Criminally Insane by Conrad Jones Page B

should help us to narrow it down.” Paula opened the door and climbed out of the silver Ford Focus. Sharon followed her and they met at the boot of the car. The driveway was white gravel; it crunched beneath their shoes as they approached the house. It was a red brick building with a slate roof and a three-car garage attached to the left hand side. A weeping willow tree to the left of the front lawn caught their eye. The leaves were gone and the bare branches looked naked without them. “She doesn’t have any kids, though?”
    “There are none in the missing person’s report.”
    “Who filed it?”
    “Her father.”
    “I like the waterfall,” Paula pointed to a feature on their right. Water trickled down a stone gulley into an ornamental pond. As they approached, the water glistened with bright reds and golds. “Look at the size of the koi-carp.”
    “They’re monsters,” Sharon laughed. “I wonder why nobody eats them,” she mused.
    “You wouldn’t get them on your plate.”
    “I could try. I love fish.”
    They walked toward the house and Paula guessed it had at least five bedrooms, maybe six. The front door opened before they reached it, and a small man with thinning grey hair greeted them. He was immaculately dressed in a pale grey suit with a silver tie.
    “Detective James?” He stepped out of the front door and closed the gap between them. “Is it about Lou? Is there any news?”
    Paula held out her right hand. “I’m Detective James, Mr. Parker. We spoke on the telephone earlier.”
    He shook her hand and she noticed his grip was weak and his palm was clammy. The whites of his eyes were red and he looked tired. There were liver spots on his hands and face. Paula put him at about sixty-five.
    “It’s nice to meet you,” he said in a well-educated voice.
    “I’m Detective Gould,” Sharon introduced herself.
    “Hello.” He shook her hand. “Is there any news about Lou?”
    “Could we talk inside, Mr. Parker,” Paula smiled and tried to make him relax.
    “Yes, sorry. I am forgetting my manners. Please come in.” He stepped aside and allowed them to enter his home. They walked into a wide hallway, tiled with polished white marble. A pine staircase led to the upper floor. A large picture window allowed the daylight to flood in. “Come in here, please.” He opened a white panelled door and guided them into a long through room, which had double patio doors at one end and a bay window at the other. Well-manicured lawns surrounded the building. Paula wondered how long it would take to cut them. “Please sit down, would you like some tea?”
    Paula sat on a black leather armchair, her body sinkinginto the thick padding. There was a picture of a pretty girl on the coffee table next to her, sitting on a grey pony with an older woman holding the reins. Paula thought the woman looked like the girl’s mother.
    “Is this your daughter, Mr. Parker?” Paula asked. She picked up the heavy silver frame which contained the photograph. The girl looked like the one in the missing person’s picture they had in their file, but younger.
    “Yes.” He took the picture from her and looked at it. His mind seemed to drift as he stared at it, tears forming in his eyes. “Yes, that’s my Lou with her mother. She was only eighteen then. I took it at the stable where she keeps her pony, Yoyo. A silly name for a horse, but she insisted. He is still alive, you know. She rarely visits him nowadays, but he’s still there in good health, costs me a fortune in livery bills!” He tried to sound cheery but his eyes said something different. “That’s her mother, Gill. She died of breast cancer six years ago. It broke Lou’s heart and she was never the same girl after that.” This time a tear broke free from his eye and trickled down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away. “Is there any news about Lou?”
    “I’m sorry about your wife. We don’t have anything new to tell you, Mr. Parker, but we need to ask you