by Alex Brown
‘OK, love. Right. I see. Yes. Thanks for your help. Yes, yes, we’ll let you know. I promise. Yes, I’m sure she’ll be fine,’ Jude said to reassure young Katie, after she confirmed that Holly wasn’t with her.
‘That’s it! I’m definitely phoning the police,’ Sam stated, tearing his jacket off and slinging it on the table. ‘Holly isn’t like other healthy girls her age … she’s vulnerable without her insulin. Anything could happen and I’m not risking it.’
‘In that case, we need to get Chrissie,’ Jude said, torn between looking after Sam who was panicking now – his hands were shaking as he pressed the numbers on the keypad – and making sure her best friend was all right. Jude knew that the second Chrissie was told that Holly wasn’t where she was supposed to be … well, she was going to break down, and panic too, for sure. And the news that Holly was missing could very well be the last straw after all the anxiety Chrissie had gone through recently.
‘I’ll go,’ Tony said firmly, on seeing his daughter’s dilemma. ‘Stay here and help Sam and Dolly. And don’t worry, love. I’ll look after Chrissie and get her here right away without causing her too much alarm.’ He gave Jude a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘Come on, Barry. You can keep a look-out in case Holly is in the village somewhere. She might be with the bunch of kids who hang out in the bus shelter.’ And the two men wasted no time in heading for the door.
*
But Holly wasn’t in the bus shelter.
Instead, she was running as fast as she could.
She knew that she had really done it now.
She was in serious trouble!
When Aunty Jude had knocked on her bedroom door earlier, Holly had been on her laptop in a group chat with her friends on Snapchat, when a message from Katie had popped up saying that Gavin’s car had been in an accident! Her cousin, who worked for the AA, had got the call to recover it. Katie had heard him telling her mum. He’d said the call-out was to a man called Gavin in a ditch on the outskirts of Tindledale. And Holly had panicked. And then crept downstairs and silently slunk out of the back door.
What if Chrissie was in the car too?
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘Have I got this right then, Sam?’ Mark, the village policeman asked, ‘you last saw Holly at about six p.m., that you can be sure of …? Making it about two and a half hours ago.’ He glanced at the kitchen wall clock and then double-checked the time against the screen on his handheld device where he was entering all the details.
‘Yes, it was definitely then as I asked her if she wanted something to eat – she has to eat regularly, you see. She’s a diabetic,’ Sam said, desperately trying to keep a clear head. What if something has happened to her? You hear about it all the time. ‘Look, I don’t mean to be rude,’ Sam went on, ‘but I need to go out and look for her. It’s no good us all standing around here talking, when she could be outside on her own. And she doesn’t have her insulin with her. What if she needs it? What if she has a hypo? Passes out on her own, or even if she is with a group of friends, they won’t know what to do, will they?’ Sam went to leave the kitchen, determined to find Holly before Tony and Barry arrived back with Chrissie. And he dreaded to think what she was going to say. What if she blamed him for not looking after Holly properly? Not that he would be fazed if she did. He was past caring. He’d take all the blame if it meant that Holly was safe. Back here with him. Or Chrissie. Dolly. Any of them. It really didn’t matter, just as long as she was all right.
‘And we will find her, Sam. There’s a car already on the way from police HQ in Market Briar,’ Mark said calmly, politely declining the mug of tea that Dolly went to offer him. ‘It’s best in situations like this—’
‘What do you mean? Situations like this?’ Sam jumped in and started pacing up and down, his hands at the side of his head.
‘He just means …’ Jude started, seeing the fear in Dolly’s eyes and the sheer panic on Sam’s face, ‘… that there is a procedure to follow. That’s all. Dad and Barry are already in the village, they’ll probably call any second now to say that they’ve found her messing around with a bunch of mates in the bus shelter. Come on, Sam, she’s going to be fine.’ Jude placed a hand on Sam’s back as he pulled a chair away from the table and slumped down into it.
‘Yes, it really is best if you stay here,’ Mark said. ‘Holly will need you if she comes home of her own accord. She may well be upset or scared if she sees me here,’ he lifted his eyebrows, ‘a great, big, walloping police officer in a uniform with all this gear – baton and cuffs and all. You don’t want her to think she is in trouble now, do you?’ he smiled, to try to put them at ease.
