Rosie (23 page)

Nick ran through the other possibilities. Could Victoria have gone home with a friend? Alex had thought of that and contacted them all. She was not with any of them.

Could Victoria have gone into town on her own? It was unlikely. She always told Alex if she was going to be late home.

Would Paul really have taken the child? Alex said she didn’t know. She’d rung him but there had been no answer. He had never done anything like this before but, then, they had never been in this situation until now.

‘Has she taken anything with her?’ asked Nick, hardly knowing why that should be important but clutching at straws.

‘What sort of things?’ asked Alex, her desperation audible.

‘I don’t know. Clothes, washbag, that sort of thing.’

‘No. Only the clothes she was wearing. And her school bag, with her books and pens and stuff.’

‘And she didn’t say anything this morning?’

‘No.’

‘Was she OK?’

‘She’s been a bit distant lately, not really concentrating. Her mind’s been elsewhere. She always has her head buried in that Isle of Wight guidebook she made me buy her.’ And then, ‘Oh, God! You don’t think she’s gone to the island, do you?’

‘I don’t know. It’s possible. She didn’t
say
anything about coming here?’

‘Nothing.’

‘I think she’s most likely to be with Paul if you want my honest opinion, but I could go and look.’

‘But where? Where will you start? I mean I know it’s a small island but it’s not that small. She could be anywhere.’

‘Have you told the police?’

‘No. Not yet.’

‘Well, I think you should.’

‘Oh, God!’

Nick could hear the rising panic in her voice. It was so unlike her. Alex the level-headed one; Alex the sensible mother with the sensible child. He could hardly believe this was happening.

‘I’ll go and look in all the obvious places. The places she knew. Sleepyhead Bay and the place where you stayed. Sophie will wait here in case she shows up. Try not to worry.’

‘I’ll do my best, but how can I get in touch with you?’ she asked.

‘Ring the Anchorage and let Sophie know if anything happens. I’ll give her your number so that she can call you.’

‘Right.’

He knew she was biting back the tears. ‘She’ll be fine, I’m sure of it. I know there’ll be some explanation for it and it will be OK. I’m sure. Paul will probably bring her back soon.’

‘Yes.’ She was quieter now, but clearly desolate. ‘I just wish I’d seen it coming.’

‘Don’t blame yourself – OK? We’ll sort it out.’

After a few more placatory phrases he put down the phone and went to the yacht club to find Sophie.

‘She’s what?’

‘Gone missing.’

‘Oh, hell! Any clues?’

‘Well, her father came round an hour or so before she disappeared, and Alex wouldn’t let him see her.’

‘Was that wise?’

‘Victoria’s always in a state when he’s been. I think Alex was just trying to keep her on an even keel. Anyway, she thinks he might have taken her, and it does seem likely. The only other thing is that she was welded to an Isle of Wight guidebook. I think she’s fallen for the place.’

‘Oh, God, poor Alex.’ Then the organizer in Sophie came to the fore. ‘I’ll get back to the house. You go and look wherever you think she might be. Have you rung the ferry company to see if she was spotted coming over? I’ll do that. Take this.’ She handed him a mobile phone. ‘It’s new. I’ve stuck the number on it so I don’t forget. I’ll ring Alex and give her the number, then she can ring you – or me at the Anchorage – if she hears anything. Now get off and look.’ Sophie strode off up the lane in the direction of the Anchorage.

‘Thanks!’ he yelled after her. She waved without turning round. He thanked God that she had come to stay.

The sun was sinking below the horizon as he walked down the steps to Sleepyhead Bay. The rain had stopped, but the rough wooden planks were wet and slippery, as were the rocks in the cove. He hopped from one to another, looking for a small girl he hoped might be fishing for shrimps, as she had been when he had first met her. He did not want to think of her in any other way. Occasionally the prospect of the worst sight of all insinuated itself into his mind, but he banished it. They would find her alive and well, wondering what all the fuss was about.

