Both Marshall and Maxwell had agreed to split up and do door duty at opposite ends of the village and work from the out in. They would eventually meet up in the middle and head back to the station together to share their findings with each other. In Marshall’s personal opinion though, he had the best set of interviewees. The first house he was slated to visit though was not one he was looking forward to, it was where he was supposed to talk to a man called Qasim Jamal, who was adopted by the man who owned the church quite a few years ago, and his daughter Naima. He had a fairly simple reason to not want to look forward, and that reason was that it was situated ten minutes away from the edge of the village on a rough path. He walked it though, he had a job to do after all.

Approaching the church showed that it was indeed pretty small, no larger than the house attached to its side. They both looked quite homely, even to the extent that the graveyard around them added a sense of peace. Though this may have been slightly helped by the fact that the graveyard was well maintained. The stones were well kept, there were fresh flowers growing on and in between plots, and there even a few new bouquets left next to some particularly well-polished headstones. Marshall knocked on the wooden door of the cottage, assuming that it would be the best option to get an answer. His assumption was proven to be correct when an aging man cracked open the door slightly.

“I don’t want any vacuums.”

“…What? No! No. I’m here with the police about the recent kidnapping of Keira Aboret. I was hoping you could provide us with some information regarding the day, such as what you did during the time and whether or not you saw something suspicious.”

“Oh. Is that it? Why didn’t you say somethin’?” Then the door opened fully giving Marshall a full view of the man and the interior of the hallway. Marshall continued, now having the man’s attention.

“My apologies, I was leading up to it. In any case, is there anything that you can provide regarding this?”

“Nah. I was busy doing maintenance on the graveyard alongside Qasim. Didn’t hear anythin’ suspicious either.” The man then proceeded to give a thorough run down of his route and which ones that particularly stuck out to him. Marshall then got him to call over Qasim who corroborated the story, although he cleaned a different section of the graveyard during the maintenance.

“Thank you for your co-operation. Is Naima in?”

“Ah, yes. She is. But please… be considerate. We’ve just moved here and I’ve just separated from my wife, so she’s being going through a lot.”

“I will keep that in mind.” Marshall did remember a divorce on his file, though there were no court dates, so they must’ve sorted it out amongst themselves. Naima came out next. She looked tired and didn’t really look at her father as he moved back into the house.

“What.” She sounded tired and a little snappish, but he kept what Qasim said in mind, and considered the possibility of her merely having a bad day. He repeated the same spiel that he told the other two and she nodded along. “Yeah, I had organised to meet up with Imogen and Paige so I came back to change out of my uniform and then we headed to the café together to talk.”

“Was there anyone in the café that would remember you being there?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t really talk to people, but Paige or Imogen might. I remember them talking to the person on the register a lot. They might have known each other. She could probably confirm we were there.”

“Alright. Could you give me a run down of what you were talking about?” He sent a text to Maxwell to do the same with the other two. While it may have been common sense to ask details on this sort of thing, Weil hadn’t been an officer for too long. The only reason he got into the Special Cases unit was due to his unique circumstances. He looked up from his phone when noticed that Naima hadn’t started speaking. She looked a little nervous.

“We… talked about Keira. Paige and Imogen were telling me about their history with her- so it wasn’t anything bad- well it was… but not like in the revenge sort of way… I was curious and I learnt a lot about the friend groups and big things that happened in different social circles-“

“So you were getting a lay of the land, so to speak.” Marshall smiled at her as he continued, “don’t worry. If your alibi checks out then you won’t be a suspect.”

“Y-yeah. Is that everything?”

“That should be for now, though we may talk again if we can’t get you a witness.” She nodded, and after another moment of hesitation, shut the door. Marshall crossed a name off of his list and sighed. While he believed that he had the better set of names, there still wasn’t that many that caught his interest. Despite the painful walk to the church, he did believe it to be one of the more interesting places he was looking at, with two of the residents moving in recently and not having any connections. His phone pinged, with a message from Maxwell. It seemed that whilst Paige had something similar to say, Imogen completely shut down. They would have to bring all three in for questioning if that alibi didn’t hold, and really try for holes in the story. Imogen shutting down when the other two hadn’t made him think that she was only trying to avoid suspicion rather than add to it, considering the nature of the conversation. Still, it wasn’t something that could be overlooked.

