A Wreath for my Sister Read Free

She was fumbling a little.
    He shook his head. ‘Not in this case.’
    â€˜We would determine mental state,’ she continued, a little needlessly. Pelham looked unconvinced.
    â€˜Would you arrest someone on suspicion?’ His voice was thick with emotion. His hands trembled around the whisky tumbler.
    â€˜Not usually purely on suspicion,’ Joanna said coolly. ‘We’d want a bit more. Some definite evidence. But,’ she added quickly, ‘we would probably do a more thorough search of a suspect’s premises and car if we felt the disappearance was suspicious.’
    The man nodded. ‘I see.’
    â€˜But surely all this was done at the time of your daughter’s disappearance? It’s routine, Mr Pelham.’
    He was silent, his eagle eyes fixed on hers.
    â€˜Did you let the police know you suspected someone of being involved?’
    He looked away. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I didn’t. Now ... Now I wish I had. There was someone, you see.’
    Joanna stood up. ‘It’s always best to be frank with the police,’ she said rather primly and then, more kindly, ‘You really should come to the station if you want us to look into it.’
    He looked downcast and she felt she hadn’t helped as much as he had hoped she would.
    â€˜By the way,’ she said. ‘What’s her name?’
    â€˜Deborah.’
    Randall Pelham covered his face with his hands. ‘She left her home two years ago.’ He looked at Joanna, and she sensed the pain in his eyes almost as if it were her own. ‘She left her little boy behind. Abandoned him.’ He stopped. ‘She would never have done that – if she’d been alive.’
    Joanna sat down again. ‘There must have been an investigation.’
    â€˜There was. They didn’t find anything. She’d been out shopping in the afternoon and never came home. We knew she’d been finding things difficult, but surely ... surely she wouldn’t have abandoned her son?’
    â€˜Sometimes women do.’
    â€˜I can’t believe it of her.’ He fumbled in his jacket pocket and tugged out a crumpled photograph. It was of a lively-looking girl with dark curly hair and a huge smile. ‘This is the picture the police used,’ he said, suddenly bitter. ‘They said she looked like a girl who enjoyed a good time. Does she look to you as though she liked a good time?’
    â€˜It’s just a phrase,’ Joanna said lamely.
    â€˜I know what it means.’ He put the photograph back in his pocket.
    â€˜Randall. Randall .’ Elspeth Pelham was standing over her husband, her hand gripping his shoulder.
    He gave her a half-smile. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Sorry, my dear.’
    Elspeth Pelham tightened her lips.
    â€˜This is Detective Inspector Piercy,’ he fumbled.
    â€˜I know who she is.’ Her eyes were hard and hostile.
    Joanna turned back to the husband. ‘I’m quite prepared to look into your daughter’s case,’ she said. ‘But you’ll have to come to the station and make a statement if you’d like us to pursue the matter. Think about it, Mr Pelham. But if there was a full investigation two years ago and they turned up nothing I don’t hold out a lot of hope unless you can produce new evidence. Many missing persons are never found.’ She met his eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to give you false hope.’
    The man’s face tightened. ‘Don’t you realize?’ he said. ‘Even false hope’s better than no hope.’
    She crossed the room, back to Tom.
    â€˜Well,’ he said ‘what was all that about?’
    She glanced back at the unhappy man sitting staring into his glass. ‘Did you know that his daughter disappeared two years ago?’
    â€˜No,’ Tom said. Then he stopped. ‘Hang on a minute – I do remember