Cold Justice (17 page)

She listened to the waves crashing on the beach below. A noise at the left side of the house drew her attention. The sound of something moving there. She strained to see what it was. As she took a few steps towards the sound and shone her phone torch into the area, the bin storage, a badger reared onto its hind legs and Willis took a step backwards. She looked around her for a stick or something to scare it off with, but headlights in the driveway were enough and it was gone.

The police driver pulled in and switched off the engine. Lauren got out of the car and seemed grateful to see Willis. Willis had a chat with the driver. He took out his bag from the car and said his goodbyes as he walked off, closing the gate behind him. Lauren stood looking at the house, her bags and the dog cage on the ground beside her.

‘Do you want a hand to bring anything in?’ Willis asked, as Lauren seemed hesitant.

No, it’s okay, thanks, I can manage.’ She looked apprehensive.

‘It has already been searched,’ Willis said, and instantly regretted the way it sounded.

Lauren nodded her understanding. She stood by her car and looked around her in a daze.

‘Not how I imagined it. It’s big – very grand, but not very pretty.’

‘It’s lovely in the day. Well, it’s less stern anyway. You brought the dog?’ Ebony was pleased to see Russell.

‘Yeah, I felt sorry for him. He doesn’t know what’s going on any more than we do.’

Lauren clipped the lead on the dog’s collar and lifted him out onto the driveway; he went for a wee. When he’d finished he started shivering.

‘Let’s get inside.’ Willis picked up her bag and the dog cage and followed Lauren. A security light came on as they approached the house. There was a white veranda over the porch and a statue of Pan was perched just inside. Either side of the porch were two large bay windows with ornate brickwork patterns around the window, their own slate roofs.

Lauren unlocked the door. ‘There’s no alarm, I take it?’ She turned to Willis.

‘It’s not working any more, according to Stokes.’

She walked on into the hallway. It had dark wooden panels on the walls, a herringbone red and green tile on the floor, and a large carved newel post at the bottom of the stairs.

‘Do you want me to set Russell up in the kitchen?’ asked Willis.

‘Yes, please.’

Willis headed down the hallway to the kitchen, and put Russell’s cage on the floor beside the long oak table that had benches either side. The place was a sturdy mix of original features and prettied-up plush interior design. She found his bowls in a bag and gave him some water, then she put the kettle on.

Lauren came into the kitchen. ‘The wood-burner is all made up, ready to go. I’ve never used one, but I guess we can figure it out. It’s strange being in this place. It feels like we’re intruding. It’s a pretty overbearing place.’

‘I think we just need to get used to it. Let’s have a look around,’ said Willis. ‘We’ll light the wood-burner first.’

‘It’s in here.’

Lauren led the way into one of the three rooms at the front of the house. It had dark wood flooring and dark red walls with panels of flock wallpaper. Ornate mirrors and heavy brocade curtains made it dark.

‘Do you think we’re going to sit in here?’

‘Probably not, but let’s light it anyway.’ Lauren waited while Willis got the fire lit and then closed the wood-burner when it got going.

They walked around the lower floor, which had been given a makeover but still had a Victorian feel.

Willis was imagining what Carter would say once he saw the interior of Kellis House. It wouldn’t matter that it wasn’t a glass and chrome chalet. It would be added to his list of ‘houses I have fallen in love with’. It would keep Cabrina in raptures.

‘Shall we check out the bedrooms?’ Lauren asked.

Russell followed them as they walked up the first flight of stairs and onto a landing that had a small library space, a sitting area and a desk. The bathroom was to the left – an enormous roll-top bath with gold feet and a walk-in wet room.

‘Boy – he seems to have spent a lot of money on this place,’ said Lauren as she stepped into the first of the bedrooms. It was all heavy dark wood and red velvet, silk curtains and gold swag. ‘Not exactly country chic, is it?’

‘He liked his bling – we saw that in the place in Canary Wharf,’ answered Willis. ‘He liked things to look and be expensive.’

‘How strange,’ Lauren said as she walked around the room looking at it all, bemused. ‘That’s just so different to Toby. Toby likes no clutter, no colour. No mess of any kind. This place looks like it would be a nightmare to clean. It has so many nooks and crannies.’

