The Perfect Retreat

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE




Kerr walked into Middlemist with Eliza in tow. ‘Just in case you need to release a statement,’ she said on the way over after Kerr received the message about Lucian.

‘So, you’ve lost the little idiot have you?’ asked Kerr as he saw Willow sitting on the sofa, pale and drawn.

‘Take it back,’ said Merritt, stepping out from the double doors that led into the library.

‘What? F*ck off mate,’ said Kerr, and Merritt took one step and put his hands around his throat.

‘Take it back or I will hurt you. You’re the f*cking idiot,’ he said in a low voice.

Kerr started to shake in his biker boots. ‘I’m sorry Willow,’ he said.

Merritt released his grip and Eliza stepped out from behind Kerr.

‘I see you are still rough trade, Merritt,’ she said.

‘I see you are still a pretentious whore, Eliza,’ he said.

Willow stood up. ‘Enough!’ she yelled. ‘We need to find Lucian.’

‘Then call the f*cking police,’ said Merritt.

‘No, no police,’ said Eliza, Kerr and Willow in unison.

Merritt shook his head and walked out to try Kitty’s phone again. Still nothing.

He heard the front door open and rushed to greet her hoping she had Lucian, but instead he found Johnny and Tatiana on his doorstep.

‘What the f*ck do you want?’ he asked Johnny.

‘We come to say our goodbyes,’ said Tatiana in her thick accent, cutoff denim shorts and thigh-high Robert Clergerie boots.

Now that was rough trade, thought Merritt, looking at the skull and crossbones scarf tied around her head like a female Jack Sparrow.

‘Well f*ck off then. No goodbyes needed,’ said Merritt, pushing the door and walking back into the drawing room, not realising Johnny had blocked the door open with his foot. Johnny and Tatiana invited themselves in and followed him into the room where Eliza and Kerr looked up with surprise.

‘What are you doing here?’ asked Eliza guiltily.

‘We come to say goodbye,’ said Tatiana.

‘OK, bye then! See you in London,’ said Eliza, distracted by her phone.

‘No darling, here’s the thing,’ said Johnny charmingly. ‘Hello there,’ he said to Willow who looked at him as though he was insane.

Eliza looked up at him. There was something in his voice that told her she ought to pay attention.

‘What, Johnny? We have a crisis here,’ she said. ‘The autistic child has gone missing.’

Willow stood up. ‘Don’t f*cking call him that, OK?’ she cried, wanting Merritt to take her in his arms but knowing she had burnt her bridges with him too.

‘Hey, I say it as I see it,’ said Eliza. ‘Kerr said he was an idiot or something. Imbecile?’ She tried to find the word.

‘He’s just a little slow,’ said Willow loyally, her heart breaking.

‘That’s a bit harsh isn’t it, old fella?’ asked Johnny to Kerr.

Kerr looked at him as though he didn’t matter, which to Kerr at this point he didn’t really.

‘What?’ asked Kerr.

‘Well you don’t call your own child a fool, do you?’ asked Johnny. However reprobate he was in life, he had certain values when it came to animals, children and most art. He had wanted to have children with Eliza but so far she was holding out, claiming she could be like a Scientologist wife or the Time Traveller’s Wife or something and give birth when she was fifty.

Lucy walked into the room and into the middle of the drama. Everyone was watching Kerr yell at Eliza’s husband, and the moment Eliza set eyes on her, she started to scream too. ‘You f*cking whore, you ruined my business! You stole Willow from me!’ she accused, and she tried to jump over the coffee table towards her former employee. Lucy stepped sideways and Eliza went sprawling across the floorboards.

Lucy walked straight to Willow and took her in her arms, ignoring Eliza.

‘What’s happened?’ she asked.

‘Lucian’s missing with the dog. Poppy says he’s gone to America.’

‘OK, well he can’t have gone far. What did the police say?’ she asked Merritt, who hunched his shoulders and snorted at her.

‘We didn’t ring them,’ said Willow. ‘Too many questions and all the media hanging around.’

Lucy shook her head. ‘No, they need to know. How long has he been gone for?’

‘Two hours,’ said Willow, feeling sick again.

‘Two hours? Jesus. I’ll call them. You get me a recent photo of him, OK?’

Willow nodded and, desperate to have a task, she ran to the bedroom to get the digital camera.

