Free Devil's Game by Patricia Hall

Terry Bastable and nodded, and Bastable began to read slowly and hesitantly from a piece of paper in front of him.
    ‘I just want to say to Karen that if she’s gone away of her own free will, me and the kids, we want her back. We’re broken-hearted she’s gone, and we want her to come home. And even if she can’t do that straight away, she should call us. We need to hear from her, we need to know she’s all right, we need to talk.’ He hesitated, obviously on the verge of breaking down, and desperately not wanting to reveal that sort of weakness. The press officer put a hand on his arm sympathetically for a second but he pushed it away. But he was content to let her take over.
    ‘What I think Mr Bastable wants to say is that he doesn’t know why his wife would go off like this. And he wants to appeal to her to make contact. Perhaps we could give Mr Bastable a moment, and DCI Thackeray could take your questions. Thank you.’
    Bob Baker wasted no time, and Laura could see the faintest expression of distaste on Thackeray’s face as he nodded to the crime reporter when he leapt to his feet.
    ‘Mr Thackeray, can you tell us how the search for Karen is going? Are you looking for a body?’
    ‘The search is going as well as can be expected, but there are three hundred acres of thick woodland, with very fewclearings, where Mrs Bastable’s car was found, so it’s not a quick process. And no, we’re not looking for a body, as such. We have no idea where Karen is and still hope very much that she is fit and well somewhere. That is, after all, the purpose of this press conference, based on the hope that if she hears her husband’s appeal she will make contact.’
    A young reporter from the local TV station whom Laura knew by sight was next, the camera swinging towards her as she spoke. ‘Does Mr Bastable know of any reason why Karen would have left home of her own free will?’
    Bastable shook his head vigorously.
    ‘No reason,’ he said. But Bob Baker was not letting it go at that.
    ‘No problems at home?’ he broke in. And again Bastable shook his head. ‘Come on, Terry. Everyone has some problems at home. Did Karen have a boyfriend, by any chance? Is that what this is all about?’
    Thackeray stepped in at that, not bothering to hide his anger. Laura could see the tension in every inch of his body as he struggled to remain the dispassionate chairman.
    ‘These are questions we can’t answer at the moment,’ he said. ‘As my colleague here has already said, Mr Bastable doesn’t know of any reason why Karen would have left home deliberately and, as you can see, he is very distressed, and so are his two children. What we are hoping is that you’ll be able to help us in terms of space and time and give extensive coverage to the family’s appeal. We depend on you all in this sort of case. We have photographs of Karen, and the children, for you…’ But Bob Baker was not happy with this approach.
    ‘Terry, what did Karen say before she left home on Tuesday evening?’ he broke in again.
    ‘She said she was going to work,’ Bastable said.
    ‘Which is where, exactly? Mr Thackeray didn’t say.’
    ‘Shirley’s, the big bakery up Ecclesfield. She’s been there six years, does nights now and again. She takes the car when she does nights.’ Bastable’s voice was a touch stronger now, and he was beginning to regain some of what was obviously his natural belligerence. That, Laura thought, might be his undoing if he himself had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance.
    ‘Should she have gone to work that night?’ Baker persisted.
    ‘No, they weren’t expecting her,’ Bastable said, revealing his anger now. ‘She wasn’t on t’rota.’
    ‘So she lied,’ Baker said triumphantly. ‘So where might she go? Or, more importantly, who might she go to see?’
    ‘I don’t know, do I? I’ve no bloody idea. Someone’s got her. She’s come to some harm. She’d never have left her family of her own