Inspector Rames

Chapter 46

Socrico University was coming to life when we arrived. Students hurried between the old buildings, their shorts pulled low, silk skirts swishing, and sunglasses tucked into v-neck tees. Most of them were clutching coffees -- the weird, iced kind.

I stopped one student and asked where Reception was. She pointed it out to us, and we went off to discover which lecture Frankie was scheduled to be in. When we had it, we tried to find it.

We eventually discovered the room at the heart of campus, on the ground floor of a building that looked like a church. Alex wrenched the lecture hall door open and went straight inside. I followed him.

Only a handful of students had arrived, and all of them twisted around to look at us. One was Jude Bray, sitting a few rows back from the front.

He sprung to his feet and came over when he saw us. It took a minute, because the room seemed large enough to hold a few hundred people.

He started talking when he was a few rows away. "Becky called and said that Frankie's gone missing. Is it true?"

All heads turned to us again. None of them were Frankie.

I pushed the door back open. "Why don't we chat outside?"

The three of us entered the hallway, Jude still talking. "You have to find her! Please."

"Can you think of anywhere she might be?" Alex asked.

Jude shook his head. "She always turns up to her lectures early, and she's never skipped. She should be here right now."

"But if she was going to skip," I said, "do you have any idea at all where she would go?"

"I don't think so."

"When did you last see her?"

"Saturday. We went into the city for the morning." He glanced down, then met my eyes again. "You saw us on our way out."

"When did you last have virtual contact with her?"

"Same day. I wanted to send her a message about Paris yesterday, but I didn't know what to say. So I thought I'd just talk to her about it this morning..." He pulled at the neck of his jumper.

"By the way," Alex said, "where were you on Thursday night, between seven and nine?"

Jude looked away. "At a friend's party. I can't remember exactly what time I got there or anything. Sorry."

I tucked my hands into my jeans pockets. "Does this friend have a --"

A gaggle of students pushed past us and entered the lecture theatre, and Jude's gaze moved over my shoulder. "My lecturer's here. You have my Xplora details now."

He pulled away, following the students inside. A much older man passed us and entered behind them, and then the door finally swung shut and stayed that way.

I started walking. "Right, let's go to the labs. If no one can tell us anything there, we'll oversee the search teams from the station. We need to get them doing flat to flat enquiries on this road, Flicker Street, and around by Iron Paws."

"We're not going to find her." Alex grabbed a swinging door in the middle of the hallway before it closed. As I passed under his arm, he looked at me. "I had this feeling when Lola went missing. I knew she wasn't alive."

"It's just fear," I said firmly. "Unless you're claiming to be an oracle, in which case I'd call you a liar."

A hint of a smile touched his mouth. "You don't believe in spiritual stuff? Fate and foresight?"