Missing (41 page)

‘Kelsey, this is becoming childish. I’ve apologised for not texting back, I’ve said good morning, now what more do you want?’

‘Don’t bother,’ she snapped and the line went dead.

Sighing wearily, he clicked his phone off and closed his eyes. ‘Did you hear any of that?’ he asked.

‘All of it,’ Vivienne confessed. ‘She’s lonely and afraid, but she doesn’t want to admit it.’

He turned to look at her, his eyes gazing far into hers as though still not quite able to believe she was there.

‘Has she mentioned Jacqueline since you told her about the call to the police?’ she asked, brushing the backs of her fingers over his cheek.

He shook his head. ‘She hasn’t mentioned you either, and I told her you were going to be in Devon.’

‘She’s got a lot to be dealing with.’

He continued to look at her, leaving her in no doubt of how deeply his feelings ran. ‘She’ll have to start coming to terms with the fact that you’re in my life,’ he said gruffly, ‘because I’m not letting you go again.’

Smiling, she moved forward to kiss him.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said, ‘if she’s going to Martha’s for the weekend, I should come to London with you. Apart from not wanting to let either of you
out
of my sight, I’d like to check the house in Richmond where we used to live, find out who’s there now, and if anyone might have seen Jacqueline.’

‘Haven’t the police already done that?’

‘If they have they haven’t told me. But being in the area might trigger something for me that’s not coming to mind now.’

‘Will you stay with us?’ she asked, snuggling in closer.

‘I’m not sure. I want to, but if there’s any press hanging around …’ He let the sentence drift as he ran his fingers up into her hair.

‘They seem to have backed off a little since Jacqueline contacted the police,’ she reminded him.

‘No more mystery, so no more scandal,’ he commented dryly. Then, ‘I’m sorry for bringing all this chaos into your life.’

She was about to protest when Rufus let out a sudden wail. ‘Not for that chaos, though,’ she teased.

‘No, definitely not for him,’ he said, and turning over he scooped Rufus out of the crib to bring him into bed with them. ‘Good morning, little fellow,’ he murmured. ‘I was wondering when you were going to join us.’

‘Mum, mum,’ Rufus chanted, waving his fists and kicking out his feet.

‘You do realise your timing isn’t great, don’t you?’ Miles asked him.

Rufus yawned, then gave a loud burp that made them both laugh.

‘My mother doesn’t go to Italy until next Monday,’ Vivienne said, putting a finger into Rufus’s hand. ‘I could ask her to have him for the weekend.’

Miles didn’t even hesitate. ‘I’d rather he was with
us,’
he said, ‘or you, if I end up staying in Kensington.’

She smiled. As disruptive and demanding as Rufus could be, she understood perfectly Miles’s need to make up for lost time, as well as the overprotectiveness that was only to be expected, considering his past.

‘I guess I should go and make his lordship some breakfast,’ she said, starting a luxurious stretch then losing it to a laugh as Miles poked her in the ribs.

‘At last,’ he said. ‘I’ll have coffee and toast, no butter, just marmalade. Two slices should be enough.’

Eyes twinkling, she said, ‘And what would his lordship’s son be requiring?’

‘What do you say, Rufus?’ he asked, swinging him up in the air. ‘Soldiers and a boiled egg? Yes? Good man. Then that’s what it shall be.’

Reluctantly sliding out of bed she reached for her robe, sorry to be dressing when they’d come so close to making love, but happy just for this precious time together.

After kissing them both she started down the stairs, wondering what the weather was doing, if it was hampering or helping work at the stables, where over the past couple of days everyone had swung into action to turn the barn into a studio-cum-saleroom. Luckily, the uninvited press was much less in evidence now, which made coming and going a great deal easier. The local lads who’d been called in to act as security were lending a hand with anything that needed doing, from driving, to building, to getting Theo and the firemen to sign photographs. The lads themselves were intending to sell these on the big day – and then on the Internet – to contribute to the cause.

Sighing to herself, Vivienne put on the kettle and slotted two slices of bread into the toaster. She was
thinking
about Kelsey now and how, under any other circumstances, she’d probably have loved to be involved in the auction too, and Vivienne would have loved to invite her. However, with the way things stood Kelsey would almost certainly reject out of hand even the merest suggestion of coming anywhere near it, simply because of Vivienne’s part in it all. It was such a pity, but Vivienne had to concede that for the moment at least there was nothing to be done about it, particularly as Miles hadn’t yet told Kelsey about how much time he was spending with Rufus.

