Hiding in Plain Sight

by Susan Lewis

  Andee clutched her head. ‘I can’t believe you’re only telling me this now …’

  ‘We thought she was dead. Why would I try to make you think badly of her when it wasn’t going to bring her back?’

  ‘You know I investigated her disappearance. You could have told me then.’

  ‘Maybe, but you didn’t ask …’

  ‘I most certainly did. We went over and over your statements …’

  ‘OK, you did, but if there had been any men you can be sure your father would have found them. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like a very large glass of wine, and perhaps we can sit quietly for a few minutes while I try to gather my thoughts.’

  They were still sitting at the table, silently reeling from the past few minutes, when Maureen’s mobile rang. Seeing it was Carol, her closest friend and Andee’s mother-in-law, calling from Spain, Maureen hesitated.

  ‘Should I tell her about Penny?’ she asked Andee.

  Andee baulked at the very idea. Until she’d managed to straighten things out in her mind she didn’t want anyone else’s thoughts or reactions to cloud it, and certainly not her estranged husband’s, who was currently in Spain with his mother. Carol would be bound to tell him. ‘Let’s see how tomorrow goes first,’ she cautioned, and leaving her mother to it, she took herself up to her room to make some calls of her own.

  The first was to the Kesterly Royal Hotel, who politely informed her that they had no one booked in for that night by the name of Michelle Cross, or Penny Lawrence. The second was to her old boss, DI Terence Gould, asking him to call back when he got her message. The third was to Graeme.

  After filling him in on the details of Penny’s visit and brushing over the scene she’d had afterwards with her mother, Andee said, ‘So now, you tell me, why has Penny come back after all these years, when she appears to be doing very well, and has no apparent need of us? Because I certainly have no idea.’

  Sounding as bemused as she did, Graeme ventured, ‘Sentimental reasons? Even if she’s doing well, maybe it doesn’t mean anything if she has no family to share it with.’

  ‘We don’t know that she has no family. She didn’t answer the question when I asked, which is odd, or certainly if she’s a mother. Why not just say that she has children – or not?’

  ‘So her return is something to do with conscience? She feels guilty about not letting you know she’s alive, and now she’s putting it to rights.’

  ‘She’s had a very long time to do that, and she’s chosen not to. So I go back to my first question, why now? Incidentally, she admitted to hiring someone to find out about us … And let me read you the text she sent before she got here earlier. “I took something of yours when I left, I wonder if you know what it was.”’

  ‘Do you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Did you ask her?’

  ‘I didn’t get the chance. She wasn’t here more than twenty minutes, and during that time all we really managed to get out of her was how successful she is, but even that was vague.’

  ‘Do you believe it?’

  ‘She was carrying a Hermès bag, and wearing some expensive-looking jewellery. Oh, and she was driven here by a chauffeur. I’m pretty sure it was the same car that I saw in France.’

  ‘Did she explain about that? Why she just drove off?’

  ‘I’ll make sure she does the next time we meet, which is supposed to be at the Palme d’Or tomorrow.’ Making a mental note to check if there was a reservation, Andee said, ‘I called the hotel just now and they don’t have anyone staying there under the name of Michelle Cross or Penny Lawrence.’

  ‘So you’re thinking she might have another alias? Or she’s staying somewhere else?’

  ‘I guess anything’s possible. I’ve left a message for Terence Gould to call me.’

  Sounding surprised, he said, ‘So you’re going to involve the police?’

  ‘Off the record, for the moment, because things are definitely not adding up for me. Why, for instance, did she seem to think that someone might have paid us a visit ahead of her?’

  ‘Really? Like who?’

  ‘I’ve no idea, but my gut is telling me it could be why she came.’

  ‘Which leads us to what, exactly?’

  ‘Good question; I’ll let you know when I have an answer. Oh, and she pretended not to know that I had children, when it surely must have come up in one of her reports. I’d love to know how in-depth they are and how long they’ve been going on.’

  ‘Indeed. What did you call her, by the way? Michelle or Penny?’

