The Woman Who Disappeared
Betty Ross disappeared in a thunderstorm. She waved goodbye to her children from the door of her secluded home, the weather cracked, and she was never seen again. That was a year ago. Since then her family has heard nothing from her, nobody has seen her, and there is not even the faintest clue as to where she might be.
It all started on a Tuesday morning in the small Scottish town of Edmond. It was 8:50 a.m. Betty Ross stood at the door of her home and waved goodbye to her two children as they set off for school. It was special day for her son Robbie. He had been selected to travel to Aberdeen to represent his school at football. She wished him luck and closed the door.
She had a busy day ahead of her. An insurance assessor was coming that morning to look at her car. The week before it had been set on fire – deliberately, say the police. At lunchtime she had arranged to meet her best friend, Diane, for something to eat and a chat. And then she was to meet her lawyer to discuss the details of her impending divorce. She kept none of these appointments.
A few minutes after the kids left, she must have realised that her well-planned day wasn't perfect. Perhaps the lawyer's appointment would be longer than she had planned. She phoned Robbie's school to check what time he would be back from Aberdeen. The school secretary didn't know, but she said she would phone back. Ten minutes later she phoned. The phone rang and rang. There was no reply. The school secretary is the last person known to have heard Betty's voice.
At 11 a.m. her friend Diane went and banged on the door of Betty's home. She went away and came back again at 1 p.m. There was still no reply. The door was unlocked so she went inside. There were breakfast things on the table. Betty's hairdryer was still plugged in. But there was no sign of Betty.
Diane went home and kept phoning all afternoon. At around 7 p.m. Robbie answered. Betty still wasn't home. Diane called the police. They searched the house but found nothing that might indicate where she was or why she had left. Her handbag appeared to be gone, but not her glasses. Nor her passport. All her clothes were still in the wardrobe. There were no signs of violence. Since her disappearance no money has been withdrawn from her bank account.
"Something criminal has happened to Betty, there's no doubt about that," says the detective leading the case, Detective Chief Inspector James Marshall. But there is no evidence of a crime. No one in Edmond saw anything unusual on the day Betty disappeared. Not even the prospect of a £20,000 reward has jogged their memories.
Of course, there are rumours. Suspicion naturally fell on her estranged husband, Jack. Betty and Jack had been separated for a month. She had been living alone with the children since then. Friends say that Betty and Jack had endured a stormy marriage. But there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that he had anything to do with Betty's disappearance. Besides, he has a cast-iron alibi which proves that he was working at the time of Betty's disappearance.
"It is the most frustrating case I have ever worked on," says Inspector Marshall. "We normally have something to go on. But in this case we have nothing. Nobody has seen anything. We have no main lines of inquiry anymore."