Missing Page 17

  ‘I’ll get right onto it, sir,’ she replied, and opened up her mobile.

  Chapter Nine

  THE RAIN WAS coming down in torrents, lashing the vaulted roof of the cider press and flooding the roiling stream outside. Vivienne was pacing the small room, waiting for the sound of Miles’s car and wondering if she’d done the right thing in allowing Alice to tell him where she was.

  Now that the initial shock of seeing Justine had worn off her anger had abated, though she still couldn’t accept with any kind of equanimity the fact that he was even on speaking terms with the woman. Surely to God he’d accepted by now that she was behind the article that had brought Jacqueline back two years ago, and if he had she could only conclude that he either had some kind of blind spot where his venomous little protégée was concerned, or the wretched woman had something over him. And if that was the case, Vivienne damned well wanted to know what it was.

  When at last the sound of tyres crunching gravel mingled with the storm she flung open the door, then turned back into the lamplit room to wait. A smoky yellow fire was gaining life in the wood burner, and the shadows on the walls were flickering and large. Deep inside she wanted to scream, for this was nothing like the kind of reunion she’d long envisaged. However, for Rufus’s sake, she must put her own needs aside as she attempted to persuade Miles to cut all contact with Justine James. How she was going to do that without telling him about Rufus, she wasn’t yet sure, she simply had to trust to the right words coming when she needed them.

  As he appeared in the doorway, tall and filling the frame, her heart expanded with so much emotion that she had to force herself to look away. Now wasn’t the time to give in to how much she still loved him.

  She heard him close the door, and brought her eyes back to his face. As though it had a will of its own her body seemed to yearn towards him, but she didn’t move, and nor did he.

  ‘You’re irrational where Justine’s concerned, you know that don’t you?’ he said angrily.

  Her eyes flashed with shock. ‘I think you’ve just stolen my line,’ she shot back. ‘After what she did …’

  ‘She’s a journalist, for God’s sake. You might not like some of the things she does to get a story, and frankly I don’t either, but it’s a cut-throat world out there.’

  ‘Don’t defend her to me. I know you’ve never believed she was behind the story that brought Jacqueline back from the States.’

  ‘You’re wrong, I know she was, but it was only a matter of time before our relationship was made public, so she took it upon herself to try and run it in a way that would do the least damage. She has no editorial control. That belongs to the Critch. She gave him the facts, and he spun them into a tale all his own.’

  ‘For an intelligent man, Miles, you can be staggeringly naive at times. Don’t you realise how resentful she is about being left behind on The News?’

  ‘This is old ground. Let it go …’

  ‘Don’t patronise me. I lost you because of her and that story, and you came very close to losing your daughter, so I’d like to know what the hell she’s doing here now, when your wife is missing?’

  ‘She’s here because she can keep me informed on what the Critch is up to, and because I considered it wiser to have her working with us than against us.’

  Vivienne stared at him, dumbfounded. ‘Miles, for God’s sake—’

  ‘I was thinking of Kelsey,’ he broke in. ‘I’m trying to minimise what they’re going to say about me, and you know where the Critch stands as far as I’m concerned. Kelsey doesn’t need that kind of shit. She’s already going through hell because of her mother, I don’t want her suffering even more because of the grudge that man’s got against me.’

  ‘But Justine’s not the only journalist you know on The News.’

  ‘She’s the most dangerous, because right now she’s fighting for survival.’

  ‘And you’re letting her anywhere near you? I don’t believe this. Have you lost your mind?’

  ‘If she’s where I can see her, then I know what she’s doing.’

  As she started to answer they heard the sound of someone arriving outside.

  Going to the window she pulled aside a curtain, and her heart sank as the car headlights went off. ‘It’s Laura, the housekeeper,’ she said. ‘I’ll go and see what she wants,’ and putting a coat over her head she went out into the rain.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt if you got visitors,’ Laura said, getting out of her mud-spattered Peugeot. ‘I was just coming to tell ’e that there’s a nice ’ot casserole on the stove, if you’m hungry. Can bring some over, if you like, or you can come and eat with us.’