He made a note of that thought and headed back to the village. He wasn’t delusional enough to think that he could go through all residents that day, but there was one more he definitely wanted to check out before calling it a day. Archer Hamilton was by far the most probable suspect in his books, and while he didn’t want to make any calls too early on for fear of clouding his judgment, he wasn’t about to completely ignore his instincts. They had been honed through many years of military and detective work and they were there for a reason. He didn’t want to make it seem like he was targeting Archer though. That might make him suspicious, and that could mean that Archer gets more careful in covering his tracks, or he leaves before proper justice could be served. So, Marshall goes on with a couple more mind-numbing interviews before he reaches Amelie Cross.

Marshall almost hadn’t bothered with this one. Much like Archer, she hadn’t been in the area at the time of the kidnapping, but if he was going to grill Archer, he had to grill Amelie. For consistency’s sake if nothing else. He knocked on the front door of Amelie. When the door opened, he was greeted with a couple who were most likely in their late forties, her parents if Marshall had his information straight. As per the procedure he questioned the parents and earned answers that weren’t too different to the previous ones he had gotten. Nothing noteworthy in other words. He then steered the conversation towards Amelie, including where they thought she was on the night of the disappearance.

“When did she arrive back from the sixth form college?”

“Oh, she arrived back from her uncle’s two days ago. We went to pick her up.”

“Would you mind providing a list of stops you made along the way as well as rough estimates of when you got there?”

“…Did she do something wrong? Should we be worried?”

“Oh no. This is routine. It just helps you build a solid defence if worse comes to worse.” Surprisingly, this did not seem to abate the parents’ fears, but they still called Amelie down. Black fishnet tights, leather skirt and animal print shirt coupled with facial piercings. It was certainly a deviation from what everyone else was wearing, at least.

“What.” Immediate hostility from Amelie, something which he observed right away, which certainly did not help her case. Maybe his quick writing in the notebook got the point across though, as she immediately adjusted her posture from confidently leaning on the door frame, to standing up a little straighter. She didn’t fully stop leaning though, and she still looked a far cry from friendly, but that was perfectly fine with Marshall.

“Amelie Cross?” A nod, “I’m one of the officers assigned to this case and here to ask a few questions about the disappearance of Keira Aboret. Could you spare a moment of your time?” Amelie snorted and looked like she was about to slam her door shut, but then seemed to think better of it.

“Wasn’t she found recently? Alive and surprisingly well?”

“Yes, but she still disappeared. And we have to investigate that. I won’t take too much time. I would just like to corroborate a few things that your parents said.”

“Oh, right. Sure. What specifically would you like to know?”

“Details on the route back as well as what you were doing on the night of the disappearance.”

“I was having a sleep over at a friend’s house on the night of the disappearance, if you must know.”

“That’s not what your parents said.” Amelie stood there and gave him a look. “What? Your Uncle didn’t give them a call about this?”

“No… He’s a romantic and I’m not allowed to date this person. My parents would probably pull me out and force me to enrol in the local sixth form. So, he agreed to hide it. And it would have stayed hidden if something like this hadn’t have happened.” Marshall didn’t have enough of a reason to push that point, though there was a certain disgust with which she said the local sixth form college. Something personal? It could tie in with her history in the village and subsequently Keira. He would have to tread with a little more caution though, since it wasn’t directly linked to the case.

“Alright, though the local sixth form doesn’t seem too bad. And you’d be familiar with most of the people there, which seems more like a plus.” Amelie seemed to pause at that, smile tightening ever so slightly.

“Actually, I would consider that a minus. I needed more world experience, to meet new people. To leave the nest a little. It’s a small town, if you haven’t noticed. I had an opportunity for more, and I took it.” Marshall observed that there was an unnatural resoluteness to her voice, but he didn’t push the matter further. Nor did he push more on the desire to meet new people. It was a very common one after all, even if she said it a little weirdly. All he did was write it down and nod.

