(2012) Evie Undercover (36 page)

Please God, he prayed as he ran down the stairs two at a time, please God, let Evie be there.

Chapter Twenty-Four

O Evie, Evie
! W
here
ver
art thou, Evie?

Twenty minutes later,
Tom had
parked the BMW and was standing in front of the Camden Town house. His heart beating fast, he rang the doorbell and stood back. Muffled chimes reverberated throughout the interior of the house. There was no other sound from within.

He tried the bell again. Still no answer. Damn, there was
clearly
no one in the house, which was a bit surprising
. H
e wouldn’t have thought they’d all still be at work at t
hat time. A
lthough, come to think of it, Evie had said that one of them was an events’ planner,
which meant that she was bound to
work
some
evenings.

Of course,
it might simply be that they’d stopped for a drink on their way home,
in which case there
was a strong possibility that Evie
had joined them
. He stared at the closed door and wondered
whether or not
they were with her, and if so,
where they might be
.

He took a step back from the house and looked towards the upstairs windows. It was a warm evening, but the windows were all closed. No, there was definitely no one at home. He glanced in both directions along the street, but there was no sign of Evie, nor of anyone
likely to
be one of her two friends.

Dejected, he turned away from the door, went back to his car and got into it.
D
rumm
ing
his fingers against the wheel
, he
stared ahead through the windscreen. He’d just have to be patient and stay there a while longer – one or all of the girls might have
only
gone for a short walk and be back at any minute. And even if they were out for longer than that, possibly at a restaurant, he’d still stay on
–
they’d have to come
home at some point and he was going
to be there when they did.

He positioned the windscreen mirror so that he could see the pavement behind him, and settled back into his seat,
alternating
keeping his eyes on the pavement in front of him
or
on
the reflection in
the mirror.

An hour passed with no movement at all. He didn’t really know what to do, whether to carry on sitting there or whether to drive around for a bit on the off
chance that he might see her. She’d told him that she and her friends sometimes ate at Wagamama, so he could make a start there and come back to the house later on if he didn’t have any luck.

He groaned out loud. What bloody use would it be to do that!

He put his hands to his head in despair. Even if he went to every restaurant, bar and club in Camden Town, if Evie wasn’t with Rachel and Jess, he’d be totally wasting his time
–
he hadn’t a clue what her housemates looked like. He could hardly walk into the middle of a place and shout out,
‘
Anyone here called
Rachel and Jess?
’
Well, he could,
but he’d soon find himself facing a charge of disturbing the peace.

A movement in the windscreen mirror caught his eye and he swiftly slid up in his seat
, twisted round
and stared through the car window. A blonde girl carrying a large bag in each hand was coming along the pavement behind him, walking towards him. She passed his car, went up to the front door of
the house and put
he
r
bags down on the ground.

He jumped out of the car and dashed up to her.

‘Are you Rachel or Jess?’ he asked in a rush. ‘Do y
ou know where Evie is? I can’t
get hold of her.’

The girl stop
ped looking for her key and star
ed curiously at him. ‘Tom, I presume. Or an escaped nutter.’ She glanced pointedly at his flapping waistcoat and shirt sleeves.

‘You’re right, I’m Tom. And you’ve just confirmed that you do, indeed, own one of the two heads I saw hanging out of the window last Saturday night.’

‘Spot on. I’m Jess.’ She held out her hand to him. ‘Pleased to meet you, Tom.’

He shook her hand. ‘I know that I’ve dispensed with the social niceties, Jess, and I do apologise, but I badly need to see Evie. I don’t know if you know what’s happened, but one minute she was working in my house, and the next she was gone. She’s just disappeared and I don’t know where she is.’

‘Have you rung her?’

‘Over and over again
, but
her phone’s switched off. I rather hoped she was here. She left the briefest of messages and I don’t know what to make of it all. Here
,
look at this.’ He pulled out the piece of paper that Evie had left him and held it out to her. She took it and glanced at it. ‘We were meant to be going out this evening. I don’t know what to do.’ He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

Jess stared at him f
or a moment. ‘Come on in, Tom. H
ave a coffee with me. You look like you need one, or even something stronger.’

‘Coffee’s fine,’ he said,
and he
follow
ed
her into the house.

He sat down in the armchair and forced himself to sit patiently while she put her bags in the kitchen and then went and rummaged in one of the upstairs rooms. At last she came back downstairs, made them each a coffee
and
sank
down on to the sofa opposite him
.

‘I seem to have bought enough food to feed a whole army
,’ she said. ‘
As always.’

‘Look, if it’s not rude,
Jess, can we cut to the chase? H
ave you heard from Evie? Do you know what’s going on
? B
ecause I haven’t a clue and I’m worried about her
.
’

‘Has it occurred to you that if she wanted to speak to you, her phone wouldn’t be switched off and she’d be where you could find her?’ Jess asked bluntly, watching Tom over the rim of the mug as she sipped her coffee.

