Whatever Happened to Sarah Hawkins?

Note: I have been deliberately vague about James' and Sarah's jobs for the simple reason that, identifying their job has little relevance to the plot development or outcome. CM

Evening, Day: 1

"What happened to Sarah Hawkins?" That was the question on everyone's lips following my appearance on the TV evening news.

"When was the last time that you saw Sarah?"

The microphone was thrust in front of my face by the Crime Reporter from one of the channels. She was young, blonde, and attractive, with a super-white smile, and the hint of an abrasive manner when she chose. It was my turn, I had seen her interviewing people before, and had got the impression that she formed an opinion early, and that flavoured the questions and how she treated the interviewee.

"She left for work before me this morning, and I expected her to be at home when I got in. That was the usual practise. She wasn't here when I got home."

"Was this unusual?"

"Yes. It was highly unusual, and that's what got me worried. You see, she made it a point of being home for me in the evenings, and would always ring if there was any change to that. She did not ring me during the day."

"How long have you two been together?"

"We've been together now for three years and living together for the past eighteen months. We have planned to eventually marry, but were in no rush."

"What did you do when you arrived home and she wasn't there?"

"I noticed that there were several messages on the answering machine. They were all from her work, wanting to know where she was. That was when I called the police. I'm worried for her safety, and just want her back home safely." I realised, as soon as I said this that a fair proportion of people watching this broadcast would immediately look on an impassioned plea, such as I had just made, as a sign of guilt, and that I had something to do with her disappearance.

The police didn't help any. "Mr Symonds, Detective Sergeant Montgomery, I would appreciate it if you would not speak to the media until after we have spoken with you, it could hinder our investigation. Now, can you think of any reason why Sarah would just disappear?"

"No, none."

"Your relationship, was it a happy one?"

"Yes, I am very much in love with Sarah, and she with me. We never really argued."

"Never really, so there were arguments were there?" He was very quick to jump at the apparent admission that not everything was rosy.

'The occasional one, but it was never heated and never lasted more than a few minutes. Once it was over, it was over, and we made up straight away, at least as soon as we could."

"When was the last of these arguments?"

"It was weeks ago, I can't remember the exact time and date."

"What was it about, do you remember that?"

"I had bought a shirt that I really liked, and she didn't. I took it back the next day." He made notes in his pad.

"Are there any relatives or friends that she might have gone to?"

"Yes, we have many friends, and both of our parents are still around. I can give you names and addresses if that would help."

"If you could, we will need to speak to these people."

I took my tablet from my case, opened up the Contacts App and handed it to him.

"Can you account for your movements today?" He asked as he noted the names and addresses of my contacts.

"My appointments are all in that tablet, I can call up my schedule. Most of them were in my office, but I did have to go out for one appointment. All the times are there and you can check with the people that I had appointments with, they can verify my movements." More furious scribbling. He didn't impound the tablet so, at least at this stage, I don't appear to be a suspect.

"Thank you sir, you have been most helpful. If we need you for anything else, what is the best number to contact you on?"

"My mobile will be the best, I have it with me at all times."

"Thank you sir, we'll be in touch."

"You will let me know when you find her, won't you?"

"Certainly sir, you will be the first to know."

As soon as the police had left, and the media had withdrawn to the front lawn, I contacted Sarah's parents. "Mr Hawkins, I suppose that you've heard the news."

"Yes James." He never called me Jim for which I was thankful, I hated it because as a kid it was always used in a derisive manner. "We've been avoiding the media that are camped outside. When first approached we didn't know what it was about, but as soon as they told us we issued a no comment and shut them out. I expect a visit from the police shortly. It's amazing how the vultures are so quick to get to the scent."

"Their practise of scanning police communications help I think. You haven't heard from Sarah in the last day or so, have you?"

"Not since we saw you on Sunday. There didn't appear to be anything bothering her then. Has she said or done anything that would give us cause for alarm?"

