Behind Closed Doors

by Susan Lewis

  Looking up as her mother came into the room, she said, ‘Are you off to bed?’

  ‘In a minute,’ Maureen replied. ‘I’d like to see you eat something before I go.’

  Andee smiled. ‘Once a mother,’ she teased.

  Maureen was serious. ‘I know you’re tormenting yourself with this case,’ she said, glancing at the diary, ‘and you must try to find a way to stop.’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ Andee assured her. ‘I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.’

  ‘That was selfish of me, because we both know that on one level at least, you’re thinking if you can find Sophie, you’ll somehow be finding Penny, but it doesn’t work like that.’

  ‘I know it doesn’t, and I promise you, I’m not losing sight of reality.’

  Coming to perch on the edge of the coffee table in front of her, Maureen reached for her hands. ‘I hope you mean that,’ she said earnestly.

  Andee looked surprised. ‘Do you think I am?’ she queried.

  Maureen shook her head. ‘I don’t know. It’s hard for me to tell when I’m not in your world, but I do know, if I was in your shoes I would be finding this very difficult indeed.’

  ‘More difficult would be to sit back and let someone else take it over.’

  ‘I suppose I can understand that. But you’re hardly eating, Andee, or sleeping, and that’s not good.’

  ‘If I have something to eat now will it make you happy?’

  Maureen smiled. ‘Actually, it would. I’ll even fix it for you.’

  ‘You don’t have to.’

  ‘I’d like to, and perhaps we could have a chat about Martin, if only to take your mind off this case for a while.’

  Andee frowned. ‘What about Martin?’

  ‘Alayna tells me you’re seeing him tomorrow night.’

  ‘Ye-es.’

  ‘Well, I know how keen she is for you two to get back together. I was just wondering if it’s what you want?’

  Moving restlessly, Andee said, ‘Aren’t you forgetting something? His girlfriend is here . . .’

  ‘But I happen to agree with Alayna, I think he wants a reconciliation with you.’

  ‘How can you say that when he’s blatantly involved with somebody else?’

  ‘That may be so, but . . .’

  ‘Mum, it isn’t going to happen.’

  ‘Why? Because you don’t want it to? Or are you saying that to try and protect yourself?’

  ‘Either way, it doesn’t really matter.’

  ‘Do you want it?’ Maureen pressed.

  Andee started to answer, but realised she wasn’t sure what to say. ‘It’s complicated,’ she managed in the end, ‘and as I just pointed out, he has someone else now, so how about we stop all this nonsense and go into the kitchen so you can feed your hungry daughter?’

  The following morning Andee was standing at the entrance to Blue Ocean Park, staring across the street to the Leisure Park. She’d spent the past hour with Gould, DCI Spender, DCSI May and a battalion of CPS advisers, trying – and failing – to persuade them to involve Interpol in the search for Tomasz Sikora.

  ‘As there’s nothing to suggest the girl’s been taken out of the country,’ she’d been told, ‘or to say that she even left the campsite with Sikora, we cannot sanction your request.’

  ‘So what you’re saying is we have to wait for a body to turn up before anyone’s going to take this seriously,’ she’d cried.

  They’d already been getting up to leave the room; for them the decision had been made, and they weren’t prepared to stay and argue it further.

  ‘I tried,’ Gould told her as soon as the door closed behind them, ‘but getting them all round the table so you could make your case was the best I could do.’

  Now, as she dealt with the frustration of it, her eyes remained fixed on the funfair as though somewhere in all the mayhem was an answer she should be seeing, but was somehow missing. She’d woken early that morning with too many questions niggling away at her, though one at least had now been answered.

  ‘Suzi Perkins moved into the Kesterly flat yesterday,’ Leo told her. ‘It’s owned by a company called Manifold Properties, which happens to own Blue Ocean Park.’

  ‘Yesterday,’ Andee repeated. ‘Presumably after Perkins was arrested, but before his lawyer realised there was no chance of getting him out on bail.’

  ‘Seems a safe presumption.’

