Missing Read online

  Her mobile started to ring and her heart leapt with the hope that it would be Miles, but the number wasn’t familiar so she let it go through to messages. She wasn’t going to risk speaking to the press right now.

  Turning to where her mother was standing in the doorway, she said, ‘When are the police coming to see you?’

  ‘Tomorrow morning, at eleven.’

  Vivienne nodded distractedly, then picking up the kettle she started to fill it.

  ‘I feel like something a bit stronger than that, don’t you?’ Linda murmured.

  Vivienne took a moment to register the words. ‘Mm, yes,’ she agreed.

  As her mother took a bottle of wine from the fridge and started to open it, Vivienne noticed her shaking fingers and was torn between anger and pity. Clearly Linda was still afraid Miles might be guilty of an appalling crime, and was now terrified, not only of what might happen during the days and weeks to come, but of what it was going to mean to her grandson’s future.

  ‘It’s not Jacqueline,’ she said sharply.

  ‘No, I heard. That’s good. Uh, Caroline should be here shortly,’ and she passed over a full glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

  Vivienne’s insides sank. Her sister was about the last person she needed to see right now.

  They both started as the phone rang on the counter top. Being the closest, Vivienne picked it up.

  ‘Linda?’ a male voice said at the other end.

  ‘No, it’s her daughter, Vivienne. Who’s speaking please?’

  ‘It’s David.’

  ‘David,’ she said distractedly to her mother, and passing her the receiver she wandered over to the kitchen door. Suddenly feeling the need to be outside, as though in some strange way it could connect her to Miles, she turned the handle and let herself out.

  As she walked along the path, carrying her glass in one hand and trailing the other over the empty washing line, she was gazing down at the fading shrubs and random scattering of autumn leaves. Rufus’s baby swing hung from the branch of an acacia, while his see-saw and other toys were tucked away inside his little wooden playhouse. In her mind’s eye she imagined Miles on a summer’s day rolling around the lawns at Moorlands with his son, swooping him up in the air and laughing as Rufus shrieked and gurgled with delight.

  As a terrible foreboding closed around her heart she came to a stop between two yews at the end of the garden, and took a sip of her wine. She wondered what Miles might be doing now, if he was being questioned, or trying to deal with Kelsey, or maybe there had been further developments that had yet to be announced. She could hardly bear to think of what they might be, but no matter what happened, she would never believe him capable of … Yet even as she was thinking it her treacherous mind began flashing the horror of an arrest, a trial, prison visits … But it wasn’t going to happen. The body wasn’t even Jacqueline’s for heaven’s sake, so no matter what insidious tricks her subconscious might play, she knew in her heart that Miles was as innocent of any crime as she was.

  With a small shuddering breath she turned around and went back down the path, feeling the damp air starting to seep into her skin. When she reached the kitchen her mother was still on the phone, her cheeks flushed with colour, and her eyes glittering in a way that turned Vivienne cold with dread. A beat later the dread was replaced by puzzlement as her mother said, ‘I’m sorry, it’s a bit difficult now. Yes. Yes. I understand you’re disappointed. So am I, but I can’t go with all this … Oh David, please don’t say that.’ She turned away, hunching over the receiver. ‘I’ll call you back,’ she murmured and quickly hung up. When she turned round again Vivienne was watching her with frankly questioning eyes. ‘Sorry,’ Linda mumbled. ‘It was just … I was going to … Shall we have some more wine?’

  ‘You haven’t even started that one yet,’ Vivienne pointed out. ‘Who were you speaking to?’

  ‘No one. I mean, just a friend.’

  ‘His name’s David. Is it someone I know?’

  Linda shook her head. ‘I – I was going to tell you about him this weekend,’ she said hastily, ‘but then all this … Well, you know now anyway.’

  Vivienne’s breath was starting to feel short. ‘Mum, is he someone you’ve been seeing, become involved with?’ she asked, feeling a ludicrous sense of betrayal that her mother hadn’t confided in her.

  Linda’s only answer was to appear more flustered than ever.

  ‘He is, isn’t he?’ Vivienne insisted. ‘Yes, of course,’ she answered for her. ‘Mum, it’s all right. You don’t have to—’

  ‘No it’s not all right,’ her mother interrupted. ‘He wants me to go to Italy with him, and I said I would, just as soon as I could work out the timing with you, but now, well … ’ She shrugged and tried to look loyal.

