Mortal Crimes: 7 Novels of Suspense (78 page)

A few minutes later, out of breath, the man lifted the phone again. “No. All her clothes and the suitcase, the spare one, because I had the large one with me on my trip, are still there.
Please
help me.”

“We will, sir. Would it be better if we spoke in person? You could come to the office, or I could come out to see you, perhaps?”

“Would you? I’m afraid to leave the phone in case she calls.”

“I can understand that. Whereabouts are you?”

“Out in St. Johns. Do you know it at all?”

“Yep, I have family over there. It’ll take me twenty minutes or so to get there.”

“Number five Woolnough Road. That’s brilliant, I’ll see you then.”

As Ellen hung up, Brian asked, “What’s your gut instinct on this one?”

She thought over his question for a second or two before rising to her feet. “I’m not sure. He seems genuine enough. I’ll give you a better answer once I’ve met him in person. Hold the fort.”

“Don’t I always? Have you got some form of self-defence tucked away in your handbag? You know I don’t like you meeting punters in their own home.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a trick or two tucked away. If I was that unsettled about him, I wouldn’t have suggested going over there. You worry too much.”

“It’s my job to worry about you,” he retorted, turning down the edges of his mouth and giving her his puppy-dog eyes.

“No, it’s your job to get that website up and running more efficiently before I start cracking the whip.” She picked up her handbag and jacket off the back of her chair and then headed for the door.

He snorted and muttered, “Wishful thinking!” He blushed when she turned back and blew him a kiss.

“See you later. If I’m not back in an hour, you know what to do.”

“Will do. Stay safe.”

They had created a code of practice that if she went out on a visit and didn’t contact base within an hour, Brian would alert the police. Theirs was a relatively risky business, after all, and the likelihood of creeps getting in touch with them was pretty high. That was the kind of world they were living in.

________

Ellen pulled her MR5 sports car into the drive of the prospective client’s house—a modest semi-attached on a small estate. She walked past the evergreen box hedging and knocked on the glass front door.

A man in his mid-twenties, with muscles the size of cannonballs, smiled and motioned for her to step inside without the need for introductions.

Walking into the lounge, Ellen was stunned by the number of trophies on display in a glass cabinet in an alcove next to the chimney.

Matter-of-factly, the man explained, “I’m a bodybuilder. I’ve just come back from a competition in the States. I got third place, but it means nothing when I can’t share my success with Donna.”

Ellen pointed at the sofa. “May I?”

“Sorry. Sure.”

He sat in the oversized armchair opposite her. Well, to anyone else, it would have been oversized, but once he was sitting in it, the chair looked as though it would be more at home in a doll’s house.

Ellen took out a spiral-bound notepad and a pen. She flipped open the pad and started asking questions, gentle ones at first, to help put her client at ease. “How long has it been since you last saw your wife?”

“Ten days ago. Like I told you on the phone, I just got back from America.”

“When did you last speak to her, over the phone, I mean?”

“Before I left for the airport on Friday. She was getting ready to go out with her sister.”

“I see. I’ll need her sister’s name and address.”

He rose and crossed the room, then returned with a small address book. Flicking through the pages, he located the address he was looking for and then handed her the open book.

Ellen jotted down the name, address, and phone number. “Maybe I can call in and see Cheryl on my way back to the office?”

He sat down again and shook his head. “She’ll be at work until six. She works at the electricity board office in town. I don’t want you turning up there, though,” he added quickly as an afterthought.

“No problem, I’ll contact her after we’ve both finished work. It makes no difference to me.” She smiled, trying to put him at ease. “So you returned home to find the house empty?”

“That’s right.”

“Any signs of forced entry?”

“No, nothing. You think someone broke in and abducted her?”

Ellen raised her hand. “Let’s not get carried away just yet. We need to figure out the facts first and then go from there. Did you ring Cheryl? Ask her if anything untoward happened to them while they were out on Friday?”

“Yeah, she was a bit evasive. Not sure if she was upset or keeping something from me. I didn’t want to push her. I thought I’d leave that job to someone in authority.”

Intrigue tapped her brain. “Talking of which, may I ask why you haven’t gone to the National Missing Persons Bureau and contacted us instead?”

“I have, sort of. I registered Donna’s disappearance, but they told me they couldn’t look at individual cases unless I had proof of something happening to her. Also… umm… I’ve got a police record.”

Ellen looked up from her notepad. “You have? And what is that exactly.”

Endersbe fidgeted in his seat for a second or two before clearing his throat to answer, “I did time when I was in my late teens.”

“For?” Ellen’s stomach clenched warningly, and she glanced around herself, noting an escape route.

“A GBH charge. I got put away for six months. But I’ve been as good as gold ever since, I promise. Since I met Donna, I’ve calmed down a lot. I wouldn’t jeopardise all that.” He pointed at the trophies in the cabinet. “I channel any anger that I once had into achieving my goal of being the world’s best bodybuilder.”

“I see. Looks like it’s working.”

“It is. Donna’s the proudest wife ever. I know she wouldn’t walk out on me. I know deep down that something is seriously wrong.”

