“You’ve been here since Tuesday night?”
Alice nodded, still gazing at Zoe, as if unable to believe she’d come to share her prison and to break into her ordeal.
Zoe clasped both hands to her face. “And James…?” she whispered.
Alice took a deep breath. “He must have been watching and listening to us in the hermitage. Somehow he’d got himself out of that hospital by Tuesday. After you left me, I went back to his room to replace the documents. Then I went to the car park. After that, all I remember is reaching into my pocket for my car key. And then, my head hurt, and I was lying on the floor here.”
Zoe swallowed, appalled at this stark evidence of James’s true nature. “So he knocked you out?” she gasped. Then she glimpsed movement behind Alice. She froze.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
A small girl came into view and placed her hand in Alice’s.
Zoe’s heart jumped. The child looked about five years old. Her fair hair hung in long, untidy strands over her forehead and shoulders. She wore a bright green dress. She looked at Zoe with huge, haunted blue eyes. There was something familiar in her features, but Zoe couldn’t work out where it came from or why she recognised the look in her eyes.
“Hello,” she whispered. “What’s your name?”
“Poppy,” said the child.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Nobody missed Zoe back at the centre until two and a half hours after James had abducted her.
Theo, Griff, Miles and Bernie had been sitting at the farmhouse dining table, discussing Theo and Zoe’s plans for the future. Theo did not take her threat to leave him seriously. He believed it was just a temporary rift, and Zoe would in time come round to his point of view. They were all aware Zoe hadn’t appeared at dinner, and both Theo and Griff supposed the day’s traumatic events had robbed her of hunger. They imagined she’d chosen to go to the library or study, and had explained this to the other two.
After they parted, Miles to return to his home in the nearby village, Theo had walked through to the sitting room. It was unoccupied. He then started touring other ground-floor rooms, unease beginning to stir in his stomach. Next he’d gone up to the first floor and looked in the study, then opened their bedroom door. No sign of Zoe. Theo pulled out his mobile and called her. Her mobile was turned off. Puzzled, he left a voicemail message. Surely, he told himself, she wouldn’t have packed her bags and gone to stay with her sister in London without telling him. All her things were still in place.
Baffled and anxious, Theo went back along the passageway and looked into the study again. He found no-one there. Frowning, he went down to the library, and after that he surveyed every room he’d visited before.
“Perhaps she’s taken Vito for a walk.” He went through to the utility room and found Vito in his basket. As Theo entered the room, Vito got up and licked his hand.
“Where’s Zoe, boy?” asked Theo.
Vito gave a woof and waved his tail.
Theo called Zoe again. Her mobile was still turned off. He left a second voicemail message. Then Vito accompanied him to the office, his tail swinging to and fro. Theo looked around. The room was deserted. He took Vito out through the external doorway, crossed the courtyard, and looked in the dining room and kitchen. He opened the studio door and checked inside there; next he went to the barn, and searched all around it and climbed the spiral stairs to the upper room. He found no sign of Zoe, went down again, and out of the barn.
Bernie approached along the path. “Anything the matter, Theo?”
“Have you seen Zoe? I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Perhaps she went for a walk.”
“No. Vito’s here. She always takes him if she goes for a walk.” Theo took out his mobile and called Zoe yet again. Once more he was put through to voicemail.
“Is her car still in the car park?” asked Bernie, looking at Theo.
Theo’s heart lurched. Zoe couldn’t possibly have left him without saying goodbye. And there was no evidence she’d packed any bags.
“I’ll walk up there and have a look,” he said.
Theo ran up the drive, followed by Vito. Reaching the car park, he saw Zoe’s car still in place. He returned to the house and waited in the entrance hall, in case she’d been for a solitary walk, and would soon return. Ten minutes later there was no sign of her. Bernie came for news and Theo shook his head.
“I’ll walk round the grounds and look for her myself,” said Bernie, grabbing the torch from the occasional table and going out into the night.
Theo called Griff.
“Have you any idea where she could be?” he asked.
“No, last I saw of her was in the sitting room, at seven o’clock. I walked in and found her on the sofa with her iPad. She was surfing the Net. I wanted to chat to her but she seemed distant. I gathered my company was unwelcome. So I went out again. You’re sure she’s not gone to bed? Taken herself off for a drive?”
“I’ve eliminated both those possibilities, and others. I’ve called her and her mobile’s switched off.”
“I’ll have a go,” said Griff.
Theo waited. “Nope,” said Griff. “Voicemail message.”
Theo now felt a heavy weight pressing on his chest. He tried to reason with himself. She could have gone on a long walk and for some unknown reason chosen not to take Vito with her. But she always had her mobile with her, and kept it switched on. It seemed a hopeless gesture but he called Zoe yet again and left another voicemail message.
“Zoe. Where are you? Please call me as soon as you pick this up.”
Although they’d now fought and argued several times, he loved Zoe, and intended to beg her for forgiveness and to try to make things work between them.
The front door opened and Bernie came in. Theo started towards him then his mood dropped again.
“Has Zoe turned up yet?”
