Free Missing in Tokyo by Graham Marks

have to be patient. It had only been a week.
    Only
a week? ONLY A WEEK! Sarah had been furious when Tony, ringing from outside the FCO, had told her what the official had said. Bloody woman! There was no way on this earth she could have any kids of her own, but if for some bizarre, twisted reason she did, God help them. When Tony repeated that part of the story Sarah couldn’t stop the tears, hot and silent, from cascading down her cheeks again. Jess, holding her, cried too, and it was a relief all over again to shed the bottled-up emotions she’d been carrying round all day.
    â€˜Did they say anything about whether you should go out there, Tony?’ Dave sat back after filling up their wine glasses.
    â€˜Entirely up to us whether we do or not.’ Tony looked over at Sarah. ‘We’ve talked about it, haven’t we,’ Sarah nodded, biting her lower lip, ‘and there’s no way Sarah can go, with her mum and dad and everything, and
I
can’t leave her to cope with that situation on her own … no way, right?’
    The question stayed, waiting for someone, anyone, to answer it.
    Tony frowned. ‘What’re you saying, Dave? That I should’ve gone?’
    Dave shook his head, leaning forward, elbows on the table. ‘Not saying that, Tony, mate … course not, I just can’t get my head round what a bastard it is to have to make that sort of decision. And anyway, when you see people who have gone to try and help find someone who’s missing, they don’t seem to do anything much except providenews programmes with thirty seconds of film of them standing in some street, and a sound bite.’
    Sarah blew her nose. ‘Did you phone that detective, Tony, the one who came here when we first reported Charlie missing?’
    â€˜Venner?’ Tony took a drink. ‘Yeah, I did … he said he’d do some chasing, but like they said at the Foreign Office, all police contact has to be through Interpol. He said he’d call me tomorrow. Have you given up smoking, Dave?’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜Because if you haven’t, I would like one.’
    â€˜Tony!’ Sarah frowned. ‘Don’t do it, don’t start again, if Adam sees you smoking – he said one of the reasons he’d stopped was because if you could, so could he.’
    â€˜The discussion is moot, I have no fags.’ Dave nodded at his wife. ‘Nurse Ratchet over there would have my guts for garters if she even suspected I’d thought about buying a packet. Talking of Adam, how’s he taking all this?’
    Sarah looked over at Tony. ‘Not particularly well … he got suspended for two weeks because he got into a fight at college. Some stupid boy making off-colour remarks about what Charlie was doing in Tokyo. He took it very personally. Broke the boy’s finger.’
    â€˜He said it was a mistake, Sarah! What would you rather he did, let them say whatever they like about his sister?’
    â€˜I’d actually rather we didn’t have an argument, not now …’
    Dave and Jess left just before midnight, Sarah insisting she didn’t want any help with the clearing up. Back in the kitchen Tony, loading the dishwasher, apologised for losing his rag about Adam.
    â€˜Where is he, anyway – did you see him today?’
    â€˜This morning, just before I left to go to Mum and Dad’s.’
    â€˜How was he?’
    â€˜He was … he was OK.’
    Tony looked up from arranging the dirty plates in ascending order of size. ‘What was the matter with him?’
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know …’ Sarah wiped an already clean work surface. ‘He wasn’t himself, you know?’
    â€˜None of us are, right now. D’you think he’s coming back tonight?’
    â€˜Or staying with The Girlfriend? I’ve no idea, given up asking. Do you think we’ll ever get to meet her?’
    Tony stood up. ‘Does