CHAPTER 22
I couldn’t speak for a short while, as my mind tried to make sense of his words. My address? Her purse?

“What?”

I felt my legs going, and Amin looked sharply at Simms.

“Can we please come in, love? I think you need to sit down”

I led them into the dining room, dropping into a chair. After another look at his colleague, Amin turned back to me.

“How old are you, love?”

“Sixteen”

“Are your parents or guardians home?”

“They’re out looking for Alys, with her dad”

Simms was as sharp as before.

“You have their address?”

“Yeah… Hang on…”

I pulled out my mobile and dialled Alys’ home number. Nansi Edwards answered after the first ring.

“Yes? Alys?”

“No, Enfys. Police are here”

“Oh god… Enfys? Listen, carefully. Write a note for Keith and Pen, your parents, tell them where you are and please come here. With the police”

“They say…”

“Just come, love! Hanging up in case she calls”

I scribbled a quick note as she had insisted, then looked at the police officers, Amin clearly holding Simms back.

“Her Mam, sir. Wants me to take you there”

Amin nodded. You coming with us? Got a door key? I read that as you wrote it”

I just nodded, and in a very short time we were outside the Edwards place. Mrs Edwards must have been waiting by the window, because the front door was open almost as soon as we had parked, and I was pulled into a crushing embrace before she spoke to the police.

“I’m Alys’ mother, Nansi Edwards. Please come in”

She took us all into the living room, as another squall of rain drove into the window, sitting down much as I had in my own house.

“Please… Can I give, can I try and call her father? Mobile’s been more than a bit shit… Sorry”

I could see her hands shaking, and PC Simms stood up again.

“Mrs Edwards…”

“Nansi”

“Nansi. Could I go and sort out some tea? Might help things settle down”

Mrs Edwards nodded once, then reached for her phone.

“Come on… come on.. Vic? Thank god! Can you all get here, home, quickly? Police are saying… I haven’t…”

Suddenly, she was sobbing, and I reached out and took the phone from her hand before she dropped it.

“Mr Edwards? Yes, Enfys”

“Can you tell me what is going on, love?”

“I don’t know! They say they have her purse!”

“Oh god… It’ll take us half an hour to get back to the car. Are you all right, with Nansi?”

I took as slow a breath as I could, trying to find the same space I used for a hard move.

“I have to be, don’t I?”

“Thank you, love. We’ll be as quick as we can. Can you look after her Mam for us? Just until we get there?”

“I’ll do my best”

“I know you will, love. Got to go. Love you both”

He was gone, and I moved closer to Nansi Edwards, so that I could take her hand.

“PC Amin?”

“Yes? Are they coming?”

“They’re on the hill, looking for Alys. Her father says it will take them half an hour to get back to the car. He asks… Can we please get this done?”

I couldn’t hold them any more, and my words disappeared into sobs. Simms appeared with a tray of pot and mugs, and her mouth twisted with distaste as she took a few of her own deeper breaths. She set the tray on the table, then, as PC Amin poured and passed out cups, she pulled out that little book once more.

“Enfys, wasn’t it?”

“Yes”

“And Nansi. I am sorry, but I need to confirm a few facts. Library card and that gave us her name. Can you please confirm that Alys Edwards was your daughter, Nansi?”

Nansi was sobbing at that word, but she nodded, and the policewoman looked across at me.

“You were her friend, Enfys?”

No point anymore, no need for secrecy, no more Alys.

“I was her girlfriend”

“Ah”

She gave her colleague an odd look, one of puzzlement.

“You are saying that Alys was gay, then”

“Yes. We both are. Were…”

She looked sharply at her mate, once again.

“Mo?”

“I know, girl. Nansi: what was Alys wearing when she went out?”

“Um, Ron Hills, like tracksuit bottoms, yes? Fleece jacket? Blue waterproof jacket, walking boots, small rucksack”

“Not a skirt, then?”

Mrs Edwards’ head was starting to lift just then, and I could read her mind. Not Alys, not Alys.

“Not unless she was carrying one in her rucksack. Please: can you tell me what has happened? I am… I thought…”

She took a few seconds to shake her head, shake free the fear.

“You’ve come here to tell me my girl is dead, but what you’re saying, it’s all wrong. Please: just come out with it”

Amin, Mo, shook his own head, than nodded to Simms.

“Nansi, we are here about an RTC. Road Traffic Collision; it’s what they used to call an accident. Car crash, aye? We have a Ford Focus, fail to stop---sorry. Please understand that we get our own stress on jobs like this. Hard to keep our own balance. The car was challenged near Bangor for its manner of driving, and the driver sped away from our car at speed. They went up the Expressway, and the driver lost control near Tal y Bont, the bridge there, aye?”

She put her little book away.

“Car went through the barrier there, due to its speed, I assume. We… We have four bodies, all young people. Four dead. One of them had the purse with Alys’ details, the note with Enfys’ address in it. We assumed… Hell. Mo, can you call this into Control?”

A few more moments of hesitation, then she grimaced once more.

“Mrs Edwards?”

“Yes?”

“We were going to… Our intentions were to ask you to come with us and identify the deceased, but I am beginning to think that would be wrong. Can we take a minute to have our tea, while I think?”

Thirty seconds passed.

“Nansi?”

“Yes?”

“can you think of anything, anything at all in the way of distinctive marks that Alys might… No. I was going to say ‘might have had’, but I am beginning to think we’ve knocked up the wrong mother. Any distinctive marks? Hair colour, scars, that sort of thing?”

“My daughter is transgender”

“Sorry?”

“My daughter is a trans girl. She was recorded as a boy when she was born”

“So that means…”

“Can’t think of a more distinctive feature”

“Shit. Sorry”

She pressed a button on her radio, rising from her seat and heading for the kitchen.

“Control? 316. Could I have duty Inspector please?”

She was back in with us five minutes later, looking almost ashamed.

“Doctor is, er, checking for, you know. I am so sorry. I really thought I was bringing… Mo? More tea in that pot?”

Words failed all of us, until she jerked upright, as the front door banged. How fast had the three of them run to get back so quickly? Mr Edwards hugged his wife, as Mam grabbed me, and PC Simms held up a hand for silence.

“Going to cut through this in one go, people. Car crash on A55, four fatalities. One of them had a purse we have identified as belonging to Alys. Nansi here has told us… Neither of the two girls who have unfortunately passed away is anything other than…”

She paused, her mouth twisting once again.

“Doctor took a look down there. Neither of them is Alys”

Dad wandered off, knowing him to boil the kettle, while Vic Edwards stared at the police officers and Nansi simply broke down.

“Thank you. Not an easy job, aye? So can we sort of change priorities? Those four, whoever they were, they aren’t going anywhere, but one of them had her purse, and it is nearly midnight, and we still have a missing daughter. Can we shift focus? Please?”

Amin nodded, and after getting an account of where Alys had been surveying, he spoke to his control, explaining in terse phrases what was needed. In short order, we had a helicopter and Mountain Rescue called out, the three searchers listing in detail which areas they had already searched. I wasn’t paying much attention by then, because I was lost in my own world of sobs and tears. Mam and Dad bedded me down in Alys’ room, while they camped out in the living room, and we waited for the search to be completed.

Two days later, and there was still no word. What we did have instead was the name of the driver of the Focus, and a week later we would have the names of his passengers.

Ifor Watkins. Ifor bloody Watkins, one of his hangers-on and two girls from the year below ours, in his Mam’s car, and drunk, according to the post-mortem. I had hated him for years, but now my emotion was much, much darker.

No need to worry about him losing his tenancy anymore, but where was Alys, and what the hell were they doing with her purse?