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JC: You wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
FM: No, you wouldn’t. There’s a term we use for it: ‘ambiguous grief’. It can be a life sentence. It’s a
kind of unresolved grief. You might feel it if you have a child or another family member who is
mentally impaired. You might mourn the person you think they could have been if things had turned out
differently. That person is physically present but psychologically absent. Conversely, and this is what
happens in cases of abduction, or more commonly in divorce, the child or the person is
psychologically present but physically absent. And in the case of abduction the parents have the
added uncertainty over whether the child is alive or dead.
JC: It’s what we wanted to avoid. We wanted to get that kid back safe and well. We were waiting to
get written profiles from the psychologist, but he’d told Fraser he was veering towards a non-family
abduction, because of the circumstances of the abduction.
FM: Why?
JC: Based on Ben’s age and gender it was likely to be a lone male abductor with a sexual motive,
probably acting opportunistically.
FM: And how did he come to this conclusion?
JC: Past cases, the circumstances of Ben’s life and his disappearance. He advised us to look out for
someone odd when we were interviewing and looking through statements.
FM: Odd? You surely didn’t need a profiler to tell you to look out for somebody odd?
JC: I don’t mean overtly odd. There are signs to look for. Often they are craving control, in sexual
relationships perhaps, or just in their lives.
FM: Which presumably might have been a fit for your fantasy role-play suspect?
JC: That’s right.
Describing his work has given him an energy I haven’t seen before. I change the subject, hoping
he’ll carry this momentum into talking about his personal life.
FM: And Emma?
JC: What about her?
FM: What were her thoughts?
JC: To be honest we hadn’t really had a chance to talk properly. She was getting on with the job
though. Fraser was pleased with her.
FM: I’m very surprised you hadn’t talked. I understood that you were living together.
JC: It was hard once the case started. You don’t keep sociable hours. When you get home you’re so
tired you just want to sleep. It was easier for us both to sleep at our own places some nights. And
Emma could be hard to read sometimes, you know?
FM: What do you mean?
JC: I don’t know. You know how people sometimes get very quiet, go into themselves a bit when