I stared at him in disbelief.
‘We can hardly send a helicopter up for all of them, now can we?’ he said. ‘Now, does your daughter have any medical issues?’
‘In what way?’
‘Does she suffer from any form of mental illness? Or any other condition for which she takes regular medication?’
‘No.’
‘What is the name of her doctor?’
‘Dr Duncan Matthews,’ I said. ‘He’s here tonight as one of my guests.’
I turned around and searched for him. I knew that he was sitting at Georgina’s table, and I found him quickly. ‘Duncan,’ I called, ‘could you please come over here for a moment?’
He came and joined the policemen and me.
‘Good evening, sir,’ said one policeman. ‘I understand that you are Miss Amanda Newton’s doctor. Can you tell me if she takes any regular medication, for example, for any adverse psychiatric condition?’
‘She does not have an adverse psychiatric condition,’ Duncan said slowly and clearly. ‘The only regular medication she takes is the contraceptive pill, which I have been prescribing to her for about three years. At her own request.’
That was news to me, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe I ought to be pleased that she was sensible enough to take precautions against becoming pregnant. But — for three years?
‘Is there any other medical reason you might be aware of that could explain her sudden disappearance?’ the policeman asked.
‘Absolutely not,’ Duncan replied. ‘I have been Amanda Newton’s doctor since she was two years old, and I consider this to be totally out of character.’
‘In your professional capacity as her doctor, would you describe Miss Newton as being vulnerable or particularly at risk?’
‘There is no medical reason for believing so, but I judge that any young woman of nineteen who has disappeared without explanation, especially at night, should be considered to be at risk.’
The policeman made another note. ‘Thank you, Doctor.’
Duncan went back to his seat, and the policeman turned back to me.
‘My dispatcher said something about you believing that your daughter might have been abducted. Why is that?’
‘Why else would she not be here at her own birthday party? And what about the scarf? She wouldn’t just take it off and drop it.’
He didn’t seem convinced.
‘I also wonder if she might have been a target for kidnappers,’ I said. ‘I have a very valuable horse. It won the Derby this afternoon.’
That seemed like a very long time ago now.
‘Have you received any ransom demands?’
‘No,’ I replied.
I took from his body language that he didn’t believe for one second that Amanda had been kidnapped. But if not, where was she? Would she really go missing for a couple of hours during her birthday party if she hadn’t been forced away by someone?
The policeman snapped shut his notebook.
‘I will make a report and circulate your daughter’s details on the National Police Computer. Checks will also be made to ensure she is not in police custody or a patient in a local hospital.’
The two officers turned as if to leave.
‘Is that all?’ I said, grabbing one of their yellow jackets. ‘You haven’t even looked for her!’
The policeman turned back to face me.
‘It is my assessment that this is a low-risk missing person situation and that your daughter has most likely gone away from here at her own volition. She is an adult, and choosing to leave, even in the middle of her own birthday party, is not a crime, nor is it a police matter.’
‘But there is one other thing,’ I said, lowering my voice. ‘It seems Amanda had an argument tonight with her boyfriend. The boy in question has shown controlling behaviour towards her in the past, and I am really worried that he might have something to do with her disappearance.’
‘What’s her boyfriend’s name?’
‘Darren Williamson,’ I said. ‘I believe he’s already known to you.’
‘Why is that?’
‘He was convicted of joy riding in a stolen car in Didcot last year.’
‘Is he here?’
‘He’s over there.’ I gestured towards where he was sitting.
Darren saw me pointing at him. His eyes widened, and he suddenly stood up and bolted for the marquee exit.
Chapter 6
‘Cocaine.’
‘What?’
‘He was in possession of a quantity of cocaine.’
One of the policemen had moved remarkably swiftly and had intercepted Darren just as he reached the exit, bringing him down with a masterly executed rugby tackle.
‘So is that why he ran?’ I asked.
‘He claims so. He said he was trying to get outside so he could dump it before it was found on him. He vehemently maintains that he has nothing to do with your daughter going missing. But he also told us that both he and your daughter shared a line of coke before they came downstairs earlier. That might have affected her reasoning and could explain her subsequent behaviour.’
I’d always known that boy was a bad influence on her.
By now it was almost midnight, and the two policemen were in the house with Georgina, James, and myself, all of us sitting around the kitchen table. Our guests had gone, including Darren, who had been arrested for possession of a Class A drug and taken away in a police van for further questioning, about both the cocaine and any part he might have played in Amanda’s disappearance.
The policemen had initially said they wanted every guest to give their name and address, but I assured them that I could provide them with that information, so they recorded just those of the catering staff and the DJ, who had packed away his unused music and light equipment and departed — but not before he’d been paid, and in cash.
But there was still no sight nor sound of Amanda, and Georgina was getting increasingly frantic.
‘So what do we do now?’ I asked the policemen. ‘What if Darren Williamson is responsible?’
‘If your daughter hasn’t turned up by the morning, we will initiate a search of the local vicinity. You said that Mr Williamson had not been missing from the party for more than forty minutes or so, so he can’t have taken her far, not on foot.’
‘Can’t you search now?’ I asked. ‘She may be lying somewhere out there injured.’
Or dead, I thought, trying not to believe that.
‘We need daylight to be able to search properly,’ said the policeman. ‘It is far too easy to miss objects in the dark, even something as large as a human being.’
‘It’s light by half past four,’ I said.
‘We will have a search team here around eight.’
I’d be out long before that. In fact, I’d be searching all night.
‘How long can you keep Williamson in custody?’ I asked.
‘Initially, we have twenty-four hours from the time he arrives at the police station.’ He looked at his watch. ‘That will be about now, as he’s been taken to Oxford. After that we have to charge or release him, or get special permission from a superintendent or a magistrate, to question him further.’
‘Is he likely to be charged with the drug possession?’
‘Almost certainly, especially as he has had a previous conviction, even though that was not for drugs. It will be up to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide. They might recommend he gets charged with possession with intent to supply because he has openly admitted that he supplied cocaine for your daughter’s use.’
‘What will he get?’
‘The maximum sentence for possession of a Class A drug is seven years, although he would never get that long, considering the small amount we found on him. But for possession with intent to supply, the maximum is life.’