The Family Lie

by Jake Cross

  Anna let go of Miller’s hands as if they were white hot. Fatigue now, rolling over her, making her next words barely a whisper, and five-parts exasperation to one-part honest question: ‘Why do you keep saying that?’

  ‘The police have a duty of care, dear.’

  Anna took ragged breaths as understanding set in. Duty of care. She was being thrown a lifeline. She couldn’t meet the other woman’s eyes as she said, ‘Yes. Nick might hurt Josie.’

  She felt a stroking hand upon her shoulder. ‘Then I can’t ignore this. I will put Josie on the PNC as missing. And Nick, too. But, my dear, he’ll have to be listed as wanted. You understand? He’ll be arrested.’

  That kicked a cold trickle down Anna’s spine. In that moment she realised there was doubt that intruders had taken her family. But she quickly refocussed on the fact that why and how didn’t matter, only getting Nick and Josie home safely. And now that would happen because the police were going to find them.

  Miller’s cruising agony aunt tone was gone, as if it had been an act all along. She spoke rapidly. ‘Now I need you to talk to me, dear. Tell me about your friends, and Nick’s. I need to know about all those places you both like to visit, like pubs you’ve enjoyed, country parks you routinely go to. I need to know if Nick plays snooker for a team every Thursday. Does he buy a daily newspaper from the same shop every morning? Does he have a loyalty card to a certain hotel chain? Nick might not want to upset little Josie’s routines, so, is there a party coming up that Josie is looking forward to? Does she have swimming lessons? A doctor’s appointment? Just talk and don’t stop, dear. I want to know your family better than anyone outside it.’

  Anna rubbed her face with both hands, hard enough to hurt, and prepared to unload her life for this captivating woman who, act or not, desperately wanted to play saviour. But before Anna could say a thing, the quiet black air was sliced by the cordless phone ringing in her pocket.

  ‘Not out here.’

  Her arm was grabbed, Miller’s grip surprisingly strong. As Anna was virtually marched towards the house, she pictured Miller as a young uniform, escorting hardened criminals with the same vice-like clamp, if only to avoid thinking about what she might learn from the phone call.

  Once inside, the behemoth DS Bennet, who was waiting for them as if he’d heard the phone, dragged the curtains across to bar the night. Anna caught this peripherally because her eyes were locked on the phone in her hands, which displayed the words No Caller ID.

  ‘If it’s your man, ask to speak to Josie,’ Miller said. ‘We need to know the little one is okay. And let Nick speak first.’

  Anna slammed the phone to her ear hard enough to hurt. She hadn’t registered Miller’s order, but she found that words wouldn’t come.

  ‘Anna? Nicolas? It’s June. Are you—’

  She killed the call and dropped the phone. Realising a false alarm, Miller picked up the device and said, ‘I’m sorry, dear. I’ll get DS Bennet on to screening calls to make sure no more neighbours get through. But we’ll have to expect return calls from friends and family you called. We’ll try to keep this quiet. Nosiness. Hard to combat. Sorry.’

  Anna’s shoulders slumped. She knew that Miller had wanted her to let the caller speak first so that Anna didn’t give the game away to the wrong person. ‘But how did she…’

  ‘I’ve got an abrasive young piece of testosterone with the lady who called the police. She must have slipped away from him and got to a phone. Busybodies. I’m sorry about that, dear. Truly. I’ll have him hunting stolen cats by tomorrow.’

  Just then there was a loud rapping at the front door. DS Bennet nearly broke his own neck turning his head so fast, and even the unflappable DCI jumped at the noise. But Anna didn’t even look up from the phone in the policewoman’s hands.

  ‘It’s not Josie and Nick,’ she said.

  It was barely past 4 a.m. but, as was his way, her father had taken time to dress for the occasion in a suit under a long black coat. There was haste in his expression, though. And anger. But she didn’t need emotion on his face to know he wouldn’t be overflowing with sympathy for her, lost daughter or not.

