dead.’
TEN
Sergeant Norris had initially used the word ‘missing’ and, between Gully leaving her desk and arriving at reception, it seemed that Jamie-Lee Wallace had upgraded the girl’s status to ‘dead’.
‘Missing or dead?’ Gully asked sharply. ‘Which is it?’
‘Missing. She’s missing – but I’m scared she’s dead.’
Gully guided Wallace into an interview room and directed her towards the nearest chair.
Jamie-Lee began to speak before either of them was seated. ‘I live in a house in King Street, where I’m a student and so are the others. There are seven of us in the house; six of us moved in together at the start of October, and Shanie arrived at the start of this term—’
‘Hold on.’ Gully dumped her notebook on the table, sat on the chair beside it and didn’t speak again until she had her pen poised ready to write. ‘I need to start with some basic details.’
Jamie-Lee nodded.
‘Your full name?’
‘Mine?’ The girl looked surprised for a moment. ‘Jamie Leonora Wallace.’
‘Date of birth?’
‘First of November, 1992.’
It was Gully’s turn to look surprised, for up to that moment she had assumed Jamie-Lee was closer to her own age, and a half-decade adjustment suddenly made a big difference to the way she viewed this young woman. True, there was nothing overly mature in her features; the maturity was all in her manner. When Gully spoke again, she let her voice soften a little. ‘And your friend Shanie’s full name?’
‘Shanie Faulkner – that’s all I know. I guess it’s short for something.’
‘What’s her date of birth?’
‘I don’t know that either. But she’s twenty-two, and her birthday fell just before Christmas.’
‘Do you have a home address for her?’
Jamie-Lee shook her head. ‘She’s from Merrillville, Indiana. Due to go back there next month, I think. Look, you can check all of this with her college, can’t you?’
‘Tell me when you last saw her.’
‘I already told you, on Friday night, the sixteenth – about midnight, I think. We were in the kitchen playing poker and she got annoyed . . . nothing really, just bickering, but she stormed out of the house. None of the others have seen her since.’
‘The other people in your house-share, you mean?’ Gully wrote the word ‘occupants’ on a new line and double-underlined it. ‘Aside from you and Miss Faulkner, who else is currently living at that address?’
‘Meg DeLacy, Marcus Phillips, Libby Brett, Matt Stone . . . and Oslo. He’s Norwegian, his first name’s Gunvald. I think his second name’s spelt G-J-E-R-T-S-E-N because I’ve seen that on his post, but he’s happy with “Oslo”.’
‘And all these people were present when she left?’
‘Yes, except Libby. She was upstairs, but everyone else was together in the house.’
‘Did Shanie give you any indication of her plans for the weekend?’
‘No, I doubt she really had any. She has a degree in software design, graduated last year but she’s continuing to study. She’s still attending her old university in the States, but she was given the chance to come here for thirteen weeks, and wanted to make the most of the opportunity. Shanie doesn’t go out much – in fact, she seems to have made a point of avoiding anything in the way of a social life. I like her but she’s a bit of a boff. I reckon she doesn’t really know how to just let her hair down and have a laugh, so I don’t think it would have happened accidentally either.’
‘No boyfriend, then?’
Jamie-Lee snorted, “‘Proud to be a virgin”, apparently.’
‘Apparently? You don’t think she was, then?’
‘Sorry, that was my personal comment on that philosophy. The rest of us don’t walk round wearing T-shirts that say either
Glad I lost it
or
Ashamed to be a slapper
. She wouldn’t have morphed into some kind of reckless party person overnight. She likes rules and structure and nothing much that’s frivolous.’
‘I
TEN
Sergeant Norris had initially used the word ‘missing’ and, between Gully leaving her desk and arriving at reception, it seemed that Jamie-Lee Wallace had upgraded the girl’s status to ‘dead’.
‘Missing or dead?’ Gully asked sharply. ‘Which is it?’
‘Missing. She’s missing – but I’m scared she’s dead.’
Gully guided Wallace into an interview room and directed her towards the nearest chair.
Jamie-Lee began to speak before either of them was seated. ‘I live in a house in King Street, where I’m a student and so are the others. There are seven of us in the house; six of us moved in together at the start of October, and Shanie arrived at the start of this term—’
‘Hold on.’ Gully dumped her notebook on the table, sat on the chair beside it and didn’t speak again until she had her pen poised ready to write. ‘I need to start with some basic details.’
Jamie-Lee nodded.
‘Your full name?’
‘Mine?’ The girl looked surprised for a moment. ‘Jamie Leonora Wallace.’
‘Date of birth?’
‘First of November, 1992.’
It was Gully’s turn to look surprised, for up to that moment she had assumed Jamie-Lee was closer to her own age, and a half-decade adjustment suddenly made a big difference to the way she viewed this young woman. True, there was nothing overly mature in her features; the maturity was all in her manner. When Gully spoke again, she let her voice soften a little. ‘And your friend Shanie’s full name?’
‘Shanie Faulkner – that’s all I know. I guess it’s short for something.’
‘What’s her date of birth?’
‘I don’t know that either. But she’s twenty-two, and her birthday fell just before Christmas.’
‘Do you have a home address for her?’
Jamie-Lee shook her head. ‘She’s from Merrillville, Indiana. Due to go back there next month, I think. Look, you can check all of this with her college, can’t you?’
‘Tell me when you last saw her.’
‘I already told you, on Friday night, the sixteenth – about midnight, I think. We were in the kitchen playing poker and she got annoyed . . . nothing really, just bickering, but she stormed out of the house. None of the others have seen her since.’
‘The other people in your house-share, you mean?’ Gully wrote the word ‘occupants’ on a new line and double-underlined it. ‘Aside from you and Miss Faulkner, who else is currently living at that address?’
‘Meg DeLacy, Marcus Phillips, Libby Brett, Matt Stone . . . and Oslo. He’s Norwegian, his first name’s Gunvald. I think his second name’s spelt G-J-E-R-T-S-E-N because I’ve seen that on his post, but he’s happy with “Oslo”.’
‘And all these people were present when she left?’
‘Yes, except Libby. She was upstairs, but everyone else was together in the house.’
‘Did Shanie give you any indication of her plans for the weekend?’
‘No, I doubt she really had any. She has a degree in software design, graduated last year but she’s continuing to study. She’s still attending her old university in the States, but she was given the chance to come here for thirteen weeks, and wanted to make the most of the opportunity. Shanie doesn’t go out much – in fact, she seems to have made a point of avoiding anything in the way of a social life. I like her but she’s a bit of a boff. I reckon she doesn’t really know how to just let her hair down and have a laugh, so I don’t think it would have happened accidentally either.’
‘No boyfriend, then?’
Jamie-Lee snorted, “‘Proud to be a virgin”, apparently.’
‘Apparently? You don’t think she was, then?’
‘Sorry, that was my personal comment on that philosophy. The rest of us don’t walk round wearing T-shirts that say either
Glad I lost it
or
Ashamed to be a slapper
. She wouldn’t have morphed into some kind of reckless party person overnight. She likes rules and structure and nothing much that’s frivolous.’
‘I
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