Sister, Missing (16 page)

‘I still don’t get it,’ I said. ‘What’s that got to do with me?’

Cooper glanced from me to Shelby and back again.

‘She’s your sister, Lauren,’ he said. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

The car drew to a crawl as we reached Duchovny’s road. I had no idea where we were – Cooper had blindfolded me for most of the journey – but it was somewhere
ultra posh. Each deluxe mansion we passed was bigger than the last. We stopped about twenty metres away from a gate at the end of a long curving driveway.

‘This is Duchovny’s place,’ Cooper said. ‘The house is along the drive.’

I peered past the gate and line of trees, searching for signs of a building . . . and the attendant security guards. Cooper had explained there would be an army of staff waiting on
Duchovny’s every need. And I was supposed to march right up to them and demand to see him.

I felt sick as Cooper unlocked the car doors.

‘Ready, Lauren?’

‘I don’t think I can do this,’ I said.

Cooper rolled his eyes. ‘Of course you can. I saw you on that cliff edge. You’re determined, ruthless and resourceful. You’re perfect for the job.’

I shook my head.

‘Anyway, once you’ve found Duchovny it’s going to be plain sailing.’

I wasn’t at all sure that was true. Not that Cooper’s plan wasn’t simple. It was . . .
ridiculously
simple: he wanted me to meet with Duchovny and ask for a ransom for
Shelby.

‘But he may not even know Shelby’s his daughter,’ I’d said.

‘Of course he knows,’ Cooper had chuckled. ‘I spoke to your mother earlier. Forced her to tell me the whole story. Duchovny has been paying maintenance for your sister ever
since she was born. Small amounts every month.’ He paused. ‘Now go on, get out of my car and speak to him.’

I walked over to the gate and pressed the buzzer. Moments later a security guard appeared. He was dressed in a dark blue uniform with a walkie-talkie hanging from his belt. As soon as he saw me,
he strode over and peered at me through the bars.

‘Yes?’ he said, unsmiling.

I gulped. ‘Please tell Mr Duchovny that I’m here.’

The guard frowned. ‘Is he expecting you?’

‘No,’ I said.

‘Go on, Lauren,’ Cooper’s voice hissed in my ear. ‘Say what I told you to say.’

I looked the guard in the eye. ‘Tell Mr Duchovny I’m here about . . . about Shelby.’

Keeping me in his sights, the guard backed a few paces away. His radio crackled as he picked it up. He spoke into it, passing on my message.

Another crackle.

And the voice through the other end.

Mr Duchovny says bring her round the back. Film room
.

‘Over and out.’ The security guard let me through the gate, then took a hand scanner from his belt and waved it up and down my body. It emitted a series of gentle beeps. The guard
put the scanner away.

‘This way,’ he said, turning on his heel and striding across the gravel.

Shoving my trembling hands in my pockets, I followed him.

I desperately wished Jam was with me. Not that I was really sure any more that Jam
wanted
to be with me. Earlier, at Cooper’s house, there hadn’t been time for intimacies
until the moment I left. At that point, Madison had hugged me fiercely, like she always did, but Jam had seemed cooler than usual, just telling me to be careful and giving me a quick kiss.

Maybe he was starting to count all the ways I’d let him down. Shelby’s outburst had been so unfair – especially after how I’d messed up myself. Maybe Jam was starting to
wonder why on earth he stayed with me when it led to so much danger and aggravation.

I shook myself. I couldn’t worry about that now.

I followed the security guard round the bend in the drive. An enormous, modern three-storey house made of brick and glass came into view. It was as big as it was intimidating.

For a second, now I was out of Cooper’s eyeline, I was tempted to throw myself on the guard’s mercy and beg him to protect me while I called the police and told them everything. But
there was no point. Cooper still had me exactly where he wanted me. The lives of the other three were at stake.

As if to remind me of his presence, Cooper chose that moment to make contact.

‘Nearly there, Lauren?’ He spoke through the earpiece he’d given me. No bigger than a tiny stud earring, this device meant he could both hear what I said and speak privately to
me.

The fact that Cooper had such devices so easily to hand seemed, like everything else he’d done so far, to reinforce his own assertion that he was in a different league to Rick and the
original kidnappers.

‘I’m right outside,’ I whispered.

‘Get on with it then,’ Cooper said.

