Hiding in Plain Sight

by Susan Lewis

  Did all the residents’ guests find themselves treated so well? Or did the name Michelle Cross conjure that extra magic?

  By now Andee had used her phone to photograph the page Ally Jackson had given her and sent it to Gould, asking him to let her know when he’d read it and she’d explain. Not that she fully understood its relevance, but she certainly knew where the words had come from.

  She’d also explored the Exclusive Chauffeur Drive website where she’d found Martyna’s full name – Martyna Jez – before switching to Facebook to try and track her down there. It didn’t take long. The girl was Polish, aged twenty-nine and from a place called Sanok close to the Ukraine and Slovakian borders. She was in a relationship with Todd Rushton, and had one hundred and fourteen ‘friends’. There were no details on education or how long she’d been in the UK, nor was anyone listed under family.

  A quick read through the latest postings told Andee that her initial assessment had been correct – Martyna was a party girl, very fond of cocktails and taking selfies with Todd at various bars and nightclubs.

  A more detailed scan of older exchanges proved far more interesting. Several were with Polish friends, to be expected, while the rest were with girls from various other parts of Europe and beyond. The most intriguing aspect was the number of exchanges thanking Martyna for being the best thing that had ever happened to them.

  So happy now. Loving this life. Could have been so different. Love you Martyna Jez.

  Never dreamt I’d live anywhere like this. Love everything about it. So glad I signed up. Friend for life, Martyna.

  I was so scared when I left, but I know now I didn’t need to be. I hope anyone else who reads this and is feeling scared will take heart. Definitely nothing to worry about.

  Thanks for asking about my mother. Treatment going well, hoping for more good news soon. Couldn’t have done it without you.

  There were many more comments in Polish, or other languages, making them impenetrable for Andee, but with all the emoticons and kisses attached they were almost certainly along the same lines.

  So how, if this rash of postings was to be taken at face value, was the office manager of a chauffeur-drive company having such a positive effect on so many people’s lives?

  Though Andee found no mention of anyone who could conceivably have been Penny, she was mindful of what Martyna had said the day she, Andee, had gone to ECD. ‘It’s fantastic what she does. She helps so many people. I would not be where I am if it weren’t for her. None of us would.’

  Andee looked up as one of the receptionists came to speak to her.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ the girl said sweetly, ‘we have just received a call from Ms Cross’s office to inform us that she is unable to come and meet you.’

  Having expected it, Andee said, ‘Thank you. I’ll give her a call. Would you mind if I continued to work from here for a few more minutes?’

  ‘No, you are very welcome. There is a business area up on the mezzanine, if that is helpful.’

  Andee glanced up to where a highly polished railing was closing off an area of desks and computers beneath an exquisitely vaulted skylight.

  ‘But if you prefer to stay here,’ the receptionist hastily added, ‘there is no problem. Can I bring you any more refreshment?’

  ‘I’m fine thanks,’ Andee assured her. Her mind was already going into overdrive, certain that Penny was messing with her again. Let her, it wasn’t particularly intimidating, only annoying.

  She’d talk to the receptionist again when she went to settle up for her tea, meantime she needed to speak to Martyna, preferably away from the ECD offices, and some official backup could be useful for that. Since she was within a stone’s throw of Scotland Yard, she thought immediately of her old friend and colleague Tim Perroll. They’d attended detective school together and he’d worked with her during the time she’d revisited the search for Penny. She’d heard from his wife, in a recent Christmas card, that he was with SO15 these days, Counter Terrorism Command, so this was going to be a big ask. If she could even get hold of him.

  Eventually, after being put through to several different extensions she found herself talking to a familiar voice that wasn’t Tim’s, but turned out to be Jan Shell, another old friend and colleague.

