by Fay Keenan
‘What about the kids?’ Tom interjected. ‘How do you think they’d feel about moving so far away from where they grew up?’
‘That’s the big thing that worries me,’ Kate said. ‘I think Corey’d move tomorrow, but Will and Tom are trickier. The rail links are really good, though, and they’d still be able to see their mates when they went to stay with Phil.’
‘Would you really think about moving here?’ Aidan asked. ‘I mean, if you hadn’t met Harry, would you still be thinking that way?’
‘This might sound like bollocks, but it’s not really about Harry,’ Kate said, taking a bite of doorstep toast, dripping with locally sourced butter. ‘I have felt happier being here, doing the decorating job, than I have in years. You and Sam both said Willowbury has an effect on people.’ She paused. ‘I think it’s having an effect on me, too. It’s healing me, even though I thought I was healed, after everything that happened. I feel peaceful here, but excited about the future, too. And let’s face it, if I’m going to be a painter and decorator, I can do that just as well here as I can in Cambridge.’
Aidan nicked Kate’s other slice of toast and grinned at her. ‘Well, whatever you decide, we’re here for you,’ he said, looking fondly over at Tom. ‘And if you were a bit closer, you could share the inevitable babysitting duties we’re bound to get once Sam and Florence get desperate for some alone time again!’
‘Very true,’ Kate agreed. ‘But not a word about this to Corey, okay? I’m not even sure it’s what I want anyway, and if I’m going to make decisions, I need to think really carefully first. I can’t go off half-cocked and mess it all up. It’s not like I can just say “fuck it” and just stay here, is it? There’d be a hell of a lot to organise.’
‘That’s the Kate I know,’ Aidan teased. ‘Risk averse to the last. I figured she was hiding inside there somewhere. And we promise; not a word until you’re ready to sort things out properly.’
‘I’d better get going,’ Kate said. ‘Your house won’t paint itself, and I’ve got a butty to deliver.’ She went to get her purse out, but Tom waved it away.
‘We’ll get this,’ he said. ‘You can shout us when you’ve moved here.’
Kate smiled. ‘Thanks.’
As she left, she yet again marvelled at just how happy and settled both of her brothers now were. Perhaps there really was something magical in the air in Willowbury, she thought as she headed down the High Street to Vale Volumes to deliver Corey’s sandwich and coffee. She hoped his boss wouldn’t mind his young employee snacking on work time. Had she known just what she was going to find when she got to the bookshop, she wouldn’t have been so relaxed.
47
Harry glanced at the clock on the bookshop’s wall yet again and felt another prickle of anxiety laced with impatience. Corey had been punctual to a fault since he’d been working at Vale Volumes, and Harry wished, today of all days, that the boy had been on time. He looked at the till roll again and shook his head. It was no good. No matter how many times he totted up the takings from yesterday and compared it with the total on the receipt from cashing up, the two figures wouldn’t match.
Most likely it was an admin error; Corey had learned how to use the till very quickly, but even the most technologically savvy people made mistakes with unfamiliar devices. A major discrepancy, like keying in an extra couple of zeros on a transaction, would be explainable, but this was an odd amount that the takings were down, almost as if someone had just pocketed some cash instead of putting it in the till.
That Corey hadn’t turned up yet was a further worry. Perhaps he’d had enough of the job, decided to grab some money and then just duck out? But everything Harry had seen of the boy since he’d been working at the shop contradicted that idea. Corey obviously loved working at Vale Volumes and didn’t seem the dishonest type. He had been through a troubled time lately, with Kate’s divorce and his subsequent running away, and his insecurities about Harry being part of Kate’s life. What if Harry had misjudged the boy? Put too much trust in him because of his own growing attachment to Kate?
As if summoned by his emotions, Harry looked up when the bell over the front door tinkled to see Kate standing in the shop.
‘Hi.’ She was smiling, and Harry’s heart lurched.
