How Not to Shop (32 page)

'What can I say?' He put his arms around her again. 'I'm a generous man.'

She might have turned to kiss him, but then the doorbell rang.

'Must be Dinah, I'll go,' Annie offered and headed out of the room.

'When's Lana back?' Ed called after her.

'She's going to Andrei's for a study date,' Annie informed him, 'promised to be home by ten and I've given her money for a taxi.'

'Andrei's?' Ed repeated. He followed her out of the bedroom and stood in the hall at the top of the stairs with a concerned look on his face.

'Yeah,' Annie shouted back.

'Andrei's not home tonight,' Ed called down to her.

Annie could see Dinah's outline in the glass panes of the front door, but this information stopped her in her tracks.

'What d'you mean?' she asked, turning to look at Ed.

'At 7 p.m. tonight, Andrei's at Dulwich High School, opening up for the St Vincent's debating team.'

For a moment, Annie and Ed looked at each other in silence.

Then Dinah's second ring at the doorbell punctuated their anxious thoughts. Annie flung open the door.

'Hi. You're a star. Mum's in the sitting room. Help yourself to tea, biscuits – anything! Slight Lana crisis, babes. We've got to get her back home before we go.' Dinah crossed the threshold into apparent chaos.

Annie was already dialling Lana's mobile number. But to her frustration, the call went through to voicemail.

'Lana, it's your mum, whatever your plans are for this evening, I need to know about them. Call me,' she ordered, and hung up.

Annie then went through the list of numbers she had for Lana's friends and Lana's friends' mothers. She would phone them all. She would ring everyone until she knew where her daughter was. At the forefront of her mind was the thought that Lana had recently been so trouble-free, so studious and so honest . . . but things had changed as soon as Elena had come along.

Now Lana had bought scary clothes, spent a school night out too late in a café, smelled of cigarette smoke, and there obviously wasn't as much studying going on as there had been before.

She dialled Elena's mobile.

Voicemail.

'It's Annie, call me as soon as you get this message. Straight away,' she barked.

When the two friends and three mothers she'd been able to reach had been unable to give her any further information, Annie decided to go up to Lana's room to see if she could find any clues there.

A quick look around told her that her daughter's latest shoes and dress were missing along with her make-up bag. It was enough to make the tears well up.

'Elena!' Annie whispered to herself feeling anxious, angry and hurt, 'this is all about Elena!'

Last night, Elena had come back after midnight. Annie had heard a car pull up in the street and wait until Elena had let herself in the front door. It hadn't bothered Annie particularly. Elena was 22. She'd got herself all the way from Kiev to London, it was obvious she had friends in town and she could look after herself. Annie hadn't considered that maybe next time, Elena would want Lana to tag along with her.

Back down in the sitting room she found Ed, with Dinah and her mother, texting with his phone.

'Is there someone you can call?' Annie asked him.

'Just wondered about getting a message to Andrei,' Ed replied. 'I've got a number for the teacher going to the debate with him. Maybe he can pass on a message.'

'I can't think of anyone else to phone . . . maybe someone will call back,' Annie said. She looked down at her phone and tried first Lana's and then Elena's number again. She couldn't sit down . . . she walked round the room, fussing at things: straightening magazine piles, rearranging the framed photos on the mantelpiece . . .

'Try not to worry,' Ed soothed, 'she's a sensible girl. She's maybe gone out with Elena, but I bet you anything you like she'll be home in a taxi at 10 p.m. on the dot.'

Ed's mobile began to ring, and everyone turned towards it hopefully.

'Hi,' he answered it, 'hi, Andrei. Thanks for calling. Sorry to bother you. We're looking for Lana . . .'

Ed was listening with concentration.

'Right . . .' he said, 'did she? . . . Yeah . . . that's right . . .' Ed listened for several minutes, before asking: 'D'you think you could? That would be really helpful. Brilliant. OK, speak then . . . cheers.'

He folded up his phone, stood up and told Annie: 'She's over in the East End with Elena. I don't know where exactly, but Andrei's going to try and find out. She's texted him already to ask him to come. I'll head over there,' Ed added.

'What are they doing? Why does Lana need Andrei?' Annie asked frantically.

'Apparently Elena's meeting someone about a job and she wanted Lana to come with her.'

'What kind of job?'

'I don't know. Look, I'm going to take the car and head over there. Andrei will tell me more just as soon as he can. We'll find her,' he added as reassuringly as he could.

'I'm going to come,' Annie said.

'No, I'll be fine, stay here and man the phones,' he told her. 'Keep calling everyone who might know where she is and you might find something out sooner than me. Please Annie, you know it makes sense.'

'All right . . .' she agreed reluctantly.

Ed had decided that telling Annie what Lana's text to Andrei had said wouldn't be helpful just now. She'd told him she didn't like the place and could he please come as soon as possible. Andrei had just been wondering how he could make it to the East End and be back in time to catch the minibus to Dulwich High School when he'd got the message to phone Ed from his English teacher.

