The Back Road

35

The weather had turned cloudy, and there was more of a cool breeze today, but Leo welcomed it as she made her way into the village. She didn’t like hot, sticky weather. She hoped she had made the right decision leaving Ellie with Tom earlier, but she had needed to get away. She hadn’t bothered mentioning the fact that one of the files opened on her computer was the information about their father. It felt like it would be adding fuel to the fire and it wasn’t that important. Tom’s arrival hadn’t been brilliant timing, but now she was grateful to have a few hours alone.

The funny thing about Tom was that his outward persona didn’t quite fit with the idea of him being a detective in the serious crime division. He was so relaxed and easy - not her idea of how a high-ranking policeman would be at all. But then last night she’d asked him in one of their rare serious moments how he dealt with some of the lowlife that he must come across regularly, and she saw something. Nothing happened that she could put her finger on - he didn’t tighten his lips or narrow his eyes. But his face changed in the subtlest of ways - it was as if his cheekbones had become more prominent, and his eyes turned cold. It was enough for her to know for sure that she would never want to be questioned by this man for a crime - whether she was guilty or innocent. It also made him more intriguing.

As a result of her self-enforced eviction Leo wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, until she remembered that the wine bar opened early to serve breakfast. Maybe she could set up her office there for an hour or so. She had calls to make and meetings to set up for next week. A few of her clients were going on family holidays this week, and she had a dreadful suspicion that on their return they might be in need of urgent appointments. Unhappy relationships and holidays were not often a good match.

Ordering an almond croissant and the ubiquitous cappuccino, she settled down in the corner away from other customers so that she wouldn’t disturb them by speaking on the telephone. Not that it seemed to bother anybody else, as at least fifty per cent of people were doing something with their mobiles; texting, checking emails or tweeting no doubt.

This week hadn’t turned out in any way as Leo might have expected. Ellie was working too many hours and they’d had precious little time together, but when they were together, Ellie was prickly and distracted. Even without this morning’s scene, it had been an uncomfortable few days. And then there was the accident. Just the thought that the driver could be someone from the village had been enough to upset everyone, but now that they knew that Abbie had been abducted, there was a whole new layer of suspicion added. It felt somehow like the hours before an electric storm; the air around them was heavy and crackling with tension.

Leo was worried about the fact that in her conversations with Tom she had failed to mention what she’d discovered about Gary - that he had been out late on Friday and then lied about it. But she couldn’t say anything until she had spoken to Ellie about where she’d been that night, and God knows how she could raise that subject again. She didn’t believe that there could be any link, but what if there was? If she mentioned Gary, would it make everything collapse around her family like a house of cards? And she had the feeling that Penny had said something that should have meant more than it did. But she couldn’t catch the thought. It was like trying to remember a word or a name - it was literally there, in her head for a fleeting second, and then disappeared before it solidified.

She rested her chin on cupped hands. This was getting her nowhere. She was starting to miss the solitary silence of her own home. She loved her apartment, but it had taken so much hard work to be able to afford to live there. Even with an established practice as a life coach she’d had to spend a couple of years working in a bar at night to cover the mortgage. Situated in a renovated old warehouse, it was wonderfully spacious with high ceilings and bare brickwork. She had lived there for months with nothing much more than a mattress on the floor and a hanging rail for her clothes. But it had been worth it.

Much as she wanted to go home, though, she was starting to feel a compulsion to stay until those around her were at peace again. Whether she would be able to help with the process or not, she didn’t think she could just walk away.

The scene with Ellie this morning had left her feeling drained and empty. Since when had her sister become a glass half-empty person? That had always been Leo’s role.

She reached into her bag and pulled out her notebook and pen. Maybe some cathartic writing would help her to make sense of it.

A Single Step : the blog of Leo Harris

Listening to a different tune

Many years ago I saw a short film sequence of a little girl. She was wearing a pretty dress as she skipped down a narrow cobbled lane. The people around smiled fondly as she passed. The grainy, black and white image did nothing to detract from the happy scene, and the light summery music gave a feeling of well-being. The audience’s attention was focused entirely on the child.

Then the identical film was shown again, but this time with sinister music playing. There was a gasp from the audience. For the first time, every person in the room noticed an unsmiling man standing at the mouth of a dark alley, smoking a cigarette and watching the girl.

In spite of already knowing the ending, there was a sigh of relief when the child was reunited with her mother.

Same film. Different music.