  Vivienne’s shock was quickly obliterated by a desperate need for her mother right now. She couldn’t go away with all this going on. How could she even think it? Then, overcome with shame at her own selfishness, she said, ‘You have to go. If it’s what you want …’

  ‘And leave you to deal with all this alone? Don’t be ridiculous. What about Rufus?’

  ‘I can take care of him.’

  ‘How? You’re just getting things going again with the agency, and if the worst does come to the worst—’

  ‘It won’t,’ Vivienne cut in harshly. ‘And it shouldn’t be an issue, not for you. I’ve told you before, you have a right to your own life, and I’ve already taken up too much of it.’

  ‘For heaven’s sake, you’re my daughter, how can you say something like that?’

  ‘Because it’s true. You shouldn’t be tied down here with a baby at your age, miles from all your friends and everything you know. I’ve always hated myself for letting you do it …’

  ‘I’ve settled in here now. I’ve made new friends.’

  ‘And David’s obviously one of them.’

  ‘Yes, but that doesn’t mean—’ She broke off at the sound of a key turning in the front door, and Vivienne’s eyes closed as she braced herself ready to deal with her sister.

  ‘I saw your car outside,’ Caroline said sourly as she came into the kitchen. She was as tall as Vivienne, and as dark, but she carried much more weight, and seemed uninterested in tinting the wiry grey strands out of her hair.

  ‘I wasn’t hiding it,’ Vivienne retorted in like manner.

  Caroline pursed the corners of her mouth, then seeing the wine went to help herself to a glass. When she’d finished pouring she stood the other side of the table next to their mother and fixed Vivienne with their father’s warm green eyes, except right now hers were chillingly sharp. ‘I expect Mum told you I was coming,’ she stated.

  ‘Yes,’ Vivienne answered.

  Caroline’s gaze swept her sister’s face with ill-disguised contempt. ‘I’d decided to speak to you before this outrageous situation blew up,’ she told her. ‘Now it has—’

  ‘Caro, darling,’ Linda interrupted, ‘it’s not Vivi’s fault …’

  Ignoring her, Caroline said, ‘Your association with Miles, Vivienne, has put Mum in a totally invidious—’

  ‘He’s Rufus’s father,’ Linda cut in. ‘She can’t help the assoc—’

  ‘Let her go on,’ Vivienne interrupted, glaring icily at her sister.

  Two high spots of colour appeared in Caroline’s cheeks. ‘Did you know Mum’s been seeing someone?’ she demanded, clearly expecting Vivienne to say no.

  ‘Yes,’ Vivienne responded.

  ‘David just called,’ Linda put in.

  Caroline glanced at her. ‘It’s time, Vivienne,’ she said, turning back, ‘for you to make other arrangements for Rufus. Mum’s taken him on long enough. She’s got her own life …’

  ‘Vivienne’s always saying that herself,’ Linda protested, ‘but you know that I’m afraid to trust anyone else with him. If Miles’s wife should ever know he has a son …’

  Caroline triumphantly seized the moment. ‘Well, I don’t think we need worry about that any lo
nger, need we?’ she said, witheringly. ‘With Jacqueline off the scene, there’s absolutely no reason for Vivienne not to start assuming her responsibilities.’

  ‘Maybe you haven’t heard the latest news,’ Vivienne said through her teeth. ‘The body is—’

  ‘… male, yes I heard. So, OK, you stay in your fairytale world of denial, if that’s what you want, but I’m afraid the rest of us need to get on with reality. David’s a decent man. He cares a great deal for Mum, and I don’t want her bailing out of a trip to Italy because you can’t look after your own son.’

  ‘As a matter of fact,’ Vivienne seethed, ‘I was telling her, as you came in, that she had to go. It’s never been my intention to stand in the way of anything she wants to do …’

  ‘Oh for God’s sake, denial, delusion, where do you get off pretending Vivienne? Never wanted to stand in her way? Like hell. But you’ve used her for your own ends long enough. It’s time to—’

  ‘She really was telling me I had to go,’ Linda insisted, ‘but I wouldn’t feel right, Caro, not with all this going on. Maybe once it’s resolved …’

  ‘No,’ Vivienne declared hotly. ‘I’m taking Rufus with me when I leave on Sunday. Caroline’s right, it’s time I assumed my responsibilities.’

