Read Buried-6 for Free Online

convinced. ‘I can’t see it.’ She fumbled for a cigarette. ‘I can’t imagine Luke with a girl his own age, let alone someone older. He isn’t confident with girls. He’s a bit awkward.’
    ‘Come on, Maggie,’ Mul en said. ‘He could have been into al sorts of things. I don’t mean drugs or anything like that, but kids have secrets, don’t they?’
    ‘Your husband’s got a point,’ Thorne said. ‘How wel does any parent know an adolescent?’
    Maggie Mul en lit her cigarette, took in the first lungful like it was oxygen. ‘I’ve been asking myself that quite a lot,’ she said. ‘Ever since I started to wonder if I was ever going to see my son again.’
    In the kitchen, DC Kenny Parsons opened another cupboard and peered inside. ‘Maybe we should just leave it.’
    Hol and was sitting at the table, idly turning the pages of a Daily Express . ‘Don’t be nervous, mate. As family liaison officer, you definitely get biscuit privileges.’
    ‘ Result . Here you go.’ Parsons produced an unopened packet and placed it on a tray next to the mugs. Coffee had already been spooned into each. The kettle had boiled minutes ago, but been ignored.
    ‘So how d’you reckon things are between them?’ Hol and asked, nodding towards the living room. ‘Normal y, I mean.’
    Parsons flicked the kettle on again and carried the tray to the table. He was in his mid-thirties, Hol and guessed, a dark-skinned black man with hair cut almost to the scalp, and the trick of looking untidy in a perfectly presentable suit. ‘You know they split up for a while a few years back?’
    Hol and nodded; Porter had told them as much. The team were looking at the family, of course, but not as closely as they might have, had Luke been a bit younger; or if it had been more obviously an abduction rather than a kidnap. The family were certainly not under any suspicion, not this early on at any rate, but a few discreet enquiries had been made al the same.
    ‘She was the one that walked out, right?’ Hol and asked.

    ‘Yeah, but she wasn’t gone for very long.’
    ‘Old man playing away from home, d’you reckon?’
    ‘Usual y the way, isn’t it?’
    ‘So what about now?’
    Parsons considered it. ‘Things are pretty good, I think.’
    Hol and had discovered quickly that his new col eague was not short of opinions. He had plenty to say about those on his own team, and was far more relaxed when it came to talking about the Mul en family than he was about helping himself to their digestives.
    Hol and was happy enough to get another perspective on the case.
    ‘Bear in mind that even splitting the shifts, we’re not here twenty-four hours a day,’ Parsons said. ‘Mul en was fairly adamant early on that he didn’t want anyone stopping overnight.
    Based on what I have seen, though, I reckon he rules the roost, give or take. He’s used to people doing what he tel s them to do, for obvious reasons.’
    ‘And do they do what he tel s them? The wife doesn’t come across as any sort of doormat.’
    ‘Oh no, she’s not. Definitely.’
    ‘She seems nice enough,’ Hol and said. ‘I mean, she’s obviously a bit shel -shocked just now . . .’
    ‘She’s tougher than she looks, if you ask me.’ Parsons moved the mugs around on the tray, lining them up, making room for milk and sugar. ‘Ex-teacher, right?’ He held up his hands, as if the point were self-evident.
    ‘Right.’
    ‘So I reckon she can give as good as she gets. I bet there are times she tel s him exactly what to do.’ He waited in vain for a reaction to the vaguely lewd suggestion before continuing. ‘I think the family’s learned how to look like they do what the old man tel s them, know what I mean? They’re good at making him feel like he’s in charge. Probably no different to when he was on the Job, right?’
    Notwithstanding Parsons’ obvious taste for gossip and speculation, Hol and could see the sense in what he was saying. His own father had been a