‘At least these next two rooms are simply furnished,’ said Willis as they looked at the other bedrooms on that landing, which were done out in more simple cottons and patchwork bedspreads. There was a pretty pattern of small rosebuds on the curtains and the furniture was white and French.

‘This is much more like it,’ Lauren said as she followed Willis into the second of the rooms on the landing. They went on up the stairs to what would have been the servants’ quarters in the original house and found one massive suite.

‘This must be his master’s suite.’ Lauren shook her head. ‘Definitely over-the-top.’

Up the third flight of stairs was a room with a four-poster. It had a chesterfield in the corner. Its heavy brocade curtains were opulent purples and gold.

‘Look at this,’ Lauren called from the bathroom.

Willis joined her and stood speechless in the middle of a marble-clad wet room with a bath in the centre and a double sink.

‘This isn’t exactly a family-friendly house, is it? We haven’t seen any cots or bunks,’ said Lauren.

‘No. I haven’t seen the telly yet either,’ said Willis.

She walked back through to the front of the house and the lounge on her right where the wood-burner was fully alight and throwing out some heat. Willis closed the curtains in the rooms and went to find Lauren.

Lauren was sitting at the kitchen table.

‘Can I get you anything?’ Willis asked as she put the kettle back on and looked in the cupboards.

‘Yes, a glass of wine, please.’

‘Okay.’ Willis opened the cupboards looking for any sign of a bottle. She was surprised to see that the cupboards were well stocked.

‘There’s some already in the fridge. I saw it there,’ Lauren said. She was sitting with her head resting on her hands, watching Willis. Russell was doing a smelling tour of the kitchen.

‘Are you calling Toby this evening?’ asked Willis as she took the wine from the fridge door.

Lauren nodded.

Willis and Carter already knew about Jeanie’s day with Toby and what she’d learned. Willis knew that it would be fair to tell Lauren but decided she just wasn’t able to. She was hoping Toby would do it for her.

Willis found a corkscrew and made a mess of opening the bottle. After several attempts Lauren got up and took it off her.

‘We only have one cold bottle so I better take over.’ She smiled. ‘You’re not much of a wine connoisseur then?’

‘No – more of a Coca-Cola expert. What do you want to do this evening?’

Willis found a glass for Lauren.

‘I want to go through it all. I want to know what the police are working on. I want to know exactly what you think has happened. I want to be kept informed about everything.’

‘Okay, Lauren. I’ll do my best to tell you everything I know.’

Willis made herself a cup of tea, still thinking about what she should say and what she shouldn’t. She was trying to think what Jeanie would do and decided she’d phone and ask her later. She texted Carter as she set Lauren’s wine down and sat across the table from her. Lauren picked up a pad of paper and a pen.

‘Where do you want to start?’ Willis looked at the blank pad of paper.

‘I want to start with Samuel.’ She put Samuel’s name in block capitals in the middle of the page – from him she drew a line and wrote ‘Toby’ and then her own name.

She stopped and looked at what she’d written and then up at Willis.

‘Do you think he’s still alive?’ Willis didn’t answer straight away.

‘Honestly? I do, you know. Carter does and he’s the best judge of these things. He has an instinct about people, about what motivates them. He thinks someone has Samuel for a purpose, which we will get to the bottom of. He thinks that they won’t harm him, they will keep him until they achieve that purpose.’

‘What purpose?’

‘Something to do with money and this house; and to do with the man who owned it.’

Lauren breathed in through her nose deeply and sighed as she exhaled. Willis’s answer seemed to have exhausted Lauren but the lines on her worried face eased slightly. She seemed calmer.

‘I am sure he’s out there somewhere,’ Lauren said. ‘He’s calling for me somewhere. My heart is breaking but a part of me feels hope still.’

‘What about Toby? Does he feel the same?’

