Missing (16 page)

Vivienne followed her inside to find the pub’s interior as dark and moody as any self-respecting smuggler’s inn ought to be, with low, shadowy doorways and secret niches, a big stone fireplace, and crooked beams running through the peeling paint of a faded white ceiling. Chalked on a blackboard between two recessed windows was a delicious-sounding menu of fish, hiked out of the estuary that very day, it claimed, along with mussels, scallops, prawns and an abundant selection of local game.

‘Aha, here she is,’ the landlord cried, thumping a fist on the bar as the door swung closed behind Stella and Vivienne. He was a tall, bullish man with kindly blue eyes, ruddy cheeks and a belly so big Vivienne had to wonder when he’d last seen his knees. ‘Glad you came now,’ he told her, ‘because these ladies was starting to get out of hand.’

Vivienne smiled at his bawdy wink, and followed Stella over to the small group of mainly forty-plus women who were still laughing and clucking at the landlord’s tease.

‘What’ll you have to drink?’ Stella demanded, digging into a capacious pocket of her baggy jeans for a handful of coins. ‘We’re all on tea, herbal and normal,
but
if you wants wine or beer, we shan’t think none the worse of you.’

‘Tea’s fine, thank you,’ Vivienne responded.

‘We’m meeting here,’ Stella explained, while pulling out a chair for her to sit down, ‘because the village hall’s took up with something else today. Is someone pouring her a cuppa? Are you ’ungry? There’s crisps and stuff behind the bar. Or I ’spect Jonty can make you a sandwich.’

‘No, no, I’m fine,’ Vivienne assured her, sinking into the chair and taking the cup and saucer someone was offering.

‘Sharon just rang, she’s on her way,’ Stella told her, sitting down too. ‘She’s ever so grateful that you’ve come in person. It’s going to make a big difference to her morale, having you around, I can tell you that. Not that she’s doing badly, mind you. She’s a brave girl. But after what you did for Keith and everything, well, it makes you a bit like one of the family, if you knows what I mean. It’s not really a time for her to be dealing with strangers.’

‘If I’d known it was for Sharon, I’d have come the first time,’ Vivienne assured her. ‘No one mentioned her on the phone.’

‘No, well, she didn’t want us to in case it seemed like emotional blackmail, or something, was what she said. I told her she was being daft, that anyone would want to help out in a situation like hers, but she got it in her head that you wasn’t to know until you was actually here, and there was no talking her round.’

‘Well, I’m here now, and I intend to do everything I can to help, but let’s begin with some introductions. I know it might be a bit AA, but if you could tell me your names first, followed by whether or not you actually
live
in Kenleigh, how you know Sharon, and how much you think we need to raise to help her, it should give us a place to start.’

The woman next to her wasted no time. ‘My name’s Mary Allsop, and I lives at number three The Willows. I knows Sharon because she’s my neighbour, and I think we need to raise a lot more than any of us here can on our own, which is why we’ve asked you to come and help. Oh, and by the way, we all reckons it’s a brilliant idea to call in the fire brigade.’

Stella led a round of applause. ‘Good on you, Mary,’ she declared. ‘Sharon’s kiddies is going to need looking after while she has her treatment, and those chaps from the fire station is likely to get us a lot more bidders than the local lads would have managed.’

Wondering how they were going to react to the news of Theo, Vivienne kept it to herself for the moment, wanting the introductions to continue.

‘I’m Eileen Rawlings,’ said a platinum-blonde woman with a waxy complexion and ill-fitting false teeth, the sweep of her eyes telling Vivienne that she wasn’t appreciating having her position as the glamorous one challenged. ‘I lives at forty-eight Dodd Lane, which is behind the church, and I knows Sharon because we’ve lived here all our lives and my girl, Tina, who lives up in Bristol now, went to school with Sharon and Keith. Just like I went to school with Sharon’s mam, Betty, God rest her soul. I don’t know how much we needs to raise, but I’m happy to dip into my savings as far as I can …’

‘Especially if she’s going to get herself a nice bit of action out of it,’ the woman beside her piped up.

Eileen chortled along with the rest of them. ‘Can’t wait to see my old man’s face if he thinks I’ve won
meself
a fireman to come and sort out me chimney,’ she told them, giving a nudge to the woman next to her.

‘Might put his horse back in the stable,’ someone else guffawed.

Vivienne laughed along with the others. Though their humour might lack subtlety their enjoyment of it was infectious, and as they continued to introduce themselves – Lizzie, Cath, Gail, Janet and Fliss – she found herself warming to them more and more.

