Missing (31 page)

‘There, there,’ he said, edging close enough to take her in his arms. ‘No need to cry like that now. Old Tom has got you.’

Kelsey was too distraught to speak. She could only let him hold her tight to his earthy-smelling coat and rock her from side to side. It felt good, and safe, and she wanted to stay with him for ever.

‘There, you’m all right now,’ Tom said, in his throaty burr. ‘Wondered where on earth you was off to, I did. That time of the morning. Thought I’d better foller.’

Kelsey tried to reply, but her chest was racked with sobs and her throat was too tight.

‘Come on,’ he said, starting to lead her back along the trail. ‘You’m nice and safe now. Old Tom’s got you,
so
we’ll just give yer dad a ring, shall we, and let him know you’re all right.’

Miles was waiting at the gate behind the house, barely noticing the icy cut to the wind as he watched Tom bringing Kelsey down through the back field. His failure to shield her from the worst of what was happening was almost tearing him apart. He understood the depths of her fear, he could almost feel it as his own, but while he wanted to rage against a world that was recklessly planting such terrible suspicions, he knew that his anger would only frighten her more.

As they drew closer he could see her face, blotched and swollen and so heart-rendingly unsure. Her eyes were wide and haunted, and as she looked at him he doubted he’d ever felt more impotent or anxious in his life. What was he going to say to try and put her fears to rest? How was he going to explain, or soothe, or make any difference to the dreadful turmoil inside her? He needed desperately to reach her, to return somehow to the place he’d always held in her trust, but if her barriers were still up, if she was still bent on protecting herself …

Pushing open the gate he kept his eyes on hers, then to his unutterable relief she broke free of Tom and ran into his arms.

‘Daddy,’ she sobbed, as he scooped her up and buried his face in her hair. ‘Daddy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to run away. I just got so frightened …’

‘Sssh, it’s all right,’ he told her softly, holding her tight and struggling to prevent his own tears. ‘Just as long as you’re here.’

Her arms and legs stayed round him, clinging to
him
the way she had as a child, and not wanting to let her go he clung to her too.

After a while his eyes met Tom’s and he nodded his thanks for the old man’s quick thinking when he’d spotted Kelsey running along the top lane. Wasting no time he’d gone after her, calling Miles on his mobile to let him know what was happening. At that point Miles hadn’t even known she’d left her room.

When finally they were back in the house warming themselves next to the Aga, he smoothed the hair back from her face as he said, ‘I won’t ask where you were going, or what you were doing, I’m just going to swear to you that none of the rumours are true.’

Her shoulders jerked on a sob. ‘I know,’ she said shakily. ‘I mean, in here,’ she touched her chest, ‘I know, but sometimes I get really scared. It’s like everyone’s going to leave me, or no one really cares about me …’

‘Don’t
ever
think that,’ he said, wrapping her in his arms again. ‘You’re my world, and if anything should happen to you …’ His voice cracked with emotion as the mere thought of it overwhelmed him.

She stayed close to him, holding him tight, as though afraid to let go. In the end, with her face still buried in his shoulder she said, ‘Can it be just us, Dad? Please. I mean, if Mum’s—’ She broke off and he felt her tensing ready for his reply.

Knowing she was trying to ask him to turn his back on Vivienne and Rufus he closed his eyes and willed himself to come up with the right words. But there were none she’d want to hear, so for now the best he could do was, ‘I think we should run you a nice hot bath, and when you’re ready, we can sit down and have a talk …’

Pulling abruptly away she said, ‘I want to go back to school.’

He watched her turn towards the door, her movements stiff with the pain of being denied his assurance. ‘I’m not sure you should, just yet,’ he said, worried that letting her go might seem like an even bigger rejection.

She stopped at the door and turned back to look at him, pale and drawn, and looking so desperately lonely that he came very close to telling her what she wanted to hear.

They both looked at his mobile as it started to ring. It was lying on the table, too far away for either of them to see who it was. Whether she hoped it was her mother he had no way of telling, though he knew that she too would be afraid it was the news they were dreading the most. In the end he walked over to pick it up. ‘Miles Avery,’ he said quietly.

Hearing the voice at the other end, his eyes went to Kelsey. ‘Good morning, Inspector,’ he replied. ‘What can I do for you?’

