Missing Without Trace

by P. F. Ford

  ‘Alfie,’ she said, alarm clear in her voice. ‘I heard a lot of noise.’ She could clearly see the state my flat was in and the assorted police uniforms. ‘What’s going on?’

  Nash had regained some of his composure now. ‘Nothing for you to worry about, madam,’ he explained, striding towards her. ‘We’re just conducting enquiries into a robbery last Saturday evening. I have reason to believe this man was involved. We’re just going to take him in for questioning. He’s our chief suspect.’

  ‘I’m afraid you must be mistaken,’ said Sophia, without even stopping to think. ‘He can’t have been involved. He was with me.’

  I don’t know who looked more surprised, Nash or me. I felt all the heads in the room turning my way in disbelief.

  ‘But, but...’ he started to protest. ‘It could have been early hours of Sunday morning.’

  ‘When I say he was with me, I mean he was with me all night,’ said Sophia defiantly.

  To be fair, I think we all had trouble believing a woman like Sophia would have spent all night with a guy like me. Nash clearly didn’t believe it and for a moment, his mouth gaped open. Slater, bless him, seemed to have found all the events of the last half hour quite unbelievable, so one more thing made little difference to him.

  ‘I should remind you, madam,’ said Nash, trying to regain control of the situation, ‘perjury is a serious offence.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Sophia, coolly. ‘Right up there with perverting the course of justice, I would imagine.’

  Hearing Sophia put Nash in his place I thought she was amazing. She would do this, for me?

  Watching Nash at that moment was rather like watching a balloon deflate. In the space of just a few seconds, he seemed to become almost half the size. All his bluster and bullshit drained out of him at the same time. Then, scraping together as much dignity as he could, he silently marched past us all and out into the night.

  It was left to Slater to clear the rest of the troops from the wreckage of my flat. When they had all left, he turned to me.

  ‘We need to talk,’ he said.

  I resisted the urge to swear at him. ‘Don’t you get it?’ I said. ‘This is all bollocks. I haven’t stolen anything.’

  ‘Yeah, I realise that. That’s what we need to talk about. Nash is way out of order, and it’s not the first time. I can’t just ignore this – I’d be failing in my duty.’

  I surveyed the wreckage. ‘Okay,’ I agreed. ‘But now’s not a good time.’

  ‘Of course it’s not. I didn’t mean now. I’ll have to come when I’m off duty – it’s going to be a bit awkward otherwise.’ He took one last look around. ‘I’m sorry about all this.’

  I didn’t know what to say. I was just starting to realise what they’d done to my home.

  ‘I think you should leave now, Sergeant,’ said Sophia, bluntly.

  ‘Err, yes, right.’ And then he was gone, quietly closing the door as he left.

  Chapter Eleven

  I stared at the mess that had been my lovely flat. What had they done to my home? Where on earth was I going to start? They’d done a seriously good job of destroying just about everything. I felt a hand on my back, and then Sophia was close to my side, putting her arm around my waist.

  I felt close to tears, but I tried not to let her see how upset I was. My voice was a croak. ‘Where do I start?’

  ‘Come on,’ she said softly. ‘You are in shock. Come with me and have something to eat. This can wait until the morning. Jelena will be back in the morning. It will be easier to sort out with three of us.’

  Keeping her arm tight around me, she steered me out and around the corner to her flat, pausing only to open her own front door and then close it behind us. Once inside, I removed my shoes and my feet sank into the luxurious carpet. She led me up the stairs into her lounge and showed me to a soft, comfortable settee in front of the open fire. I sat quietly and stared sadly into the fire.

  Sophia said nothing, but I was vaguely aware of her moving around in the room somewhere behind me, then I heard soft music in the background. With her standing about five feet and an inch or two tall, she had been too short to comfortably place her arm around my shoulders earlier, but now she moved behind the settee and began to gently massage my shoulders and the back of my neck, easing away the tension.

  Neither of us spoke for the next five minutes but words weren’t necessary. Sophia knew what she was doing and gradually, I began to relax. As I did, I started to recall what else had happened in my flat just a short while ago – like the amazing lady, currently massaging my shoulders, providing me with an alibi for last Saturday night.

