The Running Girls(19)
Chapter Nine
Guilt still played on Laurie’s mind as she arrived at the station the following morning. Exercise usually kept her focused, but although she felt alert in her body, her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts encompassing the missing girl, Grace Harrington, David and his mysterious meeting with Rebecca Whitehead, and Frank Randall and the revelation about his brother, Maurice. She wanted to snap out of it and focus entirely on the Harrington case, but her mind kept taunting her with images of Rebecca Whitehead and the grizzled face of Maurice Randall. Personal issues aside, there were a number of other outstanding investigations demanding her attention, which she could have spent every waking hour working on and never clear.
It was 6 a.m. and the skeleton night shift were still in the bullpen. She accepted a few nods of acknowledgment from the tired officers before pouring some coffee and taking a seat at her vacant desk. The updates from the Grace Harrington investigation were minimal. She’d been missing for over twenty-four hours now, which was a crucial milestone. The hope still had to be that she would turn up shortly, her tail between her legs, telling woes about an act of rebellion that had backfired. Laurie had seen cases pan out that way so many times before that it was still a legitimate expectation. However, the number of people reported missing in the States in any given year was staggering, with official cases exceeding half a million. A high percentage returned, but sometimes people were never seen again. Laurie wouldn’t be mentioning it to the Harrington family later, but within twenty-four hours a missing person could effectively be anywhere in the world.
That’s the kind of optimism we need. She heaved a sigh and looked around the depleted bullpen slowly filling up with the day shift. Blocking everything else besides the Harrington case from her daily calendar, she decided to upload the details of the Annie Randall investigation from sixteen years ago. Last night’s revelation about Maurice Randall had started her thinking, and she couldn’t shake the need to find out more about the man. Guilt had been her go-to emotion for so long now that accessing the case felt like just another millstone to hang around her neck. She tried to justify her actions by telling herself that she would be dedicating the next twelve to sixteen hours to Grace Harrington, but as she loaded the old case file onto her screen she nonetheless looked furtively about her, a gnawing feeling eating away in her stomach.
She only had access to the case files as she’d worked on the investigation in the past, albeit in a reduced capacity, but a note would be made on the system that she’d accessed them and she would have to give some justification for doing so if asked.
Scanning through the old images from that time triggered a visceral reaction, and she fought to contain her shaking hands as she scrolled past images of David and Frank during the hours following the discovery of Annie Randall’s body. They both looked like different people from those she’d seen in the smiling family portrait in Frank’s house. Here, they carried Annie’s death, for different reasons, in their features. It would be easy to read too much into it, but she was sure she could see the guilt, and maybe something approaching confusion, in the eyes of Frank Randall as he was snapped at the crime scene, staring, as if in shock, as Annie’s remains were taken away.
As for the image of Annie at the scene, that would forever be branded into Laurie’s mind. She’d witnessed the crime scene firsthand, but that didn’t lessen the horror of seeing it again. It was hard to fathom that the near-skeletal remains with the cruelly broken legs would have been her mother-in-law. Laurie had often thought about what their relationship would have been like. Annie had been a beautiful woman, and David had been happy to share both the photographs and the happy memories of his childhood with her. Tragedy could often distort the truth, but David’s memories of his mother were so consistent and heartening that Laurie was sure they would have got along.
Hearing Remi arrive, Laurie scrolled to another page. It was a list of family members from that time, and there he was, Maurice Randall, brother of Frank. A statement had been taken from him, but he hadn’t been present at the sentencing, which explained why Laurie hadn’t remembered him.
“Do you live here?” said Remi, taking a seat opposite.
Laurie clicked the file shut. “No, I just like to get to work on time.”
“Ouch. I turn up for work early, trying to make an impression . . .”
“Stop muttering, and get me another coffee.”
“Yes sir, ma’am,” said Remi, dutifully grabbing her coffee cup.
When he returned, they set about planning the day’s activities. Remi agreed the Harrington case had to be the priority. He would continue quizzing the high school students, many of whom they’d yet to reach, and would make further inroads into the local residents and the CCTV images along the route Grace had taken.
“I’d like to dig a little deeper into the family dynamics,” said Laurie. “Glen and Sandra’s relationship appears strained, probably from Mr. Harrington working away so often.”
“With that in mind,” said Remi, “I was going to suggest I pay a visit to Houston. Quiz Mr. Harrington’s colleagues. Maybe find out if anyone else has been staying in that downtown apartment of his.”
“You old cynic.”
“Easy on the ‘old’, there.”
The suggestion that Glen Harrington was having an affair put her in mind of standing outside Rebecca Whitehead’s house last night. She shook off the image, which portrayed her as a wide-eyed, sweaty, jealous mess looking through the windows of the Victorian house in desperation. She wasn’t sure what relevance Glen Harrington having an affair might have to his daughter’s disappearance, but there could never be enough information when it came to family. The sad truth was that missing person cases often involved family members. And at this stage they had to consider the worst. Abduction, abuse, even homicide had to be considerations, and the Harringtons’ second home would need to be investigated.