  Jane Middleton was tall and slim, similar enough to her sister that cast-off clothing from one often went to the other. Nobody had ever remarked that they looked the same, but the sisters assumed enough of a resemblance that they maintained different coloured hair. A long-ago agreement meant that when Anna decided she wanted to go blonde, Jane would have to darken. Under a denim jacket she wore a Lycra jogging outfit, since she liked to use the treadmill last thing at night and the garment had probably been crumpled by her bed when Anna called.

  Already she looked not just wide awake but wired. Her eyes flickered here and there, settling on nothing, like those of someone high on drugs. Not the case, of course, because Jane had been blind since the age of three. The disorder had never dented her good nature and quest to always have fun, but right now she looked terrified. Anna hated the fact that she’d swept up her sister and dumped her into a nightmare.

  Despite her father and sister knowing there was trouble in the air, Anna had taken a moment at the mirror behind the front door to flick loose hair from her ragged ponytail away from her cheeks, although that further exposed the dirt she’d smeared across her skin. On the shoe cabinet was a box of wet wipes for washing Josie’s face before she left for school, and she’d grabbed one. She’d been instructed not to clean herself, but it made no sense and she hurriedly wiped away grime before opening the door.

  Jane stepped forward first, and pecked Anna’s cheek. Her lips touched dried mud that Anna had missed, which Jane then wiped away from both their faces. Her fingers ran over Anna’s mouth, perhaps seeking a smile or a frown, and then the back of her fingers settled on Anna’s forehead.

  ‘It’ll be fine,’ Jane said, a response to feeling the hot skin on her fingers. Anna’s temperature had always exposed her mood, at least to her sister. Jane’s other hand brushed against the cordless clutched hard in Anna’s hands.

  ‘I tried him, too. Voicemail.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Anna said.

  Jane lifted a finger and dragged it softly down Anna’s nose. To the uninitiated, it might have looked like something insulting. But Anna wasn’t the uninitiated.

  ‘I have. I will. Don’t worry,’ she whispered.

  Jane stepped aside for Father. He looked tired. She expected him to immediately launch into an attack on Nick, but he had something more pressing on his mind.

  ‘Just the one police car? Is there any news?’

  ‘Detectives as well,’ she said. That seemed to settle him a little and he grabbed her in a hug, although it was weak. He’d never been a man known for his shows of attention. ‘I’ve been told to tell you not to make any calls to people about this. Any ideas you have, give them to the police.’

  ‘Are you okay?’

  She nodded against his chest. There was genuine concern there, but the beat of his heart and rasp of his breath hinted at more.

  ‘Is there any news?’

  Asked with a little more conviction, which made her realise she’d forgotten to answer that question the first time. She shook her head. ‘No news. They’re working on it.’

  ‘I want to talk to them.’ He kissed her forehead and walked and pushed into the house. She knew he didn’t trust her to give him an accurate story. Because hers wouldn’t condemn her husband.

  As a man who’d run a restaurant chain for as long as his daughters had had beating hearts, Father was alien to not manning the helm. By the time Jane and Anna had entered the house, they could already hear his raised voice in the living room as he tried to tell the police how to do their jobs. They heard him complain that they were sitting around using their laptops instead of kicking in doors to find his granddaughter. And they heard him mention his nickname for Nick – Lotus Eater. Jane grabbed Anna’s hand.

  ‘Let’s leave him to rant a bit,’ she said as she led her sister into the bedroom. Anna wa
s happy to go because she didn’t want to hear her father further insult Nick. As they moved across the room, Jane caught her thigh on the bedroom dressing table. A quiet giggle slipped from Anna’s lips, but only because she needed an injection of levity to relieve building pressure.

  ‘We moved the dressing table a couple of days ago. Nick did mention that it might catch you out.’

  Jane sat on the bed and removed her denim jacket. The Lycra top was sleeveless and exposed arms thin and muscled because of her exercise obsession, and bruised because of her eyes. ‘That reminds me of the time Nick said there were a couple of spiders dangling from the ceiling. Remember that? I felt trapped. Any other booby traps I should know about?’

  ‘Did I mention the sinkhole in the kitchen?’

  Both women laughed. It seemed like becoming a mellow moment, as Jane intended, but Anna quickly crested the peak and descended again, fast as a runaway train. In the five seconds it took her to move to the dressing table and sit, she blurted everything Miller had told her.