‘But why wouldn’t she want to speak to me? What can have happened to make her take off like that?’ He stared at her, bewildered.

‘Who knows what goes on in other people’s heads?’

‘You do know where she is, don’t you? She must have called you.’

‘Nope, I’ve no idea where she is, but she did phone earlier – you’re right about that
.
’

‘And?’

‘And nothing. It wasn’t
exactly
a conversation
–
she just said that someone had done the dirty on her, but she didn’t expect me to believe her, and she ended the ca
ll. That’s all I can tell you. I
t’s more or less the same as she said to you.’

‘Do you have any idea what she means?’

‘I’m not sure. Nor is Rachel – she phoned Rachel, too, and Rachel called me after she’d spoken to Evie. We can make a guess, but it’s such a far-fetched idea that we could be wrong and we’re not going to say anything. Not this side of the weekend, anyway.’

‘Do you mind if I stay here for a bit until she comes back? Presumably she’ll have to come b
ack at some point tonight. I
f it’s not convenient,
though,
I can always sit in the car.’

Jess hesitated a moment. ‘I’m afraid you might have a long wait. When I got in, I checked Evie’s room – she’s been back here since leaving your house and s
he’s taken some clothes. A
lso, her make up and stuff have gone. I don’t think she plans on coming back for at least a few days.’

‘Gone? Gone where?’

‘I’m sorry but I’ve absolutely no idea.’ She stood up. ‘I hate to say it, Tom, but I’ve got to get changed
– I must get
off shortly to meet some friends. And no, Evie isn’t one of them. I’d tell you if she was. I promise you that if she rings again, I’ll try to persuade her to call you
,
but that’s the best I can do, I’m afraid.’

He
stood up
,
pulled
his wallet out of his pocket,
took out a couple of business cards and handed them to Jess. ‘There’s a card for you and one for Rachel; you’ll find my number on it. I’d be grateful if you asked Rachel to call me if she has any news.’

‘Right you are.’ She started to lead the way to the front door. ‘I’m sorry for what Evie’s doing to you, Tom
.
I can see that you’re really upset. I promise I’ll contact you if there’s anything at all to tell you.’

‘What about her parents?
’ He stopped abruptly, a note of hope lifting his voice. ‘Girls always go back to their mothers, don’t they?’

‘Not if their parents are in Australia, they don’t
.
Or at least, certainly not on the spur of the moment
.
I think you need papers and visas and whatnots. Anyway
,
I can’t see her turning to her parents. Even though she loves them, she’s not seen them for yonks. I can’t imagine her running off to them just because she’s done something wrong and everything’s
in a mess
.’

‘So you
do
think she’s done something wrong?’ He stared intently at her. ‘Yes, you do. I can see it in your face.’

‘I don’t know what to think, Tom, I really don’t.
’ She hesitated. ‘I can make a guess at what it might be, but it’s so unlikely, and such a long shot,
that
I’m not going to say
any
more than that.
All I know
for certain
is
that
if she did do something she shouldn’t have done, it’ll have only been because she was put in a position where she couldn’t avoid doing it. I’m not saying any more now
–
I think I’ve p
robably said more than I should
as it is.’ She walked to the front door, opened it and stepped back to let Tom pass through.

Nodding
to her
,
he went out of the house, got into his car and drove off.

Evie stared at the
last two
message
s
she’d just received on her mobile: one from Rachel and one from Jess, both of them urging her to get in touch with Tom
. He was worried.
He
deserved an explanation of what was going on.
They all did.

That was today. T
hings would change
on
Monday, once everyone knew the truth. Or thought they knew the truth.
She hated herself
for what had happened
, and if
she
hated herself for what
she’d done,
then she could just imagine the way
that
Tom was going to feel
about her
.

She scrolled back and looked at all
of
the
missed call
s
and
message
s from Tom
. She
’d read the first two texts
he’d sent her
, and then no more – their warmth and anxiety hurt too much.
Sh
e looked again at the last me
ssages from Rachel and Jess, then she
turned the phone off and tucked it back into her pocket.
O
n
Monday
,
the messages
would
change
their
tune
and there was no way she was going to read them
. T
he phone would stay off.

Tom
went slowly up the stairs to his study and sat down behind his desk.

If she’d left Camden Town and wasn’t with Jess and Rachel – and he was pretty sure that Jess wasn’t lying – and she wasn’t with her parents, where could she be? It hit home hard to him that he didn’t really know her that well. Apart from Rachel and Jess, he’d never heard her mention any friends
,
except Gabriela, of course.

Gabriela! He sat bolt upright. Now that was a possibility.

Gabriela might
well know where Evie had gone.
T
he
re was a real chance that Evie
might have
taken refuge with her from whatever it was. She and Gabriela
had
spent quite a bit of time together recently and had
obviously
been hitting it off brilliantly. If they hadn’t, Evie and her friends would never have taken Gabriela out with them in the evening
. Doing t
hat was way
beyond the field of duty, so to speak.