The Abduction: A Novel by Jonathan Holt Page B

uniform she could tell that his lean body was granite-hard.
    “I’m Elston,” he said without preamble. “Come in.”
    He led the way into the kitchen – which was like no kitchen Kat had ever been in. A central island was surrounded by high stools, like a cocktail bar. Gleaming marble surfaces bore so many gadgets – a food processor, bread maker, juicer, some kind of coffee-making machine – that it resembled an industrial workshop. There was a fridge the size of a wardrobe, complete with an ice dispenser. There was, however, no sign of any food.
    The petite woman sitting at the island had to be Mrs Elston. There was no mistaking the haggard, red-eyed expression of a mother ricocheting between terror and despair, nor the way hope flooded into her face at the sight of Kat’s Carabinieri uniform, only to drain away again as she realised there was no news. Next to her sat a familiar figure – a wiry blonde woman in her early twenties, also wearing military fatigues. The front pocket had “Boland” written across it, while her shoulders carried the single pip of a second lieutenant. Her geeky face, devoid of any make-up, wore a sombre expression.
    “I’m Captain Tapo,” Kat said in English. “Second Lieutenant Boland’s…” She hesitated, stumbling over the word “friend”. “Her contact in the Carabinieri. I’m sorry to hear about your daughter’s disappearance.”
    “This is my wife, Nicole,” the major said. “Your colleagues are upstairs.”
    Kat drew up a stool. “I’ll talk to them in a minute. Tell me what happened first.”
    The major spoke for both of them. “We thought she was on a school trip, but it seems she… we may have been wrong about that. No one’s seen her since Saturday.”
    “Does she have a phone? Bank cards?”
    “Yes and yes. We’ve tried the phone, of course, many times, but it’s switched off.”
    “Has she taken any clothes?” Kat asked. “Luggage? A backpack?”
    Major Elston glanced at his wife. The woman stirred. “I don’t think so. It’s hard to be sure, what with laundry… She’s a teenager, she’s pretty independent…” Her voice tailed off.
    “And is there anyone you can think of who she might be with? I understand she doesn’t have a boyfriend at the moment.”
    Major Elston was on surer ground here. “No. And not just ‘at the moment’. She won’t be seventeen for two weeks. She—” At the implicit reference to his daughter’s future, he stopped short. A muscle twitched in his cheek.
    Kat thought it curious that he would link not being seventeen to not having a boyfriend, but chose not to pursue that for the moment. “What about other male friends? Anyone who’d recently come on to the scene you weren’t sure about?”
    Again Elston shook his head. “She has a soldier friend, Specialist Toomer, who escorts her to social events. I trust him completely. I’d also trust him to tell me if she was mixing with the wrong crowd.”
    “Could she have simply got lost?”
    “I doubt it. We’ve been here three years now. She knows her way around.”
    “Any problems at home? Arguments, rebellions?”
    “We don’t have arguments,” he said flatly. “Mia accepts that in any family, civilian or military, there has to be discipline. We’ve brought her up to respect the boundaries of the house, and that includes not speaking back to us.”
    “May I talk to her teachers?”
    “If you really think it will help,” the major said. The muscle in his cheek twitched again. “What are you going to do ?” he exploded, slamming his hand down on the marble counter. “People should be out looking for her, not asking questions.”
    Kat waited a moment. “Does she have any brothers or sisters?”
    He sighed. “I’m sorry. You’ll appreciate this is difficult for us. One brother, Michael. He’s in ninth grade. He’s at a friend’s, getting ready for school. We thought it best he stick to as normal a schedule as possible until she’s… until