‘I don’t know what Toby feels,’ she answered dismissively. ‘Since it happened he has hardly answered one of my questions. He’s shut up shop. Yes, I know he feels like it’s his fault and Christ knows so do I. I mean, what kind of father is he? He told me he never wanted Samuel. I always knew that I got pregnant against his wishes. Ultimately it’s just as much my fault as his. I forced Toby into a corner and he’s tried his best to make himself fit into it but he can’t. Somehow I don’t care about him any more. I realize I only married him to have Samuel.’

She shook her head. ‘No, that’s just not true. I loved him, I fancied him. He was so sweet to me. We had a whirlwind romance and then that was it. A few months later I found I was pregnant, no surprise to me, big surprise for him. He tried to be happy but I knew he felt disappointed, more than that really. He felt I’d cheated him in a way. And I had.’

‘How has he been recently?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The build-up to his dad’s funeral and afterwards? He said he didn’t get on with his father, but still . . .’

‘He’s been upset, distracted. He’s been nervous about everything but he didn’t talk about specifics. I shouldn’t have let him take Samuel out – his mind was elsewhere. He couldn’t look after him properly. I shouldn’t have trusted him. Christ!’

She stood abruptly.

‘I can’t stay inside a moment longer. Can we go for a look around the area – we might find something to help Samuel. Why aren’t the police looking for him down here?’

‘We are, I promise you. Both Carter and I have been searching places today. The helicopter has been up. We are looking, I promise.’

Willis felt her phone buzz in her pocket – she got a text from Carter.

‘Excuse me, Lauren.’

How is she?

Tense
, she replied,
we’re going out for a drive.

I’ll stay here and wait for locals to appear
, Carter replied.
Watch yourself – don’t go off-piste.

Ebony drove slowly on the unlit lanes. Russell settled down in the back of the car. Lauren took out a map she’d printed of the area.

‘I wanted to see what’s around – I need to get my bearings.’

‘I understand.’

They drove down the winding lane towards Penhal and the beach. The shops were all dark, closed up for the night.

Willis drove past the shops and away from the beach, up and out of the village on the other side, past the bed-and-breakfasts and small guesthouses, bungalows perched on the side of the winding lane, until the stone walls and high hedges took over again and the stars were the only light to break up the darkness.

Lauren used the light on her phone to look at the map in her hand.

‘It’s hard to know where to start,’ she said, exasperated.

Willis pulled over into a layby.

‘Can I see?’

She handed the map across to Willis.

‘We should start on this side tonight and work our way across section by section. Let’s look at this part here, since we’re this side, and then we can work across bit by bit. I think we should concentrate on places where there are buildings. There are lots of tiny farm tracks that we might have to be careful of. I don’t want us to get stuck in the middle of nowhere. But these lanes are going to be easier to negotiate when we can see lights rather than in the day when we could hit a tractor. I think we should look at this section here.’ She showed Lauren the map and ringed the area she had in mind. ‘We are here. And I suggest we take the next right.’

Lauren nodded her agreement as she took the map back from Willis.

After more than an hour of driving Willis headed for home.

‘We’ve made a good start, Lauren, don’t get despondent. We’ll continue tomorrow. Dan Carter will be coming over later this evening and the three of us will tackle it together. That is, unless you tell me you’re not up to it, and I’d understand if that’s so.’

‘I’m up for anything that has a chance of finding my son,’ she answered indignantly.

‘Of course. I’m sorry.’

As they drove back through Penhal they passed the Surfshack. Willis looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was nine. She pulled over and parked outside.

‘Stay in the car for me a minute, Lauren, while I take a look.’

It was too dark – she could no longer see the sea although she could still hear it pounding and crashing on the beach: it was a black menace beneath the clouded night sky. She shivered.

From somewhere at the back of the shop, a light was on. The glow from the window in the Surfshack was faint, but definite. Willis walked Russell around to the front of the building and up the steps. Inside the window were posters of bronzed surfers. Willis cupped her hands to see if she could make out movement, but she couldn’t. She walked around to the side of the building that had the goods entrance and was elevated up a few steps from the hard-standing car park. As she made her way back around towards the front she saw a light come on in the shop. She doubled back and knocked on the glass. There was movement, then it stopped: froze. She leaned in to look through the glass. She looked towards the car where a man was now leaning in and talking to Lauren.