  There was a thoughtful pause before Jane responded: ‘Have they told you what they’re doing to find them?’

  Anna stared into the mirror and lifted a cotton pad to scrape away the remaining dirt from her arms and face. But before the pad even touched her face, she dropped it to pull out the cordless and call Nick again. When she hung up, she saw Jane’s reflection behind hers.

  ‘Turning stones, that was the term they used. I guess it means they’re doing their thing, whatever they do. But they’re searching my house for clues.’

  In the mirror, Jane’s left hand spun the large ring on the thumb of her right. She was hardwired for movement and couldn’t remain motionless – it was part of the reason exercise was an obsession. But here, instead, Anna read a nervous tic, and she didn’t like it. She knew something fresh was worrying her sister.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Anna asked, staring at her sister’s reflection. Impossible to read the dead eyes, but Anna had studied her sister’s body language all their lives. She didn’t like what she felt from the one person she expected to be wholeheartedly on her side:

  Doubt.

  ‘Jane?’

  ‘There was that missing girl in Bradford a couple of days ago,’ Jane said. ‘She was thirteen. Mother kicked up a stink when she didn’t return from school, and friends and family went out searching. The police searched the house, though, and they found a drawing of Nemesis – you know, that ride at Alton Towers?’

  Jane stepped forward and grabbed Anna’s hand. ‘Stop that. I can hear it.’ She felt Anna’s neck. ‘Get some cream.’

  Anna’s hand had been scraping at her throat again. The mirror showed her red blotches, raspy skin. She hadn’t suffered a stress rash for years.

  ‘Turned out the family had been planning to go to Alton Towers,’ Jane said, her story continuing. ‘But it fell through. The police went there and found her sleeping rough outside the entrance. She’d run off to go ride Nemesis. Unreal. The police wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t searched the house.’

  Anna’s heart sank. ‘Why are you telling me that story? You agree with them, don’t you? That Nick ran off with Josie?’

  ‘No, I’m not saying that, Annie. I don’t believe that any more than I believe people broke into the house and took a grown man. That’s not what I meant. But Nick… he must have gone out.’

  Anna said nothing. She got up to grab jeans and one of Nick’s T-shirts from the wardrobe.

  ‘He must have, Annie. Think about it.’

  ‘Oh, are you about to quote evidence at me, like they did?’

  As Anna tossed her muddy nightgown aside, Jane turned her head away, even though blind. Anna started to dress.

  ‘If I have to, Annie. Think about it. You said the back door wasn’t forced open. There was no noise. And his van? It must be something Nick had to do, and he took Josie with him.’

  ‘Like what, Jane? At three in the morning, without telling me, and leaving the door wide open. Like what?’

  ‘I don’t know, but let’s say the police are right. Nick abducted Josie. That’s horrible, but isn’t it also the best answer?’

  ‘I would love it if that was the answer, Jane. If Josie is with her dad, then they’re both fine, aren’t they? Even if they decide never to come back, I know they’re not in danger. Nick would never allow Josie to get hurt. They’ll live a long and happy life. I would love that to be the case rather than what I’m thinking. But I just know it’s not true.’

  ‘Can you really believe that someone broke in and… what is it?’

  Anna had frozen, and Jane had sensed this change in her sister’s demeanour.

  ‘Annie?’

  ‘His side of the wardrobe is full,’ Anna said, a little breathless. And a little scrambled because she added, ‘Look. None of his clothing’s gone.’

  ‘What do you mean? Nick’s clothes?’

  Jane had approached and Anna grabbed her arm. ‘He hasn’t packed. They think he planned to run away, but he didn’t take any clothing.’ She ran Jane’s hand along the clothing hanging in the wardrobe. But before her sister could make a response, a hard knock on the door was followed by the appearance of the gangly sergeant, Bennet.

  ‘Nick didn’t take any clothes,’ Anna blurted at him.

  ‘We need to find your mobile, Mrs Carter. Immediately.’

  His was a manner thus far mild and professional, so the urgency in his tone knocked all thoughts of clothing from Anna’s mind. Instinctively, she looked at the nightgown cast on the floor, then remembered she’d been using the cordless and had no idea where the mobile was. She rushed to her bedside table, but it wasn’t there, either.

