Behind Closed Doors (28 page)

‘Mum?’

Having expected this from the moment she’d heard Alayna letting herself in downstairs, Andee turned on to her back to see her daughter silhouetted like a spirit in the doorway. ‘Don’t put the light on,’ she whispered, ‘but you can come and have a chat if you like.’

Kicking off her flip-flops, Alayna climbed up to plant herself cross-legged next to her mother. ‘So? How did it go?’ she asked excitedly.

Stroking her hair, while feeling for how crushed she was going to be, Andee said, ‘Not the way you hoped, I’m afraid.’

‘You mean he doesn’t want to get back together?’

‘No, he doesn’t.’

‘Oh no! I don’t believe it. So what happened? Did you talk about it? You didn’t end up rowing, did you?’

Since she didn’t feel it was her place to tell Alayna her father was getting married, all Andee said was, ‘We had a nice dinner, it was a bit like old times for some of the evening, but I definitely got the impression that he and Brigitte are a lot closer than we’d realised.’

Thumping the bed in frustration, Alayna declared, ‘He is
so
stupid. I can’t believe he’s doing this . . .’

‘Ssh,’ Andee cut in softly. ‘You’ll wake Grandma.’

‘Have you told her?’

‘Yes. She was waiting up when I got in.’

‘What did she say?’

‘The same as I’m saying, we just have to accept that Dad’s moved on and now it’s time for us to do the same.’

‘But I don’t want to,’ Alayna protested angrily. ‘I want him to come back to us so we can be a proper family again, and I know it’s what you want. Oh Mum, are you really upset?’ she cried, wrapping Andee in her arms.

‘I’m fine,’ Andee lied. Once she saw Graeme again she’d feel more grounded. ‘Where’s Luke? He’s not in his room. Did he come back earlier?’

‘I don’t know. I think he’s still at Jake’s. I’m going to tell Dad that if he’s going to be with Brigitte then me and Luke won’t want to see him again.’

‘Alayna, you need to give her a chance. You might find you like her . . .’

‘Never! It’s not going to happen. I don’t care if he’s my dad, I don’t have to like her just because he does.’

Pulling her in closer, Andee held her as she wept with frustration and disappointment. A part of her felt like crying too, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Did it really matter that Martin was going to
marry
another woman?

Yes, it did, she realised. It mattered a lot.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING,
despite it being Sunday, Andee drove down to the Cove to see the Monroes. There had been no word from Sophie following the appeal, no sightings showing any promise so far, no breakthroughs at all. Remembering how terrible that felt, how vast and impenetrable the world seemed when it had swallowed up someone you loved, she needed to find out how they were coping today.

As soon as she walked in she was aware of the atmosphere in the house seeming sadder, more despairing, and knew it was how her own home had felt after the appeals for Penny. In the Monroes’ case they had even more to deal with now that the baby had been diagnosed with this awful disorder. He was asleep, Heidi told her, as she let her in, so she was trying to catch up with some work while Gavin, who’d been awake all night, had a lie-down.

‘The firm he drives for got in touch earlier,’ Heidi confided as she made some coffee. ‘I think someone went sick at the last minute so they were hoping he’d fill in, but he can’t bring himself to do it. He wants to be here in case . . .’ Her voice shook, and for a moment Andee thought she was going to break down. However, she managed to catch her breath and continue. ‘I don’t blame him,’ she said. ‘I can’t find it in myself to do much either. All I can think about is where she might be, what might be happening to her, and now, with what we’ve found out about Archie . . . It’s starting to feel as though someone up there has got it in for us.’

How could anyone not feel that way in the same situation?

‘We heard on the news that Gary Perkins was remanded in custody,’ Heidi went on. ‘I feel terrible that I didn’t carry out the criminal record check. To be honest I thought Jackie had done it. She said she was going to.’

‘Does she usually do those things?’

‘Sometimes, but not always.’ She stopped what she was doing and gazed out at the garden.

Andee watched her, noticing how badly she was shaking. After a while her eyes drifted on round the room, across the mugs hanging from the front of a shelf and the keys dangling from a spare hook. She was still staring at the keys when Heidi suddenly said, ‘I know you can’t tell us everything that’s going on, but did he give you any idea where he took her?’ She was already shaking her head. ‘Even if he had, she’s not there now, is she, or you’d have found her. How’s his sister taking it? I had a bit of a go at her the last time she was here. I feel bad about it now, but she has to see she was in the wrong for bringing him to a holiday camp. A bloke with his track record . . .’ Her voice trailed off as the awfulness of everything seemed to envelop her. ‘I don’t expect I’ll have a job at the end of this,’ she said shakily. ‘The Poynters haven’t even come to see us since they got back, although she rang a couple of days ago.’

