starting right at the beginning?’
‘The beginning? Well, I suppose it all started when Deborah and a few of her friends applied for this part-time modelling job that was advertised in the local paper.’
‘What job was this, sir?’
‘You must have seen it. The advert’s been running for the past few weeks. Debbie cut it out and put it in her file.’
‘Do you have a copy to hand?’
‘No, she’s taken the whole file with her. I looked earlier in case she’d left something behind but there’s nothing.’
‘Do you have a copy of the local newspaper to hand, sir? In case the advert is still in it?’ Derek obediently left to look.
Muted sounds of his search reached the detective at the end of the line. Derek returned moments later, his search frustrated by the cleaning lady’s thoroughness. ‘No, no, I haven’t got it. All the rubbish has gone, you see.’
‘Never mind, sir, we can easily get a copy from the local paper. Perhaps for now you can tell me roughly what it said and how it came to lead to your wife’s disappearance.’
Derek explained about the opportunity that had eventually attracted Deborah and her friends, and the selection process in which she and Leslie had been successful. As he spoke he realised how vague and ill-informed he must sound.
‘Do you have the address of the photographic studio?’
‘No.’
‘Any correspondence of any sort?’
Derek shook his head wearily. ‘No.’
‘There must have been some sort of correspondence, sir. You must have discussed the whole thing.’
‘No. We didn’t. It was a source of some disagreement between us. I didn’t really approve of it, you see.’ And so it went on, the policeman’s questions becoming more and more cursory.
‘So, Mrs Fearnside applied with a number of her friends to an advert from a firm whose name you can’t remember, for some family models.’
‘Yes.’
‘Your wife and a few others – you can’t remember who apart from Leslie Smith – then went to an unknown hotel in London for an interview. Then she and an unknown number of her friends went to a local photographic shop and had pictures of themselves and their children taken. That would have been expensive; would your wife have had the money to pay for that herself or did she ask you for it?’
‘No and no. She obviously had money of her own but not enough, without going to her building society, to pay for anything significant and she didn’t ask me for any.’
‘I see. Then she went off to a photo session, again in London, but you don’t know the address or the name of the firm. Is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘Excuse me for asking, but were you close to your wife, sir? It’s just that, if mine had become involved in something like this, I think I would have looked into it a bit more.’
‘I don’t see that that’s any of your damned business, Sergeant!’
‘You called us in, Mr Fearnside, and your wife is missing. That makes this our business. I repeat, were you close to your wife?’
‘About the same as any couple that have been married for some time and have two demanding young children, I suppose. With the best will in the world, it is pretty hard to stay really close – life had a way of coming between us. Surely you must have found that yourself.’ Derek waited hopefully, but the policeman was quiet for some time.
Eventually he broke the silence: ‘So, you weren’t very close. You realise that I have to ask you the next question, sir. Was your wife having an affair?’
‘No! That is, I don’t think so.’ He paused, then finally: ‘No! Of course not. The whole suggestion’s ridiculous.’
‘I see.’ The detective’s tone indicated that he did not see it the same way as Derek at all. ‘When she left today did she take anything with her that might indicate that she was not intending to come straight back?’
Derek paused uncertainly before answering.
‘Not really, no.’ But even he could hear the falsehood in his
‘The beginning? Well, I suppose it all started when Deborah and a few of her friends applied for this part-time modelling job that was advertised in the local paper.’
‘What job was this, sir?’
‘You must have seen it. The advert’s been running for the past few weeks. Debbie cut it out and put it in her file.’
‘Do you have a copy to hand?’
‘No, she’s taken the whole file with her. I looked earlier in case she’d left something behind but there’s nothing.’
‘Do you have a copy of the local newspaper to hand, sir? In case the advert is still in it?’ Derek obediently left to look.
Muted sounds of his search reached the detective at the end of the line. Derek returned moments later, his search frustrated by the cleaning lady’s thoroughness. ‘No, no, I haven’t got it. All the rubbish has gone, you see.’
‘Never mind, sir, we can easily get a copy from the local paper. Perhaps for now you can tell me roughly what it said and how it came to lead to your wife’s disappearance.’
Derek explained about the opportunity that had eventually attracted Deborah and her friends, and the selection process in which she and Leslie had been successful. As he spoke he realised how vague and ill-informed he must sound.
‘Do you have the address of the photographic studio?’
‘No.’
‘Any correspondence of any sort?’
Derek shook his head wearily. ‘No.’
‘There must have been some sort of correspondence, sir. You must have discussed the whole thing.’
‘No. We didn’t. It was a source of some disagreement between us. I didn’t really approve of it, you see.’ And so it went on, the policeman’s questions becoming more and more cursory.
‘So, Mrs Fearnside applied with a number of her friends to an advert from a firm whose name you can’t remember, for some family models.’
‘Yes.’
‘Your wife and a few others – you can’t remember who apart from Leslie Smith – then went to an unknown hotel in London for an interview. Then she and an unknown number of her friends went to a local photographic shop and had pictures of themselves and their children taken. That would have been expensive; would your wife have had the money to pay for that herself or did she ask you for it?’
‘No and no. She obviously had money of her own but not enough, without going to her building society, to pay for anything significant and she didn’t ask me for any.’
‘I see. Then she went off to a photo session, again in London, but you don’t know the address or the name of the firm. Is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘Excuse me for asking, but were you close to your wife, sir? It’s just that, if mine had become involved in something like this, I think I would have looked into it a bit more.’
‘I don’t see that that’s any of your damned business, Sergeant!’
‘You called us in, Mr Fearnside, and your wife is missing. That makes this our business. I repeat, were you close to your wife?’
‘About the same as any couple that have been married for some time and have two demanding young children, I suppose. With the best will in the world, it is pretty hard to stay really close – life had a way of coming between us. Surely you must have found that yourself.’ Derek waited hopefully, but the policeman was quiet for some time.
Eventually he broke the silence: ‘So, you weren’t very close. You realise that I have to ask you the next question, sir. Was your wife having an affair?’
‘No! That is, I don’t think so.’ He paused, then finally: ‘No! Of course not. The whole suggestion’s ridiculous.’
‘I see.’ The detective’s tone indicated that he did not see it the same way as Derek at all. ‘When she left today did she take anything with her that might indicate that she was not intending to come straight back?’
Derek paused uncertainly before answering.
‘Not really, no.’ But even he could hear the falsehood in his
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