by Gwyn GB
42
Claire, Saturday 11th November 2017, Jersey
As Claire left the briefing room her mobile phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text. She quickly checked, hoping it was her dad. Her mum's name came up, 'Dad still not home'. Claire sighed. What could she do? She texted her mum back, 'Try phoning or texting his usual buddies, he's probably at the golf club bar.' Claire ignored any niggle of worry. Her anger towards her father was far greater than any thought he might be in trouble.
An hour later she'd looked back through the log of what had been found in David Lyle's office and inspiration was running thin. After the emotional trauma of earlier in the day, she felt exhausted.
Her phone buzzed again, 'Rung Richard and Don, they not seen dad for a couple of days. Worried.'
Claire had a vision of her dad staking out some suspect he'd got his eye on. He was bound to come home before too long. He might miss dinner, but he liked his own bed to sleep in. It was time for her to go home anyway, she'd head back and keep her mum company. Claire was a bit concerned she'd have one of her confused spells and she'd rather be there with her in case she did.
By the time she'd left the office and driven home it was gone 8pm. She pulled up outside the house, her dad's car was still not there and he rarely put it in the garage. The house was strangely dark and Claire felt uneasy again, memories of earlier that day came back to her. She told herself to stop being paranoid and pushed her key into the lock.
'Mum? I'm home,' Claire shouted into the house.
There were barely any lights on, she flicked the switch in the hallway, a dim glow came from the sitting room.
'Mum?' Claire called again.
In the sitting room was a hunched figure, rocking back and forth. The TV was on, but silent.
'Mum?' Claire said to her gently. Her mother was holding the telephone and she only acknowledges Claire when she touched her and gently took the phone from her.
'Mum it's OK, I'm home.' She put her arms around her mother, she felt cold and her distress made her rigid. 'Mum it's Claire, it's OK.'
It seemed to take forever before her mother's face softened and she returned to her. When she did, the tears fell silently from her eyes.
'Claire love, where's your dad? I'm worried about your dad.' Her mum whispered to her. 'No one has seen him, he should be home by now.'
Claire knew where he was, out investigating her case when he shouldn't be. He should be here at home looking after his wife.
'He won't be long mum. Have you eaten anything for dinner?'
Her mum shook her head.
'Let's get you something, do you fancy an egg on toast?'
Her mum nodded.
'And a hot cup of tea, come on,' Claire helped her mum up and took her into the kitchen. If necessary she'd lie to her mum, tell her she'd spoken to her dad. It was the only way she was going to go to bed and get some rest. Then Claire would stay up and wait for him to come back, have it out with him without their mother having to know. This had to stop. His selfish behaviour had to stop. He had to realise that her mum needed him and her career would be over if he carried on.
Claire made them both egg on toast and they sat nursing hot cups of tea at the kitchen table. Her mother looked drawn and tired. Perhaps what happened earlier today had also upset her, and now being left alone all this time waiting for her dad and not knowing where he was, had taken its toll.
When Claire suggested to her mum that she go to bed, she was relieved that she didn't protest.
'I'll sit up and wait for dad, he'll be back any moment,' Claire said. Her mum believed her.
Claire sat in her parents' living room, contemplating life, and waited for her dad. She heard her mum go into the bathroom, the water running through the pipes and then the door thump shut as she went into her bedroom. What was going to happen to her mother? She'd got so much going on at work that she'd barely given a thought to her announcement about dementia. Was she taking medication for it? Claire thought about asking for a transfer, coming back to Jersey to help look after her mother, but she wasn’t sure the Jersey force either needed or wanted her. Besides, she'd miss Mark. All this of course, was assuming she didn't get chucked out anyway, after today's episode and if her dad carried on as he was. She could be looking for a completely new job by the end of the month.
Claire looked at her phone, it was gone ten thirty and still nothing from her dad. She called his mobile again. No answer. It kicked straight to answerphone. Maybe he was being a petulant child and staying out because he knew he'd done wrong but didn't want to admit to it. He'd roll home sometime around midnight, hoping she'd gone to bed and he wouldn't have to face her. Well he was going to get a surprise because she wasn’t going anywhere.
Claire lay down on the sofa and got comfortable. She'd have a nap while she waited for him. The front door opening and closing would wake her up and she'd make damned sure he didn't make it to the stairs before he'd spoken to her.
At around 3am Claire woke up with a stiff neck. The room felt cold, the heating had gone off. The house was silent. She looked at her phone and cursed herself. She must have been so tired that she didn't hear her dad come in. He'd be fast asleep lying safely next to her mum by now. So much for her making sure he didn't get past her. She'd have to wait until the morning again. She stood up and dragged her tired body upstairs to the bathroom; quickly rubbed the makeup from her face, showed her teeth the toothbrush and then headed into her room and crashed into bed.
43
Claire, Sunday 12th November 2017, Jersey
The alarm penetrated a disturbed sleep. Claire couldn't quite remember what it was, but she felt off-kilter from the dream, her mind struggling to process reality and imagination. Maybe that was her whole problem with Rachel, she didn't seem able to process what was real and what wasn’t when it came to her.
