Behind Dead Eyes (DC Ian Bradshaw #2) - Howard Linskey Page 0,59

to get very far if that’s a line of enquiry – I suspect you noticed that if anyone is cuckoo, it’s Audrey. Her and her senses parted company many moons ago.’

‘So there’s no substance in it?’

‘God, no. Sandra was as sane as anyone. Her behaviour did change before her disappearance but she wasn’t having a nervous breakdown or anything.’

‘But that change in behaviour was noticeable enough to cause you concern?’

Jarvis nodded. ‘I read up on it, even asked a doctor who’s a friend of mine. I didn’t tell him I was asking about Sandra. I made out I had a friend who was worried about his son. I told him the behaviour I’d witnessed and he came to a simple conclusion.’

‘Which was?’

Jarvis seemed to sag then. ‘Drugs. You know, I used to have a very old-fashioned view on drug users. I thought that if parents took the time to outline the pitfalls of drug abuse, if they came down hard on their children if they caught them with a spliff, then they would never lose them to drugs. That’s what I used to think.’

‘And what do you think now?’

‘That I was a fool,’ he admitted, ‘that it can happen to anyone: your kids, my kids, anybody’s kids. If they get a taste for drugs, they’ll give up everything for them because nothing means more to them than the next fix. I’ve seen it, down at the rehab centres and the needle exchanges. We have to provide them, otherwise the playgrounds would be full of used syringes. It’s a bloody tragedy.’

‘You think that’s what happened to Sandra?’

‘I hope to God I’m wrong, but it’s my best guess,’ and he fell silent for a moment before eventually adding, ‘though I’ve imagined worse things.’

‘She wasn’t gone long though, from home I mean. What was it, a term and a half?’

‘It doesn’t take long,’ he said sadly.

‘How do you think she would get her hands on hard drugs in her first year at university, particularly a posh one like Durham?’

‘Forgive me, Tom, but that’s one of the things I’m asking you to find out, though if you don’t mind me saying so, you’re being a bit naïve. There’s a drug dealer in every city, town and village in this country; they hang round every playground, pub and university campus. They have to; dealers are parasites and the only way they can make a living is to find new users. Drugs are the ultimate growth industry. I’ve read the reports, I’ve seen the stats. They call it a war on drugs and I can tell you this, we are losing it.’

‘Did she have a boyfriend? Someone who could have got her started with drugs?’

‘She never told us about one, but somebody must have got to her. I don’t think she would have gone looking for a dealer. Somebody must have taken advantage.’

‘That line of enquiry went cold but I’ll look into it again.’

Jarvis took out a packet of cigarettes then and offered one to Tom, who shook his head. ‘Very sensible.’

‘I saw a fellah on the way up here,’ Tom said, ‘by the name of Harry.’

‘Old misery guts?’

‘He told the police you rowed with your daughter a few days before she disappeared.’

‘I told them that too,’ said Jarvis.

‘Did she come up here to have a row with you or did one just develop?’

‘Why would she come all the way up here to start a row?’ asked Jarvis.

‘I don’t know,’ admitted Tom. ‘She obviously felt the need to see you. She could just have waited for you to come home but instead she walked all the way up here, so either it was important or she wanted to talk to you in private, away from her mam and grandma.’

Jarvis nodded and gave a grim smile. ‘You are a perceptive man. She did want to talk to me in private. It didn’t start as a row but soon developed into one, I’m sorry to say.’

‘What was it about?’

‘The future,’ said Jarvis, ‘her future, to be exact. She wanted to drop out of college.’

‘Why?’

‘She wasn’t enjoying it, it wasn’t what she was expecting, she couldn’t see the point of it and wasn’t making many friends.’ He paused. ‘I think Sandra thought I’d hear her out, agree with her reasoning and give her my parental blessing.’

‘But you didn’t?’

‘I told her not to be so bloody stupid. Me and my daughter are both cut from the same cloth. We can be strong-willed, stubborn even, so we clash. She was born