‘But she isn’t in any trouble, though, is she?’ It was Dolly who asked, with worry etched all over her lined face as she sat down next to Sam and patted the top of his arm.
‘Absolutely not,’ Mark assured them both, then stepped closer to Jude. ‘Do you have a second to go, err … go over some more details?’ he asked her quietly, indicating with his head towards the hallway as Dolly stood up and put her arm around Sam’s shoulders.
‘Yes, sure. Of course, let’s give them some space for a moment,’ Jude said, moving out of the kitchen and pulling the door closed behind her.
‘Has she ever run away before?’ Mark asked, keeping his voice very low.
‘Not that I know of,’ Jude shook her head.
‘And would you know if she was having any sort of trouble?’
‘Trouble?’ she lifted an eyebrow.
‘Bullying. Social media targeting, trolls … that kind of thing,’ he prompted.
‘No. I’m quite sure she isn’t being bullied. I think Chrissie would have told me if she was … but …’ Jude stopped talking and looked towards the kitchen.
‘Go on,’ Mark said. And they both moved closer to the front door and away from the kitchen so as to be definitely out of earshot of Sam and Dolly.
‘Well … it’s just that she’s had a tough time recently. She’s not talking to either of them – her parents that is – at the moment. Chrissie and Sam have been, um … err … well, they are separated. They’ve been having some marriage problems,’ Jude dipped her head, concerned that she might be talking out of line … betraying her best friend by speaking about her personal business. It wasn’t every day that you had to talk about this sort of thing to a police officer.
‘I see. But why isn’t Holly talking to them?’
‘They argued in front of her and … um, well … you see, she really just wants them back together in time for her birthday,’ Jude said, remembering the chat she’d had with Holly after seeing the pigs on the Blackwood Farm Estate.
‘Thank you,’ Mark entered the additional information onto the screen of his handheld device. ‘Is there anywhere you can think of that she might go?’ he then asked, but before Jude could answer, the doorbell rang and Sam came tearing out of the kitchen to grab the door open, praying it was Holly, back home safe. Mark and Jude stood back behind him.
Sam blinked.
Gulped.
And then his jaw fell open.
‘What the bloody hell are you doing here?’ he just about managed to bark.
His mother was standing right in front of him with an extra-indignant look stamped on her already perpetually dissatisfied face. She had a bottle of claret in one hand and a travel bag dangling from the other.
‘Well, this is very charming, I must say!’ she said, striding straight on into the cottage, forcing Sam to take an immediate step backwards and almost barge right into Jude and Mark. ‘I’ve cut my holiday short and come all this way from the airport to see how my little Holly is. After our conversation, I had a bit of a think, and well,’ she paused, pushed one shoulder up and pursed her lips, ‘… maybe I might be able to help out after all – and this is the way you greet me. And you could have told me you were staying here … at Dolly’s little house, instead of leaving me to find out from a complete stranger in the pub … when your own house had not one single light
on. No, it was cloaked in darkness, like something out of a horror film!’
Sam bit down his disappointment at not seeing his little girl standing before him, returned home safe and sound.
His hands tingled with indignation.
How dared she?
His mother was drunk on duty-free too, if the fumes emanating from her were anything to go by!
How dared Linda turn up out of the blue without a care in the world, when she had just dropped a gigantic wrecking ball into his life. Even if she didn’t know that he knew – that she had kept the truth about his dad from him for his whole life, and Rob had most likely died not even knowing – that really wasn’t the point.
‘Get out!’ Sam yelled, absolutely seething.
‘I shall do no such thing!’ Linda sniffed. ‘There’s a taxi that needs paying for, for starters,’ she motioned with her head to the lane outside, as if expecting Sam to pick up the tab. ‘And … what’s he doing here?’ She eyed Mark up and down. ‘Not done something naughty have you, Samuel?’ And she fixed her shark-like eyes on her son momentarily, before looking again at Mark, and then actually simpered like some silly schoolgirl.
