The Cornish Guest House (34 page)

‘We’ll need to move slowly,’ Barbara went on, ‘at roughly the same pace and with reasonable spaces between. We’ll have help from Dartmoor Rescue Group and Cornwall Search and Rescue Team. Obviously they’ve got plenty of experience and they’ll go through everything again before we start.’

There was a murmur of approval and a man said, ‘Thank God something’s happening at last.’

Barbara held up a hand to quieten him down. ‘Felipe’s going home to design some flyers and we need volunteers to deliver them this afternoon and tonight. Obviously we want as many as possible to join in the search. We meet at 6 a.m. tomorrow to begin.’

‘I say we should start right away, not wait till the morning. Surely the sooner the better?’ another man shouted. Tabitha craned her neck and spotted Rick, beside the tall figure of Esme. More and more people were arriving now, many of whom she didn’t recognise, and there were rumbles of assent: ‘Here, here!’; ‘Arr!’; ‘No point hanging about!’

She could just see Luke over the throng, aware that he was listening to everything that was being said. Close beside him was Sylvia, gazing up in rapt silence, while just behind stood Audrey, jostling for space and craning over his shoulder. Tabitha’s lip curled involuntarily. If only they knew…

‘It’ll be dark by six. Best to start at first light,’ Barbara hollered. She could do with a megaphone.

‘We’ve got torches,’ Rick boomed. ‘She might be injured out there, needing hospital treatment. We can’t wait the whole night, we’ve wasted too long already.’

There were more mutterings and someone yelled, ‘Criminal, how long it’s taken.’

Barbara, becoming flustered, blew her fringe of her face and opened her mouth, but the policewoman stepped in.

‘Rest assured, we’re already searching.’ She pointed to a helicopter in the distance. ‘We’ve got hundreds of experienced guys on the case and they won’t stop through the night. It can be pretty hazardous out there when you can’t see what you’re doing, we don’t want members of the public getting hurt. As Barbara says, we need you guys to start first thing tomorrow. In the meantime, the most helpful thing you can do is recruit as many able-bodied volunteers as possible.’

Her words seemed to have a calming effect and a few folk seemed poised to shuffle off, until Luke stepped forward. His presence, tall and commanding, stopped them in their tracks.

‘I’ll co-ordinate the delivery of leaflets. Who’s willing to help?’

At least twenty people raised their hands, including Sylvia and Audrey, of course.

‘Great,’ he said, before asking Felipe how long it would take to design and print them. ‘I guess we want several thousand.’

‘Give me a couple of hours,’ Felipe said with a nod. ‘I will bring them to your house as soon as they’re ready.’

‘Perfect,’ said Luke, then facing his volunteers. ‘Meet me at The Stables in…’ he glanced at his watch ‘…half an hour. That’ll give me time to work out a plan.’

‘Thank you, Luke,’ said Barbara, her equanimity restored. She turned once more to the crowd. ‘If you’ve any more questions, talk to me or WPC Fletcher. Otherwise, see you all at the top of the hill opposite the bus stop at 6 a.m. sharp.’

As folk started to disperse, Tabitha heard Jean say, ‘Luke’s a star, isn’t he? We’re lucky to have him – and Barbara, of course.’

‘You can guarantee they’ll do a good job,’ Tom agreed. ‘You know what they say? If you need something done, ask a busy person.’

Luke didn’t stop to speak to Tabitha when the meeting wound up, didn’t even look at her, but strode back in the direction of The Stables, a man on a mission, with Sylvia and Audrey in hot pursuit. One or two people glanced at Tabitha, as if expecting her to follow, but her mind was in turmoil and she needed time to ponder.

She waited for a few moments while Oscar ran on the beach and picked up pebbles, before continuing up South Street past A Winkle In Time. It was nearly 4 p.m. now and she guessed that Robert and the other staff would be arriving soon to start preparing for the evening. She’d only ever eaten there once herself, with Luke, but he popped in quite often.

A trendy young woman in a pink coat with black hair came down the hill towards her before disappearing into the turning to Market Square. For a moment Tabitha thought that it was Loveday, and her heart missed a beat. This would have been the route that the girl had taken every day as she’d made her way to the restaurant to work. How much better things would have been if she’d stayed there, close to Jesse, Liz and Robert!