He knocked on the doors of the small cottages, but with no luck. Nobody had seen a small girl on her own. Nobody had noticed anything out of the ordinary.

He tried the hotel where Alex and Victoria had stayed. They remembered mother and daughter, but had seen neither of them since. They promised to call if she came, and wished him luck in his search. They were sure she would come home. She had seemed such a sensible child.

On he drove, to places where he knew Alex had taken Victoria, but his enquiries yielded nothing and it was getting dark.

He drove slowly along the main street of Godshill, looking to left and right. He even asked at the pub, just in case. But as everywhere else he drew a blank.

At half past eight he rang Sophie in desperation. ‘Have you heard anything?’ he asked.

‘No.’

‘What about the ferry?’

‘Yes – but they had a school party on board.’

‘Don’t they check people on? For safety and all that?’

‘Yes, they do. But they said it’s just possible she could have slipped on without them seeing. They were very apologetic.’

‘Damn.’ He tried to think straight. ‘Oh, God, Soph, what do I do now?’

‘Ring Alex and tell her you’ve no news – bad or good.’

He did as Sophie suggested, and told Alex exactly where he had been. Could she think of anywhere else he should try?

She said there had been so many places – St Catherine’s Point, Tennyson Down – most of which he couldn’t visit in the dark.

‘What did the police say?’ he asked.

‘They’re talking to the Newport station. They say that if Victoria doesn’t turn up in the next couple of hours they’ll launch a full-scale search, here and on the island. I don’t know what to do, Nick – I just don’t know what to
do
.’ She sounded at her wit’s end.

‘Listen . . .’ He tried to sound positive, but it was hard. He hardly knew Victoria, but he liked her. And she’d seemed to like him.
And
she was Alex’s daughter, which was all that mattered. ‘We’ll find her – you
must
believe that.’

‘I feel such a failure, such a bad mother. Why didn’t I let him see her? Then all this wouldn’t have happened.’

He felt so desperate that he wasn’t with her. How he hated mobile phones! Why did she have to be at the end of one now instead of right next to him where he could hold her and tell her it would be all right? ‘You’re not a failure. You’re a great mum. Victoria knows that.’

‘So why has she gone?’

He tried to find an answer, but could only find questions. ‘Is there still no sign of Paul?’

‘No. They’ve alerted the airports, and the ferry terminals, but I can’t believe he’d run off with her.’

‘Have you rung him?’

‘Still no reply.’

‘I know someone else like that.’ In spite of his undistinguished relationship with his father, Nick wished Derek was here now. Perhaps he would have some cunning means of tracking her down. But his father’s schemes were mostly doomed to failure. What Nick needed now was sound, reasoned advice. ‘Look, I’m not giving up. And you mustn’t – you mustn’t think the worst.’

‘But I can’t help it.’

‘I know – but it will be fine, I’m sure of it.’ He surprised himself with his confidence. Maybe it was just bloody-mindedness, a refusal to accept things you didn’t want to believe. Perhaps he got it from his grandmother.

‘I’m so glad you’re there,’ whispered Alex. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

He pocketed the mobile phone and set off again on his search.

It was almost completely dark now. Patchy cloud gave way to small expanses of sky, studded with stars, and the moon ducked in and out. Victoria was out there somewhere. But where? Here or on the mainland? On her own or with her father?

Bugger. Why couldn’t he sort this out? Why couldn’t he think straight? If Paul had taken her with him there was nothing he could do. But if she had wandered off on her own it should be possible to work out where she had gone.

Where would a child go if she was disturbed by her parents splitting up and looking for some kind of escape?

She’d look for somewhere comforting. Somewhere that gave her a kind of stability. Somewhere she felt at home.

It all pointed to the island. He remembered the conversation she had had with Alex the day they met on the beach. ‘I prefer this side,’ she’d said, meaning the south of the island. ‘Why’s that?’ Alex had asked. ‘Because there’s more sea,’ had been Victoria’s response.