  ‘I don’t think we called her anything, but she called herself Michelle when she answered the phone. After that she spoke in another language and before you ask, I’ve no idea what it was. Definitely not French or Italian. Could have been Dutch. Actually, she mentioned having a business in Stockholm.’

  ‘What sort of business?’

  ‘A travel agency.’

  ‘Called?’

  ‘She didn’t say. I wonder if she’ll make it for lunch tomorrow? I have a feeling she won’t.’

  ‘Well, I guess you’ll find out when you get there, presuming she’s not in touch sooner. Don’t forget to let me know if she is.’

  Chapter Five

  Maureen received a text at nine the following morning.

  Hope you had a good night. Too excited to sleep much myself. Would it be possible to come and see you at eleven? Have to return to London earlier than expected and I don’t want to leave without seeing you. There’s still so much to catch up on. Love Penny/Michelle.

  After reading it Andee handed the phone back to her mother. ‘Interesting that she’s asking to come when I won’t be here,’ she commented.

  Maureen looked startled. ‘But how on earth would she know that you’re going to the shop this morning?’

  Having no sensible answer for that, Andee said, ‘Let’s put it down to paranoia, and I’ll change my plans.’ The fact that she’d arranged to see DI Gould wasn’t one she’d shared with her mother, and wouldn’t until she’d heard what he had to say.

  Clearly relieved not to have to deal with Penny alone, Maureen mumbled, ‘Thank you,’ and sat quietly staring at the table, blinking only when Andee put some toast in front of her. ‘Are you going to ask her if she stayed at the Royal?’ she ventured.

  ‘If I get the chance, but there are other questions I’d like answers to first. I’m sure you would too?’

  Maureen simply sighed. She was looking tired this morning and distracted, which was hardly surprising when her mind, her thoughts, were running around in jumbled and difficult circles.

  ‘Would you like me to see her on my own?’ Andee offered.

  ‘No, no, I should be here. I want to be here.’ Maureen’s eyes came up, and her face seemed pinched and sallow as she said, ‘If you can, I‘d like you to find out where she went when she left all those years ago. I know she says it’s painful for her, but it was painful for us too.’

  ‘Of course,’ Andee replied softly. ‘Do you happen to have any theories you’d like to share with me before I go there?’ she asked.

  To her surprise Maureen said, ‘Yes, I do, but I’d rather hear what she has to say first.’

  Andee sat down slowly, keeping a hand on her mother’s shoulder as she controlled her frustration. ‘Let me get this straight,’ she began, ‘yesterday you said you thought there might be men involved, and now you’re saying that you had an idea where she might have gone?’

  Maureen looked so uncomfortable and apprehensive that Andee might have backed off if it weren’t so important.

  ‘Did Daddy know where she went?’ Andee pressed.

  Maureen shook her head.

  Not sure if that was a no, or please don’t ask, Andee said, ‘Did he know that you had suspicions of where she might be?’

  Maureen stared down at her plate; her hand was shaking. ‘Yes, he did,’ she mumbled, ‘but nothing ever came of it.’

  ‘So he followed up on your suspicion
s?’

  Maureen nodded.

  ‘Where are we talking about?’

  ‘I don’t know. I mean, it wasn’t … It was who … I was afraid of who she was with.’

  Andee sat back in her chair, needing some time to assimilate the enormity of this. Probably the hardest part of it was the fact that nothing like this had shown up in the police files, which could only mean that her parents – her father, whose integrity she’d never doubted – had held things back from the investigation. ‘So who are we talking about?’ she asked carefully.

  Her mother didn’t answer.

  ‘Pimps? Traffickers?’

  ‘No, no, nothing like that.’

  Unable to think of anything else, though realising that her mind was coloured by experiences in the force, Andee stared hard at her mother.

  ‘I know that look,’ Maureen told her, ‘but I’m not going any further with this until after we’ve heard what Penny has to say. It could be I’m wrong, and if I am … Well, I’d rather … I’d rather not speak ill of the dead.’

  Andee reeled. ‘Are we talking about Daddy?’ she demanded incredulously.

  ‘No, of course not. It’s just … Well, I think I’ve said enough. I’d like to have some breakfast now.’

