Kernalie's mother lived in an Art Deco block of flats near the summit of one of the Seven Hills, on a street lined with elm trees. This was one of the posher parts of the Old Town, one of the places he dreamed about while growing up in the spartan concrete jungle on the other side of Ruth Gray Avenue. Back then the labyrinthine streets and quaint buildings of the old town seemed a world away. Now they felt a lot closer, but sometimes it still seemed almost inconceivable that they were in the same city just a few miles apart. 

He walked up the stairs two at a time. Elise followed. 

The flat was on the third floor. Ker's mother answered the door almost at once, as if she had been waiting behind the door. She was serious-faced, with an aquiline nose, sharp green eyes and black hair in a painfully neat bun which reminded Elise of some of the hairstyles her mother had worn when she was younger. There were lines on her face, and it was obvious she had had very little sleep for the last few days.

"I'm Simon Brown. This is Elise Wu." 

"Mayshairn Askeling. Nice to meet you both." She shook both their hands. "You can call me May. I've heard so much about you, Inspector Brown." Compliments had always made Simon uneasy, and he demurred. 

They followed her through a foyer stacked with framed art and trinkets into a meticulously kept living room. There was a decent view of the old town skyline, and lower down, the river. 

They sat down on the corduroy sofas, carefully preserved, while May went into the kitchen. Simon looked around the room. There was a framed photo on the coffee table. they were at a lake which she didn't recognise. Kernalie and her mother, and two people who Simon assumed were her father and younger sister. 

She came in with two cups and saucers on a tray. "Thank you for coming. It's very out of character. My husband is out looking for her. He still thinks that she's just lost somewhere." 

"Has she run away before?" She shook her head. 

She seemed mildly offended that he would even think such a thing, though she hid the revulsion well. "She would never do something like this. She would always tell me her plans. She was always very open about those things." 

"How did she spend her time?" Simon took a sip of his cup of tea. 

"She's very busy," She sipped at her tea. "She was doing a double degree at uni. Very smart. And she was working part time at the pharmacy. She was always very driven. Self-motivated. She took it upon herself to get a scholarship to a fancy private school up in the foothills. Carleton. That was 40 minutes commute each way. She could have gone to the high school around the corner, but she wanted to see if she could do it." 

"I thought at first that she might be with her boyfriend," she said, after a brief pause. "Sometimes she gets carried away. But I called him and he told me that he hadn't seen her since the day before." 

"Her boyfriend?" Elise perked up. 

She nodded. "Julian. She said he did electronic music. I have no idea about that. It's all a little ahead of my time." 

Elise wasn't familiar with the Corviston clubbing scene. And neither, it seemed, was Simon. 

"This boyfriend. How is he like. Would he be the type..." 

"Oh no," she replied. "Dale's not of that type of temperament. We...had our differences, but I don't believe that he would be capable of that. If I had believed him to be capable of that type of thing I would have never allowed her to continue the relationship. He made her happy."

"Uh-uh." Simon noted it down mentally. "You said his name is Dale..."

 "Dale Kymenbar." She finished the last of her tea and laid it on the saucer. "He's famous, or so Ker told me." 

***

"Will you find her?" She asked, as she saw them out into the hallway. She looked like she was about to burst into tears.  

"We'll try our best," Simon said. "We may be back for evidence. Is that okay?" 

"Anything to find her," May said in a croak, as if she had lost her voice. "Anything."

 ***

"So what do you think?" Elise broached the issue, as they approached the car. 

"She doesn't know much. I think she said as much as she knew. I don't think she ran away. It just doesn't add up. So she clocks out of work, and disappears into the night, without so much as a peep since. Something must have happened. You go interview Dale," Simon ordered. "He lives just around the corner. I'll go to the pharmacy." 

Down the street, unnoticed by the two, a black Audi pulled out of its parking spot at the same time as Simon's old Ford Sierra, and began to follow. 

***

The pharmacy was just a 10 minute drive away, the ground floor of a fairly ornate turn-of-the-century apartment building. Simon parked a block to the west and walked back.

The place was sparsely patronised on a Thursday morning. There were only a few customers browsing the shelves and one employee visible out front, stocking the shelf from a box. 

He looked up as if he had been expecting someone. Simon flashed his badge at the young fellow. 

"You're here because of Ker." he guessed, his voice a little taut. 

"Yes." Simon said, extending a hand. "We were wondering if you could help us with our inquiries." 

"I'm Lysander," the boy said in reply. "I knew something was wrong when I couldn't reach her the day afterwards." 

He packed up the box and brought it back with him to behind the counter. 

"She was working here on the night, I understand," Simon watched his hand tapping on the counter. "This was the last place she was seen before she disappeared. Do you remember anything about that night?"

"I wasn't here that night," he said, his brown eyes flashing. "Emmer was. You'll have to talk to him." 

"Emmer?" 

"The guy who does the Monday night shift." 

"And where might we find him?" 

"He's a student at CIT." 

Simon made a mental note. Corviston Institute of Technology. They would have to pay a visit. 

"Do you know his hours?" he enquired. 

"I'll have to ask around. But I know he has biology classes on Wednesday afternoon. All of us three. Ker, me, him. We take the same class. 

"Ah. I see." Simon digested this tidbit of information. "A graphic design student doing biology?" 

"It's always been one of her hobbies. She takes it as a breadth." 

"Has he talked to you about what happened that night? Is there anything that he shared with you?" 

"I haven't talked to him since that night. All I know is that she locked up by herself. Emmer had to leave early because he had a, uh, something to attend to at home." 

"Ok." Simon nodded. "Well, we'll talk to Emmer and see what he has to say." He gestured around the store. "Take me around. Where might she have gone? Where do you go for breaks? Is there a spot in the storeroom or..." 

"There's a small yard at the back," Lysander said. "You can go there, light up a smoke." 

"Mind if I take a look around?" 

"Sure." 

Simon slipped out the back door. The yard was small, paved with concrete blocks pushed up by tree roots. There was a skip in one corner overflowing with cardboard boxes. Second floor windows looked down on them. A padlocked corrugated steel door led out into the alleyway beyond. 

Simon looked to the left. A few doors down, there was a balcony on the third floor of what looked like a nightclub. Could she have seen something? There was definitely a chance. But the chance that she had encountered a customer, or something had happened while she was locking up, was much more likely. Still, it was an avenue of inquiry which would have to be pursued. 

He went back into the pharmacy and found Lysander again. "Do you know who owns the nightclub three doors down?"

There was a moment of hesitation. "Alpha Achim. He's not from here."

 Simon noted it down. He would have to pay him a visit soon. He looked up at the ceiling of the store. One dome camera at the front, one at the back. "Is there any footage from those cameras?" 

"Those are mostly for us to keep an eye on the customers. The tapes are wiped after 24 hours," Lysander explained. "But there are some City of Corviston cameras around the back in the alley. And more, but you'll have to ask the other shopowners around here."

"Thank you," Simon said. "You've been very helpful."