“My apologies. Perhaps we could sit down.” His tone was serious, conveying the gravity of the reason for their visit.
“What is it?” Marie asked, in a worried tone.
“I’m afraid we have some distressing news for you. We found the body of a young woman this morning in the Holkham nature reserve. I’m sorry to have to tell you but we believe it to be your daughter, Holly.”
“Impossible!” Marie stated emphatically. “Holly travelled to Norwich yesterday evening for a recital. They are practising today before this evening’s performance.” She was unequivocal. Janssen glanced at Eric but he remained firm, confirming his own certainty with an almost imperceptible nod.
“We strongly believe it is her. Obviously, we need to carry out a formal identification but that will have to wait.”
“Wait?” Colin Bettany cut in, flabbergasted. “Wait for what exactly?” His tone returned to hostile as he continued on. “You only ever wait if you are treating it as a crime scene. Is that the case?”
Marie gasped, throwing one hand across her mouth and bracing against the worktop alongside her with the other. Eric appeared ready to leap over and catch her if she fell but she steadied herself seconds later.
“We are investigating the circumstances surrounding her death, Dr Bettany. I’m sorry but it does appear your daughter was the victim of an attack and therefore, potentially a murder.” Janssen watched as the detail sank in. It was too early for him to know the cause of death, albeit the evidence was suggestive but not as yet conclusive.
Colin Bettany pulled out a chair from the nearby breakfasting table and sank into it, a look of bewilderment crossing his face.
“Marie is right. Holly was supposed to be in Norwich last night.” He spoke softly, with no sign of the previous aggression and hostility.
“When was the last time you saw her?” Janssen asked, taking out a notebook.
“Yesterday afternoon,” Marie replied. “I dropped her at the bus stop. I offered to take her all the way into Norwich but she said she would rather make her own way and besides, Colin and I both had plans and I needed to get ready.”
“Plans?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Colin cut in. “Nothing exciting. A meeting of the rotary club to discuss fundraisers, that type of thing and then I had work to attend to.”
“When was Holly due to come back?”
“Later tonight. I don’t know when exactly,” Colin replied. He appeared to Janssen to be lost but there was more than that. Clearly overwhelmed, he was also agitated and unfocussed. Unsurprising, bearing in mind the news he’d just received but clearly the reality of the situation was yet to really hit home. Colin looked to his wife. “I guess we should phone round everyone and cancel today.” Janssen was surprised at the cool, almost offhand nature of the comment but he said nothing.
“For heaven’s sake, Colin!” Marie muttered, tears welling in her eyes. Janssen agreed with the sentiment. “I… I should make you gentlemen some tea…” She began to hunt around the kitchen, almost as if it was the first time she had been in there, seemingly unable to locate anything she would need to enable the process.
“That’s okay, Mrs Bettany. There’s no need.” He tried to put her at ease but the offer of the tea was merely a distraction for her, an opportunity to focus on something monotonous and thereby remove her from reality if only for a few minutes. “Tell me, if the concert recital was this evening… why was she due to travel yesterday?”
“We pay for private tuition,” Marie explained, glancing at her husband. He looked to the floor, sitting forward and resting his elbows on his knees and dropping his head into his hands. “Holly’s grades have slipped and she wanted to make it to medical school… without the extra support, she was never going to make it.”
“We’ll need to check up on whether she made the appointment. Can you think of anywhere she might go if she decided to ditch it or the recital? Did she have any close friends or a boyfriend perhaps?”
Colin Bettany sat upright, a flash of irritation momentarily crossing his face. “No! She didn’t have time for boyfriends or any of that nonsense.”
“You’re sure?” Janssen knew that often the parents were the last to know what their teenage daughters were up to. He could still remember dating them when he was a similar age, although the clarity of those memories was fading. “What about friends?”
“If she did, I’m sure we would know. Am I right, Marie?” His wife nodded, retrieving a tissue from a box alongside a set of cookbooks, stacked on a low shelf. “As for friends… she didn’t have many. Amelia was probably her closest.”
“Amelia?” Eric double checked, making a note.
“Yes. Amelia Harding,” Marie confirmed.
“Fraser and Angela’s daughter?” Eric asked. Janssen was once again blown away by his detective constable’s connections. Did he know everybody in this part of Norfolk? Marie confirmed it and Eric scribbled away in his notebook. Janssen put his away.
“Is there any reason you can think of that might explain why she stayed here last night, anywhere she may have planned to go?”
Both parents shook their heads. Marie spoke. “She had her overnight case along with a change of clothes for today. Not forgetting her uniform for tonight’s performance. I guess, she could have been planning to stay with a friend. I can check in her room and see what she took?”
Marie moved towards the inner door, presumably to head upstairs but Janssen stopped her. “It might be best if you let DC Collet take a look first? With your permission, it will be important for us to go through her things. Doing so may shed some light on her motivations.” Marie nodded but her husband bristled.
“Is that really necessary? I mean, we’re just talking about some clothes.”
Janssen ignored his protests, indicating for Eric to take a look.
“Perhaps you could show DC Collet the way, Mrs Bettany.”
“You should be out finding whoever did this to my
