Where the Memories Lie (9 page)

Oh, God, get a grip, Olivia!

I took a deep breath and focused on him. ‘What have you

found out?’

He took his time looking between Nadia and me. ‘There are no

missing persons reports for someone of that name.’

I exhaled loudly. ‘Thank goodness for that.’

‘I checked the voters’ registers and there is a Georgia Walker

listed in Abbotsbury.

I leaned forward, heart racing. ‘Oh?’

‘Unfortunately, there’s no telephone number listed for her,

like you discovered, so I’m going to take a drive over there and

see what I can find out.’ He stood up. ‘I’ll call you when I know

something.’

‘Thank you.’ I stood up.

‘You promise you’ll call as soon as you hear something?’

Nadia asked.

‘Yes.’ He led us back out to the public area by the front desk

and we said goodbye.

I gulped in a lungful of fresh air outside. The interview room

had smelled of cheesy feet. Not pleasant.

‘Do you want to go home and wait?’ Nadia asked.

‘No. I don’t want to go home with bad news. Ethan’s still

blaming me for all this. He mostly ignored me on the drive back,

and when I dropped them all off at the house before we came

here, he stomped off, which is so unlike him. He’s not normally a

moody sulker.’

She put a hand on my arm. ‘I’m still sure there’s nothing to it.’

I nodded. ‘Shall we get a coffee or something?’

‘I fancy a real drink.’

‘Yeah. Good idea.’

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Sibel Hodge

So we drove back to Portesham and parked up at the Kings’

Arms, situated on the village green in front of the road that led to Abbotsbury in one direction and Weymouth in the other.

I bought a red wine and a gin and tonic and carried them out-

side to the beer garden where Nadia had bagged us the only table

left. At six-thirty on a hot Saturday summer’s evening, the place was already heaving.

I took a gulp of red wine, savouring the kick as the alcohol hit

the back of my throat. Nadia downed a third of hers in one suck of

her straw.

I looked at my watch, even though I’d already checked it four

times since I sat down. ‘What’s taking Sergeant Downing so long?

He must’ve got there by now.’

‘Maybe she’s out shopping or something.’

I pulled my phone out of my bag and checked the signal. Yes, it

was fine. And the battery was fully charged. I placed it on the table and knocked back some more wine.

Nadia’s phone rang in her mulberry-coloured Michael Kors

bag. She delved inside and pulled it out, looking at the display.

‘It’s Lucas.’ She answered it and told him what was going on before hanging up. ‘He’s coming up to wait with us. I’ll get him a pint.’

She finished her drink and stood. ‘Want another one?’

‘Yes, please.’

After she’d disappeared off to the bar, my phone rang, sending

my heart pounding again.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi, is this Olivia Tate?’

I recognised Sergeant Downing’s voice straight away. ‘Yes. Did

you find her? Was she OK?’

He let out a soft chuckle. ‘Yes, she’s perfectly alive and well.

Nothing to worry about.’

A hand flew to my chest. ‘Good.’

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Where the Memories Lie

‘I asked her if she knew Tom Tate and she said she did.’

‘Really? How?’

‘He did some work for her about thirty years ago. An extension.’

‘Oh, right. I suppose I should’ve thought about looking through

his building records to see if he had any customers by that name,

and then I wouldn’t have wasted your time. I’m so sorry.’

‘Well, all’s well that ends well.’ He paused for a moment.

‘Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. My mum had it. It was awful

watching her losing her mind while her body deteriorated as well.

I’m sorry you’re going through this.’

‘Thank you. For everything. You’ve been very helpful.’

‘You’re welcome. Take care now.’

Ethan wasn’t there when I got home. Neither was Poppy.

‘Has Dad taken the dog out?’ I said to Anna, who was watching

another documentary about death row on the laptop.

‘Yeah.’ She pressed ‘Pause’. ‘Where’ve you been?’

‘Nowhere.’

‘You must’ve been
somewhere.
’

‘I was with Nadia.’

‘Oh. What’s for dinner?’