“If anything else occurs to you please drop into the station.” Amelie grumbled a farewell and then slammed the door shut. There were a few more houses that he had to visit before he got to Archer’s, and there were a few more after including his neighbours. Marshall doubted that they would have anything to add since Archer wasn’t in the village during the time of the kidnapping, but maybe they had noticed suspicious activity leading up to it.

A number of door knocked and ticked boxes later he came to Archer’s front door. Nothing too remarkable aside from the massive growth of plants next to it, seemingly separating it from his neighbours. He knocked on the door, expecting the parents to answer as they had been during this entire investigation, but no. Archer answered first this time, and Marshall knew that it wasn’t because he was the only person living there.

“Hello, I’m here for an official investigation into Keira’s abduction. Are your parents around?”

“No.” Marshall waited for elaboration, and Archer soon picked up on this. “They’re out in the city for a conference. They won’t be back for another few days.”

“Were they around roughly a week ago?”

“Nope. They’ve been there for almost a month. Is that all?”

“No. Where were you?”

“I was still at my university. Only got back yesterday.”

“Could you please give me an exact time and means of travel?”

“I took the five o’clock from Trantintal, so I would have gotten back at about half past eight? Yeah. I had to get off at ten past eight in the city and then take the bus back here, which was delayed by the way. I roughly got back to the house at ten to nine, so you could probably get some exact times if you wanted.”

“Yes. I could.” Marshall could align it with CCTV in the area. It would be easier with the buses than the trains as the trains are far more crowded. “Do you have any receipts for the train and bus ride? And if so, please get them.” Archer hummed and opened up his phone, email confirmation then. “You can forward it onto the precinct using this email address.”

“Oh? I can’t just print them out?”

“Easier to fake if they’re printed out. Forward them onto us please.” Archer nodded and shortly afterwards Marshall felt a vibration in his pocket.

“Is that it?”

“No. I have a few questions to ask about the restraining order you have against you.” He stiffened, it seemed to be a touchy subject then. Not enough of one for that polite smile to drop from his face though, or maybe he was just a good actor.

“What specifically do you want to know?” The list of things Marshall wanted to know about the case was pretty long, and if Archer was forthcoming with information he would be here a while. It would be best if he sat down for this, and if he had a more casual atmosphere Archer might be more willing to talk. It might also give him a chance to look around the house, as he was unsure whether he could gather enough evidence for a search warrant despite the man’s questionable history.

“I want to know many things Archer, but this will be a long conversation. May I ask to come in.”

“No. You are not welcome in this residence, or any.” Now that set off a red flag. Referring to the house as a residence was a stilted response, and since it came almost immediately after his request it made him think that it was a coached one at that. Given by someone who didn’t know the intricacies behind such tricks. If Marshall were something else, he wouldn’t have gone about it in such an obvious way. Or Archer could have simply been socially awkward, but Marshall’s previous experiences didn’t paint a pretty picture. He debated leaning into certain assumptions more in order to push exactly how much Archer thought he knew, but Marshall decided against it. If he pushed too much now, he risked Archer running before any arrests could be made.

“Okay. I would like to know more about your restraining order.”

“Don’t you already know about it? In your files over there?”

“I do, but I would like to hear your side of the story. So…?” Archer sighed and leaned against the doorframe, never crossing the threshold. There was a small pause as he had to gather his thoughts, and maybe make some things up. Or embellish more likely, as his trial was on court record.

“It started when my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. Apparently, I was displaying some concerning behaviours- and I was.” Marshall noticed the pause and jotted it down. “I didn’t take the breakup at the time though, so when she got together with my best friend at the time Isaac… well. I didn’t take it well. I’ve gotten over it though, I understand the restraining order.”

“So, there’s nothing that you would like to add?”

“Nope! Is that everything?”

“What is Isaac’s full name?”

“Isaac Wood, he lives in the next town over.” He wished Archer goodbye and made another note on the files as the door shut. Isaac would make for a valuable character witness… especially because Archer seemed far more put together in their conversation than what was mentioned in the files. A niggling feeling in the back of his mind told him that though he could be a changed man, he could also be acting. He would have to bounce some ideas off of Maxwell once they meet up back at the precinct. In the meantime he had some door duty to finish. The next people on the list were the neighbours and a recently married couple. Names being Andrew Flynn and… Andrew Davies.