The Descent (Detective Louise Blackwell)

by Matt Brolly

  The silence began to panic her and she asked again more urgently. ‘Mum, what is it?’

  It was her father who spoke eventually. ‘Sorry, Lou. It’s Dad. We have a bit of a situation here.’

  ‘For God’s sake, Dad, what is it?’

  ‘We’re probably overreacting but Paul took Emily out today and he hasn’t returned yet. He was supposed to be back this afternoon. He isn’t answering his phone. I’ve just been round to his flat. I let myself in but there was no one there.’

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Louise’s parents were not the kind of people to jump to conclusions. They were correct to be worried, and they wouldn’t have contacted her if they hadn’t been convinced it was necessary. Leaving Thomas in charge, Louise headed for the car. She wasn’t panicked, more annoyed with Paul for letting this happen. Yet, as she drove to his house in Bristol, her mind kept playing out worst-case scenarios. Passing a smashed car on the A370, she recalled the numerous RTAs – road traffic accidents – she’d attended over the years, the terrible injuries she’d seen and the countless lives lost. Immediately she thought about Paul driving under the influence. She would have trusted him never to do so, especially with Emily, but considering his recent behaviour it wasn’t beyond a possibility. She played out other scenarios in between leaving messages on Paul’s answerphone. Paul in the pub somewhere with Emily, too out of it to look at his phone or to look after his daughter; Paul unconscious in the car, Emily confused and alone trying to wake her daddy. Could he really be that selfish? He’d done some pretty lousy things since Dianne’s death but that would be unforgivable.

  Her father was waiting for her in Paul’s flat. He’d let himself in and was searching the place for clues as if he was a SOCO. He couldn’t hide his worry for his only granddaughter. It was written all over his face, in the lines carved deep into his forehead and around his eyes. What was harder for Louise to see was the disappointment. Her father wasn’t one for over-elaborate displays of emotion. He was a tall, stoic man. Gentle and caring, but reserved. To see his helplessness made her feel guilty, as if it were her and not Paul who’d failed the family.

  Putting on her police voice she told him not to worry, that Paul was probably running late and his phone had run out of battery. It was way too early to panic. If someone had called this into the station they wouldn’t have sent anyone out yet to deal with it. Emily was Paul’s legal responsibility and had only been out with her for a few hours. Yet, she shared his concern. Paul had promised to bring her back on time and with what had happened recently, that he hadn’t done so was a concern.

  She took a look around the flat, not sure what she was looking for. ‘Where did he say he was taking her?’ she asked her father.

  ‘They were going into town to do some shopping, then to the cinema over in Cribbs Causeway.’

  ‘Do you know what they were watching?’

  ‘I think it was the new Spiderman. Mum will know, I’ll check.’

  The sound of concerned hope in her father’s voice was distressing to hear. Chances were Paul would walk through the door any minute, but still she went through everything in his room. She called him again, swearing under her breath into his voicemail as her father returned.

  ‘Mum says it was Spiderman. The four-twenty showing. Paul said he would come straight to us afterwards. This is the last straw, Lou.’

  Louise went to her father, his body tensing as she held him. ‘Come on, let’s go back home. We shouldn’t leave Mum alone,’ she said.

  From her car, Louise took a chance and called one of her former colleagues from the MIT. She wanted someone to check on recent hospital admissions and RTAs but didn’t want anyone from Weston knowing her business – she could already hear Simone’s fake concern on hearing that Louise’s only niece had gone missing.

  As well as working with Louise at MIT, DI Tracey Pugh had been seconded to assist her in Weston during the Pensioner Killer case. Tracey was the only member of her old MIT team still left in Finch’s department. Finch had purged the rest of the team mainly by getting them transferred out of the area. Although Tracey worked for Finch, Louise trusted her and she was pleased when Tracey answered. ‘I thought you’d be out on the town on a Saturday night,’ said Louise.

  ‘Chance would be a fine thing. I’m still at the bloody office with one of your blokes.’