I followed the guard towards the house.

Simeon Duchovny

‘Over there.’ The guard indicated the rear of the house. I hesitated. Whereas the front of the building was well lit, the back was in shadow. ‘Come on,’
he said.

As I followed him, I realised just how massive the house was. What I’d taken to be the back was, in fact, simply a brick wall marking the end of the main part of the mansion and the start
of a long, low extension. The guard led me past the ground lights that ran down the side of the building to a reinforced glass door. Two plant pots stood on either side of it. Even in the dark,
everything felt very manicured and expensive.

The guard inserted a key card into the lock. A green light flashed on and he pushed the door open. The inside of the house was as minimalist and smart as the outside – all soft lighting
and elegant modern furniture.

The guard took me along a carpeted corridor and down a flight of steps. Another corridor. A series of abstract oil paintings lined the walls. I remembered Cooper’s comment about
Duchovny’s art collection being worth millions and stared at the pictures. I’d done a huge project on both Kraminsky and Stutter for my Art GCSE and recognised works by both as I walked
past.

If they were originals they were worth a fortune.

We reached a large wooden door. The guard pushed it open and stood back to let me through.

‘Wait here,’ he said.

As I walked in, he closed the door behind me. I was alone in what appeared to be some kind of home cinema. Three rows of squashy armchairs were ranged in front of a large screen hung on the far
wall. I walked round the room. Signed prints of various celebrities – only some of whom I recognised – hung on the walls. A locked cupboard ran the length of one wall.

The room smelled of furniture polish and popcorn.

Footsteps sounded outside and, a second later, the door opened and a short stocky man with sharp grey eyes walked in. I didn’t have to ask if it was Duchovny. The way the security guard
stepped back, almost bowing his head as the man passed him, said it all. And Duchovny radiated power, despite being only a couple of centimetres taller than I was. His suit – dark and sharply
cut over a pale green, open-necked shirt – fitted him perfectly and he held himself very upright, from his polished shoes to his grey-streaked hair. But it was his expression that was most
striking. He looked at me as if I were some kind of bug. Interesting, yes, but lowly. Very lowly.

‘What do you want?’ His accent was clipped . . . English, with an American twang.

I gulped, then spoke as Cooper had directed me to, using information from Sam’s letter:

‘I’m here because of Shelby,’ I said. ‘You had an affair with her mother, Annie, fifteen years ago. Shelby’s your daughter, as . . . as you know. You pay money to
Annie for her every month.’

Duchovny’s expression didn’t alter, but a muscle twitched in his jaw. ‘Shelby?’ he said.

I wasn’t sure if this was just some shorthand version of the question he was really asking, as in
why are you coming here talking about my illegitimate daughter?
but I launched into
my prepared explanation of our kidnap, saying immediately why the kidnapper (Cooper had insisted I didn’t use his name) had sent me.

‘He wants five million pounds transferred to his bank account within the next thirty minutes,’ I finished.

Duchovny frowned. ‘And
you’re
Shelby?’

‘No.’ I shook my head. ‘No. She’s my sister. I mean we didn’t grow up together, but—’

‘Slow down, Lauren. Just tell him what he needs to know,’
Cooper’s menacing voice hissed in my ear.

I stopped speaking. Duchovny narrowed his eyes.

‘You’re
Martha Lauren
?’ he said. ‘The elder daughter? The one who was found a couple of years ago?’

I nodded. There was a long pause. I searched Duchovny’s face for signs of similarity to Shelby. Their eye-colour was definitely alike – and there was something about the shape of his
mouth: the way the top lip dipped. She had his build, too, I realised – those same short legs.

I thought of Shelby and Jam and Madison waiting for me back in that basement. I had no idea how far away Cooper’s house was or in which direction – though we’d driven for over
an hour to get here – but I knew their lives were in my hands.

Duchovny cleared his throat. ‘One of my conditions with Annie is that Shelby – that
nobody
– would ever know the truth about her being my daughter.’

‘This is good, Lauren, he’s not even attempting to deny it,’
Cooper hissed in my ear.

‘Annie told Sam, her . . . her husband who died. And Sam wrote us letters. I mean, he’s dead but he wrote us letters before—’

‘I’m not interested in the details.’ Duchovny’s voice was as cold as his eyes. ‘I made it quite clear to Annie many years ago that while I would make a reasonable
financial contribution towards a situation I helped create, I was not prepared to go further.’

