Paul had waited patiently, while Mr. Stanton gave a dramatic pause, before concluding his sentence.
‘Some of the notes made it seem like my wife’s disappearance was…not entirely her choice.’ Another dramatic pause Paul noted.
‘And what was in the notes to suggest that something untoward might have happened?’ Paul had asked, straining to keep his features blank. Annoyance at Mr. Stanton bubbled away in his stomach. Anger grew with each passing second.
Michael glanced over at his two children, his lips pulled into a tight thin line that suggested annoyance as well as worry. The children sat at one of the small desks that was usually occupied by Officer Miles. They were playing with some toys that they had brought with them, a small red car and a brown plastic dog. When Michael looked back at Paul, tears crowded his light blue eyes, and he struggled to compose himself before answering.
‘One note,” Mr. Stanton said, letting the tears spill over. ‘One note said that he loved Delores, and that life wasn’t worth living without her in it.’
The comment itself wasn’t sufficient evidence of anything bad happening to Mrs. Stanton or that Elijah Schiver had anything to do with her disappearance. It was more a statement of feelings, and Paul wasn’t too concerned. At least at first.
The situation was strange. From all the years that Paul had known Elijah, he’d never thought of him as someone who would have an affair with another man’s wife. And that was what the note suggested. In fact, the opposite would be said of Elijah’s character. He was a composed man, and always upheld strong morals. Elijah was in charge of their small town department and he and Paul had been friends for many years. Paul had thought he knew everything there was to know about Elijah. Yet he was wrong, and that worried him.
‘Do you think they were having an affair, Mr. Stanton?’ Paul had asked.
‘No, I believe that Elijah Schiver was obsessed with my wife,’ Michael Stanton replied without missing a beat. The anger that Paul had witnessed moments ago, briefly flashed across Mr. Stanton’s face.
Paul frowned and looked down at his notes, more to get away from Mr. Stanton’s oppressive stare than anything else. He made some brief scrawling’s on his pad of things that he would have remembered regardless, and then looked back up. The man Mr. Stanton was describing sounded nothing like the man that Paul knew. But then, he’d been acting strange these past weeks, Paul realised with trepidation.
‘Why do you say that?’ Paul finally asked, already dreading the answer.
‘Because another note said that if she didn’t leave me, that she may as well be dead.’
Chapter Eleven
Elijah
“I’m sorry about this,” Paul said.
“I understand,” Elijah replied. “What now?”
“Okay, first, I’d like to take a DNA sample from you if that’s okay,” Paul said, avoiding Elijah’s stare.
“For what reason?”
“Just to rule out any future doubt, Elijah.”
“Have you found her?”
Paul shook his head. “No, but if we do, I’d like to be able to rule you out of any foul play.”
It was Elijah’s turn to nod now. He knew the drill, the protocol, the way things worked, and he knew this was all just part of the routine. The worrying fact was that no one knew where Delores was. Surely she would be found, happy and healthy, but there was the dark knot of worry in Elijah’s stomach that whispered that maybe she wouldn’t be.
Maybe, just maybe, she was dead.
The history between Delores and Elijah meant that he would be a prime suspect. He knew this, and through his worry and grief that small knot of dread in his stomach echoed back to him. He needed to look out for himself.
Paul’s statement of ruling Elijah out comforted and soothed his stomach.
Paul handed over the small cotton swab to Elijah, who pulled the lid off and roughly swiped the dry cotton on the inside of his cheek. Formalities were important, but Elijah had done this a thousand times to other people and Paul didn’t feel the pressing need to disrespect his partner anymore than was necessary.
“Thanks, you’ve always been the best at swabbing for DNA,” Paul said giving a humorous laugh. He took the swab back from Elijah and sealed it into a clear bag. The small compliment was genuine but also to help hide both men’s discomfort at the situation. “You know how this goes.”
Elijah nodded and Paul held out another clear bag, took Elijah by the wrist and used a small metal tool to scrape any debris from under his fingernails. He sealed the bag once again and nodded his thanks once more.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s fine. Like I said, do your job, it’ll all be fine.” Elijah took a deep breath, nervousness skittering across his face like ants. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
