He’ll be gone for at least three. He leaves his drink on the table.
Becca watches Dad go before she leans over and says, ‘I know you didn’t want Edie buried, but it was important to Vince to have her next to Gina.’
‘I know.’
I sip my wine and look to the garden, where I can see Dad smoking and staring into space. When I turn back, Becca is nodding at Ray.
‘Look, Tess, I wanted to talk to you,’ he says. ‘Vince told me the police have convinced you to make an appeal.’
‘The main detective said they’d run out of leads.’
He looks to Becca. She’s nodding again.
‘Don’t, Tess. They’re using you. They’re not looking for new leads, they’re looking to trip you up somehow.’
‘Trip me up?’
‘You weren’t here before. It got out of hand. They accused your Dad and accused me.’
‘That’s insane.’
‘To you, not to them. Nothing’s insane to them. They said that we were disposing of the body when we went out looking for her. Said we shouldn’t have been so concerned so quickly. Can you believe it, we were too concerned for her?’
‘Why did you go out so early?’
‘Because she didn’t turn up. There’d been a couple of unsolved murders in the year before Edie went missing, so of course we were worried.’
‘But shouldn’t I do it, if Edie’s killer is still out there?’
‘It was twenty years ago; nothing like that has ever happened since. Whoever did it is probably dead.’
I place my elbows on the table and rest my chin on my hands.
‘Mum would know what to do,’ I say. ‘I miss her. Though I’m glad she hasn’t had to go through this.’
Neither Becca nor Ray say anything.
‘Do you think they’re linked? Mum’s death and Edie’s?’ I ask.
‘How could they be?’ Becca says.
Ray frowns.
‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘But I found a newspaper clipping.’
He looks at Becca.
‘It’s about Nathan Bexley.’
‘Bastard,’ Ray spits.
‘Edie’s written on it.’
Becca glances at Ray for a second, then back to me.
‘What did Edie write?’ Becca asks.
‘Suicide.’
Ray bangs his glass down.
‘That piece of shit. It was a lie,’ he says. ‘A total lie. Should have done what I said at the time. Tracked him down and ripped his head off. No remorse. He blamed Gina. Gina, when he was drunk, twice over the limit, speeding around in two ton of metal. How guilty do you have to be?’
Ray’s voice is rising and people are looking round. Becca puts a hand on his arm and speaks softly.
‘The court found him guilty, Tess,’ she says.
‘So Mum wasn’t?’
‘Wasn’t what?’
‘Unhappy.’
‘How could she be? Don’t you remember? She was always so cheerful. Always singing, the life and soul of every party.’
Dad’s coming back through the door. Becca spots him. She reaches over and rubs my hand.
‘Leave it for now, Tess,’ she says.
Dad sits down.
Becca leans over to me.
‘Do you feel better for going, Tess?’ she asks.
What can I tell them? That I see Edie all the time. That I’m out every night drinking and taking God knows what to make myself feel better, only it just makes things worse. That I hate Dad because all he’s ever done is sit and smoke, and he did nothing to protect his wife and daughter. That I hate Becca because she knows what it’s like to lose a mother young, but bangs on about an overlooked garden and inadequate shops as if it actually matters. And I hate Ray because he’s always happy and can’t see what’s happened to his wife and brother.
‘I just miss them,’ I say. ‘Both of them.’
My voice is cracking and I realise I’m on the edge of tears.
We finish our drinks in silence. Dad takes a few sips of his pint but doesn’t have the heart for it. Ray sits, morose and silent. He takes the whisky he bought for Dad and drinks that as well.
‘I think we should go,’ Becca says.
Ray gets up without answering. Dad follows.
As we leave, Ray takes my arm and pulls me to one side.
‘It was all lies,’ he slurs. ‘Gina had everything to live for: you two, Vince. Bexley should have got life. She loved you girls more than anything. She would never have killed herself, never.’
‘Ray,’ Becca calls. She’s standing upright and tense. ‘We need to get going.’
