by El Edwards
“Not coffee. Please don’t say coffee.” I fidgeted from foot to foot. “I know this is highly irregular but, any chance I could use your loo?”
Bill roared with laughter. “Of course. Follow me.” He led me to a bank of cubicles a short distance from his office. “Come back and see me when you’re done. I can make you that cuppa.”
When I walked into his office a few minutes later, Bill handed me a mug of coffee and led me in the direction of the comfy chairs.
“I didn’t expect to see you again today.”
“Honestly Bill, I didn’t expect to be here.” I thought of the cubicles outside. “Not that I’m not grateful. But why are you and the boys working on the weekend?”
“We need to get back on schedule.” Bill shrugged. “You know how it is. Things happen, little setbacks. Before you know it you’re six weeks behind schedule and you’ve got people breathing down your neck.” He smiled weakly.
“I imagine losing Toby Rogers hasn’t helped either.” I spoke gently, keen not to spook him.
Bill shook his head. “Toby’s a good lad. Damn shame.”
“What do you think’s happened to him? Strictly off the record.” I held up my hands to show they were empty. “No phone recording.”
Bill sighed and rubbed his temples. “I don’t know. I mean, you’d think after all this time there’d be something. It’s like he’s disappeared into thin air.”
“Abigail blames herself. Apparently he wasn’t well that day, when he came in. Don’t suppose you remember? Did he seem under the weather to you?”
“It’s hard to say. Working outside all day, place like this, there’s always a few coughs and sniffles.”
“But he didn’t say anything to you? Complain of a bad head?”
“No, nothing like that.” He sighed again. “Look, I might as well tell you now, you’re going to find out soon enough anyway.”
My belly tingled. I loved it when people said that. Feigning a look of calm personified I turned to face him. “Oh?”
“There’s a life insurance policy. He got it at a discount, one of the perks of the job.”
“How much?”
“Hundred grand.”
“Wow!” I hadn’t known building sites to be so lucrative.
“But no body, no payout. That’s the rules.”
A thought occurred to me. “Did Toby know the rules?” Before he could answer I had another thought. “Is that why Abigail wants me to find him?”
Bill frowned. “I didn’t say that. I just thought you needed to know what you were dealing with.” He stood up and took my empty mug. Our meeting was over. “But no, I doubt Toby would have known the specifics about the life insurance. It’s not the sort of thing you’d talk about.”
I shook his hand. “Thanks Bill. You’ve been very helpful.”
“You didn’t hear it from me.”
“Got it.” I was about to reassure him when my phone burst into life. “Sorry, let me just …” I was going to send the call to voicemail but when I saw it was Abigail calling I changed my mind.
“Good morning”
“Charlie, it’s me, Abigail. I need you to come round. There’s been a letter.” And before I could ask any more she burst into tears.
THIRTEEN
I raced to the van and practically flew along the M4 back towards Abigail’s house, my mind racing as I drove. Ransom note? Death threats? Body parts? My stomach churned and I shook my head to banish that last thought. Goodness, I hoped not. The miles passed in a blur and I arrived at Abigail’s front door in record time. I'd barely finished knocking when the door opened.
“Charlie, come in.”
I followed Abigail into the kitchen, fearing the worst, and looked around. I couldn’t see any bloody fingers so that was something at least.
She'd been so distraught on the phone I didn't bother with pleasantries. “Where's the letter?”
“Letters,” Abigail said, correcting me. She pointed to the table where I saw two envelopes with little windows.
Windows on envelopes usually only meant one thing. Bills. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“They’re bank statements.” She reached over and pulled one out of an envelope and handed it to me. “Look at them.”
I glanced through the statement. There were quite a lot of transactions but she wasn’t in debt and I was still none the wiser.
“Look at the cash withdrawals. The locations.” She grabbed the statement from me and sighed. “Winslow. Barnstaple. Colchester. Where the hell is Colchester?!?”
“You mean you didn’t make these withdrawals?” Suddenly the penny dropped.
She shook her head. “Do I look like someone who has time to go skipping halfway across the country to withdraw money?”
“Any chance your card has been lost or stolen?”
“Nope. It’s right here.” She pulled her purse out of her bag and waved a debit card at me. “So if I didn’t make them, who did?”
That was a very good question.
“Do you think they’re holding him hostage? Making him take the money out in exchange for not …” Abigail clapped a hand over her mouth and started sobbing again.
“I don’t know. But if they are, they’ve just made a very big mistake.” I smiled at Abigail. “Look at it this way: this is the first real contact you’ve had for months.”
“You think he’s still alive?” She spoke in a whisper.
“I don’t know. But this is a good sign. It’s a trail to follow. What I need you to do now is take a deep breath, make us both a cuppa, and together we’ll go through this carefully, pick out the clues. Okay?”
She nodded, wiped her eyes and put the kettle on. That was one thing my mother was right about: there was nothing that couldn’t be faced so long as you had a cup of tea. I was more of a coffee girl of course, much to my mother’s fury, but the hot drink principle still stood. While Abigail made us a drink I took another look at the transactions. I could take an educated guess which were Abigail’s but going through them together would give her something to focus on. It also might get her talking. I needed to raise the subject of the life insurance, I just wanted to make sure I did it carefully.
