“I know.”
“Have you got the number?”
“It’s in the address book by the phone, under F. I wrote it in there yesterday.”
“Thanks.”
He reached to the windowsill behind him, picked up the phone handset and the address book, flicked to the relevant page and dialled the number.
“Hello. I’d like to arrange a funeral please… thank you. Yes please. Price... Jessica. Next Monday?” Simon looked at Marion. She nodded. “Monday will be fine.” Simon then gave the funeral company their contact details. “I see. Of course. No. Thanks but I’ll come to you. Yes, tomorrow will be fine. See you then.”
“Do you know what Jess wanted?” Marion asked.
“Not really. Do you?”
“Something simple, like her father’s, probably.”
“Sure. I think she’d go for that. Do you want to come with me tomorrow?”
“I can. I want to help, but…”
“It’s OK.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I could talk flowers, caskets and so on. I know it has to be done, it’s just that…”
“It’s fine, Mum, honestly. You’re best keeping busy here. Do you want the wake here?”
“Wake?”
“Or hire a hall or?”
“Here is fine. We’ll just have family and friends. A quiet do.”
“OK. I’ll sort it out. Quiet and simple. Nothing complicated.”
Because of course, Jessica wasn’t complicated at all, was she?
###
Chapter 28: Beth, Frank and Emily
As promised, Beth returned to see Frank the following day. Although the snow had deterred Emily from her garden, it hadn’t put her husband off dabbling in his shed. Beth knew the way so left Emily to put the kettle on.
Beth knocked on the shed door.
“Come in.”
“Morning, Frank.”
“Oh. Morning, Beth. You don’t have to knock you know. I’m not doing anything top secret.
“It’s lovely and toasty in here.”
“Yes, that electric heater,” he said, pointing to the far end corner of the room, “blasts it out. Emily doesn’t approve as it sends the meter into overdrive but she likes me being out from under her feet so she can’t have it both ways.” He smiled cheekily.
“What is it that you are doing out here?”
“Just soldering. Please, take a seat.”
“Soldering?”
“It’s a thirty-watt Antex Miniature with replaceable plated tips and a thermostatic control.” Frank gushed. “It’s wonderful. Emily bought it for me for Christmas.”
“I take it that it was an asked for present. I wouldn’t have a clue.”
“I did drop certain hints, like leaving a catalogue on the dining room table with the page marked and item circled.”
Beth smiled. “That’s the kind of clue I like. And what are you soldering, Frank,” she asked hoping that his explanation would decipher the word.
“I repair radios. I’m working on a CB at the moment but usually it’s FM / AM ones. Suppose I’ll be out of a job when everything goes digital.”
“You make a living out of this?”
Frank laughed. “Oh no, pin money. Normally word of mouth.”
“And that CB is that the sort that truckers use? Nate loves the film Convoy, always singing it which drives me nuts.”
Frank burst into song, “breaker one-nine, this here's the rubber duck...” and they both burst out laughing.
“Frank.”
“Yes, my dear.”
“Have you thought any more about our chat yesterday?”
“I have, but I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. If Nate bought the phone from the market, it could have been sold to the dealer by anyone. Mobiles are hard to track unless people register the serial code, which they rarely do, and report the loss to the police, which they don’t unless it’s stolen, or put a security lock code when switching on, which they never do. And it’s too old to have a tracker, so unless this woman, Alex…”
“Alexis.”
“Yes. Unless Alexis was one of the few who do what they’re supposed to then it’s unlikely that Nate’s got anything to worry about.”
“Oh, no. He doesn’t worry.”
“No. I don’t suppose he does. It’s highly likely she did an upgrade and the shop sold it on.”
“Wouldn’t they get more money selling it as second-hand in the shop?”
“It depends, Beth. Sometimes they have so many that they only keep the special or latest models, and sorry Alexis, but this doesn’t look like either. The shops also make so much money out of the new contracts that the cost of the old phone is nothing. If the contract is, say, twenty pounds a month that’s two-forty a year, although most decent phones are on a thirty to thirty-five pound so that’s three-sixty upwards.”
“Gosh.”
“That’s how they can afford to give away free laptops with broadband packages. Plus with those they sign people in for two years, not just one. Sometimes eighteen months but usually two years.”
“Blimey, Frank. You know your stuff.”
“Em’s son bought me a mobile for my birthday last year, and bought himself a new laptop at Christmas, courtesy of a bonus at work apparently. An anniversary or something. Anyway, before he bought it, we were discussing what tariffs there were out there and I said about the free laptops but he said they were quite basic but he’s got Sky and that they do a good broadband package so he bought a better laptop with cheaper broadband. I’ve hinted at Em that we should do the same but she says the old computer’s perfectly fine. It’s slow, like me, but I suppose she’s right.”
“We are sometimes.” Beth beamed.
Frank laughed. “And you don’t let us forget it.”
“About the phone…”
“Do you have it with you now?”