"No, nothing. She was fine when she left for work this morning. She kissed me as usual and told me that she was planning something different for dinner tonight, but wouldn't tell me what it was. Nothing out of the ordinary there, she often did that."

"Well, all I can say is, keep your chin up and try not to worry, before you say anything, I know that's a stupid thing to say, you love her too much not to worry, but it's good advice nonetheless."

"Thanks Mr Hawkins. I'll try."

My next call was to Mum and Dad. "Hi Dad, it's me. You've heard the news I gather."

"Yes, we tried to call you a few minutes ago, but the line was engaged, I suspect that you were talking to Sarah's parents."

"Yes. I've just finished speaking with them."

"How are you holding up?" Dad asked.

"I don't know. I'm still coming to grips with what has happened. I would be feeling a lot better if I'd not given that interview. I must have looked and sounded as guilty as hell. The channel ran one of those stupid polls where they ask the question even before any facts are available. The latest results don't look good for me."

"Don't take any notice of it."

"I won't, or I'll try not to, but you know, it's just another thing to worry about. Oh shit."

"What is it?"

"I gave the police my schedule for them to check, and there's one that they won't be able to. I had an appointment, I had to meet this guy, I've never met him before and he wanted to meet me for lunch at this restaurant, but he never showed. I was out of the office for over an hour that I won't be able to account for. Look, I'd better ring them and clear this up right away."

But I couldn't clear it up right away. The officer in charge of the investigation had gone home, so an appointment was made for me to call in on my way to work in the morning.

I tried to sleep, without success. I had several phone calls from friends before I decided to divert all calls to the answering machine and turned off my mobile. When I went to turn off my tablet I noticed that my Facebook page had hundreds and hundreds of hits, an even percentage of likes and dislikes. I decided not to read them.

Morning, Day 2:

Bleary eyed I staggered to the bathroom, and stood under the shower for a lot longer than normal in an attempt to wash my troubles down the drain, and restore some sort of equilibrium into my life. I left behind me a half drunk cup of coffee and a slice of toast with one bite taken from it, and headed for the door, only to find that I was somewhat of a cause celebre with the assembled media pack. I came close to running one cameraman down as I reversed out of my driveway. A reporter tried to open my door, and I thanked myself for locking it before I started the car. There was a mad scramble for vehicles as I drove off down the road a lot faster than normal.

I called work and spoke with Reggie, (Regina, my secretary) as I walked into the police station. "Hi it's James, Look I'll be late in this morning. I'm just on my way in to speak with the police."

"James, I've just had Rod (my boss) down here, he wants you to take some time off, at least until this blows over. In any case it's not a good idea you coming in this morning, the media is all over the place trying to interview anyone who has an opinion. The staff have all been told not to say anything, but some may have said something before that message got out. Stay away for the time being."

"Look, I'll call as soon as I'm finished here and see how things stand, if it's still crawling with pond scum I'll go home. See you soon."

"I am so glad you came in Mr Symonds, it has saved me the bother of finding you. I have several issues that I need clarified." Montgomery said as I sat down at his desk.

"Before you start. The reason that I rang last night and arranged to come down this morning was that I remembered that one of the appointments that I had yesterday didn't show up. I was supposed to meet this man at a restaurant, I waited for over half an hour but he never showed, so I went back to the office."

"He never showed? We have spoken to the man in question and he told us that you never kept the appointment. That is why we wanted to see you."

"You've spoken to him? That's more than I was able to do, you see, I'd never met the man before in my life, at least I don't think so, the name was not familiar. There was no way that I could have contacted him when he didn't show because I didn't have a number for him. How did you manage to find him?"

"We didn't, he approached us after seeing you on TV last night. He told us that, seeing you made him think that something didn't ring true, and that the information that he provided to us could help us in this matter."

"How convenient."

"What do you mean?"

"Here is a man, who makes an appointment that he doesn't keep, and that takes me out of my office for over an hour so that I have no alibi for that time, and who just happens to be watching TV and sees me being interviewed, and thinks that I look guilty. How convenient."