Loveday often spoke about her time there, gossiping about the waitresses. She’d met the new one through Jesse, and she was OK, but the other girl was fussy and annoying and the one before her – what was she called? Tabitha racked her brains but couldn’t remember, only that she was a lazy, stuck-up cow.

Oscar squawked, making Tabitha start. She’d been standing stock-still in the middle of the road, staring through the restaurant’s darkened windows.

‘Sorry,’ she said, staring up again, and the boy stopped fussing and settled down.

There was a sense of busyness, people coming in and out of houses, talking in tense voices about their plans for tomorrow and what they’d need. But for some reason all Tabitha could think of, as she headed towards home, was how desperately she wanted to recall that girl’s name – and how important it suddenly seemed to be that Luke didn’t find it first.

The following morning there must have been at least five hundred people at the bus stop, which was perched high on the hill beside a lonely red post box on the road that led out of Tremarnock. On one side was a sharp drop down to dense woodland while on the other, empty fields stretched as far as the eye could see.

The sun hadn’t yet risen, the air was cold and folk were dressed in coats, gloves and woolly hats, wellies or walking boots, many with shooting sticks or canes in hand, torches to use in wooded areas, crowbars to flip rocks, or walkie-talkies. Some were hugging their arms around themselves and stamping their feet, puffing out wisps of smoky air as they chatted quietly in the half-light.

Liz reckoned that practically the whole village had turned out, plus others who’d no doubt received a leaflet through the door or heard about the search in some other way. She stayed close to Robert, Sarah and Andy, who was holding his wife’s arm as if suspecting that without his support she might stumble and fall. The past few days had taken their toll and she was looking frail and exhausted. She said she’d hardly slept and Liz worried that if they didn’t receive some positive news soon, she might collapse.

Robert had asked Liz not to come, saying that it was too much for her and she must be sensible, but she’d insisted. She needed to help and said there was no way that she could hang around at home on her own after Rosie left for school; she thought she’d go mad.

‘Why don’t you visit Pat instead?’ he’d suggested. The old woman was still in hospital, making a slow recovery. Liz felt bad that she hadn’t been able to pop in as intended, but was reassured by the fact that Pat’s niece, Emily, had visited, and other locals were doing their bit, too. In a way, it was a blessing that doctors were keeping Pat in because with all this going on, Liz couldn’t have helped to look after her at home.

Barbara and a few others had set up a centre contact point by the roadside, with trestle tables and bottles of water, snacks, blankets and warm sweaters in case volunteers became cold. There were also chairs for people to take a rest when needed.

A man from Cornwall Search and Rescue Team gave a short briefing and asked everyone to sign the time sheet that Barbara had prepared, so they could keep track of search-party members and make sure no one was out for too long. It was important, he explained, to take regular breaks and eat something. An overtired, hungry or physically exhausted volunteer could miss an important clue and endanger themselves and others, too.

When everyone was finally ready, the first searchers, including Luke, Sylvia and Audrey, stood in a straight line, side by side, and set off together across the damp fields, soon followed by the next wave, keen to ensure that nothing was overlooked. As they walked, some people linked arms while others used their sticks to beat down the vegetation and check for buried objects. Few spoke and there was an air of calm resolve, a determination to establish the truth, whatever it might be.

Liz and her group were in the fifth or sixth batch of searchers, behind Alex and the other boys from A Winkle In Time. Liz had spotted Jesse’s mum, Karen, by the bus stop; she’d chosen not to join her and Robert but was walking with strangers instead. Liz understood why, but it made her sad and uncomfortable. Robert didn’t even acknowledge Karen and that felt wrong, too.

If she stopped to think too much about what they were doing and contemplate the possibility that they might actually find something, she feared she’d be sick, so it was easier just to focus on the task in hand, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground beneath her feet, never losing concentration for a second.

They worked like this for a couple of hours but could only have covered about half a mile as they were being so methodical. Liz would have continued for much longer had not Luke jogged up and insisted that she take a break. ‘It would be irresponsible not to,’ he claimed, ‘in your condition. The others should only do another hour then they’ll need a rest, too.’

She suspected that Robert had had a word with Luke, knowing full well how stubborn she was and that she’d search all day, given the chance. It annoyed Liz to think of the two men discussing her behind her back and, besides, she didn’t feel like doing anything Luke asked.

