Chapter 27

chapter twenty-seven

Now

‘Apparently the husband had a habit of walking out the door and disappearing when family life got too much for him,’ said Christina to her boss.

She was in his office giving him an update on the Joy Delaney investigation.

‘Smart man,’ said her boss, Detective Sergeant Vince Oates. He had four children under the age of five. He drank Red Bull like it was water.

‘Some of the family think this is payback,’ said Christina. ‘It’s the wife’s turn to walk out.’

‘What do you reckon?’

‘She’s been gone sixteen days now. The longest the husband ever left was five nights and that was over twenty years ago.’

‘The last thing we need this year is another no-body homicide case,’ said Vince morosely. He rattled his empty can of Red Bull.

‘I know,’ said Christina. They’d just had a high-profile case fall apart. Too much media. No result. Dispiriting for all involved. ‘I really want a body.’ She paused. ‘I mean, obviously I don’t want a body.’

‘If she’s dead you do.’

‘If she’s dead I do,’ agreed Christina.

If she were a betting woman, she would have put a hundred to one on Joy Delaney being dead.