Cherringham--A Bad Lie

by Matthew Costello

  “Bet it would calm her to know that someone’s doing something.”

  “Anything you think I can do?”

  “Guess you could find out where his family lives. Maybe contact them?”

  “You think that’s where he’s gone?”

  “Makes sense. Has doubts about getting hitched — goes home, gets advice from mom and dad. Wouldn’t you?”

  “I wish I had,” said Sarah, laughing. “They would have absolutely told me not to do it.”

  Jack nodded. Sarah’s marriage had blown up when her kids were still little, and he knew even now, years later, she was still so angry at her ex-husband’s cheating.

  “Well, you wouldn’t have the kids. And you wouldn’t be here in Cherringham. My gain …”

  “Mine too, Jack.”

  “Tell you what. Why don’t I go chat to some of these so-called friends of the groom, hear their side of the story. You got numbers for them?”

  “Guy called Ryan, yes. He’s staying up at the Bell. He seems to be the sensible one. I’ll text you the number.”

  He watched as Sarah took out her phone and scroll through her calls.

  “Won’t do any harm to get another take on the happy couple. Maybe over a pint tonight.”

  “You get all the fun jobs,” said Sarah, putting her phone away and getting up. “I’d better head back to the office.”

  Riley appeared from under the table, bobbing for a head scratch.

  “And I’d better get back to my painting,” said Jack.

  He stood up and picked up the tea tray, as Sarah crossed the deck.

  “One thing just doesn’t quite fit for me …”

  “Go on,” she said, stopping by the gangplank and giving Riley a farewell stroke.

  “You say Lauren was in tears?”

  “Yes,” said Sarah. “Very upset.”

  “And that was lunchtime today?”

  “Yep.”

  “So, let’s say Josh was out until dawn tied to that golf mower. Then somehow got himself free. Now, if he hadn’t slept all night — and he had a mighty hangover — then surely nobody would be expecting him to surface till around now? At the very earliest. Wherever it was he managed to lay his head.”

  “Hmm,” said Sarah. “That makes sense.”

  “So then, why is our bride so sure that something bad has happened?”

  “You think maybe she’s not telling us everything?” said Sarah.

  “I’m such a cynic, huh?”

  “You’re a detective, Jack. It comes with the territory.”

  “True fact. But with a heart of gold though.”

  “This is also true,” said Sarah, smiling.

  “Let me know what you find out about our sculptor.”

  “Will do. Talk later …”

  Jack watched her head down the gangplank and then along the towpath towards Cherringham Bridge. Riley stared for a while longer, then turned back and trotted over to Jack, who patted him distractedly.

  The more he thought about the missing groom, the less convinced he was by the bride’s story …

  So let’s see what the groomsmen tell me, he thought, reaching for his mobile phone to call Ryan.

  6. Pies and Pints

  Jack pushed open the door of the Ploughman’s and scanned the public bar.

  As he’d expected, for a Monday evening the place was pretty empty. The post-work crowd had gone home, and it was still early for the real evening trade to begin.

  But it wasn’t hard to spot the three groomsmen, who were sprawled at a corner table, full pints of lager in front of them.

  He walked past them to the bar and ordered a beer then took in the group carefully while Billy the landlord did the pouring.

  All three guys had shortish hair, and one of them had a full beard and an ear-stud.

  Plaid shirts and creased jeans, smartphones on the table — to the practised eye all sure signs that these weren’t local lads taking an evening off after a heavy day working on the farm.

  They sat with a visible air of superiority — urban twenty-somethings out in the countryside — talking just a tad louder than the handful of locals at the other tables.

  Not that Jack was going to hold that against them.

  When he was in his twenties he and a couple of pals used to go stay with his grandparents in upstate New York and they must have looked like that every time they went out for a beer.

  City kids the same the world over.

  He paid for his beer and went over to the table.

  “Ryan?” he said, not sure which of the three guys he’d talked to earlier on the phone.

  One of the clean-shaven guys looked up then stood politely and stuck out a hand.

