Father Unknown (22 page)

‘No? What about this bit in the slinky black dress you described so well? And she's not even the one he left Tamara's mum for. Seems like
he's
got form for sex kittens.'

‘But his daughter? That's an outrageous suggestion.'

‘You wouldn't have fallen for his charm just a teeny bit yourself, Mum?'

Suzie was aware of Nick and Millie following her side of the conversation, wide-eyed.

‘Think of it,' Tom said. ‘World-famous author. Adored by millions of children. Gets his under-age daughter pregnant. That's a criminal offence twice over. Can you imagine the publicity? Bang goes a brilliant career.'

She scrabbled for straws. ‘She's a minor. They wouldn't allow her name to be published. And anyway, he'd be Kevin Gamble in court. Who'd know he was Reynard Woodman?'

‘Ever heard of the Internet, Mum? You can't keep that sort of thing quiet nowadays. You can slam an injunction on newspapers, but the twitterati would have a field day.'

‘I think you're being ridiculous.'

‘I really wish you'd let me come along. If I'd been there, I bet I could have sussed him out better than you women could. What does Dad say? No, forget that. I guess he'd just think what
he'd
do as a father. And it wouldn't be that. But if you ask me, Tamara has a very good reason to be scared that he might find out.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Get real, Mum. He can't let her have this baby, can he? If she won't have an abortion, then he's got to make sure that
something
stops the baby being born. Work it out. Sorry, got to run. Smells like my pasta's burning. I'll check back.'

‘He thinks
what
?' Millie flashed outrage.

‘Well, let's face it. We're all clutching at straws. Tom's feeling left out, so he just wants to throw in an idea we haven't thought of. One-upmanship.'

‘He's just plain silly,' Millie growled.

Nick had his back to them, looking across the courtyard garden of the pub. ‘We ought not to close our minds to it, though. It may be a long shot, but it wouldn't be unique. Something has to explain why Tamara's behaving in such an extreme way.'

‘Are you blaming it on Tamara now?' Millie protested. ‘Of course she's running away from that Dawson man. He beat her.'

‘Yes.' He turned back to her with a sigh and sat down. ‘That's certainly the most obvious explanation.'

Suzie defended Millie. ‘Accusing Reynard Woodman of sexually abusing her is as daft as . . . well, suggesting it was Alan Taylor at Springbrook Church.' She caught the speculative look in Nick's eye. ‘Oh, no! What's wrong with you now? I wasn't in a million years meaning Alan
was
a suspect.'

‘He's a hit with the kids, apparently. But you were the one who brought his name up, not me.'

She thought of the way those bright brown eyes smiled and then could suddenly deepen with sympathy when the darker things of life crossed his path. As they often did.

‘You're probably right,' Nick said. ‘All the same, Millie has a point. Tamara did ask her for absolute secrecy. We've been so keen to find her and check she's OK that we've been a tad freer with information than we should have been.'

‘He's her
father
,' Suzie exclaimed. ‘If her mother can't protect her, he should.'

‘It's bit late for second thoughts, anyway. As you said, he's probably on his way there by now.' He sat, twirling a beer mat absently. Then he got up and went to the bar. ‘Do you have a telephone directory?'

‘Sure. Just a minute.' The publican crossed the corridor to his office and returned with the book.

‘Thanks.'

Suzie watched with growing disbelief as Nick thumbed through the pages.

‘Gamble. There's just three of them. Not our friend Kevin, alias Reynard Woodman. He's ex-directory, of course. And none of these begins with an F. She's married, then, or has been. You're sure she lives nearby?' he asked Millie.

Her reply was surly. ‘How would I know? I wasn't exactly
here
, was I? But Tamara talked about her coming over and taking her shopping once. So I just assumed she didn't live a hundred miles away.'

‘Good thinking.' He strolled back to the bar. ‘Excuse me. Last time we were here, we met Kevin Gamble's sister, Frances. We promised next time we were in the area, we'd look her up. But we can't remember her surname. You wouldn't happen to know it, would you?'

