Ghigau 9 part 1

 

DS Sam Tate climbed the four steps that took her to the Talbot’s porch and stood before the maroon, panelled door, wishing she had worn less clothing. It must be ninety degrees, she thought. She noted there was no bell, just a heavy looking brass knocker at about head height.  Below that, a wide, brass letterbox and white ceramic handle gleamed in the sunlight. A small, illuminated card, mounted in a holder, and set behind glass, bore the name ‘Talbot’.  Above the door, an arched, stained glass panel allowed light through to the hall within. 

    Very nice, thought Sam. For some reason she couldn’t remember any of these details from her previous visit and wondered if that was because she hadn’t been a detective then. Sam lifted the knocker and let it fall, twice. 

    After a short while, the door opened and she recognised Lenny Talbot immediately. He was a little thinner, more drawn in the face — only to be expected — but definitely the same guy. He was tall and broad shouldered, with dark hair, flecked with grey and cut long below the collar. Wide blue eyes set in a strong, lean face gave him the look of an actor Sam liked but couldn’t remember the name of at that moment. What made him interesting rather than just handsome were the laughter lines that radiated from the corners of his eyes, and a mouth that gave the impression he was about to smile. Overall he had a kind face, Sam decided.

    She suddenly felt self-conscious, was it inappropriate that she was here? She was the person who had told them their son was dead. Now she turned up asking questions about the mother?  ‘It’s too late now, don’t be stupid,’ she told herself.

    She held out her warrant card and smiled, “Hi — Mr Talbot? Sam Tate, we spoke earlier.” 

It was always good to seem approachable, friendly. Nothing to be gained by being intimidating. Not at this point anyway.

    Something flashed across Lenny’s face before he answered. “Oh, hello, yes, do come in.” He stood aside and swept an arm towards the interior. 

    A wide hallway led through to a spacious living room with soft looking sofas and richly patterned, oriental rugs over floorboards. Beyond that a large kitchen looked out over a walled garden. 

    “Would you like some tea? Or a soft drink? Lenny offered, “I have lemonade if you’d prefer.”

    “No thank-you sir, I’m fine.” Sam said. She looked at Lenny. “Sofa or kitchen chair?”

    Lenny stood there, looking slightly confused for a moment, then said, “Oh, yes of course, why don’t we sit in the kitchen?” 

    They walked through and Lenny pulled a chair out for Sam, then seated himself opposite her. He seemed calm but distracted. Again only to be expected.

    “Thank you.” Sam sat down , shuffled her pen and pad for a moment and then said, “I find it best to start by running through everything we know abou —”

    “I’m sorry, have we’ve met before, you seem familiar?” Lenny interrupted. He was looking at her intently.

    Sam had hoped this wouldn’t happen. She was aware that she looked quite different. She wasn’t in uniform, for a start. And her hair was longer, although she’d worn it up today.  And no glasses, these days it was contact lenses. It was always possible, she had hoped, that he wouldn’t recognise her at all.

    She thought it best not to beat around the bush. “We met, last year sir. I came to see you and your wife about your son, Jamie.” 

    Lenny sat back, his mouth open. “That’s it! Jesus, couldn’t they send someone else, I mean, why would they send you?”

    “I’ve changed roles since then Mr Talbot.” Sam answered. “I’m a Detective Sergeant now. I work on missing persons cases.” She added softly. “If it upsets you I can see if someone else can take over?” She waited for his response, watching the struggle on his face.

    Finally Lenny said,  “No, no it’s fine. You’ll have to forgive me, I’m just… I can’t stand not knowing where Nikki is, I mean I’m just so worried.” His hands were restless, anxiety written across his face. “So please ask me whatever you want, anything I can help with, anything I can do. I just can’t…” His voice tailed off.

    He looks genuinely distraught, Sam thought, still handsome but very worried. Before chiding herself internally for such a flippant thought. “Maybe I will have that drink, something cold?” She said, breaking the silence.

    Lenny stood up, “Yes, good idea.” Clearly relieved to have something to do. He opened the fridge and took out a bottle. “Lemonade ok? He asked, or I’ve got Diet Coke if you prefer?        “A Diet Coke would be great” Sam said.

    Lenny emptied two-thirds of a can into a tall glass, added ice and a slice of lemon and placed in front of Sam. He poured himself a lemonade and sat down. They sipped their drinks for a moment or two which helped to dissipate the tension in the room.

    Sam re-opened the conversation, “The first thing I have to do is a risk assessment.”

    Lenny looked incredulous. “For what?”

    “For your wife, for Nikki,” said Sam. “We have to decide whether she is at risk. We grade that risk from no apparent risk, to a low, medium or high risk.”

    “But we don’t know what’s happened, how can we decide that?” Lenny was frustrated.