  “Jack Brennan?”

  Jack nodded, and he looked at the other two, who looked back at him, curious.

  Ryan gestured to the guy with the beard. “This is Gary.”

  Then the other guy. “And Marcus.”

  Jack saw them offer a raised hand in greeting, smiling.

  Then he drew back an empty chair at the table, planted his beer, and sat down.

  “I hear you guys have quite the sense of humor.”

  He watched them trying to figure out what he meant, then Marcus laughed.

  “The fun and games up at the golf course, huh? Yep, that was cool. Didn’t go quite to plan though.”

  “Oh? In what way?”

  “Idea was to take all his clothes off — not just his trousers. But we made the mistake of tying him up first. Next time eh, guys?”

  The others laughed.

  Jack smiled.

  “I thought you were going to say that you didn’t plan on Josh disappearing …”

  “Ah, well, yes,” said Ryan. “You’re right. We didn’t plan on that.”

  “Buggered up everything, that has,” said Gary.

  “How so?” said Jack.

  “Well, me and Gary were going to head back to London, come back Friday,” said Marcus. “But we can’t really do that until bloody Josh has turned up again.”

  “Be bad form, you see,” said Gary. “Can’t let your mates down.”

  Jack didn’t quite see how any mates would do to Josh what they had done, but he decided to stay away from that subject. Better to play along.

  “Sure,” he said. “And I guess Josh might need your help. Wherever he is.”

  “Wherever he is? Too bloody right,” said Marcus. “He better turn up soon though or I’ll be seriously pissed off.”

  “He’d better turn up by Saturday or half of bloody Cherringham will be pissed off,” said Ryan.

  “Two chicken pies, one steak and kidney?” came a voice from the bar.

  Jack turned to see Kirsty, the new girl behind the bar, holding plates of food.

  “Over here,” said Ryan, waving his hand.

  Jack waited while Kirsty came over to the table, laid out plates of pie and French fries in front of the three guys, went off again, then returned with ketchup and knives and forks.

  “You don’t mind if we eat?” said Ryan, looking a little embarrassed.

  “Go ahead,” said Jack, wishing he’d ordered something too.

  “Hardly a gastro-pub this place, is it?” said Marcus blowing on a forkful of food.

  “Pies here are always good,” said Jack. “Classic. Guess they don’t feature much on London pub menus these days.”

  “Too right,” said Gary. “All bloody quinoa and salad. And when they do have pies they call ’em ‘artisanal’ and charge you a tenner.”

  Jack laughed. He was beginning to get the measure of these guys.

  Marcus was the slick one. Ryan was the sensitive one. Gary was a bit more down to earth.

  Looked a bit worried as well …

  “You’re the best man, no?” said Jack, turning to Marcus.

  “That’s right,” said Marcus.

  Jack watched him take a long sip of beer then put his glass back down on the table.

  “Ryan here hasn’t re
ally told us who you are, actually,” said Marcus. “Maybe you ought to explain?”

  “Sure,” said Jack, leaning back. “Back in the day I used to be a cop. I moved over here when … I retired. I do a little investigating now and then just to keep my hand in, so to speak. And that’s what I’m doing now.”

  “Investigating us?” said Marcus.

  “Just trying to find out what’s happened to Josh,” said Jack.

  “Somebody paying you?” said Gary.

  “Nope. Josh’s fiancé Lauren asked me and my business partner Sarah to look into things.”

  “Well, that’s good she did that,” said Ryan. “Because the police sure weren’t interested.”

  “We couldn’t even get that idiot local cop to do a search at the golf club,” said Marcus.

  Jack guessed they were talking about Alan Rivers, but made no comment.

  Already he didn’t like this big-mouthed Marcus guy.

  “I mean — Josh could be lying in a ditch somewhere,” said Ryan.

  “There is that possibility,” said Jack. “But I think by now someone would have spotted him.”

  “So you think he’s just vanished then,” said Ryan.

  “Alien abduction?” said Marcus, laughing loudly at his own comment.