‘What did she say?’ Andee asked.

She shrugged. ‘I wasn’t here, so she spoke to Gavin. Apparently she wanted us to know she was sorry for what was happening, and if there was anything she could do we knew where to find her.’ She laughed without humour. ‘I suppose it’s nice of her, but she’s not someone I’d feel right about talking to. I haven’t really talked to anyone since all this kicked off, apart from you, and that’s not the same, is it?’

‘What about Gavin?’

She shook her head. ‘It’s like we’re afraid to say anything to each other in case the wrong thing comes out, so we just sit here in silence most of the time, waiting for the phone to ring, trying to prepare ourselves for the worst.’ She took a shuddering breath. ‘I know he blames me. He denies it, but I know he’s thinking that if I’d tried a bit harder with her, hadn’t allowed myself to get so obsessed with the baby . . . Well, I’m paying the price for it now, aren’t I? She’s gone, he’s never going to be right . . . Makes you wonder what it’s all about, doesn’t it?’

Andee had lost count of the number of times she’d heard that phrase from frightened, desperate people, trying to make some sense of their tra-gedies when there was no sense to be found.

After leaving Blue Ocean Park she took a longer route into town, past the haulage firm that Gavin occasionally worked for, where she paused for a moment. The yard was all locked up, with not a soul in sight, only an emergency number printed on a board over the chains and padlocks of the gates.

From there she drove on to the Poynters’ mansion where she stopped again, though apart from the high pink walls and black iron gates there was nothing to see. After making a few notes, she put the car in reverse and turned around to head back to Kesterly.

‘Here are the times of the crossings from Dover,’ Leo told her, handing her a printout as she entered the incident room. ‘As we’re not sure what time Sikora set out from Krakow, and the girlfriend isn’t either – this is presuming that he did set out . . .’

‘You’ve tried ringing him?’

‘Of course, but he’s not answering.’

‘You’ve got Kasia to try?’

‘Yes, but he’s not picking up for her either, so there’s nothing to say that he actually is on the way. We’re only going to know for certain once he shows up, and when that’s going to be . . . The window’s about as big as they come, but all the ports have been alerted, so if he does come through he’ll be taken in straight away.’

‘Do they know how important the van is? We need to find out if she was ever in it.’

‘Yes, they know.’ He regarded her curiously. ‘Are you OK? You seem a bit . . .’ He shrugged.

‘A bit what?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I’m fine. Just listening.’ Glancing at her mobile as it rang she saw it was Martin and decided she really didn’t want to speak to him now, so left the call to go to messages.

‘The boxes you found in the Poynters’ study,’ she said, calling up the case notes, ‘what was in them?’

Clearly surprised by the question, Leo replied, ‘Some new-fangled locking devices. Apparently they’re for the higher-end caravans.’

As she found the entry for his first visit to the Poynters her mobile rang again, and again a few minutes later. Accepting that Martin wasn’t going to stop until she answered, she finally clicked on. ‘Martin, I’m at work . . .’

‘I know, Alayna told me, but this won’t take long. What I said last night about Brigitte . . .’

‘For goodness sake, I really don’t want to discuss it now . . .’

‘What you didn’t give me the chance to say was that if I was ever going to marry anyone, it would be you.’

As the words hit her she froze. Then, getting up from her chair, she marched into the corridor, found a free office and closed the door. ‘How dare you?’ she seethed. ‘That you have the audacity to presume I’d marry you after everything you’ve done . . .’

‘I didn’t ask you,’ he laughed over her. ‘I said, if I was going to . . .’

Her mouth opened and closed.

‘That’s how you leap to conclusions,’ he told her.

‘I’m going to ring off now,’ she said stiffly, ‘and we’ll pretend this conversation never happened.’

By the time she returned to the incident room she was trying not to laugh herself. He’d always had a way of doing that to her, taking the wind right out of her sails and leaving her with nowhere to go, or feeling foolish, or ready to throttle him.

What would Brigitte say if she knew that was how he felt?

It wasn’t until she started down to her car, much later in the day, that she realised he hadn’t commented on the fact that she’d met someone else. Maybe he hadn’t heard. Or, knowing him, he’d decided not to take it seriously. He’d tell himself it was simply something she’d said to try and save face, or to get him worried. Maybe he was worried. It could explain why he’d made the call. She wondered what Alayna had said to him, or indeed what he had told Alayna.

