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THE
MISSING
THE IDEA :
'But the almighty
Lord hath struck him, and hath
delivered him into the hands of a woman, and hath slain him.
For their mighty one did not fall by young men,
neither did the sons of Titan strike him, nor tall giants oppose
themselves to him, but Judith weakened him with the beauty of
her face.’ Book of Judith, Ch 16:7-8
THE DUST JACKET :
A lawyer disappears from
his family home in Notting Hill Gate. A City of London banker is missing
from his Chiswick home. Their distraught families and colleagues ask the
experts to end the nightmare of their sudden and mysterious loss.
There are 210,000 reports
of missing people every year in the UK. But the Police do not search for
missing people unless there’s been a crime or the missing are
vulnerable.
Rachel Tyler works at the
Missing Persons charity. She finds people. ‘Found’ means found
alive. ‘Located’ means found dead. She knows the pain of a missing
loved one and she is the first to make a connection with the missing
married middle-aged men. Matt Harley is a corporate risk consultant. He
arrives at a top City investment bank to see what damage the missing
star banker has left in his wake.
The two join forces to
follow an intricate web of clues as they reveal the lives of those who
go missing, and of those who have killed before and who will do so
again.
THE CHARACTERS :
Rachel Tyler commutes
from her Balham flat to her job at the National Missing Persons
Helpline in Mortlake. She’s low-paid but recognises her work
brings hope to those with missing partners, siblings and relations. Eleven
years ago her father walked out of their Croydon home and he hasn't been home
since. Most
of the missing are runaway children and lonely youths but she sees a new
surprising pattern of late. There are married men with great jobs and
successful lives who have no reason to suddenly disappear. Her
dread-locked
boyfriend Webster updates the charities web site but is unconvinced of
her suspicions. Then she gets a telephone call to attend the home of
another missing husband and father.
Matt Harley
leaves his Kensington Church Street bachelor pad in his BMW
Z4 open-top, with wraparound sunglasses and R&B music on max, heading out
on the Hammersmith flyover on a bank holiday weekend to meet Katarina who’s flying in from a modeling assignment in Milan.
Matt works for Geitz Associates & Co. Inc., the leading global corporate security and
risk firm. He
finds the Missing. Plus the millions they take with them. His reputation as the sharpest hired
hand who bills by the hour remains intact. Roll on the next missing money
man.
Richard Fenwick arrives
to work in the wealth management division of Mitchell Leonberg & Co. Inc in the City but is
stunned to learn of another huge overnight corporate collapse in the
States. A multi-billion dollar NYSE IT stock is suddenly a
worthless shell, having been pillaged for years by a board of
directors. Richard's discretionary clients had millions invested in the formerly
top-rated stock. He makes the apologetic telephone calls to
irate clients. Some seek him in person to seek retribution of
sorts. One of his high net worth clients will go much further.
Constanze Scheffler
logs onto the world wide web from the safety of an anonymous
Easyinternetcafe PC. She reads the active message board where
those with
names like subzero and city_guy anonymously post their
inner thoughts. Sometimes she replies to them privately, enjoying the frustration
she causes, wondering whom she can tempt next, maybe dreaming of her next conquest. The unfortunate poolside death of her husband is a distant
memory. She has killed twice since then. Both died in the sunken brick
cellar of her Marbella villa and are buried beneath her rustic citrus orchard.
Both were a challenge of sorts until the very last drops of fatal Rioja
passed their parched lips.
PROLOGUE EXTRACT :
(Copyright 2009)
Prologue - Two Years Ago
Report of a Post
Mortem Examination made upon the body of Oliver Robert Vickers, aged
55 years, late of 24 Addison Place, London W8, United Kingdom.
The Examination was
made at : Central Mortuary, Cuidad del Malaga on Sunday 16 June at
10.10 am.
Officials Present :
Inspector L. Torres
Detective R. Perez
J. Vasquez - Police
Photographer
Officer H. Nacos
#4831
Assistants :
R. Tavares - Senior Mortuary Technician
L. Diaz - Mortuary
Technician
Circumstances : From
the notes of Officer Nacos, he was called to a villa in El Rosario,
Marbella, owned by the deceased. Officer Nacos advises when he arrived
at the scene at 11pm the deceased was floating face down in the
adjacent swimming pool, his head hanging forward. The deceased wore
only a pair of swimming shorts.
