Page 18 of Killing Mind

He nodded.

‘Until three years ago when she appeared to drop out of college and away from social media?’

‘Samantha ran away,’ he offered, as his wife’s hands stilled. ‘She had a fall-out with her boyfriend and she just left. She was gone two and a half years.’

‘And you had contact with her while she was gone?’

‘Barely… she’d call and tell us she was safe every few months and then six months ago she came back.’

‘So, you wouldn’t actually know if she had issues with anyone during the time she was away?’

‘Well… no… I suppose not.’

‘Would your other daughter have any knowledge?’

He shook his head. ‘Sammy and Sophie are not close. Sophie won’t be able to help.’

‘Any particular reason?’ she asked, wondering if it had any bearing on the investigation.

‘Just grew apart over the years. Typical siblings, really,’ he said, dismissively.

Many of her previous investigations had shown her there was no such thing as a typical sibling relationship, but right now the older girl was her priority.

‘And whereabouts was Sammy when she ran away?’ Kim asked, thinking they could contact the local force and see if Samantha was known to them.

‘She moved around, Inspector. She never told us exactly where she was.’

Kim was hearing the words but they weren’t erasing the question from her mind. Every single possibility was being closed down.

‘Could she have met someone who followed her back here?’ Kim asked, wanting to believe what she was being told.

‘I don’t think so.’

Kim remembered something from the previous day.

‘So, when your wife said yesterday that you thought Samantha was ready.’

‘We feared she would run away again but we had to trust her some time.’

Neither his words nor his demeanour were radiating truth to her. There was a secret here that Mr Brown was working hard to keep and his wife was going along with it.

‘Mr Brown, maybe your wife could do with a cup of tea?’ Bryant said from behind, reading the signs just as clearly as she was. If he could get the husband out of the room for just a few minutes she could work on the wife. ‘She’s had quite the shock.’

‘Kate doesn’t drink tea,’ he replied with a slight edge to his voice. He knew what they were trying to do and he resented it.

Gently, Woody had said.

‘Mr Brown, if you know anything at all that could help us find the person who did this to Samantha you…’

‘Of course,’ he said, standing, and she knew they were being dismissed.

Short of calling them outright liars she had little else to say, except for one thing.

‘Would you please give us a call once Sophie returns? We still need to make sure she doesn’t have any knowledge of someone who might have wanted to hurt Samantha.’

‘Of course but we’ll have to break the news first once she gets here. She’s travelling back from Thailand, gap year.’

Kim nodded her understanding.