As he listened, he continued to look at Kelsey, occasionally glancing towards the window, or nodding, until finally he said, ‘I see. Well thank you for letting me know.’

He could feel Kelsey’s eyes on him as he put the mobile back on the table, and knew that he’d have to pass on what Sadler had just told him, though heaven only knew how she was going to take any comfort from it.

‘They’ve found her, haven’t they?’ Kelsey said, her voice rising with panic.

‘No,’ he answered quickly. ‘No, they haven’t. What’s happened is that someone’s come forward who knew the man they found in the woods.’

She waited, her eyes wide with misgiving.

‘Apparently this person found Mum’s things about a month ago,’ he continued. ‘They were in a communal bin, close to the station. He and his friend, Timothy Grainger, used the money they found in the purse to buy beer and spirits, and kept the other things to try and sell them. Then, because they had the address of Moorlands and a set of keys, they had the idea of coming here to try and break in. They brought the bag along so they could say they were intending to return it if someone spotted them before they managed to get in. It seems too much alcohol sent their plans awry, and they ended up camping out on the edge of the moor, using some of Mum’s clothes to keep themselves warm.’

Kelsey didn’t move, or even try to speak.

‘The plan, apparently,’ he went on, ‘was to try again the next night, once they’d sobered up, but, as we know, Grainger didn’t sober up.’ He sighed and pressed his fingers into his eyes. ‘When his friend found him in the morning he panicked, thinking somehow he would get the blame, so he attempted to bury Mum’s things and the body and ran away.’

Kelsey was still staring at him, clearly trying to take it all in.

‘I’m afraid all this tells us,’ he said gruffly, ‘is how her belongings came to be out there in the woods. We don’t know how they got into the bin.’

Kelsey took a breath, then looked away, apparently unable or unwilling to speak.

Not knowing what else to say, Miles said, ‘How about that bath?’

Her eyes flicked upwards, but didn’t come to his, then without uttering a word she turned to leave.

He stood watching her walking out into the hall, wishing with all his might that she was still young enough for him to go and sponge away the mud and huddle her warmly into a towel, the way he used to when she was small. Then he could lie down on the bed with her and try to smooth away her pain. However, at fourteen she could no longer share that kind of intimacy with her father, which he might have found easier to bear if her mother weren’t creating, instead of filling, the void.

Chapter Fourteen

‘AS FAR AS
Miles is concerned, I can’t tell you anything,’ Vivienne was saying as she gazed down at Rufus’s sleeping face. ‘He still hasn’t called.’

‘Have you spoken to him since they found her clothes and stuff?’ Pete asked, glancing at Alice to make sure he wasn’t delving too far.

Vivienne shook her head. ‘I heard about it the same way you did, on the news,’ she replied, and her eyes moved absently to the window where a mass of white cloud was scudding through a clear blue sky. ‘I’ve left enough messages,’ she said. ‘I thought he might have called back by now, with Rufus’s picture being all over the front page.’ She looked down at one of them lying on her desk and felt a swell of love, edged with anxiety.

Drawing a breath, she looked up and found the others watching her so intently that it made her uneasy, as though the world’s scrutiny had somehow broken into the sanctuary of their office. ‘Enough,’ she said, putting the paper aside. ‘We have work to do. All of us. Where’s Kayla?’

‘Should be here any minute,’ Alice answered. ‘She rang to say she’d be late. When are you two setting off for Devon?’

Vivienne glanced at Pete. ‘Hopefully tomorrow afternoon,’ she replied. ‘Will that work for you?’

He threw out his hands. ‘At your disposal, darling,’ he assured her. ‘La Belle is in New York until the end of next week and though I have to say the English countryside doesn’t normally hold much appeal, since we’re going to be so
thrillingly
close to—’

‘Pete, we’re going to need some prelim figures for La Belle,’ Alice cut in quickly. ‘You’re taking Rufus to Devon, are you?’ she said to Vivienne.

Though Vivienne nodded, her attention was now focused on her computer screen, where several flagged emails were still in need of her urgent attention. However, none was from Miles, which was upsetting her much more than it might have a week ago. Surely to God he had to be sparing at least a moment of concern for his son, and she wouldn’t mind knowing that she featured in there somewhere too. OK, he had a lot on his mind, but if he’d just communicate once in a while she might find it easier to deal with this situation.