The deceased’s wife
later gave a statement to Nacos that the couple had swum after dinner
and that the deceased had got into difficulty. She stated that the
couple had drunk a significant quantity of wine during the evening.
The deceased was taken to Malaga General Hospital on Saturday 15 June
at 11.45 pm. He was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. G. Alvarez.
...Nacos tells me
that the wife is good-looking … very good-looking, he says ... says
he spoke to her for a while and that he couldn’t stop looking at her
… says he was distracted by her … not English … German
Identification :
The formal identification of the body of Oliver Robert Vickers was
made to me by Officer Nacos at 10.10 am on 16 June at the Central
Mortuary.
External Examination
: The body is that of a
short, well-nourished and overweight middle-aged man. Height 5 ft 9
in. Weight 114 kg (16 ½ stone).
A fine white frothy
foam is visible exuding from the mouth and nostrils. The foam is
tinged with blood producing a pinkish colour. When the foam is wiped
away, pressure on the chest wall causes more to exude from the
nostrils and mouth. It is persistent and it resists submersion.
The foam is a mixture
of water, air, mucus and surfactant whipped up by respiratory efforts.
The foam is also found in the trachea and main bronchi. This indicates
to me that the deceased was alive at the time of submersion in water.
… this corpse
has lived life to excess, he is flabby and overweight … I wonder
what she ever saw in him
Internal Examination
: The lungs are voluminous,
bulky and ballooned. The pleural surface have a marbled appearance
with grey-blue to dark red areas interspersed with pink and yellow-grey
zones of more aerated tissue. They are doughy under pressure. Upon
sectioning, there is a flow of watery material. The appearance
reflects active inspiration of air and water rather than passive
flooding of the lungs with water.
The lung weight is
approx 700 gr. I note tears in the alveolar walls which explain the
blood tinging of foam in the airways. I perform a detailed
histological study of one central and one peripheral section from each
lobe and the microscopic examination is indicative of drowning,
primarily with overdistension.
I find no sand, silt,
weed or other foreign matter in the airways, lungs, stomach and
duodenum of the body. The absence of significant volumes of liquid in
the stomach suggest a rapid death.
… very good looking
he says but not in the classic style … harder features yet
impressive in person, tall and had a real presence … even after her
loss Nacos says she bore up well under the strain … strong
I observe venous
congestion and blood volume expansion from the absorption of fresh
water, further evidenced by the engorgement of the right side of the
heart and large veins. As a result of heamodilution the blood is fluid
and thin and it lacks a normal sticky consistency.
There are very minor
immersion artefacts, primarily goose-skin or anserina cutis, with a
roughening and pimpling of the skin, combined with skin maceration,
and a swelling and wrinkling of the skin.
I observe above
average levels of blood alcohol concentrations. I perform
corroborative measurements on vitreous humour, urine and bile which
confirm these very abnormally high levels.
I note some evidence
of minor bruising and rupturing to muscles in the shoulder girdle,
neck and chest area including the scaleni and pectoralis major. The
haemorrhages are bilateral and follow the lines of muscle bundles.
This is strongly indicative of the deceased having been alive prior to
struggling in water.
… I’m not sure
what Nacos means … either she is or she isn’t … sounds like he
was in awe of her … hope that all that didn’t foul up his
investigation of the scene … anyway that’s his job and not mine
…
Conclusion :
The deceased exhibits typical pathological evidence of drowning.
Submersion was followed by a struggle which subsided with exhaustion
and drowning began. Breath holding continued until carbon dioxide
accumulation stimulated respiration resulting in inhalation of water.
This was rapidly followed by a loss of consciousness. Convulsions and
aspiration followed. Respiratory failure was coincident with heart
failure.
It is my opinion that
death occurred within two to three minutes of submersion. The deceased
was alive before submersion. There is no evidence of any natural,
traumatic or toxicological causes of death. Intoxication of the
deceased is a significant contributing factor
… that is what happens if you down
too many bottles of wine and go for a swim with your desirable wife
… Nacos said he found the wine glass lying sideways at the bottom of
the pool, still intact on the mosaic tiles.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY :
Nothing as yet!
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