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against him. ‘She wouldn’t have walked home on a night like this. She would have got a cab or called me out to pick her up.’
    ‘We don’t have all the facts at this time,’ Harker said.
    I was glad that Mr Underwood wasn’t the only one who believed that the chances of his daughter taking a five-mile hike in the middle of the night in the pouring rain was something close to zero.
    ‘Do you have anyone you would like us to contact?’ I asked. ‘Family or friends you would like to be with you …’
    ‘I want to see her,’ Mrs Underwood said, pulling herself from her husband’s arms. ‘I won’t believe it until I see her.’
    ‘That’s not possible at the moment,’ Harker said.
    ‘I want to see my baby!’ Mrs Underwood hissed, her eyes so red and sore, it looked as if she had rubbed mustard into them. ‘I won’t believe it until I see my baby’s beautiful face.’
    ‘That might not be possible,’ Harker said.
    ‘Oh dear God, no,’ Mrs Underwood said. ‘Please God, no. Not my baby’s beautiful face. No. Please God, no!’
    Harker reached into his pocket and pulled out the see-through evidence bag containing Kerry’s gold necklace. He offered it to Mr Underwood. ‘Do you recognise this?’ he asked.
    Kerry’s father took it and he held it as if it were the mostprecious and delicate treasure in the world. Without looking up, he nodded his head. ‘Yes, that’s our Kerry’s. We got it for her for her eighteenth birthday – October just gone, it was.’
    Harker held out his hand to take back the bag but Mr Underwood pulled it away. ‘Please, Mr Underwood. I know this is very difficult, but we need to keep hold of the necklace for the time being. You will get it back, I promise.’
    With tears running down his face, Kerry’s father handed Harker the bag.
    ‘Did Kerry have any brothers or sisters?’ Harker asked, placing the bag back into his coat pocket.
    ‘No, Kerry was our only child,’ he said.
    ‘Friends?’ I asked.
    ‘Lots,’ he replied, without looking at me. ‘She was a very popular girl.’
    ‘Boyfriends?’ I took a pen and notebook from my coat.
    ‘Just the one,’ he replied. ‘They broke up recently.’
    ‘How did she take it?’ Harker said.
    ‘My daughter didn’t kill herself because her boyfriend broke it off with her, if that’s what you’re trying to imply,’ Mr Underwood snapped.
    ‘I’m not trying to imply anything,’ Harker said flatly. ‘If we’re going to find out what happened to your daughter tonight, we need to get some idea of what her life was like.’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ he replied, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand.
    ‘What was her boyfriend’s name?’ I asked him, pen poised.
    ‘Jason Lane,’ he replied and I scribbled it down along with the address that he supplied.
    ‘If that is everything, officer, my wife and I would like to be left alone now.’
    ‘Of course, I understand,’ I said.
    ‘Do you have a number that we can call you on?’ Harker asked,heading for the front door.
    Mr Underwood nodded and recited it.
    I looked at him as I wrote it down. ‘Did Kerry have a mobile phone? It’s just that we haven’t been able to find it. It might help with our enquiries. Like, did she ring anyone or receive any texts before she … ?’
    ‘Yes, Kerry had a mobile phone,’ Mr Underwood replied.
    ‘Do you know the number?’
    ‘Yes,’ he said, and I wrote it down.
    I knew I would never forget that look in Mrs Underwood’s eyes as she realised what we were going to tell her. But, I also knew that she would never forget. She would always remember the night that I came knocking on her door to tell her that her baby was dead. I mean, how would anyone ever be able to forget that?
    Harker drove me back to the police station. I was glad my first nightshift was at an end. I climbed into my car and drove out of the small car park at the rear of the station. I couldn’t rid my mind of Mrs Underwood’s distraught face.
    I knew