She guessed she’d find out when she got home.

‘Is Luke back yet?’ she asked as she walked into the kitchen to find her mother with a recipe book balanced on a table-top easel and pans everywhere. ‘I thought we were going over to the pub tonight?’

Maureen frowned as she blinked. ‘Did we arrange that?’ she asked, seeming perplexed.

‘This morning,’ Andee reminded her. ‘You said you were going to book a table . . .’ Noticing that the memory lapse was starting to bother her mother, she quickly said, ‘Listen, it doesn’t matter. I probably just assumed I’d suggested it, and ended up forgetting. It’ll be lovely to eat at home. What have we got?’

Maureen looked at her cooking as she said, ‘Stroganoff. Martin’s always been keen on it, and Carol’s bringing one of her lovely vanilla cheesecakes.’

It was Andee’s turn to blink. ‘I didn’t realise they were coming this evening,’ she said, not thrilled by the idea of spending any time with Martin right now. ‘What time are we expecting them?’

Still seeming slightly worried, Maureen glanced at the clock. ‘In about ten minutes,’ she replied, making it sound more like a question. ‘I haven’t got the day wrong, have I?’

Sounding more impatient than she intended, Andee said, ‘I don’t know, because I wasn’t there when you made the arrangement. I’m sure you haven’t.’

Maureen pulled a face. ‘You’d better give Carol a call to check. My memory’s definitely not what it used to be.’

‘Hey Mum,’ Alayna chirped, bouncing into the kitchen and treating Andee to a hug and kiss. ‘Grandma, Dad just rang to say he and Grandma Carol are on their way. He hopes they won’t be too early.’

‘I hope you told him that any time is fine,’ Maureen responded.

‘Something like that. OMG, Grandma, this is like amazing,’ Alayna gushed, as she helped herself to a taste of the fillet steak. ‘Is it a Jamie Oliver?’

‘Yes, it is,’ Maureen replied, seeming pleased Alayna would know that, in spite of the book being right in front of them. ‘Your dad told me about it. He said it’s very good, so I thought I’d give it a go.’

‘Try it, Mum,’ Alayna insisted, bringing a sliver of meat to Andee.

Feeling all her tastebuds zing as she tasted it, Andee murmured a note of ecstasy, not having realised until then just how hungry she was.

‘Is Luke home?’ she asked Alayna.

Shaking her head as she picked at the sauce again, Alayna said, ‘I don’t think so. Did he come in, Grandma?’

‘I haven’t see him,’ Maureen replied. ‘I hope he’ll be back in time for dinner.’

‘Oh God,’ Alayna gasped, spinning round. ‘You don’t think Dad’s bringing Brigitte, do you?’ Her eyes went from Maureen’s to Andee’s.

‘Did he say he was?’ Andee asked her mother.

‘Not that I recall. No, I’m sure he isn’t. It wouldn’t be right to bring her here, would it?’

‘It’s not right that she’s here at all,’ Alayna put in.

‘No, he wouldn’t do that to us, or to her,’ Andee declared confidently. ‘Now will one of you please tell me when you last spoke to Luke.’

Alayna’s shoulders went up as she thought. ‘I think it must have been Friday.’

Feeling a dark beat of alarm, Andee said, ‘Try ringing him now,’ and she turned to her mother. ‘Did you see him or speak to him yesterday?’ she demanded.

Maureen’s eyes were wide as she shook her head. ‘I’m sure he’s still at Jake’s,’ she murmured.

Andee was already dialling Jake’s number.

‘I’ve just got his voicemail,’ Alayna announced.

‘Hey Mrs Stone,’ Jake drawled down the line, ‘how are you?’

Not bothering to remind him she was a Lawrence, not a Stone, Andee asked, ‘Is Luke with you?’

‘No, I’ve only just got back from London, but I’ll tell him you’re looking for him if he calls.’

London?
‘Jake, when did you go to London?’

‘Friday. Why? Is there a problem?’

‘I’m not sure, I’ll get back to you,’ and clicking off the line she tried three more of Luke’s friends, only to be told that Luke wasn’t with them either, nor had any of them seen him since Friday.

Andee was trying very hard to stay calm. Her son had been gone for two days and she was only just noticing. What the hell kind of parent was she? What in God’s name could have happened to him?