Chapter Eighteen

MORE LAUGHTER WAS
ringing out around the stable yard than hammering, sawing and drilling as the vast wooden barn underwent its transformation. Camera platforms and catwalks were being crafted from locally donated plywood, a bank of split-screen TV monitors was already covering the back wall, and crudely knocked-together bench tables were starting to line up all along one side. These were for the two dozen phone lines that a small team of BT engineers was already installing, while the catwalks were for Theo and the firemen to strut their stuff.

It was still too early for rehearsals of any kind to take place on set – they were being fitted in at the fire station, between shifts and emergency calls. However, it wasn’t stopping the construction crew from mincing about the barn like dancers, teasing the WI ladies who dropped in either to help, or deliver freshly baked cakes and pies, and generally whipping up the kind of saucy hilarity that TV crews were famous for.

Stella was in her element, having set up a small canteen area where she served the food and flirted shamelessly with her customers. She was particularly outrageous when the camera was on her, which was often, as a daily update of the project’s progress was
being
screened each morning on Sky News. The TV package was always presented by Theo, whom Vivienne had made official spokesperson for the auction, and regularly featured interviews with Sharon, who was still waiting to hear when her transplant could happen (so the nation was experiencing her tension). The firemen, whose dance rehearsals were hilarious, also appeared regularly, together with reminders of how the audience could already start making their bids – or straight donations, if they preferred.

‘Please tell me,’ Pete demanded as Vivienne pulled up in the stable yard around eleven, ‘that I’m the one going to London for when Theo and the firemen do a calendar shoot in the buff?’

Vivienne laughed, and grimaced an apology. ‘Sorry,’ she said, turning to lift Rufus from the car. ‘I have to meet with Al Kohler and a charity rep on Tuesday, so I have to be in London anyway – and you’re needed here.’

With a flamboyant toss of his head Pete stuck out his arms to take Rufus, and wiggled off over the puddled courtyard with him, leaving Vivienne to follow on with her files and clipboard.

By midday she was seated at a table she’d requisitioned as a desk, either dealing with phone calls, or running through an ever-changing procedure with Sky’s production manager. Rufus had been whisked off to the manège by Stella and Theo, who were also taking charge of Sharon’s children for the day, and as they trotted around on the Shetlands, even with all the noise in the barn Vivienne could hear the children’s shrieks of delight.

As one particularly piercing yell travelled into the
barn
she paused for a moment to listen, and found her thoughts drifting to Miles and how happy she was that he was finally in Rufus’s life. From there it was a short step to wishing they were in private together somewhere right now, finishing what they’d hardly even started this morning.

‘Al Kohler wants to talk to you,’ Pete said, interrupting her reverie as he brought his mobile over.

Taking it, Vivienne said, ‘Al, when are you coming down this way?’

‘Sooner than you think,’ he replied. ‘We’ve got an earlier transmission slot if you want it. It’s just come up and is yours if you can be ready.’

Gulping with dread, and excitement, she said, ‘When is it?’

‘Saturday week at ten in the morning.’

‘Oh my God!’ she cried. ‘That really doesn’t give us much time, but how can I possibly turn it down?’

‘Thought it might work for you,’ he said drolly. ‘We’ll give it plenty of oomph between now and then. I hear you’ve got a calendar shoot next week, so we’ll be there for that, and I’m about to line up a director to work on the promos. With stuff coming in all the time, he won’t have a problem.’

‘Al, you’re an angel,’ she told him. ‘If we can pull this off the way we’re hoping, you’re going to be making a lot of difference to a lot of people’s lives.’

‘And I’m the only one with a halo?’ he teased.

‘But you look so much cuter in it.’

Laughing, he said, ‘Got to go now. Call if there’s anything, and don’t forget our meeting on Tuesday.’

As she rang off and handed Pete back his phone her own started to ring. Seeing it was Miles she clicked on right away.

‘I’ve just had a call from Kelsey’s headmistress,’ he told her, ‘wanting to know how Kelsey is, and if she’s going to return to school before half-term.’

Vivienne’s heart sank to a horrible depth. ‘But Mrs Davies took her back,’ she protested.