‘You can’t possibly be hungry after all the food you ate

at the picnic.’ I’m sure my daughter has hollow legs. Oh, to have

the metabolism of a teenager again.

‘I’m starving.’ She grinned. ‘Did you bring back any of Nadia’s

muffins?’

‘No. There were none left. Chris ate the last one.’

She pulled an unamused face. ‘What about the quiche?’

‘There’s only the burnt one. No one wanted that for some

reason. Can’t think why. I bet Poppy will love it. Nadia gave me

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Sibel Hodge

some coffee cake, though, and some chocolate brownies. Dad

should’ve put everything back in the fridge. Go and help yourself.’

She leaped off the sofa. ‘Oh, did I mention that the school is

having a car boot sale soon to raise money for charity?’

‘No. Which charity?’

‘It’s going to the Dorset Wildlife Protection Trust. I’m going to

help out and do a stall. Have we got anything I can sell?’

‘We must have loads of stuff we don’t need anymore. You can

start by clearing out your wardrobes. I bet there are tons of things in there.’

‘Yeah, I’ll do that later. What about your things? And Dad’s?’

‘I’ll have a look. Check the loft, too. There are probably still

boxes of stuff we haven’t even unpacked since we moved in. And if

we haven’t missed it by now, we probably don’t need it.’

‘Wicked.’ She followed me into the kitchen, grabbed a plate,

piled it with two brownies and a slice of cake. ‘I’ll get Emma to

come round tomorrow and help me. She’s going to do it, too.’

‘OK. Why don’t you ask her to stay for dinner? You’re always

going to her house for tea. I’m sure I can rustle up some chicken

nuggets and chips.’

‘Yeah, that’s why I prefer going to my friends’ houses for dinner.

Because their mums cook real food.’

I pulled a face at her. ‘Cheeky.’

She gave me a goofy grin and disappeared into the lounge.

I spotted Ethan through the kitchen window walking on the

wooded side of our boundary fence. A few minutes later he and

Poppy burst into the utility room. She took one look at me

and leaped up, planting her forepaws on my chest.

I ruffled her fur and flapped her ears.

Ethan stared at me from the doorway, thick eyebrows fur-

rowed. ‘So go on, then, tell me what happened. Did they think you

were mad?’

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Where the Memories Lie

‘There
is
a Georgia Walker who lives in Abbotsbury, but she’s very much alive.’ I gave him a sheepish smile.

Poppy jumped down and headed for her water bowl.

‘There. I told you, didn’t I? Told you it was a complete waste of

time.’ His face instantly relaxed, softening out the tense lines. He walked towards me and hugged me tight.

‘You were right. Somehow he’d become confused about her.

Tate construction had done an extension for her years ago, so he’d

obviously met her before and must’ve remembered her name for

some reason.’

He pulled back. ‘Really? Odd that he’d remember a customer

after all this time.’

‘Who knows? He remembers all sorts of strange things but fre-

quently forgets important things or even how to do everyday tasks.’

‘Well, at least this means we can get back to normal now. It’s

been a stressful week and a stressful weekend so far.’

I ran my hand through the hair at the nape of his neck. ‘And

how might we fix that?’ I raised a seductive eyebrow.

‘Early night?’ He grinned.

‘Absolutely.’ I winked.

63

Chapter Seven

On Sunday morning Ethan and I took Poppy for a walk

along Chesil Beach while Anna raided her cupboards

for things to sell at the car boot sale with her friend

Emma. We leisurely strolled along, hand in hand, laughing at

Poppy chasing seagulls. The sex last night had been amazing!

Granted, sex was always going to be a little less adventurous

now we had Anna, who was old enough to hear and understand

everything. There was no doing it on the kitchen table or having

a quickie while I was in the middle of washing up anymore, in

case Anna came home unexpectedly, but we still hadn’t settled

into that boring married routine of the missionary position on a

Sunday night with the lights off. We were still adventurous, and

it was still exciting and sexy and fulfilling. Probably better, even, over the years because we knew each other’s likes and dislikes so

intimately.

