I will call you in the morning.
That was what Polina had said in her text message. It was morning now, but morning was a long time. Technically, morning stretched out till noon, and Izzy didn’t think her nerves could endure waiting that long.
But then again, was there any point in getting excited about the promised call? In the same conversation, Polina had said she hadn’t found anything incriminatory about her husband. She had also said she wanted to learn more from Izzy. That sounded like it was very much going to be a one-way flow of information, with Izzy simply going over ground she had already covered. And if anything new and startling had come to light since that exchange of messages, Polina would surely have let her know by now.
Which was disappointing to say the least.
And the same went for Josh. No contact from him either. Okay, officially they had said their final goodbyes, but final didn’t have to mean final, did it? Not when she had left him reeling from that humdinger set of revelations that must have knocked his socks off. She hated to admit it, but she had harboured a slender hope that Josh might have slipped her a subtle hint that she had just helped him achieve the biggest investigatory success of his career.
She had been relying on either Polina or Josh to come through, but it seemed that both had let her down, that neither had taken her seriously enough, which made her feel crap. What made it 281worse was that this wasn’t something that could be put at the bottom of a to-do list. Kenneth Plumley couldn’t be permitted the time he needed to cover his tracks.
At just after ten o’clock, when she had put a smile on Abel’s face by selling a complete set of ancient encyclopaedias, she sent a message to Polina: Are you still going to call me?
She didn’t expect an immediate answer, and she didn’t get one. In fact, she’d still heard nothing when it came time for the morning coffee break. While the kettle boiled, she fired off another message: Polina, please get in touch. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.
She knew it sounded a little desperate, but she was clutching at straws now.
At a minute after twelve, with the morning dead and gone and still no answer from Polina, Izzy tried once more: OK if I call you?
She had already decided that, even if a reply was forthcoming, she would have to wait for her lunch break to make the call. This wasn’t something for Abel’s ears, and she didn’t want to leave the shop before then after all the time off he had given her yesterday.
But then lunchtime arrived and her messages sat unanswered on her phone. She checked with Abel that it was all right to go out for her lunch, then she put on her coat and headed towards the town square. As soon as she reached the end of the road, she halted and phoned Polina’s number.
It went straight to voicemail. Not even a ringtone.
She tried a few more times in rapid succession. Same result.
Polina doesn’t want to talk to me, she thought. She found nothing on Kenneth and then she slept on it and decided I’m a kook, and now she’s blocked my number on her phone.
Izzy resumed her walk. She reached the Old Square and paced the periphery, glancing in shop windows but not really seeing 282what was there. She sat on a bench and tried Polina’s number again. She got voicemail, and this time she left a message:
‘Polina, it’s Izzy. Please call me back. I promise you that everything I told you was true. I will answer any questions you have. Please ring me.’
She hung up, then stared at the list of people she had called recently. Josh was high up on that list.
No, she told herself. You can’t call him. Not after yesterday.
But wouldn’t it be nice to know that he was at least considering what she had said about Kenneth, even if he hadn’t done anything about it yet?
She began to prepare a little speech that would go something like, Hi, yes, it’s me, sorry, I know we said goodbyes, but I was just wondering if, possibly, you might have done some thinking about me, and, well …
That’s as far as she got before hitting the call button for Josh.
Voicemail again.
‘What the f—’ she exclaimed, stopping herself as a stern-faced old lady glared at her.
What was wrong with people? All this mobile phone technology and nobody could be arsed to make use of it. They needed to answer. They needed to let her know what was going on.
Angry and frustrated, she marched into the nearest sandwich shop, bought a limp-looking tuna on white, then headed back towards the bookstore.
The impulse grabbed her and pushed her across the street before she had time to think about it. Took her to her car, bundled her in and ordered her to drive.
But what about Abel? was her question.
This is too important. Drive.
So she drove. Hang the consequences. She needed answers.
She got to the Plumley house in record time, her forgotten tuna 283sandwich warming nicely on the passenger seat. Kenneth would be at the school, she reasoned, and hopefully the lodger would be out doing whatever it is the lodger did. Just me and Polina again, she thought. Woman to woman. She’ll talk to me, I know she will.
She walked up to the front door and knocked. It was about a minute before she heard footsteps from within. The door opened. Izzy readied herself.
A man opened the door. The lodger, she realised. She racked her brain for the name Polina had mentioned. Michael – that was it.
‘Hello,’ she said. ‘Sorry to bother you. I’m looking for Polina.’
Michael seemed surprised and also a little sceptical. ‘Polina? I’m afraid she’s not in at the moment. Can I take a message?’
Izzy’s shoulders slumped. ‘Do you know where she is?’
‘I don’t. Actually, I haven’t seen her since yesterday.’
‘You haven’t?’
‘No.’ He paused. ‘Sorry, but who are you?’
‘Sorry. My name’s Isobel Lambert. I was a student at Hemingway High, which is where I got to know Kenneth.’