  Andee’s eyes didn’t let go of her mother’s face. Were it anyone else in the world she’d never have backed down, not that she was doing so now, but she was reluctant to try and force answers out of her mother when she looked about ready to fall apart.

  ‘What on earth does she mean she doesn’t want to speak ill of the dead?’ she cried down the line to Graeme, with the bathroom door closed and shower running to drown out her voice. ‘Who the heck’s she talking about? She says it’s not my father, but I can’t think of anyone else.’

  ‘OK, this is a long shot,’ Graeme replied after giving it some thought, ‘but what about your grandparents? They’re both dead, and died after Penny went …’

  Andee was shaking her head. ‘They were devastated when she disappeared. They never got over it. Grandpa even stopped speaking … It was awful, especially for my father. He’d lost his daughter, and then he was seeing his parents deteriorate in front of his eyes.’

  ‘Were they living in Kesterly at the time?’

  ‘In this very house, which is where Penny and I spent most of our school holidays until the time she vanished. I came the following year with my cousin Frank, and I think the year after that. It wasn’t the same, obviously. We were miserable and scared and Granny and Grandpa didn’t really know how to handle us. Then my parents sold up in Chiswick and moved here. No one was coping well and my father, who was probably more broken than any of us, wanted to try and hold us all together.’

  Sighing, Graeme said, ‘We saw what Blake and Jenny went through when their daughter disappeared, but eventually, thanks to you, they had an answer, or closure as some would call it. For your family … So many years …’

  ‘But we know Penny’s alive now, which should be all our prayers coming true, except it’s starting to feel as though some kind of nightmare is just beginning.’

  It was a little before eleven when the chauffeur-driven Mercedes pulled up outside Briar Lodge and Penny, looking spruce and elegant, got out of the back. She was wearing cream-coloured slacks and a matching shirt with long sleeves cut to cover her hands – she must have them made specially, Andee decided.

  As Andee watched her glancing around the hamlet, taking in the scenery and sea air, she was thinking of the ghosts that could be watching too, her father, her paternal grandparents, and her mother’s mother who’d suffered along with everyone else when her youngest grandchild had disappeared without trace.

  Had her grandparents known more than they’d ever told?

  ‘I hope the change of plan isn’t a problem?’ Penny grimaced playfully as she kissed Andee on both cheeks. She smelled of expensive perfume, and peppermints, and as she touched her hands to her cheeks Andee couldn’t help wondering if it was a deliberate gesture to show she wasn’t wearing any rings today.

  Andee stood aside for her to go in, saying, ‘Mum’s in the kitchen,’ and after quickly clocking the registration number of the Mercedes she entered it into her phone and went to join them.

  Finding them locked in a tearful embrace, Andee went to fetch the coffee pot and three mugs. As she poured she said to Penny, ‘Do you take yours black or white?’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t drink coffee,’ Penny apologised, ‘but please don’t mind me. I’ll be very happy with water.’

  ‘We can make tea,’ her mother offered. ‘It won’t be any trouble.’

  ‘Water’s fine,’ Penny assured her.

  Filling a glass from the tap, Andee put it on the table and passed her mother a coffee.

  ‘Lovely,’ Penny declared after taking a sip of Kesterly’s finest. Smiling at Andee she said, ‘By the way, did you work out what I took of yours when I left?’

  Andee hid her irritation as she shook her head. In truth she hadn’t given it much thought, largely because she’d wanted to resist being pulled into some sort of mind game, presuming that was what it was.

  Penny laughed. ‘I really thought you’d have realised, but there again I don’t suppose it was amongst your most treasured possessions.’

  Maureen looked from one to the other. ‘Are you going to tell us what it was?’ she prompted Penny.

  Penny seemed to consider it, then apparently decided against it as she said, ‘I didn’t stay at the Royal last night. I thought I’d try the Kingsmere opposite the marina instead. It was very comfortable, in fact quite respectable for a four star. I wouldn’t have a problem recommending it to anyone coming this way.’