  So the Poynters were helping Perkins, in spite of Jackie Poynter expressing disgust at his criminal record during her interview with Leo and Barry. She’d gone on to blame Heidi for not carrying out the proper background checks.

  Leo had returned to the Poynters to question them further, while Andee drove here to prepare the Monroes for their televised appeal.

  Though no one from the press camped outside the bungalow had spotted her yet, as soon as she approached they seemed to come alive.

  ‘Have there been any breakthroughs overnight?’

  ‘Does Perkins know where Sophie is?’

  ‘Was she in Bristol?’

  ‘What can you tell us about Tomasz Sikora?’

  ‘Is he a suspect?’

  Managing to get through the crowd with the assistance of two uniforms stationed outside the bungalow, she turned as she reached the front door. ‘So far there’s no evidence to suggest that Sophie was in Bristol,’ she informed them, ‘however our colleagues from the Avon and Somerset force are still updating us on that. As for Tomasz Sikora, we’ve been in touch with him and he has expressed a willingness to help us with our inquiries.’

  ‘Does he know where Sophie is?’

  ‘Is it true you’re trying to get him brought back to this country?’

  ‘What about the things they’re saying on the Internet about him being involved in . . .?’

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t comment on any of that.’ She was looking across to the CCTV camera trained on the park entrance.

  ‘Has the diary been of any help?’ someone asked.

  Curious to know how news of that had leaked out, Andee ignored the question and was about to knock on the door when it opened.

  ‘No Lauren?’ she asked, as Gavin led the way down the hall. His head was bowed, his shoulders slumped, reminding her of the news they’d received about the baby.

  ‘She’s taken Heidi and Archie for a drive to try and settle him,’ he replied. ‘They should be back any minute.’

  When they were in the kitchen, she said, ‘Lauren told me about the Noonan syndrome. I’m sorry. This is a very difficult time for you.’

  Though his eyes came briefly to hers, he said nothing as he went to put on the kettle.

  She looked around, noting how the place had been cleaned up since her last visit and wondering if Lauren had done it.

  ‘He’s in front of the magistrates this morning, isn’t he?’ he said, without turning round.

  ‘Yes, he is.’

  ‘Do you think he knows where she is?’

  ‘At the moment he’s claiming not to. He says he spent the night she disappeared in a golf buggy under the Entertainment Centre, and Rafal, one of the wardens, has confirmed that he found him there on the morning of the 18th.’

  As Gavin registered the information he turned around. ‘You’re no closer to finding her, are you?’ he asked, looking bleakly into her eyes.

  ‘Actually, I think we are, but I understand it probably doesn’t seem that way to you.’

  His attention drifted.

  ‘You mustn’t give up,’ she told him. ‘She’s out there somewhere and we’re going to find her.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  She started to answer and found she couldn’t.

  ‘You don’t, do you?’ he challenged. ‘You know what it’s like to lose someone and never find out what happened to them.’

  Realising he must have looked her up online, or perhaps one of the papers had run the story that morning and no one had told her yet, Andee was about to reply when her mobile rang.
Seeing it was Leo, she excused herself and stepped into the back garden.

  ‘The Poynters are saying they gave Suzi the flat because she was being harassed in her caravan at the campsite,’ Leo told her.

  ‘How kind. Do you believe them?’ She was staring at a small square of old carpet that had been left on the grass.

  ‘I think it’s part of the truth, but not the whole truth. Trouble is, I’ve got no idea how we prove they were intending the apartment to be some sort of bolt hole for Perkins.’

  She hadn’t, either. ‘OK,’ she said, allowing her eyes to trail along the flattened grass next to the carpet. ‘Can you remember when the security camera at the campsite entrance went on the blink?’

  ‘Apparently it was working up until midday on the 17th.’

  ‘Do we know why it wasn’t repaired immediately?’

  ‘It was a Sunday, the parts they needed weren’t available until the next day. What are you thinking?’