He remembered asking her if she liked the sea, and she said that it was not so much the sea as that it took longer to get home from there. It was the furthest place from home she could think of.

She had been poring over the guidebook, Alex had said. Deciding where she would like to live. But he had tried Sleepyhead Bay, and Godshill, all the places she had mentioned to Alex.

His reverie was broken by the shrill ring of the mobile phone in his pocket.

‘Nick?’

‘Soph?’

‘I think I’ve seen her.’

‘What?’

‘I know this sounds stupid but I was making some tea about five minutes ago and I glanced up at the window and I’m sure I saw a face.’

‘What?’

‘Honestly. I know I did.’

‘Did you go and look?’

‘I ran out as fast as I could but I couldn’t find her. I’m sure I didn’t imagine it, though.’

‘And you think it was Victoria?’

‘Well, I only met her once and I wasn’t taking that much notice, but I’m as sure as I can be that it was. Do you want to phone Alex?’

‘Not until we’re certain. Damn! Where did she run off to?’

‘Beats me. I’ll go now and keep looking. If I have any more news I’ll ring you, OK?’

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and leaned against the car, gazing up at the moon in the hope that it would offer inspiration. But the moon wasn’t playing. It slid tantalizingly behind a cloud and the night was dark as ink.

 
 
26

. . . it detests wet weather and can be rather shy.

R
ain began to fall, gently at first, then heavily, slanting across the sky in the light of the street lamp. Nick had pulled over at the side of the road in Seaview, to take a rest from driving. Seaview. Alex had said Victoria thought it was posh. It was certainly the island’s smartest resort, the houses neatly painted, the gardens smart and well tended. This was where cabinet ministers and actors had their weekend cottages. Henry fitted in rather well at Seaview, which provided him with a good number of well-heeled clients, who were interested, as Nick now realized, in muscle manipulation as well as art.

His mind did not stay on Henry for long. He had come here only because he wanted to explore every town and village that Victoria had mentioned. Stupid, really – he could give them no more than a cursory search, driving up and down the main streets, looking to right and left. And what chance was there of seeing her? Would she really be walking down the high street looking in shop windows? But what else could he do? When someone was missing and you wanted to find them, you had to start somewhere, however futile the attempt might seem.

He watched the rain running in rivulets along the pavement and into the gutter.

The phone in his pocket rang. It was Alex, sounding desolate and drained.

‘The police say they can’t do anything until morning now. Have you found anything?’

He was unable to keep from her the glimmer of hope. It seemed unkind. ‘Sophie thinks she saw a face at the window, and that it was Victoria’s.’

‘Oh, God!’

‘Now, stay calm. I’m looking absolutely everywhere. I’ve been to all the places you mentioned, and there was no sign of her at the moment. But the weather’s foul. I reckon if she’s here she’s probably sheltering from the rain and there’s no way we’re going to find her until morning.’

‘No,’ she said flatly. Trying to hold on to her emotions.

‘Do you want me to come over there?’ he asked.

‘No. Stay on the island. If she’s there it’s pointless you being over here.’

‘I’m doing my best,’ Nick said. ‘I’m going everywhere I think she may go. Why don’t you try to get some sleep? The police will let us know if they come up with anything – if there are any sightings, I mean.’

‘I can’t.’ She let out a sob.

How he wished he could be with her. ‘Well, try. At least go to bed,’ he said gently.

‘Will you keep looking?’ she asked. ‘But don’t drive. You must be too tired to drive now. It’s not safe.’

‘I’ll take the car home and look round the coast there.’

‘Be careful.’

‘And you.’

The phone clicked off. He could only imagine what she was going through, the scenarios playing in her mind. It was every parent’s lot to fear the worst. He knew that without having been one.

He drove back to the Anchorage, and found Sophie asleep in an armchair. She started up when he walked in, eyes wide, then asked, ‘Any news?’