  Not particularly interested in her TripAdvisor review, Andee said, ‘Are we allowed to ask what’s taking you back to London so soon?’

  Appearing surprised, Penny said, ‘You’re allowed to ask anything, and the answer is business, of course.’ She checked her phone even though it hadn’t rung. ‘A problem’s come up that we didn’t foresee,’ she confided. She appeared slightly strained as she added, ‘We’ll get it sorted, of course.’ At that moment her phone rang and she quickly clicked on. ‘Yes?’ she barked shortly. She listened, keeping her eyes down, until eventually she said, ‘OK, stay on it … I should be there by four.’

  As she rang off she looked as though she’d like to swear before her expression brightened and she was smiling again. ‘Things rarely run smoothly, do they?’ she commented wryly.

  ‘Is there anything we can do?’ Maureen offered.

  Penny laughed as she said, ‘I’m not entirely sure what to do myself, but don’t let’s think about it now. It’s not …’ She broke off as her phone rang again. ‘Yes, I was informed last night,’ she told the caller, ‘and yes I’m coming back to London. This afternoon. Nej, naturligtvis vet jag inte var de är. Då hade jag ju inte varit här. Jag måste gå nu. (No, of course I don’t know where they are. I wouldn’t be here if I did. I have to go now),’ and she abruptly ended the call. ‘I’m sorry,’ she grimaced, ‘I’ll turn it off or this will keep happening.’

  ‘It sounds serious,’ Andee commented.

  Penny hesitated, seemed on the brink of saying something, then appeared to change her mind. ‘It could become so, if we don’t get ahead of it,’ she declared, ‘but please let’s forget it for now and use what time we have to carry on getting to know one another.’ She gave an amused, incredulous shake of her head, using the moment, Andee felt, to refocus herself. ‘My mother and my sister. I have family. Of course, I’ve always known it, but being here, seeing you again after all these years … I should have come sooner. I wish I had, but I was so afraid you wouldn’t want to see me.’

  ‘We’ve always wanted to know what happened to you,’ Maureen assured her, clearly distressed that she could think otherwise. ‘It’s dominated our lives.’

  Penny looked from her mother to Andee and back again. ‘Well, I can believe you were probably upset and even worried a
t first, after all I was only fourteen, but as time went on …’

  ‘Upset? Worried?’ Maureen cut in incredulously. ‘We were beside ourselves. We thought you were dead. The note you sent …’

  Penny frowned.

  Andee’s senses were suddenly alert.

  Maureen said, ‘The note that turned up after you disappeared. The things you said …’

  Penny waved a dismissive hand and sighed. ‘I remember it now,’ she said, ‘and it wasn’t my idea. I just went along with it because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. If you thought I was dead you might stop looking.’

  Clearly appalled, as much by the tone as the words, Maureen could only stare at her.

  Just as shocked, Andee kept her tone even as she said, ‘So you send a note, intending to make us think you were dead …’ She was finding this hard to take in. Who did something like that?

  Appearing contrite and even managing to sound it in spite of her words, Penny said, ‘I’m sorry to say I’d had enough of being in this family. You were the golden girl, I was the burden, the difficult one; the one who just wouldn’t conform – at least not to the way Daddy wanted things. He might have been happier if I’d been born a boy, I couldn’t have got into so much trouble – or that’s what he told himself, I’m sure.’

  ‘Your father loved you,’ Maureen insisted hoarsely.

  Penny’s eyebrows arched. ‘I think we both know that’s not true,’ she argued with an oddly disconcerting smile.

  ‘It was losing you, never knowing what had happened to you,’ Andee informed her, ‘that took him to an early grave.’

  At that Penny lowered her eyes and allowed several moments to pass before she said, ‘I’m sorry that you think that.’

  Momentarily lost for words of her own, Andee waited for her to elaborate on what the hell she was meaning, but Maureen was the next to speak.

  ‘Penny, where did you go when you left?’

  Penny’s eyes rose to her mother’s. For what seemed like an eternity she simply regarded Maureen as she dealt with whatever thoughts were behind her intense, unreadable eyes. ‘Do you really want me to answer that?’ she asked finally.