was in running gear. No money, no other clothes.”
“You know as well as I do that those things can be easily circumvented if she has the right friends,” the other man said. “Regardless, there’s not much else we can do right now. You’ve already run a comprehensive ground and aerial search, and you said none of the locals have reported any suspicious activity or people?”
“Yes.” He hated to admit it, but the other man was right—there was literally nothing the larger police branches could do that he, with Golden Cove’s help, couldn’t do himself. “I’m going to work it as a missing person, send out an updated alert.” He’d already fired off a request to his fellow officers to be on the lookout for Miriama, and he’d tapped media contacts to get the story what attention he could.
“Now that your search has come up empty,” his senior officer said, “I’ll have our press team issue a formal media release using the photograph you sent. She’s a beauty, so there’s a good chance one of the major outlets will pick it up.” No cynicism in the other man’s voice, just pragmatism. “You might even get nationwide coverage because of this photographic scholarship she’s meant to be taking up in a few weeks. If your girl’s left the town, someone will report it in.”
Hanging up soon afterward, Will considered his next step. Even if Miriama had been the victim of foul play rather than an accident, it didn’t immediately follow that there was no hope of finding her alive. Her abductor could be holding her captive, might’ve incapacitated her so she couldn’t try to escape or cry out for help.
Until Will had a body or other incontrovertible evidence of her death, he’d treat her as a missing person. And all missing person investigations began with those closest to the vanished.
He’d already spoken to Matilda and Steve. It was time he sat down properly with Dr. Dominic de Souza.
After sending Anahera and the others home in the early hours of the morning, Will had driven out to the main road and waited. Dominic de Souza’s vehicle had appeared approximately twenty-five minutes later; by then, Will had spoken to the family who’d asked the young doctor to come out to their remote property and learned it was the mother who’d made the call—and that she’d done it just after the six o’clock news began on TV.
Approximately fifteen minutes after Tania Meikle saw Miriama run by.
So the doctor did have a small window of time where he could’ve done something to his girlfriend—except that Will had spoken on the phone to Mrs. Keith earlier in the night. She’d been adamant she’d seen Dominic’s car drive by around 6:10, 6:12 at the latest. Which meant he must’ve left immediately after the call.
It further compressed his unaccounted-for time. It took a lot longer than a few minutes to subdue or hurt a strong young woman, dump or hide her body, then change clothes to obscure any blood evidence. That’s after Dominic would’ve had to track her down. Usually, the boyfriend was the lead suspect, but Dominic’s alibi appeared solid; he’d also broken down totally when Will told him the news.
Fear and shock could be faked, but Will was no first-year cadet. Dominic’s response had been pure, naked emotion. The other man was devastated. He also had no marks or scratches on his arms or face—and Miriama would’ve fought.
“I don’t know what to do,” Dominic said when he opened the clinic door to Will, the brown of his irises startling against the bloodshot whites of his eyes and his jaw dark with stubble. “Nikau says I shouldn’t be stumbling around out there, that I should sit here and think of anything Miri might’ve said that could help find her.”
Will nodded, aware Dominic wasn’t much of an outdoorsman, and with his head so screwed up right now, he’d be more liability than help. “Can we talk?”
“Yeah, sure.” Looking lost, the doctor led him inside into the examination room. Will took a seat in the patient chair, let Dominic sink into the doctor’s chair, in the hope the familiar surroundings would keep him calm.
The other man’s white shirt was wrinkled, his black pants the same. It might’ve been the same outfit he’d been wearing when Will stopped him on the road in the early morning darkness, but it was hard to tell—Dominic wore the same thing every day to work, almost like a uniform. “When was the last time you