    “Well, it’ s more about looking at what we do know.” Said Sam. “For instance, has anything happened recently to make you think she might be particularly worried about anything, or depressed, or having thoughts of self harm?”

    “Jesus, we lost our son. She lost her boy. Of course she’s felt all those things at one time or another in the last year. But Nikki’s not weak, she’s strong. She’d never do anything to herself. I know she wouldn’t.”

    “I have to ask these questions Mr Talbot.” Sam kept her voice even. She had done this before, with equally distressed people, several times.

    “I’m sorry.” Lenny took a deep breath. “You’re doing your job I know. And please call me Lenny, Mr Talbot sounds, I don’t know — odd.”

    “Of course.” Sam said. “So, Lenny, you don’t think your wife’s state of mind was fragile at the time she went missing?”

    “No, I don’t.” Lenny was firm.

    “Was there anything unusual that day? Was her behaviour quite normal?”

    “Definitely, she was in a good mood. She had a new client to see. It was a nice day, spring always makes her feel good. I think she has a touch of that S.A.D thing.”

    “S.A.D?” Sam queried.

    “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” Lenny explained. “It’s where you get low if you don’t get enough sunlight.”

    Sam made notes, “Was she low that day?” 

    This was a trick you learned in training. Ask the same question twice but in different forms. See if the answer changes. Lenny had already said she was in a good mood.

    Lenny looked worried, “Look, I’m only half serious. It’s not an actual problem or anything. We joke about it a lot, I just meant she likes summer. Who doesn’t?”

    “I see.” Sam nodded. She felt Lenny was genuine. “Why don’t you take me through that morning, everything you can remember? I know, from your report, that she left for work after you. She took your daughter to school?”

    “Yes, that’s right,” Lenny nodded. He then walked Sam through the morning’s events, right through to the phone call from Nikki saying she would be a little late for Lydia. 

    “That’s the last I heard. And that was Monday and it’s Wednesday and she just wouldn’t do this unless something had happened. I’ve tried ringing her but her phone’s off. The phone company won’t tell me anything, but you can find things out from them can’t you?” He took a deep breath. He looked anguished. “She must have been in an accident or something because she would never, ever do this to us.”

    Sadly, Sam knew that people were capable of doing things that you wouldn’t believe, but she hoped, not in this case. It wasn’t your average MISPER though, most notably because well-off, white, middle-class women, were in the lowest percentile of missing persons — but no doubt there would be a mundane explanation. 

    “Have you checked her things? Is there anything gone? Like for instance, passport, clothes, money from your account? Anything that is out of the ordinary?"

    “I’ve checked our room. Her passport is here — we have a hidden safe for all the valuables, there’s nothing missing — and as far as I can see she only has the clothes she was wearing with her. Our joint bank account hasn’t been used, except by me, since Monday morning, when she bought something at the shop next door to her gallery. She has a savings account but she’ll have the card for that with her so I can’t look at that. And then there’s her business account which her partner Hermione will be able to check for you. But I’ve already asked and Nikki hasn’t drawn money from there either, apparently.

    “Do you know how much is in her savings account?” Sam asked.

    “Not precisely,” Lenny shook his head.

    “Roughly then?” Sam pressed.

    “I think around fifty-thousand? She had a bit from her parents after they died and she’s always saved.” Lenny explained. 

    “Do you know what she bought — at the shop?” Sam continued.

    “No, it just says the name of the shop, ‘U-Market’ it’s a 24 hour store, sells everything. Lenny said.

    “Tell me about the back door.” Sam was looking at her pad where she had written the salient points from Lenny’s original phoned-in report.

    “Yeah that was odd. When I got home with Lydia, the back door was ajar. Lydia says she remembers her mum locking it before they left. So I don’t know how that could be.” Lenny said.

    “No alarm?” Sam queried.

    “Yes, but it wasn’t set. I’m afraid we’re a bit lax with that, unless we’re away for a few days or more we don’t set it.” Lenny said sheepishly.

    “Do you have a cleaner?” Sam asked.

    “No, we never have. The only person who has a key, other than me or Nikki, is her friend Catherine and she says she hasn’t used it since we gave it to her years ago, when we first bought the house.”

    “Can you give me this Catherine’s details?” Sam made a note of the name and address, and then continued, “So this is what will happen next. We’ll talk to the people that saw Nikki last, her staff, her business partner, the shopkeeper, the client um… here she consulted her notebook, ‘Exa.’ We’ll also request all the CCTV covering Nikki’s expected journey home. Her details and photograph are already on the Police National Computer along with an alert so any officer who comes across someone meeting her description will get in touch.” 

    “Ok, well, at least something’s happening I suppose.” Lenny looked doubtful.