  ‘I don’t know. Why? What’s going on?’

  ‘Follow me, please.’

  Anna wanted her sister by her side for this, so kept hold of that hand as she was led to the cubbyhole. Miller was waiting. She indicated the computer screen.

  Someone had opened MyPhone, an app that kept track of calls and text messages. Nick’s calls and messages.

  ‘Your man made a mobile-to-mobile call,’ Miller said. ‘Look here. USA mobile code, that. Washington, DC. America, Anna. Your Nick called America, dear. Look at the time stamp.’

  ‘He doesn’t know anyone in America,’ Anna said, but her mind was so scrambled she wasn’t sure if that was true. Behind, she heard her father appear and ask what was going on. Lowth, the female uniformed responder, asked him to stay back. He started to demand an answer, so Jane and then Bennet joined the party. Soon many voices were arguing, but Anna didn’t take her eyes from the screen.

  Nick’s call to America: 2.35 a.m. – just twenty minutes before she discovered her husband and daughter missing.

  By her side, Miller jabbed another line. ‘Texts sent by your Nick.’

  Shocked, Anna saw that her own number had been sent a text. At 03.11.

  Which was only a few minutes after she’d discovered Josie and Nick missing.

  DS Bennet threw the duvet off the bed after checking both bedside cabinets, and he looked under the bed. But he shook his head.

  ‘I picked it up,’ Anna said. ‘I know I did. Maybe I put it down in the living room.’

  They moved into the living room, and then the playroom, and then the kitchen, but in each there were just too many places for a small item to be hidden. A thorough search couldn’t be spared the time.

  ‘Cards on the table, dear,’ Miller said. ‘Any chance you’ve seen that text, and maybe hid the phone so us guys wouldn’t?’

  ‘No,’ Anna answered, shocked. ‘I must have put it down somewhere.’

  ‘You were muddy,’ Bennet said. ‘Did you drop it when you slipped over outside?’ He was already heading for the patio door but stopped when Anna made a noise.

  ‘Josie’s room! I slipped.’

  She got a head start, so that she was on her knees on Josie’s wet laminate floor by the time Bennet and Miller arrived. With no memory of the device either in her hands or flying
out of them, she was doubtful. But there, under the bed, she saw it. She reached for it with such urgency she cracked her forehead on the bedframe.

  As she picked it up and withdrew, the screen came alive, and sure enough a text message was waiting. From Nick.

  ‘But he didn’t take any clothing,’ she murmured, and then the phone slipped away and crashed to Josie’s floor for a second time.

  Well, I tossed a coin and you lost. Hope you’ve got good pictures of Josie in your head. You’ll need them. All good things come to an end, I suppose. Loved you once. XXX.

  Two

  ‘I said I needed a minute.’

  ‘We both know that’s not the reason, dear,’ Miller said as she got into the passenger seat. ‘I used to hide from my dad when he got my school results. Same reason.’

  ‘What’s he saying?’

  ‘I imagine exactly what you feared, seeing as you came out here to get away.’

  Unable to face the oncoming explosion, Anna had left the house. She’d sat in her car on the driveway, in silence, watching the dark street and trying not to imagine how her father would be reacting to the threat sent from Nick’s mobile.

  ‘He really thinks Nick sent it, doesn’t he? You all do.’

  ‘That would be bias, dear. I don’t do such a thing. The scales are always balanced until evidence knocks them one way or the other.’

  ‘What about Father’s promise? I suspect he’ll have told you all about that.’

  Miller lowered the sun visor to check a little scar above her chin. ‘Immediately. If you married Nick, he would cut you out of all financial help. Harsh. How’s that been working out?’

  ‘He’s stuck to it. I mean, he helped with the wedding and bought our bungalow, but I don’t know how much of that was Mother’s influence on him because she wanted me back home. Nick suspects Father only bought us a house because he didn’t trust me to survive without him, after I quit my London job. But since then he’s seen us fall into debt that he could wipe out at the stroke of a pen. But no. So, maybe Nick decided he needed another way of getting Father to part with some money. That’s what you’re all thinking. I know it.’