  ‘It’s great to hear you, Andee,’ Jan cried warmly. ‘It’s been too long. We must get together.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Andee agreed. ‘I just need to get up to London more often. Or if you’re ever in the West Country …’

  ‘I’m sure it can be arranged. Anyhow, I hear you’re looking for Tim. He’s not around at the moment. In fact, he could be on leave … Hang on, I’ll check.’ A few moments later she said, ‘I’m being told that he’s in Portugal this week.’

  Damn!

  ‘I’ll give you his mobile number, it’ll be easier to get hold of him with that.’

  After jotting it down Andee decided not to ask when he was back; she’d call and ask him instead.

  A few minutes later, with the surprise of hearing from her and the reason for her call out of the way, Tim Perroll was saying, ‘OK, still getting my head round the fact that she’s turned up after all these years, but you can fill me in more when I see you.’

  ‘So where are you? I was told you were in Portugal, but the ringtone was home-grown.’

  ‘We should be on holiday, but Karen’s mother had a fall so she’s gone to York and I’m left here doing all the jobs I never get round to. Now, what is it exactly that you need me to do?’

  Wishing she could hug him, Andee said, ‘I want you to be my official escort when I go to interview someone, so I can say we’re from the police, but actually it’s going to be unofficial.’

  ‘OK,’ he said, drawing it out. ‘Is this person dangerous?’

  ‘Nothing I’ve come across so far would suggest it. She’s female, by the way.’

  ‘Ah, the deadlier of the species. So, tell me when and where I can be of assistance.’

  Andee glanced at her watch. Almost four thirty. What time did Martyna finish work? ‘Would this evening be too soon?’ she asked.

  ‘Fine by me.’

  ‘You’re my hero. I need to make a call first and I’ll get right back to you.’ After ringing off she connected to Exclusive Chauffeur Drive, and learned from Martyna, without letting on who she was, that the office closed at six.

  ‘Can you get to Knightsbridge for five thirty?’ she asked Tim when she rang back.

  ‘I’ll do my best, but it’s rush hour. Where do we meet?’

  ‘I’ll text you the address.’

  Realising she was unlikely to make it back to Kesterly until late that night, Andee rang her mother. ‘Hi, are you OK?’ she asked when Maureen answered.

  ‘Yes, I … Um …’

  Not liking the hesitation, Andee said, ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘Nothing. I just … What time will you be home?’

  ‘I won’t make dinner. Are Blake and Jenny still coming over?’

  ‘Yes. I … Andee, I have an awful confession to make. Please don’t be cross. I’m still looking for it, I’ve even been back to the car park …’

  ‘Mum, what are you talking about?’

  ‘The boy,’ Maureen answered. ‘He came up to me outside Waitrose and asked me to give you a number to call, but I can’t find the piece of paper he’d written it on.’

  Realising who she was talking about, Andee’s eyes closed in frustration. ‘Did he say anything else?’ she asked.

  ‘He said it was a number for Sven … I remember the name because Penny mentioned it. He said not to tell her anything about it.’

  And her mother had managed to lose the number. Aaaagh!

  ‘I texted you,’ Maureen told her. ‘There was a girl driving the car he went off in, and the registration …’

  ‘Oh, that’s what that was about,’ Andee cut in, having put it down to one of her mother’s funny five minutes. ‘You didn’t get the entire number plate?’

  ‘
No, I’m afraid not. I’m obviously not as quick as I used to be.’

  Understanding how wretched she felt, Andee said, ‘There’s been a lot to deal with lately. We’ve both been thrown off course … But if you do find that number, call me straight away. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home.’

  As she ended the call Gould rang.

  ‘What the hell is this?’ he demanded when she answered. ‘Satan, saints, all good, all bad? I don’t get it.’

  ‘It’s a quote from John Steinbeck,’ Andee explained. ‘It’s what he said about his character Cathy Ames in East of Eden, which is basically that if you believe saints are completely good, then you have to believe that someone can be completely bad.’

  ‘Yeah, I got that much. And your sister sent this to John Victor?’

