The Cornish Guest House (30 page)

‘Something doesn’t feel right, Lizzie. This conflicting information, Luke saying one thing, Jesse another.’

The blood rose to her cheeks and started pumping in her ears, her temples, so that she felt as if her skull might burst. ‘I’ve known Jesse half his life. He’d never touch Loveday and I’d trust his word over Luke’s any day.’

Robert stood very still, his tall frame and broad shoulders silhouetted against the light. ‘You’re completely wrong about Luke.’

Liz’s eyes narrowed. She’d never argued with Robert, not in all the time that they’d been together, but she could let rip now.

‘No,
you’re
completely wrong,’ she shot back.

*

The arrival of Sarah and Andy a couple of hours later only seemed to increase the tension, because Sarah was in a terrible state and practically collapsed into Robert’s arms.

‘My baby,’ she was saying, ‘where’s my baby?’

Andy, a short, stocky man of about thirty-five, stood back awkwardly while she soaked Robert’s shirt in tears.

‘She’s been like this all the way,’ he told Liz. ‘I said crying won’t do no good but she won’t listen.’

Liz put the kettle on while Robert did his best to calm his sister down. Liz had only met her a handful of times but had quickly gleaned that she wasn’t very good at coping. In the early years, after their parents had died, Robert had had to manage for them both, then Andy had taken over as best he could. Now that he and Sarah were getting divorced, however, he seemed to have lost whatever skills he might once have possessed and was useless in the eye of the storm.

They sat at the kitchen table and went through everything again, though Liz wasn’t convinced that Sarah was listening. She had a box of tissues in front of her that she was pulling out one by one and shredding, before squishing them together and plonking them in a messy, wet heap on the wooden surface.

She was quite different from Robert in looks as well as personality; about five feet five inches tall and well covered, her blonde hair pulled back and fastened with a plastic clip. She was wearing a baggy white T-shirt over black leggings, and Robert was looking at her with such love and concern that Liz’s anger cooled a little; he was extremely fond of his sister, warts and all.

Jesse returned from seeing his mum and it was quickly decided that he, Robert, Liz and Andy would go to the flat and have a hunt around. Maybe Loveday had left a receipt somewhere, a postcard, anything that might indicate where she’d fled to. It was better than doing nothing, for sure.

‘I’ll come too,’ said Sarah, and Liz thought it was ironic that the very first time she’d see the place was when her daughter was missing from it. Still, she’d been going through a difficult time.

News travelled fast and by now, it seemed, the whole of Tremarnock had heard, so it took a while just to reach the bottom of Humble Hill. Jean, who was in her front garden, hung over the gate, trug in hand, soon to be joined by Tom.

‘What a shock!’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I told Tom I hadn’t seen her since the week before last when she popped in with Oscar for a cuppa. She was fine then, full of the joys of spring.’

Tom offered to accompany them to the flat, but Robert said no. ‘There’s enough of us, and it’s only small.’ Meanwhile, Jean said she planned to visit Pat in hospital and Liz asked her to pass on a message. ‘Tell her I’ll come again as soon as I can.’

There was a cry and, turning, they saw the imposing figures of Audrey and Esme hurrying towards them. They were both tall and Audrey was wearing a long, bright green coat with black frogging up the front, while Esme, in her trademark navy fisherman’s smock and flapping purple skirt, was waving frantically, her wispy grey hair flying round her face.

‘I heard about it from Rick,’ Audrey said breathlessly, drawing to a halt beside them. Is there anything we can do, anything at all?’

Liz thanked her but said not for the time being, and would have walked on had not Tony and Felipe appeared, shrouded in gloom.

‘Young people go missing all the time,’ Tony said mournfully. ‘Most reappear but some are never found.’

‘In Rio, is fifteen people missing every day,’ added Felipe. For once, Tony didn’t correct him. ‘Many of them are murdered. They burn them so no one knows what’s happened. Just gone. Pfft.’

‘Well, nothing like that’s happened to Loveday,’ Liz said firmly, taking Sarah by the arm and starting to lead her purposefully up the hill. When they were out of earshot she whispered in Sarah’s ear. ‘Felipe’s very sweet but he’s talking rubbish. Tremarnock’s not Rio de Janeiro, no one’s been murdered and we’ll soon have Loveday home.’

