Lying in Wait(59)

‘What? But I thought you said she was dead? We were looking for the guy who killed her.’

‘I was wrong. She’s here. Or somewhere nearby. I’m going to look for her tomorrow, but I should get going. I’ve booked a bed and breakfast place down the street.’

Mrs Gough bustled in with a tea tray. ‘Mam, Karen can stay here, can’t she? She’s booked a B’n’B, but she can stay?’

‘Of course you can. You’ll be more than welcome, more than welcome. You are so good to come. We can make the same arrangement as the weekend – Maureen and Josie can share.’

‘Oh no, please, I don’t want you to go to any trouble.’

‘Hush now, girl. Sure, it’s no trouble at all. Oh, Bridget, she’s even more beautiful in the flesh. And you’re a model? Well, that’s no surprise. Sure, we’ve never had a model in the house before. Are you hungry? You must be. I’ll make you up a sandwich now. Bridget, light the fire for our guest. It’s freezing in here. Sure, you wouldn’t think it was the middle of summer at all at all.’ And off she went, a whirlwind of nervous energy.

Bridget and I smiled at each other. I used the Goughs’ phone to cancel the bed and breakfast.

‘I never told my mam about Annie. She wouldn’t understand – you know, about the drugs and … that, so she thinks you’re here because Laurence dumped me.’

‘It’s OK, I understand. I won’t mention her.’

She apologized that she couldn’t help me look for Annie the next day, because the town was too small and her parents would find out and she didn’t want to have to explain to them that I was the sister of a … she couldn’t find a polite word. I felt more resentment towards Annie, and a little towards Bridget.

Bridget and me sat up late that night by the fire, talking about Annie initially, but the conversation kept coming back to Laurence. Bridget had booked a week off work because she wasn’t ready to face him in the office. I wondered why Laurence had never moved out of home. It was a bit weird, though of course I was back living with Da. But I’d been out of the house for years until I left Dessie. I tried to ask about Laurence casually.

‘Do you think Laurence has told his mum about Annie? His dad is dead, right? What’s she like, his mum?’

‘I’ve never met her. That should have been a sign, shouldn’t it? I mean, if he had really been interested in me, he would have introduced me to his mam. I’m such a fool.’

It was strange that Laurence had never brought Bridget to see his mother after nearly two years.

‘I think she has that disease – you know, the opposite of claustrophobia.’ I had never heard of claustrophobia. Bridget explained. Mrs Fitzsimons apparently never went out.

‘What? Never?’

‘Well, she goes out to the shops and things, but she never leaves the house overnight. Never goes away for a weekend.’

‘And what’s the house like?’

‘I’ve never been in it. That should have been a clue too, shouldn’t it? He must have thought I wasn’t good enough. But I was curious, so I walked past it once. I couldn’t even see it from the gate. There’s a big avenue leading up to it. I’d say it must be huge.’

‘Don’t be silly, he didn’t dump you because you’re not good enough!’

‘Well, he was acting weird for the last few months. Definitely. I mean, he’s always been a little bit odd.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘When I first started dating him, he was really big – obese, you know? And then when he started losing weight, he got really fidgety. Even in the office, he’s kind of jumpy all the time. When he stayed over with me, he only slept about three hours a night. And over time he got more and more jumpy, but the last few months he’s just been …’

‘What?’

‘Hot and cold? And then he asked to come and meet my family. And I think after he met them, he thought that his mam would never approve.’

I had an uneasy feeling that Laurence may have dumped Bridget for an entirely different reason. I remembered the smell of his skin as he drew me in for that hug and the feeling of his lips on the crown of my head. I thought about all the times he had tagged along when Bridget and me were going to the cinema, or shopping. I’d felt like I was the gooseberry sometimes, but maybe it was Bridget who was the gooseberry.

Bridget burst into tears again. ‘What am I going to do?’ We talked it through. She didn’t think Laurence would reconsider their relationship. He had been very insistent there was no going back in their final phone call. She had to be realistic, she said. She was going to apply for a transfer to a different office. She didn’t want to have to see him every day.

I wanted to tell her that I’d met him earlier that evening, but something stopped me. There had been no real reason to meet. We could have had our conversation over the phone. I knew that by not telling her I was betraying our friendship. I knew that it was the start of something for me. And for Laurence.

The next morning I met the rest of Bridget’s family. They were lovely. The youngest girl, Josie, asked for my autograph. ‘I’ve never met anyone who’s been in a magazine before,’ she said.

I thanked them for their hospitality and hugged Bridget, arranging to meet her before I got the bus back home. I set off on my quest to find Annie. I told the shopkeepers, pub and café owners that I had found this silver-framed photo at the bus station and wondered if they knew the girl in the photo. It was the only story I could think of. Because of the harelip, people might remember Annie. Her photo hadn’t featured in the press for more than a few days after the initial investigation. Other young women who had gone missing all over the country sparked annual appeals and renewed press coverage, but I guess that because of her background Annie’s case was never reopened.