‘I’ll just have a quick cup of tea,’ she told her husband, and Luke strode off to re-join his line while she headed back to the centre contact point. It wasn’t easy, as she was going against the flow and had to weave her way in and out, trying not to distract volunteers from their task.

She was weary by the time she reached the edge of the road, and was grateful to see a small huddle of people holding out polystyrene cups for Barbara, Jean and Esme to fill with hot liquid from Thermos flasks. Liz nipped quickly behind a tree on the other side of the road to relieve herself, before joining them.

‘Tea or coffee?’ Jean asked, passing her a cup. ‘You must be ready for one. It’s not exactly warm out here.’

Esme pulled up a chair for her, while Barbara wrapped a tartan blanket round her shoulders.

‘You must be dead beat,’ she said kindly, ‘in your state, too.’

‘I’m not ill!’ Liz protested, but the older woman shook her head. ‘Here, let’s get you another one.’ She tucked a second blanket over her knees and this time Liz didn’t complain. As the hot tea trickled down the back of her throat and into her empty stomach, she felt suddenly as if she could sleep for a week. She must be worn out, as much from the emotional stress as the physical effort of searching. After all, she hadn’t been out that long.

Soon they were joined by Audrey, who’d tripped on a tree root and fallen. She wasn’t badly hurt, just a bit shocked, and had been advised to sit down. She drew up a chair beside Liz and for a few moments they discussed the search and how difficult it was to stay focused.

‘My mind kept wandering and I had to drag myself back,’ Audrey said, rearranging her artfully mussed pixie-crop. ‘It’d be so easy not to notice something, wouldn’t it? Thank goodness there’s so many of us.’

‘Everyone’s doing their best,’ Liz agreed, ‘it’s marvellous.’ Her eyes clouded over. ‘I can still hardly believe it, though, can you? You see this on screen but it doesn’t happen in real life.’

Audrey nodded then, leaning towards Liz, ‘I say, Luke’s terrific, isn’t he? A real hero. Getting all those leaflets delivered, rallying the troops, right up there this morning at the front of the queue. That’s real community spirit for you. Says he won’t stop till they’ve searched every nook and cranny and I believe him.’

Her face fell. ‘That’s if
a certain someone
would only leave him alone to get on with it, instead of following him round like a love-sick puppy.’

Liz remained silent. She wasn’t blind to the rivalry between Sylvia and Audrey who, like most of Tremarnock’s female population, wouldn’t hear a word against Luke. She just hoped that Rick wouldn’t get hurt.

‘There’s no sign of
her
, though, is there?’ Audrey continued.

‘Who,’ asked Liz, feigning ignorance.

‘His wife, Tabitha. She wasn’t at the leaflet meeting last night and, as far as I can see, she’s not here now. Don’t you think that’s extraordinary?’

‘Well, she does have a two-year-old,’ Liz pointed out reasonably.

Audrey wrinkled her nose. ‘You’d think she could find someone to mind him for a few hours, though, wouldn’t you? Pat’s niece Emily, for instance. She can’t join the search because her knee’s bad and she’s got Pat to look after, but she’d have the little boy, for heaven’s sake.’

‘Maybe he’s not good with strangers,’ Liz replied. ‘I don’t think I could have left Rosie with someone she didn’t know at that age.’

Privately, she agreed that it was odd, but then so was everything about Tabitha: her jumpiness; the way she seemed always to be looking over her shoulder; the fact that she was so different from Luke, so withdrawn, yet Loveday had only good things to say about her and heaven knows! She could be difficult to please.

‘The poor girl was working for Tabitha,’ Audrey persisted, shaking her head. ‘That woman ought to be first in line, doing everything she can to find her. Thank goodness for her husband is all I can say. I can’t imagine what he sees in—’

‘I’m going back,’ Liz said, rising quickly. She turned to Barbara, Jean and Esme, still busy pouring drinks and handing out biscuits.

‘Are you sure you’re up to it?’ Jean asked. ‘Don’t you think you’ve had enough?’

‘I’ll just do another hour or two.’

It was around half past three when she returned to Bag End, thinking that she’d make a casserole with lots of veg. Robert, Sarah and Andy would no doubt be starving when they arrived home and Rosie would need a good meal, too. She was always hungry after school.