6 comments/ 11028 views/ 4 favorites Whatever Happened to Sarah Hawkins? By: Cromagnonman Note: I have been deliberately vague about James' and Sarah's jobs for the simple reason that, identifying their job has little relevance to the plot development or outcome. CM Evening, Day: 1 "What happened to Sarah Hawkins?" That was the question on everyone's lips following my appearance on the TV evening news. "When was the last time that you saw Sarah?" The microphone was thrust in front of my face by the Crime Reporter from one of the channels. She was young, blonde, and attractive, with a super-white smile, and the hint of an abrasive manner when she chose. It was my turn, I had seen her interviewing people before, and had got the impression that she formed an opinion early, and that flavoured the questions and how she treated the interviewee. "She left for work before me this morning, and I expected her to be at home when I got in. That was the usual practise. She wasn't here when I got home." "Was this unusual?" "Yes. It was highly unusual, and that's what got me worried. You see, she made it a point of being home for me in the evenings, and would always ring if there was any change to that. She did not ring me during the day." "How long have you two been together?" "We've been together now for three years and living together for the past eighteen months. We have planned to eventually marry, but were in no rush." "What did you do when you arrived home and she wasn't there?" "I noticed that there were several messages on the answering machine. They were all from her work, wanting to know where she was. That was when I called the police. I'm worried for her safety, and just want her back home safely." I realised, as soon as I said this that a fair proportion of people watching this broadcast would immediately look on an impassioned plea, such as I had just made, as a sign of guilt, and that I had something to do with her disappearance. The police didn't help any. "Mr Symonds, Detective Sergeant Montgomery, I would appreciate it if you would not speak to the media until after we have spoken with you, it could hinder our investigation. Now, can you think of any reason why Sarah would just disappear?" "No, none." "Your relationship, was it a happy one?" "Yes, I am very much in love with Sarah, and she with me. We never really argued." "Never really, so there were arguments were there?" He was very quick to jump at the apparent admission that not everything was rosy. 'The occasional one, but it was never heated and never lasted more than a few minutes. Once it was over, it was over, and we made up straight away, at least as soon as we could." "When was the last of these arguments?" "It was weeks ago, I can't remember the exact time and date." "What was it about, do you remember that?" "I had bought a shirt that I really liked, and she didn't. I took it back the next day." He made notes in his pad. "Are there any relatives or friends that she might have gone to?" "Yes, we have many friends, and both of our parents are still around. I can give you names and addresses if that would help." "If you could, we will need to speak to these people." I took my tablet from my case, opened up the Contacts App and handed it to him. "Can you account for your movements today?" He asked as he noted the names and addresses of my contacts. "My appointments are all in that tablet, I can call up my schedule. Most of them were in my office, but I did have to go out for one appointment. All the times are there and you can check with the people that I had appointments with, they can verify my movements." More furious scribbling. He didn't impound the tablet so, at least at this stage, I don't appear to be a suspect. "Thank you sir, you have been most helpful. If we need you for anything else, what is the best number to contact you on?" "My mobile will be the best, I have it with me at all times." "Thank you sir, we'll be in touch." "You will let me know when you find her, won't you?" "Certainly sir, you will be the first to know." As soon as the police had left, and the media had withdrawn to the front lawn, I contacted Sarah's parents. "Mr Hawkins, I suppose that you've heard the news." "Yes James." He never called me Jim for which I was thankful, I hated it because as a kid it was always used in a derisive manner. "We've been avoiding the media that are camped outside. When first approached we didn't know what it was about, but as soon as they told us we issued a no comment and shut them out. I expect a visit from the police shortly. It's amazing how the vultures are so quick to get to the scent." "Their practise of scanning police communications help I think. You haven't heard from Sarah in the last day or so, have you?" "Not since we saw you on Sunday. There didn't appear to be anything bothering her then. Has she said or done anything that would give us cause for alarm?" "No, nothing. She was fine when she left for work this morning. She kissed me as usual and told me that she was planning something different for dinner tonight, but wouldn't tell me what it was. Nothing out of the ordinary there, she often did that." "Well, all I can say is, keep your chin up and try not to worry, before you say anything, I know that's a stupid thing to say, you love her too much not to worry, but it's good advice nonetheless." "Thanks Mr Hawkins. I'll try." My next call was to Mum and Dad. "Hi Dad, it's me. You've heard the news I gather." "Yes, we tried to call you a few minutes ago, but the line was engaged, I suspect that you were talking to Sarah's parents." "Yes. I've just finished speaking with them." "How are you holding up?" Dad asked. "I don't know. I'm still coming to grips with what has happened. I would be feeling a lot better if I'd not given that interview. I must have looked and sounded as guilty as hell. The channel ran one of those stupid polls where they ask the question even before any facts are available. The latest results don't look good for me." "Don't take any notice of it." "I won't, or I'll try not to, but you know, it's just another thing to worry about. Oh shit." "What is it?" "I gave the police my schedule for them to check, and there's one that they won't be able to. I had an appointment, I had to meet this guy, I've never met him before and he wanted to meet me for lunch at this restaurant, but he never showed. I was out of the office for over an hour that I won't be able to account for. Look, I'd better ring them and clear this up right away." But I couldn't clear it up right away. The officer in charge of the investigation had gone home, so an appointment was made for me to call in on my way to work in the morning. I tried to sleep, without