Ed took Annie's car keys and headed out of the door, promising to call as soon as he had any more news at all.

'How are you doing?' Annie asked her sister, once she'd accepted a fresh cup of tea and finally been persuaded to sit down. Dinah, leaning back on the sofa beside their mother, looked pale and tired. Now that Annie had put down her phone she noticed this for the first time.

'Oh OK,' Dinah replied, 'the embryos are in but no point counting that as pregnant yet,' came the frank revelation.

'Oh Dinah!' Fern turned sympathetically and patted her hand, 'I'm so sorry you have to go through all this. It always seemed easy . . . a little too easy for me to get pregnant.' This must have caused Fern to think fleetingly of her ex-husband because a particularly dark expression crossed her face. Her husband had lost contact with his family years ago. He was a cargo ship captain who'd specialized in trans-global relationships of the wrong kind, and Fern had been glad to get rid of him; now, quite honestly, she and her girls had no idea whether he was dead or alive, it was so long since they'd heard anything from him at all.

'Dinah, I don't think we should go away this weekend,' Annie announced. 'It's not fair on you. It's you and Bryan who should be going on a minibreak, not us.'

'We will. We have it planned,' Dinah said, 'we'll take a proper holiday in a couple of months, either way: up the duff or not. Why do you think I'm here?' she asked with a smile. 'I'm building up Brownie points for when I need you or, even better, Ed to babysit.'

'Well, you're definitely not here for fun, are you? I mean, what a blooming disaster!' Annie exclaimed. 'How could Lana do this?! And today!'

'Because she's a teenage girl?!' Fern chipped in. 'When I think of all the things the three of you used to get up to – and especially you, Annie.'

At this, Annie had to lean back in her chair and consider for a moment. Looking back, it all seemed innocent enough because nothing really terrible had happened to her. But would she want her daughter to do the things she'd done? Be in the risky situations she'd put herself in?

Annie had been out almost every weekend, aged 17 onwards, always taking the night bus home and walking the final stretch, in heels and miniskirts, with her house keys poking out from between her fingers as if that was going to protect her from an attacker.

'But it was different back then!' she protested.

'Aha!' Fern chuckled. 'How many mothers have heard themselves saying that? You know that isn't true. It's Lana's job to get out and have some adventures. It's your job to rein her in and keep her safe. That's just how it should be, love.'

Annie smiled at her mum. This was all true. But mainly she was smiling because whatever fog had been clouding Fern's head lately, it seemed to be clearing.

'Annie?' Dinah began, 'I've not seen your dog yet. Has Owen . . .'

'OWEN!' Annie shrieked, jumping up from her chair and flipping her cup of tea straight onto the floor. He'd been away for far too long.

Lana goes out:

Yellow boob tube (New Look)
Black miniskirt (same)
Black leggings (Topshop)
Long black boots (Greta's)
Lashings of mascara (Rimmel)
Total est. cost: £45

'I feel sick.'

Ed glanced anxiously at his watch. It was already 7.45, dark outside and now the rain had started. He was parked on a busy road near Old Street watching the Friday evening hustle around him.

Workers had finished for the day and the streets were busy with people hurrying home or hurrying to go out for the night. There were pubs, clubs, bars and cafés on every street, on every corner. It was no use knowing that Lana was around here because he would never be able to find her: he had to sit still and wait.

Lana was ignoring his and Annie's phone calls, but she had already texted Andrei and if they were all patient, she would phone or text Andrei again. She'd wanted Andrei to come and get her, so surely she would let him know exactly where she was some time soon.

But what if something had happened? Ed's thoughts whirled round to this again. What if she'd lost her phone? Or the signal? What if something had happened to her? Ed chewed at the skin beside his fingernail and tried not to think like this. He looked at his watch again. It had been over fifty minutes since Lana had told Andrei to come and get her. In another fifteen minutes, Andrei would be on stage, debating; then, even if Lana did phone him, he wouldn't be able to pick up the call for an hour.

Ed let out a sigh of irritation and began to drum his fingers against the steering wheel. He just hoped that Lana was safe. He tried to keep telling himself that in two hours she would almost certainly arrive home in a taxi and wonder what all the fuss was about.

His phone began to ring and he answered it immediately. 'Yes?'

'I've had another text,' Andrei's voice informed him, 'Club Z Old Street.'

'Is she OK? Did she say anything else?' Ed asked urgently.

'No, and I think this one's taken a while to come through because it says it was sent just after the last one. I'm sorry. Maybe it's the reception here.'

'No worries, that's great. Good luck,' Ed remembered to add.

'Yeah, you too. Will you let me know she's OK?'

'Of course,' Ed said, then closed up the phone and hurried to get out of the car.

Walking quickly along the pavements, looking left and right all around him, he called Directory Enquiries, hoping to get a phone number, an address, anything that would help him find this place more quickly.