THE VALLEY OF LONGING 8

‘Why d’you want to know?’ Trinity asked suspiciously. ‘IF you’re not after her for something, why d’you want to know when I saw her?’ ‘Because her mother has reported her missing.’ Mitchell saw the shock that overtook the anger on Trinity’s face and went on quickly. ‘We don’t have any reason for thinking that anything has happened to Lily right now’ given her history, there’s every chance that she’s simply gone off somewhere, and hasn’t come home yet. Theresa Potgieter is concerned , though, and with this morning’s discovery, we’re taking that seriously. Now, I understand you spoke to Mrs Potgieter yesterday, and told her you hadn’t seen Lily since lunchtime, is that right?’ ‘Nope,’ Trinity said with a shake of her head. ‘No, that isn’t right?’ Mitchell asked. He was annoyed when he received only a nod in answer to his question. ‘Which part?’ Did you not speak to Mrs Potgieter yesterday, or yesterday lunchtime isn’t the last time you saw Lily?’ He felt a little like he was trying to draw blood from a stone. ‘I never spoke to Lily’s mum, it was Anna who called me.’ ‘Okay, so it was Mrs Ramabela you spoke to, you did tell her you last saw Lily at lunchtime, didn’t you?’ ‘Uh huh,’ Trinity nodded, then volunteered. ‘At the bus stop, she was coming back here.’ ‘Back here, to Doring Draad, you mean? Do you know why?’ Mitchell asked, not surprised in the slightest to hear that Lily Potgieter had bunked school. ‘She said she was meeting someone. Don’t ask me who, she never said.’ ‘Could it have been Oliver Hendricks she was coming back to the Dorpie to see?’ Melissa asked. Trinity shook her head quickly and decisively. ‘Lily would’ve told me if she was coming back to see Ollie; I’d’ve bunked off and come with her so I could spend the afternoon with Tim.’ “Tim, Tim Bottle?’ Howard leapt angrily on what his daughter had said. ‘You’re seeing that criminal? What have I ….’He was interrupted by Mitchell before he could say anything more. ‘If you don’t mind, this is another conversation you can have another time. I appreciate that Lily didn’t tell you who she was coming back to see, but did she say anything that might have hinted at who it is?’ he asked of Trinity. A short while passed before Trinity responded to the question, hesitantly. ‘She said she was coming back to see someone who could make all her dreams come true, someone who could get her everything she wants. ‘Have you got any idea who that might be?’ Mitchell asked. When Trinity shook her head, he tried another tack. ‘How about Lily’s dreams? Do you know what they might be, what she might have been trying to get help with?’ He couldn’t imagine why Lily would have needed to see anyone other than her great - uncle to make her dreams come true. Trinity shrugged. ‘Get rich, get a fit guy, have an easy life. Aside from that, the only thing I’ve ever heard her talk about is writing.’ ‘Writing? What sort of writing?’ Melissa asked, a suspicion creeping into her mind. ‘Was Lily interested in writing novels or something?’ ‘She says she is, ‘Trinity said. ‘She’s always scribbling in a notepad or typing something into her phone, and she says she’s writing a book, but she’s never let me read any of it. Not that I’d want to, I’m not that into reading. Can’t think why she’d want to be a writer, but I can’t think of anything else I’d call a dream for Lily.’ ‘Does Lily know a Jack Wild?’ ‘Who?’ Trinity asked of the constable. ‘Never heard of him. If she does, she’s never told me. Wait,’ she said suddenly, ‘is that the new guy that moved into the Dorpie?’ Melissa nodded. ‘Never knew his name.’ ‘So, you don’t know if Lily knows Mr Wild,’ Mitchell said. Trinity shook her head. ‘If she does, she’s kept it a secret from me; can’t think why she’d do that, though.’ After a moment, a thought occurred to her. ‘Is he hunky?’ she asked. ‘Pretty hunky,’ Melissa said, looking embarassedly at Mitchell. ‘Maybe she was keeping it from Ollie, not me,’ Trinity said, speaking more to herself than to the two officers. ‘He wouldn’t be happy if he found out she was seeing someone else.’ Mitchell didn’t doubt that Oliver Hendricks would be unhappy if Lily were seeing someone else, and he wondered if that could be the reason she hadn’t come home. It was something to consider, but not immediately helpful to them in finding Lily. Melissa couldn’t see much, but that didn’t stop her trying to watch the house in the wing mirror as Mitchell drove them down the road, back towards the Dorpie green and the centre of the Dorpie. All there was to see was her grandmother, who was pottering around in her front garden - of Jack Wild, who they had gone to see, there was no sign. ‘D’you think he’s actually out, or in and trying to avoid us?’ Melissa asked after finally abandoning the wing mirror and settling back in the passenger seat. Mitchell shrugged. ‘That fancy Rover of his isn’t in the drive, so I’d he’s out, but you never know. I can’t think why he’d be avoiding us, not unless he’s the killer, even then I can’t see him avoiding us - he doesn’t know that we know Lily is apparently missing, or that we have reason for thinking she might have visited him. ‘Hiding or just not in, we’ll have to try again later,’ he said. ‘Right now, I want to speak to Oliver Hendricks before we go and see the Potgieters.’ Melissa didn’t relish the thought of dealing with Oliver Hendricks at that time of the morning, and she was slow to exit the car when they reached their destination. She knew from experience that Oliver and his friends were reluctant to talk to the police at the best of times, and not, with them not being morning people, it was usually best to wait until after noon to speak to them. Mitchell had no such concerns, however, and strode up to the front door, where he waited for Melissa to make her way around to the back door, as per his instructions. When there was no response to the doorbell, he banged his fist on the door; he then stepped back so he could shout, ‘Open Up. It’s the police,’ loud enough to be heard by Oliver and his friends, even if they were still abed. The movement of the curtain in the front bedroom was minimal, no more than a quick twitch as someone peeked out, but Mitchell spotted it. He quickly returned to the front door so he could ring the bell and bang his first on it again. ‘We’re not here to arrest you, we just need to talk,’ He called out, though he doubted his words would get anyone to the door any quicker. Melissa heard the shouts form Sergeant Mitchell, and Listened out from some sign of a reaction - it didn’t take long. Within moments of Mitchell’s second shout, she heard thundering footsteps approach the back door. She tensed, one hand on her extendable baton, while she waited for the door she was standing at the side of to open; it did so with a bang and Melissa pushed away from the wall. Tim Bottle and Kadin Bacon got themselves jammed, momentarily, in the doorway, as they both tried to exit the house at the same time. When they freed themselves, they burst into the garden, straight into the leg that Melissa stuck out to trip them up; they went down in a tangled heap of arms and legs that made them look like some weird, many - limbed creature. ‘Morning, boys,’ Melissa said cheerfully, ‘I guess you didn’t hear Sergeant Mitchell, we only want to talk to you, so there’s no reason for you to be running off anywhere.’ ‘Since when have you guys ever only wanted to talk to us?’ Tim Bottle wanted to know as he extricated himself from his friend. ‘You always think we’re done summat. Well, we ain’t done nowt, so you can bugger off and look somewhere else for whoever did whatever’s been done.’ ‘If you’ve done nothing wrong, why were you running?’ Melissa asked, though she didn’t give either of the two men a chance to respond. ‘Come on, on your feet and back inside. If you coorperate, and don’t give us any hassle, you’ll both be back in bed before you know it,’ She told them. ‘Where’s Oliver?’ She asked as she shepherded Kadin and Tim back into the house. ‘He’s normally the first one through the door.’ ‘He’s not here,’ Kadin said. ‘Where is he?’ ‘He’s out.’ ‘I gathered that, where?’ ‘What’s it matter?’ Melissa didn’t bother answering, instead she headed for the front door, after seeing Kadin and Tim into the living room, so she could let Mitchell in. ‘Good work, Melissa,’ Mitchell said when he saw the two in the living room. ‘But where’s Oliver? Don’t tell me you let him get away.’ ‘There was no sign of him,’ Melissa said, a little offended by her superior’s suggestion. ‘He didn’t try and make a run for it. Like these two.’ ‘Where’s Oliver?’ Mitchell asked of Kadin and Tim, as he crossed to the stained armchair opposite the sofa they were on, where he reluctantly sat. ‘Not here,’ Tom answered, with an abruptness that suggested it was all he was going to say. Mitchell got the impression Tim was not about to reveal where his friend was, he had to ask though. ‘Okay, so where is he?” As he did so he signaled Melissa to make a search of the upstairs, in case Tim was lying, which was likely. ‘if he’s not home, where is he?’ ‘Not here,’ Kadin said in a frustrated voice. ‘Tim told you.’ he followed Melissa with his eyes as she left the room and started up the stairs. ‘He didn’t say where?’ Mitchell pointed out. ‘And Don’t try and tell me you don’t know where he is, it won’t wash.’ Tim scowled at his friend, but it didn’t stop Kadin, who was the weaker of the pair, answering the sergeant.’ He’s at work.’ ‘Work? Do you take me for an idiot?’ Mitchell asked. ‘Oliver hasn’t done a day’s work in his life, not honest work anyway. Where is he really? Somewhere he shouldn’t be, I’ll be bound.’ ‘I told you, he’s at ….’ Kadin’s insistent words were interrupted by the return of Melissa, who shook her head briefly to indicate that Oliver Hendricks had not been upstairs. ‘Work,’ he finished. ‘See, if I was gonna make something up, don’t you think I’d come up with something better?’ Mitchell could hardly deny that; Kadin was not the most creative of liars, but he was capable of coming up with something more believable that Oliver being at work. ‘If Oliver has a job now, where’s he working, and what prompted him to turn away from a life of crime? Assuming he has. He’s never showed the slightest inclination to do anything legit before.’ Tim scowled at Kadin again, but then went on to answer the question himself. ‘He’s working at the golf course, training to be a gardener or something,; he said. ‘Lynne talked him into it. You know what Ollie’s like when it come to Lynne, he’ll do anything for her. She told him he needed to straighten up and get a job, then she saw the job at he golf course and got him to apply for it. ‘What’re you doing here anyway, we ain’t done nothing.’ Mitchell couldn’t help but snort at that. ‘I’m sure that’s a lie; if it’s not, it’d be the first time in history. That’s not why I’m here now, though. I need to speak to Oliver. Since he isn’t here. I’ll talk to the two of you. When’s the last time either of you saw Lynne?’ ‘What the hell,’ Tim said angrily after his momentary surprise had passed. ‘You’ve dragged us out o’bed, she’s tripped us up, and all because you want to ask us about Lynne. You already asked us about her last week; you know when we last saw her.’ ‘I know what you told me at the beginning of the week, but I’m hoping you’ll have remembered something fresh that will help us, especially given this morning’s discovery.’ ‘What discovery?’ Kadin asked, curious. ‘I guess you two wouldn’t know, since you’ve both been asleep.’ Mitchell remarked. ‘Not that I suppose anyone would have called you anyway, given that neither of you is all that popular. Early this morning, the body of a young lady was found by the river, it looks like it’s Lynne.’ The reaction he got was just what he might have anticipated. ‘Bloody Hell!! NO way! You sure?’ The exclamations and question came tumbling from the lips of Tim and Kadin in unison, falling over one another. Mitchell waited until the two had calmed down, and were no longer urgently denying any knowledge of the death, to say anything more. ‘We’re as sure as we can be at this time.’ He told them. ‘Now, I need you both to tell me everything you can remember of the last time you saw Lynne. I don’t believe either of you had anything to do with her death.’ he said loudly and quickly to make himself heard over the protestations of innocence. ‘Sit down and SHUT UP,’ Melissa finally shouted at the pair, who hovered somewhere between sitting and standing. ‘If you’d listen instead of making and unnecessary racket,’ she said when they fell silent, ‘You’d have heard that we don’t think either of you had anything to do with what’s happened to Lynne, but we do need to know whatever you can tell us, so we can figure out what did happen.’ Mitchell was both surprised and pleased by the way Kadin and Tim did exactly as Melissa told them. “Right, now you’re ready to listen, when did you last see Lynne?’ he asked. It was Kadin who answered first. ‘Lynne was here last Friday, as we told you before,’ he said. ‘Must have been about six, half - six, when she got here. It were a flying visit on her way to see Kerwin, she said; that pissed Ollie off and he told her she should dump him - he’s always telling her to dump him. Lynne ignored him, like usual, and told him the house was a mess, that were normal as well. She washed the dishes in the sink, asked him ‘bout his job, and told him she’d be ‘round in the morning to clean up the house. She left after ‘bout twenty minutes. That’s the last I saw of her.’ ‘What about you, Tim?’ Mitchell asked. Tim shrugged. “Same. Haven’t seen her since then.’ ‘Has Oliver?’ Mitchell wasn’t sure if either Tim or Kadin would know whether their friend had seen or heard anything from his sister, but he had to ask. ‘he’s not mentioned hearing from her?’ he asked when both men shook their heads. ‘And I take it Lynne didn’t show up the next morning to clean the house.’ From the appearance of the living room, which he was sure was representative of the house, the place hadn’t cleaned in quite some time. ‘NO’ Kadin shook his head. ‘She didn’t show up, and Ollie hasn’t heard from her. I know he’s tried to call and text her all week, but no luck. He’s not gonna like it when he hears how she’s been found.’ Mitchell didn’t need Kadin to tell him that, he could easily imaging how Oliver was going to react - explosively would be understanding it. The only question was who the explosion would be directed at, and that was something he didn’t fancy taking bets on, especially when he was one of the possible targets. ‘Okay, so you can’t help us with Lynne; I assume you don’t know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt her.’ He couldn’t even bring himself to feign hopefulness as he waited for his answer. ‘When did you last see Lily?’ ‘Lily,’ Kadin groaned, though it was unclear why the question should have prompted such a reaction. ‘Whatever she’s done, we weren’t involved in it,’ he said, hastening to distance himself from whatever trouble the girl was in. Tim was quicker on the uptake than Kadin, and realised almost immediately that there was a connection between the discovery of the body that might be Lynne and the question about Lily. ‘What’s happened to Lily?’ he asked, leaning forward to stare intently at Mitchell. ‘We don’t yet know that anything’s happened to her,’ Mitchell said. ‘But her mother has reported her missing. She hasn’t been home since she left for school yesterday morning.’ He quickly held up a hand to forestall the barrage of comments he could see coming. ‘I know it’s far from unusual for Lily to stay away from home foe more than a day, and the chances are, she’s just been out having fun and will turn up soon; I have to make enquieries, though, after the morning’s discovery. So I’ll ask again, when did you last see Lily?’ ‘Thursday,’ Tim answered . ‘She was here Thursday nigh with Ollie.’ ‘So you didn’t see her yesterday?’ Both Tim and Kadin shook their heads. After leaving Oliver Hendricks house, Mitchell and Melissa drove out to the Potgieter’s house, which was on the edge of the Dorpie. Melissa wasn’t sure what they were doing there, but didn’t ask, sure she would find out soon enough without doing so. ‘Sergeant, constable.’ The strong Xhosa accent of Anna Ramabela, the Potgieters housekeeper, could not entirely mask her concern at finding the two police officers on the doorstep. ‘Have you found Lily?’ To anyone who didn’t know her, she might have sounded calm and unconcerned. ‘I’ve heard about poor Lynne; it’s so terrible, her parents must be devastated. Nothing’s happened to Lily, has it?’ ‘Not as far as we know,’ Michell told her reassuringly. ‘We haven’t found Lily, but we don’t have any reason for thinking anything has happened to her. We’re here to talk to you and Mrs Potgieter, she is home isn’t she?’ Anna Ramabela nodded. ‘She is.I’ll ask if she will see you,’ she said. ‘If you’ll wait here.’ Mitchell was not happy to be left to wait on the doorstep, fortunately, he did not have to wait long. ‘Mrs Potgieter will see you,’ Anna asked when she returned. ‘Good Mor…’ Mitchell started to say when he was shown into the office along the passage, he cut himself off when he saw that Theresa Potgieter was on the phone. ‘Anna said you wish to speak to me about Lily,’ Theresa said once she had hung up the phone. ‘I assume, since you don’t have her with you, that you haven’t yet found Lily….’ ‘