by Jade Winters
Scandal. Keri clicked on the first file: Corporation applications. The second file: Lloyd Jenkins. It contained photos of her dad with two men in business suits entering a well-known restaurant in London. There were also several other pictures of them leaving. Shaking hands. Back slaps. The name of the person in the photo was in the next file. A planning application had been approved for a luxury apartment complex.
Fucking hell. This is going to sink him.
She grabbed her phone. Fingers trembling, she scrolled down her contact list until she found her dad’s number then pressed it. Two rings later, Lloyd was on the line.
‘I hope you’ve got something for me.’ His voice slurred.
What she had to tell him was going to make him hit the bottle even harder. But there was no easy way around it. He had to know. ‘You’re not going to like this.’
‘Just tell me!’ he said angrily.
She paused momentarily, determined not to react to his outburst. The only person he should be angry with is himself, not me. I didn’t hold a gun to his head to make him a corrupt bastard. When she trusted her voice to sound neutral she said, ‘Astrid has pictures. You with well know lobbyists.’
‘What … else?’
Keri closed her eyes. Picturing him sitting in his office alone with only a bottle of whisky for company made her feel tearful. He was her dad after all. Whether I like it or not. ‘She’s linked each person to the approved permits. I don’t know how you’re going to get out of this.’
‘You’re going to have to destroy the files,’ he replied in a quivering voice.
Her eyes flew open. ‘No way in hell am I going to do that. I’m not going to land my arse in court because you couldn’t be careful. Anyway I’m sure she’s not stupid. She’ll have back-up copies somewhere.’
‘Then what do you suggest we do?’ He sounded like a scared little boy. A voice he used to manipulate her on many occasions. But not this time. What he was asking was going a tad too far. Even for her.
We. Us. ‘I really don’t know. But if she leaks this you are royally screwed.’
‘Then you’d better make sure she doesn’t.’
How on earth was she going to do that? Oh, by the way Astrid, would you mind not revealing to the public my dad is a scheming crook. She could just imagine. First the shock in finding out that Keri was his daughter and secondly that she had the audacity to ask her to cover up his wrongdoings.
‘I’m going to have to think hard about this one.’
‘You do that. If I go to prison, I won’t survive. My death will be on your hands. Remember that.’
‘Your—’
He had already hung up. She shook her head in dismay. So he can’t keep his greedy snout out the trough and when he gets caught he lays the guilt at my door.
And I’ll be the one responsible for his death if I don’t succeed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
For the moment, Astrid forgot about Callie and their impromptu rendezvous. As well as the shock of seeing Keri at the B&B. She had to focus on work now. There would be plenty of time for play later. Sat on a wall across the road from Meadow Hill High School. Astrid stared straight ahead, not taking her eyes off the gate for a second. At one time, a man would have easily stood out from the crowd of pupils hustling and bustling their way out onto the street. But most of the male students were well over five feet nine going on six foot. If it wasn’t for their tell-tale school blazers, she would have been at a loss. Finally. Astrid eased herself gently off the wall when she recognized the man’s face she had seen on Facebook. Luke Harbour. Forty years old. Geography teacher for the past ten years. He was a handsome man with shoulder length dark hair, blue eyes and a smile that could charm the birds out of the tree. He had a natural rock star look about him and Astrid could fully understand why teenage girls would go weak at the knees for him.
Pulling her coat tighter across her chest she crossed the road and followed him, limping a few feet behind. She didn’t want to confront him when there were so many people around. From experience, she knew people were more likely to speak to her when they were away from prying eyes.
Head bowed, eyes glued to his mobile phone, Luke took a sharp left at the next turning, stopping to tap something into his phone. It was now Astrid decided to approach him. Stealthily, she crept up behind him. The pain in her ankle now forgotten.
‘Luke Harbour,’ she said as a car passed by drowning out her voice.
For a second Astrid thought he hadn’t heard her. Just as she opened her mouth to speak again, Luke turned to face her with a distracted look.
‘How’d you know my name?’
‘Astrid. From The Daily News.’ She took out her ID and flashed it at him. She always felt like a police officer when she did that. ‘I wonder if I can have a quick word with you.’
‘About what?’
‘Lexi—’
His features hardened. ‘I’ve got nothing to say.’
‘Speak to me, don’t speak to me, either way you’re going to be front page news once word gets out about you.’
‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’
Astrid snorted. ‘Like that’s gonna make a difference to the public. Once they find out about a teacher having an affair with a student they’ll be your judge, jury and executioner.’
‘She’s not my student.’
‘Don’t be naïve, Luke. The headlines alone will be enough to bury you. The story will be so twisted you won’t know where it begins or ends. You’ll be deemed a predator.’
He gave a bitter laugh. ‘But not if you write the story, right?’
Ross wanted information no other reporter had, and she wasn’t going to let him down.
‘Exactly. All I want is the truth.’
Luke looked thoughtful for a few seconds, carefully digesting her words. Then, indicating to a pub at the end of the road, he headed towards it. Astrid trailed behind him in silence.
This was her only chance. She could not mess it up.
