by Dan Scottow
He heard a key in the front door and looked up to see Cooper scurry in. Beth entered more slowly behind the spaniel.
‘Nice walk?’ Charlie asked.
Beth took a mug from the cupboard and poured herself a coffee. Nodding before sitting beside her husband.
‘Are you all right?’ Charlie continued, a concerned tone to his voice.
‘Not really. I thought someone had taken her. It was terrifying.’
‘Yeah, I bet it was horrible. Is that all? You’ve been a bit off today.’
Beth shrugged. ‘Yeah. I also didn’t sleep that well last night. I’m tired, that’s all.’
‘Okay,’ Charlie said. ‘But you’d tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn’t you?’
‘Yes, Charlie. I would definitely tell you. Like I said, I’m exhausted.’
‘Okay. Zoe’s upstairs.’ Charlie changed the subject casually.
Beth stood and leaned into Charlie. ‘I’m sorry. I’m aware I’ve been a little grouchy today. I’m shattered. And then all that with Daisy in town didn’t help. The whole situation was awful. Made me feel like a terrible mother. I felt sick. And then it really pissed me off that she’d taken something from a stranger. I was… disappointed, I suppose. I thought she was smarter than that. I’m sure tomorrow everything will be back to normal.’ She gave her husband a reassuring smile.
Charlie didn’t feel too convinced.
‘Okay. I’m going to have a shower. I need to wash today away. You can join me if you like?’ He winked mischievously at Beth from the doorway.
‘You go ahead, Romeo. I’ll pass.’
Charlie walked out into the hall, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. He looked back towards Beth, sitting in the kitchen, holding her coffee in her hands, staring through the patio doors. Completely unaware that she was being watched. Lost in her thoughts. Charlie followed her gaze, but she was looking out into space.
6
Sunday passed, uneventfully. Beth felt pleased about that. Things between herself and Charlie were tense. Despite her best efforts to convince him not to worry, he wasn’t buying it. Both her children gave her a wide berth for the rest of the weekend after the episode in the town. She couldn’t blame them. She’d totally lost it. They both eyed her with caution and avoided talking to her where possible. If she looked up from what she was doing, their eyes would dart away speedily, as if Beth had caught them doing something they shouldn’t. Even Zoe acted strangely towards her. Peter had clearly told her his version of events; his deranged mother flipping out and showing him up. Beth wondered if he’d mentioned the two pretty girls from school, twiddling their hair, while he leaned up against his mother’s Range Rover trying to act cool.
As Beth drove to work on Monday morning, she recalled a brief conversation with Zoe the night before. Beth had been watching TV with Charlie, when she heard Zoe come down into the kitchen to get a drink. Charlie, as usual, had been snoring on the sofa, so Beth slipped out to make a coffee. She enjoyed her chats with her son’s girlfriend. Zoe smiled and turned to leave the kitchen without saying anything, which was odd. Beth asked her if everything was okay.
‘Yes, thanks,’ she replied, stopping in the doorway as if she felt guilty about rushing off.
‘Peter told me about Daisy. He’s really sorry, you know. He feels awful.’
‘Yes, I know. I shouldn’t have lost it with him the way I did. I also feel terrible.’
Zoe raised a hand and dismissed the comment with a wave. ‘He’ll get over it. Anyway, I should go back up. We’re watching a film and I need to be home by ten.’ Zoe turned and trotted up the stairs. She’d been so eager to get away, she had left two glasses of Coke sitting on the worktop. Beth frowned. Zoe was usually so happy to chat to her. Although she had been her usual, polite self, there had been something in the way she looked at Beth. That same worried caution that her son assessed her with. God knows what Peter had said about her.