‘Maybe he can’t,’ Alice said when she voiced her frustration. ‘I mean we don’t actually know what’s going on down there, do we?’

‘I’m aware of that, but a phone call from my
son’s father
to let me know what I might expect to read or hear about him in the next few days surely isn’t too much to ask.’

Alice’s tone was gentle as she said, ‘I’m sure he’ll be in touch as soon as he can.’

‘If he’s not arrested first,’ Pete dared to pipe up.

Vivienne shot him a scathing look.

With saucer eyes Pete planted his hands on his hips. ‘Well, excuse me for breathing, but there’s a body, clothes—’

‘Which don’t belong to one another.’

‘Maybe not, but I read somewhere this morning—’

Stepping in again, Alice said, ‘Is anyone up for a brainstorm? I’d like to run some ideas past you for the film, and I have to leave here in half an hour.’

Pete shrugged. ‘Count me in,’ he said chirpily. ‘Shall I put the phones through to voicemail?’

‘No way,’ Alice replied. ‘You drew the short straw to stand in for Kayla, and I’m waiting for at least a dozen calls.’

‘Me too,’ Vivienne told him. ‘Mainly from charities. It’s vital we link up with one of them to give us a tax break on the auction. And don’t forget, you’re supposed to be screening for me. No one gets through who’s trying for some kind of statement about Miles.’

‘All right, all right,’ Pete grumbled.

Ten minutes later, with the brainstorm barely under way, Kayla came bursting in through the door loaded down with toys for Rufus, a supply of assorted sandwiches for lunch and extra biscuits to go with the coffee.

‘If we’re going to be trapped in here by the press all day, we need supplies,’ she informed them, dropping her purchases on her desk. Then, going straight to the pushchair, ‘Is he awake? Oh, look at him, he’s so adorable. He’s smiling at me and he hardly even knows me. Can I pick him up?’

Rolling her eyes, Vivienne gestured for her to go ahead, proud on the one hand of how sociable Rufus was, but worried on the other about how quickly the novelty of having him around was going to wear off.

Minutes later Alice was bouncing him up and down, and Rufus was in raptures, since he adored his crinkly-haired aunt with whom he’d spent many weekends
when
Vivienne had brought him to London to give her mother a break. Alice and Angus had even come over to the house the night Vivienne had returned from Berkshire, bringing takeaways and wine, and making such a fuss of their godson that it had taken Vivienne until the early hours to get him off to sleep.

Now, as Alice hugged and tickled him, and appeared to forget all about the brainstorm, Pete, who claimed to have an allergic reaction to any human being less than five feet ten inches high, dropped to his knees in a ludicrous game of peekaboo. Vivienne could only shake her head and laugh at how absurdly delighted Pete looked each time Rufus let out a shriek of mirth, then clapped his hands to his own little face to start playing the game too.

Wondering how disruptive she should allow him to be when everyone seemed so much more interested in entertaining him than in the tasks at hand, she turned back to her computer to start answering some emails. As she opened the first one she was dimly aware of Kayla taking a call, but not until Kayla put the caller on hold and said, ‘Vivi, it’s Al Kohler,’ did Vivienne stop what she was doing and turn round.

‘He says it’s about the auction,’ Kayla told her. ‘He also says he’s going to make your day.’

Vivienne smiled at the kick of pleasure she felt inside. Al Kohler had been Miles’s deputy until Miles had resigned from his editorship, at which point Al had departed the same shores and was now one of the senior producers of Sky News. Since he and Miles would almost certainly have remained close friends, Vivienne had little difficulty in trusting him, so if he was saying he wanted to make her day, she was more than ready to take him up on it.

‘Al, hi, how are you?’ she said, clicking on her extension.

‘I’m just great,’ he told her, his familiar Scottish brogue coming warmly down the line. ‘How are you?’

‘Well, I guess I’ve had better times,’ she responded wryly. ‘You’ll know about Rufus by now …’

‘A bonnie wee lad, if the pictures I’ve seen are anything to go by. I’m happy for you, hen. I’ll look forward to meeting him one of these days.’

‘I have a feeling he’ll enjoy meeting you too.’ Vivienne smiled as she watched Rufus toddling into the kitchen with Pete. ‘Anyway, I’ve been informed that you’re going to make my day – as if hearing from you hasn’t done that already.’