The Sholes Key (An Evans & Blackwell Mystery #1) (9 page)

“Maybe I can help? I know a bit about ships.”

Sophia grabbed the photos from her desk and hid them behind her back.

“For example,” he said, “I think that ship is called the
Thomas Nelson
.”

The picture came out from behind her back. “Are you sure?”

“My father was in the Navy. All he talked about were ships. You would have to confirm but I’m sure that’s the American ship, right there.” He pointed to the picture and saw her eyes light up.

Stopping the program, she typed the information into a search engine. “Here it is!” she exclaimed. “Do you know how long I’ve been searching for it? God, Yuri can never make it easy for me. I think he likes to challenge me.” She turned to him. “Thank you, Liam.”

“You just have to ask. I want to help you. Look, Sophia, about Masters… ” Then, he did it. He grabbed her hand and held it. It came naturally to him, like the rapid heartbeat and the sweaty palms, and it got the reaction he expected.

She pulled her hand away. “I don’t want to talk about him. I’m doing my job. Now it’s late, I’d like you to leave.” She turned him around and pushed him toward the door. “Liam, I like your company… at work. At home I like only my company. I think you understand, don’t you?”

Five seconds later he stood out in the hall. Alone.

Chapter 9

Early the next morning, the phone rang and woke Theo. He knew who it was. “Morning, Dorland,” he said as he turned over to look at his clock. Half-past six. “It’s still bloody dark out.”

“Did I get you up?”

Theo heard deep breathing on the line. “Why are you panting?”

“I talked to Deveau.”

“All right, whatever floats your boat.”

“What are you on about?” Dorland said. “I’m doing chin-ups.”

“He was up at this hour?” Theo wiped the drool from the side of his mouth.

“Who? Deveau? Not only was he up,” Dorland replied, “he was in the office. You requested officers to help today in a door-to-door search and got two. I think we’re going to have to make an early start of it.”

“Two? There must be…” Theo sat up in bed and immediately his head started to pound. It was going to be a long day.

“I know. How many did you think Deveau would give you? I was surprised he gave you any—this only being a missing person. Let’s not kid ourselves; we’re already deep in the hole with lack of decent evidence.”

“Thanks. You’re a ray of sunshine, aren’t you, Dorland?” He got out of bed and headed towards the toilet. He muted the phone while he took a piss. He hadn’t finished his business when Dorland asked him what time they could meet.

“Boss? Theo? Hello?”

“No, hello, sorry, dropped the phone,” he lied. “Can I meet you there at half ten?”

Dorland made some sort of grunting sound into the phone and rung off.

Theo was starving. After a night of drinking he always woke up hungry. He had arrived home at two in the morning and after an hour-long lecture from his mother had closed his eyes at three. Complete waste of a night. Again. It was always the same pub, the same girls, the same drinkers, the same conversations, the same problems.

Ten-thirty came too soon. Theo spent the morning tip-toeing around his mother and wife while he readied himself. He decided breakfast out was preferable but cursed his judgment when he saw the line at the corner coffee shop. Don’t these people go to work?

When Theo arrived at Lorna’s address, Dorland was standing in front of his wing mirror scraping something black off his front teeth. Two uniforms were already making their way down the street, entering houses and annoying people with questions. Dorland took his coffee.

“You have your warrant card?” Theo asked him.

Dorland patted his jacket pocket. “I remembered this time.”

People didn’t open the door in this neighborhood without seeing some form of identification, and they liked it even less when you were the police. Finding anyone home with pertinent information was unlikely, especially on a weekday.

Funny how things had changed in twenty years. When Theo was growing up, he knew everyone who lived on his street. The children his age were his friends, the ones two years older were bullies. He knew which mums made good cookies, and he could point out five houses whose windows you wouldn’t want to break with your homemade catapult. Back then, there were no known pedophiles living on his street. His mum sent him alone to the shop for eggs and feta. And, if instead of there and back, he would go to Tommy’s house on his way home without asking permission, his mother knew and never worried. When the ingredients became necessary for dinner, she had no problem walking over to Tommy’s and dragging him home by his ear.