For some people, life is like that. They filter out the positive and focus on the negative. They make assumptions about what somebody else is thinking, and believe only in the worst possible outcome.

They are listening to a sinister tune.

Is this you? If so, change the music, and focus on the positive. Listen to a happy tune, and see if the man skulking in the doorway disappears from view.

“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” William James

Leo put her pen down. She would re-read it before she typed it into her blog, but she was pleased with what she’d written. Perhaps she would show it to Ellie. Then again, perhaps not.

Realising that she had already eaten two almond croissants and would feel forced to eat a third if she continued to sit here, Leo packed up her temporary office and reluctantly made her way out of the wine bar.

Thoughts of her years of working long nights serving drinks to largely ungrateful customers had brought one person to mind. Mimi. Somebody needed to drop off her cardigan, and Pat had been conspicuous by his absence this week, so it provided Leo with the perfect excuse to call round. The fact was that she felt a bit sorry for Mimi. It didn’t seem quite right that everybody was oh-so sympathetic to Patrick, and treated her like a pariah. Pat was the one who was married and who had cheated on his wife. He was responsible for his own marriage, and Mimi shouldn’t be shouldering all the burden of guilt. Perhaps if she took her some flowers to congratulate her on the pregnancy, she could offer the girl a sympathetic ear. She had precious little hope that Mimi would be interested in a life-coaching session, but at least the cardigan provided a reasonable excuse for her visit.

Clutching her newly acquired bunch of summer flowers, Leo made her way through the labyrinth of short streets that made up the recently developed estate on the far side of the village. She realised that she didn’t know Mimi and Pat’s address, but Pat had mentioned a cut through path from the village that came out opposite their house, and she knew that it was the farthest street from the main road. It was obvious that the planners had tried to make the roads interesting, because instead of straight lines that were easy to navigate, the roads twisted and turned. Leo was glad she wasn’t driving. She would never have found it.

She was unsure of the reception she would get. There was no doubt that Mimi was a difficult character, and she clung to Pat like chewing gum on the sole of a shoe. Unfortunately it felt as if Pat was constantly trying to scrape her off - which couldn’t in all fairness do much for the girl’s self-esteem. Her comment on Saturday night about everybody treating her as if she were a mistake was spot on.

When Leo finally found what she assumed was Mimi’s street, she could see that the brand new houses were compact - probably starter homes, and possibly only had one double bedroom and a bathroom upstairs. They were arranged into small terraces of six properties, with a side access at the end of each block to a rear passageway.

Each house had an identical white front door - a popular design that Leo had never understood, almost as if a very narrow front door had been built into a larger frame. As she stared at the doors wondering where to begin she noticed some movement in the parking bay across the road. It was Mimi, unloading her shopping. Leo’s timing had been perfect. She walked across the road.

‘Mimi - hi,’ Leo shouted. ‘Here, let me help you with those bags. They look heavy. Grab these - they’re for you,’ she added, handing Mimi the flowers and picking up the largest of the carrier bags.

‘I was just coming round to see you - to see how you are and how you’re getting on, and I’ve brought your cardigan back.’

Mimi looked surprised by Leo’s appearance and for some strange reason, slightly nervous. Leo knew she could appear cold and aloof, but she hoped she hadn’t frightened the woman.

‘I hope you don’t mind me popping round on the off chance. I know what it’s like to be relatively new to an area, and I wondered if you fancied a bit of company for half an hour.’

Mimi pulled the flowers towards her face and sniffed. She shot Leo a wary glance.

‘These are very nice. Thank you.’

‘My pleasure. Which way with the bags?’

Mimi indicated the second house from the left, then walked ahead of Leo to unlock the front door, which led straight into a small sitting room, with an open tread wooden staircase going up one side. A large beige Dralon sofa was squeezed hard into one corner and up against the back wall, and a wildly patterned carpet in shades of orange and brown covered the floor. A television sat on a table covered with a cream coloured cloth in another corner, and under the stairs was an old style computer desk, with separate monitor and keyboard areas and space to hold the processor. A laptop was trying its best to find a comfortable spot there.

The house had a musty smell, as if no windows were ever opened. There was a vague hint of tinned tomato soup or baked beans, overlaid with stale air.

It appeared that the central area of the room had to be kept fairly clear, as this was the route through to the kitchen at the back of the house, and Leo dodged round a wooden rocking chair to follow Mimi. She couldn’t help noticing that there were no pictures on the walls but ceramic figurines adorned every possible surface.