  Louise was momentarily confused, thinking she’d meant Finch before remembering Farrell was working there. ‘How’s he getting on?’ asked Louise, more for politeness than anything else.

  ‘Hard worker, I’ll give him that. So why are you calling this late?’

  Louise explained the situation. Tracey was something of a family friend. Emily loved her and Tracey knew all about Paul. ‘Don’t worry about a thing. I’m on it. I’ll check the database and get on to the hospitals. You go see your mum.’

  Louise let out a long sigh as if she’d been holding her breath ever since her parents had called. ‘Thanks, Tracey. Can we keep this between ourselves?’

  ‘Do you need to ask? Go see your family. I’m sure he’ll turn up any minute but I’ll let you know if I hear anything.’

  She felt more relaxed knowing Tracey was on the case. It was hard being on the other side of the fence. She’d always been able to empathise with people in similar situations, but now it was happening to her she began to feel more deeply the worry that a missing person could cause. If there was any news, Tracey would find it and her friend was probably right. Paul would most likely arrive sometime soon, contrite and ready to face the full force of his family’s anger.

  Louise’s mother was not having such a rational approach to the situation. She was drinking heavily from a wine glass filled to the brim. ‘I should never have let him go,’ she said to Louise, in welcome.

  Louise hugged her mum and eased the glass from her hand. ‘I know it’s a worry but he’s only been gone a few hours. He could have broken down. I’ve asked Tracey to look into it. She knows they went to the cinema earlier and she’ll check up on everything.’

  Louise stopped short of mentioning hospitals and RTAs. She put on the radio, desperate for anything to break the cloying silence. As she poured herself a glass of wine she remembered what had been bugging her ever since her parents called. She took a drink, the wine rich and tangy, and closed her eyes. How could she have been so stupid? ‘I just remembered something,’ she told her parents, hating the expectancy in their wide eyes. ‘Emily told me she was going on holiday when I saw her yesterday. I dismissed it at the time as I thought she was talking about breaking up from school. What if she meant she was going on holiday with Paul?’

  ‘Do you think Paul would have told Emily that and not us?’ said her father.

  ‘To be honest, I hope that’s what he’s done. It would be a bloody relief. At least we would know they’re together,’ said her mother, looking around for her glass of wine.

  ‘I should have asked what she meant,’ said Louise. ‘I was distracted by a text message.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. It’s not your fault, Louise,’ said her father. ‘It’s only one person’s bloody fault and he’ll find out about it when he gets home,’ he added, his tone souring.

  Despite their reassurances, Louise still felt responsible. After persuading her parents to go to bed, she sat up in the living room with a second glass of wine. It was typical of Paul to do this, make her feel guilty for something that was evidently his fault.

  She finished the glass and took her laptop to her old bedroom. It was redecorated now, the walls a neutral cream colour, but it always felt like a regression staying the night. There was no point sitting there worrying when she could be working, yet she felt guilty as she opened her laptop and downloaded a file of the CCTV footage from the Grand Pier. Thomas was still at the station with the team and it felt necessary to make her contribution.

  Watching the sped-up images of people coming and going – placing coins into the machines and winning their tokens – was having a hy
pnotic effect. For all she knew, Sally could have been hiding just out of shot and even if they did spot her would it help? Louise wasn’t sure why finding the footage of her was important. Deep down, she guessed, was the hope that Sally hadn’t been alone and that whoever she’d been with would be next to take their life. Louise was desperate to stop that from happening so she continued watching until her eyes could no longer take it and she fell asleep, her dreams plagued by tourists walking in triple speed along the pier and off the end into the waiting sea.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Amy kept looking at her phone during her shift. She only had the one number in it, and knew the adage that a watched phone never rang, but still she glanced at it every time she had a second to herself. Not that there was much opportunity. Nicole had turned up late and hungover, and had been less than useless all morning. Keith had been watching her with mounting hostility as she made error after error serving the subdued Sunday morning crowd.

  ‘Everything okay?’ Amy asked the girl as she placed an order of coffees on a tray for her. She could smell the alcohol on her skin and the sweet perfume she’d tried to mask it with.