success. I had several phone calls from friends before I decided to divert all calls to the answering machine and turned off my mobile. When I went to turn off my tablet I noticed that my Facebook page had hundreds and hundreds of hits, an even percentage of likes and dislikes. I decided not to read them. Morning, Day 2: Bleary eyed I staggered to the bathroom, and stood under the shower for a lot longer than normal in an attempt to wash my troubles down the drain, and restore some sort of equilibrium into my life. I left behind me a half drunk cup of coffee and a slice of toast with one bite taken from it, and headed for the door, only to find that I was somewhat of a cause celebre with the assembled media pack. I came close to running one cameraman down as I reversed out of my driveway. A reporter tried to open my door, and I thanked myself for locking it before I started the car. There was a mad scramble for vehicles as I drove off down the road a lot faster than normal. I called work and spoke with Reggie, (Regina, my secretary) as I walked into the police station. "Hi it's James, Look I'll be late in this morning. I'm just on my way in to speak with the police." "James, I've just had Rod (my boss) down here, he wants you to take some time off, at least until this blows over. In any case it's not a good idea you coming in this morning, the media is all over the place trying to interview anyone who has an opinion. The staff have all been told not to say anything, but some may have said something before that message got out. Stay away for the time being." "Look, I'll call as soon as I'm finished here and see how things stand, if it's still crawling with pond scum I'll go home. See you soon." "I am so glad you came in Mr Symonds, it has saved me the bother of finding you. I have several issues that I need clarified." Montgomery said as I sat down at his desk. "Before you start. The reason that I rang last night and arranged to come down this morning was that I remembered that one of the appointments that I had yesterday didn't show up. I was supposed to meet this man at a restaurant, I waited for over half an hour but he never showed, so I went back to the office." "He never showed? We have spoken to the man in question and he told us that you never kept the appointment. That is why we wanted to see you." "You've spoken to him? That's more than I was able to do, you see, I'd never met the man before in my life, at least I don't think so, the name was not familiar. There was no way that I could have contacted him when he didn't show because I didn't have a number for him. How did you manage to find him?" "We didn't, he approached us after seeing you on TV last night. He told us that, seeing you made him think that something didn't ring true, and that the information that he provided to us could help us in this matter." "How convenient." "What do you mean?" "Here is a man, who makes an appointment that he doesn't keep, and that takes me out of my office for over an hour so that I have no alibi for that time, and who just happens to be watching TV and sees me being interviewed, and thinks that I look guilty. How convenient." "Be that as it may. But it does open up another line of enquiry, don't you think?" "I came down here to help you, and now I find that I'm to be the prime suspect in this investigation. On the TV shows it's around this time that the suspect demands to see his Lawyer. I am making no such demands, you can ask any question that you like, I have nothing to hide, no reason to lie to you. All I want is Sarah back, is that too much to ask?" "When you were at the restaurant, did you speak to anyone?" "I spoke to a waitress who took me to a table to wait for him, and got me a drink." "What drink did you order?" "A Mineral water. I don't drink during the day, not even at lunch meetings." "How did you pay for this expensive drink?" "Cash, it was only a couple of dollars, not enough to use plastic." "A pity. We showed the staff at the restaurant your photo and none of them recognised it." "That doesn't seem possible, how many people would go to a restaurant and order a mineral water?" "A good question, if that's what happened. You say that you didn't have a number to call him, how is this possible?" "Because I didn't actually make the appointment myself." That raised an eyebrow. "When I checked my schedule yesterday morning it was there, I questioned Regina, that's my secretary, and she knew nothing about it. I also asked the receptionist and she told me that a man had rung the afternoon before and had requested the appointment, he wouldn't tell her what it was about or leave a contact number, so, because I wasn't available at that time, I was in a meeting, she just used my network connection to enter the appointment into my schedule." "We'll need for her to confirm that. So you left for that appointment about when?" "I had an eleven o'clock meeting that finished at eleven fifty and I left straight after that. The appointment was for twelve thirty and, because it was a nice day out, and it would be too much bother getting my car out of the car park, and finding a parking space near the restaurant, I decided to walk, it wasn't that far and I had plenty of time. I got to the restaurant at around twelve twenty. I left there at one fifteen, I figured that if he turned up I wouldn't have time before my next scheduled meeting at two." "What time did you get back to your office?" He looked at his notes when he asked this. "At one fifty." "A few minutes longer than it took to get to the restaurant." He didn't ask a question but made a note in his pad. "I saw something in a shop window and stopped for a minute or two. It was something that I thought that I'd go back for later, a present for Sarah." "Where was the store, and what was it that you were going to buy?" "It was a jewellery store in Crown Street called Djembe, which, despite the name, seemed to be mostly North African stuff. It was a silver bracelet, Sarah loves silver jewellery." "So, you have over an hour that you can't account for, would that be correct?" "If you look at it that way, then I suppose that I can't account for it." "More than enough time for you to meet Sarah and kill her, wouldn't you say?" "I really wouldn't know, but I doubt it very much. For a start, I wasn't aware that she wasn't at work, have you thought of that?" "True, I have to concede you that point, but then that wouldn't have been a problem if you had done the deed the previous night. We only have your word for it that she left the house when you said that she did. What if you had killed her at, say," He looked at his pad. "Two in the morning and disposed of her body and dumped her car somewhere?" Was