‘That’s a sad story.’
Izzy downed the rest of her coffee. ‘I’ve got a load more of them if you ever feel the need to get depressed.’
‘You shouldn’t feel responsible. For the breakdown of your parents’ marriage, I mean. It wasn’t your fault.’
‘Maybe not. But when things like that keep happening to me again and again, it makes me want to stay away from people. I often wish I was just like everyone else.’
He looked thoughtful.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘Nothing. I was just thinking about what you’ve told me.’
‘Uh-huh. Can I ask you something?’
‘Go ahead.’
‘Are you disappointed in me?’
‘In you? Of course not. In the outcome, yes, a little bit. A part of me was really hoping you were on to something.’
‘You were hoping for a miracle worker.’
‘Yes. I was clutching at straws. To be honest, I’d talk to anyone right now who can help me with this investigation, no matter how unconventional their methods.’
Izzy watched him, saw that he had changed. He had dropped the banter, the light-heartedness, and behind all that was a man who was dedicated to his job, who would move heaven and earth to find Rosie Agutter. 91
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more. But I think if anyone’s going to crack this, it’s you.’
‘Thanks. These girls, they—’
He stopped himself abruptly, and his internal alarm set off Izzy’s own.
‘Girls?’
‘What?’
‘You said girls, plural.’
‘I was just talking about the work I do generally. Girls like Rosie go missing all the time.’
Izzy stared at him, and he avoided her gaze.
That wasn’t what he’d meant. Not at all.
* * *
She thought about Josh all the way home. Thought about him while she changed into her slob-out clothes. Thought about him when she was chopping vegetables for a stir-fry. She wasn’t as good a cook as Andy and had an extremely limited repertoire, but a stirfry she could just about manage.
The thing was, he’d left a huge impression on her. A favourable one at that, which was something she experienced rarely these days. She’d never had a proper conversation with a police officer before, let alone a detective, and she’d been struck not only by how normal he seemed but also by his devotion to duty. If I ever need the help of a copper, she thought, I’d want someone like Josh.
When Andy arrived home, it became the first major topic of conversation once the wine had been poured.
‘So, you told the cops, then,’ Andy said. Izzy had sent her a text message in the morning, but nothing about more recent developments.
‘Better than that.’92
‘What does that mean?’
‘I didn’t think they believed me, so I went in person to the police station.’
Andy’s eyes widened. ‘You did what?’
‘Yeah, I know. Are you proud of me?’
‘I’m always proud of you, but also a little amazed. How did it go?’
‘Well, I met this really nice detective called Sergeant Frendy, and—’
‘Sergeant Friendly?’
‘Frendy. But he’s also very friendly. Anyway, I told him what I knew, and at first I’m sure he thought I was nuts.’
‘Which is a pretty good assessment, but go on.’
‘Thank you for your support. Nuts I may be, but I’m also persistent. I turned him around.’
‘You mean he’s gay now?’
‘Andy, be serious. We’re talking about a missing girl here. I used my formidable powers of persuasion.’
Andy nodded sagely. ‘The card trick.’
‘Yes, the card trick. I think that’s what clinched it.’
‘Not to rain on your parade or anything, but how do you know it worked? What if he was just fobbing you off?’
‘Good question. But I have an excellent answer.’
‘Which is?’
‘Which is that not long after our conversation he went to see Kenneth Plumley.’
‘And you know this how?’
‘He phoned me. And then we met up for coffee at Claudette’s. They do an awesome lemon drizzle cake there. We should both go sometime.’
Andy raised a finger. ‘Wait. You went for coffee? With a policeman you’d met for the first time today?’93
‘Yes.’
‘I see.’
‘What? What do you see?’
‘He fancies you.’
‘No, he doesn’t.’
‘He does. Did you tell him that you ride a different bus?’
‘I did. I also made it clear that I’m currently in a relationship with the most wonderful woman in the world.’
‘I’m glad you used our mutually agreed description of me, but he still fancies you. A cop taking a member of the public for coffee is not standard procedure. And you’ve seen the news reports. You know that policemen can be just as untrustworthy as anyone.’
‘It wasn’t like that. I gate-crashed his coffee break. He didn’t invite me over.’
‘Hmm. Okay, so what did he tell you about his visit to Plumley?’
‘Nothing. It was a damp squib. Plummers just said he could have been mistaken about seeing Rosie Agutter. He also has an alibi for the time she went missing.’
‘Okay, well, I guess that’s that, then. When are we eating?’
Izzy had more she wanted to say, but Andy was already switching on the television and putting her feet up. Izzy moved to the stove and began heating up some oil in the wok.
The situation bothered her. She didn’t know what else she could do, but it still didn’t seem right to leave it like this. It felt like she was talking in a different language, as though she was pointing at Kenneth Plumley and saying, ‘There! There’s the guy you want!’ but with nobody around her capable of understanding what she was saying.
She cooked and served dinner. They ate, talked about Andy’s day, watched some television. When Andy went upstairs to soak in a bath, Izzy dug out the laptop and fired it up.
It didn’t take long to find what she wanted.94
Online news reports told her that, just over a month ago, a girl called Heather Cunliffe had gone missing in the nearby village of Fenchurch. The case hadn’t attracted as much media attention as the current one because Heather hadn’t got on well with her parents, and they had received texts from Heather’s phone informing them that she was leaving home and didn’t want to see them ever again. Ostensibly, she was just another runaway, and Izzy might not have given the story a second glance had it not been for two things.
The first was that, in the photographs of Heather, she looked very similar to Rosie Agutter. Slim, long blonde hair, dazzling smile.
The other was that the detective assigned to look into Heather’s disappearance was one Detective Sergeant Frendy.
It was too much of a coincidence. There had to be a connection, or at least Josh believed there was one.
Was it possible, Izzy wondered, that Kenneth Plumley had taken both those girls?