Harry and Sarah were on their way to Jodie’s house in Brent Cross. It was just after 3.20 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. Jodie’s parents had informed the police that Jodie returned home the previous night and Harry wanted to interview her. This was standard procedure, to ensure the missing person had been found and to discover why he or she had gone missing. But Harry also wanted to interview Jodie because she might be able to help him with his theory that the missing persons who shared the characteristics of last being seen on the Northern Line, near to which they lived, late at night, and intoxicated had something else in common.
Intoxicated was something Jodie had certainly been. Harry had interviewed the tube station assistant at Leicester Square yesterday and seen the CCTV footage. Jodie had been unsteady on her feet and even a little abusive according to the witness; the CCTV footage confirmed at least the first part of this with Jodie falling against walls and stumbling at times as she made her way down to the northbound Northern Line platform.
But none of this information meant Harry was closer in proving the links between the cases were more than coincidences. He had been a little disappointed, even though he knew that detective work could be a long slow process and required persistence, which he had.
He parked his car outside Jodie’s house and he and Sarah soon found themselves each with a cup of tea in the lounge of her house seated opposite her and her mother; her father was at work. Jodie was very upset but physically seemed fine, thought Harry.
‘Well, it’s good to see that you’re ok, Jodie. The reason Sarah and me are here is so you can tell us what happened in your own words,’ said Harry.
‘I...I can’t remember too much...I’d had too much to drink,’ said Jodie, obviously embarrassed and upset, looking briefly at her mother and then beginning to sob. ‘I just left my friends at the pub and then went to see another one...who I stayed with for a couple of nights.’
‘Why did you leave without telling your friends?’ asked Harry.
‘...don’t remember,’ said Jodie.
‘Ok, why didn’t you phone your parents to tell them you were ok?’ asked Harry.
‘I...I felt too guilty; I thought they would be angry with me.’
‘Can you tell us the name of this friend, Jodie?’ asked Harry.
Jodie looked away from Harry and buried her face in her mother’s chest. ‘...don’t want to say...don’t want to get my friend into trouble.’
‘Your friend won’t be in trouble. We just want to confirm that nothing bad happened to you,’ said Harry.
Jodie said nothing.
Harry was getting frustrated with Jodie’s answers or rather the lack of them. He had thought she would be difficult but not this bad. He looked at Sarah for some help.
‘Is your friend male or female?’ asked Sarah.
‘Female.’ answered Jodie, a little too quickly, thought Harry. Her face was still buried in her mother’s chest.
‘Where does she live?’ asked Harry.
‘Golders Green.’
‘Jodie, I know you are upset and it may be embarrassing, but if you tell us everything that happened you may help others who have gone missing,’ said Harry. ‘Can you please tell us if anything bad happened to you?’
Jodie stopped sobbing and looked at him almost angrily. ‘Look, nothing happened to me. I just had too much to drink and left. I then stayed with a friend. That’s --‘
‘Did anything happen on the tube with anyone?’ asked Harry.
Jodie seemed a little stunned at this, he thought. ‘No,no,no’ said Jodie eventually, and then got up. ‘Nothing happened. Look, I’ve had enough of this; I’m not a criminal. Just leave me alone,’ she finally said as she got up and stormed out of the room in tears, going upstairs.
Her mother looked apologetic and got up to go after her. ‘I’m sorry about this. She gets like this sometimes.’
‘No, its ok, Mrs Simmons. Jodie’s obviously very upset,’ said Harry as he got up followed by Sarah. ‘Look, here’s my card with my mobile number on it. Please give it to Jodie and tell her she can talk to me about what happened at any time. Thanks again for the tea’. He and Sarah then left.
On the way back, Harry thought about what Jodie’s answers or lack of them meant for his belief that there was something sinister about all these ‘Northern Line’ cases. He had been sure Jodie would have told him something which had happened to her on the tube, which might explain the other cases in some way. She was obviously hiding something, to judge by her evasive answers, but this could be nothing more than teenage embarrassment about her private life.
Sarah agreed with him here saying there was no way that Jodie would have said anything in front of her mother. Sarah also said there was probably nothing more to her disappearance than being drunk and perhaps having a boyfriend her parents did not know about. Harry thought she might be right about this, though his instincts continued to tell him there was more to his missing persons’ cases and Jodie did have some useful information for him.
But then again, he thought, I could be wrong and there may be nothing sinister, after all, about the other cases with the same characteristics of last being seen on the Northern Line, intoxication, and late night travel; they could just be co-incidences. Maybe, thought Harry, as he looked at his watch; it was 1.17 p.m. Maybe.