Nick was sitting at the table with his laptop in front of him, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ at low volume in the background, when he heard Michelle’s key in the door. Rowdy, lying in his bed in the corner of the room, lifted his head to look up, then jumped out, tail wagging, and went to the closed living room door.
‘Hey, what are you up to?’ Michelle dropped her backpack, stooped to pet the dog, and then put her arms round Nick’s neck.
He gestured towards the screen. ‘Trying to find out as much as I can about Caitlin’s husband. I found his name easily enough; he’s still a Facebook friend of hers. Naturally, there haven’t been any posts for over a year. His surname’s Casey and he worked at Gabriel’s boys’ school. He’d been there for several years before he disappeared, according to the dates. I wrote down a few names, people who seemed to like everything he posted, had a bit of banter going on. Of course, that doesn’t mean those people were close to him. We all know what Facebook is like; people you haven’t seen in twenty years might look like your best friends. I did come across a familiar face though – a guy called Andy Quinn who was playing in the band at the wine bar with Caitlin. There are a lot of photos of the three of them. I imagine he’d be worth talking to. Although he wasn’t too friendly the night I met him, he seemed really possessive of Caitlin and not necessarily in a healthy way.’
‘Nick?’
‘Hmmm?’ He was still looking at the screen, scanning through different sites. He looked up when Michelle pulled out a seat and sat next to him.
‘I’m not sure Caitlin knows what happened to her parents.’
‘What do you mean?’ he said.
‘We talked about it earlier when I went around to her office. She said that her parents died in a car accident.’
Nick nodded, his mind working. ‘Okay …’
‘I was thinking about it, and maybe she said it because she didn’t want to say they’d been murdered, I probably wouldn’t, but … I don’t think she was lying … it was too smooth.’
‘But her name is Davis, right? If the adoptive parents had really wanted to make sure she didn’t find out, surely they’d have changed her surname. They’d realize that all she’d have to do is search, the same as I did, and bingo, she’d find out the truth.’
‘Not necessarily, I mean it would’ve taken a lot more effort back then, things weren’t at the click of a button. And besides if they didn’t tell her her parents’ Christian names…’
‘True.’ He paused, digesting this, thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if Caitlin didn’t know. At least she’d have been saved the pain of that. ‘Did she say anything else? Anything more about her husband?’
‘Not particularly. She’s close to his mother. Her adoptive parents split up, the man wasn’t in the picture at all, and the woman … they’re not really close.’
Nick shook his head. ‘I’ve got to find this guy. At least find out what happened to him. It’s the only thing I can think to do …’
‘What if Caitlin finds it strange? I mean, if you talk to this guy Andy, he’s surely going to tell her, and what would she make of that?’
‘That’s true. But I don’t have a choice. I have to talk to the people who knew David. The Internet will only get me so far.’
‘What if you talk to her? You could tell her you’ve got a friend who’s a detective or something, that you could ask him to look into it as a favour … I know if my husband was missing, I’d be willing to accept all the help I could get.’
Nick squeezed her hand. ‘It’s not a bad idea. Better than looking like a pair of do-gooders she’s just met.’ He got up and paced the room. ‘What exactly did she say about her adoptive parents, was it bad?’
Michelle shrugged. ‘Like I said, the guy left. She seems to think the woman blamed her. The woman wasn’t cruel or anything, just cold I think. The way Caitlin put it, it sounded like she just went through the motions of caring for a child. She’s already been through so much in her life – do you think maybe if she doesn’t know what happened with Johnny and Rachel, it might be better to keep it that way?’
‘Yeah, I suppose it’s partly cowardice, but I was thinking the same. Of course, we don’t know that she doesn’t. Maybe she’s just repeated it so many times it’s easy for her to say.’
Michelle nodded. ‘I was thinking about it all afternoon, whether children have the right to know where they come from. I don’t know what I’d do in that situation, if I were the parent I mean. I think I’d probably lie too. How could you expect a young child to understand? Maybe when they were older, but then too much time would have passed … I’d probably never get around to telling them.’ Michelle yawned.
He guessed it had been a long day for her. He was feeling shattered himself. But then he’d felt like that most of the time since his diagnosis. ‘Why don’t you head up to bed? I’ll be there shortly, as soon as I tidy up down here.’
He saw Michelle hesitate, then she spoke. ‘There’s something else. I wasn’t even going to mention it because it might be nothing. I’ll know tomorrow …’
‘What?’
‘I thought it might be a good idea to show David’s picture when I was doing the soup run, see if it jogged anyone’s memory, if anyone had seen him. Two of the people I showed it to said they might have seen him at the Capuchin day centre. Neither of them could be sure, and it might come to nothing, but I’m going to go over there to talk with some of the volunteers.’ She stifled another yawn. ‘Like I said, I wasn’t going to say anything until I’d spoken to them …’
Nick nodded. He couldn’t believe all that Michelle was doing to try to help him, first by making contact with Caitlin, then by finding out about Lydia, even if that had come to nothing. Now this, a lead – no matter how tenuous – in the search for Caitlin’s husband. He stood to hug her, then winced as a stabbing pain stopped him in his tracks. Michelle moved towards him swiftly, putting a hand on his arm. ‘You okay?’
He exhaled, afraid to move too suddenly again. ‘I haven’t been great. I keep getting these pains.’ He took her hand. ‘Michelle, I just want to say thank you … what you’ve done so far, it’s incredible. You’re incredible, but then I already knew that. Even if nothing comes of tomorrow, don’t think I don’t appreciate you trying. Go on now, you head up to bed, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Oh, by the way, how would feel about going to the wine bar on Wednesday evening? Caitlin did say we should come, and maybe we’d get a chance to talk to that guy Andy. He might be more amiable if you’re there. Wouldn’t think I was hitting on Caitlin at least.’
Michelle turned at the door and smiled. ‘It’s a date,’ she said. And he smiled back through another searing pain.