Sebastian Simon was elbow deep in soapsuds when the front door banged open. since the weather was calm ,he could only conclude that someone had entered the station an angry someone since calm people didn't bang doors. knowing that angry people didn't like to be kept waiting he pulled his hands from the sink and grabbed a teatowel to dry his hands off with as he made for the reception counter.
"Good evening, Mrs Harper,how can I help you?" he asked when he saw who was waiting for him.
Catherine Harper fixed the constable with her sternest look. "There is nothing good about this Evening", she said" my daughter is missing. I want you to find her."
"your daughter-Emma ?" Sebastian queried.
"ofcourse Emma , who would do you think I was talking about? I have only one daughter,as you should know".
Sebastian flushed at that, but didn't respond instead he said," when did you last see her?"
"what difference does that make?"
Catherine demanded ."she's missing and I want you to find , her that's all that matters."
"it's not as simple as that,Mrs Harper," Sebastian said, wishing that he were not the one stuck dealing with this problem." Emma is sixteen...."
Catherine flared up again. "I know how old Emma is , what difference does her age make to her being missing?"
"potentially a lot." from under the counter Sebastian took out a notepad and pen." Being sixteen, Emma cannot be reported missing until she has been gone for at least a day, unless you have cause for concern. And given Emma's history, and her habbit of doing whatever she wishes, I think it likely the inspector will insist that we wait until she has been out of contact for forty eight hours to make a search. There's every chance Emma is off with her friends, probably in town . she will turn up when she is finished having fun".
"forty eight hours! you want me to wait two freaking days before you will consider looking for Emma ? how can you even suggest such a thing? Especially when poor ava is still missing after a week, and you haven't got any idea of what happened to her. Don't try and deny it. Catherine told Sebastian when the constable opened his mouth to respond.
"did you even look for her after the first day ?or did you just give her parents meaningless platitudes?"
"we searched for her," Sebastian said defensively."we searched the entire village,and we spoke to everyone; no one saw her after she walked past the pub and crossed the bridge to go on up to the brown farm though. we have searched again and again, through out the week without any success. you can't compare the two situation though,"he told her .
" Ava Wilson is a girl who's never been in trouble always told her parents exactly where she was going, what she was doing and whom she was meeting and when she would be home. The same can't be said about Emma ; Emma has long history of bunking school, staying out all night, getting into trouble of one sort or another, and associating with people she would be better off avoiding."
" I am well aware of my daughters history, more so than you, I imagine. That is irrelevant on this occasion however", Catherine said firmly." No matter what she might have done in the past or how she may have acted , I can assure you Emma is missing on this occasion."
"Can you tell me what makes you so certain the circumstances are different this time?" Sebastian asked curious to know why Catherine who had never been concerned about her daughter before was concerned now .
The look on Catherine's face suggested she thought the question rude in the extreme nonetheless she answered him." I am certain that Emma is missing on this occasion because she was supposed to meet her father, myself and her great uncle, sir Roberts at the oaks for dinner. she was supposed to be there early to greet sir Roberts he comes to stay every couple of months , when his work permit- The oaks was his first hotel and he has always been especially fond of it when he visits he expects to meet by Emma . she wasn't there, however, nor did she show up for dinner."
"Perhaps, on this occasion Emma decided she didn't want to have dinner with her great uncle," Sebastian suggested. "Maybe there was something she preffered to do, and that is where she is now." He braced himself for an explosion that didn't come.
"Under other circumstances Emma might well have decided not to do what her father and I wished; she's a different person to the girl you know when it comes to her great uncle , however. she is polite punctual , respectful, considerate , everything you could want of a daughter."
Sebastian tried to reconcile that description with Emma Harper he knew, and found it difficult." okay so you have reason for concern,"he conceded ."But there could be any numbers of reason why Emma wasn't at the hotel to greet sir Roberts, or at the family dinner. she could have gotten involved in something and lost track of the time; she could have Missed the bus or been unable to get a lift back to the village."
"If that had been the case, she would have called either myself or her father,or Anna. sir Roberts is a stickler for punctuality, Emma would have called if she was going to be late , so we could give her apologies. I was put in the most uncomfortable position of having to lie sir Roberts and tell him that Emma was at home, ill. I can only hope he never discovers I lied to him, he hates liars even more than he hates people who aren't punctual." Her unhappiness was clear. " something has happened to Emma , that is the only possible answer, and I want you and your colleagues to find her, without your usual bungling and bumbling.
Sebastian ignored that comment and choose instead to act as though Catherine Harper had a case to be dealt with and take the appropriate action. " when and where did you last see Emma?" he asked, pen poised.
"what on earth difference does that make?" Catherine wanted to know."she isn't a set of keys to be found in the vicinity of wherever she was last seen".
"ofcourse not Mrs Harper, I'm sorry if that's how it sounded,but to find Emma I need to know where and when she was last seen , what she was wearing, who she was with, and if possible, where she was heading".
Catherine scowled at the constable before finally sighing." I last saw Emma this morning before she left for school, Anna will be able to tell you what time that was; she was wearing her uniform, so I assume she was intending to go to school. that's much as I can tell you,"she said." Anna may be able to tell you something more."
After talking all details Catherine could provide, Sebastian promised to look around the village, and to make sure that both the inspector and the officer on duty in the morning knew Emma was believed to be missing. As soon as she was gone , slamming the door make it clear how dissatisfied she was, he locked up the station and completed the end of shifts chores he had been in the middle of when Catherine arrived.
He left the station when he was done and was about to get into his car so he could do as promised and drive around the village looking for Emma when he thought better of it . Instead of getting into his car he wandered down the road, stopping at a house a short distance from the station, a house rented by a trio trouble makers one of whom was a person Emma Harper was supposedly dating.
If Emma was in the village he thought it most likely that she would be there with Evan Ryder. The house being quiet and dark, he doubted anyone was home, let alone Emma, but he thought it best to knock before making a tour of the village, just in case. He didn't want Catherine to be able to say he had not done everything he could to find her daughter.