You can go home to change when you play tennis - in a public park, say - or you can go home to collect your gear before playing at a local club. Why ferry around tennis gear all day when you're playing in the evening after work? And who is to say her gear wasn't in the car then removed? Were her racquets still at home? Was a tennis date put off when the cheque book resurfaced and the appointment to collect it was made? The record on tennis appears moot.
That a playing partner didn't come forward is indicative, possibly, but hardly definitive. What if it were part of Mr Kipper's ruse? A 6 o'clock appointment did not rule out playing later for the reasons already given.
Mother and daughter were together the evening prior. The two could quite conceivably have discussed plans for the week ahead, even were SL a little light on detail. Why then would a distraught mother pull something out of her back pocket at a critical moment and potentially confuse police who were pulling out all the stops to find her daughter? It doesn't make sense. I don't think, therefore, a tennis date should be dismissed out of hand. We need more information.
The more I ponder on this case, the more I see SL and JC being acquainted. SL may well have left willingly with Mr Kipper. Some called JC Billy Liar. And Billy could have boasted to SL that he'd once taken a set off Jimmy Connors! Pure speculation, of course.