Stephanie clocked the falseness in Angela’s overly dramatic voice and immediately knew what she was about to say. ‘Just shut it, Ange, that has nothing to do with Wayne’s disappearance,’ she spat.
The female officer glanced at her colleague, and then glared at Stephanie. ‘We will be the ones to decide that. Now, would you like to tell us your concerns?’ she asked, turning her attention back to Angela.
Dabbing her eyes with a tissue from her handbag, Angela nodded. ‘Wayne Jackman was my boyfriend before he got with my sister, Stephanie. In fact, he took my virginity from me when I was only thirteen years old.’
About to start shouting and screaming about how her sister had lied about her age to Wayne, Stephanie decided not to bother. She had already been humiliated beyond belief in front of the police, so what was the point in her making matters worse for herself?
When the police began to question Angela over the details of her and Wayne’s relationship, Barry glanced at Stephanie and wanted to laugh. In his eyes, she deserved everything that had happened to her in the past day or two. She had broken his heart and this was payback time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Purgatory would be the best way to describe the days that followed for Stephanie. Initially, the police had thought that Wayne would reappear with a stag-night hangover and an apology, but as Stephanie’s wedding day approached with still no word from the groom, the constabulary became increasingly concerned about Wayne’s wellbeing.
Apart from popping home to pick up some more clothes and toiletries, Pam had barely left her daughter’s side. Pam’s boss at the baker’s had told her to take as much time off as she needed, and Pam was extremely grateful to him, as Stephanie’s frail state of mind certainly wasn’t up to coping with two young children on her own.
On the morning of what was meant to be her daughter’s wedding day, Pam got up at the crack of dawn and had a nice, relaxing soak in the bath. She was dreading the day ahead. Over the past couple of days she’d had the awful task of ringing around all the guests to tell them that the wedding had been cancelled. Cathy and Linda had both been brilliant and were coming around again later to support Stephanie on such a traumatic day.
Barry Franklin had also been a tower of strength and had popped in regularly to try and keep Steph’s spirits up. The more Pam saw of Barry, the more she liked the lad. He was charming, funny, very thoughtful, and had even taken the kids over to the park yesterday so she could rest her tired legs. Immersing her body into the hot, soapy water, Pam thought about Wayne and sighed. She had always got along with her daughter’s partner, but in her heart of hearts, she had never really liked him that much. In Pam’s eyes, Wayne’s qualities as a father left a lot to be desired, and she also found the man to be rather cold. Wondering what on earth had happened to him, Pam leant her head against the edge of the bath and shut her eyes. She was pleased that the police were coming around again this morning to update her and Stephanie on their enquiries, and she imagined they were bound to ask more questions. Wayne’s disappearance was the most baffling thing that Pam had ever encountered; but one thing she did know: if Wayne was ever found safe and well, there was a good chance she would end up murdering him herself.
Stephanie opened her wardrobe door and took out the wedding dress. The alterations lady had bought it back on Thursday and Steph hadn’t even looked at it yet. She knew she was torturing herself by trying it on, but she couldn’t stop herself from doing so. She had paid the woman another fifty pounds, so had every right to check that the sleeves now fitted as they should.
‘Is Daddy coming home, Mummy? Can I wear my bridesmaid dress now?’ Dannielle asked excitedly.
Through lack of sleep, Stephanie felt as though she were in a trance as she stared at her daughter. Tyler was too young to even miss Wayne. He didn’t have a clue what was going on. Dannielle, on the other hand, had been tearful, off her food, and acting very clingy.
Not wanting her daughter to be affected any more than she already had been, Stephanie decided to end the saga once and for all. Steph had made a pact to herself that if Wayne wasn’t home for their wedding day, she would snap out of her trauma for the sake of her children, and that’s exactly what she intended to do. She snarled as she ripped off her wedding dress and then grabbed the pair of scissors she kept in her bedside drawer.
‘No Mummy. No,’ Dannielle screamed, as Stephanie hacked at the beautiful dress with the scissors, like a woman possessed.