Beth pulled into a parking space and made her daily jaunt through town to the offices of Greys. Beeping her pass card against the reader, the door clicked, allowing her in. She made her way to her office, waving hello to a few people as she passed them, the usual Monday morning conversations playing out around the water cooler. As she neared Margot’s office, she saw her on the phone, deep in conversation. Margot glanced up and gave her a wave. Beth smiled, returning the gesture, then walked down to the end of the corridor, unlocking her office door. As she hung her jacket on the coat stand, a knock at her door resonated through the room. She called for her visitor to come in. A guy from accounts who she knew only as Tim entered with a young, awkward-looking girl.
‘This is Beth Carter. She’s in charge of all the submissions. She filters out the crap before they go to Chloe for more careful scrutiny.’ Tim sounded bored. Nobody liked showing new staff members around.
Beth crossed the office to greet them. The girl, small and mousy, looked about twelve. Long, dirty-blonde, straight hair hung unstyled halfway down her back. Large, thick, tortoiseshell-framed glasses covered most of the top half of her small, almond-shaped face. She wore a knee-length grey polka-dot dress, and no make-up. Small white pimples decorated her skin, from her chin up past her mouth and onto both cheeks. Beth tried not to stare at them. The girl had a thick, woolly, brown cardigan over the top of her dress and finished off her look with a pair of grubby pink converse boots. She stared at Beth with an odd expression on her face, which Beth couldn’t figure out.
‘This is Vicky. She’s starting with us today in accounts,’ offered Tim, through forced chirpiness.
‘I’m sure you’ll love it here. It’s a really friendly place to work.’
‘Hello. Pleased to meet you.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Have we met before?’ A northern lilt played on her voice. She smiled, exposing a mouthful of overcrowded teeth.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Beth replied.
‘You look really familiar.’ Vicky eyed Beth from behind her glasses, the dense lenses causing her eyes to look abnormally large. She was not letting this go.
‘Nope, I’m pretty sure we’ve never met. Sorry. Maybe I’ve just got one of those faces.’
‘Hmm,’ Vicky muttered, in a sceptical tone that suggested she may still be pondering it.
Beth made an overdramatic show of looking at her watch, and Tim and Vicky took the hint. They said their goodbyes and left Beth to continue with her work.
Beth shut her door and returned to her desk. She turned on her computer and it whirred to life. She logged in to her emails and began making her way through hundreds of submissions that had arrived in her inbox since she left on Friday evening.
After she’d read a few of them, a chime told her a new message had arrived. A small window popped up on her screen saying, email from Vicky Kershaw, with Vicky’s mousey face next to it.
Hi Beth. Great to meet you. Your face is so familiar. Racking my brains as to why! I’m sure it will come to me. :)
She finished it with a little smile made from a colon and a bracket, which made Beth want to punch her. Beth sighed, clicked delete, and didn’t bother replying.
She skim-read a few further submissions, marking some for a more detailed look, dumping the rubbish. After an hour or so of staring at the computer, she needed a break. Grabbing her mug, she walked out into the main office heading for the kitchen. The new break-out areas had been erected recently, slap bang in the middle of each floor. The directors said it encouraged a more sociable atmosphere. In reality, Beth and a few of her colleagues thought it might be so people spent less time in the kitchen gassing. Beth spooned some instant coffee into a mug full of boiling water, then stood stirring it for a second.
Feeling uneasy, like she was being watched, she glanced up, scanning the office.
Her skin prickled as her eyes came to rest on Vicky. She stood behind someone at a desk right over the other side of the room. Vicky paid no attention to whatever the girl was saying. She was staring straight at Beth.
Beth
frowned, looking away, embarrassed. She glanced back up a few moments later, surprised to see the girl still regarding her. Instead of averting her eyes, as any normal person would do when caught staring, Vicky smiled and held up her hand, giving Beth a wave. Beth didn’t wave back. She returned to her office, closing the door behind her.
At about one o’clock, Margot knocked on Beth’s door, offering to grab her a sandwich, as she was popping out.
‘I’ll come with you. I need a walk,’ Beth said, grabbing her jacket from the coat stand.