The landlord put his head round the door to the kitchen. ‘Mandy? Bloke here wants to know the name of Kevin Gamble's sister. Can you remember? Didn't she book a table here back in the spring, to celebrate some anniversary?'

‘I can't recall it, though,' came his wife's voice. ‘Something Irish, was it? O'Sullivan? My hands are all over flour at the moment, but it'll be in the book.'

The obliging publican reached for a leather-bound folder on the shelf behind him. He leafed back through it. Then he swivelled the book for Nick to read. ‘Would that be the one? March twenty-fourth. O'Malley? Table for eight?'

‘Yes, that's it.' Nick covered the lie with a smile of gratitude. In a few strides, he was back at the table, flicking through the telephone directory more rapidly. ‘Keep your fingers crossed it's in her name, not her husband's.'

‘Tamara never said anything about an uncle,' Millie said.

‘Got it! O'Malley, F.D. The House in the Forest, Little Fairing.' He jotted down the number, then swivelled back to the landlord. ‘How far would Little Fairing be?'

‘About twelve miles, I should think. Will you be wanting a table for this evening?'

‘Could we leave that open? I'm not sure when we'll be back.'

He threw a meaningful look at Suzie and Millie as he strode for the door.

‘Nick, what are you doing?' asked Suzie as she caught up with him in the car park. ‘We can't just go barging in on them. Not now we've handed it over to her father.'

‘You're right. We ought to ring her first. There's just a chance we might catch her before Reynard Woodman gets there.' He got out his mobile and phoned the number he had copied. His voice was sharp with anxiety.

She felt a stab of irritation. All they needed was for Nick to take off down a false trail of suspicion.

‘Frances O'Malley? This is Nick Fewings. You don't know me, but my daughter Millie is best friends with Tamara . . . No, look. I know that Tamara doesn't want anyone to know where she is. It was Millie who worked it out. I'm afraid we may have been a bit indiscreet. We were at Reynard Woodman's house this afternoon . . . Yes, her father. We've all been desperately worried about her since she disappeared. Our first thought was that she might have gone to him . . . Yes, I'm afraid he knows now. And we think he might have guessed she's with you . . . Look, I understand your feelings . . . You don't have to tell me anything. We just thought we might have done the wrong thing and that he'll be over to your place . . . Yes, I'm sorry. It was stupid. But, well . . . He hasn't got there yet? Thank God for that, at least. If there's anything we can do . . . No, I quite understand. That's perfectly justified. I'm sorry.'

He pulled a wry face as he snapped the mobile shut. ‘She wasn't admitting anything, but from the earful I got, I don't think we're flavour of the month.'

‘Nick!' Suzie protested. ‘You're just being ridiculous.'

‘It's all my fault,' Millie wailed. ‘I told him about the card. But he can't mean her any harm. He's Reynard Woodman. He wouldn't.'

Nick ran his hand through his hair. He stood indecisively in the middle of the car park. ‘I wish I was as sure as you are. We've fouled up, big time. We've broken her cover. Or as good as. The only thing we can hope is that Suzie was wrong, and that Reynard Woodman
didn't
twig where she was.' He juggled his car keys. ‘On the other hand . . . if he does show up, and there are just the two of them . . .'

He reached a sudden decision and made for the car. After a moment's exchange of furious looks, Suzie and Millie hurried after him.

‘I'm not sure if you should come,' he said.

Suzie got in, without stopping to argue. Millie did the same.

‘She'll deny it,' he said, starting the engine. ‘The only thing she has to do is tell him Tamara's not there. What can he do?'

‘What would he
want
to do?' Suzie demanded. ‘Nick, you and Tom are being outrageous. What does it matter if he
does
find out where she is? I'm sure he could warn Dawson off a lot better than his sister could.'

‘I wish it didn't matter if people found out. But Tamara evidently thought it did. And, from the sound of it, her aunt does too. So let's just hope we get there before he does.'

TWENTY-FOUR

‘
W
hich way?' Nick asked as they headed out of the pub car park.

