Goosebumps ran up and down her spine. Suddenly, Jessica had turned from a normal, flesh-and-blood woman to a ‘missing person’, in a strange, hazy category all of its own.
The policeman cleared his throat and Edie, Ralph and Hannah edged closer so as not to miss anything.
‘First things first, my colleague and I are trying to establish if anyone saw your friend in the village,’ he said, sounding official. ‘We have also alerted our colleagues in Heraklion and Knossos.’
A moment later, the woman police officer left April’s shop. Ioannis waited for her to join the group before introducing her as Police Officer Aikaterini Skouras.
She glanced at her colleague, who gave an almost imperceptible nod.
‘Before we go any further, I need to ask a few more questions,’ she said.
Ralph, Edie and Hannah responded in unison. ‘Of course.’
Gesturing to the café, Aikaterini led the way to an empty table where they all sat down.
‘I’ve just obtained the CCTV footage from the supermarket,’ she began. ‘The owner was in the shop at around the time your friend would have passed, but didn’t notice her. Let’s see if the footage is able to help. We’ve spoken to the ferry operators, but they do not appear to remember a woman of your friend’s description boarding the boat.’
At this, Edie’s insides squirmed uneasily.
‘You think she hasn’t left the village?’ she asked in a shrill voice.
Ioannis made an impatient clicking noise with his tongue. ‘I’m not saying that. It’s not unusual for the ferry crew not to remember someone; they see so many people in one day. It’s important not to jump to conclusions. I’m merely saying it’spossibleshe didn’t leave. At this stage we are in the dark,’ he admitted, before flashing a reassuringly cheery, lopsided smile. ‘But we are very good at our job. We will soon find out what has happened to your friend and, we trust, return her to you none the worse for wear.’
Edie took a deep breath and sat back, before glancing at Ralph. He looked a bit less tense, too. Hannah, though, was a bundle of nerves, hunched over and picking at the corner of a fingernail, making it sore.
One of the waiters approached to ask if they wanted anything, but Aikaterini waved him away.
Her walkie-talkie crackled, as it did every so often, and she spoke in a low voice into the microphone.
The small group was attracting quite a lot of attention now. Edie noticed shopkeepers and restaurant staff busying themselves nearby, pretending not to pry.
Meanwhile, other folk were slowing right down as they passed, clearly hoping to catch bits of what was being said.
When Aikaterini had finished speaking into her device, she leaned forward.
‘We’d like to ask a little more about Jessica’s frame of mind before she left for Knossos. Was there anything at all unusual about her demeanour? Anything you have forgotten? Any reason why she might have been upset or agitated?’
There was a brief pause while Edie, Ralph and Hannah considered the matter. For the umpteenth time, Edie thought back to the night before Jessica’s departure, and Hannah and Mac’s terrible row.
Jessica had been furious with Ralph for telling her not to interfere. By the following morning, however, when Ralph and Edie joined her for coffee in the garden, she seemed to have simmered right down.
It wasn’t until Mac and Hannah appeared, surprising them all by having made up and being so affectionate with each other, that Jessica had announced her Knossos trip.
Edie had wondered earlier this morning if the argument and its aftermath might be worth mentioning, but it was a delicate matter. She hadn’t wanted to raise it herself, she’d rather leave it to Hannah and Mac, and she assumed Ralph felt the same.
Now, though, Edie felt duty-bound to speak up and braced herself to begin. Luckily, however, Hannah jumped in first.
‘There is something…’ she began to say, and both police officers straightened up. ‘My husband and I had a bad fight the night before,’ she said, staring down at her lap. ‘He was angry with me for speaking to a man in the village. He… he threw a mirror at me and it smashed.’
Aikaterini’s eyebrows rose and Ioannis scribbled something on a notepad. They were both on full alert, listening attentively.
‘Jessica and Edie overheard the shouting. They came to help me. I was very upset. Mac had already taken against Jessica for some reason and vice versa. There was quite a tense atmosphere between them. Mac stormed off after the argument but later, when he came back, Jessica accused him of trying to assault me.’ Hannah glanced up and gave the policewoman a meaningful look. ‘Obviously that didn’t go down very well.’
‘Did he say anything to Jessica?’ Aikaterini asked. ‘Did he argue with her?’
Hannah shook her head. ‘He and I went upstairs. We wanted to talk things through and try and sort out our differences.’
‘And did you – sort them out?’