Then, as if on cue, the outside door opened and everyone looked up as a waif-like creature with a startling abundance of glossy black curls, starkly pale skin and a rich red mouth wafted in, like the heroine from the pages of an old-fashioned romance.

‘Sharon,’ Stella cried, ‘you made it. Good girl. Everything all right?’

‘Yeah, perfect,’ Sharon said breathily as she straightened her ill-fitting wig and came towards them. ‘He got sent off, silly bugger, so he didn’t mind me leaving early. I’ll box his ears when I get him home though, punching another player. I’ve told ’im about that before. ’Ello, you’re Vivienne, aren’t you?’ she said, smiling shyly as she held out a hand to shake. ‘I’m Sharon, the one what’s causing all the fuss. Just shoot me and be done with it, is what I tell ’em. It’s what they’d do with a ’orse, but they don’t listen, none of ’em.’

‘There’s no fun in that,’ Gail protested.

‘Not when you’ve got risky ideas like you’ve got,’ Sharon retorted dryly. Then to Vivienne, ‘It’s lovely of you to come all this way. Keith was always talking about you, so I felt like I already knew you. I hope that’s not too much of a cheek, and you don’t mind that we got in touch.’

‘No, of course not,’ Vivienne assured her, thinking how thin and frail she looked, in spite of the bagginess of her clothes that was presumably meant to disguise it. ‘I’m glad you did, and I’m sure we’re going to raise even more money than you think.’

‘Bound to now we got the firemen involved,’ Stella announced.

‘I just hope you made it clear what we’m expecting of ’em,’ Eileen piped up. ‘Can’t wait to get me hands on one of them helmets.’

‘Listen to her,’ Sharon said, ‘there’s been no controlling her since she started holding those Ann Summers parties back in the summer. I’m telling you, they’re just using me as an excuse to get into all that kinky underwear.’

‘Not true, we wants to make sure you’re all right,’ Lizzie chipped in hotly.

‘Just teasing,’ Sharon assured her, and sweeping a copy of the
West Country Times
off a window seat she sat down, hugging the paper to her meagre chest. ‘So where are you up to?’ she asked, eagerly.

Still trying to tear herself from the unholy images of their Ann Summers parties, Vivienne said, ‘Actually, I have some news which I think is going to make a great difference to our auction. Theo Kenwood-South has agreed to take part.’

There was total silence as the enormity of the honour made several jaws drop.

‘Bloody hell,’ Stella finally pronounced.

Sharon’s eyes were rounding with protest. ‘But he’s ever so busy,’ she said. ‘We can’t ask him to give up his time for something—’

‘She obviously already has,’ Stella interrupted, ‘and it’s up to him to say whether or not he’s too busy.’

‘What a lovely lad,’ Gail declared. ‘I always liked him, even before he won his gold medal.’

‘Course, he knew Keith,’ Eileen added. ‘I bet that’s why he’s doing it.’

‘God bless him,’ Mary murmured, shaking her head in wonderment.

Loving them for their appreciation, Vivienne was about to continue outlining her plans when Stella said, ‘Reckon all the excitement’s gone to me bladder, but before I takes meself off to the lav, do you have any more surprises like that up your sleeve?’

‘It’s the only one,’ Vivienne assured her with a smile.

‘They don’t come any better,’ Cath declared, as Stella got up to lumber across the bar. Then to Sharon, ‘Have you ever met Theo Kenwood-South?’

‘Only once,’ Sharon answered, putting the paper back down to press her hands to her cheeks. ‘He’s really nice.’

‘Here, in’t that the woman what’s gone missing?’ Mary said, pointing at the front page. ‘The one that lives over Haytor way?’

Sharon looked down. ‘Oh, yeah, that’s her,’ she said, looking at a picture of Jacqueline. Then suddenly remembering Vivienne’s connection, her eyes shot nervously to Vivienne’s.

‘They reckons she never went in the station,’ Eileen stated knowledgeably. ‘There’s no CCTV footage showing it, they say, so they’ve only got her husband’s word …’

‘Eileen,’ Sharon said awkwardly.

‘He’s the one who ran the
Telegraph
, in’t he?’ Mary asked.

‘I think it was the
Independent
,’ Cath told her.

‘Whatever, it don’t make him innocent, does it,’
Eileen
said tartly, ‘just because he had a fancy job what paid him loads of money.’

Sharon’s dismay was complete as she turned her eyes back to Vivienne.