  ‘I’m presuming it was her, and here’s why I think it was. I was studying the book for GCSE at the time she disappeared. It never occurred to me that she’d taken it. She was never that interested in literature, and anyway losing it was hardly at the front of my mind. I just remember searching for it and giving up without really caring where it might be. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when you might remember she asked me if I’d worked out what she’d taken of mine when she went. I think this quote from Steinbeck is giving me the answer.’

  Sounding bewildered, he said, ‘OK, so what are we supposed to read into it?’

  ‘Maybe that she considers herself to be like Cathy Ames, bad through and through?’

  ‘And that’s supposed to what? Intimidate you?’

  ‘Not me, John Victor. He’s who she sent it to, and the postmark on the envelope shows that it arrived ten days before he died. Of course there’s nothing to say it was from her, and I doubt after all this time that forensics could do much with the page that’s clearly been torn from a book, but I’ll hang on to it anyway.’

  ‘Right, so tell me more about this Cathy Ames character.’

  ‘Well, from what I remember, she was very sexually advanced for her age, getting boys into trouble rather than the other way round. She burned her parents’ house down, killing them both, and took off with all their money. She then went to work as a whore for a character called Edwards, I think – it’s been a long time since I read it. He fell in love with her, but ended up beating her so badly he almost killed her. She was rescued by one of the Trask brothers who took her in and married her, but she got pregnant by the other brother. She tried to give herself an abortion and failed. I’m picking things at random here, I’d have to read it again to be more accurate. Anyway, after her twin sons were born she abandoned them and went to work in another whorehouse where she became the madame’s favourite. She ended up poisoning said madame and inheriting the brothel, which she turned into a seriously sordid den of iniquity.’

  Astonished, he said, ‘And you were reading that aged sixteen?’

  Andee had to smile.

  ‘So how does it end?’

  ‘Her sons find her. One of them is disgusted by her, the other … I can’t remember exactly, but I’m sure she made the one who hated her the sole beneficiary of her will before she committed suicide.’

  As Gould stayed silent Andee felt the words resonating inside her, while watching a couple come into the lounge and go to sit by the window. She wondered if they’d been sent by Penny to keep an eye on her. Presumably the receptionist had been doing that up to now.

  ‘My mother’s had another visit from John Victor Jr,’ she informed Gould.

  ‘Your sister’s son. Do you think he has a twin brother?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. You’re looking for parallels.’

  ‘Aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes and no. She didn’t burn our house down and kill our parents, but she did, of her own volition, go to work as an escort, as she prefers to call it. I’m asking myself was John Victor the Edwards character, falling in love with her, then selling her on to get himself out of a fix?’

  ‘I thought you said Edwards beat this Cathy up,’ Gould put in.

  ‘Beating up, selling … Either way, it’s abuse.’

  ‘And she, Penny, came back to make Victor pay?’

  ‘It’s possible,’ Andee agreed.

  ‘Which doesn’t quite chime with the book.’

  ‘Does it have to? Anyway, what I’m asking myself is did John Victor keep her son?’

  ‘Do you think it’s likely he’d want to, considering his lifestyle?’

  ‘No, I don’t, but there’s a good chance he knew where the boy was. Penny was around twenty-one when she claims she was rescued from a life of virtual slavery by someone called Sven. She was twenty-five when John Victor went over a cliff. So where had she been for the intervening four years, and was this Sven the same person Ally Jackson saw Victor getting into a car with just before he died? I should return here to my mother’s visit from JV Jr. Apparently he gave her a number for me to call. He said it was for Sven and that he doesn’t want me to mention anything to his mother.’

  ‘Well, that’s interesting. So have you rung the number?’

  ‘My mother’s lost it.’

  ‘You’re kidding me, right? So how are you going to get hold of this guy?’

  ‘At this moment in time I’ve absolutely no idea, but I’m working on it.’

  Before leaving the hotel Andee paid her bill and at the same time managed to get an address for Michelle Cross.