Ray lets go of my arm and walks towards the car. He’s more upset about the newspaper article than Edie. I’d say it was the booze, if it hadn’t been for Becca’s reaction.
Chapter 18
Edie: December 1993
‘Sorry, Edie. You can come next time,’ Auntie Becca said.
They both knew there wouldn’t be a next time. Tess was going on a Christmas shopping trip to London with Auntie Becca. If she’d taken Uncle Ray’s four-seater Mercedes, Edie could have gone, too. Instead, she was driving her own two-seater MG, not a sensible car to drive down in the snow. It was revenge for Edie’s comments about feral neighbours.
‘Tess always talks so much about London,’ Auntie Becca added.
Tess pulled a face.
‘I really wish you were coming too, Edie.’
Edie shrugged.
‘Got better things to do here anyway,’ she said. ‘And you’ll be freezing in that tiny car.’
‘I’m sure we’ll be fine with the heaters turned up,’ Auntie Becca said.
Edie pulled on her thick coat, scarf and furry trapper’s hat and headed for the front door.
‘I’m going out.’
‘Where you off to?’ Mum asked.
‘I’m meeting Mel.’
‘You need your boots as well,’ Mum called.
‘I’ll bring you something back,’ Tess said.
Edie banged the door behind her.
She would have loved to go to London. It made her think of her glamorous cousins. Tess would see the Christmas lights on Oxford Street. They might even go to a show, Auntie Becca said. There was nothing to do at home. Mum was still in a really weird mood, Uncle Ray was away on a business trip to Scotland and Raquel had a rare day out with her father. Edie was too old to play in the snow that had been falling for the past few days. The weekend would be really boring.
Halfway down the street, she realised Mum was right, she should have worn her boots, snow had started to melt through her thin-soled trainers. The icy, damp socks pleased her, it gave her more right to be angry. Angry with Auntie Becca and Tess and especially with Mum. She should have told Auntie Becca she had to take them both. But Mum wasn’t herself recently. She’d stopped singing and took no interest in their school life.
Edie wasn’t sure why she hadn’t told Tess about Lillian Harlith’s, now Congleton’s, address. But she was glad she hadn’t. It had been under ‘L’ for Lillian, rather than her married name. Too easy really. She’d copied the address into ‘The Missing Cakemaker’ scrapbook then ripped it out, jealous of her discovery. She was glad she’d done that now, Tess should have refused to go to London without her. Finding Lillian, without telling Tess first, would teach her a lesson. Edie would go and watch the house and find out, once and for all, the truth about Valentina. She couldn’t wait to see Tess’s face when she told her the whole ‘Cakemaker’ business was a lot of childish nonsense. Fenton Road was the other side of Stevenson Park. It was less than fifteen minutes to the park and another ten to cross it.
Muddy slush covered the main road; it sprayed up with every passing car. As she crossed over she noticed some girls in front of her. She was sure they were JAGS. They didn’t look overstuffed with layers like the other pedestrians. They wore fitted coats with quilting and fur trim. They had long boots also trimmed with fur. Since Raquel had pointed them
out, Edie saw them every time she left the estate. They fascinated her. How did they do it? It wasn’t just money. Auntie Becca had money and she wasn’t like that. Edie watched them, aware of her enormous trapper hat that made her look cute. She didn’t want to look cute, she wanted to look like a JAG.
She stopped at the entrance to the park. The JAGS carried on down the road. Edie watched them until they disappeared around the corner.
The snow still lay thick and white in much of the park. Some young boys were having a snowball fight. To avoid becoming their target, Edie skirted around the edge, in the untrodden snow near the bushes. It came up to her knees and by the time she’d reached the other side of the park, she’d forgotten how angry she was. All she could think of was the cold and how long she might have to sit outside Valentina’s sister’s house. Fenton Road was directly opposite her nearest exit, about a hundred yards away. An enormous snowman, with its head knocked off, seemed to point the way with its long twig hands.