  ‘Long night,’ said Nicole, her hands trembling as she took the tray over to a crowd of teenage girls who didn’t look much better.

  ‘You need to sort her out,’ said Keith, looking up from the grill at Amy.

  Since when has it been my responsibility to look after the staff? she thought, walking away before she said something she might regret.

  The mistakes continued and after Nicole dropped a pot of tea, the scalding water just missing one of the customers, Keith summoned her to the back area of the café. Amy finished taking a payment and followed them.

  ‘This doesn’t concern you,’ said Keith, who was standing with his hands on his hips, his stomach stretching his striped apron to breaking point.

  ‘Can we do this later?’ said Amy. ‘It’s rammed out there and I’d rather not be alone.’

  Nicole was facing Keith, her thin shoulders hunched as if cowering. Keith wasn’t one to hide his emotions and his cartoon-like scowl was comical in its severity. ‘Get back to work, both of you,’ he said, spittle falling from his lips.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Nicole, moving past her, her forehead lined with sweat.

  ‘Just try and concentrate. See if we can get through the rest of the shift without any more accidents,’ said Amy, following Nicole out and leaving Keith alone in the back office to fume.

  Amy decided to stay late until Nicole’s shift was over. She didn’t know why she’d become so overprotective of her colleague. Nicole wasn’t the first young woman to work at the café and she wouldn’t be the last, so why was she taking such an interest in her? She guessed it had to do with events outside of work. The last two days had been draining, and she couldn’t get the image of Sally, alone in the darkness, her body broken but still breathing, out of her mind. Had she still been conscious? The thought was unbearable. It diminished everything they’d done together; worse still, it was beginning to make her doubt Jay.

  She helped Nicole clean up and walked her out of the café before Keith had a chance to stop and reprimand her.

  ‘Thanks for staying. I owe you one,’ said Nicole, once they were outside.

  ‘You can’t give him the chance to have a go at you,’ said Amy. ‘If you come to work in such a state again, I won’t be able to help you.’

  ‘I know. Things got a bit out of hand last night. I shouldn’t have come to work really. I need the money more than ever now though.’

  ‘How come?’

  ‘Spent all of my wages last night,’ said Nicole, with a knowing shrug.

  Amy saw herself in the girl. She’d been just the same at her age, though things had soon unravelled. Maybe that was why she felt so protective. She had a chance to stop Nicole making the same mistakes she’d made. Nicole had the kind of opportunities Amy had never had, and could do something with her life.

  ‘Go and get some rest,’ said Amy, as Nicole’s bus arrived. Hearing herself, she thought she sounded like a parent. The thought clouded her with melancholy, bringing with it memories of Aiden. She checked her phone again and considered calling Megan even though she would still be working.

  Megan had responded differently to Sally’s death. Amy had been grateful she’d accompanied her to the beach. In the kindest way possible, Megan had reminded her of their goals, the reasons they’d gone to the woods that night. Sally had found her way and Megan had reminded Amy that she’d gone to a better place. And although Amy had agreed, she wished she could have articulated better what was troubling her; if only she could fully understand it herself.

  Unable to face logging on to the group chat, Amy went to bed early, checking her phone once before falling into a dreamless sleep.

  She rose early the next morning and walked into town. Her shift was later that day so she took the opportunity to visit the central library. She loved the musty smell of the old building and although she wasn’t much of a reader any more, there was something powerful about the potential of the books; the hundreds of different worlds on offer to the curious.

  In the reference library, she scanned the newspapers, looking for a report on Sally’s death. The Mercury wouldn’t be out until Friday and the death seemingly wasn’t of enough importance to make the nationals. It wasn’t surprising really. People took their own lives all the time and unless it was a celebrity or someone of import then it rarely made the news. Her best chance was waiting for later that afternoon when the Bristol Post would be published. With the amount of police at the scene the other evening, they had to print some sort of story. Amy wasn’t sure what she wanted to read, she just wanted someone to tell her that Sally hadn’t suffered.