We were close to finishing the second statement when my phone rang. It was Rob, hopefully with the information he’d promised me, but I wasn’t keen to have that conversation in front of Abigail.
“Rob, hi there. I’m just in the middle of something right now. Alright if I phone you back in about half an hour?”
Rob and I had been friends long enough for him to know that when I told him I was in the middle of something, it would serve him well to not ask questions so he agreed and I hung up.
“Sorry about that. One of my contacts but he can wait. It’s important we get these squared away first. Talking of which … I met with one of Toby’s work colleagues earlier. Was with him when you rang in fact. He mentioned something about life insurance. Has someone from his office been in touch with you about that?”
“Life insurance? For Toby? No? Should they have?”
I watched her carefully as she spoke and my gut told me she was telling the truth. “It’s not a problem, I don’t think they can do anything about it just now anyway. Just wondered if you’d heard from them.”
“No, nothing.”
“Not to worry then. Do me a favour would you? If they do call, tell me, okay?”
“Of course. Anything.” Abigail glanced down at the statements and when she looked up again she appeared puzzled. “Toby wasn’t paying into any life insurance policy. If he had been, it would have been on the bank statements wouldn’t it?”
“I’m not sure. I guess so. Honestly, don’t worry about it for now. I’m sure if it’s important someone will call you.”
All the same, I made a mental note to ask Bill about it the next time I saw him. It was entirely possible that Toby could have been paying into a scheme directly from his payslip. But why wouldn’t he have told his wife about it if he was? And hadn’t
Mr James said Toby was a consultant? If that was the case, I wasn’t even sure if he’d have a payslip. Too many questions for my liking.
“Are you okay?” Abigail was looking at me with a strange expression on her face.
“Sure, why?”
“You were frowning. I thought maybe …”
“What?”
Abigail shook her head. “Nothing. Just reading too much into everything I guess. I always do that. One of my many faults.”
“No harm in reading people. I do it all the time, I have to.”
“Really?” Abigail sounded surprised.
“Of course. How else am I meant to tell the good guys from the baddies? You wouldn’t believe some of the people I meet doing this job.”
What I didn’t tell her was that the jury was still out on both her and her husband. If the innocent wife routine was all an act she was an incredible liar but I found it hard to accept that anyone could really be as happily in love as she claimed to be. I shook the thought from my head and, with a glance at the time, made my excuses. I needed to get home so I could phone Rob back. I couldn’t wait to hear what he’d found for me.
FOURTEEN
“Sorry Charlie, I’m just in the middle of something right now. Can I phone you back?” I could hear laughter in Rob’s voice when he answered the phone.
“Don’t you dare!” I grinned. “So what have you got for me?” I got myself comfy on the sofa, Missy curled up against my legs, ready to listen.
“What, no ‘how are you?’ or ‘nice to hear from you’?”
“Ha ha! How are you? Nice to hear from you. Now tell me what I need to know!”
“Yes ma’am.” Rob chuckled. “I took a look at the file and it was just like I told you. Low risk. Nothing to go on. Case closed.”
“Did they search the house? Interview Abigail?”
“A couple of the uniform boys spoke to her, had a quick look round with her permission, but they drew a blank.”
“And that’s it?” I felt outraged on Abigail’s behalf. “A man goes missing and your lot just shrug your shoulders and go back to your coffee and doughnuts?” I leapt to my feet, sending poor Missy to the floor, and started pacing.
“Doughnuts? No-one here eats doughnuts. Talk about a cliché.” He laughed again.
“This isn’t funny Rob.”
“Tell me about it. Doughnuts are full of all sorts of nasties. It’s definitely not a joking matter.”
“Rob!”
“Look Charlie, what do you want me to say? The guy’s an adult. So what if he’s decided he wants a break for a little while? We can’t spend half the force budget looking for a man who clearly doesn’t want to be found.”
“And if he’s been kidnapped? Forcibly held against his will? Drugged and pushed into a moving van?”
“Show me some evidence and we can talk about it.”
I sighed. “I don’t have any evidence. But …”
“Then it’s case closed Charlie. Sorry, I want to help but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Humph!” I threw my phone onto the sofa and carried on pacing.
Nothing he could do my arse. He just didn’t want to ruffle any feathers or get himself in trouble. Too bad that there was a man out there who might need police help. Well if it was evidence he needed, I would damn well get him evidence. I pulled Abigail’s file out of my bag and started making detailed notes of everything that had happened that day. From Bill and our conversation about life insurance to Abigail and her mysterious bank transactions. If Abigail hadn’t made those withdrawals and her card hadn’t been stolen, someone was accessing their bank account. Whether it was Toby himself or someone who was holding him captive, if I could just get evidence that it wasn’t Abigail, that might be enough for Rob and his colleagues to start taking this more seriously.
I started by plotting the distance between here and each of the three locations. Unless she’d made alternative arrangements for school pick up, there was no way Abigail could have made those withdrawals. I knew that of course, but I had to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. It was then that I had my first flash of inspiration that day: CCTV.