‘Daddy isn’t coming home, Dannielle. It’s just me, you and Tyler from now on, OK?’ Steph screamed.
‘What are you doing, love?’ Pam asked, horrified, as she opened Steph’s bedroom door.
‘Well, I’m hardly going to be needing it now, am I?’ Stephanie yelled, before bursting into tears.
Dannielle was petrified. ‘I want my daddy,’ she cried, clinging to Pam’s midriff.
Pam had tears in her own eyes as she urged Stephanie to move away from the dress.
Steph couldn’t. Instead, she lay face down on top of it. ‘I miss Wayne so much, Mum. Where is he?’ she sobbed.
Pam sat on the bed and held Stephanie tightly to her chest. Her daughter was so vulnerable at the moment, it reminded Pam of when she was a little girl all over again. ‘The police will find out what’s happened to him, love. They are so clever these days, so dry them eyes and get yourself ready for their visit. They might even have some news for you.’
‘If I ask you something, Mum, will you tell me the truth?’
‘Of course I will,’ Pam said, moving a strand of her daughter’s hair away from her wet eyes.
‘Do you think Wayne’s dead?’
It was an impossible question to answer, so Pam had no choice other than to sit on the fence. ‘I don’t know, sweetheart, I really don’t know.’
Barry Franklin was seated at a table in the Bishop Bonner pub in Bethnal Green. His father, Smasher, had only recently come out of prison, and Barry was enjoying listening to him and his old cronies reminiscing about the good old days.
‘It’s proper changed in this boozer. Do you remember when we used to get all the old boxers in ’ere? I bet Henry Cooper wouldn’t set foot in the shithole now,’ Smasher said, gloomily. The pub had really altered since he had gone inside and he didn’t like the atmosphere of it now one little bit.
‘It ain’t been the same since Freddie and Rita had it, if you ask me. Those were the good old days – when we used to have Chas and Dave down here on a Thursday night and everybody got up and sang. Do you remember the old boy who had the fish stall down the Roman? He used to bring the house down, and you certainly don’t get characters like him in here any more,’ Smasher’s pal, Charlie, told Barry.
Barry raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t had a beer with his father for Christ knows how long and had been expecting a jovial piss-up, not a melancholy look back in time. ‘Yeah, I do remember Chas and Dave singing in ’ere when I was a kid, but now they’re famous I doubt they’d wanna be slumming it round ’ere again. Times have changed, lads, and we have to move with ’em, unfortunately.’
‘Gonna have a little chat with me, boy. We need a bit of a one-to-one,’ Smasher said to Barry.
Barry followed his father outside. ‘What’s up?’
‘Nothing, lad, unless you wanna include your whore of a mother spreading rumours. She’s been going around telling people that you killed Jake the Snake.’
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake. She sprang that one on me in the motor on the way home from the brief’s office. I thought she was just talking drunken bollocks, I didn’t actually think she would start telling people. Who did she tell? Do you know?’
‘It’s Fat Carol who’s been mouthing it off round ’ere. I went and knocked on her door yesterday and, apparently, Lairy Mary, who now lives in Dagenham, had told her. I’ve warned Fat Carol that she better keep her gob shut else she’ll have me to deal with. You didn’t have anything at all to do with the old boy’s death, did you, Bal?’
‘W
hat do you take me for, Dad? I’ve told you many a time that I quite liked the geezer, so course I never. Anyway, I’ve got bigger fish to fry than poor old Jake, ain’t I?’
Smasher smirked. He was well aware of Barry’s quest for revenge against the two people who had betrayed him in the worst way possible. ‘Has Jacko been found yet?’
‘No sign of him,’ Barry replied, grinning.
‘And how’s it going with the bird?’ Smasher asked, referring to Steph.
‘Sweet! I’ve got her and the mother eating out the palm of me hand and it won’t be long before I strike. What goes around comes around, eh, Dad?’
Smasher laughed. ‘That’s my boy.’
