Gone Astray by Michelle Davies Page A

last year and the areas self-harmers tend to target are
wrists, the insides of forearms and thighs and sometimes the chest.’
    ‘So Rosie’s not a typical harmer.’
    ‘But the whole point of self-harming is not to draw attention to what you’re doing. Sufferers cut themselves in secret and hide the scars as a way of retaining control. If Rosie
really is self-harming I’d expect her to cover up more to hide the fact she was doing it.’
    ‘So you think her friends are lying?’ said Umpire.
    ‘It crossed my mind but I don’t think so. Maybe Rosie does self-harm but not as much as Kathryn implied or as recently.’
    ‘She could’ve started again this morning, cut herself in the wrong place and bled out,’ suggested Belmar.
    ‘I thought that too, but why go over the back fence?’ said Maggie. ‘You’d go into the house and call for help, wouldn’t you?’
    ‘DC Neville’s right,’ said Umpire. ‘We’ve checked with the hospital, walk-in clinics and GPs in the area and no girl matching her description has turned up injured
at any of them.’
    ‘Unless she doesn’t want to be helped,’ said Belmar.
    Silence fell over them. Had Rosie cut herself then slunk away to hide like an injured animal, thought Maggie? Had the fear of what her dad might say stopped her from seeking help? She scanned
Umpire’s face for any sign that he was thinking the same, but his features were set like granite, his eyes focused on the horizon beyond the French doors, and a full minute passed before he
spoke.
    ‘Accidentally or not, if she cut herself and is bleeding at the rate the blood on the lawn suggests she is, she’ll need urgent medical assistance and we need to step up the search.
Keep me updated.’
    He swept abruptly from the room, leaving a tense Maggie and Belmar standing in his wake.
    ‘So the rumours about Ballboy are all true,’ said Belmar, mock-wiping his brow as he slumped into a chair. ‘Everyone said he was a scary bastard.’
    ‘What you just saw was not him being scary, believe me.’
    ‘Yeah, I heard about what happened on your last case together, about him blowing up at you.’
    She smarted. Well, of course he knew, everyone knew.
    ‘It must be weird working with him again.’
    ‘No, not really.’ She hoped she sounded more blasé than she felt.
    ‘So you two, you know, did it go on for long?’ said Belmar, his dark brown eyes dancing with mischief.
    ‘Did what go on for long?’
    ‘You and him. You have . . . you know . . . haven’t you?’
    Her mouth gaped open. It was a few seconds before she could speak.
    ‘You think me and him were . . . For fuck’s sake, who the hell told you that?’
    On seeing her reaction, Belmar began to furiously back-pedal. He rose from his chair. ‘Oh shit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It was just something someone
mentioned in passing. I didn’t say I believed it.’
    ‘Why would anyone even think it?’ she said, aghast. ‘I mean, does everyone think that?’
    ‘I don’t know about that. The person I talked to just said that you and Umpire had this big bust-up at the end of your last case and it was because you were sleeping
together.’
    ‘You have got to be kidding me,’ Maggie retorted. ‘The reason he went ballistic was because I dropped him in the shit with the victim’s family. It had nothing to do with
anything else. I mean, for fuck’s sake, he’s married.’
    ‘No he’s not.’
    ‘What?’ she said, stunned.
    ‘Word is his wife left him a few months ago.’
    As she joined the dots Belmar was verbally drawing for her, Maggie felt sick to her stomach. ‘Do people think his wife left because of me?’ she said hoarsely. Was that what the
forensics techs were whispering about after she and Umpire spoke on the terrace?
    Her new colleague didn’t say anything. She could tell by his expression that he wished he’d never opened his mouth. Moving closer, Maggie stabbed her finger in the air towards him.
Her