‘Hi,’ he replied, wondering exactly how to broach the subject of the till receipt and her no-show of a son. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m great, thanks.’ She was still smiling. ‘I just brought some breakfast in for Corey, if the boss is happy for him to eat it.’ She glanced around the shop. ‘Is he out the back? Have you got him hefting boxes of stock? If not, please feel free to work him hard!’
‘Um…’ Harry heard the hesitation in his voice and hated it. Nicola had always said he was afraid of confrontation, and it had irritated the hell out of her. ‘I’m sorry to say he’s not here. He hasn’t shown up for work yet.’
As Harry told her this, the colour drained from Kate’s face. ‘What? Why didn’t you call me and let me know?’
‘I wanted to give him half an hour or so before I rang. You know what teenagers are like. He could have overslept and been on his way, for all I know. I didn’t want to worry you.’ The words came out in a rush, and Harry could see they were making no difference to Kate. Obviously reliving the moment when she’d found out Corey had gone AWOL from his father’s house, she’d put the package and the coffee cup down on the counter and was gripping the mahogany top for dear life.
‘Didn’t want to worry me?’ she repeated. ‘Harry… he got up before I did this morning, left the house and now I have absolutely no idea where he is.’
‘Have you called him this morning?’ Harry could see the fear in Kate’s face, which was swiftly replaced by irritation.
‘I didn’t think I had to,’ Kate snapped. ‘I thought he was here in the shop with you. He loves working here, so I figured he’d just got an early start and had forgotten to let me know.’
‘I’m afraid not.’ Harry dithered for a moment longer, debating whether or not to tell Kate about the missing cash from yesterday, but that information might well prove to be important, if indeed Corey had taken some money and was now regretting it.
‘Look, Kate,’ he began, coming out from behind the counter so he could reach out for her. ‘There’s something else you should know.’
‘What is it?’ Kate asked. ‘I thought you said you hadn’t seen him.’
‘I haven’t,’ Harry replied. ‘But the till’s seventy-three pounds out from yesterday. I wouldn’t have mentioned it, but it’s an odd amount to be down. Corey was on his own for a fair bit when I came over to see you…’
‘Are you suggesting that my son’s a thief?’ Kate’s voice began to rise. ‘Because I can assure you, he’s about the most honest person you’re ever likely to meet.’
‘I’m not suggesting anything,’ Harry said. ‘But you have to admit, the discrepancy in the takings and his not showing up this morning could be linked.’
‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this,’ Kate said, her eyes suddenly seeming harder and a whole lot more defensive than they ever had before. A lioness protecting her cub, Harry realised he’d gone about this all wrong.
‘I’m sorry, Kate,’ Harry said. ‘I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for the money.’
‘I don’t care about that right now, Harry,’ Kate snapped. She was looking down at her phone, her trembling hands trying to get the fingerprint recognition to work so she could call Corey. ‘I just need to know where my son is.’
‘I understand,’ Harry said.
‘I doubt that,’ Kate snapped. ‘Or there’s no way you’d have conflated those two things.’ As the phone paused before trying to connect, she turned her back on Harry and started to walk back out of the shop. Just as she got to the door, her shoulders visibly tensed further, and she cut off the phone in frustration. Harry correctly assumed it had clicked through to Corey’s voicemail, or maybe Corey was in one of the many mobile b
lack spots that Willowbury had.
‘Kate…’ he called again. ‘Let me help. I’ll shut up shop for a bit and help you find him.’
‘What, so you can question him about the missing cash? I don’t think so.’ Kate didn’t even turn around to address this to him. ‘I’ve got to go,’ she said, and with that, she hurried from the shop.
Damn. Harry was kicking himself. He should never have mentioned the missing money. Kate, quite rightly, had sprung to Corey’s defence, and now he wasn’t sure how to remedy the situation or the more pressing issue that was Corey’s disappearance. But if the boy didn’t have anything to do with the missing money, why the hell hadn’t he shown up this morning? One thing was certain; standing here like a lemon in the shop wasn’t helping to find him. Leaving a note for Joan, who was due into work at eleven and thankfully had her own set of keys, he decided that he’d try to find Corey himself, despite what Kate had said. Perhaps he could sort the situation out without making it even worse, and then Kate might speak to him again. The question was, where was a quiet, bookish lad like Corey likely to be in a place like Willowbury? Racking his brains as he locked the shop door, he suddenly had an idea.