“No. Nate’s still got it. I couldn’t get it again, and besides I’ve looked through the call history, address book and texts, so I don’t know what else it could tell me.”
Frank frowned and scratched his right sideburn. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot that you can do, Beth. You could ask Nate again where he got the phone from, but unless he knows this Alexis woman, it won’t help.”
“No, that’s what I feared.”
“Unless Simon or Veronica ring you with some news.”
Beth nodded. “It’s been an interesting chat though, thanks Frank. I know a bit more about tariffs, CB radios and soldering.”
Frank laughed. “Any time you want to talk technical, pop into my ‘office’.”
Beth put her right arm on Frank’s left shoulder, said “Thank you” and left the shed.
Emily was walking down the garden with two cups of steaming tea when Beth met her halfway.
“Oh dear, are you leaving already?”
“I ought to get back.”
“But I’ve made you your tea.”
“Lovely. Thanks Emily.”
“Was Frank useful?”
“He was, thank you.” Beth said, although she didn’t feel any further along in the finding Alexis process.
“Unless you have to go, why don’t you take your tea back to the kitchen, let me drop this in to Frank and I’ll come and join you. Drinking by yourself is no fun.”
“That sounds lovely. And I don’t suppose you have any of your delicious brownies?”
Emily smiled. “You must have smelled the new batch. You are eating for two after all.”
Taking a couple of clean plates from the draining board, Beth put them on the table next to her cup of tea and another which she’d found next to the kettle, assumed to be Emily’s.
Beth pulled out Emily’s chair as she approached, armed with a plate of brownies.
“Thank you dear. Does Nate do things like that for you?”
“Sorry?”
“Be a gentleman?”
“Sometimes, when he thinks about it.”
Beth laughed and took a brownie from the offered plate. “Yes, usually.”
“Like stand next to the chair and cough?”
“I tried it once, in the early days, but he asked me if I wanted a glass of water.”
“Which was a chivalrous thing to do.”
“I suppose so.”
“And he took the news of the baby well?”
“Very, amazingly. He seems keen on the idea. Even talked about getting a job.”
“There’s a turnaround.”
“He goes to the job centre every week, but then he has to or he doesn’t get his allowances, but he seemed quite upbeat when I came home from work last night.”
“That’s good. It looks like things are looking up for you.”
“I hope so. I’m just concerned that…”
“Yes?”
“That Nate’s not given up his old life.”
“What makes you think that?”
“He has a new phone and…”
“You don’t think he bought it.”
“He says he did, but I’m not sure.”
“What makes you think he didn’t?”
“Because people keep ringing looking for the owner of it.”
“Maybe she lost it and that’s the only number they have for her. Could he have found it?”
“He says he bought it from the market.”
“And that’s not possible?”
“It is but something doesn’t feel right.”
“And the people who ring, what do they say?”
“It’s all rather complicated. One is the woman’s boss and she says she’s gone AWOL. The other is a friend’s brother who’s trying to get in touch with her because his sister died.”
“And this is what you were talking to Frank about?”
Beth nodded.
“And what did he think?”
“That there was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for it.”
“There then. What else can you do?”
“Nothing. And you’re both right. I can’t get in contact with someone I don’t know, especially if people who know her can’t. She might try and ring her mobile, if she has lost it although I think she’d have done that by now and there aren’t any missed calls or messages from her.”
“Maybe she thought she had no hope of getting it back so didn’t bother.”
“Of course. I think I’m making a bigger deal of it than it is. Looking for something exciting.”
“Having a baby is a big thing.”
Beth patted her stomach and beamed. “I know. Actually, that reminds me. Frank said you could give me a few pointers, when you had your son.”
Emily smiled. “My dear, that was quite a long time ago but, here, have another brownie and I’ll do my best.”
###
Chapter 29: Daniel and Rick
Whilst a lesser man in Daniel Goldstein’s position might have written off the measly sum of three thousand pounds, and put it down to experience, he was going to have the last word if it killed him.
So, it appeared that not only had Alexis done a runner from him, but also from Veronica, that bottle blonde fifty-something mutton dressed as lamb, who was as useful as wet toilet paper.
Him, bitter? That wasn’t Daniel’s style. Daniel got even.
He tapped a few numbers on his BlackBerry keypad and hit the green phone icon.
“Speak.”
“Rick. It’s Daniel. I need you to do something for me.”
“Sure.”
“I need you to do a background check.”
“Name?”
“Alexis Starr.”
“Real name?”
“Shouldn’t think so.”
“Any more details?”
“She works for Veronica Ziebis of the Fraulein Agency in Chelsea.”
“Yes, I know who she is.”
“Veronica is being less than forthcoming. See what you can find out, will you?”
“Sure. And what does this Alexis look like?”
“About five-ten, auburn hair, awesome figure, you know, the usual kind that I go for.”
“Hair colour genuine?”
“Think so.”
“Tattoos or birthmarks?”
“Black paw-print on left inside ankle. Done recently, itched like hell, she said.”