“No.”
They looked at each other.
Theo began pacing the entrance hall. Vito accompanied him, tail low, eyes on his master with a doleful expression, aware something was very wrong. He nosed Theo’s hand and gave it a lick. Bitter self-recrimination was already seeping through Theo’s heart. He convinced himself Zoe had left him.
He called her mobile yet again.
“Zoe. Please call me. Please forgive me for what I said to you. Forget those fights we had. They mean nothing. I love you. Call back as soon as you get this message.”
Theo then called Zoe’s sister. He gave her an edited version of events and asked if she knew of Zoe’s whereabouts. The answer was no. There’d been no contact from Zoe and nothing to suggest she was on her way to London.
Theo folded his arms, cast his eyes downwards, studying the silk rug, and tried to concentrate on alternative scenarios. Zoe could be on her way and not thought to have warned her sister beforehand. He’d wait a couple of hours and repeat the call, to see if Zoe had turned up.
While he was still waiting in the sitting room with Bernie and Griff, they all heard footsteps on the gravel forecourt, and the front door opened and someone came in. Theo leapt up and hurried through into the entrance hall, his heart alight with hope – to see James.
“Just been meeting Jessica at the Fleece,” James said. “Went on later than expected. Jessica’s on her way back to Birmingham now. You look down. What’s the problem?”
Theo shared the situation with him.
James raised his eyebrows.
“How strange,” he said. “I wonder what could have happened to her. Let me think. What about her sister? Have you considered…?”
“Yes, I’ve rung her sister,” said Theo. “I’ve ruled that one out.”
James had no further ideas to offer Theo, but did volunteer to sit with him, Bernie and Griff until the mystery was cleared. Midnight came, and one o’clock in the morning, and still no-one had heard anything from Zoe.
An image of Alice swam into focus before Theo’s mind’s eye. Alice had been missing f
or five nights now, including this night, and the police had turned up no leads at all. Both she and Zoe may have been abducted. He felt sick. He shared his fears with the other three and then called the police to report Zoe missing.
Three police officers arrived within an hour. They all gathered in the library – Theo, Bernie, Griff and James – and Constable Davis initially took details from Theo and filled in the form as he did so, while the others listened.
David began by asking who else was on the property. When told all the guests had departed, he wanted to know when the last one left.
“And who was the last to see Zoe?” he enquired.
“Me,” said Griff. “I passed through the sitting room at seven o’clock and she was on the sofa with her iPad.”
Davis looked over at Theo. “When did you last see her?”
“In an upstairs room at six o’clock,” said Theo.
He and Griff shot a quick glance at each other.
“We parted at a quarter past,” Theo said. “I was expecting to see her at dinner. But there was no sign of her. I guessed she hadn’t felt hungry. But round about ten I started wondering where she was.”
“Any reason you can give as to why she might have gone away?”
Again Griff flicked a look at Theo.
“No, none,” said Theo, his heart burning.
Griff studied the carpet.
“What do you think?” Theo asked the police officer anxiously.
The three police officers exchanged glances.
“We have to tell you that we consider Zoe’s case to be High Risk because of Alice Nazari’s recent disappearance from the same location. Alice’s case will immediately be upgraded to High Risk as well.”
Theo’s heart missed a beat.
“Yes – yes, of course,” he said, his voice trembling.
Constable Davis sent his two colleagues to start a search of the property and grounds while he continued to question Theo.
“You say you’ve rung her sister, and given her time to have made a journey to London and arrived there, and she hasn’t turned up. Is there anywhere else she might have gone? Has Zoe any other relatives?”
“No other relatives,” said Theo. “Both her parents are dead. There are, of course, plenty of friends. I have their details.”
“Let’s go over everything again,” said Davis. “I’m sorry about this, but I want to make sure we miss nothing. I understand you were the last person to talk to Zoe before she disappeared.”
“That’s right. We parted before dinner at six o’clock, and I knew she was anxious about a number of things.”
“Which are…?”
“Changes in staffing, and the disappearance of Alice last Tuesday afternoon.”
James remained impassive.
“Understandable,” said Davis. “Anything else?” he enquired.
“Well,” said Theo, “she and I were soon to leave for new jobs. She was upset about what was to happen to us; and about our future.”
“Ah,” said Davis.
Theo drew his breath in between his teeth, and went on the defensive. “She understood the difficulties facing us. She accepted those. We were working them out.”
He caught Griff’s eye again. A deep line had scored itself across the poet’s forehead.
“So,” said Davis, “we have a young woman; emotional complications; facing big changes; feeling unstable…”
“No, that misrepresents – I don’t see what this has to do with…” blurted Theo.
Griff put his hand on Theo’s shoulder. “We can’t afford to ignore it. It was very much on her mind when I last saw the two of you together.”
“So, Griff,” said Davis, facing the poet, “you were the last person to see her. You passed through the sitting room at seven and she was on the sofa with her iPad. Did you notice what she was looking at on the screen?”
“No.”
Davis looked at James.
“And when was the last time you saw Zoe?”
