The Girl Who Came Back

by Susan Lewis

  Though it seemed wrong to feel relief at someone else’s tragedy, Jules couldn’t help the way she almost collapsed with it when Andee received the call.

  “I think me being here wasn’t helpful for Leo,” Andee admitted. “He doesn’t normally make mistakes.”

  “I knew it couldn’t be her,” Stephie declared, sounding sorry that it wasn’t.

  Since it still didn’t provide any answers to where Kian and Danny might be, or Amelia, Jules was soon pacing again, leaving Joe and Ethan to man the landline as calls started flooding in from curious friends and the press, while Stephie drove over to see her parents and put their minds at rest.

  “They must surely know when she left the house,” Jules commented to Andee. “The CCTV would show it.”

  “Only if she left via an exit where there are cameras,” Andee pointed out.

  “So she could still be on the property?” This was too much like when Daisy was missing for Jules not to feel edgy and afraid.

  “I doubt it. They’ll have carried out a thorough search before coming here, particularly in light of what happened before.”

  It was during the late afternoon when Anton Quentin, looking as smoothly arrogant as ever, appeared on a news bulletin declaring himself fully convinced that members of the Bright family were holding his daughter hostage and very probably meant her harm. “I’m afraid I can’t go into any more detail at this time,” he continued in his insufferably superior way, “but I can tell you that we have incontrovertible evidence to back up our claims.”

  “What sort of evidence?” Jules cried.

  “He’s probably talking about the CCTV,” Andee reminded her.

  “And the fact that I threatened her with a knife,” Jules added. “And stalked her and lied to the police when they asked if I’d seen her.”

  “He probably won’t know about that,” Andee assured her.

  By early evening, having heard the news, virtually every member of Kesterly’s Bright family was crowded into Jules’s small kitchen–cum–sitting room. Half of them had already been questioned by the police, while the other half were expecting to be at any time. It didn’t take Jules long to believe that not one of them knew where Kian and Danny might be. Not that they’d have been likely to give them up to the police if they did, but she could tell that they were as worried about the way things were looking as she was.

  “I can’t see them hurting her,” Ruthie declared for the umpteenth time. “Even if she does deserve it.”

  “They’ll be making her see that she’s got to move away from here,” Finn told them. “She should never have been allowed to come back, not after what she did.”

  “I can’t believe she had the nerve to anyway,” Bridget stated hotly to Jules. “I’ve always said she’s not right in the head, and it seems she just wants to go on proving it.”

  “What if they don’t have her?” Liam piped up.

  Everyone gawped at him in amazement.

  “If they don’t,” Ruthie said, “maybe you’d like to tell us where else they might be.”

  Since neither Liam nor anyone else had an answer for that, they fell silent, until Stephie said to Jules, “Is Andee coming back here tonight?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jules replied. “Unless we hear something, I suppose.”

  “What’s getting me,” Bridget mused, “is how long does it take to persuade the girl that she’s not wanted around here? No one’s seen her since Friday night.”

  “And Kian didn’t fly in until Saturday morning,” Joe put in keenly, “so he couldn’t have been involved in anything before that, unless Danny somehow got to her on his own on Friday, hid her away somewhere, then went to the airport for Kian.”

  “No one’s actually said that she disappeared on Friday night,” Stephie reminded them. “They only said it was the last time she was seen. If she slept alone and got up early on Saturday morning…What time did Kian’s plane get in?”

  Quickly going online to check, Ethan said, “Eleven a.m.”

  Stephie grimaced. “By the time they got back here from the airport it would have been at least half past twelve. Someone would have been bound to see her before that, if she was still at Crofton Park, so I’m not sure my little theory is helping us.”

  Round and round, back and forth, only questions, no answers, and several phone calls from Aileen, who was as mad as a trapped bee and threatening to sort out Amelia Quentin herself if the boys hadn’t already managed it. “She’s been nothing but trouble for this family,” she ranted furiously, “and I for one have had enough of it.”