Fifty-six minutes later I had to admit defeat. The Internet is a wonderful invention, opens doorways to experiences and makes this beautiful, big world of ours feel smaller. There are some things though you cannot do online. Accessing CCTV records is one of them. I thought it would be easy to find in the public domain but apparently financial institutions are a little bit reticent about giving out that kind of information to just anyone. I toyed with the idea of phoning Rob back, to see if the firm arm of the law might be able to apply a bit of pressure but decided against it. The next time I saw him I needed hard evidence and I definitely didn’t have that yet.
I glanced at the clock and was surprised to find it was only six o’clock. It was so dark and cold I’d convinced myself it had to be at least nine but maybe that was just wishful thinking. Would Louise and Grace be at the theatre now or still eating their pre-show dinner? I imagined that eventually I’d get used to sharing the girls with their dad but I wasn’t there yet. Every time they did anything without me the time dragged and I wasted my time wishing I could fast forward to the moment they’d be home again. At least today I’d been a bit productive, that had to be a good sign.
For the briefest of moments I considered phoning my mum. If nothing else her unrelenting criticism would serve as a distraction from the boredom but I talked myself out of it and instead opened a bottle of wine and ordered a takeaway. While I waited for the food to arrive I opened Abigail’s file again and looked at the list of towns where someone, maybe Toby himself, had withdrawn cash from the family bank account. There was only one thing for it I decided. I’d have to go and ask in branch about CCTV. Maybe someone would take pity on me and tell me what I needed to know.
Barnstaple looked to be the closest so I started planning a route along the M4, booked myself a room in the Travelodge, and packed an overnight bag. I wouldn’t go until Monday after the girls had gone to school and I still needed to arrange for one of the mums in the village to check in on them Tuesday morning but the thought of a road trip was exciting. I’d load my iPod with Christmas music and be like a solo Thelma and Louise, except without the attempted rape or murder or rubbish ending. On second thoughts, I should find myself a better pair of role models, I decided.
By the time my takeaway arrived I was feeling much more positive. The large glass of wine had done the trick and taken the edge of how much I was missing the girls and I was starting to relax. I was just thinking that maybe this co-parenting lark wasn’t so bad after all when a text message arrived from Rob. You okay grumpy? I was far too chilled to dignify his message with a response so instead I poured myself another glass of wine and thought about my trip. I still had my doubts about Abigail but the more Rob pushed me, the more determined I was to prove that Toby Rogers hadn’t vanished out of choice. I crossed my fingers that Barnstaple would hold some answers for me.
FIFTEEN
Less than two days later I pulled into a car park in the middle of Barnstaple and headed towards the bank. I stood next to the cash machine and tried to imagine Toby Rogers standing in this very spot. It was a fairly nondescript town and I couldn't understand what would bring him here. If it actually was him of course, that still remained to be seen. I looked around and couldn’t see any cameras but that didn’t mean there weren’t any so I went inside to see what information I could charm out of one of the members of staff.
I’d just walked in when my phone rang. Rob, yet again. I’d been ignoring him since Saturday afternoon but now I was here and he couldn't talk me out of it I decided it wouldn't hurt to speak to him.
“Where are you?” He sounded furious.
“Hello Rob. Nice to hear from you.”
“I know you're not home, I’ve been there …”
“You were at my house? Are you stalking me?” I laughed to take the edge off.
“You were
n’t answering your phone. Did you get my texts?”
“Yes, but I am a grown-up. Besides, you wouldn’t have believed me. Then you’d have tried to stop me.”
I heard Rob sigh. “Where are you? If you’ve locked yourself out of your house again …”
“One time, that happened one time. If you must know, I’m in Barnstaple.”
“Barnstaple? How the hell did you get there?”
“I drove. It’s quite pretty. Flat, but pretty.” I glanced up to see a lady watching me. “Look, I’ve got to go. I’m in the bank. I’ll call you when I’m done. Bye for now.” I did my best to sound cheery and kind, just in case the lady could hear me.
When the phone was safely on silent in the bottom of my bag I headed in her direction.
“Good morning madam. How may I help you this morning?” She smiled and I was reminded of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.
“Hi there. I was hoping to speak with the manager. It’s a bit of a delicate situation.”
I showed her my card and watched as she spoke to one of her colleagues. They kept their voices low and glanced at me occasionally as they spoke. Just as I was about to give up all hope, the first lady returned.
“Miss Jeffries will help you.” She led me towards a small office partitioned off with a glass wall where the second lady was waiting for me.
She stood when I walked in and shook my hand. “Annabel Jeffries. Please, take a seat. How can I help?”
I pulled a photo of Toby out of my folder and showed it to her. “Do you recognise this man?”
She looked carefully but then shook her head. “Can’t say I do. Should I? Is he local?”
“His name’s Toby. He’s been missing since June.”
“Oh that’s terrible!”
“His wife’s hired me to find him. Or …” I hesitated. “Find out what happened to him.”
“You mean you think he’s …”
“Possibly. It’s too soon to tell. But we have one lead, which is why I’m here.”
