Mortal Crimes: 7 Novels of Suspense (82 page)

“I insist that you tell me. I repeat, what man?”

“It’s just something Cheryl intimated that I should be looking into. She caught a man watching them at the nightclub.”

Mrs. Shaw laughed off the suggestion. “Of course men are going to stare at them. Both my daughters are beautiful and have, no doubt, had many, many admirers over the years.”

Ellen decided to leave the matter there. “I’m sure that’s the case. To be honest, when I questioned the driver, all he said he was guilty of was not seeing Donna to her door. He can’t be held responsible for that in the eyes of the law. So that leaves us back at square one.”

“Well, I can assure you that Will and Donna’s marriage is as rock solid as you can get.”

“No affairs on either side during the course of their marriage?”

“Certainly not. I brought my daughters up to love their husbands fully. My girls are totally different from the girls out their flinging themselves at every Tom, Dick, or Harry. I taught my girls to respect themselves and their other halves. I’m shocked that you should suggest such a thing.”

“No offence intended. These are all questions I should be asking, Mrs. Shaw. Maybe you should reconsider your involvement, your being the go-between. Someone going missing without a trace is a serious scenario. Things often come to light that prove to be appalling for the relatives left behind. Maybe you need to be aware of that before we continue.”

“Of course. I’m sorry. Just ignore me.”

The woman did genuinely seem sorry for her overreaction. “This enquiry will get tougher before it gets any easier. I’m going to do everything I can to bring your daughter home…”

Ellen trailed off as Brian entered the front door.

“Ah, here’s my partner now. Brian, this is Mrs. Shaw, Donna Endersbe’s mother.”

Brian hurriedly threw their lunch on the desk and shook the woman’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Brian. Well, if there is nothing else we can do for each other at this point, I have a luncheon appointment myself down at the golf club.”

“Nice to meet you, too. Please believe us when we say we’ll do everything we can to bring you a happy outcome to this case.”

Ellen had to stifle a grin at the way Brian was overplaying his role. She rose from her desk, as did their visitor. The two women shook hands, and Brian opened the front door to let Mrs. Shaw out.

As soon as the door shut behind their visitor, Ellen went out back to make the coffee. “Boy, do I need this.”

Brian joined her and handed Ellen her roll. “Tough, was it?”

“Mrs. Shaw is now going to be our go-between.”

“How come? She seemed all right to me.” Brian took a huge bite of his roll and dabbed the mayo dripping from the corner of his mouth.

“You pig! Only time will tell if the mother is going to be trouble or not. Only time will tell.” She poured the water over the coffee granules and then took a dainty bite—daintier than Brian’s bite had been, anyway—out of her own roll and moaned. “Yum, love my chicken tikka.”

At the end of another frustrating day in the life of a missing-person hunter, Ellen drove home. Her intestines felt as though they were tied up in gigantic knots as she entered the road where the pub—her home—was situated. No sooner had she walked through the private door at the rear, than she was thrust into the midst of an almighty argument.

“I’ve told you nigh on a hundred times now. I want her out of here.”

“But, Colin, I can’t just throw my daughter out like that.”

The voices were coming from the living room. Ellen was undecided about whether to interrupt her mother and stepfather or just stand in the hallway, eavesdropping. She chose to stay where she was and listened as her stepfather proceeded to slag her off, and her mother continued to defend her, sort of.

“She’s a grown woman, Irene. What is she now? Thirty?”

“Yes, dear. But where will she go?”

“You know what? I really don’t give a damn. You make her life so bloody easy. You still do all her washing and ironing and cooking, for that matter. I’ve heard of blokes staying at home too long with their mums, but not many girls.”

“Be fair, Colin. She did leave home before. It’s not her fault it didn’t work out with whatshisname.”

“Plenty of other kids break up with their partners and go on to find other flats, by
themselves.
Why can’t she?”

“She will. Just give her time. Her work is full on. She doesn’t have the time to go flat hunting.”

“She’s got a month. One month before I throw her out onto the streets. I can’t stand her sulky moods any longer.”

“Yes, dear.”

Ellen tiptoed into her bedroom and started to pack her bags. The next thing she knew, her mother was standing in the doorway, tears misting her eyes, staring at her.

“No need to say anything, Mum. I heard what he said, every word of it.”

“Oh, Ellen, I never wanted it to come to this. This is your home.”

She sighed heavily. “It used to be my home, once upon a time, when dad was alive… before you met him.”

“Now, Ellen, we’ve been through this so many times before. Colin loves you as if you were his own.”

Ellen had to smirk. Her mother really didn’t have a clue about men. Her father had controlled her, not as heavy-handedly as Colin, but he’d controlled her, all the same. Thank God, Jim hadn’t been influenced by the men in their mother’s life. “Of course he does. Why else would he be throwing me out?”

“He’s not. You’re leaving of your own free will.” Her mother walked into the room and held out her arms.

Ellen shook her head and took a step back. That was her mother’s answer to everything—have a cuddle to put the world to rights. “Not this time, Mum. One of these days, it’ll dawn on you what a bastard he is.”

Her mother gasped. “Ellen, take that back immediately.”

“I will not. It’s not my fault that you’re too blind to notice what he’s up to. Ever since he stepped into this pub, it’s been his intention to rule the roost. Jim and I will never get any inheritance due to us, from dad’s side of things, I mean, while he’s putting his oar in.”

