‘Fine. Okay. What do you do with your day, Ada? You cook and clean and throw parties. It’s time your life had some purpose. Some direction.’
I knew that’s what other people thought of me – my friends who have children, my friends who don’t have children but do have careers, maybe even you think that of me – but I didn’t ever dream that my husband felt the same way. It hurt. It really hurt. But it’s what I wanted, isn’t it? I asked for a confrontation and now I had it.
‘This is our deal.’ He was bubbling with self-righteousness and fury. ‘I work. You organise the house and have the fucking baby.’
‘Our marriage isn’t one of your business deals, Ethan.’
‘A marriage is a contract. Of course it’s a fucking deal. Since your counselling sessions, you’ve changed. I thought if I did some mindless chores you’d lighten up.’
It stung that his sudden desire to help me was really only to help himself.
‘You always act strangely with me after those counselling sessions,’ he barked. ‘I don’t know what she’s putting in your head, but I don’t want you to go anymore.’
‘It was your idea.’
‘Well, it stops here.’
‘I’m not one of your interns. You can’t make demands and expect me to obey.’
‘No, you’re not one of my interns. They’re free. You cost me a fucking fortune.’
I wanted to slap him. ‘Ask me again why I don’t want children with you.’
He tossed the packet of pills onto the table before storming upstairs.
I made to go after him, but my phone rang. I ignored Ruby’s call because I didn’t need an update on what size of fruit her baby was or if it had very cleverly grown fingernails this week. But then she sent me a message begging me to call her back. Curiosity piqued, I rang. She told me she’d just seen our dad stumbling towards town.
‘But that doesn’t make sense, Dad’s fishing this weekend.’
‘He was angry and drunk, heading for the high street. I think he’s going after Richard.’
‘Richard?’
‘Elodie’s boss. Haven’t you seen the news? He sold some story to the paper about her promiscuity, flirting with customers for tips, how he fired her for calling in sick all the time. He even suggested Uncle Martin had something to do with her disappearance. I just thought you should know …’
Thanking her, I hung up. I didn’t even tell Ethan where I was going, just grabbed my car keys and ran out the door. Once parked, I half walked, half jogged down the high street. I heard Dad yelling seconds before I saw the large crowd. When I broke through the ring of people, I saw him pinning Richard against Mugs’ big glass window.
‘You think you can go around telling people I had something to do with my daughter’s disappearance?’ Dad bellowed in Richard’s face. ‘You malicious little—’
He raised his fist and I cried out, ‘Dad, stop!’
His head whipped round.
Taking advantage of Dad’s momentary lapse in focus, Richard shoved him in the chest. Dad staggered backwards. The crowd gasped and surged back as he hit the floor.
I rushed forward and dropped to my knees beside him. ‘Are you okay?’ I helped him to his feet. There was rage on his face and whisky on his breath.
‘Everyone thinks you did it,’ spat Richard, squaring up to Dad. ‘For the record, I was telling the truth. Elodie batted her eyelashes at all and sundry if it meant she got a better tip.’
Dad punched him.
One second I was hanging on to his arm and the next it was swinging. Richard’s head snapped back. He stumbled to the side, clutching his face. Dad lunged. A man I didn’t know knocked me out of the way and grabbed Dad before he could get a hold of Richard again. More people got between the two of them.
Just then, as Richard wiped the blood from his lip, two police officers broke through the crowd and dragged Dad off to one side. Someone must’ve called them before I arrived. A woman beside me was filming the entire thing on her phone. Looking around, I realised she wasn’t the only one.
‘Do you mind?’ I snapped at the woman.
She jumped at my tone, then gave me a snotty look and said, ‘Free country.’
I marched towards the police officers and tried to explain, but they wouldn’t listen. Then everything spun out of control; they bundled Dad into the back of the police car. I couldn’t stop them, El, I couldn’t do anything. Seconds later, I had my phone pressed to my ear, calling Christopher. I launched into a near-hysterical retelling.
‘Deep breath, Ada, it’s going to be okay,’ he said reasonably. ‘Start from the beginning.’
I walked back to my car, sat inside, and told him everything.
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ he told me. ‘Look, go home, I’ll call you as soon as I have information.’
The sun was setting as I arrived at the house. Ethan was gone, along with his overnight bag. He didn’t answer a single one of my fifteen phone calls. ‘You’re my husband,’ I said to his voicemail. ‘I know we’ve had a fight … a big one. But I need you.’
You would scoff at that – needing a man. You’ve never needed a man. Love has always been a bonus for you, not the goal. You and Noah were jigsaw pieces; you slotted into each other’s lives as though you were made that way. Ethan and I aren’t jigsaw pieces. We don’t quite fit. Not anymore. But he is still my husband and even though ‘through missing sisters and arrested fathers’ was not in our wedding vows, I think it would be covered, but he wasn’t answering. In fact, after my third call and second voicemail, he’d turned his phone off.
I paced our house. Just as my patience was about to snap and I was going to call Christopher for an update, my phone rang.
‘Look, Ada,’ said Christopher by way of greeting. ‘I’ll cut right to it – it’s bad news: Richard won’t drop the charges.’
‘What does this mean for Dad?’ I asked, shaking so hard, I had to sit down.
‘He’ll be charged with—’
‘Stop,’ I said, interrupting him. ‘Dad shouldn’t be charged with anything. Richard goaded him!’
‘I know,’ said Christopher. He sighed. ‘But that doesn’t change the law. Unless Richard drops the charges—’
‘I’ll take care of it,’ I said before hanging up.
Adrenaline surging, I called Uncle Gregory, thinking his job on the council might mean he could help track Richard down. ‘Listen, don’t call Mum … I’ve got some news and I need your help,’ I said into the phone. ‘I need an address.’
I drove to Richard’s house alone. Crazy really. Normally, Ethan takes the lead on big issues: a discrepancy on a bill, remortgaging the house, anything that demands a lot of responsibility. But Ethan wasn’t around, and Dad needed help. Mum told me to look after him, she’d been gone less than a day and he was being held in a cell.
Outside Richard’s, I didn’t let myself get worked up; I got out of the car, pushed through the front gate and knocked on his door.
When he opened it and saw it was me, he tried to close it again. I put my foot in the way. ‘Please hear me out,’ I said, using my hostess voice; inviting and friendly. ‘My family is going through a lot right now and, as I’m sure you can imagine, my father is very stressed with Elodie missing and he didn’t mean—’