  “You’re making it sound as though she’s to blame for going missing,” Bridget pointed out.

  “And so she is,” Aileen snapped at Bridget on the speakerphone. “If she hadn’t done what she did to our Daisy, we wouldn’t any of us be in the positions we’re in now, including her, so yes, she’s to blame for whatever’s happening to her. I just hope it’s good and final and she doesn’t come bothering any of us again.”

  Checking her mobile as it rang, Jules’s heart lurched to see it was Andee. “What news?” she asked, clicking on.

  Andee’s answer was so unexpected that it turned her horribly lightheaded.

  “Are you sure?” she murmured as everyone looked at her.

  “I’m sure.”

  Jules’s mind was buzzing. She wasn’t dreaming this, she was awake, it was real. Still not fully breathing, she managed to say, “Tell me, is she…?” She couldn’t finish the question.

  Andee understood. “She’s unharmed and on her way back to Crofton Park.”

  Jules relayed the information to the others, and said, “So where was she?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Andee replied, “but I can tell you that Kian, Danny, and another man have been taken into custody.”

  “Oh, God,” Jules muttered, pressing a hand to her head. Where is this going to end? What the hell was he thinking? “What other man?” she asked hoarsely.

  “I don’t have a name, but as soon as I do I’ll get back to you.”

  As she rang off Jules looked at the others, feeling the strain of their concern and needing them to leave as she tried to think what to do. She didn’t want this to be happening. She wanted her life to be normal and calm, unafflicted by tragedy, undarkened by fear.

  No matter what happened to Kian, nothing was ever going to be as bad as what had happened to Daisy.

  And so began the second-longest night of her life as they watched the news, waited for calls, and tried to work out who the other man could be.

  “It has to be someone Danny hired to lure her out of the house,” Finn decided. “You know, like a private detective, or someone down at his club who needed a few bob.”

  “I wonder where they were holding her,” Stephie ventured. “In a dungeon, I hope.”

  Unable to stop herself damning Kian for being so reckless and stupid, Jules eventually went upstairs to lie down. She felt exhausted, drained, ready to give up on everything, as if there was anything left to give up on. How could she have believed that Kian was ready to restart their lives and try to put the past behind them, when she knew that good fortune had turned its face from them four years ago? They’d had all the happiness that was going to be theirs with their lottery win, the Mermaid, and most of all Daisy. Now all they had to look forward to was the time Kian would spend in prison for his part in this madness—and very probably another breakdown, this time hers.

  —

  “Jules? Are you awake?” Stephie whispered, putting her head round the door. “I’ve brought you some tea.”

  Surprised to realize she’d been sleeping, Jules rolled onto her back and looked at the bedside clock. Ten past eight. In the morning? It must be, or it would read 20:10. She’d slept all night? That was something she hardly ever did.

  Suddenly swamped by the awful reality of what was happening in her life, she closed her eyes, as though she could shut it all out again.

  “They’re saying on th
e news,” Stephie said, coming to sit on the bed, “that no one’s been charged with anything yet, but there should be some sort of announcement in the next couple of hours.”

  “Has Andee rung?” Jules asked, checking her phone. No calls on her mobile since Aileen had rung last evening. “Is everyone still here?” she said, forcing herself to sit up.

  “Terry and Finn had to leave, but everyone else is. Joe’s taking orders for breakfast if anyone wants it. Marco sent supplies from the pub last night.”

  Remembering how Misty and Marco had kept them all fed when they’d waited for news of Daisy, Jules mumbled, “That was good of him.”

  What the hell was happening to her life? Why was everything so out of control?

  After forcing herself up and into the shower, she went downstairs to join the others, who were all busy on their phones with texts and emails, or glued to the news. She was greeted lovingly, tenderly, treated almost like an invalid, and she had to admit she felt like one.

  “Anything yet on who the other man might be?” she asked as Joe put a strong coffee in her hand.