‘Pass me the road atlas, will you? And that Ordnance Survey map.' Suzie turned to Millie in the back seat. She checked the location of Little Fairing. ‘Back to the main road, then left.'

A summer landscape of the English countryside flew by them. A glimpse of a cricket match, white figures on a tree-lined field. Half-timbered cottages, whose crooked walls added to their selling price, rather than diminishing it. Newer houses, flocking round the desirable waterside like recently-hatched ducklings.

She turned to the Ordnance Survey map for more detail. ‘Got it. It's even marked on the map. “The House in the Forest”. Wonder if that's where Reynard got the idea for his book from. Now, there's a small town coming up. Take the right fork in the centre. Little Fairing's the next village.'

Her mobile rang.

‘Hi, Tom.'

‘I'm guessing you're checking out that aunt's address. Right?'

‘As a matter of fact, we're on our way there now. The House in the Forest, Little Fairing. I'm not for a minute accepting your ridiculous suggestion that Reynard Woodman's our culprit. But your father seems to think it's a possibility. And having come this far, we'd like to check that Tamara really is fine. Well, as fine as she can be, in the circumstances. At least then I can tell Lisa I've seen her.'

‘And you think this Woodman bloke has sussed where she is, too?'

‘I'm only guessing. He didn't say so.'

‘Watch yourselves, then.'

‘What ever do you mean?'

‘Rich, famous man. An inconvenient truth. He may not be as crude a bully as Dawson, but I bet he can find his own ways of shutting people up.'

‘He's a children's author, for heaven's sake, not a Mafia boss.'

‘Yeah. You're right. I reckon that's why Tamara should be scared.'

‘Tom! Look, I'm not going on with this conversation. I'm supposed to be navigating. We'll be home tomorrow.' She snapped the phone shut and put it back in her bag.

Tomorrow. Back to everyday life. This whole peculiar day behind them – meeting Reynard Woodman and his new family, in their riverside luxury. The aunt ahead, in her lonely house in the woods. Tamara's hideaway. Some questions answered, but not the most important ones. Who was the father of Tamara's child? What had sent her running away here?

‘Straight through the village,' she said, hastily getting her bearings as Little Fairing sped towards them. ‘Then left at the next crossroads. It's all on its own. The Gambles obviously like their privacy.'

The wood was bounded by an old brick wall. Nick slowed. An unmade track led off to their left through the trees. They could just glimpse the house between the branches. Not Tudor, by the look of it, but mellow red-brick.

‘You're not going to drive up to the door, are you?' Millie's voice came from the back seat. ‘It's not going to be much good her aunt telling Reynard she's not here, if we all pile in. He'll know she's lying.'

‘This is madness, anyway,' Suzie told them. ‘Surely her father's the very person she needs right now?'

Nick clenched the steering wheel. ‘It may not look like it to you, but I'm trying to be rational. Tamara's here, and not at her father's, for a reason.'

‘The girlfriend? Those kids? There are lots of reasons why she might prefer an aunt living by herself. And if she really is afraid of Dawson, somebody needs to warn him off. Somebody with more clout than we have.'

‘I wish we'd stayed at home,' Millie said. ‘Tamara was all right with her aunt. All we've done is mess it up.'

‘That's all I need,' Nick said. ‘You were the one who was dying to come.'

‘She's right,' Suzie said. ‘I feel ridiculous with this cloak-and-dagger stuff, but it will be even more embarrassing if Reynard Woodman catches us here, prying into his family business.'

‘I can't see a car outside the house.' Nick was peering up the track.

‘It was all a wild goose chase. He isn't coming. He probably rang his sister and she told him no.'

‘You didn't speak to her. It's not just Tamara who's scared. Her aunt is too. At least, that's the only way I can explain how mad she was with me. With us.'

‘With
me
,' said Millie. ‘I told him. But he is her father.'

‘I'd pretty well filled him in on the picture before that,' Suzie said. ‘About her being pregnant and running away.'

‘But you didn't say about the card and Anne Hathaway's cottage. That was me. I led him here. But I'm sure she'd want to see him. I would.'