Stephanie felt her heart pounding nineteen to the dozen as the two coppers sat down on the sofa opposite her. They seemed much more important than the two who had visited her the other day. These were plain clothed and had an air of power about them. One of them introduced himself as DI Jobson and told Steph that his colleague was DC Moore, then Jobson spoke directly to her.
‘I’m afraid we have had little success in tracing Mr Jackman’s movements after he left the club that he was drinking in. One of the doormen gave us a statement saying that he saw Mr Jackman leave and cross the road, but from there the trail goes cold. We do have some other news for you, though. We have conducted a thorough search of Mr Jackman’s business activities and we now know that he had recently sold most of his assets. Were you aware that the money your fiancé received from the sale of your house in Collier Row had been taken out of his account and was supposedly used to pay off debts?’
‘No, I wasn’t aware of that – and what do you mean by “supposedly”?’ Stephanie asked, anxiously. She had ordered her mum to take the children to the park and now wished she hadn’t.
‘I say “supposedly” as we cannot find any proof of Mr Jackman actually paying off these debts. It’s all very much hearsay at the moment. We have taken statements from quite a few of Mr Jackman’s friends and work colleagues, and apparently he had spoken quite openly of the financial difficulties he had found himself in. Did you know that he had recently sold a part of his gym, and had also taken out a massive loan against it?’
‘No, I didn’t, and I just can’t believe all this is true. Wayne never showed any sign of being in debt to me, although he did say a couple of strange things to me just before his stag night.’
‘What did he say?’ DI Jobson asked.
‘I can’t remember to be exact, but he did drop a hint that he had a cashflow problem. Actually, I do remember it now. As Wayne was about to leave for his stag do, he made a comment about how he’d only invited a few people to it because he was footing the bill.’
DI Jobson pulled out a notebook and jotted something down. ‘Anything else you can remember about that conversation?’
‘I think I said to Wayne that it was unusual for him to worry about money; then he said something about everybody having to pull their horns in sometimes. I didn’t take much notice of what he said, to be honest. I just thought that Wayne was referring to the cost of the wedding.’
‘How would you describe your relationship with Mr Jackman? Did he seem different recently? Distant perhaps?’ Moore asked.
Stephanie glared at both officers. What were they trying to insinuate, for Christ’s sake? Were they hinting that Wayne had fallen out of love with her and had disappeared of his own accord? ‘I’m not sure exactly what you’re getting at, but I can assure you that there was nothing wrong with Wayne or our relationship,’ she replied, angrily.
DI Jobson sighed. It was part of his and Moore’s job to ask these types of questions, so why did people always seem to take them as a personal insult? ‘Look, Stephanie, all we are trying to do is find out what has happened to Wayne. His disappearance is rather baffling, to say the least, and I’m afraid that we have to explore every avenue possible. Some questions we ask you, you might not want to answer, but it would help us enormously if you did.’
Stephanie immediately saw the error of her ways. Jobson was right. He and his colleague were only trying to find Wayne, so she quickly decided to speak from the heart. ‘Wayne and I have been together since school. We’ve had a few ups and downs over the years, but who hasn’t? I would say that our relationship was really good overall, but to be perfectly honest, over the past six months or so, I did feel that we had become like ships that pass in the night. Wayne was always at work so, apart from first thing in the morning and sometimes last thing at night, I rarely saw him some days. We did still socialize at weekends, though. We didn’t really go out any more because of the kids, but just recently we had friends over quite a few times.’
‘Where did Wayne work in the evenings?’ Moore asked Stephanie.
‘At his gym. It didn’t shut until ten at night, therefore by the time Wayne had locked up and that, he didn’t get home until after midnight. Between me and you, I think he and a couple of the lads used to have a few drinks after work. I smelt alcohol on his breath a few times when he got home late, and he admitted to me that he liked to de-stress after a long, hard day.’
Jobson glanced at Moore. They had already spoken to Wayne’s employees from the gym and, apart from on the odd occasion, the employees reckoned that Wayne had rarely been there of an evening. Something didn’t ring true. Determined to get to the bottom of it, Jobson carried on with the questioning.
