Human Remains

know who that was? The girl you spoke to?’
    ‘Cheryl, I think she said. I seem to remember Audrey talking about her, I think they got on well. Cheryl said she’d last seen her walking up the hill on Friday night. She didn’t want to wait around for a taxi. She was walking up the hill on her own.’
     
     
    ‘Can we please go to the station now?’ I said, when we were back in the car.
    Sam was sitting in the driver’s seat. He hadn’t turned on the engine; he was staring straight ahead with his hands on the steering wheel.
    ‘Sam?’
    ‘Don’t you want to go and talk to Cheryl?’ he asked. His eyes were bright with excitement. I hadn’t seen him like this before. Had he been like this when we’d sat and had coffee in town, the first time we’d met? I’d been so full of suspicion then – maybe he’d toned it down.
    ‘I want to go and make sure they’re looking for Audrey,’ I said.
    ‘Try ringing them again,’ he said, turning on the engine at last. ‘If there’s anyone there, I’ll drop you off on the way.’
    There was still no bloody answer, of course, from anyone. They were all in the morning meeting, which was where I should be by now. I wondered what would happen if I failed to turn up for work. Would they even notice?
    Arnold and Partners took up the whole of the second floor of a building behind the Market Square, overlooking the back of the bingo hall that had been a cinema when I’d been a teenager. We found a space in the Pay and Display car park and walked across to the building.
    ‘Is this what you do all day?’ I asked. ‘You wander around and pester people?’
    ‘I’m not pestering anyone,’ he said. ‘Am I?’
    ‘Hmm.’ I had my arms crossed over my chest. At the bottom of the hill I could see the roof of the police station, covered in aerials and antennae, all Sixties grey concrete and pebbledash.
    ‘If anything I should be in the editorial meeting,’ he said. ‘But technically it’s my day off, so they won’t miss me.’
    ‘Why are we doing this on your day off?’
    He stopped, then, and turned to face me. ‘I’m starting to wish I’d just dropped you off at the station first thing.’
    ‘So am I!’
    We stared at each other.
    ‘Don’t you want to help find Audrey?’ he asked.
    ‘It’s not our job to find Audrey!’ I exploded. ‘Why don’t you trust the police to do it?’
    ‘I’m willing to bet they haven’t got as far with this as I have,’ he said, still perfectly calm.
    ‘They can only work with intelligence received,’ I said. ‘And at the moment I’ve got crucial stuff to tell them, and I’m farting around outside an accountants’ with Nancy Drew.’
    I could tell by his expression that he didn’t know who Nancy Drew was. ‘Or the Hardy Boys, or whatever they were called,’ I said, lamely.
    ‘You don’t have to come in with me,’ he said. ‘I’ll pick you up later if you want. Just send me a text. Or… whatever.’
    ‘Fine,’ I said, giving him a backward wave and stomping off down the hill, trying to look purposeful.
    The morning meeting was just finishing when I arrived. Trigger and Kate piled back into the office talking and laughing without even registering that I was sitting at my desk. ‘Did I miss much?’ I said, in the end, as much to remind myself that I was alive and breathing as anything else.
    ‘Nah,’ said Trigger. ‘The DI’s got his knickers in a twist because the Chief might put in an appearance this afternoon. Clear desk policy and ties on, you know. Welcome back, by the way. Are you – er – alright?’
    As if I’d been off with the flu or something.
    ‘Thanks,’ I answered. ‘I’m much better now.’
    Kate had gone next door, presumably to round up her mates for a coffee break.
    I found the incident log, by searching for Lindsay Brown and the address where Sam and I had had tea this morning.
    CALLER IS REPORTING THAT HER FRIEND HASN’T COME HOME THIS WEEKEND
*
FRIEND IS AUDREY MADISON AGED 36 DARK BROWN HAIR BLUE EYES F507 TEL MOBILE NUMBER 07670 212 212
*
AUDREY WENT OUT WITH FRIENDS ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND HASN’T BEEN SEEN SINCE – WORK SAYS SHE HASN’T TURNED UP THIS MORNING
*
MOBILE PHONE IS SWITCHED OFF
*
AUDREYS BOYFRIEND CORREX EX BOYFRIEND IS VORN BRADSTOCK LIVES IN BRIARSTONE TEL NO 07672 392 913
*
REPORT TO INTEL MAJ CRIME – ADVICE GIVEN TO CALLER
     
    That was it. That was literally it. Nothing further on the report. It didn’t mean nothing was happening, of course, just