  “Finn’s going to call if he finds anything out at Danny’s club,” Bridget told her.

  Not sure that it even mattered, Jules drank her coffee, looked at Joe, and felt an absurd rush of tears suddenly stinging her eyes. Turning away, she went to the back door and stepped out into the garden. In spite of the sunshine and joyful birdsong, it was going to be a long, horrible day, with more long, horrible days to come, and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to get through them.

  “Fancy going for a walk?” Joe murmured, coming up behind her.

  Leaning into him as he put an arm around her, she had to fight back the tears again before she could speak. It simply wasn’t fair that her daughter was no longer a part of this wonderful young man’s life. They’d have been so happy together, had always seemed meant for each other, so what foul, evil demon had thought to use Amelia Quentin to smash it all apart? The same foul, evil demon that had driven Kian to abduct the murdering lunatic, to try to wreak some sort of vengeance for what she’d done to his precious girl?

  A while later she and Joe were strolling through the surf of West Beach, watching their bare feet in the clear water while listening to the screech of gulls as they soared and dived around the bay. The heat was intense, but since there was no sand here, only stones, there weren’t many people around, just a couple of dog-walkers, and a young family having fun flying a kite. It sent Jules’s mind back to the summer Joe and Daisy had flown a kite from a boat on Lake Max and ended up capsizing. How they’d laughed and teased each other afterward, seeming to need no one but each other to complete the perfect world they were in.

  “Are you OK?” Joe asked softly.

  “Fine,” she assured him.

  “Thinking of Kian?”

  “Daisy, actually.” She wondered why she found it so easy to be honest with him, and if she ought really to spare his feelings.

  His voice was throaty, broken as he said, “You know what scares me? It’s the thought that one day you won’t feel like my family anymore.”

  Taking his hands in hers she turned him to her, and said, “I can promise you this: when that time comes it won’t matter, because years will have passed and you’ll have a family of your own.”

  His face was strained as he turned to the horizon.

  Jules spoke very gently. “Stephie told me you were planning to set off for Paris in a few days. I want you to go, Joe, please. You can’t allow what’s happening to Kian to hold you back. He wouldn’t want that, nor would Daisy, nor do I.”

  After holding her gaze he let his head fall forward, coming to rest on hers.

  “Live your life,” she whispered. “There’s more happiness waiting for you, I swear it, and if you ever want to share it with us, we’ll always be here for you.”

  Gathering her into his arms, he held her tightly as he wept, letting grief roll from his heart to try to make way for the future he feared.

  In the end, with their arms linked, they walked back to the car and paused for a moment to gaze along the coast to where the Mermaid’s roof and chimneys were glinting tantalizingly among the trees.

  “Do you never go there?” he asked, turning to look at her.

  She shook her head. “Our story there has ended. It wouldn’t be right to try to step into someone else’s.”

  His smile was faint. “Ruby did,” he reminded her.

  Jules’s head tilted to one side. “Yes, Ruby did, and I sometimes wonder if she misses us. Or did she leave with Daisy?”

  “Maybe they’re both still there.”

  Jules shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  He started to say more, but stopped as her mobile rang.

  Seeing who it was, she felt such a jolt in her heart that she almost dropped the phone. “It’s Kian,” she murmured, and quickly clicked on. “Where are you?” she demanded. “Are you OK?”

  “I’m fine,” he assured her, sounding tired but not as shattered as she might have expected. “Are you?”

  “I’m worried about you. What’s happening?”

  “They’re just signing me out.”

  “Signing you out?” She looked at Joe in bewilderment. “Do you mean they’re letting you go?” Could she dare to believe it? It didn’t seem to make any sense.

  “I’ll explain everything when I get there. I’ve only got euros, so are you OK to pay for the taxi?”

  “Of course. I can come and get you.”

  “No, the taxi’s here now, so I won’t be long.”

  “Is Danny coming too?”

