Swann didn’t have time to think about Elea until 11 a.m., when he bumped into Mitch in the hall. He had just come from an internal media briefing and had a short lull before his next strategy meeting with the forensics team. He was pretty sure they’d picked up the suspect’s fingerprints, but without any previous arrests, these were of little use until he was caught. Swann was liaising with his former boss in Finland, but they’d had no updates at their end.
Mitch appeared to be deep in thought, head down as he listened to his mobile phone. He wasn’t wearing a tie, as Swann had asked him to do numerous times, and his shirt sleeves were too tight around his biceps for Swann’s liking. How was Mitch meant to gain respect when he looked as if he’d walked out of the pages ofMen’s Fitnessmagazine? Swann watched Mitch’s troubled expression as he ended his call.
“What is it?” Swann asked. “What’s wrong?” Because it didn’t occur to him that it could be a personal call. Mitch lived and breathed the job. He didn’t have any family to speak of and, apart from his fling with Elea, no relationships that Swann knew of. He’d often listened to the banter in the team. It was why he liked his office where it was. Swann rarely went out for work drinks because he was always needed at home.
Mitch shuffled his feet, a hand reaching to the back of his neck. His body language was a map of discomfort as he failed to meet Swann’s eye. “Nothing, boss. All good here.” But he paused. And it was in that pause that Swann read an expression of concern.
“You’ve not heard from Elea yet, I take it? She fed me some rubbish about a dentist’s appointment hours ago. Do you know where she is?”
“Are you worried?” Mitch bypassed the question. “I mean, I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”
“I don’t think she will.” Swann replied. “I should never have let her see Chelsea. I think it pushed her over the edge.”
“You don’t think she’d do anything stupid?” Mitch’s face clouded over. The reason he had no family to speak of was because his mother had died by suicide when he was young. Swann made it his business to know about the people he worked with. Mitch’s home life had not been easy, but it granted him a wider understanding of the world. Now he was standing before Swann and, judging by the look on his face, he was holding something back.
“Elea’s unpredictable,” Swann said. “So, what do you know?”
Mitch exhaled a regretful breath. “I spoke to her this morning around six. She said she was coming straight to work.” He stared at his hands. Looked at the anti-crime posters on the walls, finally fixing his gaze past Swann as he waited for him to consume his words.
“Right. When you say you spoke to her...”
“I’m not being funny, boss, but the finer details are none of your business.”
Swann’s eyes narrowed at the challenge in Mitch’s voice. He folded his arms.
Mitch sighed. “She texted me, saying she was going to the dentist. But I’ve just spoken to her now and...”
“You’ve spoken to her?” Swann raised his voice. So this was what it had come to. Elea would rather speak to Mitch than to him. After everything he’d said to them both. He grounded himself; Mitch was right. Their relationship—or whatever it was—had nothing to do with him. But he was concerned for Elea’s safety and her current state of mind. “Where is she?” he asked.
“She butt-dialled me by mistake. I think she’s at the airport. There was a tannoy in the background. It sounded like she was boarding a flight.”
“The airport?” Swann’s annoyance fell away. At least Elea was all right. But she was going home for a reason. He needed to know why.
“Call her.”
“I’ve tried. Her phone is turned off. If she’s boarding, it’ll be in aeroplane mode.”
“Right,” Swann said. “Get back to work. I’ll deal with this.”
“Yes, boss.” Mitch replied, seemingly relieved that Swann wasn’t tearing a strip off him.
Swann turned in the corridor and headed towards the stairs. He needed to speak to Jess. He ground his back molars in frustration. Eight hours. It would take him at least eight hours to reach Elea.
His superintendent wasnot thrilled about Swann asking for time off. The case was gaining momentum, and he was the SIO. He couldn’t imagine how Alice would react when she found out. But he had let Elea down once already, leaving when she most needed him. He would not do it again. He stood in Jess’s office, sweating despite the cold temperature, uneasy in his skin. Elea would be the death of him.
Jess arched an eyebrow as she shuffled in behind her desk. She had just come in, fresh from a meeting with the powers-that-be. The press conference had added mounting pressure for a quick arrest. But their budget spend needed justifying and Jess worked hard to keep things on an even keel. “Really? Now? All the times I’ve told you to take leave, and you want to do so in the middle of a high-profile fucking case that you’re on the brink of solving?”
“I wouldn’t ask unless it was an emergency.” But being in the police was a lifestyle, not a job. Part of a bigger family. A very intrusive one at that. Things got personal. Jess had questions: about his home life; about his kids. Because what affected him at home could compromise his job. A ton of debt could leave officers open to being bribed. Divorce could put your mental health under strain. Then there were the domestic incidents to keep an eye on. Whether officers were perpetrators or victims, they would not look away. Swann was just as intrusive when it came to his team’s reviews. He wasn’t afraid to ask questions, no matter how personal they were. But it hadn’t taken Jess long to work out that the “family emergency” didn’t lie with Alice and the boys in Nettleham. “It’s Elea, isn’t it? What’s going on?”
Swann told her about Chelsea. About the hope leaving Elea’s eyes. About the fact that his wife could be going home to die. “She took off. No explanation. I’m worried that seeing Chelsea liked that flicked a switch in her head. All these years she’s been in denial. But now...” He stared into the distance, unable to finish the words.
Jess silenced her desk phone as it rang out. Her hair was coming loose from her clips, and she appeared harried as her brow creased in a frown. “Can’t you call ahead? She must have friends. People who can check on her.”
“She has a good relationship with Heikkinen, her boss. I’ll call and let him know. But I’d never forgive myself if I wasn’t there for her.” He gave Jess an imploring look. “Please. It’s a four-hour flight. I’ll only be gone for a day, two at the most.”
“Alice will have your guts for garters.”
“Let me take care of her.” He paused. Tried to read the room. “Is that a yes?”
