New York City Police Record Case File: 1306
Missing Person, Vandalism
Report of missing person, described to and taken down by yours truly, Sergeant James Patt, on this day, June 20, at one in the afternoon.
Reported missing: One Natalie Stewart, age seventeen.
At noon on June 20, Mr. Gareth Stewart came into the precinct and asked to speak to an authority, as his daughter had gone missing the night prior. Mr. Stewart is a lean man of average height, with hazel eyes, close-shaven beard, and russet hair. He is of average means, an employee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with no criminal record. Mr. Stewart reported that his daughter was not in her room, not with another guardian with whom she had been close, a Mrs. Evelyn Northe, nor was she at the Metropolitan, where she had been apprenticed.
Additional concern: Mute status of Natalie Stewart. Adept at sign language but no known vocal capacity.
Behavior of late: No different from average for a girl her age—save for her voice. Mr. Stewart grew red in the face as he described a certain obsession with a painting. A painting he described as now lying in shreds in a downstairs storage room of the Metropolitan Museum.
Case development: Case of vandalism of painting of one Lord Denbury, portrait. No museum guards expressed anything out of the ordinary but confessed to having been present only at front entrance, and other entrances might have admitted the vandal.
Mr. Stewart here concluded that there was a connection between the painting and his daughter’s disappearance but that he could not, “for the life of him” imagine what.
I questioned him about this friend of the family, Mrs. Northe. Here Mr. Stewart’s face again grew red. My suspicion of both Mr. Stewart and the widow Northe was piqued. He said that while he knew Mrs. Northe would never harm the girl, she may know something he did not as they had grown “close as mother and daughter.”
It was around this point in the narrative that the very woman in question, Mrs. Evelyn Northe, was escorted into the room.
“What the devil’s gone on, Mrs. Northe?” Stewart stated before anyone could be properly introduced. “Where the hell is my daughter? The guards report that Denbury’s portrait is grotesque and all in shreds!”
Mrs. Northe turned to me then and said, “It’s a domestic matter, Sergeant, not a criminal one, and there’s much to explain to Mr. Stewart.” Here she turned to him. “Your daughter has confided in me, but I think it best to discuss her future elsewhere.”
“You’ll tell me right now—”
“Your daughter is safe, Mr. Stewart. A criminal investigation would prove fruitless as there is no harm or threat involved, save for a case of young, impetuous love.”
“Young love?” he cried. “With whom was she in love?”
“All will be explained,” Mrs. Northe stated.
Here Mr. Stewart appeared confused and began to protest that Mrs. Northe should have stopped his daughter. But Mrs. Northe stated that no matter what, Natalie would have done what she wanted. Mr. Stewart seemed unable to argue this point. Clearly he trusted Mrs. Northe, and it did seem she cared for the girl. But the two were undoubtedly odd. Northe in particular. She put me in mind of some gypsy fortune-teller, even though she was dressed as any fine lady might be. She kept staring at me with odd scrutiny. It was uncanny and I didn’t like it.
She blamed Mr. Crenfall—whom her agents had been spying upon ever since he and an unidentified man broke into her home—for the destruction of the painting. (Refer to case file under Northe for reference to this breaking-and-entering charge.) I shall have him brought in for questioning and call upon Mr. Stewart and Mrs. Northe next week to see if there are developments in this case.