I thought about Nadia and Lucas again. Maybe she’d made a

mistake about the texts she’d seen. Lucas had been attentive and

loving towards her on the beach, just like he always was. If she hadn’t told me, I would never have guessed something might be going on.

Where the Memories Lie

They had both acted so happy together. I suppose you can never

be sure what really goes on behind closed doors, though, can you?

Even if you think you know people really well.

No, of course she hasn’t made a mistake, Olivia. Don’t be stupid
.

It’s not like you can turn ‘I want to fuck you’ into ‘I want coffee before takeoff, please, not tea’. What if it was serious? What if he left Nadia and Charlotte for this woman? My heart ached for her.

I watched Ethan throwing a stone for Poppy and wondered how

women could stay with their partners after they found out they’d

cheated on them. I mean, I know there are a magnitude of reasons

why you would stay, especially if you have children together. But

surely the jealousy and uncertainty that he wasn’t out there doing it again would eat you up inside. I couldn’t live like that. Lucas was a pig if he was cheating on her. No, I didn’t know how Nadia could

just pretend everything was normal and act fine.

‘Do you want to come with me when I go and see Dad later?’

Ethan’s voice knocked me out of my thoughts.

‘No, I’ll go in the week. At least that way he’s getting more

visiting days, and I need to catch up on some ironing I’ve neglected.’

‘OK.’

‘Can you go through your wardrobe when we get back to see if

there’s anything you want to throw out since you’ll be away again

all week?’

‘For Anna’s car boot?’

‘Mmm.’

‘I think we’ve got some boxes of old junk in the garage that we’ve

never got round to throwing away. She can go through that, too.’

As we headed home an hour later we drove past the pub and

I spotted Chris in the beer garden with a woman who had chin-

length wavy red hair.

‘Hey, that was Chris.’ I twisted in my seat to look back.

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Sibel Hodge

‘So?’

‘He was with a woman.’

‘Yeah, he said yesterday he was meeting her for lunch.’

‘Really?’ I asked as Ethan pulled up at our front gates. I got out

of the car, opened the heavy wooden doors and then closed them

again after he’d parked up on the block-paved driveway in front of

the garage. Even though it had been over two years since Abby had

left Chris, and the divorce was now final, it seemed strange to think of Chris dating again. I don’t know why. It shouldn’t have been

odd at all. In fact, I should be happy for him. It was probably that we’d all been such a happy family for so long − me and Ethan, Lucas and Nadia, Chris and Abby, and now we’d have to welcome someone new into the fold. I made a mental note to ask Chris if he’d like to bring his date over for dinner one night. Or better still, go out for a meal. I got too stressed when lots of people came over for a meal and usually ended up making a right mess of it, unlike Nadia, who

had four courses planned for weeks in advance and slaved over a hot oven, barely breaking a sweat.

‘So, who is she? What does she do? How old is she? What’s her

name?’ I asked.

Ethan laughed. ‘I don’t know. He didn’t really say much

about her.’

‘Didn’t you ask? This is the first woman he’s been out with since

Abby. Aren’t you interested?’ I shook my head at him. ‘Men. You are so useless at finding things out.’

The rest of the day was a lazy affair. Ethan and I snuggled up

on the sofa and watched a DVD. Well, I watched it. He fell asleep,

although God knows how he could when Anna and Emma were

giggling and banging around in her bedroom so loudly.

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Where the Memories Lie

Early the next morning Ethan kissed me awake with a mug of tea in

his hand before he travelled back up to York.

‘I’ll miss you.’ He put the mug on the bedside table and sat next

to me on the bed.

‘Me, too. Will you be back Friday or before?’

He shrugged. ‘It depends how the job’s going. Hopefully

before.’

Poppy flew into the room and put her front paws up on the

bed, pushing in between us with a wet nose.

I laughed at her. ‘Yes, I’ll take you out later!’

Ethan kissed my lips softly and stood up. ‘I’d better be off,

anyway. I’ll call you tonight. Love you.’

‘Love you, too.’ I pushed Poppy off the bed and hastily

dressed in cropped trousers and a vest top. The summer was still