he just doing this to upset me, or has someone provided him with that information? "You don't honestly think that I would do that to the woman that I love, do you?" "Stranger things have happened. I don't suppose that you have an alibi for the night before last, do you?" "I was in bed with Sarah. She got out of bed at six thirty and left for work at seven thirty. I got out of bed at seven and she kissed me good-bye as she left, and told me that she was preparing something different for dinner. That is exactly what happened." "So you say. Pardon me for being a little sceptical, but you have no proof of this." I was getting a little pissed at his attitude and was just about to blow my top, when I realised that's exactly what he wanted me to do. "No, I don't have any proof of that, but then I never thought that I'd need to account for being in bed with Sarah, that was a given, it had happened every night for I don't know how long, at least the last eighteen months. The only person who can corroborate my story is missing and, instead of looking for her you're sitting here accusing me of involvement in her disappearance." "Did you have sex with her?" He totally ignored my outburst. "I don't see that this is important but yes, we did make love." I deliberately emphasised that we made love, so that he would be aware of the distinction. "We made love every night, we had an enjoyable and active love life." "That will be all for the moment," He was definitely not happy with my answer, "I have to warn you not to plan any overseas trips for the next few weeks." "I wasn't planning to go anywhere until after Sarah is found. Then, I thought that a holiday might be in order after that." "Even if she doesn't want you to find her?" "That is not possible." I left, wondering where the good cop had been in all of this, I could have done with a friendly face in there. The front of the police station did nothing to improve my mood. "Mr Symonds, why did the police call you in this morning?" Some media clown screamed at me. "I came in voluntarily, just a polite chat to see how the search for Sarah is progressing." "Are the police any closer to making an arrest?" "You'll have to ask them that." "Are you a suspect?" I didn't know whether this was a fishing expedition, or whether there was a rumour doing the rounds that I was somehow suspected of involvement in Sarah's disappearance. "Not to my knowledge, the police never indicated that they were thinking that way. Now I need to get back to work, if you'll excuse me." I pushed my way through the mob, only to be stopped by the media Barbie Doll who had interviewed me yesterday. "Mr Symonds, I understand that you were unable to account for your movements yesterday, would you care to comment?" "Rachel, it is Rachel isn't it? I don't know where you are getting your information, but I was able to satisfy the police that, apart from not having the motive, I did not have the opportunity to be in any way responsible for Sarah's disappearance." "I also understand that the police are looking at another line of inquiry." "Really?" It was obvious that she was wanting me to deny this, she must have inside information from the police. "I would assume that to be entirely reasonable. In matters such as the disappearance of a person, I would have thought that the police would spread their efforts over a wide area, so as not to miss important details. Now I really must go." "One final question." She didn't give me time to object. "Are the police still treating this as a missing person's case or, are they treating it as murder?" "How should I know, you'll have to ask them. It would seem appropriate to consider that foul play may have occurred. I hope that that isn't the case, and that Sarah and I will be together again soon." As soon as I was free of the masses I called Reggie. "Hi it's me again, what does it look like back there?" "There are still a few of them camped at the front door, by the looks of the coffee cups lined up around them, they're in for the long haul. You'd better stay away for the time being." "I need to be doing something, I think I'll run the gauntlet and pick up some of the stuff that I would have been working on, and do it at home." "Why don't I just send the stuff to you, you've got your tablet with you haven't you, they haven't taken that have they?" "No, I've still got that, but I might be being paranoid here, but do you think that it's a good idea to network the stuff to me? You never know what eyes are prying." "There must be a better way of getting the stuff than you coming in here." "Come to think of it, there might just be. In my garage is my old computer, give me a couple of hours to set it up and get a new email connection, I'll call you with the details and you can send it over. If I stay off the Wi-Fi network they won't be able to track it." "Sounds good to me. Call me when you're ready for me to send." Evening, Day 2: It sounded good in theory, but it wasn't really a good idea in practise. Don't get me wrong, I managed to set up my old clunker and receive the files, but when I started to work on them, I found that I couldn't. When you have spent as much time with someone that you love as I have, the sheer hollowness of life without her was unbearable. I expected her to waltz through the door and plant a sloppy wet, wonderful, passionate, sensual, and sensuous, kiss on my lips. I could feel her lips and I opened my mouth to receive her tongue, and then, then my world came down to earth with a thud, she wasn't there. The silence of her absence was so deafening that I put my hands over my ears to deaden it. I made sure that all the dead bolts were locked, the windows secure, my phone diverted to the machine and my mobile switched off, and got a bottle of red wine from the wine rack and proceeded to get comprehensively pissed. It took more than one bottle to do the job, and the next thing that I knew was this loud hammering in my ears. My head was throbbing something fierce and the hammering wouldn't go away. It slowly sunk into my furry brain that there was someone at the front door. Could it be Sarah? Did I want her to see me like this? Whatever Happened to Sarah Hawkins? Morning, Day 3: "Mr Symonds, open this door." Sarah never had a man's voice. Maybe it's not her, maybe it's someone else. I stumbled to the door, and when I opened it I found myself confronted by the police. "Shit, you, what time is it?" "It's after eleven, we've been trying to contact you for hours. You look like shit by the way." "I didn't want to be contacted." "I gathered that. Have a heavy night did we?" He could see the two empty wine bottles and the one that had lost as much wine as it could while laying on its side. There