  ‘Vivi, no, you can’t,’ Linda cried. ‘You have to work, and finding the right help—’

  ‘He can come into the office with me,’ Vivienne told her, taking no time to think it through. ‘You really mustn’t cancel anything with David, and I’m sorry if you’ve had to before this, without my knowing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think that’s my son waking up.’

  As she swept out of the kitchen tears were burning her eyes, though she’d rather have died than let Caroline see. How dare she come in here laying down the law like she had right on her side, when her life was a bigger mess than anyone’s? And did Vivienne ever ram it down her throat, or try to humiliate her? Never. The fact her husband was a drunk barely got mentioned, unless it was to blame Miles for making the problem worse. But what the hell was Miles supposed to have done? He’d given Roger more chances than the man even came close to deserving, putting freelance work his way at every opportunity, but nine times out of ten Roger had failed to deliver. In the end he’d left Miles with no choice but to instruct the news desk to stop using him. So for Caroline to carry on holding a grudge the way she was, was just plain stupid. She should have been trying to get her husband off the drink, instead of wreaking some kind of petty revenge on those whose only crime had been to try and help him.

  Finding Rufus lying on his back and clutching his feet in his hands as he chattered on in a language of his own, she instantly broke into a tearful smile. ‘Hello, darling,’ she whispered, going to kneel next to him. ‘Did you have a good sleep?’

  ‘Da, da, mum,’ he cooed happily and made a quick grab for her face. ‘Ink roo ink.’

  Laughing as she scooped him up, she pressed her face into the squidgy warm folds of his neck and blew a raspberry. Immediately he started blowing them too, then began jigging up and down chanting, ‘Roo ink. Roo ink.’

  Suddenly realising what he was saying, she clasped him hard in pride. ‘Rufus wants a drink, does he?’ she said kissing him. ‘You’re such a clever boy.’

  ‘Nan, nan, nan,’ he cried, and began straining out of Vivienne’s arms.

  She turned around, and for the first time in Rufus’s short life she found herself reluctant to hand him over to her mother. The scene in the kitchen had made her doubly protective, and thinking too of what was happening to Miles she longed desperately to hold their son close, as though any time now it was going to be just the three of them against the world.

  Realising how absurd she was being, when no one could love him more than her mother, she forced herself to let him go, saying, ‘I’ll get him some juice.’

  ‘It’s in the fridge door,’ her mother told her. ‘The organic apple. Vivi, I—’

  ‘Later,’ Vivienne interrupted.

  Finding Caroline pressing a text into her mobile, Vivienne moved past her to take one of Rufus’s beakers from a child-proof cupboard.

  ‘I know it probably won’t be easy for you having him back again,’ Caroline said, putting her phone away, ‘but one of us has to consider Mum …’

  ‘Oh, cut the self-righteousness,’ Vivienne snapped. ‘We both know what’s going on here, so either bring it out in the open or damned well shut up.’

  Caroline’s eyebrows rose sarcastically. ‘Isn’t that just typical of you to try and grab the moral high ground. Well, let me tell you this, I’d rather be married to a man with a drink problem than hanker after one who’s on his way to jail for murdering his wife,’ and grabbing her bag she started to leave.

  ‘It wasn’t Jacqueline!’ Vivienne yelled after her, but Caroline was already closing the door.

  Snatching up her BlackBerry as it signalled an incoming text, Vivienne clicked through to messages, praying to God it was from Miles, but to her frustration it was a reporter she knew from the Mirror, offering a lavish incentive for an exclusive interview.

  What about the auction? she wanted to scream. Is nobody listening? Don’t any of you care that a lovely young mother needs your help?

  The instant that rumours of a body had started threading through the press camp, Justine James had leapt into her hire car and driven at top speed back to the Nobody Inn. Time was absolutely of the essence, for the discovery of a body could only mean that within a matter of hours one, or more, of her colleagues would manage to track down Vivienne’s mother – and once they found the mother it would be a very short step to finding the child.