  “Not funny mate,” said Gary.

  Jack saw that Gary was serious. Genuinely concerned.

  That could be useful.

  “Tell me, did any of you get any hint that he might want to go away somewhere? Disappear?”

  “You mean bottle out?” said Marcus.

  “Big step, marriage. Guys sometimes get close to the actual day — pull back.”

  “You think that’s what Josh did?” said Gary. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

  “But Gary — you know Josh. Even if that was true, he would have said something to Lauren,” said Ryan. “He wouldn’t just do a runner.”

  “You’re right,” said Marcus. “He was always straight, Josh. ‘Is’ I mean. Tells you how it is. Got balls.”

  “But you think he’s run away?” said Ryan, turning to Jack.

  “Look, I don’t know him,” said Jack. “You guys do. You were with him last night.”

  Jack watched the three guys, all eating slowly, thinking.

  “You know,” said Ryan, peering at the glass of beer in his hand but not drinking it. “Last night … I did think …”

  Jack waited for him to continue.

  “Josh wasn’t quite … himself. If you know what I mean?”

  “Not sure. Go on.”

  “Well, I know this is a special week and everything. And he doesn’t say much at the best of times. But he was — sort of — really quiet — in a different way.”

  “Right. Like he was thinking about something else all night,” said Gary.

  “You noticed that too?” said Ryan.

  “Didn’t think much of it at the time,” said Gary. “But yeah, definitely a bit hazy. Distracted.”

  One of the three hadn’t said anything about Josh from last night.

  “How about you, Marcus?” said Jack. “He seem different to you?”

  The best man looked away, shaking his head. “Nah, didn’t notice anything, to be honest. He often went off in his head somewhere.”

  “This was different, Marcus,” said Ryan. “Fact, it reminded me how he used to be sometimes back in London.”

  “Yeah, you’re right again,” said Gary. “Forgot about that. He’d just ‘flip’ wouldn’t he? Like he turned all moody. Preoccupied or something. Then disappear to his room.”

  “For days — remember?” said Ryan. “Didn’t come out — even to eat.”

  Jack waited for more, but the others just stared at their beers.

  “You four guys known each other a while, yes?” said Jack.

  “Shared a house in Clapham,” said Marcus. “After uni.”

  “The Wild House, we called it,” said Gary

  “Party central,” said Ryan. “Bunch of guys — all earning for the first time –‘cept Josh, he was always broke–”

  “No ties, no parents, no girlfriends,” Gary added. “Least not for long—”

  “Bloody good years they were—” Marcus pronounced.

  “Best years—” Gary said, the three of them pining for days never to come again.

  “To the Wild House!” said Marcus, raising his glass.

  “To the Wild House!” said the other two.

  They all clinked glasses together, tipped them back, drained them and slammed them down on the table as one.

  Jack could see this was a ritual they’d done many times.

  “Can I get you guys another round” he said.

  Three grins told him the answer. He picked up the glasses and headed to the bar.

  *

  “Did you know each other beforehand?” said Jack, putting a tray of beers down on the table. “Before you lived together?”

  “Um … I dunno,” said Gary, taking his pint. “Not really. Think I just answered an ad — met you all at that house.”

  “Yeah,” said Marcus. “Me too.”

  “I was there first,” said Ryan, drinking. “Shared the place with some nurses …”

  “Wahey!” said Marcus. “I’d forgotten that!”

  “Wasn’t like that,” said Ryan shaking his head wearily. “Anyway, I think when they moved out, Josh moved in. Think he was going out with one of the nurses.”

  “So you’ve only known him a few years?” said Jack.

  “Yeah. Right,” said Ryan. “But pretty intense years. You know?”

  “Sure,” said Jack. He took a sip of beer. “Where’d he come from? Family?”

  “From Leeds, I think,” said Ryan.

  “No, Manchester, wasn’t it? said Marcus. “That’s what he told me.”

  “Oldham,” said Gary. “I’m pretty sure he said Oldham.”

  Jack watched them as they now looked at each other, aware that this didn’t sound right.

