by El Edwards
“You don’t know them,” Abigail said, reading my mind. “Don’t be fooled by the act.”
“They said they want to help, they’ll do anything. Even talked about mortgaging their house for the ransom money.”
“They’re already doing the very best thing they can by keeping well away from me and my children. We’ve got enough problems. The last thing we need is them sticking their noses into our business.”
Nice one Charlie, this is going fabulously! All I needed now was for Abigail to announce that she’d changed her mind and that she was going to go to the police and that would be the icing on the cake.
The only thing worse than coming home to an empty house when you’re feeling guilty is coming home to a house with teenagers when you’re feeling guilty. They will think nothing of taking your guilt and heaping the burning ashes of their discontent on the top until you finish the day so full of self-loathing, you fear you might never get up again under the weight of the guilt. Needless to say, Grace and Louise were less than sympathetic when I arrived home and told them about my morning.
“If she sacks you, will you take me shopping for kit?” Grace asked. “Miss Lewis says I can borrow kit for now but it’s not a permanent solution.”
“She’s not going to sack me!” I pulled what I hoped was my best outraged face. “Why would she sack me?”
“I dunno, maybe because you went behind her back to the two people she hates most in the world and now they’re going to visit her and she doesn’t even know it yet?”
Louise laughed. “Leave Mum alone.” She turned to me. “What will you do?”
It was the first time either of the girls had ever asked about my work with anything resembling genuine interest. Usually it was about how my work might impact their plans for me giving them a lift somewhere or if I’d been paid, how much cash they could wheedle out of me. It had been an incredibly long day and I was touched that Louise cared enough to ask. It was also nice to have someone other than Rob to discuss the case with.
“Warn off the in-laws I suppose. There’s no way they can go round and see her now.”
“But what about the money? Won’t she be glad to know they want to help?”
“Right now I wouldn’t put money on Abigail being glad about anything. She’s gone into self-preservation mode. Always does when it comes to his parents.”
“I think it’s stupid!” said Grace.
I hadn’t known she’d been paying much attention. “How so Grace?”
“Gran’s a bit of a nightmare but it’s not like you say no to Christmas presents. They want to give her cash. Who says no to that?”
Mention of my mother caused a fresh wave of guilt. It was a week since I’d seen her and I hadn’t returned any of her calls. The girls had spoken to her, apologised for missing dinner last week, and promised they’d visit soon, but it was still left to me to arrange the actual visit.
“Speaking of Gran,” I said. “We need to go and see her.”
“Do we have to?”
“You promised, remember?” I looked from Grace to Louise. “Both of you!”
Louise sighed. “When? Not tomorrow?”
I smiled. “No, not tomorrow. We need to prepare ourselves and I’m not ready for a roasting right now. I’ll ring her tomorrow and invite her round for tea, at the weekend maybe?”
“We could make her a little picnic!” Louise looked genuinely excited. She loved to bake.
“Don’t get too excited, she might not come.” My mother hadn’t set foot in my house in over a decade, preferring to request our company at her home. The last time she’d been here was the girl’s sixth birthday. Every year we’d have a colour theme and that year it had been green. Little broccoli trees had sat alongside the green jelly river where green apple boats could be seen floating but when my mother was offered a green sandwich she’d politely refused, driven herself home, and refused to set foot in my house ever since. It was no great loss but it did mean we had to endure her hosting when duty called. Next week, I decided. It never paid to rush these things. Besides, I had far more important things to worry about, like what I was going to do about Abigail and her in-laws.
FORTY
After a solid night’s sleep, broken only at 3am by Missy needing the toilet, I woke the following morning feeling more human. By the time the girls walked into the kitchen for breakfast, I’d unloaded the dishwasher, made them both a healthy mid-morning snack for school, folded the washing and turned on all the Christmas lights so they could walk downstairs to the warm glow of fairy lights. The only thing left to do was feed, brush and walk the dog and we’d be all set for the day. There was something about doing chores that unlocked the part of my brain usually reserved for chewing on problems. In this case, the problem of Winklemans and the contract at the service station. I still couldn’t articulate what was niggling at me but I’d made up my mind about my next course of action. It was time to go back to the site and see if the missing workers had turned up. I’d left Mike my card with instructions to call me when they returned but in lieu of news, I’d decided that today was the day to go in search of clues. The problem was, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
I dressed carefully that morning, keen to strike the right balance between feminine and practical. I didn’t want another ballet flats in the mud moment but I knew that if I turned up in my plumbing kit, I’d be less likely to appeal to their in-built desire to help a lady. It was total bollocks and part of me couldn’t believe we still played to such out-dated stereotypes but it was a stereotype I was ready to take advantage of if it meant a breakthrough for my case. My hope was that if I went back to Abigail with something concrete, she’d be more open to hearing about Carol and Saul’s desire to help.