  ‘She just emailed asking me to meet her at her office,’ Andee told the receptionist. ‘The trouble is, I can’t remember exactly where it is.’

  ‘It’s no problem,’ she was assured, and a moment later she was handed a printout giving the name of the company, K.T. Holdings, and where it was located.

  Belgravia! Addresses didn’t come any fancier than that.

  Since Andee was more or less in the neighbourhood she decided to make a brief detour on her way to meet Tim, going past the small park on Lower Grosvenor Place, right at Eaton Square and into Upper Belgrave Street. The imposing white Georgian terraces with their supremely elegant porticoes and numerous blue plaques – Alfred Lord Tennyson being the only name she recognised – were quite clearly homes to the unimaginably rich. She could find scant evidence of any businesses located here, although Google Maps was telling her that several embassies and high-commissions were located nearby.

  When Andee reached the correct house number, she searched for a sign announcing K.T. Holdings, but there was none. The main entrance, with its shiny ebony front door and topiaried trees, didn’t appear to have an entryphone, or even a knocker, which she found odd – how did anyone make contact with someone inside?

  Presumably they weren’t supposed to.

  Wondering if Penny was watching from within, Andee took a long slow look over the tall sash windows up to the roof and blue sky beyond. She had no problem with Penny knowing that she’d discovered the name and location of K.T. Holdings, and once she’d passed the details to Leo she was hopeful of knowing a lot more.

  Several minutes later she was at the other end of Belgravia approaching the mews where she’d asked Tim to meet her, and seeing his impressive six foot six frame packed out with bulging muscles and far too much testosterone already stationed on the corner looking for all the world like a drug dealer, she felt a rush of pleasure. She’d missed him, she realised. She’d always felt safe when he was around, as though nothing could possibly go wrong, although it had, plenty of times, but somehow he’d managed to make any disaster feel less problematic than it was. He’d been a friend, a brother, a partner … He’d been a very big part of her life.

  ‘You’re looking good,’ he chuckled, his husky baritone as familiar as the swamping feel of his embrace. ‘And I hear you’re kind of available again these days.’

  ‘I was,’ she countered, thinking of Graeme and the fact that he hadn’t called or texted since she’d dropped him at the airport earlier. She hadn’t called him either so she was hardly in a position to make a big deal of that.

  ‘OK bring m
e into the picture,’ Tim prompted as she glanced along the mews towards Exclusive Chauffeur Drive. ‘Why here? Who are we looking for? And what do we need to get from them?’

  After explaining that her sister was apparently behind the chauffeur-drive company, effectively making her Martyna’s boss, and showing him some of the posts on Martyna’s Facebook page, Andee said, ‘The girl should be finishing work any minute, and I want to have the kind of chat with her that makes it clear she ought to be helping me.’

  ‘So what exactly are you suspecting her of?’

  ‘There’s some kind of cover-up going on, I’m certain of it, but of what and of whom … That’s what I’m trying to find out.’

  ‘Which is where I come in?’

  ‘Exactly. You don’t have to say anything, unless you think it’s relevant, I just want to see how the girl reacts when she realises you’re a police officer. What we need right now is somewhere to take her for a quiet chat.’

  Perroll looked around, and spotting a restaurant awning about fifty yards down on the right, he said, ‘I’m sure they’ll be able to accommodate us.’

  Knowing that his imposing physique coupled with the flash of his badge would indeed get them what they wanted, Andee smiled and checked her watch. All she had to hope for now was that Martyna finished on time and left the office alone.

  It happened exactly that way.

  At a couple of minutes after six Martyna, looking her executive best in a beige skirt suit and matching low heels, exited the office, locked the door and started along the mews towards them. She was so focused on her phone that she didn’t even realise anyone was there until Andee said, ‘Hello Martyna.’

  The girl stopped, shocked and clearly becoming afraid as she looked at Andee, at Tim and back again.

  ‘Remember me?’ Andee asked, hearing the echo of her sister’s words on that strange day in France.