As they walked, Beth relayed the story about the stranger approaching Daisy at the weekend.
‘Oh my God, that’s terrible!’ Margot exclaimed. ‘And it definitely wasn’t a friend?’ she asked.
‘No. I’m sure.’ Beth shook her head.
‘Is Daisy okay?’
Beth shrugged, shaking her head again. ‘She was upset, but probably more because I totally flipped out. I’m so embarrassed. And you should have seen Peter. He hates me now, I’m sure.’
Margot placed a hand gently on Beth’s arm. ‘It’s understandable, darling. Children are precious. The little ones I care for, they’re not even mine, and I get so anxious if I lose sight of one of them for a moment. It really is an awful emotion. God knows, there are terrible people out there, you never know what might happen. I think your reaction is completely justified. Don’t worry, Peter will get over it. He’s a teenager. He’s probably forgotten about it already.’
They walked into a deli and perused the daily selection.
‘And how about Charlie?’ Margot asked, her voice dripping with concern. ‘Is he all right?’
Margot made no secret of the fact she thought Charlie was a dish. Beth found it hilarious. Charlie found it terrifying.
Beth picked up a ham and pickle sandwich and shrugged. ‘I think we’re both a little shaken. He wants to get the police involved, but I’m really not sure.’
‘Oh, darling, you must! Daisy may be okay, but what if the next child isn’t so fortunate?’ Margot picked up a quinoa and pine nut salad, and they both joined the queue.
‘I really don’t know what I’d say to them. I’m pretty sure they would tell me that nothing illegal has happened. There’s probably nothing they can do.’
‘That’s not the point, my dear. At least you would have reported it so they would be aware.’ She gripped Beth’s arm. ‘Think about how terrible you would feel if a child were to be abducted.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’
Margot smiled. ‘Good girl.’
They walked back to the office, chatting about the rest of Margot’s weekend, with Beth only really half listening. Other things were on her mind…
7
The late evening sun bled into a beautiful bruise across the sky as Charlie stared out of the window. His office had a magnificent view out over the rooftops of Brighton and further afield towards the remains of the fire-ravaged West Pier in Hove. What once had been a stunning example of Victorian engineering was now little more than a skeletal silhouette. A blot on the horizon.
An orange glow fell onto Charlie’s desk, hitting his keyboard and dancing off the edges of the keys. He usually loved this time of the evening towards the end of the summer. Everyone else had gone home for the night and he had the peace and quiet he needed to concentrate on his work. More and more frequently these days, Charlie was starting to feel that his job in advertising was no longer for him; that he was too old for it all now.
A team of noisy twenty-somethings sat at the bank of desks behind him. Painfully close. They didn’t stop talking all day. It was a constant stream of verbal diarrhoea. Usually about Love Island, or Made in Chelsea, or some other nonsensical reality TV show that Charlie had never seen. From the moment they arrived at nine each morning, to the minute they shut down their computers just before five every evening. You could set your watch by them. Youngsters nowadays did not understand hard work, Charlie thought. He saw it in his own son regularly. They seemed to do the bare minimum to get by. The idea of working a second past their contracted time filled them with horror.
These few precious hours after they were all gone. These were Charlie’s golden moments.
Tonight, though, he was distracted. He gleaned no pleasure from watching the sun set over the city he’d loved and called home since meeting Beth here at university over twenty years ago. Things at the house were still tense. Charlie was able to count on one hand the occasions he’d felt like this during his time with Beth.
They had a great relationship. Generally they put their differences aside quickly. Although they chatted for a short while yesterday evening, things were far from normal.
He powered down his computer and packed his belongings into a rucksack. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he typed a message to Beth.
Heading to the gym. Don’t wait for me for dinner.
Reading it back, he added an x at the end before sending it.
He grabbed his bag and moved to the lift at the opposite end of the floor, taking it down to the basement. He knew he was avoiding going home, but exercise was an excellent excuse. He could work off some pent-up frustration at the same time.
