Her Perfect Family(31)

‘This is just a chat, like I said. You’ve agreed to meet me. You’re not under arrest. So why don’t you tell me about your first marriage. And why you’re worried that your first wife might in some way be involved in Gemma’s shooting?’

‘I didn’t say that. I just said that it was a coincidence that I met Laura, my first wife, in a cathedral. So that was sort of preying on my mind and I felt I should have told you. So have you checked things out? Is Laura OK? Is she with her parents or is she at the clinic?’

Matthew bites into his lip, wondering how Mel will play this.

‘Your first wife is missing from the clinic, Mr Hartley.’ Mel pauses as Ed Hartley’s face pales. ‘The clinic’s under investigation for breaches of standards and security. Cost-cutting cock-ups according to the local media. Upshot is right now we have absolutely no idea where she is. Which is why I think you’d better tell me absolutely everything, don’t you? About her condition. How you parted. When you last heard from her. And whether she has any reason whatsoever to wish you or your daughter harm.’





CHAPTER 18


THE FATHER – BEFORE

It came right out of the blue. Laura’s illness. Like a trip on the pavement, your face suddenly smashed on to concrete.

And for Ed, it was the speed of the unravelling that shocked him most.

He and Laura had been married just six months. They’d recently moved to Canada where her parents lived and her father had given him a job, handling the marketing for his building company. It was going well. No, better than well; they were truly happy.

Thursday night – a month into his new job – they went to bed around eleven as usual. Friday morning, he got up early for a pee and suddenly it was as if someone flipped a switch on his life.

That trip on the pavement . . .

By the time he padded back to the doorway of their bedroom, Laura was bolt upright in bed – first just staring at him, her eyes wild, and then screaming in apparent terror.

He felt a spike of adrenaline. The rush of his own mirrored fear. An intruder? He spun his head this way and that, trying to work out where? Who? What the hell he was dealing with. He grabbed a candlestick from the top of a bookcase in the hallway and swung his head and his weapon. Left. Right. Left. Right.

But there was nothing. No shadow. No sound of footsteps. Nothing.

He checked the hall and the second bedroom. Again – nothing. By the time he was back in the doorway of their room, Laura had stopped screaming but was still staring directly at him, eyes bulging with alarm. It was as if she was looking at him but also through him, without proper recognition. His next thought was a night terror. He’d read about that. Maybe she was actually still asleep and wasn’t seeing him at all. There was a feature in one of the Sundays once; it said that sometimes sleepwalkers moved around with their eyes wide open.

‘It’s all right, it’s all right. I’m here. What’s happened? What is it? What did you see? It’s just a dream, Laura. I’m here. You’re safe.’ He was still in the doorway but now took a step into the room.

‘No, no! You stay right there. Don’t you dare move.’

So she could hear him; see him. He didn’t understand, his head spinning.

Next she picked up the phone by the bed and was dialling. ‘I’m calling the police.’

‘The police?’ He stepped back into the doorway. ‘What’s happened? I can’t see anyone, Laura. There’s no sign of anyone.’

‘Who are you?’ Still she was staring at him, unblinking. ‘I told you not to move. I mean it. I’m trained. I can take you down.’

‘What do you mean – who am I? Put the phone down. This isn’t funny, Laura.’ Not for one minute did he actually think this was a joke and he regretted saying that instantly but he didn’t know what else to say. What else to do.

Christ. She was actually dialling . . .

‘No, no. Don’t ring the police. You’re perfectly safe, I promise you. Just look at me, please. You’re safe.’

She seemed to pause then as if changing her mind. Puzzled rather than terrified. His mind was still spinning while hers seemed in freefall.

She pressed the end button on the phone and just continued to stare at him. She tilted her head to the side as if trying to better compute what she was seeing. Next, and most ominously, she picked up a torch – kept alongside the bed in case of power cuts – and held it up as her own weapon.

Instinctively Ed lowered his hand holding the candlestick, but Laura did not copy; she kept the torch high in the air.

‘What do you want?’ Her eyes were still wide. Unnatural. ‘I’m not afraid to use this. And I’m warning you – I’m trained. And I’m stronger than I look. I can take you down.’

This time he said nothing for a while. Very gently and slowly he put the candlestick back on the top of the bookcase. Maybe if he just waited she would calm down. Wake up properly? She watched him. He watched her. They both waited for maybe a minute.

‘What have you done with my husband?’

‘Look. I don’t know what this is but you must have been dreaming, darling. It’s me. It’s Ed. Look at me. You’re safe. It’s me.’

‘I’m going to ask you one more time. What have you done with my husband?’