Lost Souls by Jenny O'Brien (android e book reader txt) 📕

‘Not half! They do keep expecting to be in the middle of an NCIS episode when the reality is that missing keys is as exciting as it gets. That’s the third bunch dropped off today already.’

Gaby waited a moment for Clancy to get to the point, ensuring that her expression showed no trace of the impatience building up under her calm demeanour. She always had a ready smile and a few words to say to the middle-aged policeman who’d been the first one she’d met when she’d trekked across Wales for her interview with DCI Sherlock. He’d taken her under his wing with a protective fatherly manner and had been looking out for her ever since.

‘I’ve just had a call from a member of the public who’s reported one of their old cronies as missing.’

‘God, not another one. What’s going on with the world?’

‘The thing is,’ he said, leaning across the desk, ‘she’s only just gone missing. In fact, I’d nearly go so far as to say she’s most likely late and not missing at all.’

Gaby tried not to fidget but she was desperate to get back to the office and catch up with the team about Ellie. Missing persons were all very well but there was a hell of a difference between a missing ten-year-old and this.

‘There’s four of them that meet up every Monday to play bridge,’ Clancy continued finally, glancing down at the report in front of him. ‘They take it in turns to visit each other’s houses. When they met up earlier, outside Barbara Matthews’ house, they found her car in the driveway but no answer when they rang the bell. They also tried her mobile in case there’d been an accident or she’d been delayed for some reason – they heard it ringing out in the hall.’

‘Well, all I can say is they must have remarkable hearing for their age.’

‘I believe one of them was peering through the letter box at the time. Looking for a dead body, no doubt.’

‘No doubt.’ She managed to restrain a smile at the image popping into her head, tweed skirt and all. ‘So, there is a possibility that she’s collapsed then? Perhaps we should send around an ambulance?’

‘And a squad car, in case they have to break in? They’re quite posh houses along that stretch. Probably security systems up to their bright shiny gutters and soffits.’

‘Go on then,’ Gaby conceded, picking up the pile of post he’d pushed across the counter, her mind already back on Ellie’s disappearance. ‘Let me know as soon as you have anything concrete. I’m planning on heading over to the Welsh Hills Memorial Gardens with Owen, after I’ve checked in with the team,’ she added, almost as an afterthought.

Gaby didn’t have the time to worry about some old woman with both a missing child and the problem over at the crematorium to deal with. While puzzling, there was very little they could do until they knew that a crime had been committed.

Despite having lived in the area since the start of the year, Gaby had never visited the Welsh Mountain Zoo and she’d certainly never visited the Welsh Hills Memorial Gardens. Perched on a hillside overlooking Colwyn Bay, the crematorium was squeezed in behind the zoo and as such shared the same panoramic view of both land and sea. The sweeping vista made her swiftly add a trip to the zoo, one of the top tourist attractions in North Wales, to the list of family-friendly places she could visit with Rusty and his son during the summer holidays – that is if they were still on speaking terms. She never knew from one minute to the next with the taciturn pathologist.

With the sun beating down on their heads, she thought at least she’d be able to wear something a little more suitable than her trouser suit and plain white work shirt as she pulled a grimace at the feel of the fabric sticking to her skin. The weather had been variable over the last few weeks but it finally seemed as if summer had arrived with a vengeance. With her heavy workload she loved nothing better than spending her free time lazing in her back garden under the shade of the large pear tree, a book in her hand and a glass of iced tea by her side. But with a missing child to find that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

‘Let’s get a move on. What I wouldn’t give for a nice cold drink at the moment, but it will have to wait.’

‘Preferably beer,’ Owen said, slamming his car door shut and locking it. ‘The front office, do you reckon?’ he asked, pointing to the flat-roofed building up ahead with the word Reception picked out in gold lettering.

‘I think. I’d like to have a quick recce to see the set-up first. Penrose can wait half an hour or so. You were born and bred around here. What can you tell me about the place?’

‘Not a lot, I’m afraid. Up to now my family have opted for burial.’

‘If I’d thought we wouldn’t upset Marie further, I’d have taken her aside to pick her brains,’ she said, walking beside him across the block-paved pathway and towards the highly polished front door. ‘How do you think she’s coping?’

‘In what way exactly? The break-up of her marriage or moving in with Devine?’

There was a sharpness to his words that Gaby didn’t like and couldn’t account for. He should know her better than to think that she hadn’t asked out of anything but concern. Never one to let things go, she put a hand on his arm, pulling him to a stop.

‘Come on, Owen. Don’t be like that. I shouldn’t have to tell you that I only have her interests at heart. She’s a good copper and doesn’t deserve the half of what she’s been dished out.’

‘That’s not the part that concerns me.’

‘Excuse me?’ she replied, her voice dropping.

‘It’s Mal.’

‘Why Mal? He proved