the lounge and grabbed my iPad, checking my email inbox again – empty – before doing a Google search.
No, there wasn’t a rule.
It’s a common belief that you have to wait 24 hours before reporting, but this is not true. You can make a report to the police as soon as you think a person is missing. Most people who go missing return or are found within 48 hours, with only around 1% still remaining missing after a year …
A year? Fear swirled in my stomach. But most people came back within forty-eight hours. I checked the time. Nine o’clock. That was forty-six hours then. Forty-six hours since I’d last heard from my husband.
Come on, Danny. You’ve got two hours. Be like most people. Come home. Please, Danny.
And if he wasn’t, if he didn’t come home? What then? I’d have to do it, wouldn’t I? Yes, I thought. I’d do it, first thing in the morning. I’d go to the police and report him missing.
Chapter 4
‘Boss, sorry to disturb but there’s somebody just called in downstairs you might want to have a quick chat with.’
Helena dragged her eyes reluctantly from her computer screen, where she was once again reading through the latest on the two murder cases. The usual incident room buzz had dulled to a low hum on this grey Sunday morning, and she suspected that she wasn’t the only one feeling disheartened and exhausted. It had been a long, and largely fruitless, weekend, and she’d slept badly the previous night, waking every hour, her mind racing. In the end she’d crawled out of bed at 5 a.m. and gone for a long run on The Downs, making sure her route took her past the scenes of both murders, hoping for some flash of inspiration, some inkling as to why on earth two young men had been bludgeoned to death for no apparent reason. She rubbed the aching small of her back – I really need to go and see an osteopath or someone if I’m going to be able to keep running, she thought – and sighed. Forensics had come up with nothing on the latest killing, and while she still didn’t know for sure if the two deaths were linked, the similarities between the two men were just so damn striking …
She knew it wouldn’t be long before the papers picked up on it too, and she was dreading the possible Monday morning headlines:
TWO SLAIN – TERROR ON THE DOWNS
DOUBLE MURDER: THE LOOKALIKE VICTIMS OF THE DOWNS KILLER
She shuddered. She needed sleep, and a decent cup of tea, but neither seemed to be forthcoming any time soon.
‘What is it, Devon?’
She turned to her DS, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.
‘It’s a woman who wants to report her husband missing. She says—’
‘A missing person? Shit, Devon, I’ve got a double murder on my hands here. Why the hell would I be interested in a missing person? Give me a break.’
She saw him flinch, and immediately felt guilty.
‘Oh, mate, I’m sorry. Knackered, you know. Go on, tell me.’
He gave her a small smile.
‘No worries, I had the same reaction when the front desk called me. But I’ve had a quick chat, and honestly, there’s something … look, can you just trust me on this, and come down and have a quick word? It’ll take five minutes, tops.’
Helena stared at him for a moment and then sighed. He was a good copper, Devon – a good friend too – and she trusted his judgement. He’d been through a bit of a tough time in his personal life recently, but not once had it affected his work, and she wondered if he realized how much she appreciated that, and him. Probably not. She’d have to tell him, one of these days. For now though, if he thought she needed to see this bloody woman, then fine. It would do her good to get out of the overheated incident room for a few minutes, if nothing else. She pushed her chair back from her desk and stood up.
‘OK, you win. But you’re buying me a large mug of the canteen’s finest on the way back up.’
He grinned, his teeth white and even.
‘Deal.’
***
The woman, waiting in an interview room, was probably in her early thirties, slender with shoulder-length, wavy brown hair, her pretty face pale and drawn. She shook hands nervously, her palm clammy, and introduced herself as Gemma O’Connor.
Across the table, Helena smiled, trying to put the woman at