Leo realised that if Mimi was a barmaid it was quite an achievement to be able to afford this place. She remembered well the pittance that she’d been paid, and some of the hovels that she had put up with. Considerably worse than this, even if it did need a bit of tlc.

The kitchen ran along the back of the house – a long thin room with a small space at one end to squeeze in a table and two chairs.

Mimi dumped the flowers on the worktop. She couldn’t quite meet Leo’s eyes.

‘I know it’s not much, but it will do until Patrick’s divorce comes through. It’s only a rental - so there’s not much we can do to improve things.’

‘Mimi, you don’t have to make excuses to me you know. I lived in a squat for a while when I first left home.’

Mimi looked at her, as if to decide whether this was bull or it was real.

‘Do you want coffee?’ she finally asked.

‘Actually, do you have any tea? I’ve drunk so much coffee this morning already that I’ll get the jitters if I have any more.’

There was silence while Mimi made the tea. Leo pretended to look with great interest at the view out of the back window, which revealed a tiny square of slightly overgrown lawn leading to the passageway that ran behind the row of houses, and a flat and uninteresting field beyond. Mimi was obviously not going to break the silence, and Leo wondered if she was shy.

‘Great to have a house that isn’t overlooked from the back,’ Leo remarked, trying to start a conversation.

‘It’s okay. We don’t use the garden much. Do you want to sit down? We could go in the lounge if you like, or stay here?’

‘Here’s fine. I’m a kitchen person - well, not in the sense of being able to cook, but I like being in kitchens.’

Leo sat down and smiled encouragingly at Mimi, who still seemed a bit unsure of herself. She sat down opposite Leo, clutching the mug of tea between her two hands.

‘What have you done with Patrick today, then? I often wonder how teachers amuse themselves in the long holidays. Max is kept busy with the twins, of course - but what about Pat?’

‘He’s had to go to a meeting at school.’

‘In the holidays? That’s a bit mean isn’t it?’ Leo suddenly had a thought. ‘I bet it’s to do with Abbie Campbell - you know, the girl who was knocked over on Friday night. I presume you’ve heard that they’re now saying she was abducted?’

‘I don’t know anything about it. Patrick’s not said much, and I don’t watch the news. It’s too depressing. I expect it’s all become a bit exaggerated though, as things seem to in this village.’

‘I’m not sure you’d feel like that if she was your daughter,’ Leo said. ‘Her parents must be going through hell, although Ellie does say that there are some signs of recovery. It takes time, though, and it could be weeks before she’s able to tell the police what happened.’

Mimi appeared to have nothing to add to this conversation thread. It was like pulling teeth. She wasn’t exactly hostile, but she was obviously not comfortable. There was a level of anxiety there, and Leo didn’t seem to be able to break down the barrier.

‘How did you end up in Little Melham, Mimi? Not an obvious place to choose, I wouldn’t have thought. You’re not from round here, are you?’

‘I’m from the south coast.’

‘Ooh, nice. I’ve been to Brighton, and Poole. There are some lovely spots down there.’

‘Yeah, well - it all depends on where you live and how much money you’ve got, I suppose.’

Leo looked keenly at Mimi, who was absent-mindedly chewing her thumb nail.

‘Are you okay? You seem a bit edgy today.’

Mimi pulled the nail away from her mouth and sat up straighter.

‘Blame it on the hormones. I’m okay. I’m fine. I don’t want to be rude, Leo, but is this a social call or did you have something on your mind? Only I need to go out again soon.’

Leo felt a twinge of guilt, although she wasn’t sure why. She had come here with the best of intentions.

‘There was no agenda at all, I promise you. Ellie asked me to bring your cardigan back. She’s been trying to reach Pat, but he hasn’t been answering his phone. And I just thought I’d see how you’re doing, and repeat my offer of the free life coaching session, if you’re interested. With the baby coming and everything it would be a great time to think about how you’d like your life to pan out.’

Leo knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say. Mimi’s eyes glinted like ice, but at that moment her mobile buzzed and she looked away, too soon to know whether it was the glint of tears or anger.

Mimi pressed a button on her phone, and her brow wrinkled in annoyance at whatever was on the screen.

‘If you need to answer that, it’s okay with me,’ Leo said.

‘I don’t.’

Leo wanted to try to recover the situation. In one of the few normal conversations she’d had with Ellie in the last couple of days, her sister had told her that Pat was spending a lot of time with Georgia - trying to make things right. Maybe Mimi knew, and that would account for her stress, particularly now that she was pregnant.