The empty flat seemed cold, dark and unwelcoming and at first everyone wanted to read the note that was crumpled and still sitting on the worktop where Jesse had left it. Sarah then wandered around, sighing like a lost soul, while the others set to, opening every drawer and cupboard, checking on shelves, behind photographs and under rugs, sofa and chairs.

Robert called to Liz from the bedroom. ‘Can you come here?’

She found him standing in the middle of the floor, staring at the right-hand wall, where there was a gash in the pale yellow paintwork and chunks of plaster had come away.

‘It wasn’t like this before, was it?’

‘We were trying to move the wardrobe.’

They turned to find Jesse right behind them, chewing on the corner of a nail.

Robert frowned and knelt down to look under the bed, the chest of drawers, beneath the pillows, leafing through the pile of books on the side table and holding them upside down to see if anything was hidden inside the pages. Meanwhile, Andy flung opened the wardrobe and took out a pile of Loveday’s clothes on metal hangers, placing them carefully one of top of the other on the bed.

‘Can you see what she’s taken with her?’ he asked, and Jesse went through the clothes carefully, pointing out the missing things. When he’d finished he bent down to pick something up and called out: ‘Look!’ He was holding a stuffed zebra that had fallen on the floor beside the bed. ‘I think she’s got Puff, that fluffy dragon thing. His face crumpled. ‘She loves Puff. She wouldn’t go anywhere without him.’

‘It’s a good sign,’ Liz said gently, ‘it must mean she’s safe.’

Robert inspected the room one more time and noticed the pile of towels on top of the wardrobe. Stepping over, he reached up and pulled out several pieces of wood, which he placed on the floor in front.

‘They look like chair legs,’ he said, glancing at Jesse. ‘What are they doing up there?’

‘The chair broke,’ Jesse replied quickly, ‘I haven’t got round to fixing it yet.’

Robert removed another leg, which had split in two, turning it round and round in his hands, like a master carpenter. ‘I don’t think you could mend this, it’s too badly smashed.’

Something about his expression made Liz angry again. ‘Why are we discussing an old chair? Surely we’ve got better things to do?’

After replacing everything carefully, they left the flat in silence, and Liz’s heart sank when she spotted the tall figure of Luke, in a smart navy raincoat, talking to the landlord of The Victory Inn at the other end of the street. There was no getting away because Luke saw them, too, and started walking quickly towards them. He wanted to know if they’d found anything at the flat, before going on to explain that he’d been making enquiries of his own.

He glanced back at the landlord, who nodded, then leant towards Robert and asked for a word in private. Liz reluctantly walked away. Just before rounding the corner, she looked over her shoulder to see the three men huddled close together, their heads almost touching, and pricked her ears, hoping to pick up a few words. Unfortunately, though, their voices were so low that she couldn’t catch anything at all.

*

Jesse looked exhausted and Liz suggested that he go back to his mum’s for the night. It was getting on for 6 p.m. and it had been a long day.

‘There’s nothing more you can do now. I’ll call if we hear anything.’

‘I still can’t believe it,’ he said miserably. ‘I keep hoping it’s a bad dream.’

He looked so lost, and far too young to be carrying this weight on his shoulders. Liz gave him a hug.

‘Try and get some rest. Who knows? She might call us in the night.’

‘Do you think so? Really?’

She nodded, but now that she’d seen the half-empty flat and read the note for herself, she was full of doubts. It was important, though, to try to keep spirits up, including her own.

Andy and Sarah took their bags upstairs; having opted temporarily to put aside their differences and share the comfy double bed; neither fancied the sofa. Meanwhile, Liz stood at the hob, frying some mince and onion for a spaghetti Bolognese. She didn’t suppose that anyone was hungry but they’d need to eat, particularly Rosie, who had school tomorrow.

Rosie. She started, realising that she’d virtually forgotten about her daughter, who hadn’t yet returned from the rehearsal. Liz wondered whether to drive to school to find her, until she realised that it would be shut today and Rosie hadn’t said whose house she was going to.

She was about to grab her phone when Robert arrived with Rosie herself, having met her on the doorstep.

‘How was it?’ Liz asked, thinking that her daughter looked tired and awfully pale, though her eyes were sparkling.

‘Great. The director was really happy.’

‘I can’t wait to see it.’

