34
October 19 . . .
Abbie had asked him to go to Evie’s the next day. When Jack got there, the DC was in the kitchen, on her phone.
“I’ll call you later on,” she was saying. “After I’ve spoken to her. I have to go.” She turned to me.
“Thanks for coming over, Jack. Evie’s in the yard. I wanted to get your take on things.” She looked puzzled.
“What’s the problem?” Jack pulled out a chair and sat down.
“It’s about Nick. I think there’s something he’s not saying. The way he and his mother describe Evie doesn’t ring true. Charlotte said that Evie was frightened of him. It’s possible he’s the one she was hiding from. But what Evie tells us hasn’t been reliable, though she’s far more lucid now. . . .”
“Then there’s the Leah Danning case.”
“Yes.” Abbie was thoughtful. “I asked Charlotte more about that. She was cagey, but she’s protective toward Casey Danning. They were friends. So far, other than Evie, there’s no obvious link between Leah and Angel—”
They were interrupted as Evie opened the back door. She looked better today, Jack thought.
“Hi.” Did he imagine the flicker of pleasure across her face as she looked at him?
“Evie, I hope you don’t mind that I asked Jack to come over. He has far more experience than I have, and I thought three heads are better than two.... Would you like a cup of tea?”
Evie shook her head. “What did you want to talk about? Have you heard anything? I just thought, with the papers and the news and everything . . .” Clinging to hope.
“We’ve had one or two leads,” Abbie said quietly. “After a press release, there are always leads. . . .” She hesitated. “You have to sift through the time wasters, all seeking their moment of glory. But there’s been nothing of any significance. At least, not so far.” Abbie sat at the table. “I hope you don’t mind, but Dr. Ghyllen’s coming to see you tomorrow.”
Evie looked annoyed. “There’s no need. I’m really all right. The only thing I need to do is stop the pills.”
And find her daughter . . . Jack said nothing. Everything was a battle, he could see that. He could remember the need to wrestle back some degree of control.
“She did say she wanted to check you over again.... She also said she’d like to refer you to someone who specializes in memory loss. She said she’d come before she starts afternoon surgery. About three, she thought. Is that okay with you?”
Evie sat down, shaking her head. “No. Cancel her.”
Jack shook his head at Abbie. You could suggest, support, prompt, but you couldn’t force. Evie was firefighting. It wasn’t worth adding to her battle.
“All right. If that’s what you want.” Abbie paused. “I spoke to Nick again.”
“What about?”
“He wants to see you.”
Evie stood up. “I don’t want him here. This is my house. I don’t want anyone here.” She was shaking. “Tell him I don’t want to see him.”
“I can’t do that.” Abbie looked troubled. “If we’re looking for a missing child, we have to explore every possibility.”
“What do you mean, if? Angel’s missing, Abbie. I know that. You know that.”
“Evie, it’s okay. We’re on your side.” Jack tried to reassure her.
“What did Nick say?” Her voice was shaking, too. “You have to tell me, Abbie. It’s my daughter who’s out there, missing. What did he say?” Her voice was rising all the time.
Abbie shook her head. “He said he doesn’t think there’s a baby, Evie. He said you had a breakdown. It looks like losing the baby brought the past back—your memories of Leah—though he didn’t know about her at the time. He couldn’t cope with it. You didn’t leave him. He left you. It’s what his mother told us, too.”
Evie’s mouth fell open.
“I wasn’t sure what to think. So I called where you used to work. The person I spoke to said they’d suggested you take some time off until you were feeling better. Apparently, you flew at them. They had to escort you out of the building. They were quite generous with your final pay packet. It’s probably how you could afford to buy your car.”
“No.” Evie was shaking her head in disbelief. “Don’t you see? Nick’s set the whole thing up, just to get at me. It’s exactly the kind of thing he’d do. He and his mother are in it together. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where Angel is—with them.”
“Sheila’s moving into residential care,” Abbie said quietly. “The police have been searching, but there are no records of an Angel Sherman or an Angel Russell. There’s no birth certificate, Evie.”
“So I didn’t register her. Is it a crime?” Evie was defensive. “God.” She looked stunned. “After everything I’m going through, you don’t believe me.”
Jack was uncomfortable with the direction this was going. He knew Abbie was doing her job, but when you were a parent, when you’re child’s life was in danger, didn’t she know how vulnerable that made you?
“No one’s saying that,” he said, intervening. “They’re really not.”
“Not yet,” Abbie added. “But you have to agree it’s bizarre that everything connected with Angel has vanished into thin air.”
“You don’t believe me, do you?” Evie looked at them in utter horror. “I’ll find something. Proof. Give me a minute.. . . Please . . .”
She disappeared from the room. Jack heard her footsteps on the stairs, then upstairs, as she went from room to room, opening doors and drawers that had already been searched multiple times, before the house fell silent.
“It might be a good idea to put Nick off coming here.” Jack looked at Abbie.
“I was thinking the same. The problem is, there’s still a child missing—we think. We need answers, Jack. Right now Evie’s the only person who has them—” She broke off as Evie came back into the room. “Evie . . .” Abbie paused. “Come and sit down.”
She waited as Evie pulled out a chair.
The silence was broken when Abbie’s phone buzzed. “Yes? Now really isn’t a good time.” Looking irritated, she glanced at Evie. “Well, can’t you stop him?” She shook her head, then sounded resigned. “Okay.”
She ended the call, but whatever it was clearly wasn’t okay. She looked directly at Evie. “I’m sorry. This isn’t my doing, but it’s Nick. He’s on his way here.”
Evie’s face was stricken. What was she frightened of? Was it Nick? Did he have some kind of hold over her? Jack was trying to work it out as Evie stood up and started pacing round the room. “Someone’s trying to get to me. Someone who’s taken my child. Who knows how I’ve been living. The same person who attacked me.” She raised terrified eyes toward Jack. “What if it’s Nick?”