“Half past four in the afternoon,” said James, “at the King’s Head in Cirencester.”
Theo nodded. “And then we parted company.”
“And did you have any idea what Zoe planned to do next?”
“I thought she’d come back to the office here and do some work,” said James.
Griff put a reassuring hand on Theo’s shoulder.
“Would you say Zoe’s state of mind was at all disturbed?” Davis asked Theo.
“No.”
“However,” said James, “some of her reactions to recent events…”
Theo pressed his lips together.
“Sorry,” said James.
Davis studied him. “What were you going to say about her reactions?”
“Zoe got more than a little upset over a few issues, that’s all.”
Davis kept his eyes on James for a few seconds without saying anything. Then he turned back to Theo.
“You may rest assured we’ll do all in our power to find Zoe. Because both her case and Alice’s are High Risk, an Incident Room will be set up and we’ll call in extra support. Carol, our Missing Persons Co-ordinator, will keep in close touch with you. She’ll keep you informed at every stage and will let you know as soon as we hear anything new.”
“Thank you,” said Theo.
When the three police officers had finally left, James turned to Theo and said, “We’ll all support you in every way possible, Theo. Would it help for you to take Monday morning’s workshop?”
Bernie and Griff looked doubtful.
But Theo said, “Right now I feel it may help me. So I’ll say yes.”
“That’s settled then,” said James. “And now we all need to get some sleep.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“So… you’re Poppy?” Zoe said.
“Yes. Daddy brought me here,” said the little girl.
“Daddy?”
She nodded.
Zoe looked at Alice. “Who…?” she began.
“James,” said Alice.
“What?” A sensation like an oil slick swept through Zoe. “James?”
“Yes, Zoe,” said Alice. “I’ve pieced things together from what Poppy’s told me. She thinks James is her daddy. And Natasha’s her mummy. But I’m not sure.”
Zoe swallowed several times.
“How can this be?” she said. “I thought Poppy was the little girl you babysat.”
“Ah. Sorry. No,” replied Alice. “I know you must be confused, Zoe. And I confess I still don’t understand all the links here myself. But this little girl, though she shares the same name, is not the child I babysat.”
Zoe struggled to assimilate this information. “But”, she began again, “if the little girl we have with us now claims her parents are James and Natasha… why would they treat her like this?”
Alice held her palms out. “I don’t know. Perhaps she might tell us more. We have to be very gentle.”
Zoe started to shake. Alice let go of the child’s hand and put her arms round her.
“A few deep breaths, Zoe. We’ll talk more about Poppy in a minute; when you’re ready.”
“Yeah, OK. Thanks, Alice.” Zoe managed to take a grip on herself, and stood back from Alice. “So – where are we?”
“My guess”, said Alice, “is that this is an apartment in a converted building – a mill, perhaps. There’s no electricity. But there is running water in the toilet and in the kitchen. The windows have been boarded up. I guess the place isn’t supposed to be ready for occupation yet. It may be the developers ran out of money and mothballed the project.”
“But in that case, wouldn’t there be a security guard?”
“Not necessarily. They might not be able to pay one. Or maybe James bribed the guard.”
Zoe groaned. “But even so, it must mean we won’t be here long.”
“In theory, yes; but how do we know? At any rate, we do have food. James brought a box of stuff with him, with Poppy.”
“When
did he do that?”
“A couple of hours after I first woke up here,” said Alice, stroking Poppy’s hair.
“What did he say to you?”
“Not a lot. Just: ‘look after her’. He had some picture books with him. I started asking questions, but he told me to shut up.”
“Has he been back at all since then?”
“Yeah. Two days later. He had Natasha with him. She was all over Poppy; but not James.”
Zoe glanced at Poppy, and lowered her voice.
“How did Poppy react to Natasha?”
“Stiff, cold; didn’t want to know. Natasha said to Poppy, ‘hold on darling, one day soon, we’ll be together forever’. And then she said, ‘Alice won’t remember anything of this’. God knows how she could be so sure of that. But one thing I do know. I questioned James. I couldn’t believe how easily Jessica had been taken in by him. And he did tell me a bit more about their relationship when they were both younger. I learned that as a teenager Jessica had been desperately trying to escape from an alcoholic, violent father. She used to visit The Fringe in Edinburgh, meet up with actors, go to parties. James was her ‘getaway’ friend.”
“OK, so that does explain a lot,” said Zoe.
“’Course, James would never have told me that about Jessica if he thought I could ever do anything with the information,” said Alice.
“And were there just the two visits from him?”
“No. There have been three altogether. The last time was yesterday. That was when I managed to have a few more words with Natasha. She said, ‘Your friend Zoe’s in deep trouble. We’ll deal with her too’. I thought they meant to kill you.”
Zoe said nothing.
Alice took her hands. “Zoe, this’ll sound strange. I’m not pleased you’ve been abducted. But I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
“I understand.” Zoe squeezed her hands then Alice released them. “Oh Alice, you were meant to meet that casting director yesterday morning! I’m so angry you missed out.”
A Passionate Spirit Page 17