“I’ll do my best to help find her. If you can give me a list of friends and relatives, I can make a start straight away. The first few hours of someone going missing are the most important. Although, if she’s been missing for over forty-eight hours already, we’re going to be up against it before we even start.”

“I’m sorry for the delay in getting in touch with you. I spent most of my weekend out searching, places we go together, you know. Honestly, you have to believe me when I say there is no reason I know of why Donna should just take off. Especially as she hasn’t taken any clothes with her.”

Experience told Ellen that sometimes, people did exactly that. She probed further. “Did your wife have any debts? Or any medical problems that you know of?”

“No, nothing. We live debt free. Only go on holidays when we’ve saved up enough money. We never use credit cards unless we can pay them off in full at the end of each month. As for her health, she’s really healthy, a bit of a health freak, like me. She often comes down to the gym with me.”

“Would you mind if I took a look at her latest credit card and bank statements? You needn’t show me if you’d rather not, but it might help me form a picture if I know some of her spending habits.” She’d had several cases where women had spent excessive amounts of money on clothes, handbags, or shoes and run up huge credit card debts. And rather than face the debts, they had just disappeared and started up new lives, often with new men.

Endersbe got up from the chair again and, this time, left the room. She heard his heavy footsteps go upstairs and move across the room above. With him out of the way, Ellen took the opportunity to nose around the living room. On the walls and the mantelpiece sat plenty of happy pictures of the couple. Looking deep into the blonde woman’s bright-green eyes, Ellen didn’t see any sign of unhappiness lingering there. She had already noted the sadness dwelling in Will’s eyes. No one could fake that. She replaced the silver-framed picture in its spot just as her client came back into the room. He was carrying a filing case. He sat in his seat again, and Ellen did the same, watching him go through the organised filing system.

After a while, he pulled out some Visa card statements and Lloyds bank statements, then handed them to her. She quickly scanned the sheets and shook her head. “Nothing out of place here that I can see. Has your wife mentioned a new work colleague at all?”

“No. They’re on a tight budget this year, not recruiting any extra staff.”

“Okay, here’s where we go from here. If you decide to hire us, we’ll visit everyone on your contact list and see what comes from that. Here’s our rates.”

He took the sheet of headed notepaper from her, and without even glancing at the list, he held out his hand for her to shake on the deal. “I don’t care what it costs, Ms. Brazil. If you think you can find my wife, you’re hired.”

They shook hands, then spent the next ten minutes going over a proposed schedule. Ellen was surprised when he insisted that she should take the address book with her and work from that. No one had ever done that before. It made her see him in a different light—she trusted him.

Ellen left the house and rang Brian at the office the minute she got back in the car.

“You had five minutes left. That was a long meeting, how did it go?”

“I’ve taken on the case. He seems genuine enough. He’s been in trouble with the police before so is unable to go down the usual route. I like him. I’m on my way back now. See you soon.”

She hung up and then took the scenic route back to the office, past the cricket ground and over the river near the cathedral. She used the time to think.

When she arrived, Brian made her a coffee. Then, using the address book Will had given her, they compiled a list of people to interview. Cheryl, Donna’s sister, would be at the top of that list at six-thirty that evening.

CHAPTER TWO

Ellen headed to the other side of town, towards Norton, to meet Donna’s sister. The house was tucked away down a country lane and sat alongside three other houses surrounded by green fields. In the darkness, Ellen could just make out the shapes and odd patches of white belonging to the dozens of resident cows.

Cheryl was waiting on the doorstep when Ellen got out of the car.

“It’s a bit fresh this evening,” Ellen said, trying to put the woman at ease.

Cheryl smiled slightly, welcomed her into the warm house, and led her into the kitchen. “Mind if I get on with preparing dinner? Hubby is like a bear with a sore head if he doesn’t get fed on time.”

“Carry on.”

Ellen sat down at the kitchen table and watched Cheryl peel, chop, and dice the vegetables that would accompany the lamb chops she had already placed in the oven.

“First of all, I’m truly sorry about your sister’s disappearance. I want to assure you that my partner and I will do everything in our power to get her back. If she wants to come home, that is.”

Cheryl stopped chopping the carrot and turned sharply. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She swept her blonde fringe out of her eyes with the back of her hand.

“In my experience, some people choose not to return to the lives they had and wish to remain distant from their families.”

“Not Donna.” Cheryl’s response was emphatic. “She loves us. We’re all very close. She wouldn’t
choose
to stay away from us.”

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to alarm you. What can you tell me about your last meeting with Donna? I believe you were the last person to see her before she went missing. Is that right?”

“It’s okay. I realise you have to keep an open mind about people, but Donna isn’t like other people you deal with.”

There wasn’t really a defined model of person who went missing, not in Ellen’s book.

“I have to correct your assumption there. We deal with all sorts of people. You’d be amazed about some of the reasons people just decide to take off. Can you tell me about that night?” Her last words were said in a gentle tone. She really didn’t want to cause the woman anymore anguish than she was already going through.

“We went to Gypsy’s nightclub, like we usually do on Fridays. Everything was fine until halfway through the evening.”

“Oh, what happened?”