  Vivienne smiled past the frustration inside her. ‘Sounds wonderful,’ she told her, ‘but I picked something up from the supermarket on the way back.’

  Laura nodded, and looked pointedly at Miles’s car. ‘There’s plenty enough for two if you changes your mind. Partial to a bit of game, are you?’

  ‘Quite,’ Vivienne admitted.

  Laura tore her eyes from the car. ‘I almost forgot,’ she said, digging into a pocket. ‘The key to Sir Richard’s office. There’s a code too – 1415. Nice and easy to remember. If you needs to go in you just goes round the back of the house. It has its own door.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Vivienne replied, taking the key. ‘I probably won’t need it this visit, but I will when I come back, so shall I hang onto it?’

  Laura nodded. She continued to stand where she was, soft, silvery spikes of rain slanting through the halo of light shining around her from an outdoor lamp.

  Vivienne waited beneath the tent of her coat, wondering if the old woman was hoping to be invited in.

  ‘Well, I s’pose that’s it then,’ Laura said finally. ‘You knows where we be if you d’change your mind.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Vivienne said.

  After glancing at Miles’s car again, Laura returned to her own and Vivienne stood watching as she turned it around.

  ‘Meant to tell you,’ Laura said, lowering the window before driving off, ‘there’s a shoot going on in the top woods in the morning, just in case you was thinking of going for a walk up there.’

  Vivienne was still smiling. ‘I’ve got an early start, so it wasn’t my intention,’ she said, ‘but thanks for the warning.’

  Laura blinked once or twice, then putting her foot down gently she started off down the drive.

  Once the red tail lights had disappeared, Vivienne turned back across the bridge to the cider press. ‘She came to invite me to supper,’ she told Miles, closing the door. ‘And to let me know there’s a shoot tomorrow.’ As she rehung her coat she added, ‘I think she recognised your car, so I guess the gossip mill’s about to start grinding.’ Her head went back as she gave a growl of despair. ‘Why can’t people just leave us alone?’ she said through her teeth.

  Realising he’d said nothing, she turned to find him standing the other side of the table she’d arranged as a desk, staring down at something he was holding in his hand. When she realised what it was she felt a slow paralysis coming over her. She’d completely forgotten about the photograph she always carried of her and Rufus, the one she set up next to her computer, or bed, when she was staying away. In it Rufus had one fat, rosy cheek pressed up against hers, while his two little bottom teeth were proudly displayed in an exuberant smile.

  She watched silently, painfully, as Miles continued to stare down at his son. Her mind was reeling as she tried to think what to say. Had he guessed? He must have, or he’d surely have put the photo back by now. In the end, when he turned to look at her the very paleness of his face told her all she needed to know.

  ‘I want to see him,’ he said gruffly.

  Her heart leapt. ‘Miles … I …’ Was she really going to deny him?

  He put the photo down and pushed his hands over his face and through his hair. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ he demanded. His eyes were harsh and accusing as they came to hers.

  ‘I wanted
to, believe me …’

  ‘How old is he?’

  ‘Fifteen months.’

  He almost flinched. ‘And his name?’

  ‘Rufus.’

  His eyes closed as the emotions tore through him like knives. ‘How could you?’ he murmured. ‘Knowing what you do …’

  ‘Miles, try to …’

  ‘Don’t you think it was bad enough losing one son?’

  ‘You haven’t lost him,’ she cried. ‘He’s with my mother. He’s safe and that’s how I want him to stay. Oh God, Miles, please try to understand. Not telling you has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but for his sake, and for yours …’

  ‘If I’m his father, Vivienne …’

  ‘There’s no if about it. Of course you are, and I swear I want you to be together. You must know that. I love you, for Christ’s sake. I’d never want to do anything to hurt you, but I was afraid … I still am … Jacqueline …’

  ‘Damn Jacqueline,’ he shouted. ‘You had no right to keep this from me. You of all people must know what it means for me to be deprived of a son.’

  ‘Of course I do, but please try— Miles, don’t!’ she exclaimed, as he slammed a fist against the wall. ‘I was trying to protect him, you have to understand that.’