“OK. Gotcha. Call you back if I find anything.”
“I need you to find something, Rick.”
“In your bad books is she?”
“Just find her, Rick.”
“Sure thing, boss. If she’s out there, I’ll find her.”
“It’s the weekend tomorrow so don’t ring me on this number. I’ll be at home. Call me at the office on Monday. You’ve got the private line?”
“Got it. I’ll ring you then.”
“With news, Rick.”
“Yeah. I’ll have something by then.”
“You find her and I’ll pay double.”
“Right you are.”
###
Chapter 30: Andy
“Damn it.” Andy slammed down the phone. He was supposed to be on compassionate leave. How could they be short staffed enough to drag him back? The last thing he wanted to do was drive a bloody train, especially at the weekend. Weekends were shitty, full of tourists. Weekdays were a breeze with tunnel-vision business suits and the occasional single mum, but Andy avoided weekends. Thankfully he hadn’t been asked to do the long haul again, just the Home Counties run. No stretches of all-the-same countryside, however beautiful it may be, but the thirty-five mile shuttle to Tring and back. Commuter belt Hertfordshire suited him. Or was it Buckinghamshire? He could never remember.
###
Chapter 31: Frank and Emily
A holiday wasn’t something on the agenda for Frank and Emily until they walked past the travel agents and a card entitled ‘Winter weekend on the Norfolk Broads’ caught their attention. They stared at each other and smiled. Frank grabbed hold of the door and pushed.
“Good morning. How may I help you?”
“Morning. We’d like more details on the Norfolk Broads weekend please.”
“Certainly. It’s a coach trip leaving Victoria coach station tomorrow morning and returning Sunday night. How does that sound?”
“Tomorrow?” Emily said. “Can we do it that quickly, Frank?”
“Sure. Now Andrew’s working, we’re free to do whatever we like.”
Emily loved it when Frank looked like that. His cheeky schoolboy grin and she fell for it every time. “OK love, let’s do it.”
###
Chapter 32: Veronica
With Alexis planted firmly at the back of her mind and the working week over, Veronica lay back in her recliner, sipped her glass of Veuve Clicquot Reserve and clicked the ‘play’ button on the DVD remote. The opening credits were rolling when her mobile rang. Tempted to ignore it, she looked at the screen and frowned at the ‘withheld number’. Could be a new client, she thought, so tapped the answer button.
“Ziebis.”
“Is that Veronica Ziebis?”
“Yes. Who’s calling?”
“The name’s Rick. One of your girls has been recommended to me.”
“Oh, yes? Who recommended the agency?”
“You have a girl ‘Alexis’?”
“I do, but she’s not available at the moment. Who did you say…?”
“When will she be free? I’m in no hurry.”
“I have a lovely girl called Cherry. Petite and busty.”
“Does she have auburn hair?”
“She can be whatever colour you like, Mr…”
“No, has to be natural.”
“Then I’m sorry I can’t help you.”
“You can tell Alexis that I’ll make it worth her while.”
“I’m sorry, but–”
“So you keep saying. There must be a price. Money isn’t a problem.”
“I appreciate that Mr…”
Rick wasn’t forthcoming with a surname. “She’ll be well looked after.”
“I’m sure she will, sir, but unfortunately there’s nothing I can do. I can take your details and–”
Rick ended the call.
###
Chapter 33: Rick
So Veronica had got Rick nowhere. Next stop the hotels. Daniel’s office was in Belsize Park so Rick figured that the hotel he used wouldn’t be too far away. He flicked to the Safari’s blue compass icon on his laptop and typed ‘hotels, belsize park’ into the Google search box. The selection appeared in lowest to highest cost order so he scrolled to the bottom and started with the two-hundred pounds a night and over. There were just three in that price range: The Heathdown, The Erste Classe and The Cheshire. Rick liked things in alphabetical order so began with The Cheshire, which was actually quite handy as he knew someone who worked there. He picked up his mobile and dialled the number.
“Good evening. The Cheshire Hotel, Tania speaking, how may I help you?”
“Tan, it’s Rick.”
Tania immediately lost her Westminster accent. “Hi. How are ya?”
“Good. On a mission. Know a girl called Alexis Starr? Probably a hooker.”
“Don’t ring any bells. What does she look like?”
“Tall. Five nine or thereabouts, taller in heels. A copper-top.”
“Could have been a girl in last weekend. Who she was with?”
“Can’t say, Tan, client confidentiality.”
“Was it Mr Goldstein?”
“Know him?”
“He’s a regular. Think she was too. Don’t know her name of course as the girls never pay the bills.”
“Sure it was her?”
“Fairly sure. Only this time I think there was some trouble.”
“In what way?”
“Don’t know for sure but he seemed flustered when he came to pay his bill.”
“She took some money?”
“Only thing I can think of. He still had his cards to pay with so I guess it was just cash.”
After Jessica: A mystery novella Page 9
