safe and sound â sometimes after several years.â
âYes.â
âAnd you know perfectly well that the police enquiries at the time found no evidence of a crime.â
âNo,â said Fry.
But Howard Renshaw was sharp enough to catch her hesitation.
âAt least, thatâs what they told us,â he said, suddenly fixing her with an accusing stare.
âThereâs some new evidence,â said Fry.
âEvidence?â
âIâm afraid Emmaâs mobile phone has been found.â
âWhere?â said Howard immediately.
âIn woodland a little way outside Chapel-en-le-Frith.â
âCan you tell us exactly?â
âIâd rather not at the moment, sir. Obviously, we want to examine the area thoroughly before we come to any conclusions.â
Sarah Renshaw was smiling. âWell, that explains why we were never able to contact her, if she had lost her mobile phone. I suppose it was stolen.â
âWell, itâs possible,â said Fry. âBut there could be other interpretations. Weâre keeping our options open.â
âWhat are you saying?â
Fry could hear the rising note in Sarah Renshawâs voice, and she began to feel uneasy. She was aware of Gavin Murfin shuffling on his chair next to her, as if he wanted to get up and leave the room.
âIâm not trying to upset you, Mrs Renshaw. Itâs just that weâre going to have to look at the circumstances again, and ââ
âAnd what ?â
Sarah Renshaw was getting flushed. Fry desperately cast around for something to calm her down. She looked at Mr Renshaw, hoping for his placatory intermediary act right now. It didnât come. But Sarah calmed herself with her own thoughts.
âI lit a candle the night she didnât come home,â she said. âThereâs been a candle burning for her ever since.â
Fry nodded, not knowing what to say, and decided to say nothing.
âI need to make some initial enquiries,â she said, âbut then Iâd like to come and see you at home, if thatâs all right. Perhaps tomorrow.â
âTomorrow afternoon,â said Sarah. âThat would be fine.â
âWill you be talking to Emmaâs friends again?â asked Howard.
âYes. I plan to start with Alex Dearden and Neil Granger.â
âAlex is a nice young man,â said Sarah. âI hope that he and Emma might get together some day.â
The Renshaws looked at the clock, and then at their watches.
âWe have to go,â said Howard.
âWeâre going to wait for Emma at the underpass,â said Sarah.
Fry stared at her. âSorry?â
Sarah smiled and patted Fryâs sleeve as she stood up. âDonât worry about it,â she said. âWeâve been getting guidance .â
A s soon as the Renshaws had left, Diane Fry got Gavin Murfin to pull out the files on them. Murfin had been right â it would have been helpful if sheâd been warned beforehand. But everyone else in E Division seemed to know the whole story, so maybe they had assumed that she knew it as well. It was just one of those little breakdowns in communication that made life so frustrating sometimes. Probably everyone but DI Hitchens had also forgotten that she was herself from Warley, near to where Emma Renshaw had last been seen. Fry had spoken to very few people here in Edendale about her past. One too many, perhaps. But very few.
She supposed that Howard and Sarah Renshaw had been normal people once. Until that night two years ago, they had been a nice, middle-aged, middle-class couple living in their detached house in Withens. They probably had a barbecue patio and a holiday caravan at Abersoch, as well as a daughter studying for a degree in Fine Art in Birmingham.
There were a few little facts about them that Fry was able to glean from the files. Apparently, Howard had already been thinking of taking early