Harvest (10 page)

Craig jumped out in front
of her with a renewed enthusiasm, but she didn’t stop walking,
forcing him to hop and dance back from her determined step as he
tried another approach. “Hey, I’m sorry. Perhaps there’s another
answer to this: We could work together.” The suggestion received a
flash furrow of her brow, joined with an “as if” cock of her head.
He wasn’t perturbed. “It’s not as one-sided as it sounds! After
all, I did just bring you some information. Hear me out. We are
both going to be following leads – granted we have different
motives, but beyond our jobs we both have personal motivations; we
want to know what’s happening on
our
doorstep. So – we could do it
together.”

“
I won’t be investigating
leads – I’m not a detective.”

“
I know that – but the
chances are that just by living here on top of this you could pick
up a lead, and you wouldn’t let that go, would you?”

“
You’re suggesting a
partnership of information?”

“
Quid pro quo –
just like
Hannibal
Lecter
and
Clarice
Starling
.”

“
I’m not sure I like the
analogy…”

“
Yeah,
okay,” he conceded. “You could be
Scully
, me
Mulder
, or... You
Buffy
, me
Angel
...”

Kelly laughed at his
comparison and he was pleased he had humoured her. “More
like
Abbott
and
Costello
...”

“
Clouseau
and
Kato
?” Craig stopped in his tracks beside the
door to the Chambers’ flat. “Come on;
what do you say?”
he goaded.

“
I can’t take you around
with me on police business.”

“
I know that, but we can
help each other out. Come on!”

“
We can
trade information, but only at my discretion.” Kelly continued in
response to the grin that curled his lips tightly: “And if you risk
my record at work I will be serving you up with a nice
warm Chianti
.”

Kelly took her hat off out of respect
as Brian appeared at the door. She saw the breathless dance of fear
in his eyes, his uncertainty at her presence. Wondering if this
visit would change his world; either with news of his daughter or
that he and his wife were under arrest. Plenty of her colleagues
suspected the parents. Until the girl turned up or a body was found
there was little to go on other than what had been presented, and
given time and consideration of the fact that there was no evidence
of forced entry, and any intruder would have been in full view of
the parents in the lounge, the parents’ grief and fear for their
missing daughter would not distract from them being suspected. The
Chambers were fortunate that Albert Taylor the undertaker had gone
missing just before Emily, as it stopped the case pointing solely
at the Chambers.

After brief friendly greetings
Brian lingered, visibly agitated around an expectant pause.

“
I’m sorry to call on you
like this, especially as I haven’t come with any news Brian. I
actually came to check on you. See if you and Claire were alright…”
Kelly checked Craig was still by her side at the door. “To be
honest, Mr Digby here was worried for you,” she explained, placing
the onus firmly on him. He had after all, been the one to talk her
into this. He had such a happy face she imagined it was hard to say
no to him when the pay-off was the wide curled smile and the
sparkling excitement in his eyes. Although she felt a stab of guilt
knowing she wouldn’t follow through on her part if this proved to
be a lead on the case.

Brian frowned, obviously
puzzled as to where this was leading and looked guiltily over his
shoulder to a woman in the lounge.

Craig was quick to jump in.
“It’s nothing sinister, Mr Chambers. I just spoke to the person you
invited up and I wasn’t sure if she was genuine or not. I was
concerned.”

Brian stood aside and
Kelly led Craig through while Brian closed the door behind them.
“I’ve been calling on you since all this happened,” she said, “so I
hope you don’t mind the intrusion. It’s not being nosy – I just
wanted to make sure you are okay.” Kelly saw Claire and Rachel rise
into full view in the lounge, drawn from conversation by their
intrusion. Their expectant eyes were upon Kelly and the ground
shifted beneath her with the weakness of her excuse.
She shouldn’t have come.
It was outside her
role. Why had she allowed herself to be talked into
this?

Brian’s mouth twitched towards
explaining but was interrupted by the doorknocker rattling again;
he leaned past them and answered it in a fluster.

All eyes turned to the door and
there was silence.

Amy stood in the doorway in her
school uniform, looking diminutive, and scared by all those
standing before her. She retreated but the legs of the woman that
accompanied her blocked her exit so she pulled her friend close to
her for protection. Kelly recognised the woman and the boy as
residents but didn’t know their name. She had seen them at the
Chambers’ place before.

Claire left Rachel’s side and
pushed through Craig and Kelly to get to Amy. She crouched before
her, brushed a stray swathe of hazelnut hair from her face and
kissed her forehead. She looked up into the woman’s face and
thanked her for looking after Amy, she called her Jenny and the boy
was Jason. She reassured both Amy and Jenny that things were okay
and that she would call her later. Brian shepherded a questioning
Amy to her room.

As Amy disappeared from view,
the atmosphere of the room changed abruptly as if a great build-up
of pressure had been released, and their bodies could relax and
acclimatize in her absence. Amy was the embodiment of Brian and
Claire’s loss.

Claire appeared momentarily
torn between her daughter and their visitors. “I’m sorry,” she
said, “I just want to see if Amy is okay. Strangers tend to make
her uncomfortable at the moment.”

With that, Claire abandoned
Kelly and Craig in the hallway with the woman they had been
suspicious of. Kelly sought distraction through looking around the
room, anywhere but in Rachel’s vicinity, while Craig hugged himself
and rocked back and forth on his heels. After some time she flashed
a pained smile at Rachel, who returned the gesture but without the
discomfort.

“
I hope you know I don’t
mean the Chamber’s any harm,” Rachel hushed across the
room.

Kelly’s suspicion of Rachel was
suddenly uncomfortable, now she was face to face with her it felt
accusatory. She left Craig’s side and walked over to Rachel in the
lounge. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before lying, “it’s just a
formality.”