  ‘From me? His own father?’ he said savagely.

  ‘No! From Jacqueline. She’s so fragile, and unpredictable. I don’t know if she could cope with—’

  ‘But it wasn’t your decision to make. Not alone. You’ve kept him from me, prevented me seeing him. Don’t you think it’s enough that someone did that fifteen years ago? Couldn’t you at least have tried to put yourself in my place?’ His voice tore with emotion and his eyes closed as he tried to swallow the pain.

  ‘Darling, I’m sorry,’ she cried, going to him. ‘It wasn’t done to hurt you, you—’

  Pushing her aside, he said, ‘Do you have any idea what it’s been like all these years, trying to stop myself imagining what happened to Sam, trying not to think about someone hurting or abusing him, feeling like the biggest fucking failure on God’s earth because I wasn’t there for him? And now you’re depriving me of a second chance …’

  ‘I’m not!’ she shouted. ‘You’re not seeing this rationally, Miles. No one’s taking Rufus away from you, because no one wants you to be with him more than I do. But we have to think of Jacqueline, especially now. What’s going to happen if she reads it in the press and no one’s there to help her come to terms with it?’

  ‘You think she’d harm him?’ he said incredulously. ‘An innocent child?’

  It was on the tip of her tongue to remind him of what she’d done to her own daughter, but it was too cruel. He knew it, and didn’t need to hear it. ‘I’m just afraid it might prove the end for her, what finally tips her over the edge,’ she replied helplessly. She stopped and glanced over her shoulder at the sound of a car pulling up outside. ‘Oh no, Laura what do you want now?’ she muttered angrily.

  Hoping to prevent the housekeeper from coming in, she reached for her coat to go and forestall her. As she opened the door she was aware of Miles picking up the photograph again, and turning to look at him she felt such a wrenching in her heart that she longed only to go to him and try once more to make him believe how much she wanted him to be with his son.

  But footsteps were already crunching over the gravel. ‘I’ll get rid of her,’ she said, but he barely seemed to hear as his eyes drank in the tender joy of his son’s face, the radiant innocence and the unmistakable bond that mother and son shared. She could only guess at the torment going on inside him, the flashes of memory and resurgence of fear as he tried to see Rufus and not Sam, and to deal with finding out that, after all these years, he actually had a son again.

  Stepping outside, she made to put the coat over her head, but stopped as she almost collided with someone coming across the bridge. A beat later she registered another person, then realising from their authoritative manner that they must be the detectives who’d interviewed her on the phone, and were wanting to be in touch again, her heart tightened with fury and alarm. Why did they have to come now, when Miles was here? Why did they have to come at all?

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say it wasn’t a convenient time when she realised there was a chance they’d recognised Miles’s car, so to try putting them off would only make matters worse.

  ‘Ms Kane,’ DI Sadler said, gesturing for her to go back inside. ‘I hope we’re not interrupting anything.’

  ‘No, of course not,’ she retorted, acidly. ‘Please come in.’

  As she pushed the door open Miles put the photograph down and turned around. His face was still pale, his mouth tight with suppressed emotion.

  Fixing him with her eyes in an effort to transmit a warning, she stood aside for the detectives to come in after her.

  ‘Ah,’ Sadler commented, wiping his feet on the doormat and looking at Miles, ‘the proud parents.’

  Vivienne winced, not only at the sarcasm, but at how close Miles had come to learning about Rufus that way. She looked at him and her heart gave an uneasy thud; his expression was as forbidding as she’d ever seen it, his whole demeanour one of simmering resentment.

  ‘I suppose one of you was intending to tell us about Rufus Avery at some point,’ Sadler said amicably, moving aside for DC Joy to close the door behind her.

  Vivienne’s eyes shot back to Miles, but his only reaction to learning she’d given their son his name was to flick a glance at her before returning his attention to Sadler.

  ‘Well, were you?’ Sadler prompted. The cider press seemed ludicrously overcrowded now, unable to support so much intrusion.

  Sadler turned to Vivienne. ‘Withholding information in a missing-person case isn’t clever, Ms Kane. In fact, it could be considered a crime.’

