Read Online Dying for Christmas by Tammy Cohen - Free Book Online

before saying, ‘Mrs Gold, does Jessica have mental health issues?’
    ‘God, no, nothing like that.’
    It was the first time the father had really spoken. He was in the seat to the left of his wife. Dark like his sons, but less solid.
    ‘She’s not schizophrenic or anything. It was more like she used to have imaginary friends. Lots of kids do. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them. She’s fine now – she’s got a great job, she lives with her boyfriend.’
    A child came skidding in from the living room. A boy of about six. Kim did what every parent does, plotting him on a scale of her own children. Older than Katy, younger than Rory.
    ‘Aren’t you finished yet? When can we open our presents? You said “soon” ages ago!’
    ‘We just need to finish speaking to these two kind police officers who are going to find Auntie Jessica.’
    Whichever brother that was, he had a completely different voice when he addressed his child. Soft and rich. He’d used the same voice when speaking to his daughter earlier as she’d let them in – a striking girl of about twelve or thirteen with a Smartphone wedged into the pocket of her skinny jeans.
    ‘Silly Auntie Jessica. She got lost again, didn’t she?’
    The child trooped disconsolately back out again, shoulders exaggeratedly stooped.
    ‘Again?’
    From her vantage point leaning back against the fridge, Kim surveyed the faces around the table, her eyebrows arched.
    It was the boyfriend, Travis, who spoke. ‘She wandered off once before, about a year ago. That’s why I didn’t call the police straight away.’
    ‘What do you mean, wandered off?’
    ‘She sometimes goes into these trances and afterwards she can’t remember anything about them. They’re usually over really quickly, but around this time last year she called me after midnight to go and pick her up from Luton airport – and she had no idea how she got there.’
    Kim glanced at Martin, but her colleague was staring at the opposite wall, giving nothing away.
    ‘Did she go to the doctor?’
    ‘See?’ The father again, directing himself to Travis. ‘I told you she should have gone to the doctor – it could be something serious, epilepsy or something.’
    ‘She wouldn’t go. What can I do, she’s a grown woman.’
    Travis Riley looked agitated, but not beside himself. Tall and thin, there was a boyish air about him still, although he had to be around thirty. The severe black glasses only served to further emphasize the youthfulness of his angular face. But there was something attractive about him, nonetheless, a quality of earnestness, a smile that came out of nowhere and transformed his face.
    ‘There’s another thing.’ The mother was looking straight ahead, not meeting anyone’s eyes. ‘She’s been self-harming.’
    Travis didn’t like that. ‘Don’t!’
    Kim imagined how she’d feel if Katy was grown up and she had to say that about her. The thought was a rip in the tissue of her heart.
    ‘What do you mean, self-harming?’ One of the brothers now.
    ‘I’ve seen cuts on her wrists and arms. Bruises too.’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’
    ‘She won’t talk about it. You know what she’s like.’
    ‘It’s private.’ Travis again. ‘She never admitted it and anyway, it only happened a couple of times. She’d be mortified if she thought you all knew.’
    Kim sighed inside herself. This put a whole new slant on things. A girl with a history of undiagnosed mental illness had disappeared. It happened depressingly often. Perhaps she’d run away or walked into a wood or a park with a length of rope. They saw it all the time.
    Yet there was the television-archive job. Jessica must be pretty together to hold that down. And Travis didn’t seem to be the type who’d hang around with anyone too off-the-rails. A junior doctor, he’d said. Ambitious, she thought.
    She could sense her partner’s interest waning. When this had been the uncharacteristic disappearance of a