‘It’s funny, but I once thought the whole idea of life coaching was ridiculous. Like you, I worked in a bar. More of a nightclub I suppose, and it was in central London. The hours were long, the pay crap. You know how it is. But I was a stroppy cow, and got very lippy with the customers. One night, I chose the wrong guy - the brother of the boss. He somehow got the idea that I’d like his grubby hands sliding over my backside, and I informed him otherwise.’ Leo laughed at the memory. Mimi’s face was expressionless. ‘My boss was a woman, and a bit more sympathetic than a man might have been - but she told me I had “issues” that had to be sorted if I wanted to keep my job. There was apparently a better way of defusing difficult situations than a mouthful of verbal abuse. I was forced to go to a couple of counselling sessions which I thought were a joke, because all we did was examine the things that had made me the person that I am. But then I went to see a life coach and it changed everything. It doesn’t stop me being who I am, warts and all, but it helps me to deal with it and make my little foibles work for me rather than against me.’

Leo could see that her speech had fallen on deaf ears. Mimi had folded her arms, and her hands were clenched. Her mobile buzzed again, and she whisked it off the table, transfixed by the screen.

Mimi stood up abruptly, her phone clutched tightly in her hand.

‘Will you excuse me, Leo? I need the toilet.’

Without another glance at Leo, Mimi made her way out of the room and Leo heard her clattering up the wooden staircase.

This had not turned out the way she’d hoped at all.

She picked up the mugs from the table and stepped over the shopping bags to reach the sink. Her thoughts were miles away, wondering how difficult life might be for Mimi at the moment. Lost in thought, she turned to make her way back to the table.

‘Bugger,’ she muttered, as she kicked one of the shopping bags and the contents fell out all over the slate tile effect lino. She bent down and started to pick up onions and potatoes from where they had rolled across the floor. As she started to stuff the groceries back in the bag, she noticed something unexpected at the bottom. But before she had time to give it any thought, she heard clattering coming down the stairs again and hastily started to stuff everything back into the bag.

She looked up as Mimi walked in the room. The two women regarded each other without a word.

Leo broke the silence.

‘I think I’d better go.’

Nothing else was said. But then, nothing else was needed.

* * *

Leo had been right about one thing on Tuesday evening. There was a hell of a lot of tension in the Saunders household at the moment. Tom had felt it like a waft of cold air the minute Leo had opened the door. Leo had been pleasant enough, but there was nothing relaxed in her manner. Even when she was stroppy and sarcastic, she had an easy grace about her. But her movements had been jumpier, her voice less modulated.

And Ellie was worse. She hadn’t even wanted to talk about their intruder, which was strange as Leo said that Ellie was the one who was most concerned about it. She was hiding something, but Tom couldn’t think of any reason why she would.

Well, whatever was going on, all he could do was help when he was asked. Which reminded him - that’s exactly what Leo had done the previous evening. She was desperate to finally know the truth about her father’s disappearance, and Tom had a few routes to intelligence, although it was strictly forbidden to use police computers to track information for personal purposes. But he had done similar research before and had a good idea where to start. Local knowledge.

Sitting at his desk in the study, he grabbed the phone. Steve had called the day before and fortunately he had stored the number. There was one thing that his old sergeant might be able to help him with. The phone was answered almost immediately, but it was a noisy line and not very clear.

‘Steve? Tom Douglas. Sorry to bother you - do you have a minute to chat, or are you in the middle of something?’

‘Morning, Tom. Good to hear from you. I’m in the car on hands free, and about ten minutes out from my destination. So shoot. I should warn you to keep it clean, because I’ve got my sergeant with me, and he’s of a delicate disposition.’

Tom laughed as he imagined the accompanying wink from Steve. He heard an echo of his laughter from the noisy car. The sergeant, no doubt.

‘I wanted to ask if you have any old timers around the office who might be able to provide a bit of local information from about fifteen to twenty years ago. About a resident of Little Melham at that time, by the name of Harris. Edward Harris. Lived at Willow Farm.’

‘We’ve got a couple of guys who are coming up to twenty-five years, so they might be able to help. What do you want to know?’

‘His daughters have become friends of mine.’ Tom was interrupted by laughter and a few remarks about the fact that he had used the plural term. He let them finish before continuing.

‘His daughters, one of whom is happily married to my next door neighbour - just so that we’re clear - don’t know what happened to him. He disappeared, possibly in the summer of 1995, and they don’t know where he went or if he’s still alive. I know you can’t help with that bit, but any background, gossip, local knowledge might help.’