“We discussed this when your father died. Both you and Jim were happy to leave your inheritance tied up in the pub.”

“We were back then, yes. That was before he came along. Now all he does all day is drink the profits. You tell me what his input has been in the business over the past two years?”

Her mother looked saddened and shocked by Ellen’s words. They needed saying, though. She’d held her tongue still for far too long where that wastrel was concerned.

“Umm…well, I like to run the business. It’s hard for him to contribute.”

“And why is that, Mum? I’ll tell you why. He’s a lazy bastard.”

“That’s enough! I will not allow you to talk about the man I love like that.”

“And that’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? He can say what he effing likes about me, but I’ve got to keep my mouth shut. That’s fine, Mum. You’ve made your choice. I’ll be out of your hair in ten minutes.”

Her mother shook her head and turned with her shoulders slumped. Then she walked out of Ellen’s bedroom, quietly closing the door behind her. An unexpected lump formed in Ellen’s throat. She coughed it away and continued to throw her clothes into the suitcase lying on the bed.

When she’d finished packing all her clothes and collected her toiletries from the bathroom, she sat on the bed and rang her brother.

“Hi, Jim, is that offer still open?”

“What offer?”

“To stay with you for a while.”

“Of course it is. Come on over.”

“Thanks. See you soon.”

She hung up, heaved her case off the bed, grabbed the holdall she had also packed, and headed back downstairs. Her mother was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs.

“I’m sorry that it’s come to this, love.”

“I’ll be in touch soon, when I’ve found somewhere. I’ll be staying with Jim and Suzie for the next few days at least.”

“Going to wear out your welcome there, too, are you?” Colin asked from behind her mother. He pulled her mother back so that she could pass by them both.

“For your information, Colin,
this
was and still is my family home. If I wanted to be shitty about things, I could force Mum to sell up. I have money tied up in this place whether you like it or not. So think on that the next time you start slagging me off.”

His face was a picture of defiance. It was the first time she’d ever really spoken back to him, and it felt good. She hated having to camouflage her true feelings about the obnoxious man for the sake of her mother’s happiness.

Colin glared at her. She walked out the back door, and after putting her suitcase in the boot, she took a final sad look at the pub in which she’d grown up, only to see Colin still standing there glaring at her. Her arms flew out to the side and fell against her thighs, then she got in the car and drove by the back door, past her nemesis, whose glare had turned into a satisfied smile.

CHAPTER FIVE

A few days later, on Thursday of that week, Brian arrived at work and threw the previous evening’s paper on Ellen’s desk as he walked past.

“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Ellen asked frowning, still half-asleep.

“Page three. No, not another nude girlie picture. Just take a look and judge for yourself.” Brian took off his jacket and hooked it on the back of his chair, then booted up his computer.

As Ellen began reading the article, she could hear Brian’s fingers flying across his keyboard. He swivelled the flat-screen in her direction. “Look familiar, does she?”

Ellen shook her head. “Should she?” She glanced down at the paper again, and staring back at her was the image of the girl whom Brian had just brought up on his screen.

“You can be so dense at times. Take a closer look. All right, you might not recognise the actual girl in the photo, but…” His voice trailed off, and she knew that she was expected to fill in the blanks.

Then it struck her, and she sat bolt upright in her chair. “My God, it’s not her, but the woman could be her twin sister.” The girl in the paper had gone missing. She wasn’t Donna Endersbe, but another girl altogether. However, the resemblance between the two girls was remarkable. “Is this the first you’ve heard about this girl?”

“Yep. It’s pretty spooky, isn’t it?”

“I’m going to ring the national helpline to see what they know about this girl. Hang on. It says she went missing a couple of days ago, in
Worcester
.”

“Yeah, that’s what grabbed me, too.”

All sorts of strange, intricate scenarios stormed through Ellen’s mind.

“I know that look. What are you thinking?”

“A serial abductor. One with a fetish for blonde, slim women in their mid-to-late twenties.”

Brian dropped into his chair, and his fingers tapped at a ferocious speed a second time, so fast that observing him work made Ellen dizzy.

“What are you doing?” she asked, curiosity finally getting the better of her.

“I’m pulling up all the missing person ads in the local paper dating back six months.”

“Good idea. I’m going to ring Jenny at the national helpline and ask her to do the same. Not everyone who is reported missing ends up in the paper, do they?”

Brian pushed back his chair and walked towards the rest area. “This calls for sustenance. I’ll make a coffee before I start.”

“Hi, Jenny. It’s Ellen. How are you?”

“Ellen, what a surprise. I’m doing well, snowed under and stressed out, as usual. What about you?”

Ellen laughed. “Pretty much the same as you. The reason I’m ringing is that we’re dealing with a case at the moment, and an article in the local paper last night triggered something.”

“Really? Are we aware of your case?”

“I think so. Donna Endersbe. Her husband reported her missing on Monday. He’s been in bother with the police before and didn’t think they would trouble themselves to look for her, so he hired us.”

Ellen heard Jenny working on her keyboard. “Here we are. She’s beautiful. I’m afraid to say she’s stuck at the bottom of a long queue. You know missing kids take priority these days, and we’ve got thousands of those on our register right now.”