The first lucid thought that came into her head was her dad. She looked out the bedroom window, his car was already gone.
'Shit you bastard,' she swore. He must have got up really early and disappeared off out. She called his mobile, it was switched off again. Now what? How the hell was she going to call him off?
What she needed right now was a cup of tea and she was quite hungry too. All she'd had for dinner was the egg on toast and yesterday's lunch hadn't been extravagant either, so she dragged herself downstairs in her dressing gown to get some breakfast.
In the kitchen there was no sign that her father had been there. For the first time, Claire stopped and another thought crept into her mind. If he'd had breakfast, even a cup of tea, chances are there would be some sign of it. He invariably left a bowl, or mug, or even just a teaspoon somewhere. Or there'd be crumbs or tea drip stains. There was nothing. It was exactly as Claire had left it yesterday after she'd cleared up from their dinner.
Perhaps he'd parked his car in the garage and he was upstairs in bed after all? She went into the hallway, but his coat wasn't there, and neither were his shoes. Claire's heart began to beat faster. She didn't want to panic her mother, but if he hadn't come home last night, where was he?
Rather than running upstairs and questioning her mother cold, Claire put the kettle on and made them both a cup of tea. Then she headed upstairs and lightly knocked on her parents’ bedroom door before entering.
Her mum was alone in bed. The side her dad would sleep on looked untouched, the pillow barely crumpled.
'Morning,' she said to her mum in what sounded to her a fake cheeriness. Her mother slowly woke up and smiled at her daughter.
'Morning,' her mum looked over at her dad's side. 'Daddy gone off already? They're working him too hard.'
Claire said nothing. She didn't correct her mother and say that her father was no longer working. If she was in her own world right now, that might be better than facing the prospect that her husband had gone missing.
'Mum have you got Richard and Don's phone numbers please? I need to speak to them about something dad needs,' Claire asked her mum as non
chalantly as she could.
'Yes they're in the blue phone book by my chair,' her mum replied and slowly sat up to sip her tea, 'thank you for the tea, this is a treat.'
Claire left her mother to wake up and went downstairs where she first of all called the hospital to ensure nobody answering her dad's description had been brought in. Then she called Richard and Don.
Richard wasn’t in, but his wife, Fran, answered. She told Claire that they hadn't seen her dad for a few days and yesterday they were all at a family gathering. 'Richard is at the golf club now,' she told her, 'perhaps your dad's there.'
Claire thanked her and got a similar reply from Don's wife. The fact that both of her dad's best friends were at the golf club was promising. Claire texted Bob and let him know she'd be in a bit later, then quickly jumped in the shower. She'd pop up to the golf club and see if she could catch her dad there.
The golf club was only ten minutes in the car from where her parents lived and as she drove into the car park, she was fully expecting to see her dad's silver Toyota parked up. She drove slowly around looking at the vehicles, it was nowhere to be seen.
She prayed that Richard and Don were either having a coffee before a round or had just finished, and went into the club house to find them. For once, she was in luck, the booming voice of Don Harswood reached her ears before she saw them. The two of them were at the bar, Don was facing her way, Richard in the middle and there was a third grey haired man sitting with his back to her. For a moment, Claire wondered if it was her dad, but when he turned his head she saw a profile she didn't recognise.
'Hello Claire, how are you? What brings you to our clubhouse?' Richard smiled at her as she approached.
'Hi Richard, Don, I'm looking for my dad. We can't get hold of him and we haven't seen him since yesterday morning.'
Richard and Don's faces dropped into serious mode. The grey haired man who had been sitting with them, excused himself and left.
'You mean he didn't come home?' Don asked.
Claire shook her head.
'Not wanting to pry, but had he and your mum had a row?' Don asked again, his police instincts kicking in.
'No, not that I'm aware of,' Claire replied, 'I don't need to tell you that it's out of character. I know he's out a lot, but he always comes home. He doesn't even like going away on holiday because he likes his own bed so much.'
Richard and Don looked at each other.
'We'll make a few phone calls,' Richard said. 'What's your mobile?'
Claire gave them her phone number.
'Is there anywhere you can think he would have gone, anyone he would stay with?' she asked them both.
Both men shook their heads.
'How's your mother doing?' Don asked her.
Claire shrugged, 'OK at the moment, but once she realises he's missing, then I don't know. I'm in the middle of a murder investigation so I'm supposed to be at work.'
'I tell you what, I'll get Fran to come over. She baked a couple of cakes yesterday, too much for us, she can say she's coming over to bring one for your parents. She'll stay with her and make sure she's got company.'
'Thank you Richard I would really appreciate that. If I go into work then maybe I can see if we can track him down. Please let me know if you hear anything both of you,' Claire said as she turned and left.
She needed to quickly go home and make sure her mum was OK and getting up, then she'd go into the station. God knows how she was going to explain this to Bob. Having caused a panic yesterday about her mum, today it was her dad. Would he even believe her? Then another thought came into her head. Could it be related to what happened yesterday? Was she right all along? No. She mustn't think like that again. She had to base her investigation on fact, pure facts and evidence. She needed to ask her mum if her dad let on where he was going yesterday.