was a reasonable amount of spilled wine on the table, and when I felt the wet patch on the side of my head I found it was wine. I must have fallen asleep and knocked the bottle over. I peered at the label, what a waste, I must remember in future to drink the cheap stuff if I'm going to get shit-faced. "You could say that. I found myself in this empty house waiting for her to come home, and then I realised that she might not, so I decided to wipe myself out. To what do I owe this pleasure? You don't mind if I make some coffee do you? Would you like a cup?" "No thank you, I think I'll pass on that." He stood and watched while I put the kettle on and got my favourite coffee mug out, the one that Sarah gave me, with the big red heart on it and the message that said; 'the world's best, everything'. I looked at it for a second or two before shovelling some instant into it and pouring water over the granules. "Now, what do you want this morning?" "You haven't heard from her this morning?" "Do you think that I'd be here if I had? No, nothing. There was one thing, in one of my few lucid moments last night, and I even wrote it down so that I wouldn't forget it, it's here somewhere," I picked up the wine soaked scrap of paper with an almost illegible scribble on it, my eyes eventually focussed, "her car, has anyone found her car?" "No, it was a Volvo S60, wasn't it?" "As far as I know it still is. Yes, a blue one, with personalised plates, white on black, SH 1987, that's her birth year by the way." "I'll make sure that information is circulated. Now tell me about that last night that the two of you were together, was there anything unusual about it?" I smiled when my mind scrolled back to that night. "Hi Darling." Sarah greeted me as I walked in the front door. She would have said more except that she was kissing me. When she finished devouring my lips she dragged me down to the kitchen, taking my case from me and placing it outside the kitchen door. "Sit." She pointed to my usual chair. She joined me on the chair for a further session of kissing, as was her wont, then got back to her feet. "Pour us a wine while I finish off dinner, you'll love this." "That was great." I said as I cleaned my plate. "What's the occasion?" "Do I need an occasion to prepare you a special meal?" "No, but when you say special, there is special, and then there is really special, this was one of those." "Thank you Darling, I love you so much." I know that those words are easy to say, but when she says it and how she says it, there can be no doubting her sincerity. "About as much as I love you. I don't have any work to do tonight, what do you say we have an early night?" "You have been reading my mind again." She stood and headed for our bedroom, taking item after item of clothing off as she walked. By the time she sprawled on the bed she was totally and gloriously naked, her body an open invitation to me to join her. We had made love hundreds of times since our first time together, and each new time was the equal if not better than those that had gone previously, never worse. It was the pure joy of us, that drove us to try and improve on our love making. This night was one of the slow, sensual, lots of touching and kissing nights. We both came once, but it was the lead-up and the timing of our mutual orgasms that made it such a powerful experience for us. It would have been close to midnight when we both subsided into a deep sleep. I heard someone snapping their fingers at me. "Hey, wake up," He had seen the far-off look in my eyes and the smile on my face. "It couldn't have been that good." "It was better than good, it was the best." "Nothing unusual about it then, no new positions, nothing kinky or anything like that?" "No, just lovemaking at its finest. If you'd been a fly on the wall, you'd understand." "I think that we should get back to the matter at hand. Was there anything that she said over the past week that would lead you to think that she would want to leave you?" "No, nothing." "Anything that she said that was bothering her, say with her work?" "There was one thing. About two weeks ago she mentioned that she had been getting weird phone calls at work." "Weird? When you say weird, did she elaborate on this?" "Yes, she said that she'd been getting calls, and when she answered, the other person ended the call after a couple of seconds." "Did she report this to her work?" "Yes, They arranged that all calls to her extension would go through the switch, even direct line calls would be diverted to the switch, and the operator would screen them and only put calls through if the caller identified himself or herself. The calls stopped after a couple of days. The other person must have realised that he, or she, would never be able to get through." "And you didn't think to mention this before?" "No, I guess that I didn't make the connection between the two." "Leave decisions like that to the experts in future. Are you going in to work at all today?" "I don't think so. I think that I'll need a valve grind and decoke before I can run efficiently." "As it turns out a good decision. The media jackals are still hovering." "Just out of curiosity, who has been feeding information to that Rachel person?" "Do you suspect that someone is?" "Yes, her questions yesterday hinted of inside knowledge." "I'll look into it, we can't have that, can we?" "Not unless you want the media to stir the pot a little to see what surfaces." "I won't ask you where you got that idea from, but I'd suggest a little less TV might be a good idea." With that he left me to my misery, and it wasn't just the hangover, which I was regretting, it was the absence of Sarah. I spoke with both of our parents and they gave me the support that I was seeking. It made me feel much better and I accepted a dinner invitation from her mother and father. Evening, Day 3: Reggie rang just before the office closed to see how I was getting on. "Did you get that stuff I emailed you yesterday?" "Yes thank you, I haven't had time to look at it in detail, I just couldn't get the motivation. Then I decided to write myself off for a while, I've only just surfaced. I'll get onto it first thing in the morning." "The problem with getting shit-faced is the resultant hangover, with its furry mouth, rock concert in the head, and the double vision, I speak from experience in this." "You amaze me young Reggie, I would never have imagined you to be the party animal type." 