MISSING

Chapter 1

Frank's call sounded routine. "Got a body for you."

"What you got?" Horatio felt inappropriately happy. He'd been clearing paperwork since half-six that morning. Having got behind, he had come in early to deal with it. After four hours, he was bored.

"Stabbing, adult female… That's all I know." Frank passed on the address. "Meet you there?"

"Okay. I'll grab Eric…"

He and his colleague travelled together, and met the detective at the small run-down property, a property already cordoned off.

"We've secured the place. No one there but the victim… Haven't touched anything. The ME's on his way."

Horatio nodded his approval and they pushed the front door open. "No forced entry here…" he murmured. "Eric, have a quick look round the outside, then join me."

He observed a modest, even shabby interior, but one neatly kept, apart from signs of a brief struggle, a table overturned, a broken mug. The body, on her back, was that of a white woman, probably in her thirties, a pool of blood round her head, from an obvious wound in her neck. Horatio bent down, looking but not touching. It seemed clear she'd died quickly, and he could see only the one wound. There would probably have been arterial spray, but, if there was, it was unclear on the old patterned carpet. Or, he thought, most of it on the killer…

He turned as the ME appeared behind him. "Tom…"

"Horatio. Lovely day." He flushed. "Well, not for her, of course."

"Of course. But you're right. It's much less humid than usual." He stood up to allow Tom Loman access.

"Mm… Stab wound, severed the carotid, I would say. She'd have bled out very quickly."

"There's no sign that she moved."

"She may have passed out immediately."

"Let's hope so. Any other wounds?"

The ME gently rolled the body. "Not that I can see. Not even defensive wounds. It must have been very quick. I'll try to give you a rough time of death."

Horatio watched as Tom took the liver temperature.

"Two to three hours ago… Nothing much more I can tell you at the moment."

"Okay, Tom, take her away."

Eric came back in. "Nothing obvious outside," he said quietly. "No windows forced or anything, and the ground's too hard for footprints."

The three men stood respectfully as the doctor and his assistant bagged the body and moved it to a gurney, before wheeling it out to the van.

"Right, Eric, start processing down here," Horatio said briskly. "I'm going to take a look upstairs."

"I'll go talk to the neighbors," Frank added. "Hope we've got a nosy one."

Horatio walked carefully up the stairs, keeping to one side, in case there was evidence there. The main bedroom was neat, the bed made. Impossible to tell from a glance whether one or two people slept there, but there were no signs of anything untoward. He moved into a second bedroom and frowned. Clearly a child's, a boy's. It was a mess, but no more than many kids' bedrooms, he supposed. He assumed – hoped – the boy was at school. He felt a brief dread at the thought of the news he'd have to break later.

The bathroom revealed only a towel on the floor, an open toothpaste tube… He went back downstairs to help Eric.

"Anything?"

"What you'd expect – loads of fingerprints… There is a clear print on the doorbell push. Might have been her last caller."

"She had a son."

"Yeah? He's not here, is he?"

"At school, I hope."

Frank came back in, his expression grim. "We've got a problem…"

"More than a murder?" Horatio raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah… A missing boy. The neighbor said he wasn't waiting for the school bus this morning – she thought he must be sick. I called the school. He never showed up."

"Oh hell… What else did you find out?"

"Her name's Hannah Robbins. The boy's eight – Timmy."

"Any man on the scene?"

"Don't think so. Separated from her old man… Just her and the boy… Decent woman, as far as I can gather. Oh, and a possible lead on a vehicle. Although that was yesterday evening. They didn't see or hear anything this morning."

Horatio thought quickly. "Okay, Frank. We'll stay here – see if we can find anything. Can I leave the car and the husband to you? Keep me informed."

"Will do."

He turned to Eric. "We're going to have to process the whole house – I rather hoped it was confined to this room… But if the boy was taken… I looked into his room – it's a mess, but no more than any small boy's…"

"Likely to be the husband, isn't it?"

"That's a bit of an assumption, Eric! It could be… Equally, she could have a boyfriend… Or it could be a stranger."

"Robbery gone wrong?"

"Look at the place - doubt she had anything worth stealing. Come on, let's just collect the evidence. You carry on down here. I'll do the boy's room." He went back upstairs.

Two hours later, they headed back to the lab, with dozens of fingerprints, blood samples, photographs, the bedding from both beds, the woman's address book, and a cell phone.

While Eric went out to buy some lunch, Horatio sought out Frank.

"Anything?"

"Nothing useful," the detective replied. "One of my guys is bringing the husband in for a chat. I hear he's got an alibi, and he seemed genuinely shocked… Keen to co-operate. My gut tells me he's clean. But I could be wrong."

"Not often, Frank."

"I've got a BOLO out on red Durangos, but we don't have a license plate. You get anything?"

"Like you – nothing useful. Yet. But we've brought loads of stuff back – we may get some good results. I feel I should be doing something to find the boy, but I've got no idea where to start." He smiled. "And I must get something to eat, or I'll pass out. I skipped breakfast."

"Go on. Keep me up-to-date."

"You too."

After a speedy lunch, and two cups of coffee, Horatio went to chase his lab techs, and catch up with the ME. Within hours, he knew more about his victim, and the crime. DNA proved that Hannah slept alone – no boyfriend. The fingerprints were difficult to separate – there were so many – but ultimately most were eliminated as Hannah's. Making some assumptions, about size and position, they eliminated many more as Timmy's. It left them with five others. Eric ran them, finding two results.

"Hardly hardened criminals…" he murmured to Horatio, who was leaning over his shoulder. "One long-ago traffic offense…"

"And one petty thief… We'll check them out, even so. You go and see the traffic guy. I'll look for the other one – there's no current address on him. Which one was on the bell push?"

"Neither. That one's unidentified. But it's that sort of area, isn't it? I expect neighbors come and go all the time."

Meanwhile, the blood evidence began to yield results. Mostly Hannah's as expected, but an unidentified smear of someone else. So they had DNA, maybe a print. Tom Loman confirmed the weapon as probably a hunting knife. But they had no suspects.

Horatio was debating going back to the scene, to re-interview the neighbors, when Frank rang. "Got the husband here. Wanna come down?"

He cautiously concurred with Frank's earlier opinion. The man certainly seemed distraught. "Find Timmy. Please find my son."

"We're working on it. Tell me about your wife."

"What's to tell? She was an ordinary kind working woman. Not the sort to invite anything like… this."

"Why did you split?"

"I don't really know. We just… fell out of love, I suppose… We might have got back together… I don't know."

"Was it amicable?" Horatio asked gently.

"I suppose. I saw them quite a lot."

"No disputes about money? Access to your son?"

"Access – she never stopped me seeing him. Money – what money? I'm a janitor. She's – she was – a care worker. She stayed in the house, I'm in a crappy single room. Look, detectives, I'd never hurt them. Please find Timmy."

"We will. When did you last see them?"

"Last weekend. Please, we're wasting time!"

Horatio and Frank stepped outside. "What do you think?" Frank asked.

"Not sure. He seems genuine. You say he's got an alibi?"

"He's offered anything we want. DNA, access to his residence… We'll follow those up… But I don't think it's him."

"I'm sure you're right." Horatio sighed. "Nothing on the red Durango?"

"Pal, there are dozens of red Durangos out there! We're doing our best. What next?"

"Thought I'd see if I can find Timmy's friends. Kids are quite observant. If anyone's been hanging around…"

"The lady next door's got a boy." Frank glanced at his watch. "School should be out by now."

"Wish me luck."

TBC