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Sophie drummed her fingers on the wheel as she waited for a break in traffic. Paige hummed along tunelessly to some crap on the radio.
The bitter aftertaste of Richard’s job offer still lingered in Sophie’s mouth. She might be the behavioural expert but Richard had read her like a book. A postdoc position was there for her to take, and she was giving it serious consideration. She could admit to herself that part of the appeal of Richard’s offer was that in a research environment, no matter how odious her employer, she at least knew what to expect, and how to do the job. With this investigations agency, she didn’t know what to do, nor whether she was capable of doing it. The uncertainty was a deeply unpleasant feeling.
Sophie glanced over at Paige, who was gazing happily out the window. Sophie felt so guilty for even thinking about the offer, like such a traitor, that she was having trouble concentrating. It would be such a betrayal, but things were different for Paige. She had resources. She had Tim to lean on, and her mum, if it came down to it. Sophie had to look after herself.
“Hey, what was Dominic’s surname again? We should show his Facebook feed to the Dixons,” Paige said.
“Jeylic.”
Dominic was a bit of an angry douche but Sophie’s instincts and training were telling her he was not responsible for Polly’s disappearance. Could she trust her gut, though? Her research had involved parsing behaviour down to units that could be measured and this was not the same as analysing real people behaving and reacting in a real environment.
But even though Sophie might not be sure about Dominic, Paige was convinced he was a way to get hired, so here they were, on their way to the Dixons, making a painfully slow journey down Symonds Street to Parnell.
***
“OH, HELLO THERE,” CAROLYN Dixon said, opening her door half an hour later. “I’m sorry, I do remember you, I just can’t remember your names.”
“Dr Garnet.” Paige held out her hand. “And Dr Swanephol.” As she nodded her head at Sophie, she used her handshake with Carolyn to shift the balance of weight between them. Carolyn had to move backward into the house and Paige then stepped forward to make up the distance so she was also inside. “We have information about Polly.”
“If now is a good time?” Sophie added, glancing at her friend.
“You do?” The hope filling Carolyn’s eyes was heart-breaking. “Come in, please.” She stepped to the side. “You can go straight through to the living room,” she said to Sophie, who was leading the way. When Sophie entered the room she saw they were not the only ones here.
“Oh,” Sophie said.
He was in his mid-thirties, not particularly tall but with a solid build that made him more of a presence. Olive skin, brown button eyes and brown hair, the overall impression he gave was of reassuring, relaxed competence.
“Hello,” he said, just as Sophie said, “Uh,” and stepped forward awkwardly.
“Roman. Detective Roman Leconte.” He extended his hand as he moved toward Sophie. She took another step, feeling like a new-born deer trying out its legs, and shook his hand. His grip was strong and his hands were warm. The corner of his eyes crinkled as he smiled his slightly crooked smile—the right side of his mouth drew up first with the left lagging behind, never to quite catch-up.
Sophie found she couldn’t say anything at all.
“She’s Sophie,” Paige said entering the room. “I’m Paige. Who are you?”
“Detective Roman Leconte,” Roman repeated. “But we’ve actually met,” he said to Paige with a surprised frown. Sophie picked up on the very slightest trace of an accent. Something European. French maybe?
“Have you made your introductions?” Carolyn entered the room. “Detective, these two are from an investigative agency.” She looked from Paige to Sophie. “They have news about Polly.”
Paige sighed. Dammit. Now they had to share their lead with the police. “I thought the police weren’t interested in Polly’s disappearance,” Paige said to Carolyn, her slightly accusatory tone audible. Luckily Carolyn was too distracted to notice.
“They aren’t. Roman is, well, he’s a good friend of my younger brother. He’s here as a favour.” She looked to Roman who nodded. “He’s going to look into it. He trusts my instincts and will try to get her officially listed as missing.” Carolyn shook her head in disbelief. “Can you believe it? My daughter is missing. She’s wilful, stubborn, independent, but I never thought... I know people think she’s just off somewhere being rebellious, but I don’t think she would... put me through this. She would understand how cruel it was.” Her face crumpled. “I think something is wrong.”
Sophie placed a comforting arm around Carolyn’s shuddering shoulders and led her further into the living room to take a seat on the couch. On the coffee table sat a box of tissues. Sophie had seen another in the hallway and a third box in the kitchen.
“Paige, can you bring us a glass of water please?” Sophie called.
“Sure,” Paige said but didn’t move. Instead she stared at Roman. “We’ve met?”
“Yes,” Roman answered as he moved into the kitchen to get the glass of water Paige was clearly not going to follow through on.
“Here you go.” He placed the glass on a coaster on the coffee table in front of Carolyn, pausing to make eye contact with Sophie. Heat rose in Sophie’s cheeks. She looked down, noticed his hands. Tanned, square, strong looking, and no wedding ring on his finger but a mark where it would go. Recently divorced? Sophie watched him return to where Paige was leaning on the kitchen bench.