'Young Reggie' was purely a relative term, she was all of three years younger than me. "I'm not the pure and innocent virgin you take me to be, I've been known to kick over the traces on occasions, although not of late." "Warn me to stay right away from you at the next Christmas party." "Spoil sport, can't a girl have some fun?" "Not with me you can't. Now let's get serious for a while. I imagine that the rumour mill will be grinding them out at a rate of knots, tell me, what is the latest?" "The one that's got the most legs at the moment, is that there is some sort of bizarre love triangle, and that the other man has abducted her and is holding her, against her will, in a remote house in the hills. These rumours include her being tied to a bed so that he can have his wicked way with her whenever he feels like it." "Is that real, or something that you've made up?" "Okay, you got me, pure fantasy on my part. No, there's nothing going around, but a wave of sympathy for you. Everyone loves you and is hurting for you, probably not as much as you are, although some of us girls are getting close. I'll have to keep my eye on a couple of them." "Reggie, will you stop this, I don't believe a word of this." "Just trying to keep your spirits up Boss." "Thank you and good-bye, go home Reggie." The dinner was a sombre affair, try as we might, neither of us found it possible to make light of the situation. "Something bad must have happened to Sarah, if there was any change in plans she made sure to ring me. If I couldn't take the call and it was diverted to Message Bank, she'd leave a message but still keep trying. She left nothing to chance, and made sure that I was aware of any changes to our normal plans." "The one thing that she told us about you, was the she could never imagine anyone more perfect for her than you." Margaret, her mother said to me. "The last time that we spoke with her, that night that you came over for dinner, she told me that she was never happier, and that she was going to ask you if you wanted to start a family. Her words were that she wanted children to share her happiness with." "Yes we did discuss that possibility and agreed that we would get married as soon as possible and stop taking precautions. I must admit to being relieved in a way, every time I looked at myself in the mirror, I could see my biological clock on fast forward. I wanted children while we were both young enough to enjoy them. I have seen women at work who had left that decision until almost too late, and while, on the surface, they claim to be enjoying the experience, those of us on the outside, can see the strain that it is putting on their lives." "That's good, we didn't want to have to look after grand kids from our wheelchairs." Her father Rob added. "We would never have allowed that to happen, it was just a matter of time before we acted on that decision. We are financially well off, our house is pretty much mortgage free, I'm far enough up the food chain at work to have a work car, Sarah's is paid for, so we have no major expenses to worry about. Yes it was time." It was that statement that brought me undone. I was now a blubbering fool and it was embarrassing for me to be crying like this in front of them, just when I was trying to convince them, and myself, that everything was going to be fine, and soon. "I think that I'd better go home, I'm bringing you down to my level, and it's not a nice place to be." "We understand. James, you know that we are here for you at any time. We are in this thing too." "Thank you for your support." We exchanged parting pleasantries and I left. Maybe it was my paranoia setting in, but I was certain that I was followed home. I tried to shrug off the feeling, but the lights in my mirrors stayed there and stopped a hundred metres behind me when I turned into my driveway. I went inside and, before turning on the lights, tried to make out the other car. It was a dark coloured sedan, and that was about all that I could tell about it. I thought briefly about numbing myself with wine again, but dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come to me as a bad move. I ended up tossing and turning for what seemed like hours before sleep arrived un-noticed and stayed with me until morning. Morning, Day 4: "Morning has broken, like the first morning, blackbird has spoken. . ." That's how far Cat Stevens, or whatever he calls himself these days, got into his song before I hit the kill button on my clock radio. Whoever decreed that everyone wanted happy music first thing in the morning needs to be taken out and shot. My face in the mirror told me that I had aged ten years in the last twenty four hours, and my head told me that it wasn't lying to me. Breakfast consisted of about two thirds of a cup of coffee and two bites of toast. I made a mental note to myself that I should iron myself a shirt for tomorrow. I had decided to go to work today and to hell with the media. Most of the media had decided that I was no longer a headline, so they stayed away from my home, and only a few were gathered, looking totally bored, when I walked into the office. A microphone just about went up my nose and that voice interrupted my thoughts. "Mr Symonds, is there any news about Sarah?" "Don't you have a life Rachel? Sorry. No there's nothing new, at least the police haven't told me of any new developments. I don't suppose you have any information that they don't that you'd like to share with me?" I managed to put the door between me and them and found myself in the relative peace of the office. "Welcome back boss." Reggie said as I walked into my office. "Did you manage to look at those files I sent you the other day?" "Yes." I took them from my case and handed them to her. "Can you type up the responses and the notes for the next meeting please, and what is the possibility of you rustling me up a cup of coffee?" "I'll get right onto it. It is good to have you back, I missed your lame jokes and your angry face." She smiled at me and kissed the tip of a finger and placed it on my lips to stop me from saying anything, "Smartarse." I said in a low voice as she left, my head down so that she couldn't see my smiling face. "I heard that." We have the kind of working relationship that would have the workplace relations people having a hernia. We could say things to each other that other, dermatologically challenged, people would find offensive, but we choose not to be offended by it. We worked our way through the day catching up on the work that I had missed and that had piled up, and then attacked today's workload. "Reggie, could you come here please." I said in my gruffest voice. "Yes, what have I done wrong now?" She knew what was coming so she wasn't quaking in her boots. "This file that you were working on," I paused. "Yes?" "You have done a really great job with it, thank you." I smiled at her. "And why would you thing that I would do any less than a really great job. I have seen you angry (she had