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There were three possible explanations for Nina’s disappearance. The first was that she had chosen to leave of her own accord, possibly to visit Boston, and there she’d either gotten into some kind of trouble that had prevented her from contacting her family, or she’d chosen not to contact family or friends for her own reasons. The second was that an unknown third person had taken her from the Stowe house after Simon Jordan left on Friday night. So far there was no evidence to suggest that that might have happened, but he couldn’t definitively rule it out, not yet. The third possibility was that Simon had killed her, either on purpose or by accident, and had disposed of her body before returning to his parents’ house on Friday night.
Matthew had a bad feeling about the case. Simon was slick. He’d handled himself well enough in his interview. The Olivia Darlington alibi was thin and obvious, but it was the kind of thing that could create a lot of noise in the hands of the right attorney. Matthew needed to get back to basics. To look at Simon’s movements. Sarah Jane was still scrolling through her phone, checking her email.
“The warrants have been signed off,” she said. “That was quick.”
They’d both worked late on Monday night to fill in warrant applications for Nina and Simon’s detailed phone call and message history.
“Judge Warwick likes to start early. Let’s get those sent off right away.”
Sarah Jane was still scrolling. “We haven’t heard back from Rory Jordan about the security cameras at the Stowe house. I called last night, like you asked, and left a message. I emailed too. Nothing yet.”
“Follow up again. Let me know if he hasn’t gotten back to you by this evening.”
They hit unexpected traffic. A minor rear-ending had caused a traffic jam that took them thirty minutes to get through. Matthew didn’t want to put off the Julie Bradley interview. They had too many people to speak to, and not enough time. He glanced at Sarah Jane.
“Do you think you could talk to Julie?”
“By myself?” She was surprised.
“I could drop you at her mom’s bar in Waitsfield, then pick up the Frasers and bring them to the press conference. We can meet for lunch afterward and you can fill me in.”
“Yes. I can do that. Definitely.” She sat up straighter in her seat.
Matthew nodded, pleased with the decision. Running the interview by herself would be good experience for Sarah Jane. If he needed to, he could always speak to Julie himself later in the day, but there was every chance that Sarah Jane would do better with her than he would. Julie Bradley might be more inclined to be forthcoming about her friend to another young woman rather than an older man. And Sarah Jane was sharp. She had good instincts. It was time to give her the opportunity to put those instincts to the test. In the meantime, he would focus on Nina’s family and the difficult task that lay ahead of them.
CHAPTER TEN
Andy
Matthew Wright was late. He’d messaged Leanne to say that he’d pick us up at ten thirty, and he showed up at ten forty-five. He didn’t fall over himself apologizing either. I don’t know how I feel about that guy. He keeps his distance. Talks to us like we’re not on the same team. Like we can’t be trusted enough to be let inside.
“I wanted to talk to you before the press conference,” Wright said. “As I explained to you, Leanne, we need you to make a statement about Nina. Just words from the heart, about how worried you are about her, how much you need her to come home. Don’t go into any details about where she was or that she was with Simon. You can leave that part of it to me, and I’ll be choosing my words carefully.”
“You going to make that public?” I asked. “That Nina was last seen with Simon?” We were standing in our kitchen. Leanne and I had our jackets on. We were ready to go.
“Yes. It’s not going to be possible to avoid that fact entirely. But we’re not going to dwell on it. The point of the press conference is not to point fingers or suggest that anyone has done anything wrong. It’s to get Nina’s face out there, so that if anyone has seen her, they can get in touch.”
Leanne crossed her arms. “I don’t like that.”
Wright’s face was impassive. “Which part?”
“I mean, obviously someone did something wrong. Nina’s not here, is she? She’s missing. And Simon was the last person to see her. And his story doesn’t even make sense. I told you, if they broke up she wouldn’t have stayed in that house. She would have called us, and we would have picked her up.”
I cleared my throat.
“We’ve known Simon since he was a little kid. We’re not trying to say he did anything to Nina. But right now his story don’t make a lot of sense.”
Matthew Wright leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “Mrs. Fraser. Leanne—” he began. Leanne cut him off straight away.
“Please,” she said. “Don’t placate me.”
“There’s nothing to be gained by using this press conference to paint a target on Simon Jordan’s back. Whether or not he is a suspect in your daughter’s disappearance is something for the police to deal with. I’m going to have to ask you both to trust us. Believe me, I know how hard this is, but if we don’t work together as a team, we’re going to be in trouble from the get-go.”
“We’ll trust you,” I said. “As long as you don’t give us reason not to.”
WE FOLLOWED MATTHEW WRIGHT to a hotel just outside Waterbury, where the press conference was going to be held. In the parking lot there were two TV vans, the kind with the antennae on their roofs. Wright waited for us at the door. We got out of the car, and he led the way inside. He pushed open the glass doors. He seemed to know exactly where to go. The receptionist watched us pass, curiosity all over her face. But when I looked right at her, she looked away and got real busy moving papers around her desk. Wright led the way across the foyer and stopped outside a set of double doors. There was a timber plaque marked CONFERENCE SUITE in curly letters. I could hear a hum of voices coming from inside the room. Suddenly I felt like everything was happening way too fast. I wanted to stop and check that Lee was okay. I wanted to talk through our plan. But there was no time.
“Take a deep breath,” Matthew said. “Just be yourselves. Say exactly what I asked you to say and you won’t go wrong. Remember, you’re doing this for Nina.”