Stephanie answered as best as she could, but she found the experience extremely unsettling, and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her mum and the kids return from their trip to the park.
‘Are you policemen? Have you found my daddy yet?’ Dannielle asked, as she bounded into the room and stared at Jobson and Moore.
‘Yes, they are policemen, and no, they haven’t found Daddy yet. Now, take your brother upstairs for a minute, Danni. Me and Nanny need to have a little chat.’
‘Why aren’t you wearing policemen’s clothes?’ Dannielle asked. She had always been an inquisitive child, and could not understand why Jobson and Moore were not in uniform.
‘Take Tyler upstairs now, darling,’ Stephanie urged, raising her voice. Dannielle was far too clued-up for her age to be listening in on what the police had to say. That is why she had wanted her mum to take the kids over to the park in the first place.
When Dannielle did as she was told, Pam turned to Jobson. ‘So, what’s happened? Is there any more news?’ She could tell by Stephanie’s face that whatever news her daughter had received wasn’t particularly good.
‘Your daughter will explain what we’ve already spoken about to you later, Mrs Crouch. There are a few more questions myself and my colleague need to ask Stephanie, though, and then we’ll be out of your way.’
Pam sat on the armchair next to Stephanie and supportively squeezed her daughter’s hand. When her own husband had been killed in an accident, Pam had felt as if her whole world had fallen apart, but at least she had known what had happened to him. What Steph was going through was a hundred times worse, unless it had a happy ending, of course.
Jobson cleared his throat. ‘In the sports bag that Wayne had with him on the night of his disappearance, we found some receipts amongst other things. One was from a pawnbroker’s and it stated that Wayne had pawned a lot of jewellery earlier that day. I take it he never mentioned anything about this to you?’
‘No, nothing,’ Stephanie replied, grasping at her mother’s hand for support. How many more secrets had Wayne kept from her?’
‘And how was Wayne acting on the day of his disappearance? Did he behave in an unusual manner at all? Or perhaps say or do something that he wouldn’t normally do? Were you actually here when he left to go to his stag party?’ Moore asked.
Remembering her and Wayne’s frantic sex session that morning, Stephanie felt herself blush, but said nothing. The way Wayne had made love to her that day had been rather unusual, but there was no way she was going to discuss something as intimate as that with the police. ‘Wayne was completely normal on the
day of his stag do, and yes, I was here when he left to go out. There was nothing odd about his behaviour at all as far as I can remember.’
Jobson nodded. ‘Please do not worry when I ask you my next question, as I have already told you that we have to cover every bit of ground. Enemies. Were you aware of any that Wayne might have had?’
Wondering if she should mention to the police that Tammy thought that her fiancé’s disappearance had something to do with Barry Franklin, Stephanie decided against it. Deep in her heart, Steph could not believe that her ex had anything to do with Wayne going missing. Barry had been absolutely wonderful throughout all of this trauma, and Steph was sure that Tammy was barking up the wrong tree. ‘My Wayne didn’t have any enemies as far as I know. Wayne’s always been a good partner, a good father and a good man, and I can’t imagine anybody disliking him, can you, Mum?’
Pam didn’t agree with the good father bit, but decided to sing Wayne’s praises anyway. ‘You speak as you find, officers, and Wayne has certainly always made my daughter happy. And, Steph’s right. I can’t imagine anybody having it in for him, either.’
Hearing one of Tyler’s familiar screams coming from upstairs, Stephanie leapt up. ‘I’m gonna have to see to my kids now. My mum will talk to you for a minute.’
‘We’re actually done, for now. Thank you, Stephanie, you’ve been most helpful. We’ll pop round again in the next couple of days to speak to you again. Obviously, if we have any news in the meantime, we’ll inform you immediately,’ Jobson said.
When Steph dashed out of the room, Pam stood up and shut the lounge door. ‘I couldn’t say anything in front of my daughter because I don’t want to upset her any more than she already is. Why were you asking all those questions about Wayne acting differently?’
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