48
As Harry headed down the High Street, he hoped his hunch was right. When he’d first met Corey, he’d been impressed by how mature, self-possessed and sensible the lad had seemed; he just wasn’t the type to go off the rails in a town he didn’t know. If he could intercept Corey, and gently advise him to ring Kate to let her know he was fine, it would save a lot of bother. Although how he’d do that without sounding like a class one twat, and an interfering one at that, he had no idea. He wondered how he’d have reacted at Corey’s age if some random bloke his mum knew had come up to him and started suggesting he phone home; not well, he concluded.
At least it was a sunny day. Trawling about in a rainstorm wouldn’t have been much fun, and this part of the country was infamous for its wet weather as much as its sunshine. He glanced in the shop doorways as he passed them, but there was no sign of Corey browsing the shelves. Something told him that Corey wasn’t just idly bunking off work, either. He simply didn’t seem the type not to turn up when he’d committed to something. Just to be sure, though, Harry even poked his head through the door of the Travellers’ Rest pub, but the bar was empty except for old Jim, the eighty-five-year-old handyman, enjoying a very early half of stout alongside his coffee. But, Harry reasoned, at that age, Jim was entitled to have whatever breakfast he chose.
Heading further up the High Street, with Willowbury Hill looming at the top, Harry hoped his earlier hunch would prove to be correct. He took a sharp left. The benefit of having been a slightly geeky, bookish teenager himself once was that he had a decent idea where Corey might have ended up, especially since he’d noticed that, when he thought no one was looking, Corey had been spending a lot of time in the Transport section of Vale Volumes, and the boy always seemed to have a notebook tucked into the back pocket of his jeans. Harry would put good money that he knew what was written there, too.
As his destination came into view, Harry wondered what on earth he was going to say to Corey if, indeed, he did find him here. He knew from the conversations he’d had with the teenager that he was still extremely torn up about his parents’ divorce; indeed, what child wouldn’t be? Perhaps he’d taken badly to the idea of Kate staying so late at Harry’s place on Saturday night and didn’t want to face Harry at work this morning out of embarrassment? That seemed more likely than the unpalatable theory he’d blundered into with Kate about money missing from the till, on reflection. Corey, as he knew from his earlier conversations with him, was bound to be feeling all kinds of emotions about his mum going on a date.
Just as he was approaching the place he suspected Corey was, the Bristol to Penzance express train whooshed through, and the welcome breeze on such a humid summer’s day cooled him down a bit.
Willowbury station itself was a modern one, and rather plain and functional. Essentially, it was an unmanned slab of concrete next to the line with a ticket machine and a rain shelter. There were enough commuters to Taunton and Bristol to warrant the line reopening several years back, and it had certainly brought wealth back to an area that might otherwise have suffered the decline a lot of English tourist towns over the years had. Over the railway line was the passenger footbridge to the other platform, and there, standing on the bridge, looking towards Bristol, with his back towards where Harry had emerged onto the platform, was Corey. Harry felt a wave of relief wash over him. He instinctively grabbed his phone to call Kate, but just before he did, he paused. Perhaps he could sort this out himself, and in some way make amends to Kate for their terse exchange this morning.
Carefully, mindful that the teenager might not welcome the intrusion, Harry began to climb the steps to the bridge. As he neared the top of it, Corey, who was standing hunched over the side of the bridge, head down, glanced back at him. Harry almost pulled his phone out again and called Kate, as he saw the look on Corey’s face. He wasn’t sure he had the correct skill set to manage a teenage meltdown.
‘What do you want?’ Corey asked as Harry approached him. The boy had a mixture of irritation and something Harry couldn’t quite identify written all over his features.