“Roman Leconte?” Paige repeated, her head tilted to one side.
“You won’t remember, you were,” Roman swallowed, “too upset.”
“Dad,” Paige whispered. “You knew Dad?”
Roman nodded. “I know it was a while ago, but I’m sorry. He was a good man. He was a good lawyer, doing good things.” He nodded, genuine emotion in his eyes.
Paige blinked. She was dangerously close to tears. How could the mere mention of her father still make her cry?
Sophie patted Carolyn’s back, keeping one eye and one ear on Roman and Paige’s conversation.
“I volunteered for the search and rescue effort,” Roman continued. “It was such a shame.” He shook his head.
Paige looked down so she missed the look that flickered across Roman’s face, but Sophie caught it. What it meant Sophie couldn’t quite tell, but it was definitely something.
Carolyn cleared her throat. “I’m sorry about that. I am okay. Sometimes it just hits home that she’s missing and could be...” She shook her head, trying to shake off unpleasant thoughts. “Where are my manners,” Carolyn said, standing abruptly as she sniffed back the last of her tears. “Can I offer you a beverage? I’ll make coffee,” she added, without waiting for replies. She busied herself in the kitchen as Paige joined Sophie on the couch and Roman took a seat opposite them.
“An investigations agency?” he said, his eyebrows lifting with the question. His eyes moved from Sophie, to Paige, and back to Sophie again. Sophie felt another blush creeping across her face. She touched her hand to her cheek. What was wrong with her?
“Here. Our card.” Paige handed it to Roman.
“You knew Paige’s dad?” Sophie said as Roman studied the card.
“Yes, we worked together on several cases. As I said to Paige, he was a good man. There are some sharks out there, people who’ve lost themselves to the pursuit of money, but Terry wasn’t one of them.” Roman nodded.
Carolyn came back with a tray laden with cups, a jug of hot water, milk, sugar, and a plunger of coffee as well as a selection of tea packets. Setting the tray down gracefully, she glided into the seat next to Roman and leaned forward to take another tissue from the rapidly emptying dispenser. Folding and unfolding the tissue in her hands she looked from Paige to Sophie. “You said you had news?”
Roman glanced at Carolyn, thin, tired and anxious, and leaned forward to take over host duties. He set out a cup for each of them and depressed the plunger.
“We think we might have something of interest to you,” Sophie said before Paige could say something to rattle this already fragile woman.
Roman, with a nod from Carolyn, poured a coffee for her. Both Sophie and Paige waved it away, so he poured himself a black coffee, forgoing milk and sugar. Sophie selected a peppermint teabag and put it in her cup. Roman filled it with hot water, giving her a small smile as his eyes briefly locked on hers. Sophie focused on bringing the cup to her mouth without spilling it.
Paige leaned forward toward Carolyn. “Did you know about Dominic? Polly’s boyfriend?”
Carolyn nodded, then seemed to reconsider her answer. “Well, sort of. We’ve never met him, but I’ve heard Polly talk about him.”
“And what Jay? Do you know a Jay?” Paige added.
Sophie finally tore her eyes away from Roman’s hands, wondering how long his wedding ring had been missing from that finger. It didn’t look like it had been very long. There wouldn’t be a red indent if he had been divorced for years. Or maybe even months?
“No. That name’s not familiar,” Carolyn said. “But Dominic? Yes. Is he involved?”
“We don’t know, we just know Talia, Polly’s best friend,” Paige explained, “mentioned him.” Paige glanced at Sophie. Should they tell them about the Facebook posts?
“He wasn’t her boyfriend, properly, I don’t think, and I don’t think they are still seeing each other. The relationships they have nowadays.” Carolyn shook her head. “What did Talia say about him?”
They told Carolyn and Roman about Dominic’s posts in the days before her disappearance, Talia’s distrust of him, and his intense personality. Roman wrote it all down.
“Thank you,” he said after they had given him all their clues.
Sophie felt hope disappearing like a sinking ship.
“Well this is at least something,” Carolyn said. “Is there anything else you need from me, Roman?”
“If you could take me through the events of the night you think she left, or uh, disappeared, as well as the next day?”
“Absolutely.” Mrs Dixon sipped her coffee. “Polly came home from university at around six and went straight to her room. Tyrone got home around half past seven. We had dinner together at eight. Polly seemed distracted, argumentative,” Carolyn said, looking off into the distance. “But it wasn’t unusual. Polly is, well, she’s headstrong and opinionated,” Carolyn said with a faint smile. “After dinner Polly went out, but again, that’s normal, and—”
“Sorry to interrupt, but where did she go? After dinner?”