Johnny seemed unflustered by the chaos around him, while Tatiana looked bored. ‘Come on Johnny, let’s go,’ she said in her little girl voice.

‘Yes, well, we are heading back to London,’ Johnny announced to the room, but only Eliza listened.

‘Together?’ she asked.

‘Yes, Johnny will make me star. I’m an artist,’ she said proudly.

Eliza snorted. ‘Well, good luck with that,’ she said, laughing.

‘I don’t need luck, she has talent,’ said Johnny easily.

Tatiana preened in front of Kerr. He was useless as far as she was concerned. Useless and a boring f*ck.

‘So, you’re leaving me for that?’ asked Eliza.

‘Yes. I think we’ve run our course, don’t you?’ said Johnny simply.

Eliza stood shocked. ‘You are leaving me for some f*cking Eurotart with no class?’ she bellowed.

‘Now, now Eliza, don’t be such a snob,’ said Johnny, pulling Tatiana back as she lunged at Eliza. ‘Don’t forget that you are just a grocer’s daughter after all,’ he said, referencing the shopping centres that her father owned in Manchester.

Merritt tried not to laugh at the shock on Eliza’s face. She tried to cover up her background but when she was angry, as she was right now, her Manchester accent came out. She screamed at Johnny. ‘You f*cking prick. You’ll never get any decent PR without me!’

Johnny shrugged. ‘Get over yourself Eliza. It was me that brought in the PR and the contacts. Without me you’re nothing,’ he said.

Willow rushed back into the room with a photo she had printed off from the camera.

‘Where’s Lucy?’ she asked, but no one answered her. She ran into the hallway and bumped into Ivo and Kitty in each other’s arms, kissing. ‘Where the f*ck have you been?’ she screamed at Kitty.

‘What?’ asked Kitty, looking around.

The others came out of the drawing room into the foyer at the sound of Willow’s voice. ‘I have called and called you. Where the f*ck were you?’

‘I was with Ivo,’ stuttered Kitty.

‘While you were f*cking him, my child and your charge has gone missing!’

‘Which one?’ asked Kitty, panicking.

‘The stupid one,’ said Kerr under his breath. Johnny heard it and frowned at him.

‘Lucian, with the dog! I wrote you a note to tell you to look after them! Jenny said she gave it to you, why didn’t you read it?’

Kitty reached into her pocket and pulled out the note. She could make out a few of the words.

Willow was hysterical. ‘Why, Kitty? I entrusted you with my children and you left them here alone? Jinty was soaked and screaming, she was crying and crying!’ Willow was gulping for breath. ‘And Poppy alone in the dark, the TV as the only light? You know she hates the dark Kitty, you know that!’

Kitty was crying now, sobbing as Willow’s face loomed close to hers. ‘I know, I know,’ she spluttered.

‘No you don’t know. You don’t f*cking know! You have no idea. You left them here alone. F*ck you Kitty, f*ck you. Why didn’t you read the f*cking note? Why?’ She was leaning over Kitty, who was a head shorter than her, now. Kitty fell to the ground.

Willow leaned over her, screaming. ‘Why didn’t you read the f*cking note, tell me?’ Poppy watched from the top of the stairs, while Jinty cried in her room at the sound of her mother’s voice.

Merritt stepped in and pulled Willow away. ‘Stop it,’ he said. ‘Stop it.’

‘Why, Kitty?’ screamed Willow again, and Ivo stepped forward.

‘She didn’t read the f*cking note because she can’t f*cking read, you bitch!’ he yelled at Willow and the room went silent.

‘Ahhh, of course, she can’t read,’ said Johnny out loud. ‘When we shagged I sent you that letter asking for you to come and visit, but you never did. Even after I took your virginity and everything,’ he said with realisation dawning on his face.

Ivo stepped up as though to hit Johnny, but Merritt got in first and punched him squarely in the nose.

‘She is my sister after all,’ he said to Ivo.

Ivo nodded with respect as Lucy came into the foyer, her mobile pressed up to her ear. ‘They found him; at the police station; were about to send out a report when I rang, been there about an hour. A farmer brought him in. Found him under a tree asleep.’

Willow started to cry again. She instinctively ran to Merritt’s arms, but he pushed her away.

‘No one speaks to my sister like that, ever. Pack your things, get your children and get the f*ck out of my life,’ he said to her in a quiet voice. And striding past the group, their mouths agape, Merritt walked away from what he had once believed was his future.