With everyone’s duties assigned, Kate was about to log onto the Missing Persons database when her desk phone startled her.

‘Matthews.’

‘Ma’am, it’s Jenson on the front desk again—’

‘Tell me there isn’t another delivery,’ she interrupted, her shoulders tensing.

‘Not exactly. There’s a young man down here, wanting to speak to you. He says he’s Daisy Emerson’s brother.’

Kate had yet to meet Richard Emerson as he was away at university but she had seen pictures of him in the family home, and Val had mentioned that they’d told him to stay where he was and concentrate on his studies. Kate had been meaning to send one of her team down to Exeter to speak to him, but there hadn’t been time yet. Looking around the office, the team all seemed busy.

‘Can you put him in the soft interview room and I’ll be down in a minute.’

Locking her screen, Kate fixed two coffees, and headed down the stairs.

---

Richard Emerson wasn’t what she expected. In the photograph she’d seen of him, he’d had big stocky arms and shoulders, thick, curly hair and an early onset middle-aged paunch. But the young man perched on the edge of his seat was trim with shaved, short hair; gone was the excess weight around his face and neck, and there were defined muscles beneath his shirt. Here was a young man who looked like he’d spent a lot of time in the gym.

Kate placed the mugs on the table between them, and offered her hand. ‘I’m Detective Inspector Kate Matthews. You must be Richard?’

He leaned forward and shook her hand, his palm clammy.

‘Are you just back from uni for the weekend?’ Kate asked.

When he spoke, Kate could hear the raw emotion in his voice. ‘My professor told me I should come home and be with Mum and Dad.’

Sensing his anxiety, Kate said, ‘Remind me, Richard, what are you studying?’

‘Computer Science.’

‘At Exeter University, right?’

‘Yeah, I’m in my final year.’

‘And what next when you graduate?’

‘I’ve got a post-graduate internship lined up with IBM.’

‘Your mum and dad must be thrilled!’ She paused. ‘How are they coping?’

He looked away. ‘How do you think? They’re devastated. They just want Daisy home. We all do.’

‘As do I, and my whole team are working non-stop to bring her back, I assure you.’

‘But what are you lot actually doing?’

Kate had expected him to be upset – given the circumstances anyone would be – but she hadn’t anticipated anger. ‘We are appealing for witnesses who may have seen where Daisy went—’

‘Don’t be ridiculous! My sister didn’t run away from home. Why can’t you lot see that?’

Kate kept her tone even in an effort to diffuse his anger. ‘We are exploring every possibility.’

‘Bollocks! It’s obvious what happened, why won’t you just admit it?’

Kate narrowed her eyes. ‘What exactly do you think has happened to your sister?’

‘It’s obvious! Some dirty paedo has snatched her. You’d be better off rounding up all the perverts on the sex offenders register and checking where they were that Friday night. You’ll soon find out which of them snatched her.’

‘I’m sorry, Richard, but we have no reason to believe any kind of sex-motivated crime has—’

‘Don’t give me that! You read about it in the papers all the time. I get that you don’t want to say it in front of my parents, but I can take it. She’s dead, isn’t she?’

The question threw Kate. ‘What on earth makes you think—’

‘Common sense. I know she wouldn’t run away; she was a good girl who worked hard and kept out of trouble. I spoke to her on the Wednesday before… and there was no way she was planning to run away. And nobody has heard hide nor hair of her for over a week, so what other conclusion is there?’

‘In my experience, these situations are never as simple as they first appear.’ He was about to interrupt her again, but she raised her hand to cut him off. ‘I will not believe that your sister is dead until I have incontrovertible proof. Every day my team move closer to discovering what happened.’

He shook his head with an angry smirk. ‘You’re kidding yourself if you think you’ll ever find her.’

Kate didn’t like where the conversation was headed, but she wouldn’t allow herself to return his volleys of anger. He was grieving.