  ‘She did it for a good reason,’ Miles said darkly.

  Vivienne’s eyes went to him.

  ‘And since you know my family history,’ he continued, still focused on Sadler, ‘I don’t imagine you’ve had any trouble working out that reason.’

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ Sadler agreed, ‘but I’m sure you understand, Mr Avery, what an awkward position that now puts you in.’

  ‘But he’s only just—’ Vivienne began.

  Cutting across her, Miles said, ‘I understand perfectly, but it still doesn’t mean I know what’s happened to my wife.’

  Sadler’s eyebrows rose. ‘You will admit, though, that the existence of your son provides you with a strong motive for wanting to … put an end to your marriage?’

  ‘Of course I admit it. I’d be a fool not to, but even if he didn’t exist I’d want to end it.’

  ‘And of course you, Ms Kane,’ Sadler said, turning to her, ‘would also welcome an end to that marriage.’

  Vivienne’s eyes widened with astonishment. ‘If you’re insinuating what I think you are …’ she began fiercely.

  ‘Go on,’ Sadler prompted.

  ‘Well, of course I want my son to be with his father, but if you think I – or Miles – had anything to do with Jacqueline’s disappearance, you need to think again. Neither of us has any idea where she is.’

  Sadler allowed his scepticism to linger for a while, then returned his scrutiny to Miles. ‘I’m sure Mr Avery can speak for himself,’ he said mildly.

  ‘Inspector, I can assure you, if I knew where my wife was I wouldn’t be wasting your time.’

  Sadler’s lower lip jutted outwards as he digested the words. ‘Well, that’s good to hear,’ he commented. Then, after a pause, he raised his head. Unexpectedly, he asked, ‘Do you happen to own a gun, sir?’

  Vivienne gaped at him incredulously as Miles frowned with annoyance. ‘I do,’ he replied.

  ‘For which you have a licence?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘And would we find that gun at Moorlands, if we were to go there now?’

  ‘It’s in a locked cabinet in my study. The key is in the safe.’

  Appear
ing impressed by the security, Sadler enquired, ‘Has it been fired recently, by any chance? It’s the shooting season.’

  ‘No, it hasn’t,’ Miles said shortly.

  ‘You wouldn’t mind if we checked that?’

  ‘Of course not.’

  ‘This is outrageous!’ Vivienne cried. ‘You can’t seriously think he’s harmed her. For God’s sake, you know who he is—’

  ‘Status doesn’t exempt him,’ Sadler cut in. ‘Now, Ms Kane, would you like to tell us what you were doing on the morning of August 29th this year?’

  Vivienne’s jaw dropped in amazement. She looked at Miles, who appeared equally as confused, until, registering the significance of the date, he said, ‘It’s when Jacqueline withdrew the money from the bank.’

  Vivienne blinked as she turned back to Sadler. ‘Please tell me I’m not reading this correctly,’ she challenged incredulously.

  He waited.

  ‘You’re actually asking me …’ She stopped, still too stunned to continue.

  ‘Where you were on the morning of August 29th,’ Sadler repeated affably.

  Vivienne looked at Miles as she dashed a hand through her hair. Then, sensing DC Joy’s piercing scrutiny, she said, ‘I’ll have to check my diary, but I imagine I was at my office.’

  ‘It would help if you could be certain,’ Sadler told her. ‘Better still would be if someone could confirm it.’

  Vivienne was starting to feel dizzy. ‘You can’t seriously think I withdrew that money,’ she protested. ‘I have no access to Jacqueline’s accounts.’

  ‘No, but Mr Avery does, and someone, a woman, collected the money. We’re trying to establish whether or not it was Mrs Avery herself, or someone passing themselves off as her.’

  Vivienne’s eyes went back to Miles.

  ‘I understand you have a job to do, Inspector,’ Miles said, sounding oddly much calmer now, ‘but you could save yourself a lot of time if you removed Ms Kane from your inquiries. She has no idea where my wife is, nor did she collect the money from the bank. Nor, I should add, has she colluded with me on any level to effect my wife’s disappearance.’