  “He ever talk about any of that? The past?”

  “Now that you mention it,” said Gary. “Don’t think so.”

  “What about his family?” he said. “You ever meet any of them?”

  “No,” said Ryan. He looked at the others.

  Jack watched Marcus and Gary shrug.

  “How about friends?” said Jack. “You said he was going out with one of those nurses — you meet any other friends?”

  “He had other mates from college,” said Ryan. “Couple of artists. Stayed with us for a while — before you guys moved in. Performance artists. Weird they were. Seriously weird.”

  “Girls?” said Gary, suddenly interested.

  “Blokes.”

  Jack watched Gary shrug. Then Marcus leaned forward.

  “Mr. Brennan — Jack — we’re all trying to find out where Josh is right now. I don’t really see why what happened in London five years ago is going to help that. Maybe you can tell us?”

  Jack raised his hands, palms out.

  “Just trying to get background, guys. Find out what makes Josh tick. Maybe get a handle on where he might go — if he wanted to get back to his nearest and dearest.”

  “You mean — if he wasn’t sure he wanted to go through with it?” said Ryan.

  “Exactly,” said Jack. “Who knows? Maybe he wasn’t sure if he and Lauren were right for each other. Maybe he was nervous about her family. I mean — I hear there wasn’t any love lost there …”

  “Too right,” said Gary. “Lauren’s dad had a real downer on him.”

  “Any particular reason?”

  “Posh judge’s daughter marries northern sculptor?” said Marcus. “Kinda obvious, isn’t it?”

  “Josh had real talent, you know,” said Gary. “Could be the next Damien Hirst.”

  “That’s not how Lauren’s dad sees it.”

  “And Josh really didn’t like him,” said Ryan. “Thought the guy was an arsehole.”

  “To be fair,” said Marcus, “so did Laure
n.”

  Jack watched them all laugh at that, and joined them.

  The mood broke nicely.

  “Anyway, there’ve been some major rows along the way,” said Marcus. “So I hear. Lauren’s mum and dad shouting at one side of the table, Josh and Lauren shouting back, storming off and all that …”

  “But they didn’t stand in the way of the wedding?’ said Jack.

  “Oh, yes they did,” said Ryan. “But Lauren and Josh went ahead regardless. So in the end Babs and James just gave in.”

  “You finished?” said Kirsty, appearing at Jack’s side.

  Jack waited while she cleared plates away.

  “My round,” said Ryan. “Can I get you another beer, Jack?”

  “Kind of you Ryan,” said Jack. “But I need to be heading back.”

  “Any way we can help … you just let us know?” said Ryan.

  “Will do,” said Jack, standing up.

  He looked at the other two, nodded. Gary looked away. Marcus stared him out.

  Jack raised his hand. “See you guys around.”

  Then headed for the door.

  Outside in the warm summer evening air, he paused to check his phone for messages and thought about the three Londoners.

  Ryan seemed pretty straight up. Gary wasn’t the brightest knife in the drawer but looked harmless.

  But Marcus, he seemed to have issues with him. And there was no doubt, the guy was a canny customer. An equities fund manager, so Sarah had said.

  A financial shark.

  Was there something he knew about Josh’s disappearance that he wasn’t telling?

  Jack turned and headed down the road towards Cherringham Bridge, thinking what he had in the freezer for dinner.

  He knew he should cook something healthy.

  But those pies sure smelled good.

  As he hit the towpath, the sun was setting behind the village.

  His mobile rang.

  “Sarah. What you got?”

  “Hi Jack. Hmm, not much on Josh. In fact, our disappearing artist seems to be pretty good at staying invisible.”

  “Go on.”

  “Lots of stuff online about his recent work and gallery shows. And at St. Martins he was quite a star. But before that? Zilch. Not a trace. Social media, school, background — nothing.”

  “Interesting. You want to meet tomorrow?”

  “That’s why I called. You and me are meeting tomorrow. At 9:30 to be precise — on the first hole at Cherringham Golf Club.”