Chapter 2
The tall dark-haired woman rang the doorbell and waited. There was no sound inside, although outside on the driveway there was a boy's bicycle lying abandoned on its side in the long grass that edged the path. A basketball hoop was fastened to the wall, a slightly deflated basketball sitting sadly nearby, no longer a perfect sphere, but with an ever-so-slightly flattened base. She knew what would happen when anyone tried to bounce that ball. A dull 'thuck' and it would rise a foot or so into the air for one feeble bounce.
But these were clear indications that there was a boy in the family. A boy who, right now, was not at home, was in fact now listed as a Missing Person. A priority case when a child as young as this was reported missing. And it was her job to interview the parents.
It was a job she was good at, very good at in fact. But that didn't make it any easier.
She rang the bell again, and saw through the frosted glass, a shadowy shape coming towards her. It melded into a more distinct form and she saw it reach out to open the door. She pulled out her ID.
'Lieutenant Freya. May I come in?' she smiled, her best feature she knew. A warm, welcoming, trusting smile. The sort of smile that gets you into peoples' houses.
The door opened wider. 'Lieutenant.' The woman who answered the door had an indefinable elegance, and a graceful economy of movement. Small gestures with her hands, her fingers, expressed more than words as she beckoned to her visitor.
Freya followed her into the living room; a huge room with a fabulous moonlit expanse of windows that overlooked rolling fields. The sea sparkling with silver moonbeams in the distance.
'Please.'
Freya sat.
'Ed?'
'I'm afraid there's no news yet Mrs, I'm sorry, I never asked what your surname was. So many children these days have different surnames to their parents. It does make life confusing sometimes.'
The beautiful woman smiled. A tidy, self-contained smile that hid a world of secrets. 'Mrs Draco, Zeta Draco. I use my husband's name. I'm afraid we are considered a little old-fashioned nowadays.' Freya could hear a hint of a foreign accent in her voice. An unusual name, but then so many names were.
Especially now, when the world was getting so much more cosmopolitan.
'And your husband? His name I mean?'
'Oh yes, Giauzar, bit of a mouthful really. I just call him Guy. He'll be here in a minute. He's just having another look for Ed out by the beach. But….' she began to cry, quiet tears that welled up and spilled down her cheeks. She dabbed at them with a tissue. 'He's such a good boy really, Ed, I mean. Oh he wanders off, and gets engrossed in things that interest him, and sometimes forgets to come home for tea, but he never stays out late. He is always home when he says he will be. Always. He knows we would worry about him.' She sat twisting the scrap of tissue into small shreds that littered the floor like white flakes.
'Tell me about Ed's friends. Could he have been with them today?'
'His friends? Well, he's pretty much a loner really, doesn't play much with the others of his age, not that there are many others of his age. He prefers to be doing his own thing, exploring and researching, finding new places, beachcombing. That sort of thing. Oh yes; and he likes the field. He goes there a lot, especially when there's something new there. We keep telling him to be careful, to watch out for ….'
She broke off and started sobbing again. Freya pulled out a small packet of tissues from her pocket and handed them over, then stood up as she heard the front door open.
Mrs Draco looked up, hope in her eyes, 'Ed, is that…oh. It's you Guy. I was hoping…'
Her husband shook his head. 'No sign of him Zeta. I can only hope he's found somewhere safe to hide for the night. He's sensible, he knows what to do if night falls suddenly. I hope.'
'We are doing everything we possibly can to find Ed for you. I promise.' Freya reached over and took Mrs Draco's hand. She was shocked at how cold and fragile it felt. 'I need to look around his room if that's alright with you? And if you could find me a picture of him, and maybe one of his favourite possessions, that would help us.'
'I'll show you his room,' Guy said, 'Zeta, can you find the Lieutenant that picture we took of Ed last month. You know which one.'
Ed's room looked like any normal nine year olds room. Posters of his favourite team on the wall, models of spaceships and satellites hanging from the ceiling, assorted paraphernalia on the surfaces, pencils, rubbers, a slide rule, notebooks, the odd piece of construction kit that was left over after completing a model. All the usual random things that make up the life of a nine year old boy. There were books everywhere she looked. Books on the floor, on the bed on the cupboards. Freya picked up one of the books. Astronomy. And not a book aimed at nine year olds either. This was much meatier than that, a book for university students in fact. So Ed was seriously into astronomy. She put the book down, thinking about stars and planets, and spaceships.
Freya looked at the photograph that Zeta gave her. A handsome boy. With an indefinable look in his eyes. Blue eyes, crystal blue, not golden like his mother's eyes or green like his father. And the hair. Blond was not really the word to describe the colour. It was ashen, nearly platinum, and she could tell by the way it was lay almost caressing his face, that it would be soft hair, soft and fine and delicate. He stood there, in the picture, a glow of happiness surrounding him.
No, Freya revised her initial impression. Not a handsome boy; a beautiful one. A wonderful child, a glorious child, loved and cherished and infinitely precious.
Freya hoped they would be able to find him, soon. She didn't relish the thought of what might happen if they didn't.
