of the area as they spoke. If they found anything, they’d let them know.
“I thought she might have gone down to the river,” she stammered. “She likes it there. The gate to the nature reserve is on the way to school.”
“Do they often go there before school?”
She shook her head, her eyes glistening with new tears. “No, not normally. They’ve been told not to. But I take her after school sometimes. We buy some bread on the way. She likes to feed the ducks at the old reservoir.” A sob caught in her throat and she stopped talking.
Rob could only imagine what she was going through. He didn’t have children, but there couldn’t be anything worse than not knowing what had happened, or was happening, to them. He didn’t even want to think about it, so how she was coping, he had no idea.
“Mrs Wells.” His voice softened. “Is there anyone who would want to hurt Katie?”
Her eyes grew wide. He could see the panic in them.
“I’m sorry, I have to cover all bases.” Some questions were hard to hear.
She stiffened. “No, why would anyone want to hurt Katie?”
“To get back at you, perhaps?”
“You mean Brian?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “No, Brian loves Katie. He would never hurt her. Not even to get back at me.”
Rob nodded. “Okay, and what about Sergio?”
She stared at him. “Sergio has nothing to do with this.”
“Are you in a relationship with him?”
She went very still. “Yes, but it’s nothing serious. It’s more of a physical thing than anything else.”
“How long has it been going on?” he asked evenly. No judgement, just the facts.
She fingered the corners of the charcoal sketches. “About four months.”
“And how was he around your daughter?”
“Fine.”
She traced her finger over one of the drawings. It was of a woman standing in front of an open window, smoking a cigarette. She wore suspenders and high heels, and nothing else. The lines were smooth, and the elegant curves of the woman’s body drew the eye. The artist had skill, even he could see that. He wondered if they were hers.
She glanced up. “He adored Katie. Sergio is a decent man. I wouldn’t bring just anyone home.”
“Of course. Well, we still need to talk to him,” Rob insisted. “If you could give us his contact details.”
Her lip quivered. “I was lonely. It’s hard being a single parent, you know?”
Rob didn’t know, but he nodded anyway. She didn’t need his approval. Her personal life was none of his business.
She continued anyway, “Brian left a year ago, when Katie was ten. He–we argued all the time. It was better that way.”
“What did you argue about?” asked Rob.
“Money, mostly. And about me going back to work. Brian thought I should stay at home and look after Katie.” She gulped. “Maybe he was right. If I’d been in less of a rush, I might have walked with her to school. Maybe this would never have happened.” Her voice cracked and her knuckles grew white as she tried to control her emotions.
“You can’t blame yourself,” he said soothingly, not that she was listening. ‘If only’ was a game they all played. He’d seen it many times with grieving relatives. If only I’d come home sooner, if only I hadn’t left her alone, if only…
“Let’s try and focus on where she might have gone, okay?”
“She wouldn’t have gone anywhere. She was on her way to school.”
“You mentioned the nature reserve. What about the park? Or a shop?”
“Not if she was running late,” Lisa insisted. “She’d have gone straight there. The school is only four blocks away.”
“Is that Bromley Prep?”
“Yes.”
They were just finishing up when a door slammed and Brian Wells could be heard shouting, “What the hell are you doing here?”
3
“That’s Sergio,” Lisa whispered, stricken. “Oh, God. I hope Brian doesn’t kill him.”
Rob got to his feet. That was handy. He wanted to meet the new lover and gauge the interaction between him and the soon to be ex-husband. He hadn’t ruled anyone out yet. Both men would have had time to grab Katie and hide her somewhere before coming to the house. When kids went missing, it was usually someone they knew, most likely a relative or a friend of the family.
Mallory had positioned himself between the two men, but he wasn’t happy about it. His usually serious face was etched with worry. Mallory wasn’t the most physical of men, and if they went for each other, he’d have a hard time pulling them apart.
“What’s going on here?” asked Rob, entering the lounge. He put on his booming policeman voice, a trick he’d learned from Chief Superintendent, Sam Lawrence. An intimidating presence was a useful tool for a police detective, particularly in these situations.
Lisa flew into Sergio’s arms.
Nothing serious, eh?
Rob checked him out. A construction worker, Brian had said. He certainly looked the part. Stocky, with a rugged, outdoor complexion and brawny arms capable of carrying large blocks of concrete up ladders. He could see why Lisa might find him attractive. Paint-stained denim jeans and a white T-shirt completed the stereotype.
“That man is not welcome in my house,” snapped Brian.
“It’s not your house,” Lisa retorted.
“I still own it,” he retaliated.
“Are you alright?” Sergio asked Lisa, ignoring Brian and wrapping a beefy arm around her shoulders. He sounded Eastern European, Polish maybe.
“Mr…?”
“Wojcik,” replied Sergio, holding out