‘Your mum’s been into the shop looking for you,’ Harry said calmly. ‘And when I told her that you hadn’t come in this morning, she was concerned you’d get yourself lost or something.’ Carefully, he drew closer to Corey, who, gratifyingly, didn’t move from his position.
Corey said nothing, obviously not wanting to divulge the reasons he hadn’t turned up to Vale Volumes. Harry didn’t quite know where to go from there. He leaned over the side of the bridge, about two feet from Corey, so as not to crowd him.
‘The Bristol train’s due in about four minutes,’ Harry said, after a moment or two’s silence. ‘I saw the Penzance one going through just now.’
‘How do you know?’ Corey gazed back down the track.
‘The shop’s so close to the back of the line, I’ve learned to distinguish the different sound of a northbound and a southbound train,’ Harry replied. ‘But then I was a bit of a trainspotter in my younger days.’
Corey snorted. ‘You’re taking the piss, right?’
Harry shook his head. ‘About which bit?’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Corey still had his gaze fixed on the track. ‘Doesn’t matter, actually.’
‘That doesn’t sound like you,’ Harry said.
‘And what the hell would you know about what I sound like?’ Corey snapped. ‘You don’t know anything about me.’
Careful, Harry thought. Corey was obviously upset about something, and he didn’t want to exacerbate those emotions. ‘I know you’re a thoughtful, kind person who’s really been there for his mum over the past couple of years,’ Harry said gently. ‘Your mum’s told me how much that’s meant to her, especially when she’s been feeling low.’
‘She still buggered off and left us all with Dad and his new woman for the summer, though, didn’t she?’ Corey retorted. ‘She didn’t even think about what we wanted.’
‘Are you sure that’s what you’re really cross about?’ Harry asked gently. ‘I mean, you seemed pretty happy yesterday at work, and happy to be here in Willowbury where it’s just you and your mum for a bit.’
‘I was,’ Corey conceded. ‘But things change, don’t they? That’s what Mum kept saying to me, when she and Dad split up. And now they’re changing again.’
Harry took a step back as he saw Corey’s shoulders tensing again in an effort not to lose control of what was left of the hold on his emotions. He took a deep breath, and decided to take a risk.
‘Is it bothering you?’ Harry said gently. ‘That your mum and I are spending some time together?’
‘That’s a pretty lame euphemism,’ Corey said. ‘Can’t you just tell it like it is?’
‘Corey.’ Harry put his hands out on the handrail of the bridge, waiting to feel
the vibration in the metal when the Bristol-bound train began to approach. It helped to anchor him a little more to what was an increasingly odd situation for him to be in. ‘Whatever happens with Kate and me, whatever this is, I promise you, I have no bad intentions towards her, or you. I meant what I said the other day. We’re both pretty cautious people. I want you to know that I would never hurt your mother. Although she’s pretty pissed off with me at the moment,’ he added, almost as an afterthought.
‘Oh yeah?’ Corey asked, a flare of interest in his eyes. ‘And why’s that, then? What have you done?’
Harry paused. The last thing he wanted to do was to accuse Corey of stealing, having so thoroughly botched things up on that score with Kate. ‘Oh, nothing much,’ he said vaguely. ‘But she’s going to be pleased that you haven’t done a runner again.’
‘I might be pissed off, but I’m not stupid,’ Corey muttered, a brief smile lifting at the corner of his mouth. ‘I mean, if I mess up, she’ll try and send me back to Dad’s, and that’s the last place I want to be.’ He paused. ‘But, Harry, there is something I probably should have told you…’
Harry mentally braced himself for the worst. Was Corey going to confess to stealing the cash from the till? He wasn’t quite sure how to respond, if he did.
‘What’s that, then?’ he replied, after a heartbeat, and realising that Corey was waiting for him to speak.
‘I messed up at the shop and forgot to let you know before I left.’ Corey was looking over the track again, unwilling to meet Harry’s eyes. ‘That’s, er, kind of why I ducked out of dinner with you and Mum on Saturday.’