‘Yes, but apparently Kelsey left again the day after I told her about Jacqueline’s call. The headmistress thought I’d come to pick her up.’

‘So where can she be? You’ve spoken to her since, so we have to assume she’s all right … Obviously you’ve tried calling her?’

‘Of course. I was diverted through to voicemail. The last time I actually spoke to her was first thing this morning.’

‘What about her friend, Martha? She has to know where she is.’

‘The headmistress is going to talk to her and get back to me.’

‘What can I do?’

‘For the moment nothing, apart from take care of our son. I’m going upstairs to check Kelsey’s room, and if need be I’ll drive to the school. I’ll call as soon as I have some news.’

After ringing off Vivienne walked over to the manège, where Rufus and Sharon’s children were still riding round in circles on the Shetlands, with Stella and Theo as guides.

Seeing her coming, Theo handed the reins he was holding to Stella, and walked to the fence. ‘Is something the matter?’ he asked, responding to the worried look on Vivienne’s face.

‘Kelsey’s not at school, where she’s supposed to be,’ she told him, smiling faintly at Rufus’s unfailing exuberance.

‘Ah, not good,’ Theo responded. ‘Have you any idea where she might be?’

She shook her head, and her eyes glazed as she stared out across the fields. ‘She’s been calling regularly, but from her mobile, so heaven only knows where she is.’

Theo was starting to look troubled. ‘One of her friends must know,’ he said.

‘That’s what Miles is trying to find out. I’m sure she can’t be far.’

Theo turned as Stella came to join them, with the children and Shetlands in tow.

‘Hello you,’ Vivienne said, catching Rufus as he hurled himself at her.

‘Mum,’ he cried gleefully. ‘Ross.’

‘Yes, it’s a horse,’ she agreed. ‘And you’re a very good rider.’

‘You’m looking a bit glum, you two,’ Stella told them. ‘Has somethin’ ’appened?’

Vivienne handed Rufus to Theo and went to scoop Sharon’s children from their ponies, while Theo told Stella about Kelsey.

When he’d finished Stella filled her cheeks with air and blew it out in an exasperated sigh. ‘Bloody kids, pardon my language,’ she said. ‘They’m more trouble than they’m worth half the time.’ She looked at Vivienne with a meaningful expression. ‘If you asks me, she’s either out there trying to find her mother, or just as likely, she’s doing it to get attention from her father.’

‘Which he gives her all the time,’ Vivienne assured her.

‘Ah, but it’s a bit different now this little rascal’s on the scene, innit?’ she said, chucking Rufus under the
chin.
‘Her position as apple of Daddy’s eye is being threatened.’

‘That’s what worries me,’ Vivienne said.

‘Oh, she won’t be far,’ Stella said, squeezing her arm. ‘Believe me, they never are.’

‘Wherever she is,’ Vivienne muttered, ‘I could brain her for doing this to her father. Considering what’s happening with her mother, the last thing he needs is his daughter getting him caught up in some ludicrous game of hide-and-seek as well.’

‘Tha’s probably what it’s all about,’ Stella told her. ‘Kids that age don’t think about what they’m doing to their parents. And after all that poor girl’s been through, it’d be a miracle if she ever thought about anyone but herself. Bet I wouldn’t if I was her. What about you, Theo?’

‘I’m no expert,’ he responded, ‘but if she really has run away, I bet she’s feeling pretty lonely right now.’

As Kelsey’s headmistress showed Miles into her study Martha Barnes got quickly to her feet, looking nervous, guilty and very much as though she’d like to bolt.

‘I’ll leave you to it, Mr Avery,’ the headmistress said, and lancing Martha with a look that made the girl shrink, she added, ‘If you need me I’ll be next door, in the office.’

After thanking her and waiting until she’d gone, Miles gently told Martha to sit down, and took the other guest chair in front of the desk.

Regarding her bowed head, he cut the preamble and said, ‘You told me on the phone that you don’t know where Kelsey is, but I think you do, Martha, so please, I need you to tell me.’

‘I don’t know,’ she wailed, keeping her head down. ‘Honestly, I don’t.’

‘I’d like you to look at me and say that.’

Her head stayed down as she shook it.

‘Martha, do you realise, if you don’t cooperate with me, I’ll have to contact the police?’

She stiffened, but all she said was, ‘I swear she didn’t tell me where she was going.’