  ‘The same as I have all along, that someone could have tampered with it to make it look as though it went out at midday, when the actual purpose was to erase the footage of Sophie leaving the camp.’

  ‘The security guards would have to be in on it if that’s the case.’

  ‘Perhaps they are. Or they’re covering for someone.’

  ‘Such as Tomasz Sikora?’

  ‘Indeed.’

  ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Get the camera looked at again. I’m at the campsite now. I’ll see you here in an hour. The press conference is being held in the ballroom,’ and clicking off the line she went back inside to find Gavin sitting at the table with two cups of tea. He looked as forlorn as a beggar who’d lost everything would look, and considering what was happening to his children he had every reason to do so. At least for now.

  Going to join him, she picked up her tea and took a sip.

  ‘Are you going to tell me what she wrote in her diary?’ he asked.

  Having prepared herself for the question, she said, ‘There’s nothing to indicate where she might be now, but there are a lot of mentions of her crush on Sikora and time spent with Perkins.’

  He winced and looked away.

  ‘She’s written some lovely things about her mother and how happy you all were when she was alive,’ she told him. ‘They’re very moving.’

  He nodded slowly. ‘I was looking at these before you came,’ he said, pushing an album across the table. ‘It’s pictures of her when she was little, with her mother. It could break your heart to see them together, how perfect everything was back then. They had no idea anything was going to happen to shatter their world. None of us did.’

  Opening it to the first page, Andee found herself staring at the shining, joyful faces of a young mother and her beautiful newborn baby.

  ‘She was about ten minutes old there,’ Gavin said. ‘I took the picture myself. I’ll never forget how it used to make me feel when I looked at them, it was like all the missing pieces of my world had finally come together.’

  ‘They’re lovely,’ Andee murmured, meaning it.

  The following pages showed many of the same sort of shots found in her own family albums, holidays, birthdays, Christmases, mostly of the children, but plenty of her and Martin. It was rare these days that she looked at those from her own childhood, but she remembered how she used to watch her father going through pictures of Penny laughing, or pulling silly faces, sitting on his shoulders, pretending to drive his car, or simply being the Penny who hadn’t felt let down, ignored, rejected by those she loved.

  ‘Why didn’t she take the diary with her?’ Gavin said shakily. ‘Or this album? I wish she had. It would be like her mother was with her, you know, watching over her.’ A smile was twisting awkwardly at his mouth. ‘That’s a daft thing to say, isn’t?’

  ‘Not at all,’ Andee replied. ‘But at least this way they’re safe until she gets back.’

  He turned away as though afraid to connect with the words. It was a while before he said, ‘I want to believe we’ll find her, that she’ll come home, and most of the time I do, but then I start thinking what if it’s already too late?’

  Understanding the fear only too well, Andee said, ‘This is why you need to speak to someone who can counsel you on the best way to cope with what you’re going through. Have you looked at the brochures I left? Lauren should have discussed them with you.’

  ‘Yes, she has, but we don’t want to be a bother to anyone.’

  ‘You’re not a bother.’ She was watching him closely, trying to see past her own father, but it was hard. ‘That’s why the organisations are there, to help you deal with everything that’s going on in your head. It can be terrible, the things we tell ourselves when we’re under this sort of stress. We make up stories that have no bearing on reality, no grounding in truth, only in fear, and that’s no help to anyone, least of all you.’

  His eyes almost came to hers, but not quite. ‘I know you’re right, but what difference can anyone make if she’s already . . .? If they’ve done something to her . . .’ Swallowing hard, he said, ‘I’ll want to kill them if they have . . . If I was to see that Perkins, or Sikora . . .’ His voice trailed off as though he wasn’t even listening to what he was saying.

  Hearing the front door open and close, Andee turned round and got to her feet as Lauren came into the room.

  ‘He’s asleep,’ Lauren announced, sounding as relieved as if she’d been up all night with the baby herself. ‘I think Heidi needs to be, too.’

  Turning to Gavin, Andee said, ‘How would you feel about doing the appeal on your own? Obviously we’ll be with you, but if Heidi’s not . . .’