When I arrived on site I noticed the windows in Bill’s office were dark. I parked in my usual space and went straight over to knock on his door. When no answer came I tried the handle but it was locked. I didn’t know if that was unusual but I was determined to find out. Progress on the site appeared slow. From a distance, everything looked exactly as it had the last time I’d been here but when I got closer to the concrete slabs I could see a fresh layer of plastic had been added and a few bricks had been laid on what appeared to be the outside walls.
I walked towards where the men were working and was soon greeted by Mike.
“Charlie Diamond, good morning my lovely.” He shook my hand and smiled. “What brings you here?”
“Hi Mike. I was hoping to get some news on those missing men. Peter and Andrew?” I’d had to recreate my notes from scratch but thanks to a silly word association trick my dad had taught me when I was a little girl, I never forgot a name.
“I was meant to ring you.” He looked sheepish. “Sorry, something came up.”
“They’re back though?”
“They were, briefly, but the boss took them off site.”
I did my best to hide my surprise. “Do you know where they went?”
Mike shrugged. “Not a clue, sorry. We have work all over the place, not just here. I’m guessing he needed them on one of the other sites.”
“Is that normal? Bill mentioned you and the other two were running things here. Makes it tricky for you doesn’t it?”
“It is what it is. We’re just glad for the work. There’s so many places laying boys off.”
That was news to me. “It’s a tough time for the building industry?”
“Winter’s always tough, no-one wants their roof off when it might start pissing down any second.” He glanced at me and blushed. “If you’ll ‘scuse my language.”
I smiled. “It’s fine, you should hear my kids.”
“So yeah, winter’s always tough but this year they’ve just not been shifting the plots.” He gestured towards the sea of concrete slabs in front of us. “This lot should have been sold by now, new builds usually go like hot cakes.”
“None of these have sold?”
“Speaking of the boss, where is Bill? His office was all closed up when I knocked.”
Mike stuck his hands in his pockets. “Dunno. Think he might be sick. Lots of it about.”
“Yeah I heard that. Okay Mike, thanks for your time.” I was about to walk back to the van when I remembered the other reason I’d wanted to come. “Do you know anything about the Winklemans contract over at the service station?”
Mike hesitated but then smiled and shook his head. “Nope. Like I said, we have work all over the place but people like me, we just do as we’re told. Anyway, if there’s nothing else, I need to get back to the lads.”
“Of course. Thanks Mike.”
I walked slowly back to the van, thinking about Mike’s choice of words. People like me. Bill had said that Mike was one of his right hand men but Mike wasn’t acting like one of the supervisors. It was clear from the way the other men reacted to him that he had some authority but that apparently didn’t stretch any further than this site. With Bill away, there had to be someone else I could speak to who’d know about the company’s inner workings but if they were based on site they were keeping a very low profile. I decided it was time to make myself known to the team at Bridgend services. Maybe they’d be able to help me track down Bill and the two missing men. If I got really lucky they might even know Toby. I shook the thought away. That really was too much to hope for but at this stage, wishing and hoping were my two greatest assets. With one last glance at the building site, I headed in the direction of the services and, hopefully, some answers.
FORTY-ONE
The work at the services was focussed to the rear of the building, away from the main customer thoroughfare. I walked through the entrance, keeping my eyes open for Jack as I went. I’d hoped he might be able to help get me access to the site but when he was nowhere to be found I decided to go it alone. The area was partitioned off from view by semi-translucent sheeting but I could see an entry point to the right so I pushed the sheeting to one side and walked towards the noise. I rounded the corner and came to face to face with a gang of men in high-visibility jackets and hardhats. They stared at me as if I’d just walked in naked. One of the men broke away from the group and came towards me.
“Hey! You can’t be in here.” He was scowling and waving his arms to try and shoo me away.
“Hi there. Are you the site manager here?” I kept my tone light and offered him my hand. “Charlie Diamond.”
He ignored my hand. “I don’t care who you are. You’re not meant to be here. Get out!”
“I met with Mr Winkleman last week. He suggested someone here might be able to help me with my enquiries,” I said, crossing my fingers.
“I doubt that very much! What do you want?” His tone was still gruff but he had at least stopped trying to force me to leave.
“If you could point me in the direction of the site manager I’d be happy to explain.”
“I’m the site manager,” the man said. “Explain.”
“Is there somewhere we could go to chat?” I leaned in and spoke more quietly. “Away from the men. I think it’s for the best.”
He looked to ignore me and instead shouted back to one of the men. “Eric, keep an eye on this lot. I’m going to escort this one off the premises.” Without waiting for an answer he took hold of my elbow and led me firmly back the way I had come. Instead of leading me to the front entrance he took a left and we found ourselves in front of a portakabin.
“After you,” he said, and I walked in. “Sit.”
I did as I was told and was about to launch into my questions when he pulled a chair in front of mine and sat on it. “Now listen here Charlie Diamond, Bill Winkleman is a good friend of mine. I don’t know what you think you’re doing but there is nothing here for you.”
