Our House(94)

‘Where the fuck is Bram? I’m not leaving without an answer!’

David Vaughan steps into view on the front path. ‘Now who are you, exactly?’

‘Never mind that, I need to speak to him right now!’

‘Join the queue,’ David says, with a bitter laugh.

It takes a moment for Fi to recognize the second figure, the other voice. ‘It’s Toby,’ she tells Merle, confused. ‘The guy I’ve been seeing. We’ve just been away together. I said I’d text when I got back – he must have been worried and come to see if I’m all right.’ Unless she did text him, sent him an SOS during those befuddled hours in the house? It’s possible: whole chunks are inaccessible to her. These have been both the heaviest hours of her life and the most slippery.

‘I’ll go and get him,’ Merle says. ‘You wait here in the warmth.’

She hurries out into the cold, coatless, leaving Fi on the doorstep. ‘Hello, can I help? Bram isn’t here, but Fi is, if you want to come in?’

As Toby turns on his heel, David withdraws, his gratitude palpable even from this distance. He’s done with today, that is clear.

When Toby comes striding into Merle’s hallway, Fi falls against him like a collision. She doesn’t care if it’s wrong to show her need for his comfort, for some uncomplicated masculine strength.

‘Toby, it’s so awful, the worst possible thing! I’ve lost my house.’

‘We don’t know that for sure, darling,’ Merle says, fingers patting Fi’s upper arm.

‘We do know. The Land Registry has transferred the title deeds. I’ve lost it.’

‘Where is he?’ Toby growls and disentangles himself from her. He scopes the hallway, the succession of doors that lead from it, as if expecting to find Bram cowering in the shadows.

‘He’s vanished,’ Fi says. ‘The boys are fine though, thank God. That’s the main thing, isn’t it?’

‘Of course it is,’ Merle says, soothingly. ‘No one’s died. It’s a mess, someone somewhere has made an epic cock-up, but we’ll get it fixed. Would you like a drink, Toby? Vodka?’

‘Thanks.’

Merle delivers the drink, tops up Fi, and the two of them tell him what they know about the house sale: Bram’s open house; the woman purporting to be Mrs Lawson who has complained that the Vaughans’ payment has not yet reached her; the erroneous transfer that Graham Jenson denies but that may end up giving Fi time to register her claim on the money; the scramble to mitigate the crisis that will resume after the weekend.

‘So the money’s not in any of your accounts?’ Toby asks Fi.

‘No, I checked straight away. Not a penny. The solicitor won’t disclose the details for the account he did use, but it’s possible it was Bram’s individual account. I don’t have access to that.’

‘At least the mortgage and all the seller’s fees were paid separately,’ Merle reminds her. ‘There’ve been no errors there, which is something.’

Fi shudders. Insane though the suggestion is, this could be worse. She could have lost the house and been left with a huge debt.

‘This is stating the obvious,’ Merle says, ‘but you don’t think Bram could be at the flat? You know what they say about hiding in plain sight and it’s not like the police are bursting down doors at this stage. It was hard enough getting them to come here and take the preliminary report,’ she tells Toby.

‘He’s definitely not at the flat,’ Toby says. ‘I went there before I came here.’

‘You did?’ Fi says, surprised.

‘He might have been there but not answering?’ Merle suggests. There is something about her grave, gentle authority that is making Toby seem a little crude. Fi can tell that Merle is taken aback by his anger. She didn’t know Fi has such a firebrand for a new partner.

‘I got a neighbour to let me into the building,’ he says, ‘and I went up to try the door. There was no answer and the lights were out. He’s definitely not there.’

‘I’ll go over in a while,’ Fi says. ‘I might have to sleep there tonight.’

Merle intervenes. ‘Fi, I really think you should stay here. You’ve had enough to contend with for one day. Alison’s keeping Robbie and Daisy for a sleepover so they won’t be back till tomorrow. We’ll be on our own, we can ring around the hospitals again in the morning, make a proper list for Monday, discuss how you’re going to handle this with the boys. Then you can go to Tina’s when you’re calm and rested.’

‘Who’s Tina?’ Toby asks.

‘Bram’s mother.’

‘You think he might be there, Fi? Let’s go!’

‘No, he definitely isn’t,’ Fi tells him. ‘She’s convinced he’s here.’ Talk of the boys focuses her. ‘I’ll wait till the morning to see them, you’re right, Merle. And I’ll need to go on my own, Toby. No offence, but the boys don’t know you and now isn’t the time for them to meet new people. They’ll need their family.’

‘Fi, when you do see them, I wouldn’t say anything about Bram being missing,’ Merle says. ‘While we still don’t know all the facts, you don’t want to upset them.’