Susan Falle was showered and eating breakfast when Claire returned to her parents' house. Claire tried to put on a cheery demeanour.
'Hi mum,' she said, 'I'm just popping in for a quick coffee before I head off to work again.'
'That's nice love, I'll have one with you,' her mum replied.
Claire put the kettle on again and got the cafeteria out of the cupboard.
'Mum did dad tell you where he was going yesterday morning?,'
'Yesterday?' her mum thought.
Claire could see confusion on her face.
'I'm not sure. The last time I saw him, that must have been this morning wasn't it? He said he was going out, had something important to do, but I can't remember what it was now I'm afraid.'
Claire sighed and her mobile rang, it was a number she didn't recognise.
'Hello?'
'Claire? It's Don.'
Claire looked at her mother, she hadn’t heard, and took the phone out into the hallway where she could talk freely.
'Hi, any luck?'
'I'm really sorry, but no. All blanks. None of the usual crowd have seen him for a couple of days. Richard and I are going to drive around, see if we can spot his car anywhere we know he likes to go. We'll keep in touch.'
'Thank you, both of you, I appreciate it,' Claire's voice faltered now. She knew what was between the lines of Don's words, they'd head to some of the known suicide spots as well. She couldn't believe that of her dad, no way. She needed to get into work, report him missing and see if they could trace his phone.
Before she could speak to her mum, the house phone rang and Claire quickly grabbed it,
'Hello?'
'Hello Susan?'
'No it's Claire,'
'Oh Claire you sound so like your mum, it's Fran here,'
‘Great thanks Fran, I'll pass you on to my mum.'
Claire left to the sound of her mother thanking Fran for what she assumed was the offer of popping over with a cake. At least her mum would have someone here with her. Now all she had to do was find her dad.
44
Claire, Sunday 12th November 2017, Jersey
Claire didn't tell Bob. She went straight to the local uniformed police and reported her father missing.
'Is this something he has done before?' came the stock questions she knew to expect. He was a young officer and she wondered if he had heard about what happened yesterday and was already judging her.
'No, it is completely out of character,' she replied.
'Do you have any particular reason to be concerned for his welfare?'
Claire paused, she does but she can't say it. If she said that he might possibly have been investigating a crime then it was going to come back and bite her. Any defence she might have been able to use to say she didn't know her dad had started looking into their case, would be blown.
'No, but my mum has recently been diagnosed with dementia and so I don't know what impact that has had,' she replied, feeling a complete cow for using her mum's illness as the excuse instead of what she knew to be the truth.
It took an hour of questions, providing personal information, his car registration and a photograph.
'How urgent do you think this is, do you want us to put a call out on social media for people to contact us if they've seen him?' the officer asked. Claire thought for a moment, the reality of what she had just done hitting home. Then she nodded. It's been over 24 hours, they'd heard nothing from him. Where could he be?
Claire saw the tweet go out, a photograph of her dad, his name and the request for people to contact the police if they'd seen him as his family were concerned about his welfare.
She was trying to concentrate on the case, to not alert Bob that something was up. In the office, the board had been re-designed so that there was a spiders web of suspects and victims with Melusine in the middle. Down one side was a list of company names. The FCU in both Jersey and London, were looking for patterns in the trades. Already they had at least one firm which was looking like it could be a source. It was a bank which linked several of the companies because it dealt with the financing of their take-overs and purchases. The web was start
ing to take shape, but it was a slow process.
Chasing down pizza man was, however, finally bearing fruit. CCTV from Weymouth and Jersey had picked up the same man. A man that forensics from the flat in London had now identified as Rufus Watson. Bob was right, he was suspected to have been involved in a number of killings, and was last seen in the Philippines. That tied in nicely with the transaction from James Parkin's Swiss bank account. Bob was on the phone with Filipino officials trying to get further information about Rufus and his current whereabouts.
Claire was quite glad that Bob was focusing on pizza man. It meant he was less likely to notice her lack of focus and what was going on with her dad. All the words on the board in front of Claire, were blurs. She couldn't concentrate on the case when she was this worried about him. It was hard being angry with someone and worried about them at the same time.
Claire called home, her mother answered sounding cheery. Thank goodness she didn't go on social media, but Claire needed to tell her before someone else rang her up and said something. She decided to go home, she couldn't do it over the phone.
When she got in she could hear her mum and Fran laughing in the kitchen.
'Hello love,' her mum said to her, 'Fran's brought over a lovely lemon drizzle cake, do you want a piece?'
'Thank you Fran,' she smiled gratefully at her mother's friend - and not because of the cake, 'can I have a piece a bit later mum, there's something I need to talk to you about.'
'Do you want me to go?' Fran asked.
'If you don't mind Fran, could you please stay?'
She nodded.
Claire's mother looked worriedly at her.
'Mum, dad hasn't been in contact with us for over 24 hours and so I've reported him as missing. I don't want you worrying because it's probably absolutely fine.'