Now times were different. No one knew their neighbors and if they did, they warned their children not to talk to them. The neighbor’s son or daughter did not babysit; children went home to their computers and Wii. No one brought over a cake to welcome you to the neighborhood. Instead they searched through your letterbox and the Internet to learn your life’s history. Sometimes Theo wished it was he who had lost his memory instead of Agneta—to be innocent, to begin again. The longer he lived and remembered the more he wished he lacked the capacity.

Theo and Dorland worked the four streets around Lorna’s house. Only three people recognized Lorna McCauley. Some knew her son from the photograph. One man thought Lorna McCauley was an actor in a movie and spent ten minutes trying to figure out the title. Another thought he saw lights coming from what looked like a round saucer-like object in the sky and could that be helpful to their investigations?

They finished the street by noon. Feeling hungry and a little dejected, Theo followed Dorland and the other two uniforms for sandwiches at a nearby deli.

“One woman recognized the boy,” said Constable Lasco. She lifted her note pad and read without pausing for breath. “She said she saw the boy on the bus. The only reason she noticed him was because he was picking his nose and making rude faces at an elderly man in the seat across. Never had a good look at the mother; apparently, she had her face down, busy reading a book or something, never even knew the son was behaving in this manner. She thought that Lorna lived nearby, because they got off at the same stop. When I asked whether she had seen the woman in the last few weeks, the answer was no. When I asked whether she was on the bus with them every day, she said no. When she saw the boy, it was because she had got off work early, it wasn’t her usual bus.”

“Thank you, DC Lasco,” said Theo, nodding. “We had about the same bloody luck. After lunch, this is what I want you two to do: find the nearest supermarkets, cheap restaurants, McDonalds, anywhere child-friendly and circulate her photo. They won’t know if she was depressed or thinking of running away from her life, but they may know if she came in with a boyfriend or a girlfriend. If she did, get detailed descriptions. Oh, and I want you to get a police, missing person’s poster prepared and put up on her door and around her neighborhood. If she has any friends that live nearby, hopefully they will contact us with information.”

When the constables left, Dorland said, “Disappointing morning. What now?”

Theo shrugged.

They headed back toward Lorna’s flat. As they approached, Theo saw a man, short, bald, and heavy, looking in Theo’s Jeep.

“What the hell is he doing?” Theo asked. They hurried toward him. Within seconds the Jeep’s alarm went off.

Theo motioned Dorland across the street out of view so as not to startle the man into running. But the man stood with his arms out, smiling and waiting for Theo to reach him. Theo pushed the key fob to silence the blaring sounds.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Theo yelled at him, out of breath.

The man asked, “You police?”

Theo took out his warrant card and stuck it in his face. “We are police, and this vehicle is a police vehicle. What do you think you’re doing?”

“Nathan Peters.” He held out his hand to them. “Landlord to this here building. Tenant phoned me and told me you’re looking for a missing woman—the McCauley woman.”

Theo leaned against his Jeep to catch his breath. “Please, let’s sit in my Jeep, all right?”

They got in. Nathan got into the back seat. Alcohol radiated off his body, permeating the vehicle.

“As you’re aware, we’re looking for Lorna McCauley,” Theo said, turning around to look at him.

“Yeah, number three,” he said as he sniffed a large amount of nasal mucus back into his throat and swallowed it. “No real complaints. She pays her rent on time. She’s a looker. Noisy kid though.” He rubbed his nose with his sleeve. “Come to think of it, I did get complaints from the neighbor beneath her. Apparently the kid would jump up and down on the floor and drive her mad.”

Theo grabbed some Kleenex from a small case behind his sun visor and threw it in the landlord’s lap. “Blow your bloody nose. In addition, we don’t need comments about how she looked. We want to know what information you can provide us as to her whereabouts.”

“First of all, I have a nasal infection. And second, I don’t know where she is.”

“Then why are you wasting our time?”

“I thought I might be able to render some of my moral support.”

Theo turned back around in annoyance. “If you have information ring the police. Now I would appreciate it if you’d get out of my car. Don’t touch the door handle.” Theo jumped out of his Jeep, opened the back door, and the landlord got out.

“When do you think I can move her stuff out of there? I’m wasting money leaving her flat empty.”