‘It’s OK,’ Vivienne whispered, putting a hand on hers.

‘Do you reckon he’s done away with her then?’ Lizzie was saying. ‘Thass what they’m implying.’

Eileen shrugged. ‘Who knows? It’s starting to look that way. Next thing you know they’ll have the sniffer dogs and helicopters out going all over the place, but they’ll have their work cut out, with him being nearly on the moor.’

‘Right, shall we go back to—’ Vivienne tried to interrupt.

‘Must have been terrible having her kiddie stolen like that,’ Cath came in tragically. ‘They reckons you never gets over it. Well, how can you, when the poor mite could still be out there somewhere? You’d never be able to stop yourself hoping, would you? I know if it was one of mine I’d probably go off me head worrying and wondering and imagining all sorts of things.’

‘Just goes to show it can happen to anyone, dunnit,’ Mary said. ‘They might be rich, but money and privilege didn’t keep ’em safe from that, did it? Poor sods. She looks really nice, too. I can’t imagine he’d want to get rid of her. I mean, why now, after all this time?’

‘You never can tell what goes on behind closed doors,’ Eileen said darkly. ‘For all we know he might even have done away with the kid all those years ago and she somehow found out.’

Unable to take any more, either for herself or
Sharon,
Vivienne said in a voice that cut right across them, ‘I think we should get back to the reason we’re all here, and what our next moves are going to be.’ It wasn’t that she blamed them for gossiping, it was only to be expected, but she had no intention of listening to Miles’s character being shredded by people who knew nothing about him, and even less of what had happened fifteen years ago. ‘We’d just finished the introductions when you arrived,’ she told Sharon, ‘and now you know about Theo, we need to start discussing goals.’

‘Our goal is to get her and those kids looked after while she’s having her treatment,’ Stella declared, as she rejoined the group.

‘Of course,’ Vivienne responded, ‘but what we don’t seem to have a clear idea of is how much we need to raise, and I realise we can’t really know that until I’ve had time to talk to Sharon about how long the treatment is likely to take, and what sort of expenditure needs to be covered.’

All eyes were on Sharon, whose embarrassment was painful to see. ‘I’ll have to talk to the doctors and look at me bank statements and stuff,’ she said. Then, in a strangled tone to Vivienne, ‘Could I have a quick word with you a minute, in private?’

‘Of course,’ Vivienne replied, and putting her cup down she followed Sharon to a cosy niche at the far end of the bar.

‘Look, I’m really sorry about all that,’ Sharon said, her lashless eyes gazing directly into Vivienne’s. ‘They obviously forgot how we managed to get hold of you, you know, through Mr Avery, well, some of them might not even know …’

‘You don’t have to apologise,’ Vivienne assured her.
‘It’s
not your fault, and I promise I haven’t taken offence.’

‘Yeah, but I should’ve thought of this before, as soon as it got in the papers … I mean, if it’s going to make things awkward for you, being here, if you feels you can’t take it on now—’

‘Don’t say any more,’ Vivienne interrupted. ‘This isn’t about the Averys, or your friends, or me, it’s about you and your children, and that’s the way we’re going to keep it.’

Sharon’s misery wasn’t retreating. ‘But it can’t be very nice for you hearing people talk the way they did just now.’

‘I’m a big girl, I can handle it. Anyway, I’m sure it won’t happen again, once you’ve reminded them that I know Miles.’

‘Probably not, and I will tell them, I just want you to know that if you decide you don’t …’

‘Enough,’ Vivienne chided gently. ‘Come on, let’s go and sit down again.’

Sharon held back. ‘You came to the funeral, didn’t you?’ she said, when Vivienne turned to her curiously. ‘With Mr Avery?’

Vivienne nodded.

‘I was a bit out of it at the time, so I don’t remember much. They told me after that you was there, and how Mr Avery …’ She swallowed and lowered her eyes in embarrassment. ‘Made a bit of a fool of myself, didn’t I? Frightened me poor kids as well.’

‘You certainly didn’t make a fool of yourself,’ Vivienne told her warmly. ‘You’d just lost your husband …’

‘Yeah, but trying to chuck meself in a grave. Fat lot of good I’d have been to me kids if I’d managed it.’

Vivienne touched a hand to her papery soft cheek. ‘I’m really sorry you’re having to go through this,’ she said gently, unable to imagine how worried and afraid the poor girl must be.

Sharon shrugged. ‘Other people goes through much worse and manages to survive,’ she said, and straightening her wig again she led the way back to the others.