  ‘I can do it,’ he interrupted. ‘Let her have some rest. I’ve already made some notes.’

  Andee glanced at her watch. ‘Shona should be here any minute,’ she said. ‘She’s from our Corporate Communications Department, or press office as we usually call it. She’ll explain how everything’s going to be set up, exactly what sort of thing . . .’ She broke off as the doorbell rang. ‘I’ll go,’ she told Lauren.

  After letting Shona in Andee spoke quietly with her in the hall, explaining that she was going outside to make some calls and would be back in time to help finalise Gavin’s statement.

  ‘Yes, I know they’ve charged him with rape,’ Suzi was saying to Jackie Poynter on the phone, ‘and the magistrate’s bound to remand him in custody.’

  ‘Have the police questioned you since his arrest?’ Jackie asked.

  ‘Not yet, but someone’s coming round here later.’

  ‘Well, all you have to do is keep a level head and remember that you were there when he was supposed to be committing this rape, so you know it’s not true.’

  As she registered the advice Suzi’s blood turned cold. ‘Are you asking me . . .? Are you saying I should . . .’

  ‘You know what I’m saying. We both want to help your brother, and I think it would be good for him to know that. I have to go now. Call me after you’ve spoken to the police.’

  As the line went dead Suzi rang off too and began pacing the sitting room of the fourth-floor flat she’d moved into under Jackie’s instruction. She hadn’t seen or spoken to Gary since his arrest, nor did she want to. If she had the courage she’d contact the police and tell them everything she knew, but she was too afraid of what the Poynters might do to her and Gary if she did so.

  Quickly dialling her mother’s number, she blurted, ‘They want me to give Gary an alibi, say it wasn’t true, that he . . . you know . . .’

  ‘Then do it,’ her mother said tiredly. ‘You don’t want to see him go to prison again, do you?’

  ‘He will anyway, for breaking his protection order.’

  ‘But not for as long as he would if they make these charges stick. He’s family, Suzi, and families stick together, you know that.’

  ‘But what about me? I don’t want to lie . . .’

  ‘I understand that, but sometimes you have to. If you won’t
do it for him, then do it for me.’

  Not knowing how to answer that, Suzi clicked off the line and sank to her knees. None of this was making any sense. She’d come here to try to make a new life for herself, and it was all turning against her.

  ‘Mum, can you talk?’

  ‘Not for long,’ Andee replied, glad to see the press had decamped for the conference as she headed back to the Monroes. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m cool,’ Alayna assured her, ‘I just wanted to make sure that you are. Have you heard anything from Dad today?’

  ‘As a matter of fact I had a text earlier about the trust funds Grandpa Dougie’s set up for you and Luke.’

  ‘What about them?’

  ‘He wants me to go into the lawyer’s office when I can to sign some forms.’

  ‘Cool. You’re still seeing him tonight, aren’t you?’

  ‘I am. Is Luke home yet?’

  ‘I haven’t seen him, but if they had a late night partying he’s probably still asleep.’

  ‘Do me a favour and try calling him.’

  ‘What do you want me to say?’

  ‘I just want to know where he is, that’s all.’

  ‘OK. Any more news about Sophie?’

  Touched that she’d remembered to ask, and wishing Sophie knew that people were concerned about her, Andee said, ‘There have been a couple of developments, but nothing I can discuss. I should go now. Don’t forget to ring Luke,’ and clicking off her end she took a call on the Airwave. ‘Jemma, speak to me.’

  ‘Kasia Domanski just called,’ Jemma told her excitedly, ‘apparently Sikora’s on his way back, due here sometime on Monday.’

  Really wanting to believe that, Andee asked, ‘So he’s driving?’

  ‘Sounds like it.’

  ‘OK. We need to be ready to pick him up as soon as he comes into the country. How’s he going to do that? Through Calais?’

  ‘That’s the most obvious route.’

  ‘Put all the ports on standby. Does Gould know about this yet?’