"Be that as it may. But it does open up another line of enquiry, don't you think?"

"I came down here to help you, and now I find that I'm to be the prime suspect in this investigation. On the TV shows it's around this time that the suspect demands to see his Lawyer. I am making no such demands, you can ask any question that you like, I have nothing to hide, no reason to lie to you. All I want is Sarah back, is that too much to ask?"

"When you were at the restaurant, did you speak to anyone?"

"I spoke to a waitress who took me to a table to wait for him, and got me a drink."

"What drink did you order?"

"A Mineral water. I don't drink during the day, not even at lunch meetings."

"How did you pay for this expensive drink?"

"Cash, it was only a couple of dollars, not enough to use plastic."

"A pity. We showed the staff at the restaurant your photo and none of them recognised it."

"That doesn't seem possible, how many people would go to a restaurant and order a mineral water?"

"A good question, if that's what happened. You say that you didn't have a number to call him, how is this possible?"

"Because I didn't actually make the appointment myself." That raised an eyebrow. "When I checked my schedule yesterday morning it was there, I questioned Regina, that's my secretary, and she knew nothing about it. I also asked the receptionist and she told me that a man had rung the afternoon before and had requested the appointment, he wouldn't tell her what it was about or leave a contact number, so, because I wasn't available at that time, I was in a meeting, she just used my network connection to enter the appointment into my schedule."

"We'll need for her to confirm that. So you left for that appointment about when?"

"I had an eleven o'clock meeting that finished at eleven fifty and I left straight after that. The appointment was for twelve thirty and, because it was a nice day out, and it would be too much bother getting my car out of the car park, and finding a parking space near the restaurant, I decided to walk, it wasn't that far and I had plenty of time. I got to the restaurant at around twelve twenty. I left there at one fifteen, I figured that if he turned up I wouldn't have time before my next scheduled meeting at two."

"What time did you get back to your office?" He looked at his notes when he asked this.

"At one fifty."

"A few minutes longer than it took to get to the restaurant." He didn't ask a question but made a note in his pad.

"I saw something in a shop window and stopped for a minute or two. It was something that I thought that I'd go back for later, a present for Sarah."

"Where was the store, and what was it that you were going to buy?"

"It was a jewellery store in Crown Street called Djembe, which, despite the name, seemed to be mostly North African stuff. It was a silver bracelet, Sarah loves silver jewellery."

"So, you have over an hour that you can't account for, would that be correct?"

"If you look at it that way, then I suppose that I can't account for it."

"More than enough time for you to meet Sarah and kill her, wouldn't you say?"

"I really wouldn't know, but I doubt it very much. For a start, I wasn't aware that she wasn't at work, have you thought of that?"

"True, I have to concede you that point, but then that wouldn't have been a problem if you had done the deed the previous night. We only have your word for it that she left the house when you said that she did. What if you had killed her at, say," He looked at his pad. "Two in the morning and disposed of her body and dumped her car somewhere?" Was he just doing this to upset me, or has someone provided him with that information?

"You don't honestly think that I would do that to the woman that I love, do you?"

"Stranger things have happened. I don't suppose that you have an alibi for the night before last, do you?"

"I was in bed with Sarah. She got out of bed at six thirty and left for work at seven thirty. I got out of bed at seven and she kissed me good-bye as she left, and told me that she was preparing something different for dinner. That is exactly what happened."

"So you say. Pardon me for being a little sceptical, but you have no proof of this."

I was getting a little pissed at his attitude and was just about to blow my top, when I realised that's exactly what he wanted me to do. "No, I don't have any proof of that, but then I never thought that I'd need to account for being in bed with Sarah, that was a given, it had happened every night for I don't know how long, at least the last eighteen months. The only person who can corroborate my story is missing and, instead of looking for her you're sitting here accusing me of involvement in her disappearance."

"Did you have sex with her?" He totally ignored my outburst.