never seen me angry) and I would not want to be on the receiving end of one of your hissy fits." "I don't know how you can stand there with a straight face and tell such downright lies." "Years of practise and self-denial." By this time she was perched on my desk, her hand on my shoulder. "You really miss her don't you?" "You wouldn't know how much." She touched my cheek softly. "And I don't think you should be doing that, the guy across the road with the bloody great telephoto lens on his camera would be having a field day if he sees you." "Sorry James." She patted my shoulder and got up from the desk. "I was going to invite you to dinner, but under the circumstances that's probably not such a good idea." "No, it's not. Time to go home." "Yours or mine." She caught my angry look. "Sorry. Force of habit I guess. See you in the morning." Before I could tell her not to stop, she was gone. I figured that if I was followed home last night, and that was pretty much a given, there was a good chance that I was still being followed, and that there would be people watching my every move, including my interaction with Reggie, I'd better warn her to be careful. I was in the middle of dialling her number on my mobile and when I stopped. It was a combination of my paranoia and watching too many CSI type shows on TV that made me think that they, whoever they were, would be tracking my mobile. I rang from the landline. "Reggie." "At last, you can't keep away from me, my prayers are answered." "Reggie, stop that. I called to warn you that whoever is following me might also be watching you. If you think that someone is following you, call the police." "I'd rather call you, okay, I'll behave, 'bye Boss." Evening, Day 4: I was heading for the front door fully expecting to be confronted by Rachel. I wasn't to be disappointed, but she wasn't the only person there. Detective Sergeant Montgomery was also there. "Mr Symonds, we have located Sarah's car." "The way that you're saying that suggests that the news isn't good." "In a way it is, it means that you are no longer the number one suspect in her disappearance. It was found in a hotel car park in Melbourne. It was dusted for prints, nothing. They even tried for prints on the underside of door handles. Negative. Whoever drove this car knew how to clean it thoroughly, not a stray hair, grain of soil, it was as if it had just rolled off the production line. I tell you, this mystery is getting deeper by the minute." "So I don't get to be with her tonight then?" "Afraid not." "By the way, I was going to ask you, have you got someone following me around?" "No why, are you being followed?" "Yes, at least I'm almost certain that I am. A car followed me home from my In-Laws last night, and I've had the feeling that someone has been watching me all day from the building across the road from my office." "I'll check into it." He left me to the tender mercies of my least favourite person. "Mr Symonds, Are there any new developments in this case?" "I am not at liberty to discuss the progress in this investigation in case I jeopardise it. That's the official line, the unofficial one is that I don't like you and wouldn't tell you even if I could. If you want any information I suggest that you speak to Detective Sergeant Montgomery." "He won't tell me anything." "I wonder why that would be." I said as I walked away from her. I hoped that her mike was still switched on and her sound people and producer would pick up what an obnoxious little bitch she is. I searched through the cupboards for something exciting to eat and came up with not a lot. The freezer was no better, so I ordered in a pizza. Something that tasted great when Sarah and I had pizza, now tasted like a lot of mozzarella and not a lot of the other ingredients all dumped on a thick tasteless crust. The glass of red I had with it was the only redeeming feature of the meal. I stopped at one glass. I don't know whether I was desensitised, or whether it was sleep deprivation catching up on me, but I managed to get more sleep than I had over the three previous nights, including the one with the wine induced coma. Morning, Day 5: Breakfast consisted of a whole cup of coffee and two slices of toast. I was half expecting the usual committee waiting in ambush, but there was none. The same went for when I arrived at work. Did this mean that I was off the hook as a suspect? "Good morning Reggie, how are you this morning?" I sked her as I walked into my office. "My, someone is chirpy this morning. Have you heard the news?" "What news?" I hadn't had the radio on in the car, and hadn't seen or heard any news over the radio or TV before I left home, simply because I didn't turn either of them on. "The police are following up a new lead in Sarah's disappearance." "No, tell me more." "It seems that a trucking company was used to ship her car to Melbourne. The truck driver heard the news when he returned from a trip to Perth." My phone rang, it was to tell me that Montgomery was on his way in to see me. "Mr Symonds, this is getting more interesting by the day." "In what way?" 'We had a call from an interstate truck driver who told us that he picked up Sarah's car from a car yard and took it to Melbourne where he left it at another car yard. When we questioned the owner of the yard he told us that the Volvo had been traded on a Mercedes by a man. All of the paperwork was fine so he was happy to take it, this was of course before you had reported her missing." "Why didn't he call you?" "You have to understand, the relationship that we have with some members of that particular trade is not what you would describe as cordial. The yard in Melbourne is run by an associate and we suspect them of trading in stolen cars, they ship them between states and offload them straight away, we suspect that they are stolen to order. If the car is identified and impounded they produce paperwork that shows a legitimate transaction and it is the new owner that loses out, not them." Whatever Happened to Sarah Hawkins? "Does this get us any closer to finding Sarah?" "Yes and no. We have a description of the man who traded the car, but when we checked his driver's licence we found that the name didn't match the number. The car yard owner said the he accepted the licence as valid proof of identity and ownership. There was not enough time for the car to have gone through a chop shop, so it was unchanged from when Sarah bought it." "Does that help?" "Yes and no. It would suggest that this was a premeditated crime and not just some opportunistic theft, unless we can prove that this was a stolen to order job and the thief had been tracking that particular car we are no nearer to finding the culprit. We