He changed into his running gear, threw his stuff into a locker, and headed down the corridor towards the gym.
The motion-activated lights came on one at a time as he made his way along the narrow walkway. He swiped his access card and pushed the door open. He stepped into pitch darkness briefly, before the sensors picked up his movement and the white lights flickered on. He filled his bottle at the water cooler, then walked around the corner towards the treadmills. The lights came on in the far corner of the room. The basement of the building was predominantly storage, but an odd, compact space in one corner had been converted into a gym. It was an L shape, made up from two isosceles triangles, with large cubic pillars dotted around the room, holding up the rest of the vast building above it. The cardio equipment was housed in the smaller of the two triangles, with the weights and other machines in the larger main area.
Charlie pushed his wireless headphones into his ears and started his running playlist on his phone. The loud repetitive beat thumped, getting him in the mood for a long run. He hopped onto the treadmill, pushing up the speed to a comfortably paced jog.
After a short while the lights around the corner switched off, throwing half the space into total darkness. The sensors in that area couldn’t pick up movement from this side due to the pillars and the odd shape of the room.
The sweat formed on Charlie’s brow as he increased his speed. He tried not to think about Daisy walking off with a stranger while his son flirted with some girls from school.
He tried not to think about his wife’s dismissive attitude about the entire incident.
And he tried not to think about his son’s words describing the way Beth behaved when she arrived back at the car.
I’ve never seen her like that before. She was manic. A different person.
It took a lot to get any sort of reaction from their teenaged son. He was usually unfazed by anything. He was so laid-back Charlie and Beth often wondered and discussed if he might be smoking dope. But they never smelled it on him, and Beth even searched his room a few times, to no avail. Charlie surmised that their son inherited the calmness he had always seen in his wife. The calmness that had deserted her at the weekend, if what Peter described to him was accurate. Peter seemed genuinely worried about her.
That was enough to make Charlie concerned. He glanced down at the timer display. He’d been going for twenty minutes, and the sweat was dripping from every pore now.
The light flickered on around the corner, shaking Charlie from his thoughts. He turned his head, waiting to see if someone came into view, but when they didn’t, he shrugged and resumed his run.
After a while the light turned off. Damn building was always going wrong. Music continued to throb in his ears, the beat working in time with his feet as they pounded away.
The lig
hts came on again.
Charlie stopped the treadmill and paused the music on his phone. He stepped down, removing his earbuds.
‘Hello?’ he called out.
Silence.
He walked down to the corner, peering round into the bigger part of the gym. Three large pillars blocked most of his view but looking at the wall of mirrors running down one entire side of the room, nobody appeared to be present. Charlie threw his towel from his shoulders down onto the floor, marching around the corner.
‘Hello, is someone there?’ he shouted.
No reply.
‘Derek, is that you? This isn’t funny,’ he called out.
Silence.
He moved to one side to see around a pillar and as he did, he heard the door click shut.
Stepping forward, something on the floor in the middle of the room caught his eye.
A small red box, tied with a gold ribbon, and a bow on top. Charlie frowned, wiping perspiration from his face with the back of his hand. He peered through the glass-panelled door. There was nobody there.
He trudged back to the box, picking it up. It was extremely light. A handwritten tag was tied to the box.
One word. Scratchy black ink.
Charlie.
He carried the parcel, walking back towards the door. Pressing the release button, he opened it and stepped out into the corridor.
‘Hello!’ he shouted again, heading towards the stairs. The lights were all on, showing someone passed this way moments earlier.
He threw open the door, stepping out into the stairwell. He looked up through the gap in the centre but saw nobody ascending them. Whoever deposited the box left in a hurry.
Charlie returned to the changing room and sat on a bench. He untied the ribbon, opening the package.
Inside was a small piece of paper.
With trembling hands, he unfolded it, revealing a handwritten note. He swallowed hard as he read the words, then shivered, despite his body temperature being raised.