She had started walking away from the bushes and towards the main path when she saw a couple enter the park. The man was wrapped up tight against the cold, in a dark blue peacoat, a scarf wound up to his nose, a woolly hat pulled down to just above the eyes. The woman wore a cream ski jacket that pulled at the buttons across her belly where it was far too tight. If she hadn’t pulled back her hood and shaken her hair, Edie wouldn’t have recognised Valentina. Even with the cold eating into her face, she was beautiful. Flakes of snow landed in her hair. She laughed and shook her head some more. The man brushed the flakes away with his hand.
She should look down, in case Valentina saw her, but Edie couldn’t tear her eyes away. Here was Valentina, whom they’d missed and worried about, alive and happy with a new man. Raquel had been right all along. Edie carried on staring.
They stopped. The man stood behind Valentina and clasped his arms around her belly. He pointed to the headless snowman. Valentina said something. He held his head back and laughed. The scarf fell from his face.
A prickling heat replaced the icy cold that crept up Edie’s neck. She should have guessed from his height and build. She should have remembered that blue peacoat from when he’d taken her and Tess out to the hills to go sledging last year.
Uncle Ray bent his neck and kissed Valentina’s face. She twisted round and kissed him back, on the mouth this time. Then he took her arms and they turned and left using the entrance they had come from.
Chapter 19
Tess: June 2018
Shouts of ‘Is it true Edie was a drugs mule?’, ‘Was she held captive before she was killed?’ blend with the click of camera lenses as Becca drops us back to Aspen Drive. I feel sorry for the neighbours, to me the journalists are only wallpaper, and I’m sure Dad doesn’t hear them at all. In truth, it’s a bit half-hearted. There’s only a fraction of the number as when the news first broke and the TV crew has now gone. A transatlantic political spat, a footballer videoed in a hotel room with a couple of prostitutes and a mound of cocaine, and suddenly a murder case from twenty years ago is not so exciting.
‘What was Ray saying to you in the car park?’ Dad asks once we’re inside.
If Ray can’t handle questions about Mum, Dad definitely can’t.
‘Something about the catering for the funeral.’
‘I thought Becca would be on top of that.’
I shrug.
‘Dad, about the appeal …’
‘No,’ he says.
‘But if it helps find Edie’s killer.’
Dad doesn’t speak for a moment.
‘They’re not interested in catching her killer. They’re interested in getting a conviction. Last time…’ He stops and takes a long, deep breath before continuing. ‘Last time they said it was me, they just couldn’t find the proof.’
‘But if there’s new evidence it will clear you, won’t it?’
‘After twenty years, it’s not going to happen.’
‘It will look weird if I do it on my own. People will want to know why you’re not there, like you’re hiding something.’
‘I don’t know, Tess.’
‘At least think about it,’ I say.
Dad answers by going into the lounge and falling into his armchair, cigarette, TV routine. I follow him.
‘I’m going to do it, Dad. Even if I have to do it on my own,’ I say.
He doesn’t reply.
‘I’d rather have you with me,’ I say.
Dad takes his time before he replies.
‘I’ll do it for you, Tess,’ he says.
I guess that’s as much as I’m going to get.
I open the Absolut Citron vodka I bought on the way home, pour a glass and check my phone. Like a loose tooth, I can’t stop playing with the pain. I log onto my Laura Andrews Facebook account.
Natalie: Police came to see me today. Apparently, Tess had told them I was one of her close friends. AS IF!!!
Hannah: I got exactly the same too – Angry red face emoji.
Charlotte: She didn’t have any friends, just hung around with Edie in the hope that someone would talk to her.
Aveline: She probably said Michaela was her friend LOL.
Natalie: I asked if they’re doing ‘an appeal for information’. They wouldn’t tell me. I’m watching this one.
Aveline: I never liked her but a killer? Anyway, how would she get the body to Worcestershire?
For once Natalie, Hannah and Charlotte don’t have an answer and the thread ends.
