[2022 Wattys shortlisted story]
A missing family. A twenty year old murder. An old ghost story. And a private detective from London. But what do they all have in common? It's the job of DCI Neo Denzel to figure it all out.
In the quiet town of Mart...
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Neo woke with a start, his phone vibrating against his night stand, the lights dancing across the room. He rubbed a hand over his tired eyes before picking it up.
'DCI Denzel,' he said gruffly.
'Sir, the search team found something.'
Neo's blood ran cold, the sleep leaving his body in a rush. He sat up and turned on the light.
'Report,' he barked at his constable. The early morning wake up call and unpleasant news made him lose his usual pleasantries.
'A cuddly toy has been found by the marsh, it's believed to be one of the missing children's toys. Or at least the name on the tag matches the youngest child.'
Danny, Neo thought to himself. That's what the Bennett's youngest child was called.
The marsh was two miles or more away from Felton Pond as the crow flies. The two weren't even connected by the same road. To get from Felton Pond to the marshes, a car would have to join the main road first and travel the three miles north before turning off.
'Were there any other signs that the family had been there?'
Neo was in full police mode now that he was awake.
There was a pause on the other end of the line, which made his stomach turn.
'They found a yellow cardigan in the water.'
Neo cursed. 'Have they identified it yet?'
'No Sir, it's been taken to forensic for testing.' His constable paused, weighing up his next words. 'Sir, should we alert the diving teams?'
The diving teams, Neo thought to himself. It was the next logical step, given the evidence they'd found.
The marsh was a dangerous place to be, especially at night. If the family had managed to stumble their way there, there was a possibility that they could have fallen into trouble.
'I'll contact the Superintendent and arrange for the team to start. Keep me updated if they find anything else.'
With a few more brief words, he hung up and called Palmer, not surprised to find that she was already awake. After so many years in the job, it wasn't surprising that Palmer struggled to sleep. Insomnia was just another thing that came with the job.
Their conversation was all business, both of them knowing the same thing; the longer the family was missing, the higher the chance that they wouldn't be found alive.
Neo sent a quick message to Gwilt, knowing that the man would likely not see it until later, before finding his clothes. He left a message for his kids and grabbed a cereal bar. It would have to suffice for breakfast until he could find something better at lunch.
It would take forensic a day or two to identify the toy and cardigan, but that wasn't their only option.
Knowing his day was going to be a difficult one, he treated himself to double shot cappuccino, the coffee finally pushing the last remaining drags of sleep away.