‘You know Kenneth as well? I see.’ Another pause. ‘Look, I’m just a lodger here – name’s Michael – so I don’t know everything that goes on in this house, but to be honest, I’m a bit concerned.’
‘Concerned? Why?’
He scanned the area behind Izzy, exactly as Polina had done. ‘Would you like to come in?’
She nodded, and he showed her through to the living room. Near the door was a small table holding a chessboard. He invited her to sit, and she hoped he wasn’t planning to ask her to play.
‘I often go for long walks round here,’ Michael said. ‘I went on one yesterday. When I got back, it was already dark – it gets dark so early now, doesn’t it? Polina wasn’t here, but Kenneth was. He said they’d had an argument and she’d stormed out of the house.’284
‘Did you believe him?’
‘Sort of. Put it this way, I had no reason to disbelieve him. But it’s not like them to have massive arguments like that, and then she didn’t come home at all last night.’
‘So you haven’t seen her at all since you went on your walk?’
‘No.’
‘Did you see Kenneth this morning?’
‘Yes, briefly. He looked very upset but wouldn’t talk about it. I asked him if he was going to make it up with Polina, and he just said he’d have to see about that.’
‘So … what do you think happened?’
‘I don’t know. It all seems very odd. And the other thing is that I’ve tried ringing her and her phone goes straight to voicemail, like it’s switched off or something.’
‘Yes, it did that to me too.’
‘When did you last see Polina?’
‘Yesterday, when you were out on your walk.’
‘Did she seem all right to you?’
‘Yes. I think so. Look, I’m going to tell you something, okay?’
Michael looked concerned. ‘What is it?’
‘There’s been something going on with Kenneth. A police investigation.’
‘You mean … something criminal?’
Izzy hesitated. She didn’t know how much to say, but she couldn’t just walk away now.
‘You heard about the missing schoolgirl, Rosie Agutter? And the young woman from the bookshop, Melissa Sawyer?’
‘Yes. What about them? Surely you don’t think Kenneth has anything to do with that?’
Izzy nodded. ‘I’m afraid so.’
‘No. That’s ridiculous. I’ve got to know Kenneth well while I’ve been living here.’ He gestured to the board in front of them. ‘We 285play chess. We have a beer together. He’s not that sort of man.’
‘I’m afraid he is. And now that Polina’s gone missing—’
‘Wait. How do you know all this? Are you with the police?’
‘No, but I’ve been working closely with a detective. There’s no doubt. Kenneth has been doing some terrible things.’
‘So then why hasn’t he been arrested?’
‘Because we haven’t been able to prove it. Polina was helping us, and now I’m worried that Kenneth must have found out about it.’
Michael shook his head in disbelief. ‘No, that can’t be right. Not Kenneth. He’s so, well, timid.’
‘You said yourself that he’s been acting strangely. Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do.’
Michael sat back and put his hand over his mouth while he considered this. ‘I … I don’t know what to say. This is quite a shock. If you’re right about Kenneth …’
‘I am. I promise you. And now I need your help. We need to find Polina. She’s probably in great danger.’ She didn’t add ‘if she’s still alive’, but she thought it.
Michael opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind.
‘What is it?’ Izzy asked.
‘It’s … This morning, Kenneth was doing something at the back of the house.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Normally, he just gets in his van and goes to work, but when I came down to breakfast, I saw him carrying something from the shed and loading it in the back of his van.’
‘What was it?’
‘I don’t know. It was dark out there, but I could tell it was big and heavy. I opened the kitchen door and asked him if he wanted a hand, and he slammed the van doors closed like he didn’t want me to see what was in there. I asked him what was going on, and he just said it was some stuff he needed for the school.’286
Izzy stared at him. She knew they were both thinking the same thing.
‘Will you come with me,’ she asked, ‘to talk to the police?’
‘But I don’t know anything.’
‘You’ve seen enough to convince them to search Kenneth’s van, and probably the shed as well. If you could tell them what you’ve just told me …’
‘I … I don’t know.’
‘Please. It won’t take long. For Polina’s sake.’
He deliberated for a while longer, then nodded. ‘All right. I’ll do it. Let me get my jacket and keys.’
He left the room. Izzy stared down at the chessboard. She had a sinking feeling that she was too late, that Polina was already dead. But maybe now, with Michael on her side, she could finally persuade Josh to take her seriously. Maybe there was still hope that Kenneth could be stopped.
She heard a noise behind her and went to turn.
The hands were on her neck too quickly. They were strong, powerful hands.
He’s come back. Kenneth has come back!
She tried to prise the fingers away from her throat, tried to call out. She heard the noise of the table and chairs overturning, the chess pieces scattering, laboured breathing from behind her.
He’s killing me!
Someone help me!
But nobody came, nobody stopped it.
And then the sounds became nothing and she accepted her fate and the world was switched off.