Rosie lifted the lid off the spaghetti Bolognese, bubbling on the hob, and sniffed. ‘That won’t be for
ages
. We still needs loads of practice.’

She vanished upstairs, leaving Robert and Liz alone, and he perched on the edge of the kitchen table and cleared his throat. The landlord, it seemed, had heard Loveday and Jesse rowing late on Thursday night. Their bedroom window had been open and they’d been shouting and screaming.

Andy and Sarah appeared at the door and stood, listening quietly, as he went on.

‘Then there was a noise, like a big bang, followed by some thuds. Apparently Jesse yelled, “See what you made me do,” then everything went quiet.’

Liz’s brain started racing, trying to process what she’d heard. ‘So did the landlord call on them to check they were OK? That’s what I’d do.’

‘He thought about it, then decided it was none of his business,’ Robert replied. ‘It was all quite quick and he only remembered when he found out Loveday had gone.’

He looked at Liz, then Andy and Sarah, whose mouth was open, her eyes staring. ‘You know what this means, don’t you?’

Andy nodded, grim-faced. ‘We call the police again – right now.’

Liz felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as the reality of Robert’s words started to sink in.

‘They used to squabble like mad at the restaurant,’ she found herself gabbling, ‘but it didn’t mean anything. Jesse just forgot to tell us about the argument, that’s all. He’s got a lot on his mind.’

But Andy wasn’t listening. He balled his fists and growled, a strange, menacing sound that came from the back of his throat. He was a builder by trade and you could see the muscles through the sleeves of his shirt, the veins of his neck bulging.

‘If he’s done something to our—’

Robert raised a hand. ‘Don’t jump to conclusions. We must try and stay calm.’

Sarah burst into tears again.

‘Leave it to us, girl,’ muttered Andy, patting her back awkwardly. ‘Once the coppers are involved, I’m sure that lad’ll start talking, and if he doesn’t, I’ll pay him a visit myself.’

After that, everything seemed to go into fast-forward. Two police officers arrived to take statements, before visiting Jack’s Cottage with Robert and Andy. Liz, Sarah and Rosie huddled together at home, trying to distract themselves with inane chatter, but always returning to the same subject: where was Loveday and why had she gone?

Having done a thorough examination of the flat, the officers concluded that there were signs of a struggle and set about making enquiries around the village, retracing the steps that Liz, Jesse and Robert had taken, calling on Luke and Tabitha, Jean and Tom, Esme, Rick, Audrey, Tony and Felipe and, of course, Jesse himself. In the meantime, their colleagues started to ring round local taxi firms to see if anyone had picked Loveday up.

‘If she’s gone somewhere, she had to have got out of the village somehow,’ the woman police officer reasoned, explaining that they’d also check the bus companies, CCTV footage at the railway station, hospitals and her bank account to see if it had been used.

The minutes seemed to blur into hours and when Liz next looked at the clock it was nearly midnight, way past Rosie’s bedtime.

‘Go to sleep,’ she said, shooing her daughter upstairs. ‘You’ll be exhausted in the morning.’ She was exhausted herself; she could hardly put one foot in front of another. She half expected Rosie to beg not to have to go to school, but she didn’t. How things had changed! Only a short time ago she’d have done anything to wangle a day off.

Liz and Robert didn’t get to bed themselves till about 3 a.m. and they were far too troubled to sleep. The police would return first thing and had said if they’d no more information and Loveday hadn’t rung, they’d start to search the area. Robert lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, and Liz rested in the crook of his arm. There was a light on in Sarah’s and Andy’s room that she could see through the chink in her door, and she heard one of them go to the loo. They were wide awake, too.

‘You don’t honestly believe Jesse has anything to do with it, do you?’ Liz asked. It made no sense to her; she’d worked with him at A Winkle In Time for years, as had Robert, and neither of them had ever seen a hint of violence in the young man’s character.

Robert stroked her shoulder with a finger, drawing imaginary rings in ever widening circles. ‘I don’t know, Lizzie. Luke says—’

That name on his lips again. ‘Stop talking about Luke,’ she snapped, shuffling away. ‘He’s only been in the village five minutes.’

Robert tensed, she could feel him stiffen just a few inches from her side. ‘I don’t understand why you’re so hostile towards him. It’s not helpful. In fact, it’s embarrassing how cold you are with him. He must have noticed.’