On Twitter, @AlphaTruth is back. Why are the police wasting time finding the killer of this silly tart. Haven’t they got CRIMINALS to catch, like whoever clipped my car last week? Crying with laughter emoji #ediepiper #slut
‘What are you looking at?’ Dad asks.
‘Nothing.’
I switch the screen off.
‘I don’t understand people staring at their phones for hours on end.’
Dad’s got a smartphone but only uses it for making calls. Even email is a mystery to him.
‘It’s no different from staring at the TV, Dad.’
‘There’s stuff on TV.’
I let it lie; the last thing I want him to do is discover Twitter.
‘I was looking at some posts from Joseph Amberley Girls’ School.’
‘What do you want to do that for?’
‘I was trying to find someone. Do you remember a girl called Michaela Gossington? She was one of Edie’s friends.’
‘Was she the girl from that big house out towards Bromsgrove?’
‘Was it Bromsgrove?’
‘Not far from the golf course. I had to drive Edie out there a couple of times.’
‘Right.’
‘Why are you asking?’
‘I wanted to find her and ask her about Edie, see if she really had a boyfriend.’
Dad’s eyes move from the TV screen.
‘She didn’t. Don’t get involved. Leave it to the police.’
‘You keep saying the police are a waste of space.’
‘That doesn’t mean you should get involved. It could be dangerous.’
‘How?’
‘If someone had a reason to hurt Edie, they knew her, which means they knew you and probably still know you. And if it’s a stranger, there’s no link, so you’re wasting your time. What do you think the killer would do if he knows you’re after him? DI Vilas might be useless, but he’s paid to take risks. You have to stay safe, Tess, promise me that.’
His breathing becomes uneven. I think about what Becca says, I’m all Dad has left. I go over and sit on the arm of his chair and place my hand on his shoulder.
‘I’m going to be fine, you mustn’t worry about me, OK?’
‘So you’ll not go looking for this girl?’
‘No. I promise.’
I don’t have to look for her, Dad’s already told me where she is, Bromsgrove. So much for the Internet. You just have to ask.
Chapter 20
Edie: December 1993
E
die went straight to her room when she got home, took off her wet socks and trainers and lay on the bed. She put one of Uncle Ray’s CDs in her Discman, closed her eyes and listened to the thrum of the bass.
She was still lying on her bed when she heard Auntie Becca’s car pull up, the door open and rapid voices downstairs. Edie rolled onto her stomach and turned the volume up on the Discman. Thirty seconds later, Tess bounded into their room. She jumped and landed on the bed next to Edie. The mattress bounced up and flipped Edie onto her side.
‘Look, I got you something. It’s a video; we can watch it later.’
Tess pushed a bag into Edie’s hand. She threw it to the floor without opening it.
‘You’re not still in a mood, are you?’
Edie didn’t reply. Tess tried a different tack.
‘What did you do today, did you see Mel?’
‘None of your business,’ Edie said.
‘Don’t be like that. It’s only one day. We can’t always be together. When we grow up—’
‘God, Tess, does it only take one day with Auntie Becca for you to start talking like her?’
‘It’s true though.’
‘Go and watch your film,’ Edie said.
‘Auntie Becca will take you next time.’
‘I wouldn’t go with Becca if you paid me. I’ve better things to do.’
‘Like what?’
‘You wouldn’t understand.’
Edie knew any suggestion that Tess was slow or less mature made her furious.
‘Auntie Becca’s right about you,’ Tess said.
Edie wasn’t going to give Tess the satisfaction of asking what Auntie Becca was right about.
‘Yeah, remember that next time you want to tag along with me.’ She copied Tess’s whine. ‘Please, Edie, I want to come too.’
Tess leapt from the bed as if she’d been slapped. She grabbed the video and ran downstairs.
Edie pressed play on her Discman. Right now, the space between her headphones seemed the only safe place.
Chapter 21
Tess: June 2018
‘Did I wake you up?’ Cassie asks after I roll over and pick up the phone.
‘I should be up anyway.’
Someone You Know Page 11