‘Okay - Edward Harris, you said? I’ll ask my sergeant here to get hold of anybody who we think might be able to help, and see if there’s anything we can find out for you. Do you know any more about him?’

‘Only that he was a bigamist, but was apparently never done for it. One wife died, and the remaining one had him declared dead in 2002 allegedly, although his daughter can’t find any trace of a death certificate in the relevant period.’

‘Quite a little mystery, then. Perhaps the surviving wife topped him and buried him in the garden.’ Steve laughed.

‘Don’t think that hadn’t occurred to me,’ Tom said, not entirely joking. From what Leo had said about her stepmother it didn’t actually sound like an implausible scenario.

‘Okay - we’re on it. Somebody will get back to you as soon as. If there’s anybody on duty now who might be able to help, I’ll get them to give you a call. Otherwise it might be tomorrow. Let me know how it goes.’

‘Thanks Steve. How are things going with the Abbie Campbell case?’ Tom asked.

‘Crap. We keep hitting brick walls. Have you heard any gossip since we last spoke?’

‘Nothing useful, I’m afraid. The villagers are breathless with excitement about the fact that you’ve been interviewing teachers and the like, but apart from that nobody seems to have a clue. I’ll keep my ear to the ground.’

‘Okay - that would be great. Speak soon.’

They said their goodbyes, and Tom continued to sit at his desk, turning a pen over idly in his fingers as he thought about Leo and whether helping her would be a good idea or bad. He had a feeling that, when the time came, he might have to implore Leo not to shoot the messenger.

* * *

By the time Tom had made and eaten a bacon sandwich for his lunch and returned to his desk to start his online research, Steve and his sergeant had obviously done their stuff because the phone rang and Tom heard a voice he didn’t recognise.

‘Good morning, sir. My name’s Ernie Collier. Detective Inspector Corby asked me to call you with regard to Ted Harris - is that right?’

This policeman didn’t need to call him sir, but Tom knew that he would be uncomfortable with anything else if he was one of the old guard, so he let it pass. More interestingly, he called Edward Harris “Ted”, which indicated that he knew who he was.

‘If Ted is Edward Harris, formerly of Willow Farm, Little Melham, then anything you can tell me about him would be useful. I’m trying to track him down for his daughters.’

‘Not sure you’ll be wanting to do that, sir, if I may say so as shouldn’t,’ Ernie said. That was a phrase Tom hadn’t heard in a while.

He sighed. This wasn’t going to have a happy ending, but then given what he already knew about the man, it had always been unlikely.

‘Why do you say that, Ernie?’ he asked.

‘I was a beat bobby in Little Melham for five years. I got to know the locals pretty well, and I knew about his other daughter coming to live there. She’d been there a couple of years by the time I arrived, but it was still news as far as the villagers were concerned. There wasn’t much went on, so a good story could last a fair few years. They all knew the girl had a different mother and that Ted had a long term relationship somewhere else.’

Tom decided not to mention the word bigamy, as this had never been pursued at the time.

‘The girls know all about that of course, but I’m wondering why you think it would be a bad idea to find out what happened to him, or to discover if he’s alive.’

‘He had a bit of a reputation - not something his daughters would be proud of. Liked to put it about a bit – you know – spread his favours, as it were. Not just in the village, but round the area in general. There were lots of angry men, and a few were baying for his blood from time to time. But as I understand it, he’d disappear for a while until things calmed down, then turn up again.’

‘So do you think that one of these women’s husbands might have got to him in the end, then?’ Tom asked.

‘Not husbands, sir. Fathers. He liked ’em young, did Ted. Legal - but barely.’

Christ, Tom thought. How the hell was he going to tell Leo any of this? Easy answer - he wasn’t. This was rumour and conjecture. He would tell her the truth about her father as and when he found it.

‘Was there anything solid, Ernie? Anything that might indicate what happened to him and why finally he went and didn’t come back?’

‘I’ve been pondering that one since DI Corby called, but nothing’s coming to me. I’ll think on - and if it does, I’ll let you know. I don’t know that any of this is fact - it’s just village chitchat. Nobody reported him to us, so as far as we know officially, he didn’t commit any crime. But on balance, I would say a smooth talking slime ball, if you get my drift.’

Tom did. He thanked Ernie and hung up, wishing he’d never asked. It seemed to him that this opened up a plethora of possible outcomes to Leo’s search for her dad - and none of them sounded promising.