‘What’s going on?’ Dolly opened the kitchen door, and then took one look at Linda and put a hand to her mouth. ‘Oh no! Do you know what’s happened to Holly? We’ve lost her you see,’ she gasped, then held her breath as if in preparation for bad news. The two women exchanged looks.
‘Oh please, dear God, don’t tell me I’m too late,’ Linda exclaimed, dramatically dropping the travel bag by her feet and looking again at Mark. ‘Noooo, my poor little Holly. My angel,’ she cried, then placed a hand on Mark’s police-uniform jacket. ‘I’m her grandmother. I loved that child with all my heart.’
‘STOP IT! Holly isn’t dead, you stupid woman.’ Sam couldn’t help himself, and stormed off into the sitting room. Anything to get away from Linda and her phoney, sickening, Lady Bountiful act.
Sam placed his hands on the mantelpiece, using it as a crutch to lean on, to think and to breathe in a desperate attempt to clear his head. This was about Holly. Not him. He had to keep his wits about him. There was no space in his brain to deal with anything else right now, other than finding out where she was. He knew she wouldn’t just go out without telling him or Dolly, no way. She wasn’t that kind of girl. And that meant one thing … he knew it in his heart. That she had run away. And it was his fault. Holly hadn’t spoken to him or Chrissie since that afternoon in the pizza restaurant, and who could blame her? She’d had enough of the arguing. And he had promised her he’d make things right. He had let her down. Again. He so wished he had managed to fulfil the promise … Sam clenched his jaw, forcing himself not to cry. But it was no use, and a solitary, stinging tear slid down the side of his face.
‘Sam, are you OK?’ It was Jude, softly closing the sitting-room door behind her.
‘Yes, yes, I’m all right.’ Sam quickly composed himself and rubbed the tear away before turning around to look at her. ‘I could just do without my ridiculous mother right now,’ he said, pacing up and down with a thunderous look on his face.
‘Hmm, I can see why … is she always like that?’ Jude asked, tilting a thumb over her shoulder, not having seen Linda Morgan in years.
‘Jude, she’s horrendous. And all that pretending to care. The only person that woman cares about is herself.’ He waved a hand in the direction of the hall. ‘But it doesn’t matter right now. We just need to concentrate on getting Holly back.’
‘And we will, Sam. What would you like me to do?’ Jude asked calmly, keen to be of the maximum use to her best friend’s husband. This was exactly why she had come home after all … to be here for her friends and family when they needed her the most. Just as they had been for her when her mum had died.
‘Could you do me a favour and get rid of my mother, please? Tell her to go and … I don’t know, wait in the Duck & Puddle or something? I just can’t deal with her right now.’
‘Yep. I’ll do my best.’ But as Jude went to open the sitting-room door, Chrissie appeared, looking completely panicked, closely followed by Tony, Barry, Dolly, Mark and Linda … who was still wittering on about the waiting taxi and, ‘Would someone please tell me what on earth is going on?’
‘Oh my God,’ Chrissie dashed straight over to Sam. ‘Tony has told me what’s happened.’
‘Well, I wish somebody would tell me!’ Linda huffed, marching over to the wing chair and plonking herself down into it. ‘I come all this way an—’
‘Are you still here?’ Sam cut her off sharply, throwing her a look.
‘Well!’ Linda quipped. ‘What sort of a way is that to speak to your own mothe—’
‘Shut up!’ Sam snapped.
‘Oh dear. How about a brandy?’ It was Dolly who intervened as a potential peacemaker, moving closer to Sam. ‘For the shock, come on, love. And I can see that you’re upset. Let’s sit you down,’ and she gently steered him towards the sofa. ‘You too, Chrissie, darling,’ she soothed, shepherding Chrissie to the sofa as well, ‘that’s it, there you go.’ Dolly then turned to Linda and told her firmly, ‘Holly is missing, so if you don’t want to get in that taxi and go back to wherever it is you came from, then it’s probably best if you keep quiet. Now is not the time, Linda.’
Linda pushed her bottom lip out, stared at Dolly for a second, as if mulling over whether to challenge her or not, and then said,
‘Fine. In that case, I suppose I had better sort out the taxi myself then,’ and she hauled herself back out of the chair and went to find her purse, huffing and muttering under her breath all the way.