As they neared the pub, Luke slipped his phone into his jacket pocket and with the other hand pulled out a packet of cigarettes. His fingers shook as he slipped one into his mouth and lit it as they entered the pub’s car park.
‘What do you want to know?’ he asked leaning against the edge of a wooden table in the beer garden.
‘How did you first meet Lexi?’ She would start at the beginning and finally work her way up to the present day.
He dropped his gaze to the ground and kicked the dirt like a naughty school boy. ‘At a funeral.’
Astrid swallowed hard. ‘At a funeral?’ She couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice. Who on earth picked someone up at a funeral? Men like Luke it seems.
She cleared her throat. ‘Um sorry. So you guys were at a funeral. Do you mind me asking whose?’
‘A teacher. Look I didn’t know Lexi was so young. You know how it is with girls these days. They look much older than they are.’
‘Yeah, of course they do,’ Astrid said. She thought of the picture she had seen of Lexi and someone would have to be blind not to be able to tell how young she was. If anything, she looked younger than her sixteen years. Maybe that’s what let Luke sleep at night, but he wasn’t going to pull the wool over her eyes. He was into young girls. End of story. Poor Lexi. To be so young and gullible and getting caught up with a creep like him.
He was still talking and she forced herself to tune in.
‘We fell hard the second we laid eyes on each other.’
Over a corpse. How romantic.
Luke looked directly into her eyes. ‘It was as if fate brought us together, do you know what I mean? In all my life, I never thought I’d find a woman as precious as Lexi.’
Woman? I think I’m actually going to be sick. Astrid raised her eyebrows but said nothing. She had to be professional about this and not let her personal feelings get in the way. A young girl’s life was at stake and if Luke had anything to do with it, alienating him wasn’t going to b
ring her back.
‘So how long were you guys dating?’
‘Eighteen months.’
Astrid did a quick mental calculation. Her stomach turned. That would have meant Lexi was just fourteen. Sick fuck!
‘So she was fourteen.’ It was a statement, not a question.
Luke inhaled deeply. ‘I know what you’re thinking, but nothing happened between us until Lexi turned sixteen.’
What a gentleman, not. If he thought she was buying that line, he was more delusional than she first thought.
‘So were things still good between you two? I mean the honeymoon period lasts, what? Six months if that.’
He let out an unsteady breath. ‘I think so.’
‘You don’t seem sure.’
‘Well let’s just say everything was perfect from my side of things.’
‘But not from Lexi’s?’
‘That, you’ll have to ask her,’ he said studying the tip of his cigarette.
‘Believe me if I knew where she was I would.’ And I’d also ask her why she didn’t value herself enough to steer clear of you.
‘If you want to know her thoughts on anything, ask that so called friend of hers.’
‘And who would that be?’ The longer she remained in his company the more repulsed she became.
‘Darren Taylor, he hangs around Rushmore Youth Club,’ he said between gritted teeth as he ground the cigarette butt under his boot. ‘Lexi was everything to me, until he came on the scene and spoilt things.’
.
***
‘Hey, can I talk to you?’ Astrid called out to a scruffy, tall, lanky boy, with short cropped hair, who repeatedly kicked a football up against a brick wall outside Rushmore Youth Club.
He turned and looked around, unsure whether she was talking to him.
‘Me?’ he mouthed.
She was a few feet away. ‘You’re Darren, right?’
Before she came looking for him she had checked his Facebook profile. He was much different in person. His face was fuller, less defined. He also had less hair.
He stopped and sagged against the wall. The ball held steady under one foot. Waiting, with his arms crossed over his chest. He watched her with suspicion as she neared.
‘You with the police?’
‘Hell no,’ Astrid said. It was obvious he had some kind of beef with the police. If she was going to befriend him, she would have to align herself with his attitude. She slipped her hand into her jacket and brought out her ID. ‘I’m a reporter.’
He snorted. Not taking his eyes off her, he said, ‘Are they really that different? Both talk a load of bollocks.’
Astrid was shocked by the intensity of bitterness in his eyes. How could someone so young be so angry at the world? Then she remembered herself at sixteen. Quite easily.
‘Yeah I can see why you think that, but we’re no way as bad as them.’ Why am I always defending my job?
‘What d’ya want?’
‘To talk about Lexi.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘What about her?’
‘You know she’s gone missing, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, me and the whole country.’
‘I heard …’ She stopped, not wanting to explain how she found out about his relationship with Lexi. ‘So were you two friends?’
He cocked his head. ‘Friends?’
‘Yes, you know, as in spent time together, doing what friends do?’
‘Are you asking if we fucked?’ His attempt to shock her was wasted.
‘Yes, Darren. Were you fucking?’
His face flushed. ‘It wasn’t all about sex.’
‘Wasn’t it?’
He lowered his gaze to the ground. When he next spoke, his voice had lost its hostility. ‘No. I really like Lexi. She’s different. She’s not like all the other girls around here. All they care about is make-up and posting stupid pictures on Facebook.’
‘And Lexi?’
‘She liked to talk about things. The world. What she wanted to do once she escaped from here.’
Now this is what Astrid wanted to hear. The truth about the real Lexi. ‘Why did she want to leave?’