Rachel’s grey diamond eyes
studied her. “It’s not formality; you’re here because you were
concerned for the Chambers.”

“
Is that why you’re
here?” Kelly deflected with a carefully loaded
challenge.

If Rachel felt challenged
she didn’t express it within the gentle smile and quick answer. “I
do care, yes. But it was Claire that contacted
me.
”

Craig moved stiffly to Kelly’s
side and leaned over her shoulder, as if he was hiding behind her.
“I’m sorry, Rachel. I hope you aren’t taking offence.” His eyes
flicking between Rachel and the floor like a guilty kid. It struck
Kelly as quite sweet.

Rachel’s waved his apology away
and her smile didn’t falter. “No. Don’t worry yourself.”

Kelly chastised herself for
intruding on the Chambers; it was none of her concern. However, the
Chambers calling Rachel signified a possibility Kelly hadn’t
thought they would be considering, urging her on to suspicions of
the parents she had been actively trying not to contemplate.
Perhaps the Chambers had given up hope? They were entitled to
approach anyone they wanted to for comfort. Personally she didn’t
believe in spirits – even God. If there was any truth in nonsense
like the paranormal then there would be more evidence and less
scepticism. She was more concerned this medium might be some crank
trying to get in on the press attention or get money by playing on
the family’s hopes. What if the parents already knew Emily was dead
because they had played a part in her death? She shrugged the
thoughts away.

“
I don’t want to pry,
Rachel, but does this mean they have given up hope?”

Rachel appeared caught and
unsure how to answer. “I think we all need help to get through
things like this. When you don’t have the answers you look to
others to help fill in the blanks.”

Despite Kelly’s lack of
faith in Rachel’s talents she strangely yearned to ask if Emily was
dead, but knew that any answer would leave her dissatisfied.
Kelly would only accept tangible evidence; it was her
training. Procedure. She had had seventeen weeks of procedure in
her training at Hendon. She needed more than probabilities and
hunches, she had those already and they were buried in the back of
her mind, although they refused to decay into a lessening presence.
Maybe it was the sentimental optimist within her, but she couldn’t
come to a conclusion that meant snuffing out a life without
concrete evidence to support it, even though the cold fact was that
Emily had now been missing for three weeks. Although Rachel seemed
nice enough, there was something about clairvoyance and
spiritualism that she disliked; someone offering you a fabric of
lies that you desperately want to believe because the truth is more
painful. She thought of Ian telling her that he loved her. What
fantasy had she weaved for the Chambers? “Have you? Filled in the
blanks, I mean?”

“
Whatever answer I give
you, you wouldn’t believe me, would you?”

“
I
might,” Craig jumped in.

Kelly held back a knowing smirk
at Craig’s attempts to get an angle on a story. An aspect of her
was envious that he could get away with following any line of
thought. He could present a story or idea and let the public come
to their own conclusions, whereas the police had to justify the
plot with the intricacies of its causality fully explored and
explained.

“
I don’t think any good
can come from an answer either way when it comes to Emily. As I
explained to the Chambers, the blanks are not going to be filled by
me. Which, I’m afraid, gives little comfort to them.”

The three stopped their
discussion dead as Claire and Brian returned from Amy’s room. Brian
smiled uneasily at Kelly and hugged himself. She became sensitive
to the awkwardness of her presence as her purpose for being there
weakened the longer they stayed. Kelly nudged Craig, wanting him to
be aware of her intention of retreat as she addressed the others.
“Well, again, I hope I haven’t disturbed you all. I was just
looking out for your well-being and hope you see it that way.”

Claire smiled at her
appreciatively. “It’s nice to know we have people looking out for
us in this block. It can be easy to forget.”

“
If
you’re going I don’t suppose you would show me out?” Rachel looked
back to the Chambers. “I think I’ve done all I can for now. Have a
think about it and if you feel you want to go ahead we can get that
equipment sorted.” Rachel closed in on Claire, seeming to decide
against a hug and simply placed her hand on her shoulder. Kelly
listened as Rachel thanked the Chambers for inviting her into their
home, and specifically thanked Claire for trusting her with her
story. She gave Claire the number of a Priest who would bless their
home, the idea of another person using the Chambers torment and
need for hope riled Kelly until Rachel also passed Claire the
number of a counsellor. That was what the Chambers needed,
real
help to get past the ambiguity
of their daughters disappearance, something to help them live with
the uncertainty of Emily’s fate, not the mystification of faith
with it’s’ own ambiguities. She liked the way that Rachel gave them
the choice of which avenue to pursue.

Outside the flat Kelly felt a
sense of relief wash through her, and saw the same refreshment at
being free of the smothering grief and desperation in Craig, and
more surprising to her she also saw it in Rachel.

“
I hope you didn’t mind
me having you as an escort, Claire and Brian had such expectations
of me I was grateful for an opportunity to make my departure.”Kelly
accepted her sincerity and relaxed her judgement. “It is hard,
isn’t it? I hate being in there. It feels so intrusive.”

“
I could see how torn
Claire was between us and wanting to be with Amy. They must be
terrified of leaving her.”

Kelly thought Rachel’s comment
was odd. Surely the Chambers would not fear their second daughter
going missing? It was highly unlikely that her abductor would
return to the original crime scene and victims now that everyone’s
awareness and vigilance was so heightened. “Really?”

Rachel balked at her
questioning and Kelly conceded to how fearful for Amy the Chambers
would be. “Yes, of course.” Yet Kelly shook off the lingering idea
that Rachel knew more than she was saying and quickly introduced
herself to Rachel within their new situation. “I didn’t really
start out on the right footing with you back there...”

Rachel accepted Kelly’s hand
and shook it. The three headed down the hall and rode the lift
together.