Bakewell was only a small town. Its permanent population was about four thousand, but in the summer it was full of visitors. It was also the market town for the surrounding area. On cattle market days the streets were thronged, the car parks packed. Busiest of all were the two days of the Bakewell Show early in August. The police station here no longer had a front counter and wasn’t open to the public, though some officers were still based here.
A few miles down the A6 from here was the wonderful Haddon Hall, one of his favourite places to visit, when he had time.
The Bowers’ home was on Aldern Way, a curving cul-de-sac on the edge of Bakewell, with views across to Chatsworth estate in one direction, and down over the town in the other. The spire of All Saints Church stood out clearly on the skyline.
The house was a stone-built three-bedroom detached with two short driveways down from the road and an attached garage. The driveway Cooper and Villiers used was short, but steep. An iron rail had been placed to assist in icy conditions.
Naomi Heath was aged in her thirties, so must have been ten or twelve years younger than her partner. She had short blonde hair and wide cheekbones, and she’d used make-up to disguise dark shadows under her eyes. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and was clutching a mobile phone in her hand.
‘The postman slipped on the ice once and bruised his arm,’ she said when she saw Carol Villiers holding on to the rail. ‘Reece got worried about being sued in some personal injury claim. So he installed the rails and we buy bags of grit in the winter. “Better safe than sorry”, he always says.’
Cooper showed his warrant card.
‘Naomi Heath? Detective Inspector Cooper from Edendale CID. This is Detective Constable Villiers. We’d like to speak to you about Mr Bower.’
‘Oh, are you taking an interest after all? I got the impression no one really cared. Because Reece is who he is, I suppose.’
Cooper didn’t respond to the taunt.
‘Miss Heath, do you have any idea where Mr Bower is now?’
‘None at all.’
A small porch led to an inner PVC door with obscured windows. A combined lounge and dining room had windows to the front and rear to take advantage of the spectacular views. From the dining area, a hatchway opened from the kitchen. Cooper glimpsed oak units, a gas range, and another window with a westerly view.
They had gas-fired central heating here, which he couldn’t get at his cottage in Foolow. They probably needed it in the winter too.
‘As a matter of fact, we’re all very concerned about Reece,’ said Naomi. ‘Something must have happened. He wouldn’t just have run off like this.’
‘When was the last time you were in contact with Mr Bower?’ asked Cooper.
‘Before he left, of course. It was on Sunday, the day before yesterday. During the morning he packed an overnight bag, and he went off with it at about eleven o’clock.’
‘What did he say to you when he left?’
‘He said he was going away and I might not see him for some time.’
‘Have you noticed any change in his behaviour recently?’
‘He was a bit more moody than usual, perhaps,’ she said.
‘Had you been arguing before he left?’
‘Reece had got angry the previous night. He’d knocked back quite a few drinks — he likes his malt whisky a bit too much, you know. He said a lot of things, but I’m used to it. I usually just let it go, and he forgets about it next morning.’
‘What was the argument about?’
She shook her head. ‘It wasn’t an argument, exactly. He gets upset about things. And because I’m here, it’s as if I’m to blame for it all. Do you understand what I mean?’
‘I think so.’
‘He’d been having problems at work. A lot of it I couldn’t even grasp. I think he was under pressure from his manager on one hand, and getting hassle from some of the employees on the other.’
‘What sort of hassle?’ asked Cooper.
‘Oh, I don’t know. I just think it was something that someone said to him at work.’
‘What did they say to him?’
‘He wouldn’t tell me. He can be reticent like that at times.’
‘Mr Bower is secretive?’
Naomi shook her head. ‘No, just a bit uncommunicative. When things are really bothering him, he tends to keep them to himself.’
‘So you think Mr Bower had enough of it and decided to get away for a while?’
‘That was the impression I had. He wouldn’t tell me any more. It was as if he’d made some decision and wasn’t going to talk about it.’
‘And you really haven’t heard from him since?’ asked Cooper. ‘No phone calls, not even a text message?’
‘No, nothing. That’s what worried me. I can understand him wanting to be on his own for a while, but he would have got in contact by now, I’m sure. I expected him to be back on Monday, to go to work. But it’s been two nights now, without a word. That’s just not right.’
‘Did he take a mobile phone with him?’
‘As far as I know. He always has his iPhone on him.’
‘We’ll need the number.’
‘Fine.’
‘Didn’t Mr Bower give you any hint at all about where he was going?’ put in Villiers.
‘No.’
‘But you must have some possibilities in mind.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Some idea of where he would go, if he wanted to disappear or be on his own for a while. People normally go to a location they know quite well. Somewhere their family or friends live, perhaps. Their old home town, or just a place they went on holiday once...’
Naomi shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I can’t think where he would go.’
Cooper sighed. They weren’t really getting anywhere with her.
‘We’ll need the addresses of all Mr Bower’s family, and any particular friends he might have gone to.’
‘All right, I’ll get them,’ she said.
Cooper looked at Villiers as Naomi got up and left the room. Villiers nodded at a display of photographs on a corner table. Holiday snaps, Reece and Naomi smiling at the camera with a blue sea and sunlit rooftops in the background.
‘The Mediterranean,’ said Cooper. ‘That’s no good. He wouldn’t have risked crossing the border.’
‘There’s one on a caravan site,’ said Villiers. ‘Looks quite recent. Maybe they couldn’t afford a foreign holiday this year.’
‘Can you see—’ began Cooper.
But Villiers was ahead of him. She’d already eased the photo out of the plastic pocket and turned it over.
‘Bridlington,’ she said, as she slipped it back.
Naomi came back into the room with an address book. ‘I’ve marked the family members and his closest friends. There aren’t many of those, just a few golfing buddies.’
‘We’ll also need the number of his mobile phone so we can track it. His bank account details, particularly debit and credit cards. And please make a list of the clothes he was wearing and what he took with him in his overnight bag, if you can.’
‘I can do that.’
Cooper paused. ‘Miss Heath,’ he said, ‘it’s impossible for us to assess Mr Bower’s state of mind. Since you were the last person to speak to him, do you think there’s a possibility he might have intended to harm himself?’
‘No, not at all—’ She’d begun to shake her head automatically, but stopped abruptly. ‘Well, I can’t deny it’s crossed my mind. Normally I wouldn’t say Reece was the type of man to do something like that. Even if he isn’t happy in his job, he has his family here. We have two children, for heaven’s sake. He has all that to live for. But who can say, really? There’s no way to see inside someone else’s head and tell what they’re thinking.’