Haven't They Grown(21)

‘You mean … she’d think you’ve just presented yourself as someone who knows nothing about the Caters, you don’t even know their last name, yet you seem to know the names of their children?’

‘Precisely. When she heard me say those names, she must have thought everything I’d told her was a lie. If I’ve been lying, and I’m suddenly revealing an interest in Thomas and Emily Cater that I’ve kept hidden until so late in the conversation … That’s the only way I can make sense of her police threat.’

‘But that only works if the Cater kids are called Thomas and Emily, which we agreed would be too much of a crazy coincidence.’ Zannah groans. ‘Mum, this is doing my head in. I need answers. Can’t you go back there and—’

‘Get arrested? No.’ Dom is keen to rule this out as an option.

I’d willingly spend a night in a cell if it would get me the answers I want.

‘How about contacting the Braids in Florida?’ Zannah suggests. ‘If they used to work with Kevin Cater, and he bought their house, there’s a chance they’ve kept in touch with him. If he’s got kids with the same names as their oldest two, they might know.’

‘That’s not a bad idea,’ I say. The Caters might be on Flora’s Christmas card list – the same one we were removed from after the photograph incident. ‘But … I’d have to explain how I came to know about the Caters in the first place.’

‘The Caters cannot have kids with the same names as the Braids and live in the same house, and look the same,’ Zannah says. ‘That just can’t happen. It’s like something out of a horror film. I mean … one name the same, maybe, but two?’

‘Zannah’s right, Dom. We need to make contact with Lewis in Florida.’

‘I wouldn’t say we need to, but—’

‘Dad!’

One of my husband’s best qualities is that he knows when he’s lost an argument.

‘All right. If I have a spare minute tomorrow, I’ll—’

‘I’ll do it,’ I say. ‘And not tomorrow. Now. Right now.’





6


An hour later, thanks to my son, I have an Instagram account. He’s put it on my phone, too – a little pink and orange camera icon – so that I can correspond with Lewis Braid more easily.

If he replies.

I’d have preferred to contact Flora directly, but I’ve searched the whole house and can’t find the old address book where I wrote down her number. I probably threw it away years ago.

So far I’ve sent Lewis one message: ‘Hi Lewis, Beth Leeson here! Could you send me a phone number where I can contact you? It’s fairly urgent.’

Zannah was watching over my shoulder as I typed. ‘Is that … Oh, my God! Ben! She’s using punctuation.’

‘Lewis Braid uses punctuation on Instagram too,’ I said as both my children laughed at me.

Then I pressed send. Ever since, I’ve been picking up my phone approximately every ten seconds, and using the other nine of each cycle to prepare dinner.

‘Beth,’ says Dominic from the kitchen table.

‘Mm?’

‘You know it might be hours before—’

‘I know.’

‘Then stop looking.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Can you come and sit down for a minute? I want to talk to you, while the kids aren’t around.’

‘I can talk while I chop peppers.’

‘I know, but I’d like to …’

I listen to the silence as he reworks his plan and decides it doesn’t matter if I sit down or not. It’s lucky we’re not both equally stubborn; we’d have had to get divorced long ago.

‘All right. I get why you want to try and understand what you saw yesterday. Anyone would want to. But … have you considered the possibility that you’ll never know for sure?’

‘Of course I have.’

‘And you’re okay with that?’

‘No. Which is why I’m trying to find out.’

‘And hopefully Lewis’ll get back to you. But what do you think he’s going to say?’

‘If I knew that, I wouldn’t need him to ring me.’

‘Here’s what I think he’s going to say.’ I hear Dom pouring himself another glass of wine from the bottle on the table. ‘“Hey, Beth, great to hear from you! What? No, Flora wasn’t in Hemingford Abbots yesterday – she’s here in Florida with me. What, the children? Yeah, they’re all here too. Sorry? Kevin Cater? Yeah, we knew him vaguely. Couldn’t believe it when he and his wife turned up to view our house – and then they bought it! No, sorry, I’ve no idea if they’ve got kids or what they’re called.”’

‘He might say all that,’ I agree. ‘We don’t know that he will.’

‘What if he does? Will you accept that you’ve found out all you can, and leave it alone?’

I laugh. ‘Why would I do that?’

‘What else could you do, at that point?’

‘If Kevin and Jeanette Cater have two young kids, I can find out their names. I can talk to other neighbours on Wyddial Lane, find out if any of them knew Flora and Jeanette Cater. Or if any of them say, “She’s the same person, and we have no idea why she suddenly changed her name.”’