The Lazarus Effect by H. J Golakai

is the Fouries are far from starving. They’re both senior staff at WI. They’ve offered Paulsen money for her ‘cooperation’ before, when it involved saving their son’s life, but ever since her daughter went missing she’s felt a distinct lack of support on their part. She may’ve changed her mind about recompense.’
    She found and spread out the contents of Jacqui’s case envelope: copies of the official police report, statements from everyone questioned, newspaper clippings, hotline numbers for missing children sightings. She pushed the second photograph in the pile towards Joshua.
    ‘That’s the basket she’s put all her eggs in,’ she said, tapping the image of a man in the snapshot. ‘Ashwin Venter, the boyfriend. Twenty-five, auto mechanic, bit of a bad boy with a record. Obviously, Mommy didn’t approve. She demanded that Jacqui end the relationship; they quarrelled and Jacqui took to sneaking around behind her back. When Adele found out that her precious was still running around with him, grinding gonads no less, well, you can imagine how that went down. Typical mother-daughter stuff.
    ‘But Adele swears that Venter has the perfect motive for murder. She suspects Jacqui was pregnant from the way she was acting before she disappeared, and that Ashwin found out and flipped. She heard them fight a couple of times just before Jacqui disappeared, but couldn’t really pick out what it was about. Jacqui even came home with bruises one time, wouldn’ttalk about how she got them. She just told her mom that she hoped she was happy now, because she’d broken up with him. He obviously didn’t take it well. Came by their house a few times making threats and causing a ruckus. They had to call the neighbours to get him off their property.’
    Joshua eyed the photograph, his expression sceptical. Venter had a protective arm draped around his girl, the look on his face one of overplayed bravado. He was pale and freckled, well-muscled but kind of short. Hardly the toughest stud on the block. ‘I guess bad boys come in all flavours,’ he muttered. ‘What, he offed her when he found out she was having his baby? Doesn’t sound like your average male reaction.’
    ‘My thoughts exactly. But according to Adele, this guy’s typical coloured trash – her words, not mine. In his teens he was part of a gang. When his father died he inherited the business, which he couldn’t manage, and it started losing money. To top it off, he’s got two kids with other women. He’d been hauled into court for child maintenance and was seriously struggling to make ends meet. Basically, he wouldn’t have been over the moon about baby number three. He probably saw Jacqui as a soft option. Naïve schoolgirl star-struck by a big-time player. The way Adele tells it, he begged Jacqui to get rid of the baby, she refused and it went downhill fast.’
    ‘Dang, she really has it in for this guy. She knows all this how?’
    ‘Oh, she’s gunning for him all right, but her gun’s not loaded. Sure, he confessed under interrogation that they’d argued and even fought physically before, and had a huge bust-up on the day she disappeared. But other than that, there’s no proof.The cops pegged him as their main suspect, especially when it turned out he was the last person to see her alive and he couldn’t produce an alibi other than his sister. They brought him in for questioning a number of times, even held him in custody for two days without a formal charge, but with no evidence they eventually had to let him go. No body, no crime.’
    Joshua frowned. ‘So, what, the cops hound one guy without much to go on, then suddenly the case goes cold? They didn’t have a body, but surely they had some evidence to build a case. When people go missing, they tend to leave a trace. Girl leaves home …’
    ‘Girl leaves home on September twenty-second, 2007. It’s a Saturday morning, just after ten.’ Vee took the reins, steering from memory. One