Read Online Vanishing Point by Alan Moore - Free Book Online Page B

Volkswagen van, right? When did you realise that you were stuck there?’
    â€˜Yes, it’s a camper-van. We stopped overnight Wednesday and when we broke camp on Thursday morning the Kombi wouldn’t start. We’d been camping for the past couple of weeks and there’d been no problems. I couldn’t work out what was wrong. We waited the whole day hoping that someone might come along the track. There was absolutely no traffic at all. It was clear that we might run out of water even though I’d organised a way of collecting dew. Nothing came all day and it seemed unlikely that any another vehicle would be travelling that route, especially over the weekend. Carolyn, our baby, is only four months old and Katherine is still breast-feeding. We couldn’t just sit there waiting for something to happen, especially since it was so hot during the day.’
    â€˜In your recounting of events prior to the breakdown, you told the duty officer that you and your wife had an argument the day before the car broke down. Now, what was that all about?’
    â€˜It’s not a car, it’s a VW Kombi, all organised for camping. And it wasn’t really an argument. It wasn’t even a big issue, just a discussion about my work. My wife thought I spent too much time at university with my research and tutoring. Being a Tutor meant that I often worked nights. We also had a bit of a disagreement about proposed affirmative action policies at work.’
    â€˜These night classes, did you meet other women there? Is there a chance that your wife might have thought there were other reasons for being away from home?’
    â€˜That’s a ridiculous idea!’ Alec angrily retorted. There could be nothing further from the truth. He adored his wife, but he could see where the police were coming from; looking for possible motives.
    â€˜Do you resent women having positions of authority?’ John Murray asked.
    The secretary looked up from her note pad.
    â€˜No. No, not at all,’ Alec stammered. ‘I don’t see any reason why women shouldn’t be promoted to any position. But I think that it should be based on merit, not simply because they’re women. But none of this is helping us find my family. What are you getting at?’
    â€˜Just rounding out the enquiry. You’ve no idea how seemingly pointless conversations and ideas lead to discovering why things happen.’
    â€˜I didn’t have anything to do with Katherine’s disappearance!’
    â€˜At this stage we really don’t have much to work on. If someone disappears there could be many reasons. We have to look at all possibilities. You realise that, surely? After all, you were the last person to see her and —’
    â€˜Officer, I love my wife and my child. They are the most important people in the world to me. I would never do anything to hurt them. I’m trying to get you to hurry up and look for them. If I had anything do to with their disappearance do you think I’d be trying to get you out there instead of sitting here going over and over my story?’
    â€˜Well, I do think it a little strange that you left them there for so long on their own, and with a baby in that heat. Why didn’t you try and get assistance sooner?’
    â€˜What was I supposed to do? We waited for help but nothing came! I couldn’t expect my wife to walk across country, especially carrying our baby. My wife is very competent. We’d been out bush for nearly two weeks and had no problems. She had plenty of food and water. I told her I’d be back by Sunday, or Monday at the latest. That’s like only three days max, so I thought they’d be okay there.’
    â€˜Mmm. If it was my family, I think I’d have tried harder to get help sooner once you got to Ceduna.’
    Alec felt aggrieved by this comment. He thought he’d done all that was humanly possible. His voice developed an