It was a term not contained in the police manual, but every officer knew what it meant. She interviewed people herself every day who either showed too much emotion or not enough. Some people asked relevant questions too soon and some not at all. Knowing if the reactions were genuine was not something that could be taught. There was no checklist and no blueprint for people’s emotional responses, and she’d never felt enough authority on the matter to judge.
If an officer felt that something was ‘off’ there was normally a pretty good reason for it.
She wondered if Melody’s family would have anything new to offer after twenty-five years, but it didn’t hurt to have a quick word.
Nine
‘I thought the family lived on Hollytree,’ Kim said as Bryant headed towards the Joneses’ current address in Hayley Green. The area sat on the West Midlands side of the border with West Mercia Police Force. Houses ranged from half a million down to a hundred thousand in some areas, and around two hundred thousand for the terraced property on Chiltern Road where they were heading.
‘They did when Melody disappeared, but they appear to have traded up a bit in the years since.’
‘Come on then – what was the talk in the locker room?’
‘Like I said, nothing concrete, but from what I remember, Melody was the youngest of six or seven kids, all pretty close in age with barely a year between some of them. By the time Melody disappeared, her dad was already dead, and the eldest boy appeared to have taken on the role.’
‘Not unusual in that kind of situation,’ Kim replied as they moved slowly along Chiltern Road. Older siblings often took a hand in rearing the youngsters in big families.
He stopped at a house with a small driveway and a garage that sat at the front of the house. To the right was a front door and a single window. It looked like a decent area, where folks mowed their lawns and tried to obscure the different wheelie bins forced to sit out front. It was a house that most of the folks on Hollytree would have sold a relative to own.
A Renault Clio was inside the open garage and an Escort van was parked on the drive.
‘Not sure they’re gonna appreciate seeing us after all this time,’ Kim said, getting out of the car.
‘Yeah, but just imagine if we can give them some closure after all these years,’ Bryant answered as they knocked on the door.
By closure Kim knew he meant body.
The door was opened by an overweight male with thinning dark hair and a couple of days’ growth of facial hair.
He eyed them suspiciously as he continued to chew the food in his mouth.
They both produced their ID, and Kim introduced them.
‘Whaddya want?’ he asked, swallowing his last mouthful of food.
Kim swallowed with him but in her mouth was a generous portion of distaste.
‘To speak to Lyla Jones. She does live here, right?’
‘Whatabout?’ he asked as one word, which did confirm that they were in the right place. His tongue was darting around his mouth as though searching out morsels that had got lost.
‘May we speak with Lyla?’ Kim asked. ‘It’s about Melody.’
He stopped chewing to step aside and point to an open door.
Kim stepped around two bulging bin liners to enter a cramped and over-furnished lounge.
In stark comparison to her son, Lyla Jones was stick thin. She sat in a single easy chair directly in front of a large-screen TV that was out of proportion with the size of the room.
To her left was a side table holding a plate with crusty, dried-on gravy and food scraps.
Bryant offered his hand and an introduction as Kim looked around for somewhere to sit.
‘Robbie, get Bess in,’ Lyla said, taking her plate from the side table and lowering it to the floor.
Robbie disappeared only to be replaced by a bounding cream Labrador, who paid no attention to them and headed straight for the plate on the floor.
‘Mrs Jones, we’re here to talk about Melody.’
‘You found her?’ she asked automatically. Her tone held neither hope nor expectation.
Kim reminded herself that it had been twenty-five years and it was a relief that she wasn’t having to manage expectations. Just because it was the twenty-fifth anniversary of Melody’s disappearance didn’t mean her body was suddenly going to come to light, as though it had been on a timer. The woman had been forced to face reality with every passing year.
‘We just wanted to assure you that we’re still looking and that we haven’t given up on trying to bring closure to you and your family. We know you’ve appealed for information about her disappearance on a regular basis over the years.’
Lyla reached down and retrieved the dinner plate that had been licked clean by the dog that now lay at her feet.
‘Well, they ask every now and then to do reports on our Melody, the papers, magazines, TV shows, and they pay expenses and stuff. It all helps out, you know. But I hope you ain’t here to quiz me about it again. I can barely remember what I had for me tea last night, never mind all that time ago.’
Kim wasn’t sure she’d ever heard a missing child compared to a plate of food before. It had been over thirty years since her brother had died of starvation in her arms, but she hadn’t forgotten a minute of that day.
‘Can you tell us what you do remember, Mrs Jones?’ Kim asked. The detail, if she wanted it, could be gained from the files but she was interested in the memory Lyla had. She was feeling the ‘offness’ in waves. It was as though they were talking about a lost dog.
‘It was like any other school holiday day: too many kids and not enough space in a three-bed maisonette. When one kid or another asked if they could go out and play, the answer was yes. It wore like it is today. Kids went and called for each other. They got up to mischief and came back dirty and ready for their tea.’
Kim could better understand the woman’s words if they’d been talking about a teenager, but Melody had been seven years old.
‘I can see the judgement in the expression you’re trying to keep off your face, and I ay bothered by it. I day do nothing wrong in letting me kid go out and play.’
Kim tried to rearrange her expression. This woman needed no condemnation from her. She’d had twenty-five years to consider her parenting style, and she would live with the consequences until she died.
‘Was there anything strange that you recall from that day?’
She shook her head. ‘Nothing any different to washing, cooking and cleaning for a bloody houseful. Kids were coming and going, fighting and playing, and when tea time came I was one short. Didn’t think much of it at first. Thought she’d found a group to play with and lost track of time. Went looking for her about seven, and no one had seen her for hours. Called the police and the rest is in your records.’
‘Why are you so interested now?’ Robbie asked from the doorway. Kim hadn’t realised he was there. For a big man he moved with surprising stealth. ‘She’s dead, so what’s the point?’
Kim didn’t disagree with them.
‘We’d still like to catch and punish the person who abducted her,’ Bryant answered.
‘Well, good luck with that after all these years,’ Lyla said, picking up the remote control.