Vanishing Point

‘Save it, Jack. For when you actually mean it,’ she said as she stood up to leave.

Before he had a chance to say anything she was already walking away.

*

Brady made his way back to his office. He was cursing his stupidity at leaving his car keys on his desk. He needed to be somewhere and fast. And the last place he wanted to be was wandering around the station when Adamson was looking for blood: his blood.

He grabbed his keys off the desk as someone knocked on the door.

‘Yeah?’ Brady called out distractedly.

Conrad walked in.

‘Sir?’ Conrad greeted, surprised that Brady looked as if he was going somewhere.

‘I’ve got a meeting to go to, Conrad,’ answered Brady. ‘This won’t take long, will it?’

‘You wanted an update on the missing girl, sir.’

‘What have you got?’

‘I’ve just spoken to Harvey, sir.’

Brady sighed as he agitatedly ran his hand through his hair. ‘Can it wait?’

‘You might want to hear this,’ replied Conrad.

Brady sat down.

‘Does she fit the body type?’ he asked, cutting to the chase.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Go on,’ he instructed, aware that he was going to be late. And the person he was meeting wouldn’t hang around.

‘Well, she’s been missing since Thursday morning, sir,’ answered Conrad. ‘Didn’t turn up at school.’

‘So why wait until now to report her missing?’

‘Harvey said her parents weren’t overly concerned until they saw the news this morning about our murder victim. Panicked them. They tried calling her mobile, but she’s not answering.’

‘Where did they think she’s been since Thursday? I mean, this is Saturday for Christ’s sake.’

‘Parents believed that she’d been staying at a friend’s house. It seems her younger sister’s been covering for her. The missing girl’s called Melissa Ryecroft and unbeknown to her parents she was allegedly approached by a model agency scout on her Facebook wall last Sunday. Said he could get her in front of a top model agency in London if she was prepared to move fast. Said he’d arrange a meeting with them which was supposed to have been scheduled for 10am Friday. He also said he’d meet her in London on the Thursday. All of this was arranged without her parents’ knowledge. They had no idea about this model agency or scout. As I said, they believed she was staying over at a girlfriend’s house. They had no idea what she was getting involved in.’