But Horton knew Loman didn’t see. How could he when the last mental image he had of his daughter was a living, laughing, feeling human being and a voice calling up a cheerful goodbye to her hung-over dad? They were standing in the narrow passageway. Before Horton could reply a woman’s voice rang out.
‘Who is it, Ken?’
Loman drew in a breath and pulled his sagging body up with an effort. He gestured them into the small front room where a smartly dressed, extremely thin woman was sitting in the bay window with a table in front of her frowning over a large puzzle. She looked up and smiled as they entered.
‘My wife, Marie,’ Loman introduced. He was holding himself together but Horton could see the strain of it etched in every pore of his face and every muscle of his lean and slightly hunched body. How old was he? Fifties? Sixties? He looked more like eighty.
‘This is Detective Inspector Horton and Police Constable Somerfield. They’ve come to talk to me about some robberies that have been happening near by.’
Somerfield looked confused. Horton didn’t blame her, he was too. He swiftly took in the photographs of the Lomans’ pretty daughter scattered around the room before his glance once again fell on Marie Loman.
‘How awful,’ she said. ‘I hope you catch whoever is doing them.’
Hastily, Loman said, ‘I’ll take them into the kitchen for a coffee, would you like one, dear?’ Loman’s voice resounded with false jollity, and to Horton’s ears of desperation, to both of which Marie Loman seemed oblivious. Loman was near breaking point. It wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge.
‘Please.’
Loman shuffled down the passage into a room at the rear of the house. ‘You must excuse Marie,’ he said once they were in the small modern kitchen. He made no attempt to put the kettle on. Horton thought he’d aged another five years in the last five minutes. ‘Shortly after Ellie disappeared Marie contracted a rare inflammatory brain disease. It’s left her memory disjointed. She can only remember faces, names and events from before Ellie disappeared, nothing since. She has an extremely short memory.’
Horton studied Loman as he tried to comprehend what that meant.
‘You get used to it,’ Loman said, but clearly he hadn’t. ‘If you go back into the room now she won’t remember you or what you said. She’s done that puzzle a million times but each time she comes back to it it’s fresh to her.’
Horton couldn’t even begin to imagine how exhausting life must be for Kenneth Loman. Marie Loman’s condition meant she would always believe Ellie was alive and about to walk through the door meaning Kenneth Loman would not only have to bear his grief alone, but also relive it again and again and again. No wonder the man looked worn out. Who wouldn’t? Horton didn’t say he was sorry because there was no point. Being sorry didn’t help Marie and Kenneth Loman.
He said, ‘Shall we sit down?’ Loman nodded and perched on the edge of a hard chair at the table. Horton took the seat opposite while Somerfield stood close by. ‘We won’t know for certain if the remains we’ve found are Ellie’s until further tests are carried out but we have strong indications that it is your daughter. We also found this.’ He placed on the table in front of Loman a photograph of the bracelet. ‘It contains the letters E, L and E and was silver.’
Loman picked up the photograph. ‘Ellie used to wear it every day. It was a Christmas present from us when she was. .’ He took a sharp breath which turned into a gulp and then a sob. Somerfield swiftly crossed to the sink and poured him a glass of water.
Horton waited while Loman buried his face in his hands and sobbed. It came from deep within his chest and wrenched at Horton’s heart. Somerfield blinked rapidly and took several deep breaths before she placed the glass in front of Loman. Touching him lightly on the shoulder, she said, ‘Drink this, sir. It will help.’
No it won’t, thought Horton, with anger, nothing will ever help.
With a supreme effort Loman pulled himself together and took a gulp of water. He dashed a hand across his eyes, then rose and splashed his face with cold water before scrubbing it vigorously with a towel. It was as if he hoped to scrub away the pain, thought Horton.
‘Where did you find Ellie?’ Loman asked, returning to the table. He took the glass of water in his bony, trembling hands but he didn’t drink.
‘The old boatyard at Tipner.’
His head came up. ‘My God! I used to take her there when she was young.’
So a favourite place then and somewhere perhaps
‘How young?’ asked Horton.
‘When she was a little girl, right up to when she was about fifteen. I don’t mean the old boatyard exactly but to the shore by the sailing club. I used to keep a small day boat on the trots there and we’d go out into the Solent, fishing. Ellie loved fishing.’
‘What happened to your boat?’
‘I sold it not long after Ellie disappeared. I didn’t have the same enthusiasm for fishing any more.’
But he’d had the boat when Ellie had gone missing. Kenneth Loman had been questioned, but how extensively, wondered Horton, given that his buddy was the then Assistant Chief Constable? Had he seen his daughter return from being out with a man and in a fury had killed her? If he had though surely living with his wife’s condition would have been enough to make him confess. Even prison might be better than the life he’d been living. Unless he saw it as his punishment, said the small voice inside Horton.
He said, ‘Do you know Harry Foxbury, the boatyard owner?’
‘I saw him once or twice and nodded a greeting, but that’s all.’
And had Ellie been with her father then? Could Foxbury have tried it on with Ellie and ended up killing her when she threatened to tell some years later? He’d leave that line of questioning for later, when they had more information. ‘Did Ellie mention any boyfriends or special friends? Was she close to anyone?’
‘She didn’t talk about anyone except the people she worked with in the visitor centre at the Historic Dockyard. There was one man though who was sweet on her, Rawly Willard. He was a tour guide there but he claimed he was out walking on the day Ellie disappeared. He had a bit of a crush on Ellie, she was a beautiful girl. .’ His voice faltered. Horton remained silent, letting him compose himself. After a few moments Loman continued. ‘Ellie told two of her work colleagues on the Friday before she disappeared that she was seeing this Rawly Willard on Sunday but she never mentioned it to us, and when the police searched her room there was no mention of him or the meeting either. Ellie didn’t keep a diary and there was nothing on her computer about him. The police questioned him but they couldn’t get anything out of him, though you know that. He killed himself. They thought it might be guilt over. . over Ellie, do you still think that, Inspector?’ He looked hopeful.
Horton hadn’t known about Willard’s suicide though Trueman had probably discovered that by now. He resorted to his stock answer. ‘It’s too early to say. Anything you can tell us could be helpful. If you feel up to it.’ Loman nodded. Horton continued. ‘Did Ellie take anything with her when she left?’
‘I was in bed. I didn’t see. She just called out to me but Marie checked her things for the police and said that Ellie must have been wearing her dark blue trousers, a white crop top and a denim jacket, and she took two bikinis. One was white, the other striped blue and red and new. Ellie bought it on the Wednesday before she disappeared.’
And that suggested she was going somewhere she could sunbathe or swim.
‘Did she take a towel?’ Horton asked.
Loman looked bewildered by the question. ‘I don’t know.’
Horton wondered if that had been asked first time around. Judging by Loman’s reaction it hadn’t, but then perhaps Loman had forgotten that. He would check the file.
He said, ‘Do you still have any of Ellie’s belongings?’
‘Her room is exactly as it was the day she disappeared. It would have confused and upset Marie if I’d changed it. Besides I always hoped Ellie would come home, but as the years went by I knew it was unlikely. I thought she might have run off with someone that she thought we’d disapprove of although she never hinted at being involved with anyone.’ Loman ran a hand through his thin grey hair. His eyes looked harrowed.
‘Would you mind if we took a look around it?’
‘I’ll show you where it is.’ He hauled himself up, his movements like that of a very old man. Horton’s heart went out to him as they followed him up the stairs to a large room at the front of the house overlooking the street