“Oh, uh, I don’t know. I can’t remember if she said something specific. We generally trust her. She’s a sensible girl who usually responds to texts or calls us back to let us know where she is.” Carolyn put her cup down and clasped her hands. “Anyway.” She shook her head to pull herself together. “Tyrone and I watched The Good Wife. Or, I should say, I watched it. Tyrone sat next to me and worked, as he usually does. Just checking emails and taking a few calls. We had a cup of tea, and then,” Carolyn blinked, “I was very tired so I went straight to bed.”
“What time?” Sophie asked, picking up on Carolyn’s uncertainty.
“To be honest,” Carolyn offered a sheepish smile, “I’m not completely sure. I’d had a couple of wines with dinner, and then a sleepy-time tea. Together, they kind of knocked me out.”
Paige and Sophie exchanged glances. Perhaps sleepy time tea was code for sleeping pill and Carolyn didn’t want to admit this. The wealthy suburban version of a good time—a wine and sleeping pill combo to keep your troubles at bay.
“The next day I woke up late and everyone had already left, or so I thought. Polly usually left the house before eight in the morning, and Tyrone usually even earlier. We were unaware anything was amiss until Polly didn’t come home at the end of the day and didn’t text us at all.”
“But she did text eventually?” Roman asked.
“She sent a very brief message on Saturday saying she was fine, just off clearing her head. When I tried to call, her phone was off.”
“You mentioned she’d gone away without telling you before...?”
“Last year, yes, we had a fight and she was away for a few days, but... it was different,” Carolyn asserted.
“Where did she go?”
“A friend’s house a couple of hours up north somewhere, a farm I believe? One of those Greenie type collective commune places.” Carolyn shook her head as if she couldn’t believe she’d produced a hippie daughter.
“Okay, thank you,” Roman said, finishing up with his notes and flipping his notepad shut. “That’s all I need.” He gave Carolyn a sympathetic smile and squeezed her shoulder.
“Thank you Roman. I do appreciate it. I realise this is probably eating into your spare time.”
“What spare time,” Roman said with a hapless grin.
“Oh, one more thing. I saw something... on TV,” Carolyn said with a sheepish smile. “Could you trace Polly’s Eft-Pos card? To find where she is?”
Roman took a loaded breath. Sophie got the impression he had to deal with a lot of such TV-inspired questions.
“It’s tricky because there are privacy laws. You can do those kinds of things if a crime has definitely been committed. However, if she is just away somewhere, having a break, it’s a violation of her rights. She’s an adult.”
“But I just want to know she’s okay.”
“Yes, but imagine a scenario where a young woman was trying to get away from an abusive situation, and the abuser used the police to trace her cards—” Roman broke off when he saw Carolyn’s horrified expression. “Of course that’s not what’s happening here,” he added quickly, “but there are rules in place to protect people’s privacy. The fact of the matter is we don’t know a crime has been committed, or even that anything is wrong.”
“But—” Carolyn said.
“I know,” Roman soothed. “I’ll do the best I can.” He stood to leave and Carolyn rose with him. Paige and Sophie glanced at each other then stood up too.
Sophie cleared her throat and stepped forward. “Sorry, Mrs Dixon, can I ask... your husband mentioned you argued with Polly that night?”
Roman looked at Carolyn with interest.
“Oh... he did?” A brief flash of anger crossed her face. “I guess we did exchange words.” She looked apologetically at Roman. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it; I didn’t want you to get the wrong impression.”
“And what would that be?”
“That I...” She shook her head, wringing her hands again. “Because I didn’t want you to think we fought and she left because of that, I just know... it’s not the reason.”
“That’s okay.” Roman placed a reassuring hand on her arm. “I’ll still look into this, I promise.”
“Thank you,” Carolyn said earnestly.
“And there’s nothing else?” Roman said one last time. Carolyn shook her head. “Okay, I’ll be off then.”
Paige said. “We’ll go too, but could I use the loo first?” she asked Carolyn.
“Absolutely, I’ll show you.”
“You haven’t received a ransom note or anything, right?” Paige said bluntly as they walked out. “Or her finger in the mail. At least that’s something,” she added cheerfully.
Oh God, Sophie winced at her friend’s bluntness, looking at Roman to see if he’d heard Paige’s comment. The small smile on his face suggested he had. Sophie gathered up her coat and bag as Roman slipped his notepad into his pocket. It was just the two of them and the room suddenly felt small.
“Sophie, before you go.” Roman crossed to the room to her. Her heart rate increased with each step. “Would you please give me Dominic and Talia’s last names?”
Roman was standing only a couple of feet away. He was a few inches taller than her—perfect kissing height, Sophie thought. Normally invasions of her personal space bothered her, but she found she wanted him to move closer. And then he did, edging his weight forward as he retrieved the notepad from his pocket. Sophie also stepped in, leaning over him as if to check he was writing the name down correctly. He smelt faintly of sandalwood. They huddled together, the angles of their body pointing toward each other until Carolyn returned, breaking the spell.