  She was sorry about breaking her word to Miles, but since she’d never really intended to keep it, the regret was minimal. Besides, he’d be the first to understand that with all that was happening, no journalist in their right mind could be expected to keep this kind of exclusive to themselves, particularly not one who was in such dire need of career rescue. And this would do it in spades, because it wasn’t only going to secure her future with the Mail, it was going to make that smarmy, loud-mouthed philistine of an editor she had now apoplectic with rage when he realised she’d double-crossed him and delivered to another of his great rivals.

  It took no more than thirty minutes to write the piece. It was a pity Figgis hadn’t managed to get any shots of the boy yet, but hey, she couldn’t have everything, and there were bound to be some library pictures of Sam they could dig out for baby appeal.

  After checking her story through, making it as sensational as she could, she sat back for a moment, savouring the triumph. While everyone else ran with the discovery of a body and possible murder, she was going to splash the most powerful motive of all, right across the front page.

  Only after she’d clicked to send, and received confirmation that the email and its attachment had gone, did she feel a twinge of trepidation for what it was going to mean having both Miles Avery and Gareth Critchley as lifelong enemies. It wasn’t a prospect that thrilled her, especially considering how powerful both men were. However, it was too late to go back now, and picking up the TV remote she tuned to the latest news.

  A few minutes later she was still sitting in her chair, staring in disbelief at the screen. The body belonged to a man, not a woman. Everyone had assumed … She spun back to her computer, but the email had long gone.

  It’s OK, she told herself, taking deep breaths. A corpse turning up right next to the Avery land when Jacqueline was still missing was good enough grounds to run with the motive for her murder. Hell, for all she knew there could be half a dozen bodies out there, and even if none of them turned out to be Jacqueline, it still didn’t change the fact that the exclusive of Miles and Vivienne’s love child was going to be snapped up by someone else if she didn’t act now.

  Nevertheless, it was with a sick feeling inside that she began to contemplate exactly how Miles might respond to her betrayal, not to mention how badly it was going to go down with the Critch.
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  ‘Nooooo!’ Kelsey screamed, clasping her hands to her head as she shook it from side to side. ‘No! No! No!’

  White-faced, Miles tried to go to her but she pushed him away, tears of confusion streaming down her cheeks.

  ‘Leave me alone!’ she yelled, saliva spraying from her lips. ‘I don’t want you near me.’

  ‘Darling, it’s all right,’ he said, keeping his voice gentle.

  ‘You’re lying to me. Everyone’s lying all the time,’ she sobbed. ‘Why did you say …? No!’ she shrieked as he tried to approach her again. ‘You have to stop this, all of you,’ she raged, turning her stricken face to Sadler and Joy. ‘You said it was a woman …’

  ‘Kelsey, no one—’ Sadler began.

  ‘I can’t take any more. Do you hear me? I hate her. I hate you all. Just leave me alone …’ Rushing past them, she tore open the door and ran out into the bleak afternoon.

  Miles was close behind, running across the courtyard to try to stop her, but she was too fast. The kitchen door slammed and locked behind her before she charged up the back stairs to her room.

  Feeling the same turmoil of emotions that was tearing her apart, he returned to the sitting room where Sadler and Joy were still waiting. His dark eyes were cold as they took in Sadler’s solemn expression. Next to Sadler DC Joy was nervously clutching her mobile, while her pale, anxious face turned repeatedly to the door. He wasn’t going to speak. He was only going to fix Sadler with all the contempt the man deserved, and let him damned well squirm in it.

  With a gruff clearing of his throat Sadler said, ‘We’ll be in touch in the morning,’ and nodding to Joy he started out of the room.

  The instant they’d gone Miles went upstairs to try and talk to Kelsey. There was no reply when he knocked, but she was clearly in there, because the door was locked and when he called out, her music went on to drown him out.

  Sighing heavily, he took himself back downstairs and dialled her mobile number. As he’d feared he went straight through to voicemail. ‘Kelsey,’ he said quietly, but firmly. ‘I know today has been hard for you, but it’s going to be all right, darling. I promise. Of course it wasn’t Mum they found, we knew that even before they told us it was a man …’ Hearing the emptiness of his reassurance, his eyes closed in despair. How the hell was he going to get her through this when the police weren’t bothering to stop false rumours hitting the news, and the press themselves were so keen to make this into a murder, most likely committed by him?