  ‘Are you feeling a little better now?’ she asked.

  ‘Much better,’ I said. ‘And I owe you a big thank-you.’

  ‘For a little massage? It’s no trouble.’

  ‘Well, yes I owe you a thank-you for that, but I meant the way you dealt with that idiot Nash. I don’t know many women who would put their reputation on the line like that for a guy like me.’

  She laughed quietly. ‘Maybe you just don’t know the right women. And as for my reputation, do I have one? And what do you mean for a guy like you? I don’t understand.’

  ‘Well, you know,’ I said awkwardly. ‘I mean, look at you – beautiful, classy, stylish, and then look at me. I’m not exactly in line for this year’s best-dressed man award, and the only class I get close to is working class.’

  Then, as I remembered what she had said to Nash, I began to laugh. ‘And did you see their faces? I don’t think a single one of them found it possible to believe you spent the night with me!’

  I could feel her smile, even though she was behind me. ‘Ah,’ she said, ‘but I didn’t say I spent the night with you, I said you spent the night with me. It’s not the same thing. And do you really think I would only be interested in what you wear and how you talk? I hope I don’t seem that shallow.

  ‘It’s what’s inside a man that matters, and I know what’s inside you because Jelena told me. To her, you are a hero and a gentleman, and if that’s what she says, that’s good enough for me.’

  ‘Well, that’s told me,’ I said, somewhat taken aback by what she had just said. Me? A hero and a gentleman? And there I was thinking I’d blown it a few weeks ago…

  ‘You shouldn’t put yourself down,’ she said. ‘That’s the sort of thing that will put me off.’

  She gave my shoulders one last squeeze, as what she had just said started to sink into my disbelieving brain. ‘Now,’ she said. ‘I hope you are hungry.’

  Sophia’s cooking didn’t disappoint – the meal she created that evening was fabulous. She was a very attentive hostess and she was wonderful company; for a couple of hours, I completely forgot the mess I had waiting for me downstairs in my own flat.

  In that couple of hours, I learnt a lot about Sophia, and she learnt a lot about me. She also told me about how well her long-lost niece Jelena was doing. I had helped to reunite them a few weeks back and I was pleased to hear she was progressing. I wondered why she hadn’t joined us for dinner, but it turned out she was away for the night.

  I had fully intended to go back to my own flat after dinner, but you know what it’s like. Sometimes you just get captivated by the situation and the person you’re with, and your intentions just seem to fade away...

  I can’t actually remember when, but at some stage, we had moved back to the cosy comfort of the settee in front of the fire. I stretched comfortably and sleepily, warming my toes in front of the fire. Sophia was curled up next to me, gazing into the fire. It was a three-seater, so I made sure to keep to one side with a space between us. I wanted to get closer, but the last thing I wanted to do was spoil the moment by appearing to be too forward.

  I suddenly realised it was gone midnight. ‘It’s been a wonderful evening,’ I said, ‘but I think I’d better get going.’

  ‘I already told you that you can stay here,’ she said sleepily, adding, ‘and anyway, I don’t want you t
o leave. It’s been a wonderful evening for me too, even if it didn’t start very well.’

  ‘Really?’ I asked in surprise.

  ‘Yes, really!’ She smiled a warm smile. ‘You have no idea how long it’s been since I had an evening like this where I can just relax and enjoy being with a nice man who is happy to enjoy my company and not make me feel as though he expects a reward at the end of it.’

  I wasn’t sure if that remark had been issued as a warning, but if it had been, it wasn’t necessary; I genuinely was happy just to enjoy her company with no strings attached. And anyway, these days I wasn’t even sure I’d know where to start if it came to anything else.

  ‘I know that feeling,’ I agreed. ‘It’s been a long time since I had an evening where I felt so completely at ease.’ I paused for a moment. ‘It’s funny. I’ve been almost frightened to speak to you. In case I was a disappointment, you know?’

  Very deliberately, Sophia turned to face me with a disapproving look on her face. Then she reached across and took my arm, placing it along the back of the settee.