are paying visits to known offenders as we speak, we may get a result soon." "I certainly hope so." "I'll keep in touch with developments as they happen." He said as he left. "Are you still hopeful of Sarah's return?" Reggie asked. "Yes. If it was nothing more than a car theft, even if it was one that went wrong, there is still hope." "I wish that I could find a man that could love me as much as you love Sarah." Reggie seemed to somehow more subdued than her usual self. "I'm sure that there is someone out there for you." She turned her head and I thought I heard a sob. "Come on Reggie, where's the bright and bubbly girl that I know and love?" If I thought that would cheer her up, I was very much mistaken. She stood and rushed from my office. I sat there stunned at this for several minutes, and then went to the lunchroom to see if she was there. There was no sign of her. "What have you done to Reggie?" One of the other office girls, Jenny according to her name tag, asked. "What do you mean, I've done nothing to her." "You must have done something, she's sitting in the loo blubbering away, something about it being all her fault." I was puzzled, what was all her fault? Oh my God, what does she know about Sarah's disappearance? "Can you go and get her, drag her out if necessary, I need to talk to her." It took forever, at least ten minutes, before a teary Reggie shuffled out of the toilet behind Jenny. I reached for her to give her a hug, but at first she pushed my hands away. Then suddenly she fell against me and wrapped her arms around me. "James, it's all my fault, can you ever forgive me?" She sobbed into my chest. "What's all your fault, Reggie, you're not making sense." I held her to me for several minutes, a point not missed by the other staff that had come in to see what was going on. "James, Do you remember about a month ago I mentioned that I had broken up with this guy I'd been seeing for a couple of months?" "Yes, you were miserable for all of ten seconds, if memory serves." "The reason that I broke up was that he was freaking me out with his jealous rages. I would only have to glance at another guy and he'd fly off the handle. I couldn't handle it. Then he began to really freak out about you and me. I didn't tell him that I was in love with you or anything, he seemed to work that out for himself from what I told him of my work. "He got really angry one night when I was late for a date, we had worked back for half an hour finishing that Matheson job, but he accused me of fucking you. That was the end, I told him to fuck off and walked out on him. He rang me dozens of times over the next couple of days until I threatened to go to the police." "What does this have to do with Sarah and her disappearance?" I was beginning to fear the worst. "I must have mentioned to him that any feelings that I might have for you would come to nothing because you were totally and hopelessly in love with the most wonderful girl. That didn't help, he just said that I could never love him because of you. He hit me several times, and after that, and I had decided that enough was enough, and began to look for a way out of that relationship." "What makes you think that he might have something to do with this?" "At one time, early in our relationship, he asked me if I was thinking of buying a new car. He has a brother in the trade who, he said, could get me a good deal on any kind of car that I liked. I knew what Sarah drove and, for a joke I told him that was what I wanted. He said that this would take a little time, but that he could get one for me, it might take time and would probably have to come from interstate, but he could do it. Don't ask me how he could do this, but he was confident that it could happen." "I need to speak to Montgomery about this. Come on Reggie, back to the office, we don't need an audience for what we're going to have to do." I sat her down in the other chair in my office while I rang Montgomery. "Reggie, listen to me." She looked into my eyes for a hint of what was to come. "If I wasn't in love with Sarah, if I had never met her, I could quite easily have fallen in love with you." She was just about to say something but I stopped her. "You are a lovely girl and a very good worker, I couldn't ask for better. I really enjoy working with you, you're bright and efficient, and fun to be with, we can say things to each other that would get us in trouble if anyone overheard us, and it doesn't bother us. We flirt outrageously, and until now I didn't think it a problem, even now I don't think that it will be, unless we let it. I don't want to lose you, but, if you don't think that we can work together, then we should decide what to do. I will leave the decision up to you." "James, darling James." She ignored my shocked expression, she had never called me that before. "I want to go on working with you, but I want you to know that, when Sarah is back, and I hope that she is, soon, I won't do anything that could come between you and her. What I am going to say to you now, I hope that you don't take the wrong way. If Sarah doesn't come back to you, I will be here for you, and, should that happen, in the fullness of time I will live in the hope that you and I can get together in a relationship that would be every bit as good as the one that you have with her. If she does come back, then the three of us are going to have to sit down and talk this through. If she has any problems with you and me working together, as we have in the past, then I will walk out of your life completely and totally. Is that a deal?" I was saved from answering by the arrival of the police. "Well, Mr Symonds, what is the earth shattering information that you have for us?" "I will let Reggie tell you, it's her story, her theory." "Well Reggie, we'd better start with your full name." "Regina Anne King." "Queen and King*, interesting, your parents must have had a strange sense of humour. Go on." "A couple of months ago I broke up with my then boyfriend, because of his jealous rages, and the fact that he beat me a few times. From something that I said he worked out that I was in love with James. Before you ask, we are not lovers and I have known for ages that my love would never be returned because he was hopelessly in love with Sarah. We are just very close friends and he is the best boss a girl could ask for. Anyway, something he told me rang alarm bells when you were telling James about the discovery of Sarah's car, and how you suspected a dodgy deal between interstate car yards to move cars around and sell them before they are discovered to be stolen. Apparently my boyfriend, ex-boyfriend's brother is involved in some way in this racket. I figured that he could be