“I think I’d prefer to be the judge of that.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you’d prefer!” He was in my face, his eyes wide. “Do yourself a favour and get lost!”
A piece of spittle landed on my cheek. With every ounce of dignity I could muster, I reached into my bag, took out a tissue, and wiped my face. Inside I was boiling with rage. I was so angry I wanted to smack his sweat-beaded forehead against the desk behind him. How dare he speak to me like that! When I’d wiped my face I stood up, walked across the room to the waste paper basket, and threw the tissue in the bin. I felt his eyes on me as I moved. Instead of returning to my seat I picked up my bag and started towards the door. With my hand on the door, I turned back to face him, my eyes holding his.
“If you think you can intimidate me you are very much mistaken. I don’t know what’s going on here but I intend to find out and when I do, it will be my absolute pleasure to haul that smug arse of yours all the way to the police station. Do yourself a favour and keep out of my way.”
It was only when I was back in my van that the enormity of what had just happened hit me and I started shaking. I’d been threatened, had my van nicked and been left in the middle of the woods miles away from home, but all of that paled into insignificance in the face of today. There was something about the way that man had spoken to me, eyeballing me and then spitting on me, it was too much. We all had jobs to do and I was just doing mine. There was absolutely nothing that could excuse the way he’d spoken to me and I felt outraged on behalf of every single person who had ever been spoken down to.
I was sitting behind the wheel of my van trying to decide what my next move should be when my mobile rang.
“Hello, Charlie Diamond speaking.”
“Charlie? It’s me, Rob.”
Hearing his voice made my mood feel instantly lighter. “Sorry Rob, I’ve not saved all my contacts on this new phone yet. Didn’t know it was you.”
“You mean you haven’t committed my number to memory? I’m insulted.”
“Ha ha, very funny! What do you want?”
“I thought you might like to know we’ve finished lifting prints from that letter you gave me.”
“Already? That was quick!”
“Yeah, that’s because it’s not good news I’m afraid. There’s nothing on it, nothing of any use at least.”
“Bugger!” After the morning I’d had this was not the news I was hoping for. “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. It’s possible they were wearing gloves because whoever wrote this was careful, very careful.”
“So now what?”
“That’s up to you Charlie. Is she still adamant about not going to the police?”
“Last time I spoke to her yep. There’s been a few, developments, since then, but nothing that would change her mind.”
“Developments?”
I told him about my visit to Toby’s place of work and the building at the service station, leaving out the bit where the man accidentally spat in my face, a girl has to have some pride.
“Do you think any of this is connected to Toby?” Rob asked.
“It’s hard to imagine how it wouldn’t be. Bill Winkleman ran the site where Toby was last seen and now Bill’s friends are pulling rank. It stinks so bad I’m thinking of buying shares in air freshener.”
“Do you want me to pay them a little visit? I could take a couple of the uniform lads with me, give the place the once over.”
“On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that a very good friend of mine doesn’t take kindly to thugs!”
“I’m pretty sure you can’t get a warrant for that, but thanks all the same.” I smiled. “No, I’m going to have to do this the hard way.”
“Which is?”
“Honestly? I don’t know yet. But I’m working on it.”
After promising to keep me posted on anything new that came in connected to either Toby or Bill Wi
nkleman, Rob hung up and I drove back to Gloddfa Bont. My fabulous mood from earlier had all but evaporated and I didn’t know what to do next so in the absence of any brilliant ideas, I decided to take Missy for a walk. There was every chance a bit of fresh air would be just the shot of inspiration I needed for my next big breakthrough.
FORTY-TWO
When I stepped through the little gate at the top of the hill and into one of the many empty fields surrounding the village I felt my spirits lift. Once the gate was safely closed behind me I took Missy off her lead and watched with delight as she leapt through the grass. I followed behind her at a brisk pace, the wind in my ears as I walked. There was something quite wonderful about being alone in the middle of nowhere on a cold but sunny Friday afternoon. Up here I could pretend that Abigail wasn’t angry with me, I didn’t have to worry about ransom notes or threats from heavy-handed building site managers. I could just walk and think about nothing.
Inevitably though, thoughts of nothing soon gave way to thoughts about my case. The list of things I needed to check on or find out about was growing longer by the day. Muriel had gone quiet so I wanted to make sure all was well with her. I very much doubted Ryan would be back in Barnstaple any time soon but felt a certain pull to go back there and find out. He had a mother and girlfriend hidden away somewhere and I’d wondered about tracking them down. If he was financially responsible for them I’d like to know how they were faring with Ryan on the run.
As I walked I continued to review everything I knew and for about the twentieth time in a week I cursed Ryan and his thieving ways. I’d reproduced my case notes from memory but it felt like there were large gaps. When all this was done I was determined to get a better system in place. The girls were both excellent with computers and were trying to persuade me to store everything in the cloud, said I’d never have to worry about anyone stealing my paperwork ever again, but I liked the feel of putting pen to paper, it helped me think.