what’s started all this? But it was all over nothing, all over a letter Isobel had produced from somewhere.
‘She was telling Connie to take it, and Connie didn’t want it. I tell you, I was quite embarrassed, as you are when your present in someone’s private conversation. They were getting pretty upset. Well, I didn’t know where to look, and I couldn’t go anywhere to give them any space — it was my shop! I had to stay near the counter. God knows what a customer would have thought if they’d come in!’
Cori, on today’s evidence, considered this an unlikely occurrence.
‘Next I knew they’d gone. “Bye, Chad,” she called out to me behind her as she hopped out onto the pavement. It was the last thing Isi said to me. I can still hear her saying it. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.’
‘Anyway,’ resumed Grey, eager to move the narrative on, ‘the letter turned out not to be for Connie herself, but for Connie to pass to Isobel’s mother. It read that Isobel was tired of the town, and wanted to get away for a bit; that she was leaving awhile, and not to worry about her.’
‘Which is exactly what her mother did?’ presumed Cori.
‘You know, I’ve never worked out…’ This was Chad again, now lost in reverie, ‘whether Isobel was completely oblivious of her mother’s feelings, leaving her a silly little letter like that, not even taking it herself; or whether she knew full well how hard this would hit her parents and she ducked out of being there to face it?’
‘Well, maybe this new lead will mean something.’ Grey patted Chad on the shoulder as he put his empty cup down and eyed Cori meaningfully, ‘though please don’t get your hopes…’
‘You know, Inspector,’ continued Chad, completely missing the officers’ intention to leave, ‘I don’t know if she ever thought she’d be away as long as she has been. Now I think about it, now we know she never did call or write or anything. I mean, when she said goodbye she said it so casually, as if off on holiday, or staying with friends; a few weeks away, a break from her family. “Bye, Chad”, “Bye, Chad”, that was all she said…’
‘And that was that,’ continued Grey as they walked to the car. ‘We had her photos on the news and in the paper — even the nationals, although she never quite made it onto the covers. Half the town were out looking for her, putting up posters; and yet she was never seen again, at least not confirmed as such.’
‘Well, there might be something now though,’ offered Cori hopefully, ‘now we knew where Stephen Carman went, presuming she went with him. We could go through the file for old sightings in and around Nottingham, albeit unconfirmed at the time. And she never did call her mum?’
‘No, but then they were an odd family. They hardly got on at all it seems, by the time she left. But as soon as it was clear Isobel wasn’t coming straight back the parents panicked, as if it had been their fault. The mother was guilt-stricken.’
‘We could go and speak to her perhaps?’
‘Oh, Christine’s left town herself since. They separated eventually, the parents. And anyway, it isn’t that unusual. You’d think it was, but sometimes runaways just don’t get in touch, and with no good reason for it; and the longer it goes on the harder it is for them it seems. There are cases where a friend or relative has spent half a life as good as grieving for a missing loved one; when that person has turned up living under another name a town away, and knowing full well that they were loved and would be missed, no matter the troubles that sent them away.’
‘And the worry for the family gets worse the longer it goes on, I suppose.’
He answered, ‘A missing person can become a hole in the lives of those they leave behind, an aching question never answered: where? but mostly why? ’
‘So,’ Cori summarised, they sitting now and talking in the car, ‘you started a file on Isobel mostly to appease the family?’
‘I prefer comfort the family.’
‘But it turned out that the case was worth worrying about?’
‘We thought it would be a “quick win”, as people say these days; but did we ever imagine she would never be found? That in itself became the mystery — we’d had no real reason to worry for her wellbeing before then.
‘And yet,’ he continued in his reflective tone, ‘perhaps here we have a clue to this mystery. For, look at Carman’s record: two counts of possession in as many years? That’s bad luck for a casual user; just about right for a dealer though, a canny one, who doesn’t keep much on him at any one time. Chad suspected they were dabbling even in their Southney days. And, as we see every day of our working lives, Cornelia, what better use has anonymity than the concealment of criminality?’
‘You mean his “trade” has forced her to be secretive?’
‘Well, it’s an idea.’
‘I’ll concede the point,’ she answered playfully. ‘It does spoil the image of Southney’s Snowdrop though.’
‘Yes, it rather scrunches it into the slush.’
‘And what a time for this lead to crop up, eh sir,’ Cori observed. ‘Right in the middle of the Long case.’
‘Incredible timing,’ he answered distractedly. ‘You could even say extraordinary.’
‘Could it be a coincidence? Isobel and Thomas?’
‘Only until we find the slightest link between them. But in the meantime we need concrete leads on Thomas.’
‘Let’s hope the phones have been ringing in our absence.’
As they pulled away from outside the record store, Cori reflected that there hadn’t been a single customer approach the shop the whole time they had been in there.
Chapter 12 — Back to the Station
The detectives returned to the station to learn that, though the phones had indeed been ringing, the calls received had almost all been offering character references and support in the search for Thomas Long, hardly any offering sightings or genuine leads.
‘The satellite truck is still out there,’ advised Sarah Cobb. ‘They probably want to interview you again for the evening news.’
‘Good.’ Grey had seen it on their way in. ‘Then I can mention the hotel sighting, see if it jogs any memories.’
‘Look at all these people worried for him,’ Cori scrolled through the call log. ‘Teachers, neighbours, scout master. I hope if I went missing I’d have so many.’
‘It looks though like the hotel sighting is still the latest we have,’ the Inspector mused. ‘Cori, can you get someone back up there will you, with a photo. Have them show it to anyone they can think of — carpark attendants, the staff at that services shop. I know we covered the hotel, but have them go a bit further afield.’
‘No problem, sir,’ she answered heading off to find someone.
‘Oh, and this has just come in,’ said Sarah, passing Grey the first edition of the local paper.
‘Take a read of this,’ he called, thumbing through the Southney Sports. ‘“AUBREY’S IN ADMINISTRATION”…well, no ambiguity there.’ He continued to read as the others kept on with their tasks. ‘“After recent rumours of orders drying up for the Southney manufacturers Aubrey Electricals, it was this morning confirmed in a press statement issued from their plant, that agents representing the troubled firm have instructed a firm of administrators in the company’s name.
‘“The statement goes on to say that, ‘while there may be some temporary disruption to our usual operations, we are confident that the plant has a future and that production will continue in some form for many years to come.’
‘“Since issuing this statement the company have yet to ascertain exactly what production ‘in some form’ may entail. However, our business correspondent, who has followed the fortunes of the firm for many years, suggests that it could well involve a scaling back of operations with seemingly inevitable job losses.
‘“Needless to say, such confirmation will be awaited eagerly in the homes of those who work at the plant, and whose livelihoods and those of their families have been cast into uncertainty by this news.
‘“Aubrey Electricals have for many years been one of the largest employers in the Southney region, and few households in the town will not be affected in some way by these events. Current managing director Alexander Aubrey, son of the firm’s founder Anthony Aubrey, took charge of the plant six years ago, and is believed to be in London currently, brokering deals to secure the firm’s future.’”