punishing me and James probably, for destroying our relationship, and has used Sarah and her car to do that." "You might just have something there. We have been investigating this gang for some time, and when the Melbourne police checked the compliance plate on that car, they found that the engine number matched Sarah's, but the compliance number didn't. It would appear that they are producing bogus compliance plates and attaching them to the vehicles. They would pass all but the most thorough scrutiny. Where can we find this ex of yours and his brother?" Reggie gave them her ex's name and address, but she didn't know where his brother lived or worked. "Don't worry, we'll find them, and hopefully find Sarah as well." They left us. "Okay, the excitement's over, back to work." "Slave driver." "Where were we?" I asked looking at my schedule. "I was just about to get us coffee and bring it in here and flirt outrageously while we drink it, and pretend that nothing has happened to upset the working equilibrium." "Off you go then, don't stand there gasbagging." She did something that she had never done before, she kissed me, it was on the cheek, but it was still a kiss. "Thanks Boss Darling." Evening, Day 5: We worked our way through our tasks until late in the afternoon when they were completed. "Okay, that's it for the day. Home time." The phone stopped us, its ringing sounding louder than usual. "James here." "Mr Symonds, Detective Sergeant Montgomery here. We have recovered Sarah, she has been taken to hospital for observation, the preliminary indications are that she is dehydrated and under-nourished, but otherwise un-harmed. She has asked for you." "I'm on my way." I hung up. Reggie looked at me, there was genuine relief on her face. "Can I come with you? I want to come with you." "I don't know whether that's a good idea. Why don't I see how she's feeling first." Montgomery was standing outside her room talking to another policeman when I arrived. He stopped me from going in. "Mr Symonds, we have arrested Reggie's ex-boyfriend and his brother on charges relating to the used car scam, and we're just waiting to take a statement from Sarah before laying charges over her abduction. Theirs was a sophisticated operation, we found a large number of blank compliance plates, a stamping press and embossing press set up to produce bogus plates. It would have been only a matter of time before we caught up with them, they couldn't expect to get away with it forever. Sarah is weak and is sleeping. I have been told to let you in, but all that you will be able to do is to sit beside her until she wakes. Okay, in you go, you're a lucky man." She looked so peaceful there, her eyes closed and breathing deeply, her chest rising and falling with each deep breath. There was a tube attached to her arm and to a bag on a stand beside the bed, a monitor beeped in the background. I leaned over and kissed her gently on her soft lips. "James, I love you so much." Her eyes were still closed. A smile spread across her face and they opened. "Kiss me again." I obliged for all of thirty seconds before the medical team rushed into the room. The monitor was going ballistic. "What's happening here?" The doctor said. "My Darling kissed me, that's what's happening." A smiling Sarah whispered. "Oh, that all?" He smiled at me. "She had been asking for you non-stop until we got her to sleep. I thought that it would take an earthquake to wake her for at least another two hours." An hour later Montgomery had his statement and had gone off to lay further charges against the brothers. Sarah and I headed for the main entrance. "Taxi Sir?" We turned around and there was Reggie, holding the door of her car open for us. I was just about to say something but Sarah got in first. "Reggie, I have you to thank for me being back with my man. You can drive us home and then the three of us are going to have a long talk." It was a quiet trip home, I had never thought that I would see the day when Reggie could be quiet for more than five minutes, let alone fifteen. Sarah sat on the sofa and I stood. "I'll get us a drink, I hope red wine is okay." "You sit, I'll get the drinks." Reggie said. "And no hanky-panky from you two." We had been sitting in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes before Sarah spoke. "Reggie, I know how you feel about James." Reggie was shocked. "Don't worry, I'm not jealous, because I know James, and I know him well enough to know that he would never have betrayed me, and our love for each other. Your relationship with him is totally different to ours, and I understand it fully, I can even thank you for keeping my man happy. There were times there when I felt real despair, and do you know what kept me going? The thought that if I didn't survive the ordeal, he would find happiness with you. That kept me going, not because I didn't want that to happen, but because I knew that, should I not make it, he could be happy again, but with a different person, one that would love him." "You are right." Reggie said. "What you and James have is different to what our work relationship is. Having said that, I don't want to lose that, but if it is going to cause a problem, then I will give up my job rather than hurt the two of you." "There will be no need for that. I think that I can trust you, both of you." It was much later that we decided that Reggie was in no condition to drive home and, as she had driven us home in her car, she was going to have to pick me up in the morning, that was if I decided to go to work that is, and that she should stay the night. She slept in the spare bedroom, and before you jump to conclusions, we did not have her in our bed at any time, not did either or both of us join her in hers. That four months ago, and things have changed. Sarah and I are married, and Reggie was her Bridesmaid. I'm waiting for a call from Sarah, she's seeing her doctor this morning to confirm what the home test kit has told her, that she is pregnant with our first child. Reggie has a new boyfriend, a nice guy as it turns out, and I don't know whether to be jealous or flattered, he is very much like me. Anyway, she is happy with him, but things between us have changed, at least for the time being. "I'm not going to carry on the way that I used to, at least until I get to know him better. If I don't think that it will cause any problems between us, it will be back to normal. If I think that it will, we will just have to have a professional working relationship. Agreed?" "Agreed." I told her. Author's Note: For those of you who don't get this statement, 'Regina' is Latin for Queen, e.g. Queen Bessie the 2 of Buckinghuge Palace, is officially EIIR or Elizabeth II Regina.