Theo took a deep breath. “As soon as the police are done with the flat, we’ll let you know. I’ll make this clear, you’re not to enter her flat and take anything that belongs to her or you’ll be hearing from me. Do you understand?”

“Clear as crystal.” Nathan saluted him.

After he left, Theo took a box of nappy wipes from under the back seat and cleaned the leather where the inebriated man had sat. “Vultures,” Theo said. “Everyone wants what they want. Nothing for anyone else. Damn, I don’t know how much longer I can hold the landlord off if she doesn’t show up soon.” He rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

An incoming text to his mobile interrupted him. He read the message aloud to Dorland. “Checked grocery, shops, all no. Will make poster, put up. Contact if more required.”

“What the hell does all that gibberish mean?” Dorland asked.

“It means we have nothing to go on. It means we need a break or we’re screwed. No, I’m screwed.”

“I can’t imagine they checked all the shops. In such a short time?” Dorland replied.

“I don’t know,” Theo said, closing his eyes. “How far out can we expand our search? I’ll check a few more shops on my way home. After some sleep, I’ll come back and ask the shops again.”

“Why?”

“If Lorna went out to buy cigarettes, she went at night. We need to question those who work the night shifts. Perhaps, if only a few shops remain open at night, it will limit our search.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Try to locate the boy’s father. He seems to be out of the picture now, but maybe she wanted money. Maybe things in her life were desperate. Maybe the father didn’t want to pay so he killed her. We have to explore that route. Right now we’re hitting a brick wall.”

Separating there, Theo drove round the neighborhood, partially looking for a place to buy aspirin to relieve his pounding head and partially to appease the guilt he felt.
Where are you, Lorna? Are you scared? Who’s hurting you? You can tell me, I want to help you.

He entered a small shop. He grabbed a pint of milk, a bottle of aspirin, and a package of chocolate biscuits from the back. The shop, filled to the brim with every foodstuff imaginable, felt cramped. He placed the items on the counter with a loud thud and leaned down to pick up a box of Smarties, a favorite when he was feeling daft.

“Long day?”

Theo looked up. An older Indian man watched his movements from behind the counter.

“Sorry?” Theo asked.

“I asked if you’ve had a long day. You seem tired.” The man spoke with no accent at all. Born in London was Theo’s first thought.

“I’ve been searching for a missing woman. I suppose you’ve heard.”

“A missing woman? Do you have a picture of her?” the shopkeeper asked.

“Has no one been in to talk with you?” Theo asked him. He wasn’t surprised. The shop was the opposite direction from where he’d sent his officers. “I have a picture in my car.”

Leaving his items on the counter, he headed to his Jeep. The shopkeeper followed him, shutting the shop door behind him. While Theo searched for the folder with the photos, the man stood behind him and waited. Theo stuffed his hands between the front seats, crushing his fingers. Finally he felt the thin hard edge of the manila folder. He turned around quickly, almost knocking the man over.

“Oh, sorry,” Theo said flustered, “I found it, the picture. I found it.” He took it from the folder and held it to his chest.

“Can I see it?” the shopkeeper asked.

Turning the picture around slowly, Theo watched the man’s face grow pale. “God, you know her?” he asked, partially excited, partially nervous and sick to his stomach. “When did you see her last? Did she come here, to your shop?”

“Are you sure she’s missing?”

“Yes.”

“She has a son, did you know that? Is her son all right?”

“Yes, he’s in the care of his grandmother.” Theo’s reply didn’t seem to console him.

“Oh, well, I’m glad he’s safe.”

“You’re sure you know this woman?”

“Yes, she comes in regularly,” he said. “She came in…when was it? You see, the missus, my wife, she works the night shift. I take the day shift. Alia mentioned her coming in though. Oh, when was it?” He scratched his head. “Wednesday night. Well, actually Thursday, Thursday morning. Lorna usually comes in around two or three.”

“Usually?” Theo asked. He leaned forward in interest. “It’s a habit of hers, coming to your shop that late at night?”

“About once a week, I think. My wife, she really liked Lorna, looks forward to her coming in. The shop, you see, it can be a bit dreary to work in at night. The missus appreciates her regulars. She’s going to be devastated when she learns Lorna’s missing. Do you know what happened to her?”