Local Gone Missing(78)

“We wondered if your husband had been worrying about anything?” Elise said as she pulled out a stool and a notebook. “Anything weighing on his mind?”

“No! Well, he’s been busy with work. He’s organizing the refinancing of a major project at the moment. He’s developing new digital technology for the banking sector.”

“I see. I’m sorry to be blunt, Mrs. Scott-Pennington,” Elise said, “but when you say ‘refinancing,’ are you saying your husband has money problems?”

“He didn’t kill himself,” Janine blurted. “Kevin would never do that. He’d have found a solution.”

“But he did have money worries . . . ?”

Janine drooped in her chair and nodded.

“Does Kevin know Charlie Perry?”

“Charlie Perry?” she shrieked. “Why are you asking that?”

“We understand that Mr. Perry was offering to help people locally with financial advice, talking to people in the Neptune about investing in a scheme. We wondered if your husband was one of them.”

“My husband doesn’t take barroom advice,” Janine snapped. “He’s a professional. A very successful man in his field.”

“Of course. Did he take his phone?”

“No, he left it here. When he went out. He never did that. It was in his hand every waking moment.”

“We just need to see who he was in touch with before he disappeared.”

“Oh, God, he’s been disappearing for weeks,” she said, wiping her eyes with her hands. “It’s been such a tense time. He kept saying he was swimming but his trunks and towel weren’t always wet. I checked. I thought it might be another woman—but who could it possibly be? In Ebbing, for God’s sake?”

“Did you argue about it?” Elise said.

“I tried to talk to him but I couldn’t get anything out of him when he was here. He was always on his computer. For hours.”

“Perhaps we could take that with us as well as his mobile?” Caro said.

Janine got up and fetched the phone and laptop from another room. She was followed back in by two tearful teenagers in their pajamas. “My children,” she indicated. “They’re very upset. We all are. My parents are on their way to pick them up.”

“We’re not leaving you,” her daughter sobbed, and her son threw his arms round her.

“Do you know the password?” Elise said.

“No,” Janine said.

“I do,” her boy said quietly. “Dad let me use it for gaming sometimes.”

Caro wrote it down.

“Thanks so much. We’ll be in touch as soon as there is news,” Elise said as she stood to go. “We’ll see ourselves out.”

“Refinancing?” Caro said in the hall. “I smell Charlie Perry.”





Sixty


SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2019





Toby


Toby felt safe for the first time in weeks. Kind people were talking to him, asking him questions he could answer without double-checking his story. Saul stood at the head of the bed, as white as the sheets, murmuring he loved Toby and taking his hand every time they were alone.

When they sat him up, the doctor told him he was still waiting on some results but he was pretty sure he’d had a panic attack. “Is it your first? Are you under a lot of stress at the moment?”

Toby wanted to laugh but it came out as a sort of scream and the doctor nodded sympathetically. “Let’s see what the final tests show. You get some rest.”

“But we’re supposed to be catching a flight to America,” Saul said. “Aren’t we?”

Toby nodded.

“What time?” the doctor said.

“Six thirty,” Saul said, looking at his watch. “We’ve checked in online but we’ve got security and everything to get through.”

The doctor sighed and turned to Toby. “I think you might be wise to see about changing your flight.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Toby croaked. “I still feel very shaky.”

Saul kissed his head and swished aside the curtain to go and make the calls. “We’ve got insurance,” Toby said to the nurse who was adjusting the monitor. “It should be okay. . . .”

“Just try to relax,” she said, and smiled.



* * *



—

He’d only just got out of bed and dressed to go home when Saul tore aside the curtain.

“I’ve just had to spend an hour on hold, listening to ‘Fly Me to the Moon,’ before being totally fucking humiliated,” he spat. “My card was refused by the airline and the bank said there are no funds in any of our accounts. How can that be?”

Toby put out a hand to stop the onslaught. “I’m not well, Saul,” he gasped.

“Never mind that,” his husband whispered fiercely. “Where is all our baby money?”



* * *



—

They had to give him more sedation after Saul left and he was in a sweaty doze when DS Brennan and DI King appeared at the foot of the bed like angels of death.

“Mr. Greene?” DS Brennan said softly.