‘You and Daisy were close, right? So, you probably know more of what was going on in her head in the days leading up to her disappearance. What did the two of you discuss when you spoke on the Wednesday?’

‘I don’t know… I can’t remember.’

‘Did you call her, or did she call you?’

‘I called her. There’s a band she really likes, and they just announced they’re going to do a gig down in Exeter. I phoned her to let her know that I was going to buy her a ticket for her birthday. I figured she could catch a train down, I’d meet her at the station, we’d go to the gig and then she could crash in my room before catching the train home the next day.’

‘That’s sweet. How did she react to the news?’

‘She was excited. She asked whether I could get a ticket for her friend Georgie too, and that she’d get Georgie to pay me back. I said that was fine, and she could give the money to Daisy to pass on.’

‘And Daisy didn’t say she was unhappy about anything? Or give you reason to believe she was upset?’

‘No. She was her usual self. In fact, she was even more excited than usual because of the birthday present. That’s what I’m telling you: there’s no way she would have run away.’

‘Did she hint that anything might be wrong between her and her boyfriend Alfie?’

He paused and watched her. ‘No. Why? What’s he got to do with this?’

‘Nothing, we don’t think. But a witness in a café said she saw them arguing on the afternoon she disappeared. We’re trying to determine what the argument was about, but Alfie’s not saying.’

The anger boiled in his eyes. ‘You think he hurt my sister?’

Kate widened her own eyes. ‘No. But we want to establish whether the argument could be a contributing factor to her running away. I take it you’re not Alfie’s biggest fan?’

He snorted. ‘She could do so much better than that lowlife.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘It’s not right, is it? An eighteen year old dating a fifteen year old. He’s got no prospects, and he’s just going to end up holding her back. She’d be better off getting rid and concentrating on her studies. She has her GCSEs to sit in a couple of months.’

Kate was relieved he’d stopped referring to his sister in the past tense, though she wasn’t sure how long the resolve would hold out. ‘Was Daisy sleeping with Alfie?’

The question was raised innocently, but it pushed Richard over the edge. ‘I told you: she was a good girl. She wasn’t stupid enough to sleep with him. Wait, do you know something I don’t? Was he forcing her to have sex?’

Kate quickly backtracked. ‘No. There’s nothing to suggest—’

‘That’s rape, though, isn’t it? If he pressured her to have sex, as a minor, that’s rape. Why haven’t you arrested him?’

‘Calm down, Richard. I was merely asking. We haven’t been told that your sister is sexually active, I just thought she might have confided in you, her big brother.’

‘If he laid a hand on her, I’ll—’

Kate raised both palms in a calming gesture. ‘Whoa there, I don’t want you going anywhere near Alfie Caplan. The last thing your parents need is you getting yourself into trouble with the police. Let us handle the investigation.’ She pushed the spare mug of coffee towards him. ‘Have a drink and calm down.’

But he wasn’t listening, brushing the mug away with the back of his hand, so it hurtled into the wall where it smashed in an explosion of light brown liquid. ‘Why haven’t you lot done one of those Crimewatch reconstructions yet? You want to appeal for witnesses? Then get my sister’s story on the television.’

Kate looked at the mess on the wall, and took a deep breath. ‘We’re considering all of our options.’

Richard stood, sending his chair crashing into the wall behind him. ‘If you lot won’t do what is necessary, I’ll do it myself.’

Kate was on her feet in a second, her voice loud and firm. ‘I understand you’re worried, but if you do something that interferes with this investigation, I won’t hesitate to arrest you. Am I making myself clear? Leave this to the professionals, and we will find out what has happened to Daisy.’ She exhaled, lowering her voice. ‘Would you like me to arrange for someone to give you a lift home?’

He moved away, yanking open the door. ‘I can look after myself.’

Kate hurried after him, but he wasn’t willing to speak to her, banging the door impatiently until the desk constable buzzed him out. Kate watched as Richard slipped out of the station and down the stairs, fearing this wouldn’t be the last she would hear from him.