  “No, it’s a bit more complicated for him, so I’m not sure when they’ll let him go.”

  “But they will? His mother will want to know.”

  “Like I said, I’ll tell you everything when I get there.”

  Watching the taxi coming along the street and pulling up outside the house was like watching a dream unfold. It was hard for Jules to make herself accept it was happening, that Kian really was here at last, while at the same time it was as though he’d never gone away. Time seemed to contract, distance itself, disappear; all the love, grief, and confusion that had kept them apart now seemed to be drawing them together.

  Going to him, aware of the others watching from the window, she realized he’d always been here, in her heart, and like Daisy would never leave. Emotions overwhelmed her as he stepped onto the street, his tousled blond curls as familiar as if they were her own, his violet-blue eyes showing tiredness, pain, but most of all relief and love as they locked to hers.

  Wrapping his arms around her, he held her so tightly she could hardly breathe, but she held him the same way. It felt so right, so reassuring, even exhilarating, as though her body was returning to where it had always belonged. She could feel that he’d lost weight, but he smelled so wonderfully, magically like himself that she began to laugh through her tears. All this time of being alone, of doing her best to stay strong and courageous, she’d only been a shadowy, fractured part of herself. Without him and Daisy she’d lost her real purpose, had forgotten how to function fully, no longer feeling that she was even properly alive.

  Gazing deeply into his eyes, she saw a flicker of the old humor returning, and felt her heart stirring with relief and hope. He was through the worst of it, had found himself again, and in so doing had come back to find her.

  Please God she was reading this correctly.

  “The house looks full,” he murmured wryly as he glanced at the faces crowded at the window. “What do you say we get back in the cab and run away?”

  Knowing he was only half joking, she said, “If Danny were here to explain what the heck is going on, I’d say let’s do it and don’t look back.”

  Grimacing, he stood aside as she paid the driver, then gazed at her proudly, teasingly, as she linked her arm with his, ready to reenter the house. They were like newlyweds coming home as they sailed down the path.

  If only that were true. T
he chance to start over again.

  The next few minutes turned into a rowdy, back-slapping melee, with more hugs for the women than most had enjoyed in a while, and a hearty embrace for Joe, who’d grown a full four inches since the last time Kian had seen him.

  “My boy,” Kian whispered roughly as he clutched Joe’s shoulders and gazed incredulously into his eyes. “Look what’s happened to you. You’ve become a man.”

  “That’s what he tells everyone,” Ethan teased as Joe introduced him. “Take it from me, it’s all surface.”

  Laughing, Kian greeted Ethan warmly before turning back to Stephie and drinking her in all over again. “You’re a beautiful young lady,” he told her tenderly. “I always knew you would be.”

  Everyone was thinking of Daisy in that moment, but no one mentioned her as Stephie threw herself at him, weeping as she laughed. “It’s so good to see you, Kian. I really missed you. We all did.”

  “I missed you too,” he assured her, “but it was thinking of you all that kept me going.”

  “Are you tired?” Bridget queried, peering at him knowingly. “You look like you could do with a wash.”

  “And a shave,” he agreed. “They don’t have much in the way of facilities down at Kesterly nick.”

  Knowing they wouldn’t be able to wait for him to freshen up, Jules led him to the sofa, perched on the arm next to him, and waited for the others to settle. “This better be good,” she informed him as Joe passed him a cold beer, “because if you’re off to prison, or Danny is…”

  “Where is Danny?” Bridget wanted to know. “Why didn’t they let him go at the same time as you?”

  “Because he’s a bit more involved in it than I am,” Kian admitted.

  “Oh, well, wouldn’t that be typical,” she clucked knowingly. “And who the hell is the other bloke they’ve been going on about? That’s what I want to know.”

  “That’s a good question,” Kian replied, reaching for Jules’s hand and entwining their fingers. “I have to be honest—I wouldn’t have recognized him when I saw him, he’s changed that much. I guess we all have, in our ways, but what’s happened to him—”