"I don't see that this is important but yes, we did make love." I deliberately emphasised that we made love, so that he would be aware of the distinction. "We made love every night, we had an enjoyable and active love life."

"That will be all for the moment," He was definitely not happy with my answer, "I have to warn you not to plan any overseas trips for the next few weeks."

"I wasn't planning to go anywhere until after Sarah is found. Then, I thought that a holiday might be in order after that."

"Even if she doesn't want you to find her?"

"That is not possible." I left, wondering where the good cop had been in all of this, I could have done with a friendly face in there.

The front of the police station did nothing to improve my mood. "Mr Symonds, why did the police call you in this morning?" Some media clown screamed at me.

"I came in voluntarily, just a polite chat to see how the search for Sarah is progressing."

"Are the police any closer to making an arrest?"

"You'll have to ask them that."

"Are you a suspect?" I didn't know whether this was a fishing expedition, or whether there was a rumour doing the rounds that I was somehow suspected of involvement in Sarah's disappearance.

"Not to my knowledge, the police never indicated that they were thinking that way. Now I need to get back to work, if you'll excuse me." I pushed my way through the mob, only to be stopped by the media Barbie Doll who had interviewed me yesterday.

"Mr Symonds, I understand that you were unable to account for your movements yesterday, would you care to comment?"

"Rachel, it is Rachel isn't it? I don't know where you are getting your information, but I was able to satisfy the police that, apart from not having the motive, I did not have the opportunity to be in any way responsible for Sarah's disappearance."

"I also understand that the police are looking at another line of inquiry."

"Really?" It was obvious that she was wanting me to deny this, she must have inside information from the police. "I would assume that to be entirely reasonable. In matters such as the disappearance of a person, I would have thought that the police would spread their efforts over a wide area, so as not to miss important details. Now I really must go."

"One final question." She didn't give me time to object. "Are the police still treating this as a missing person's case or, are they treating it as murder?"

"How should I know, you'll have to ask them. It would seem appropriate to consider that foul play may have occurred. I hope that that isn't the case, and that Sarah and I will be together again soon."

As soon as I was free of the masses I called Reggie. "Hi it's me again, what does it look like back there?"

"There are still a few of them camped at the front door, by the looks of the coffee cups lined up around them, they're in for the long haul. You'd better stay away for the time being."

"I need to be doing something, I think I'll run the gauntlet and pick up some of the stuff that I would have been working on, and do it at home."

"Why don't I just send the stuff to you, you've got your tablet with you haven't you, they haven't taken that have they?"

"No, I've still got that, but I might be being paranoid here, but do you think that it's a good idea to network the stuff to me? You never know what eyes are prying."

"There must be a better way of getting the stuff than you coming in here."

"Come to think of it, there might just be. In my garage is my old computer, give me a couple of hours to set it up and get a new email connection, I'll call you with the details and you can send it over. If I stay off the Wi-Fi network they won't be able to track it."

"Sounds good to me. Call me when you're ready for me to send."

Evening, Day 2:

It sounded good in theory, but it wasn't really a good idea in practise. Don't get me wrong, I managed to set up my old clunker and receive the files, but when I started to work on them, I found that I couldn't. When you have spent as much time with someone that you love as I have, the sheer hollowness of life without her was unbearable. I expected her to waltz through the door and plant a sloppy wet, wonderful, passionate, sensual, and sensuous, kiss on my lips. I could feel her lips and I opened my mouth to receive her tongue, and then, then my world came down to earth with a thud, she wasn't there. The silence of her absence was so deafening that I put my hands over my ears to deaden it.

I made sure that all the dead bolts were locked, the windows secure, my phone diverted to the machine and my mobile switched off, and got a bottle of red wine from the wine rack and proceeded to get comprehensively pissed. It took more than one bottle to do the job, and the next thing that I knew was this loud hammering in my ears. My head was throbbing something fierce and the hammering wouldn't go away. It slowly sunk into my furry brain that there was someone at the front door. Could it be Sarah? Did I want her to see me like this?