  ‘I told you earlier,’ she said, shifting along next to me so she was close against my side, ‘putting yourself down will put me off.’ She snuggled up closer still and pulled my arm down around her shoulders. ‘And that would be a shame.’

  Unable to quite believe my luck, I couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so I settled for giving her a little squeeze and began gently stroking her arm. I had no idea how much we had actually had to drink between us, but I’m pretty sure the warm fuzzy feeling that was enveloping me had far more to do with being up close and cosy with Sophia.

  Feeling like the biggest lottery winner ever, I rested my head against hers. She was falling asleep, and she snuggled still closer. I swear I heard her purr like a cat. But then again, it could have been me...

  Chapter Twelve

  I woke to the smell of fresh coffee and a warm, numb feeling down my left side. I wasn’t sure where I was, but I seemed to be lying on my back on a settee with a blanket thrown over me. By why was my left side warm and numb, and why couldn’t I move my left arm?

  Then it began to dawn on me. Carefully, I used my right hand to feel around. I patted the blanket, going from right to left. Oh, my goodness. There was someone under the blanket on my left side, on top of my left arm. Sophia!

  There was a loud sigh from under the blanket and Sophia stretched luxuriantly, if a little stiffly, beside me, her left arm snaking across my chest and emerging from beneath the blanket alongside my left cheek. The hand felt around carefully, gently feeling my cheek and my face in the same way I had just done across the blanket.

  Slowly, she eased the blanket down, levering herself up on her right elbow, blinking sleepily into my face. The ‘what am I doing here?’ look on her face matched the one on mine.

  ‘Oh, so both awake now, huh?’ said a disapproving voice. ’Is this what happen when I go away?’

  Sheepishly, we untangled our limbs and sat up, guilty looks on our faces. We both knew the owner of the voice – it was Jelena, Sophia’s niece. She had obviously come home earlier than expected.

  ‘I didn’t think you would be home until later this morning,’ said Sophia guiltily.

  ‘Yes, I can see that!’ said Jelena sternly. She must have been standing in the doorway at the back of the room, where we couldn’t see her.

  I could remember feeling like this once before when I was about fourteen and Rita Shaw’s dad had caught me with my hand up her jumper. But Sophia was made of sterner stuff than I.

  ‘Jelena,’ she said, standing and turning to face her lecturer. ‘All you have done is find two people who have fallen asleep.’

  I turned to see what the weird noise was. It was the sound I imagined a penguin might make if it was being strangled. Only it wasn’t a penguin being strangled. It was Jelena trying desperately hard not to laugh out loud. The noise was the sound of her giggling behind the hands covering her mouth.

  ‘Ach! You, you...’ Sophia couldn’t find the right words, but she could see the funny side of the situation. She heaved a cushion at Jelena as she began laughing too.

  ‘I come home early,’ explained Jelena. ‘Get here just after one-thirty. You fast asleep together. Look sweet and peaceful. Like lovebird. So I find blanket, cover you, keep warm. I think is good, yes?’

  I could feel my face burning with embarrassment.

  ‘Don’t look so bad, Alfie,’ she said. ‘You are lucky man. Sleep Aunt Sophia on first date.’

  ‘Jelena!’ said a shocked Sophia.

  ‘What?’ Jelena grinned, clearly enjoying herself hugely. ‘Is not first date? You definitely sleep together.’

  The conversation went on in similar fashion for some time. Jelena was delighted to have caught us sleeping together, no matter how innocent the situation, and was going to make the most of our discomfort. It seemed to me she was also pleased that we had obviously enjoyed our evening together. And, bless her, she’d made breakfast for us.

  Over breakfast, Sophia told Jelena what had happened to my flat last night and how we intended to clean up today.

  ‘Of course I help. You help me, I help you,’ she said. I had done her a few favours when she first came to Tinton, and she was eager to repay my kindness with kindness of her own. And it appeared that included playing matchmaker for her Aunt Sophia and me.