I stared at him. In all the upheaval of the past few hours it hadn’t occurred to me that unlike my anonymous sperm donor father, who
couldn’t
know who I was, Duchovny had made
a deliberate choice not to know his daughter.

‘Shelby’s not a “situation”,’ I said. ‘She’s a person. She’s . . . jeez, you’re her
father
. Doesn’t that matter to
you?’

Duchovny’s eyes were like steel.

‘No,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter to me. Shelby is
nothing
to me . . . she’s just an annoying reminder of an irresponsible period a long time ago.’

My mouth gaped. ‘That’s horrible,’ I said.

Cooper swore violently in my ear.
‘Stay on track, Lauren. Don’t rile him.’

Duchovny raised an eyebrow. ‘Shelby’s mother had a husband who was prepared to accept the baby as his own. I had a wife and a son, neither of whom have ever needed to know of
Shelby’s existence. I’ve done my duty to clear up the mess I made. My responsibility goes no further.’ He paused. ‘Now I’d like you to leave.’

Cooper swore again in my ear.
‘Tell him you’ll tell the wife.’

‘If you don’t pay the ransom, we’ll tell your wife about Shelby,’ I said.

‘A minute ago you said if I didn’t pay the ransom then Shelby would die,’ Duchovny snapped. ‘Whoever sent you hasn’t done their homework very well if they think
I’m the sort of person who can be blackmailed. So let me make this clear: I don’t care what you tell to whom. I don’t care about Shelby
at all
.’

He opened the door.

I had no choice but to walk through it.

‘Don’t let this happen, Lauren,’
Cooper hissed.

‘What the hell do you want me to do?’ The words – meant for Cooper – burst out of me. Duchovny clearly thought I’d been speaking to him. He curled his lip.

‘I want you to leave, now, and never come back.’ He beckoned to the security guard who had been waiting outside the room. As the man walked towards us, his jacket flapped open and I
noticed a gun, nestling in its holster against his chest.

‘Make sure she leaves the premises,’ Duchovny ordered.

‘No,’ I said.

‘Do something,’
Cooper insisted in my ear.

Duchovny turned and walked away along the corridor.

‘Come on,’ the guard said, indicating the way out which was in the opposite direction.

‘No,’ I said again.

‘Do something, Lauren!’
Cooper’s voice rumbled inside my head.
‘Do something or Jam and your sisters die.’

I had no idea what to do.

Without thinking it through, I lunged forward and thrust my knee up, hard, between the guard’s legs.

He doubled over. I reached for his gun. It slid, easily, out of the holster. I jumped backwards, the gun in my hand. The metal felt cold against my palm.

Beyond me, along the corridor, Duchovny was still walking away.

I took a deep breath. ‘Stop!’ I demanded. ‘Stop or I’ll shoot.’

The Ransom

The guard looked up, his eyes filling with horror. He took a step away from me. I glanced over at Duchovny who had stopped walking and was turning slowly around to face me.

‘Transfer the money or I’ll shoot you,’ I said.

My voice was steady with a steel edge. I should have been scared, but the gun in my hand made me feel powerful.

So did the look of fear on the guard’s face.

‘Have you taken his gun, Lauren?’
Cooper swore in my ear.

‘Put that down before you hurt yourself.’ Unlike the guard, Duchovny’s expression was full of contempt.

My resolution faltered.

‘Shoot the guard. Get Duchovny alone,’
Cooper hissed.

My head spun. Was he seriously telling me to pull the trigger? I gulped.

‘Throw me the key card and get back,’ I ordered the guard. At least if I had the key card I could get out of here.

The guard unclipped his key card and slid it across the floor to me. He put his hands up and stepped back against the wall. Keeping the gun trained on him, I bent down and picked up the key
card.

‘For goodness’ sake, she’s a child,’ Duchovny spat. ‘She doesn’t know how to use that gun. Go and get it.’

‘Lauren, stand up to him!’
Cooper insisted.
‘Get them both to back off.’

‘Shut up!’ I said.

I held the gun in both hands, my arms outstretched. I swung it from the guard to Duchovny and back again, past the rows of oil paintings along the corridor wall.