He looked up at her. ‘How long have you been here?’ It was a rhetorical question. ‘Someone like you wouldn’t last a month without going stir crazy. Well that’s Lexi. She hates it here. And she hates living with those two.’
The hair on Astrid’s neck pricked. She fought to hide her growing excitement. ‘Those two? You mean her parents, right?
He snorted again. ‘As far as Lexi’s concerned she has one parent and that person is dead. Robert’s just like a caretaker. All he wants is Roxy.’
‘Darren, do you know where Lexi is?’
‘Nope.’
‘Would you tell me if you did?’
‘Suppose so.’
She believed him. Next was the hard one. ‘Do you think—’
‘I know what you’re gonna ask. If Robert has something to do with her missing. I might look stupid, but I read the news.’
‘You don’t look stupid, Darren. You come across as an intelligent young man.’
‘You buttering me up or something?’
‘Not at all,’ she said truthfully. ‘We’re similar in that way. I say it as it is.’
‘Yeah, that’s what I like about you.’
‘So…’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if her dad was in on it. I bet he found out about ...’ He broke off. His gaze looking into the distance behind her. Footsteps approached, the click clack of heels on the pavement. Darren’s body tensed.
‘Fuck’s sake.’ He swooped down and snatched the ball up.
‘What?’ Astrid turned and saw a bleach blonde heading straight for them.
‘There you are, you little scallywag. Finally showed your face, have ya?’ She shouted from a few yards away her voice a high pitched screech.
Astrid turned back to Darren. ‘Robert found out about what, Darren?’
He started to retreat, walking backwards at first. The woman increased her speed.
‘Darren, tell me.’ Astrid called out to him. ‘What did Robert find out?’
‘That Lexi’s pregnant and she doesn’t know who the father is.’
He spun around and sprinted down the road, with the woman in heels trailing him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Keri idly traced the outline of Helen’s jaw. As clichéd as it sounded, she had literally been to heaven and back. She couldn’t deny it, Astrid was a skilled lover. One she was sure had even more tricks up her sleeve in the bedroom department, but she wasn’t available anymore. Even if she was, Keri wouldn’t swap her for Helen. Not now. But Keri still had to keep up the pretence that she was still into Astrid at all costs.
‘This I could get used to,’ Helen said, brushing away the damp hair from Keri’s temple.
Keri leant over and pressed her lips against Helen’s. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you’ve got the most amazing eyes?’
Helen slid her arm around Keri’s waist and pulled her closer. ‘If we’re talking compliments, has anyone ever told you what a great body you’ve got?’
‘And your lips,’ Keri said, nibbling on Helen’s bottom lip.
Helen groaned. ‘Oh, no stop it. You’re going to kill me. I’m not as young as I was.’
Keri laughed. ‘You’re thirty-five. You’re hardly ancient.’
‘Listen, sweetie, when you reach my age in ten years you’ll totally get what I’m talking about.’
‘Okay Granma, we’ll see, until then …’ She rolled Helen onto her back and climbed on top of her. ‘I’d better make the most of you before you become decrepit, hadn’t I?’
‘You’ll be leaving long before that though, won’t you?’
Keri detected a note of sadness in her voice.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah.’ She shifted from under her weight and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Her head bowed down. ‘I’m just a sentimental fool. I knew
before anything happened between us, there wasn’t a future.’
Keri remained silent. Not sure she had the words that would comfort her. Helen was right, there couldn’t be a future. As much as she liked her there was no way she was going to move to this town. It wasn’t even an option. Keri was the type of person who loved the buzz of big cities. The thought of isolation frightened her to death. If she stayed here, she’d end up leaving in a straight-jacket.
‘You know I could always visit,’ Keri said, knowing full well she wouldn’t. Once her job was over she would never step foot back in this place. For Helen or anyone else.
Helen peeked over her shoulder with a wry smile. ‘Thanks for trying. I might not be a lawyer anymore but my bullshit detector is in full working order.’
‘I didn’t mean—’
‘I know you were just being kind.’
Keri crawled across the bed on her knees, dragging the sheet with her. Sitting beside Helen she covered their shoulders, then entwined their arms. ‘Can’t we just enjoy ourselves while we can?’
Helen gave her a sideward glance. ‘Sure. I’m sorry I said anything.’
‘Don’t be silly. I like the fact that we can be open and honest with each other.’
‘You do?’
‘Yes.’
‘So why do I get the feeling you aren’t telling me everything?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ A chill nipped at Keri’s core. Am I really such an open book?
‘I’m talking about you being distracted. I can sense it a mile off. Sometimes it feels like you’re not even in the same room with me.’
Keri’s shoulders dropped. ‘It’s this missing—’
‘It’s okay. You’ll tell me the truth when you’re ready.’ She shrugged. ‘Or not … You got time for something to eat?’
She was grateful Helen had skilfully dropped the subject. How could she explain to her what her father was guilty of without some of the shine rubbing off her?
Keri grinned, relieved. ‘Yep. I’m famished.’
‘Good. I hope you like pasta.’
‘Love it.’
‘I’m going to take a quick shower.’ Helen kissed Keri’s forehead as she rose. The natural floorboards creaked beneath her as she left the room.