  I borrowed Sophia’s telephone and called Positive Pete. He was often at a loose end on a Sunday so I guessed he might be willing to come over and help.

  ‘Pete says he’ll be over in a while,’ I told the girls.

  ‘You mean Positive Pete?’ asked Jelena. ‘He nice man. I like tease him. Good fun.’

  Pete liked Jelena too. In fact, everyone liked her. She had an innocent sense of fun and a charm all of her own. The fact that she was stunningly attractive, without even realising it, just added to her appeal.

  I knew she would flirt with Pete and tease him mercilessly, but I knew Pete would love every minute of it. It was harmless fun and after a pretty crappy life, it was just what he needed.

  It was gone midday by the time we walked back into my flat.

  ‘Oh my,’ muttered Jelena, seeing it for the first time. ‘Big mess!’

  Unfortunately, it didn’t look any better than it had last night, and I couldn’t think where to begin. But I didn’t need to worry about that. Sophia took charge, asking Jelena to start in the kitchen while we started upstairs.

  In among the wreckage of the lounge, something was bleeping. I knew it was my mobile phone ringing and I searched frantically for it. To my surprise, it was Miss Goodie, the teacher.

  ‘Miss Goodie. What can I do for you?’

  ‘You did say I should call if I thought of anything else that might help.’

  I held my breath.

  ‘You probably know this already,’ she carried on. ‘But one of the girls from the school said she had seen Simon Younger after he left school. I’m sure she spoke to the police at the time.’

  I could feel my pulse begin to race. ‘Do you remember her name?’ I scrambled for one of the numerous sheets of paper strewn across the floor and a pen.

  ‘Oh yes,’ she said confidently. ‘Her name was Allison Warren.’

  If she had been there in the room with me, I would have kissed her. Now I felt as though we were getting somewhere, although once again we had no prior knowledge of any witness. Nugent’s comment about not being fooled by Tommy Nash came into my head like an alarm going off.

  But it was all going to have to wait until tomorrow. First of all, this mess had to be cleared up.

  It was well after one o’clock and I was just wondering what had happened to Positive Pete when the doorbell rang.

  ‘I get,’ called Jelena from the kitchen.

  I ran down the stairs just in time to hear a startled Pete say ‘Bloody hell!’ as he saw the state of my lounge.

  ‘What the hell happened?’ he asked. ‘I know you said there was a bit of a mess t
o clear up, but this looks like a bomb went off.’

  I quickly filled him in on what had happened last night. ‘Apparently,’ I told him, ‘I’ve been seen associating with-’

  ‘A known criminal?’ he finished.

  ‘How d’you know that?’

  ‘The reason I got here so late,’ he explained, ‘is because I got stopped by the police on my way over. They held me up for ages – told me I’ve got to produce all my documents even though they can quite easily check them online from their car.’

  We hadn’t heard Sophia come down the stairs. ‘This is harassment,’ she said. ‘They’re trying to put you off. You must be on to something.’

  ‘I hope they’re not going to start hassling DB,’ said Pete. ‘He doesn’t need that sort of crap at his age.’

  ‘Well,’ I suggested, ‘let’s work on the assumption they’ve seen us at Nugent’s club, but that they haven’t seen us at DB’s house. I’ll call him and tell him we’re going to stay away from him for a few days.’

  Sophia was looking thoughtful. ‘I’ll make some phone calls tomorrow morning. I’m sure I can get this stopped before it goes too far.’

  Pete raised his eyebrows. ‘You can do that?’

  ‘Don’t forget why I’m here,’ she said mysteriously. ‘I still have contacts, and some of them are very influential.’

  The determined look on her face gave me no doubt she meant to do her best.

  ‘Ok, people,’ announced Jelena, cheerfully, lifting the mood at once. ‘Kitchen is finish.’ She looked around her at what was left of the kitchen. ‘Well, best to do. Not much left. But now time tea break. Is right?’

  She looked purposefully at Pete.

  ‘Peter, you come stand next me.’ She winked cheekily at him, setting his face aglow with embarrassment. She smiled wickedly as he joined her. ‘Aunt Sophia want be next Alfie.’