‘Sam. Chrissie,’ Mark turned to them and they both stood up. ‘I’m going to go now and see where we are at with finding Holly. A family liaison officer is on the way here—’
‘Oh no, please … not a family liaison officer …’ Chrissie wept, tears pouring down her face as her legs buckled and she wobbled into Sam. He instinctively put his arms around her body to save her. ‘I know what that means, I’ve seen this on TV programmes,’ she looked at Mark, ‘you think she …’ her voice quivered and then petered out, unable to say what they all feared most.
‘Chrissie, it’s just a procedure. It doesn’t mean anything,’ Tony said, looking at Mark to let him know that it was OK to leave and that he would handle things this end. He motioned for Sam and Chrissie to sit back down.
‘That’s right, Chrissie,’ Linda reappeared. ‘Kids run off all the time. She’ll be back when she’s hungry. Sam was a nightmare for doing it at that age – hiding out in the woods. Always reappeared at dinner time though,’ she finished with a supercilious smile, making Sam want to grab her by the collar and forcibly turf her out of the house. As if she would know anything much about what he did as a thirteen year old when she was rarely around to notice! Let alone provide a dinner. But he really didn’t have the energy to challenge her on it right now …
‘These are different times though, Linda,’ Barry jumped in, shaking his head as he went and stood in the corner close to Tony.
‘They sure are,’ she paused, and then did a double take, as if seeing Barry for the first time. ‘Blimey, you’re Barry Lester! I didn’t recognise you at first. But then you had long wavy hair down to your shoulders the last time …’ Her voice trailed off.
‘That’s right, but that was donkeys’ years ago,’ Barry muttered, turning to help Tony and Dolly bring out some dining chairs for them all to sit on.
‘Hmm, those were the days,’ Linda sighed with a faraway look in her eyes, and then changed the subject. ‘I take it I’m allowed a little drink? Seeing as I’ve not even been offered a beverage,’ she asked to nobody in particular, waving the bottle of red wine in the air. Everyone swivelled to stare at her audacity.
‘Yes, yes of course, I’ll get you a glass,’ Dolly politely replied, never one to make a guest feel unwelcome in her home. She walked over to the rosewood sideboard and found a goblet, which she handed to Linda.
�
��Corkscrew by any chance?’ Linda said, not even bothering to thank Dolly for the glass.
‘Here! There’s one on this,’ Barry passed a bunch of keys over without even looking at her.
‘Cheers!’ Linda wrestled the cork free and poured herself a generous measure of red wine, placed the bottle on the hearth close to her feet, lifted the glass in the air and slurred, ‘Well … there’s never a dull moment in sleepy old Tindledale now is there?’
Chapter Twenty-Four
‘Why is it taking so long?’ Chrissie turned her face sideways to look at Sam, her arms crossed and wrapped around her body in an attempt to comfort herself. ‘I can’t bear this. We should be out there searching for Holly.’ She rocked backwards and forwards.
‘I don’t know,’ Sam shook his head and reached a tentative hand out to rub Chrissie’s back. She didn’t seem to mind, so he kept it in place and assumed their differences were forgotten for now. Holly not being where she was supposed to be – upstairs in her bedroom – sure had put things into sharp perspective, and for both of them, it seemed. ‘But I agree – we can’t just sit here doing nothing. I feel completely useless. How is this helping Holly? I’m her dad, I should be out there with Mark scouring the woods, the fields, the lanes, the bus shelter in the village square.’
Chrissie creased her forehead and locked her eyes onto his as if really seeing him, and hearing him, for the first time in ages … and something changed in her demeanour too.
‘Sam, look, about the other day, when we took Holly for pizza …’
‘You don’t have to say anything now, not while Holly is missing,’ Sam said, trying not to add to their woes.
‘No, I know that, but I want to. I should have let you say what you needed to, not had a go at you. But I’m stuck in old habits.’ She cast her eyes downwards. ‘And what if Holly has run away because of me, Sam? It could be my fault.’
‘Of course it isn’t your fault. You’re always doing your best for her.’ Sam gently lifted Chrissie’s chin so he could look into her eyes.