  Nicole was on much better form during her shift. With the worst of the hangover dissipated, she was like a different person, flitting from table to table without a care. Keith left her alone, engrossed in the back pages of his tabloid newspaper in between bursts on the grill, and the day passed without incident.

  At the end of the shift, Amy walked Nicole to her bus stop. Again her actions were like that of a parent’s and this time the thought made her smile.

  As they approached the stop, Nicole paused. ‘It’s my day off tomorrow. Can I buy you an ice cream to celebrate?’

  Amy was taken aback by Nicole’s suggestion. ‘You don’t need to do that,’ she said.

  Nicole grimaced. ‘I think I do. I was in a terrible state yesterday. If it wasn’t for you I’m not sure I could have managed. And you stuck up for me in front of Keith. That couldn’t have been easy.’

  ‘Don’t you worry about him. Okay, if you insist. An ice cream would be perfect and I know just the place.’

  Amy walked her to the small supermarket and they took their ice creams over to Marine Lake. The sea was out and the man-made lake looked like a gigantic puddle. A group of children were making sandcastles, but without the sea, and the sky being peppered with clouds despite the heat, the place wasn’t as busy as the last few days. They sat with their backs against the sea wall, Amy savouring the sickly sweetness of her ice cream. She’d sat there so many times alone that it was a bit surreal coming here with Nicole so soon after spending time with Megan. The two were completely different. She felt like she’d known Megan for years even though their relationship was in its infancy, and she felt much more maternal to the young woman with her now.

  ‘I didn’t tell you the full story about Saturday night,’ said Nicole, biting down on her ice cream and looking away.

  ‘What did you get up to then?’ said Amy. ‘Don’t tell me, there was a boy involved.’

  Nicole laughed, a hint of nervousness in the gesture. ‘That was partly why I felt so bad. I stayed over in Bristol and had to rush back first thing to change then get to work. My parents still aren’t speaking to me.’

  ‘Was he worth it?’

  ‘I think so. He messaged me this morning.’

  Amy enjoyed the girl’s
happiness. There was something innocent about the way she talked, and Amy didn’t want to dispel that notion by finding out any specific details about her life. ‘You be careful,’ she said.

  ‘You sound just like my mum,’ said Nicole.

  Amy blushed. She wondered if her mum would have warned her about boys had she still been in her life. Maybe if she’d had that sort of influence, Amy wouldn’t have got herself into so much trouble. She regretted the thought as soon as it arrived. It felt like a betrayal of Aiden, and that was the only pure thing ever to happen to her. ‘You just be careful,’ repeated Amy, this time wagging her finger.

  Megan called her as she walked Nicole back to the bus stop. It was the first time she’d heard the phone ring. She had no idea how to change the volume that must have been set to maximum, the digital ringing tone causing a number of bystanders to look her way.

  ‘You going to grab that?’ said Nicole.

  Amy fumbled with the phone, eventually locating the green answer button. ‘Hello,’ she said.

  ‘Amy,’ came Megan’s high-pitched voice. She sounded different, excited to the point of hysteria. ‘I’m so glad you answered. I need to see you. Now.’

  ‘Okay, okay. Is everything all right?’

  ‘Yes, I just need to see you. Can you get to the park?’

  ‘Yes, I can but tell me what it is.’

  ‘In an hour?’

  Amy laughed. ‘Sure, if that’s what you want.’

  ‘Wonderful, I’ll see you then,’ said Megan, hanging up.

  After leaving Nicole at the bus stop, Amy walked along the Bristol Road to Ashcombe Park. Despite the darkening clouds, it was hotter than ever, the air so heavy she could feel the moisture against her skin. Her ice cream with Nicole and Megan’s excited call had buoyed her spirits and she’d almost forgotten about the other night, until she saw the pile of newspapers in a newsagent’s front window. The headlines didn’t mention anything about Sally, and Amy considered leaving the newspaper for the day to focus on the positive things in her life while she still had such things to consider. In the end, curiosity got the better of her and she bought a paper and took it to the playground area where she’d agreed to meet Megan.